Rich Food, Poor Food

Rich Food Poor Food is a study of the two food traditions in western society: the food eaten by rich people and the food eaten by poor people. It suggests that, until very recent times, the two traditions have rarely intersected.

The book studies the gastronomy of the rich, with some extraordinary accounts of extravagant banquets, but also underlines that poor people had food preferences and pleasures which mattered greatly to them. It contrasts, for example, the turbot of the rich with the mackerel of the poor; the asparagus of the rich with the leeks of the poor; and the truffles of the rich with the mushrooms of the poor.

The most controversial parts of the book will surely be the chapters on cannibalism (which the author links to power, status, symbolism and meat-eating) and on the use of meat from cats in various food traditions. Rich Food Poor Food makes the case that both human cannibalism and human cat-eating have been underplayed in most previous works of food history.

Among the features of the book are its use of a wide range of food proverbs to illustrate its themes, and several humorous sections on the absurdities of etiquette in Western Europe in the past five hundred years many of which survive to this day.

From gooseberries to figs, from English ale to the story of champagne, from royal banquets to the extremities of siege-food, from "sing a song of sixpence" to "garlic makes a man wink, drink and stink", the book provides a series of lively stories and insights on the history of food in western society through the centuries.

Dettagli