Authors: Alex Johnson, Vincent Franklin
Series: N/A
Genres: Non-fiction, gastronomy
Synopsis curtesy of Goodreads
Good Points:Delve into this captivating collection of the world's 100 most iconic menus which reveal not just the story of food but periods of history, famous works of literature, notable events, and celebrity figures from prehistoric times up to the modern day.
Each menu provides an insight into its particular historical moment - from the typical food on offer in a nineteenth-century workhouse to the opulence of George IV's gargantuan coronation dinner. Some menus are linked with a specific and unforgettable event such as The Hindenburg's last flight menu or the variety of meals on offer for First, Second and Third Class passengers on board RMS Titanic, while others give an insight into sport, such as the 1963 FA Cup Final Dinner or transport and travel with the luxury lunch on board the Orient Express. Also included are literary occasions like Charles Dickens’s 1868 dinner at Delmonicos in New York as well as the purely fictional and fantastical fare of Ratty's picnic in The Wind in the Willows.
I adore food and reading about it is almost as good as eating it. One of my less productive hobbies is to study the menus of restaurants I’ll never get the chance to eat in just to enjoy the descriptions of the dishes. In that respect, this book was perfect for me.
I wasn’t expecting the history to be as interesting as it was (did you know that a lot of prominent figures in the women’s suffrage movement were vegetarian?) and it was delivered in manageable, bite sized chunks with the menus. I had fun comparing the first and third class meals on the titanic, as well as considering the texture of the dishes on the meals eaten aboard the International Space Station.
Bad Points:
There aren’t really any, though the reading experience is quite bitty. This is a book to dip in and out of, rather than a page turner. I would also have liked a bit more clarification in certain sections.
