The Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World

A thoroughly researched examination of how Empire improves efficiency of getting goods to different places around the world but also how it fucks over nutritional availability to its colonies. My only quibble is Collingham's take on British companies trading Indian opium to China- she likens it to the tea that working class Brits used as an end-of-the-day tipple, but opium-derived drugs are still considered highly addictive today over anything from C. sinensis... Regardless, this is chock-full of citations on how Britain impacted global foodways.

In this time of globalisation we take it for granted that we can access food from all around the world but this wasn't always the case. In this book Collingham looks at the impact of the British Empire on the diets back home but also those abroad. Taking as stimulus accounts from history and fiction describing food, she looks at how trade and economics have affected nutrition. The book is truly fascinating, how maize from the Americas is a staple now in Africa, how opium was traded for tea and shockingly the addiction to sugar in Britain through the ages. Packed with interesting vignettes, immaculately researched and genuinely engaging to read, this is a scholarly book with the populist touch.

The flavor of this book is show up for the evolution of British food consumption, stay for for the examination of a food production system largely based on various degrees of labor oppression. Collingham starts with the exploitation of the Newfoundland cod fisheries and English efforts to plant their vision of agriculture in Ireland, with the climax being the Great Bengal Famine of World War II. The book thus ends on a weak note, as the author contemplates a contemporary British food culture that often feels like a pantomime of empire but seems to be unsustainable. I suspect that the real brick through the window is Collingham's argument that the social damage done by the British opium trade in China has been somewhat exaggerated, show more though she is quite unsparing of other British crimes in the pursuit of the calories needed to keep their industrial machine turning. show less

Unexpectedly great! It artfully manages to weave all those popular "one thing that influenced the world" books in a coherent, restrained yet utterly enlightening narrative. And since it deals with a truly global and ever reaching empire it could be called the best take on the popular world food history so far. I absolutely didn't count on such a masterful execution! Sheer brilliance!

This is a wide ranging book on this history of foods and meals in the England and the British Empire between 1545 and 1996. It is not a systematic review which was originally off-putting. But the use of narrative began to peak my interest and I went through the book. This is an attempt as to what cookery and family living was actually like among different classes of people. Because off the empire, food sources are from everywhere, and meals are shown to be very diverse, even if not the paragon of nutrition. Part 1 covers Newfoundland, Ireland, New England, West Indies, West Africa and Covent Garden - London. Part 2 covers Lancashire, South Carolina, South Africa, and Boston. Part 3 takes one Bihar, New Zealand, British Columbia, and the show more Society Islands (near Tahiti. Part 4 covers Guyana, Manchester (England), Kenya, North African desert, and London at Christmas. show less