Fooles and Fricassees: Food in Shakespeare's England

Rating:
Summary: An overly broad view of Shakespeare's England
Review: A catalogue from an exhibition held at the Folger Library. Despite its name, many of the subjects are post-Bard: he died in 1616, and quite a few items are dated 1650 to 1700. The exhibition was very broadly focused - everything from plates and cups, recipe books, paintings of diners, and so forth. There are lots of good pictures. The appendix transcribes "Mrs. Sarah Longe her Receipt Booke", published around 1610. It combines recipes ("To make rice-puddings") and dubious medicinal tips ("To stop the bleeding of a wound: Take a peece of an Old hatt, and burne it in the fire to a Cole then grind it to powser, and straw it into the wound."

Rating:
Summary: Review of Fooles & Fricassees
Review: This is a catalogue that was prepared to accompany an exhibition of books and manuscripts that was shown at the Folger Shakespeare Library from September - December 1999. This is not a history of Tudor/Elizabethan food, nor is it a comprehensive bibliography of Tudor/Elizabethan cookbooks. It very much reflects what the Folger owns. The essay by Joan Thirsk is quite good, and it does contain a literal transcription of a c1610 manuscript belonging to a Mrs. Sarah Longe. If you like exhibition catalogues, it's quite a nice one, but certainly not as essential to food history as say C. Anne Wilson's Food and Drink in Britain.