Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England

Rating:
Summary: NOT for the Serious Food Scholar
Review: I purchased this book for two reasons: to increase my collection of Early Period food resources and to support a fellow SCAdian. I hope that I succeeded in the latter, but was sorely disappointed in the former. Ms. Savelli may be a reasonable scholar in other areas of Anglo-Saxon research, but her foray into the realm of Early Period food is sorely lacking. She bases much of her findings on a medical treatise of the period, and regularly substitutes ingredients with incredibly weak, or completely absent supporting evidence. I do NOT recommend this book for anyone wishing to research or redact documentable Anglo-Saxon recipes. However, it might be useful for someone wishing to merely experience a "peri-oid" Anglo-Saxon meal or as a starting point for further research and redaction. I would not, under any circumstances, use these recipes as published and claim that they are "documentable" or "authentic" in any way. A decent, if sometimes questionable bibliography, though.