The Oxford Companion to Food  (English, Hardcover, Davidson Alan)

Twenty years in the making, the first edition of Alan Davidson's magnum opus  appeared in 1999 to worldwide acclaim. Its combination of serious food history, culinary expertise, and entertaining serendipity was recognized as utterly unique. Including both an exhaustive catalogue of the foods that nourish humankind-fruit from tropical forests, mosses scraped from adamantine granite in Siberian wastes, or ears, eyeballs and testicles from a menagerie of animals-and a richly allusive commentary on the culture of food, whether expressed in literature and cookbooks, or as dishes peculiar to a country or community, the Oxford Companion to Food immediately found distinction.

The study of food and food history was a new discipline at the time, but one that has developed exponentially in the years since. There are now university departments, international societies, and academic journals, in addition to a wide range of popular literature exploring the meaning of food in the daily lives of people around the world.

Alan Davidson famously wrote eighty percent of the first edition, which was praised for its wit as well as its wisdom. Tom Jaine, the editor of the second edition, worked closely with Jane Davidson and Helen Saberi to ensure that new contributions continue in the same style. The result is an expanded volume that remains faithful to Davidson's peerless work. The text has been updated where necessary to keep pace with a rapidly changing subject, and Jaine assiduously alerts readers to new avenues in food studies. Agriculture; archaeology; food in art, film, literature, and music; globalization; neuroanatomy; and the Silk Road are covered for the first time, and absorbing new articles on confetti; cutlery; doggy bags; elephant; myrrh; and potluck have also found their way into the Companion.

Salient Features

• Second edition of this international bestseller, which won prizes and accolades around the world when first published in 1999
• Alan Davidson famously wrote 80 per cent of the Companion, which was acclaimed for its wit as well as its contents; the second edition retains almost every word Alan Davidson wrote, and takes care that new contributions continue in the same style
• New edition ensures that the Companion maintains its place at the forefront of an exciting new field
• Includes more than 70 new entries - on topics such as doggy bags, elephant, food in space, globalization, potluck, and television and food
• New entries written by some of the foremost contemporary food writers, including Rachel Lauden, Harold McGee, and Bee Wilson
• Hundreds of entries - from artichoke to wild rice - updated to take account of recent developments and changing food fashions
• Major bibliography now brought right up to date
• Almost 200 beautiful line drawings - now enhanced by a two-colour text design