Arabella Boxer's Book of English Food: The British Kitchen Between the Wars

by Arabella Boxer, Jessica Gwynne

A Book of English Food is an elegant compendium of brilliant recipes adapted from the cookery books of the 1920s and 1930s by Arabella Boxer, with beautiful new illustrations by Cressida Bell. Arabella Boxer's Book of English Food describes the delicious dishes - and the social conditions in which they were prepared, cooked and eaten - in the short span between the two World Wars when English cooking suddenly blossomed. The food in these wonderful recipes comes from the great country houses, where little had changed since Victorian times, the large houses in London and the South, where fashionable hostesses vied with each other to entertain the most distinguished guests at their tables, and less grand establishments, like those in Bloomsbury where the painters and writers of the day contrived to lead cultured and civilised lives on little money. Containing 200 recipes, drawn from cookery books, magazines of the period, family sources or from talking to survivors who still remember those days, A Book of English Food is a fascinating glimpse into another world, and a celebration of English cooking at its finest. 'That rare thing, a cookery book with an viz, that English cookery was once both good and independent of the cuisines of her neighbours . . . a rollicking good read' Observer 'I still find the calm elegance of her writing an inspiration' Nigel Slater 'A treasury of social gossip . . . immensely enjoyable and useful' Spectator 'A captivating exploration and celebration of the flowering of English cooking in the 1920s and 30s' Financial Times 'I recommend it, not only for its excellent food but also for the superb introductions and details of social history in the great houses with their shimmering hostesses' Evening Standard Arabella Boxer was born in 1934 and educated in the UK, Paris and Rome. She has written for the Sunday Times magazine and the Telegraph magazine and was Food Writer for Vogue from 1966 to 1968 and 1975 to 1991. She was awarded the Glenfiddich Cookery Writer of the Year Award in 1975 and 1978, a Glenfiddich Special Award in 1992 and won the 1991 André Simon Award and the 1992 Michael Smith Macallan Award for fine writing about British food. Arabella Boxer is the author of a number of cookery books, including First Slice Your Cookbook, Arabella Boxer's Garden Cookbook, Mediterranean Cookbook, The Sunday Times Complete Cookbook and A Visual Feast (with Tessa Traeger). A founding member of the Guild of Food Writers, she lives in London.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Arabella Boxer first began writing for Vogue in 1966, taking over from Robert Carrier, and established a new approach to cooking as a simple and pleasurable experience. Her first book, First Slice Your Cookbook, ingeniously designed by her husband Mark, was a huge success and she has since published 10 books, including Arabella Boxer's Garden Cookbook and The Sunday Times Complete Cookbook. She has also been twice winner of the Glenfiddich Award for Food Writer of the Year.

Reviews

[Soph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it, even though her ideas about working class food between the wars are completely mad.