Customer Reviews

A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food & Drink: Production and Distribution

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Ann Hagen's second book has been well reviewed in "Current Archaelogy" and the Council for Independent Archaelogy Newsletter. Ann succeeds admirably in making her book both scholarly and readable. Drawing on archaeological and historical sources, the book covers the 7 centuries from 400 to 1100AD and gives a detailed account of the foodstuffs and drinks - not to mention tabooed food - available to the Anglo-Saxons. Topics range from food production and distribution through to the food supply when travelling, hospitality, charity and Anglo-Saxon weights and measures. A fascinating read, for specialists and the interested reader alike.

This is the second volume of Ann Hagen's important study of Anglo-Saxon food and society. This one focuses on production, such as agricultural considerations, and distribution. The work is quite detailed and draws on a number of important sources including archaeology and textual sources.

The first section discusses agriculture in great detail. Despite a few clear errors (suggesting that naturally raised sheep would be low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fat), this section seems quite good. I'm somewhat sceptical of some of the nutritional claims, but on the whole, the attention to detail in this work is quite good.

The sections on beekeeping and fermented drinks are quite fascinating in their own right.

The second portion discusses distribution of food, including topics such as monastic sources of food, travelling food, how food would be provisioned for the home, hospitality, etc. This section is also greatly of interest.

I'd highly recommend this work to anyone with a serious interest in the study of Anglo-Saxon England.