Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 394.120941
EAN: 9780007199471
ISBN: 0007199473
Label: HarperPerennial
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: June 02, 2008
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Studio: HarperPerennial

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk:
How long does it take before somebody becomes a national treasure? It's certainly happened to Nigel Slater, and Eating for England is a highly enjoyable reminder of just why we esteem the estimable Mr Slater. Subtitled The Delights & Eccentricities of the British at Table, this is wonderfully entertaining stuff, explaining such matters as how some of our most cherished foods are the result of frugality (bread and butter pudding, for instance, is the direct result of utilising a few slices of leftover bread and a pat of butter, rather than culinary aspiration). As Slater points out, the British have a relationship with food which is quite unlike that of any other nation -- for many years, we were reluctant to discuss food matters (leaving culinary discussion to, for instance, the French), but we now appear to be in the grip of a national food obsession, with program after program on television and -- inevitably -- a host of books on the subject. But few are written as entertainingly as Nigel Slater's. It isn't just the discussion of food itself (from haute cuisine to the humblest of comfort foods) that's so diverting here, but other sociological (and tongue-in-cheek) related matters, such as `A Teenager at the Table' (`The shoulders droop, the head hangs sulkily down, eyes glaring intently at an invisible spot on their lap. Their whole body seems to say `I'm not eating this'). And Nigel Slater is perfectly happy to address subjects not found in any other food books (such as the modest chocolate bar -- different varieties are entertainingly compared and contrasted).

This is a personal portrait of the British and their food, filled with love of the eccentricities and peculiarities that encapsulate the national character. And it's great fun. --Barry Forshaw




Rating: - Pick n' Mix
"Eating for England" is a Pick n' Mix of a book. Read it all in one go and it gets repetitive and downright indigestible. But there are a few sweet and well-written little pieces within that make the book worthwhile. I would not really recommend this to anyone under 30 or over 65: and if you are the sort of person who is quickly bored by 40-somethings reminiscing about BBC children's programs of the 1960s or long-vanished crisp flavours, then you should give it a miss, too.

Where Nigel ... Read More

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Rating: - You'd have to be a Nigel ...
... to write this. Or a Jeremy. Or possibly a Terence. But maybe we all have anorak-y tendencies when it comes to name-checking the fondly remembered foods of our 1950s and 60s childhoods.
But sorry, Nigel - you've done this too many times before - and so have too many other people. Spangles, Dairylea triangles, Jammie Dodgers, Tunnock's teacakes have had the Proustian treatment before. And let's face it though Spangles now RIP, nearly all of these along with Sarson's vinegar and Bisto can be ... Read More

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Rating: - A disappointing mess of a book
"Eating For England" is re-heated "Toast". Disappointingly, Slater has produced a clunker here, and where Toast worked because he linked food memories to his own childhood, this latest volume lacks any structure on which to hang various short observations and sketches about food. What's more, it's quite repetitive in places, and simpy doesn't work in others.

Slater at his best pinpoints a long forgotten food memory that several of us of a certain age will have had. There are a few gems ... Read More

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Rating: - All puddings are English. Nigel is a pudding. Therefore Nigel, regrettably, is English.
Eating for England - The Delights and Eccentricities of the BRITISH at Table? I skimmed this book before delivering it to one of my numbskull relatives as a birthday present. After seeing the response here to this curious choice of words I'm reminded that no-one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the public.

It's an easy enough volume to follow. The layout is good, the writing merry and informal (if slightly knowing in the unappealing sense of the word 'clever'). There is ... Read More

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Rating: - farmer's market propaganda
I must say there were many times where I laughed out loud or smiled in relation to many things I do or eat and how they are quintessentially British. I also learned that I AM the 'oh-i-never-measure-anything cook.' The experience of reading this lovely book, however has been marred by every other page judging people for not going to local greengrocers and not supporting farmer's markets.

I may be lucky enough to afford (or just a good budgeter!) to eat organic/local/fairtrade and have time ... Read More

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