About the Author

Dorothy Hartley (1893-1985) wrote numerous books on British culture and history, including the six volumes of LIFE AND WORK OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. FOOD IN ENGLAND is regarded as a classic of its kind, with a deep influence on many contemporary cooks and food writers.

Reviews

A classic book without any worthy successor - a must for any keen English cook -- Delia Smith
A history of British food that has the same, odd, dreamy, lysergic air as THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS. Takes you through an England of roast swans, possets, syllabubs, gold-leaf jellies, boiled elvers and elderflower fritters -- Caitlin Moran * New York Times *
A curious mixture of cookery, history, anthropology and even magic ... I'd always been a big fan of FOOD IN ENGLAND for its readability and exuberance -- Lucy Worsley * Daily Telegraph *
Extraordinary, idiosyncratic and utterly absorbing * BBC Countryfile Magazine *
This is not a book of recipes but it celebrates food, the history of food and almost, you might say, the philosophy of food. It changes the way you think; the article about tracklements is particularly wonderful. You don't know what a tracklement is? The answer is here -- Terry Pratchett * Sunday Express *
Dorothy Hartley's ingenious ideas were one of my first inspirations; they show that English food should never be dismissed as boring -- Josceline Dimbleby
A treasure-house of knowledge and delight * TLS *
Dorothy Hartley's FOOD IN ENGLAND has been in print for 58 years - and no wonder. It's a sharp and funny compendium of cooking tips and treats, from medieval times to the modern day ... The past is not a foreign country to Hartley. It is ever-present in her kitchen, among the spices and preserving jars. The book is a compendium of favourite tips and treats, many of which just happen to be several hundred years old ... To spend time in Hartley's untidy but fantastically well-stocked kitchen is to feel that the food of England past is not entirely dead -- Bee Wilson * Guardian *
[FOOD IN ENGLAND] captures the very essence of English cooking -- Tom Parker Bowles * Daily Telegraph *
A true source-book, a labour of love ... a plum-pudding of a book - stuffed with all manner of delicious things, all the better for the keeping -- Elisabeth Luard
For food scholarship at its best see Dorothy Hartley's robust, idiosyncratic, irresistible FOOD IN ENGLAND ... As packed with diverse and fascinating information as a Scotch bun with fruit, this untidy bundle of erudition is held together by the writer's huge enjoyment of her subject, her immense curiosity about everything to do with the growth, preparation, preservation and eating of food in this country since the Middle Ages * The Sunday Times *
A classic book without any worthy successor - a must for any keen English cook * DELIA Smith *
Dorothy Hartley's Food in England has been in print for 58 years - and no wonder. It's a sharp and funny compendium of cooking tips and treats * Guardian *
Dorothy Hartley's ingenious ideas were one of my first inspirations; they show that English food should never be dismissed as boring * JOSCELINE DIMBLEBY *
extraordinary, idiosyncratic and utterly absorbing * BBC COUNTRYFILE MAGAZINE *