Book picks similar to
The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence by Lizzie Collingham
non-fiction
history
social-history
nonfiction
A History of Britain in 21 Women
Jenni Murray - 2016
To say that it’s high time that it was defined by its women falls some way short of an understatement.Jenni Murray draws together the lives 21 women to shed light upon a variety of social, political, religious and cultural aspects of British history. In lively prose Murray reinvigorates the stories behind the names we all know and reveals the fascinating tales behind those less familiar, ultimately producing a unique history of Britain that is as long-overdue as it is absorbing. From famous queens to forgotten visionaries, and from great artists to our most influential political actors, A History of Britain in 21 Women is a veritable feast of page-turning history.A History of Britain in 21 Women will profile Boudicca, Aphra Behn, Elizabeth I (this chapter will also feature Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots), Fanny Burney, Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft, Constance Markievicz, Nancy Astor, Ada Lovelace, Caroline Herschel, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Emmeline Pankhurst, Gwen John, Rosalind Franklin, Ethel Smyth, Margaret Thatcher, Nicola Sturgeon, Mary Quant, Barbara Castle and Mary Somerville.
Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites
Kate Christensen - 2013
Readers of memoirs of high literary quality, particularly those with food themes—most conspicuously Ruth Reichl's Comfort Me with Apples and Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones, and Butter—as well as admirers of M. F. K. Fisher and Laurie Colwin will be a large and eager audience.This memoir derives from Kate's popular foodcentric blog (http://katechristensen.wordpress.com), in which she shares scenes from an unusual upbringing and an unusually happy present-day life, providing an audience for this book that is already primed. That it is written by Kate Christensen means it will be a delicious reading experience in every sense—a compulsively readable account of a knockabout life, full of sorrows and pleasures, many of the latter of the sensual, appetitive variety.
Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World
Tom Holland - 2019
How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.
Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats
Steve Ettlinger - 2007
And, like most consumers, he often reads the ingredients label -- without a clue as to what most of it means. So when his young daughter asked, "Daddy, what's polysorbate 60?" he was at a loss -- and determined to find out. From the phosphate mines in Idaho to the corn fields in Iowa, from gypsum mines in Oklahoma to the vanilla harvest in Madagascar, Twinkie, Deconstructed is a fascinating, thoroughly researched romp of a narrative that demystifies some of the most common processed food ingredients -- where they come from, how they are made, how they are used -- and why. Beginning at the source (hint: they're often more closely linked to rock and petroleum than any of the four food groups), we follow each Twinkie ingredient through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and/or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder with a strange name -- all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake. An insightful exploration into the food industry, if you've ever wondered what you're eating when you consume foods containing mono- and diglycerides or calcium sulfate (the latter, a food-grade equivalent) this book is for you.
An Onion in My Pocket: My Life with Vegetables
Deborah Madison - 2020
She profoundly changed the way generations of Americans think about cooking with vegetables, helping to transform "vegetarian" from a dirty word into a mainstream way of eating. But before she became a household name, Madison spent almost twenty years as an ordained Buddhist priest, coming of age in the midst of counterculture San Francisco. In this charmingly intimate and refreshingly frank memoir, she tells her story--and with it the story of the vegetarian movement--for the very first time. From her childhood in Big Ag Northern California to working in the kitchen of the then-new Chez Panisse, and from the birth of food TV to the age of green markets everywhere, An Onion in My Purse is as much the story of the evolution of American foodways as it is the memoir of the woman at the forefront. It is a deeply personal look at the rise of vegetable-forward cooking, and a manifesto for how to eat well.
Tea at Fortnum & Mason
Emma Marsden - 2010
Recipes include Cucumber, Cream Cheese and Dill Sandwiches; Macadamia and Stem Ginger Cookies; Madeleines; Almond and Rose Petal Squares; Honey and Lavender Loaf Cake; and Seville Orange and Whisky Marmalade. Beautifully illustrated with charming vintage tea advertisements and glorious recipe photos, this book is a must-have for tea drinkers everywhere. Metric measurements.
