Customer Reviews

A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption

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This book is a comprehensive study on the variety, availability, preparation,and storage of food in the Anglo-Saxon period...it is the BEST treatise on the subject. As the Cook for an Anglo-Saxon re-enactment group, I rely heavily on the contents of this book for ideas and guidance. The inclusion of many interesting bits of information make it more than just a food book. One bit of information that I found intriguing was that forensic investigations of Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries showed that people at that time had an inordinately higher incidence of Arthritis in their Mandibles (jaws),because of the toughness of the meat, with women and children even higher, probably because they usually ate after the men. This prompts you think, and ponder their existence so long ago. Wherever your interests lie, Cooking, History, Experimental Archaeology, Re-enactment, this book will thoroughly entertain you.

I love books that give details of life in the past from original sources, and that sums up this book. With lists of foods and their common and uncommon uses, A Handbook of Ango-Saxon Food is fascinating in itself, and invaluable to anyone writing in the Anglo Saxon period, or even in the early Norman. Jo Beverley, historical romance author.

I purchased this book because I'm now a member of a Viking re enactment group and believe me, fighters and crafters get hungry. We needed something period to provide in "living History" activities and this book came very highly recommended by several ladies that also do this type of activity. It has lived up to all of it's praise and I'm going to be ordering the other books by this authoress as well.

This book discusses a number of important topics, such as food preparation, from milling technology to where ovens were placed, as well as how food was probably cooked, what is known about manners in a feast, the social and religious roles of fasting, and the like. It's a fascinating book which reaches well out of the store room and into monastic and feudal life.

The final chapters involve problems related to food supply, such as malnutrition and adulteration of foods. These also provide a great deal of insight into what daily life was like in the Anglo-Saxon age.

All in all, this short book is very valuable and well worth the effort to buy.