The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence
Biscuits are as British as fish and chips or the Sunday roast and they have been for centuries. From sustenance for explorers to comfort food for a nation, here is the surprising, wide-ranging, social history of Britain through the biscuit.

Bourbons. Custard Creams. Rich Tea. Jammie Dodgers. Chocolate Digestives. Shortbread. Ginger snaps. Which is your favorite?

British people eat more biscuits than any other nation; they are as embedded in the culture as fish and chips or the Sunday roast. But for Briitsh people biscuits are not only tasty treats to go with a cup of tea, the sustenance they afford is often emotional, evoking nostalgic memories of childhood.

Lizzie Collingham begins in Roman times when biscuits – literally, ‘twice-baked’ bread – became the staple of the poor; she takes us to the Middle East, where the addition of sugar to the dough created the art of confectionery. Yet it was in Britain that bakers experimented to create today's huge variety of biscuits. And when the Industrial Revolution led to their mass production, biscuits became integral to the British diet.

We follow the humble biscuit’s transformation from durable staple for sailors, explorers and colonists to sweet luxury for the middling classes to comfort food for an entire nation. Like an assorted tin of biscuits, this charming and beautifully illustrated book has something to offer for everyone, combining recipes for hardtack and macaroons, Shrewsbury biscuits and Garibaldis, with entertaining and eye-opening vignettes of social history.
1138654844
The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence
Biscuits are as British as fish and chips or the Sunday roast and they have been for centuries. From sustenance for explorers to comfort food for a nation, here is the surprising, wide-ranging, social history of Britain through the biscuit.

Bourbons. Custard Creams. Rich Tea. Jammie Dodgers. Chocolate Digestives. Shortbread. Ginger snaps. Which is your favorite?

British people eat more biscuits than any other nation; they are as embedded in the culture as fish and chips or the Sunday roast. But for Briitsh people biscuits are not only tasty treats to go with a cup of tea, the sustenance they afford is often emotional, evoking nostalgic memories of childhood.

Lizzie Collingham begins in Roman times when biscuits – literally, ‘twice-baked’ bread – became the staple of the poor; she takes us to the Middle East, where the addition of sugar to the dough created the art of confectionery. Yet it was in Britain that bakers experimented to create today's huge variety of biscuits. And when the Industrial Revolution led to their mass production, biscuits became integral to the British diet.

We follow the humble biscuit’s transformation from durable staple for sailors, explorers and colonists to sweet luxury for the middling classes to comfort food for an entire nation. Like an assorted tin of biscuits, this charming and beautifully illustrated book has something to offer for everyone, combining recipes for hardtack and macaroons, Shrewsbury biscuits and Garibaldis, with entertaining and eye-opening vignettes of social history.
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The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence

The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence

by Lizzie Collingham
The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence

The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence

by Lizzie Collingham

Paperback(First edition)

$21.99 
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Overview

Biscuits are as British as fish and chips or the Sunday roast and they have been for centuries. From sustenance for explorers to comfort food for a nation, here is the surprising, wide-ranging, social history of Britain through the biscuit.

Bourbons. Custard Creams. Rich Tea. Jammie Dodgers. Chocolate Digestives. Shortbread. Ginger snaps. Which is your favorite?

British people eat more biscuits than any other nation; they are as embedded in the culture as fish and chips or the Sunday roast. But for Briitsh people biscuits are not only tasty treats to go with a cup of tea, the sustenance they afford is often emotional, evoking nostalgic memories of childhood.

Lizzie Collingham begins in Roman times when biscuits – literally, ‘twice-baked’ bread – became the staple of the poor; she takes us to the Middle East, where the addition of sugar to the dough created the art of confectionery. Yet it was in Britain that bakers experimented to create today's huge variety of biscuits. And when the Industrial Revolution led to their mass production, biscuits became integral to the British diet.

We follow the humble biscuit’s transformation from durable staple for sailors, explorers and colonists to sweet luxury for the middling classes to comfort food for an entire nation. Like an assorted tin of biscuits, this charming and beautifully illustrated book has something to offer for everyone, combining recipes for hardtack and macaroons, Shrewsbury biscuits and Garibaldis, with entertaining and eye-opening vignettes of social history.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781529112245
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Publication date: 05/15/2022
Edition description: First edition
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lizzie Collingham taught History at Warwick University and was a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge before becoming an independent historian. Her books include Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors and The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food. She is currently an Associate Fellow of Warwick University and the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. She recently completed a project researching the history of the kitchens of the Indian President’s palace and regularly lectures on a gastronomic tour of Kerala. She works in a garden shed near Cambridge.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xiii

Chapter 1 In which the slaves in the Modestus bakery over-bake their bread 1

Chapter 2 In which Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi writes a poem about sweet biscuits 11

Chapter 3 In which Bartolomeo Scappi serves Pope Pius IV mostaccioli biscuits 17

Wafers and Waffles 32

Chapter 4 In which Lady Elinor Fettiplace bakes 'stif bisket bread' 39

Gingerbread 55

Chapter 5 In which Spanish fishermen make biscuit soup on the Barbary coast 66

Chapter 6 In which Joseph Banks enjoys fish and biscuit boiled for about an hour 81

Chapter 7 In which Mrs Elizabeth Raffald opens a confectionery shop in Manchester 96

Funeral Biscuits 114

Chapter 8 In which Henry Mayhew marvels at the fabrication of fancy biscuits by a series of cog-wheels and cranks 117

Digestive Biscuits 140

Chapter 9 In which the English drown the French market with cataracts of plain and fancy biscuits 152

Chapter 10 In which King Mwanga puts the lid on one of John Roscoe's last tins of Osborne biscuits and carries them home 166

Biscuit Tins 178

Chapter 11 In which May Hanaphy gives every penny of the 11s. 6d she earned at Jacob's to her mother 187

Chapter 12 In which Private G. L. Verney has fried corned beef and biscuit for breakfast, cold bully beef and biscuit for lunch and bully beef and biscuit stew for supper 204

Anzac Biscuits 220

Chapter 13 In which Pam Ashford anxiously stockpiles biscuits 226

Conclusion 245

Acknowledgements 250

Notes and References 251

Bibliography 275

Index 297

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