Books for a Keen Cook

Good Things in England

'Ever wondered how to cook Thomas Hardy's frumenty, make Izaak Walton's Minnow Tansies or pickle elder buds?' asked the Sunday Telegraph. Good Things in England is a collection of 853 regional recipes dating back to the C14th. First published in 1932, it was written by Florence White, the country's first ever freelance food journalist, and, like all classic culinary works, it is a pleasure to read.

'A marvellous compendium of recipes' declared Matthew Fort in the Guardian; 'one of the most influential cookery books of the C20th' said the Church Times; and in Saga magazine Derek Cooper wrote about 'a remarkable woman called Florence White... who believed that "we had the finest cookery in the world but it has been nearly lost by neglect.''' 'The book is a classic,' said Elizabeth David, 'in that the author's collection of English recipes is unique and their authenticity unquestioned. The book is also a lovely one to read, full of fresh ideas and appetising descriptions of English specialities.'

Endpaper

The endpaper, a 1932 Duncan Grant fabric which Leonard and Virginia Woolf had as curtains and on a sofa, is called 'Grapes'.