Have you ever suffered from museum blindness? A complete overwhelm at the sheer amount of stuff – often quite similar stuff – that prevents you from focusing on any one item? I know I have. Two-thirds of the way around a museum, even one I have true enthusiasm for, I find my eyes sliding off exhibits, reading the captions but not taking anything in.
I have discovered the antidote in Repast by Jenny Linford. Produced in conjunction with the British Museum, using its collection and curators, it explores the global history of cooking, eating and drinking. At first glance it could simply be a coffee-table book. A thing of beauty, it is heavy to hold, with gorgeous full-page illustrations. But it is far more than that.
‘Food is universal, yet particular,’ Linford begins. The goal of almost all gastronomic writing is to show that duality. Telling the story of food through specific items that span the world and recorded history is an effective way to achieve this. Linford is the author of more than 20 books on food, so is well-placed to take the curious reader on a global journey touching on themes concerned with the way we eat. Her voice is authoritative and intelligent as she leads us through them in broadly chronological order, beginning with hunting and gathering.
She is certainly a skilful storyteller. Her whistlestop tour can convey more in one page than many food monographs in 300. And the illustrations can be surprisingly moving. One, from the 19th-century Japanese series ‘The cloth-fulling jewel river’, of a woman trying to concentrate on peeling fruit while a baby clambers over her shoulder, would be instantly recognisable to anyone who has spent time feeding children.
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