The many influences of the past on our diet make the concept of 'British
food' very hard to define. The Celts, Romans, Saxons, Vikings and
Normans each brought ingredients to the table, and the country was
introduced to all manner of spices following 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 the Middle Ages to the Civil War
documents the rich history of our food, its fads and its fashions,
combined with a practical cookbook of over 120 recipes from the early
Middle Ages up to the Civil War.Jacqui Wood guides us through the
recipes brought ashore by the Normans, the opportunities brought by the
food harvested in the New World during the Renaissance, and the decadent
meals of the Royalist gentry outlawed by the puritanical
Parliamentarians.