Food & Feast in Tudor England

by Alison Sim

This book provides an excellent overview of Tudor food and eating habits. Chapters cover food and society in the sixteenth century, kitchens and cooking, what people drank, food and health (including Tudor ideas on healthy eating), setting the table and table manners, feasting and banquets. Alison Sim shows that dining habits in the sixteenth century were not the same as those of the Middle Ages and that tudor dining, at least for the wealthier section of the population, was much more sophisticated than it is generally given credit for.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Food, Tudor Period, Cooking, British Literature, Food and Drink

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overview of many issues relating food in that era.

Discusses servants, for instance, and their rank as well as what they did at meals and how they ate. Nutrition of the diet. What was done for fancy. The enormous prices of food. Beer and wine. Tableware. Little survives because it was not valued for age; only for metal and if it had some noble associations. Entertainments. And more.

[George Foord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging and interesting throughout

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who know me, they'll tell you that I have an interest in the history of food, and lets be honest, food in general. I love reading histories about food - where we've been, what we're doing now, and where we might end up. This is an easy read and the title describes what it's about. It's not all about Henry VIII eating at large banquets, it's about food in general too, and that's what makes it interesting.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This definitely focuses more on the "feast" part of the title. I was kind of hoping for more of the former. Also, I'm able to understand some of the very Elizabethan worded quotes and spelling she uses, but I also have been reading them for a while at this point. If I ran into this a few years ago, I would have been pretty lost. She definitely should have modernized them up just a little, at least getting rid of the massive amount of y's that some writers spelled with. Spell "coke" as "cook" also, there's not a very compelling reason to not do so unless this is meant as a purely scholarly work and not for laymen. I got the impression that this wasn't supposed to be a purely scholarly work, but maybe I'm wrong about that, and in that case my complaints are pretty much irrelevant.

Either way, I wanted more on what everyday food would have been like, less on the huge sugar castles and weird desserts.

[AphroPhantasmal · Rating 5 out of 5]

At a little over 160 pages, if so inclined, you can finish this book in 2-3 hours. The author has an engaging writing style that sucks you into the material. But, and this is a big but, if you've already done some reading up on England during the Tudor period most of what is presented won't be that new to you. You may learn a few new things about wine imports or the role the Dutch played in fruit cultivation during this time period but everything else is pretty common knowledge.

I think this would be a great book for someone just getting into the nitty gritty of Tudor life. If you've already devoured many books and documentaries, this may not offer much that you don't already know.

[Tim Evanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should really gives this three and a half stars. It's good, but man this volume is slim. I could have read three times as much.

[Rach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I can never read enough about Tudor history, I picked this up to fill in any gustatory gaps in my reading and thoroughly enjoyed it. Though now I want to get my hands on some of the source material Sim is using... Time for me to find a good book on Tudor manners.

[CariAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, informative book.

Great research, text and images.

[Celia]

Scholarly. No recipes.