A History of Food in 100 Recipes - Tapa dura

‘Sitwell has pulled off something clever: a thoroughly researched and witty history that is both compelling and teeming with scholarly facts ... You don’t have to be a raging foodie to enjoy this’ Observer

‘At every turn there is a new snippet of social, political and culinary history ... A total joy’ Spectator

‘A triumph. Almost every sentence of his scrupulously researched and breezily confident book oozes with a passion for eating’
The Times

‘A whopping treat’ Daily Mail

The ingredients, cooks, techniques and tools that have shaped our love of food.

We all love to eat and most of us have a favourite ingredient or dish. In today's world we can get the food we want, when we want it, but how many of us really know where our much-loved recipes come from, who invented them and how they were originally cooked? In this book William Sitwell, culinary expert on BBC2's 'A Question of Taste' and editor of Waitrose Kitchen magazine, takes us on a colourful, whirlwind journey as he explores the fascinating history of cuisine.

This book is a celebration of the great dishes, techniques and above all brilliant cooks who have, over the centuries, created the culinary landscape we now enjoy. Any lover of fine food who has ever wondered about the origins of the methods and recipes we now take for granted will find A History of Food in 100 Recipes required reading. As well as shining a light on food's glorious past, there are contributions from a glittering array of stars of British cuisine, including Marco Pierre White, Delia Smith, Heston Blumenthal, Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver.

In an incisive and humorous narrative, Sitwell enters an Egyptian tomb to reveal the earliest recipe for bread and discovers the greatest party planner of the Middle Ages. He uncovers the extraordinary and poetic roots of the roast dinner and tells the heart-rending story of the forgotten genius who invented the pressure cooker. And much, much more.