A History of English Food

A learned, serious tome, packed with information and history

Guardian

A most entertaining book

BBC Olive Magazine

A well researched captivating book

Food and Travel

An impressive achievement, and, at over 500 pages long and fully illustrated throughout, a very substantial read. Just as well, then that Dickson Wright picked the mid-twelfth century as a launch pad. If she'd begun any earlier, then the result would either have been too heavy to hold, or lacking in the rich details that makes it such an entertaining read

Optima

CDW has produced a most relishable feast

The Monday Book, Independent

Centuries of cooks, farmers, traders, chefs, writers and immigrants have contributed to how we eat, and big, ambitious books like this remind us of our foodie heritage

Saga

Combining her two great passions of food and history, she takes us on a chatty and fascinating crawl from Medieval times when pigeons, eels and nettles were staples, to the pizzas, baked beans and chips of today ... consistently entertaining and informative

Daily Mail

Engaging because it is so full of interesting facts and old recipes, all related in Dickson Wright's resonant, no-nonsense manner and suffused with her love for food ... readable and enjoyable

Sophia Waugh, Literary Review

Forget the dry and dusty tomes about British food, mouldering on library shelves, this is the book to get your taste buds glowing. Clarissa has written a racy and readable account of a thousand years of English cuisine and it makes an ideal Christmas present ... But at 500 pages, it's not to be taken lightly - make sure they're sitting down before you hand it over

the culinaryguide.co.uk

Her passion for food is the vital ingredient in this marvellous mélange

Cumbria Newsletter

Like a good cake, this book is stuffed with so many goodies that it is hard to know where to start ... This is a wonderful book. The author's research has been first-rate, her experience lends colour to a work which might otherwise have become efficient but impersonal ... it is a feast in every sense

Bookbag.com

Magnificently eccentric and robustly informative ... an impressive tour of the horizon of a well-stocked mind ... [a] glorious sense of the continuity of English cuisine from the Middle Ages to the present shines from every page of this engaging, funny and admirably entertaining history

Sunday Telegraph

One of the strengths of the book is the author's comprehensive personal experience of the foods she describes. If you want to know the correct way to fillet a rook, or are curious about the taste of tripe made from cow's udder, then you couldn't hope for a more knowledgeable guide

Mail on Sunday

Seen through the filter of food, especially when it's described by Clarissa Dickson Wright, history becomes fascinating ... this is a wonderful exploration of the life and times of our country

Choice

Surely destined for classic status

Independent

This is a marvellous read ... [Clarissa Dickson Wright's] skill is to make food, even 800 years ago, seem relevant and amusing today

Country Life

What Clarissa brings to her less stringent, more capricious, generously illustrated account is a magical sense of almost having been there at every twist and turn, such is her passion for livestock animal husbandry and cultivation of the edible... [this will be] one of the better culinary Christmas presents

Fay Maschler, The Spectator

Witty, intelligent and readable even for those who have no interest in gastronomy, this is a work of maturity, the fruits of a lifetime spent rummaging through public and private archives, including those of her own family. If, as Clarissa Dickson Wright explains, A History of English Food is a book she always wanted to write, it is our good fortune that she has waited until now to do so

Times Literary Supplement

Written with Clarissa's special blend of wit and wisdom, this imparts a wealth of information while being fun to read. Whether you dip in for such tidbits or read through to gain a thorough understanding of how English cookery has evolved, there's something here for everyone. Fully illustrated, this is destined to be a foodie classic

BBC Good Food