Mr Porter reviews Menus That Made History

The first review of Menus That Made History is out, featuring some very kind words from Mr Ben Olsen at Mr Porter who says it "encourages us to look beyond simply what we’re eating and consider things that are far more significant than the meal itself". Here's a snippet:

Not all the menus explored by Messrs Franklin and Johnson are quite so macabre. Shining a spotlight on our mealtime preferences from the prehistoric – think woolly rhinoceros, waterlilies and tree bark – to the post-industrial, Menus That Made History charts our changing tastes and societal trends, and captures significant moments, from sporting successes to royal weddings, via the dishes served to our tables.

Their research takes in a variety of approaches, with some entries stemming from original copies of feted menus to others pieced together from accounts in diaries, instructions to kitchens and even studies into the dental plaque of ancient corpses. “We eat to survive and we eat to celebrate,” say Messrs Franklin and Johnson. “But this is not really a book about food – it’s about understanding what these culinary snapshots can tell us about certain times and places in our global history.”

You can read the whole thing here.