The Language of Food: "Mouth-watering and sensuous, a real feast for the imagination" BRIDGET COLLINS

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In addition to the mouth-watering depictions of dishes created by Eliza and Ann, I was also impressed by the way Annabel Abbs wove poetry and poeticism throughout the narrative. She draws on Eliza Acton's known work, as well as that of other Victorian "lady poets" including Felicia Hemans and Letitia E. Landon. Ann Kirby is hired as her assistant cook and the two develop a friendship outside of the normal social class boundaries. As the two women's friendship develops, we see Ann looking up to Eliza as she is taught about not only cooking but about poetry, life skills and love. Eliza has become a real mentor to her. Interesting but even book that would be better as a magazine long-read. Why do menus or TV ads always use buzzwords to make foods sound better (juicy cuts of steak, fresh vegetables, locally-sourced products, etc.)? What's the origins of ketchup? Why do we propose a toast? Before Nigella, before Julia Childs, before even Mrs Beeton, there was Eliza Acton who dreams of being a poet but in 1835, the only way for her to get published and to keep her family in funds is to write a cookery book. To this end, Eliza takes on a maid, Ann Kirby, and forge an unlikely partnership even as Eliza embarks on writing what is now considered the first modern cookery book.Told from both Eliza and Ann’s voices, The Language Of Food, is a feast for the senses and also shows that its friendship, rather than food, that nourishes the soul. Julie And Julia but make it Victorian!" RED

The best ingredient in this story is the friendship between the twosome. As they cooked and chatted, I wanted to walk into that kitchen, grab a plate and join them. I am thinking in particular of that lovely French dinner that they linger over….. As a frequent reader of historical fiction, it is common to encounter dual timelines these days, which is okay most of the time, but not really my favorite, which was why I enjoyed the format the author used in this novel. Instead of a dual timeline, she used dual first-person narratives from the same time period. This made the story much more effective for me. Eliza Acton wrote a collection of poems and had arranged for it to be published through a publisher. At this point she had been writing poetry for a few years. The book sold well and had several reprintings. Upon writing another collection of poems this one was declined at the publisher, and she was told to write a cookery book. She took ten years to write her cookery book and it was aimed at the English middle class. The book was the first of its kind to list ingredients and a suggested cooking time. Eliza Acton’s original plan to become a poet came to an abrupt halt when a publisher dismissed her work and then had the audacity to suggest she write a cookery book. To make matters worse, her father suffered a reversal of fortune, prompting him to leave the country. Eliza, with limited options, reconsidered the publisher’s suggestion that she write a recipe book. All innovation happens at interstices. Great food is no exception, created at the intersection of cultures as each one modifies and enhances what is borrowed from its neighbors. The language of food is a window onto these “between” places, the ancient clash of civilizations, the modern clash of culture, the covert clues to human cognition, society, and evolution."

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For example (if I remember correctly), study of a large data set shows that a one-letter increase in median word length in the description of menu items correlates with a 19 cent increase in price. On the other hand, the average number of words used on menu descriptions, when compared with price, shows a normal-curve (i.e., inverted “U” shape) distribution, that is, both the cheapest and most expensive restaurant use very few words compared to the mid-range restaurants (wordy culprits are identified as TGI Fridays and Olive Garden, among others). Clever, unsentimental, beautifully detailed and quietly riveting' Elizabeth Buchan, author of Two Women in Rome The setting is England and it's the 1830s. Eliza Acton writes poetry but her publisher is only interested in cookery books. She's lived a life of privilege but times are tough and she could use the money. So she decides to learn how to cook and collects recipes with the hope of perfecting them so they are worthy to be published in her cookbook. Eliza hires Ann Kirby to assist her in the kitchen. Ann needs to do well at her job so she can support her parents. Two women from different walks of life. Is a friendship even possible? This reminds me of an upstairs, downstairs type of book. Very interesting and informative book that I enjoyed a lot. Culinary enthusiast, and fans of strong historical female characters will not want to miss this one!

Libations are still around too. Modern hiphop culture has a libationary tradition of "pouring one out" -- tipping out malt liquor on the ground before drinking, to honor a friend or relative who has passed away - - described in songs like Tupac Shakur's "Pour Out a Little Liquor." (It's especially appropriate that malt liquor, a fortified beer made by adding sugar before fermenting, is itself another descendent of shikaru.) However, I cannot really recommend this to the great number of people who are not in these lines of work. there are some unexpected, appreciated connections. i mean, how often do you think tupac turns up in linguistic tomes? The idea behind this story is pretty good, but with the modern twists and the controversial characteristic features of the protagonists, there were too many things that irked me. And it’s the first book about food that did not urge me to eat or to try some new recipes. True, there were some recipes that I wanted to see how they are written down nowadays (with pictures and all), and some recipes reminded me of my first mouthful of that particular food, but I did not want to eat it again or make it.

I spent 10-20 minutes trying to explain how cool it was to my manager and he nodded and said "Good for you" and kept telling me about New York Times news alerts so I guess it is probably not for everyone but as I said, A book about words and food! What's better than this!