Tasting the Past: Recipes from Antiquity - 2nd Edition by Jacqui Wood (Paperback)

About the Book

This is a beautiful study of the rich history of our food, its fads and its fashions to be combined with a practical cookbook of over xxx recipes from antiquity

Book Synopsis

The many influences of the past on our diet today make the concept of 'British food' very hard to define. The Celts, Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans all brought ingredients to the table, and the country was introduced to all manner of spices after the Crusades. The Georgians enjoyed a new level of excess and then, of course, the world wars forced us into the challenge of making meals from very little. The history of cooking in Britain is as tumultuous as the times its people have lived through.Tasting the Past: Recipes from Antiquity documents the rich history of our food, its fads and its fashions to be combined with a practical cookbook of over 120 recipes from the eras of the Iron Age Celts and the Romans.Jacqui Wood guides us through the nutritious and pragmatic recipes of the Celts, who harvested the ingredients readily available around them; and the far more elaborate tastes of the Romans, who had an empire of imports to supplement and spice up their continentally curated diet.

Review Quotes

"Be Inspired by Our Rich Heritage. If you think a bacon sandwich was invented during the boom days of the Celtic Tiger as the archetypal builders' breakfast, you would be very wrong. In fact, this tasty treat has been around since earliest Celtic times. A solstice feast could include a spit-roast of venison or wild boar (more pork), a smoked fish stew (leeks, chives, milk as well as more bacon), salmon or trout baked in clay, followed by fried crab apple and honey (in bread cups) washed down with honey-based drinks! Such menus and accompanying recipes--try the Roman soldiers' lentil stew--are to be found . . . an intriguing study of the rich history of food eaten in these islands from the earliest times." --Irish Sunday Independent

"Wood's demonstration of ancient cookery is fascinating, due both to its culinary revelations and its insight into often ignored fragments of British history. An archaeologist, Wood has studied the history of British food from the stone age right up to the 1970s." --Guardian

About the Author

Jacqui Wood is best known as Time Team's resident food historian. She works as the Director of Saveock Water Archaeology (www.archaeologyonline.org), an archaeological research centre and field school, and also works for English Heritage demonstrating Bronze Age technology.