Tastes and Traditions: A Journey through Menu History
By (Author) Nathalie Cooke
Reaktion Books
Reaktion Books
1st July 2025
17th March 2025
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Cultural studies: food and society
Social and cultural history
642.09
Hardback
240
Width 190mm, Height 250mm
Menus are invaluable snapshots of the food consumed in specific moments in time and place. Tastes and Traditions: A Journey through Menu History provides glimpses into the meals enjoyed by royalty and rogues, and by those celebrating special occasions, or sampling new culinary sensations, throughout history. It describes food prepared for the gods, meals served during sieges and tablescapes immortalized in art. It explores how menus entertain adults, link food with play for children, reflect changing notions of health and highlight the enduring human need to make meals meaningful.
Lavishly illustrated, this book offers an engaging exploration of why menus matter and the stories they tell, appealing to food lovers and general readers, as well as professionals in the food industry.
Nathalie Cooke is Professor of English at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Her books include Canadian Literary Fare (with Shelley Boyd, 2023), winner of the 2024 Gabrielle Roy Prize, and What's to Eat Entres in Canadian Food History (2009).