Cravings: Hungry for More
Chrissy Teigen - 2018
It’s a life of pancakes that remind you of blueberry pie, eating onion dip with your glam squad, banana bread that breaks the internet, and a little something called Pad Thai Carbonara. After two years of parenthood, falling in love with different flavors, and relearning the healing power of comfort food, this book is like Chrissy’s new edible diary: recipes for quick-as-a-snap meals; recipes for lighter, brighter, healthier-ish living; and recipes that, well, are gonna put you to bed, holding your belly. And it will have you hungry for more.
Playing With Fire
Gordon Ramsay - 2007
That is what Gordon Ramsay had when he started out as a chef, working 16-hour days, 6 days a week. When he was struggling to get his first restaurant in the black, he didn't think he'd be famous for a TV show about how to run profitable eateries, or that he'd be head of a business empire. But he is and he did. Here's how."In the beginning there was nothing.Not a sausage - penniless, broke, fucking nothing - and although, at a certain age, that didn’t matter hugely, there came a time when hand-me-downs, cast-offs and football boots of odd sizes all pointed to a problem that seemed to have afflicted me, my mum, my sisters, Ronnie and the whole lot of us. It was as though we had been dealt the ‘all-time dysfunctional’ poker hand.I wish I could say that, from this point on, the penny dropped and I decided to do something about it, but it wasn’t like that. It would take years before the lessons of life, business and money began to click into place - before, as they say, I had a pot to piss in.This is the story of how those lessons were learned."This is Gordon Ramsay at his raw, rugged best. PLAYING WITH FIRE is the amazing story of Gordon’s journey from sous-chef to superstar. In his no-holds-barred style, Gordon shares his passion for risk and adventure and his hard-won success secrets.Gordon Ramsay has launched a string of internationally celebrated restaurants in London with ten Michelin stars between them, with his stable of highly talented chefs, and has restaurants in Dubai, Tokyo, New York and Florida, with more planned.The author of nine best-selling cookery books and an autobiography, Humble Pie, Gordon is one of the biggest television personalities in the UK with his hit shows, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen and The F Word.He was awarded an OBE in 2006.
Cake: A Cookbook
Maira Kalman - 2018
Filled with Kalman's inimitable illustrations and memories, from chocolate cake on a terrace in Tel Aviv as a child to a gorgeous pink cake enjoyed over Lucretius and Nietzsche in Rome, and sprinkled with seventeen mouthwatering recipes prepared by Scott-Goodman, Cake is a joyful and whimsical celebration of a timeless dessert.
The Pedant in the Kitchen
Julian Barnes - 2003
The Pedant's ambition is simple. He wants to cook tasty, nutritious food; he wants not to poison his friends; and he wants to expand, slowly and with pleasure, his culinary repertoire
The English: A Portrait of a People
Jeremy Paxman - 1998
Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or Welsh, but the English. Why do they seem so unsure of who they are? Jeremy Paxman is to many the embodiment of Englishness yet even he is sometimes forced to ask: who or what exactly are the English? And in setting about addressing this most vexing of questions, Paxman discovers answers to a few others. Like: Why do the English actually enjoy feeling persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and to food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy? Covering history, attitudes to foreigners, sport, stereotypyes, language and much, much more, The English brims over with stories and anecdotes that provide a fascinating portrait of a nation and its people. 'Intelligent, well-written, informative and funny...A book to chew on, dip into, quote from and exploit in arguments' Andrew Marr, Observer 'Bursting with good things' Daily Telegraph Jeremy Paxman is a journalist, best known for his work presenting Newsnight and University Challenge. His books include Empire, On Royalty, The English and The Political Animal. He lives in Oxfordshire.
Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Carême, the First Celebrity Chef
Ian Kelly - 2003
In this well-researched book, Ian Kelly deftly recounts the exploits of this remarkable man." —JACQUES PÉPINAunique feast of biography and Regency cookbook, Cooking for Kings takes readers on a chef's tour of the palaces of Europe in the ultimate age of culinary indulgence.Drawing on the legendary cook's rich memoirs, Ian Kelly traces Antonin Carême's meteoric rise from Paris orphan to international celebrity and provides a dramatic below-stairs perspective on one of the most momentous, and sensuous, periods in European history—First Empire Paris, Georgian England, and the Russia of War and Peace.Carême had an unfailing ability to cook for the right people in the right place at the right time. He knew the favorite dishes of King George IV, the Rothschilds and the Romanovs; he knew Napoleon's fast-food requirements, and why Empress Josephine suffered halitosis.Carême's recipes still grace the tables of restaurants the world over. Now classics of French cuisine, created for, and named after, the kings and queens for whom he worked, they are featured throughout this captivating biography. In the phrase first coined by Carême, "You can try them yourself."
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South
Michael W. Twitty - 2017
In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes listeners to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine. Twitty travels from the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields to tell of the struggles his family faced and how food enabled his ancestors' survival across three centuries. He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and visits Civil War battlefields in Virginia, synagogues in Alabama, and black-owned organic farms in Georgia. As he takes us through his ancestral culinary history, Twitty suggests that healing may come from embracing the discomfort of the South's past. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep-the power of food to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together.
Bobby Deen's Everyday Eats: 120 All-New Recipes, All Under 350 Calories, All Under 30 Minutes
Bobby Deen - 2014
But he knows that with a busy lifestyle in and out of the kitchen, finding the time to make delicious, nourishing meals can be tough. Just because your schedule is overstuffed doesn’t mean your belly has to be. Now, in Bobby Deen’s Everyday Eats, Bobby helps you get a tasty and good-for-you dinner on the table in no time flat, with dozens of delectable recipes all under 350 calories and all prepared in less than 30 minutes. Whether it’s salads and soups that make hearty suppers, lip-smacking dishes for midweek grilling, meatless main courses for watching your waistline, scrumptious sides for every season, or reduced-calorie sweet treats to cap off your meals, Bobby Deen’s Everyday Eats includes such satisfying recipes as • Light and Easy Scallops and Grits • Deviled Egg Salad • Lightened-Up Beer Cheese Soup • Peachy Pulled BBQ Chicken • Mustard-Rubbed Flank Steak • Grilled Whole-Wheat Flatbreads • Shrimp Coconut Curry • Cajun Ratatouille Bake • Creamy Spinach Polenta • Hot Roasted Green Beans with Sweet Chili • Zucchini Corn Fritters • Strawberry Angel Food Cake • Lighter Chocolate-Mint Shakes • and so much more! Bobby also serves up time- and money-saving tips for stocking your fridge and pantry, ideas for watching your calories when you go out to eat, and a weekly 1500-calorie-a-day menu plan that helps you pull it all together. He even includes nutritional information for each and every recipe. Bobby Deen’s Everyday Eats is the cookbook you’ll reach for night after night for meals that are quick, delicious, and best of all . . . good for you.
Bigger Bolder Baking: A Fearless Approach to Baking Anytime, Anywhere
Gemma Stafford - 2019
Gemma hopes to restore baking as an everyday art, and this dessert cookbook is your guide.BAKE WITH CONFIDENCE100+ sweet and simple dessert recipes for maximum deliciousness with minimal effortUse just a few common ingredients and basic kitchen tools for bold twists on cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream, and moreEvery recipe has gorgeous color photography and step-by-step instructions that anyone can follow with easeANYTIME BAKINGAn approach unique among baking cookbooks, the chapters are organized by the basic tools you’ll need—such as Wooden Spoon & Bowl, Rolling Pin, or No Oven Needed—so you can choose the recipes that are most convenient for you during any spur-of-the-moment cravingBOLD NEW RECIPES & CLASSICSSurefire hits include Chocolate Lava Pie, Baked Cinnamon-Sugar Churros, Gemma’s Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies, “In Case of Emergency” One-Minute Mug Brownie, Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Ice Cream, and many moreBONUS: A chapter on Bold Baking Basics includes essential techniques, tips, and in-a-pinch substitutions so you can whip up Gemma’s irresistible desserts with confidence