Bookreview – The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

Story inspired by the cookery queen Eliza Acton

Think cooking and bakery started with Mary Berry or Fannie Craddock? This book details the woman who formed what was to become the first cookbook – as we know it today. A book filled with recipes and lists of ingredients. How did it come to be and who was this Eliza Acton?

A story full of fact and fiction. Sprinkled with humour and mixed together with the skill of a passionate wordsmith…

Boarding Pass Information : 

Destination : London

Author guide: Annabel Abbs

Genre: Aromatic fiction

Food and drink to accompany: Everything in the book!

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BookTrail locations in The Language of Food

I love stories with some pages dipped in reality and the others in fiction. This is one of those books and, if you ezcuse the pun, the author cooks  up quite a literary feast.

The story is about Eliza Acton and Ann Kirby her assistant. They are cooks and working on what will be the greatest British Cook Book of all time. Eliza changed the way that cookery books were written and how cooks after her presented their recipes. In a nutshell, she was the woman who changed the face of baking and cookery books by listing the ingredients separately at the start of the recipe. Seems like common sense today but then it was revolutionary as no-one had thought of it before.

BookTrail locations in The Language of Food

BookTrail locations in The Language of Food

I enjoyed reading about Eliza and how she got to to be a cook in the first place. She has to suffer many humiliations along the way and her father is bankrupt putting more pressure on the family. Eliza want to be a poet but is instead asked to write a cookery book for women. She is offended and doesn’t really know much about cookery but she gets an assistant in Ann who is 17 and caring for her parents She does want to be a cook and together the two of them cook up something (sorry not sorry) quite remarkable. This was the part of the story that I particularly enjoyed -seeing them try and fail, try something else, tinker with an idea and then come to a solution. It’s quite brilliant when you realise what they were up against and the time in history we are talking about.

The best ingredient in this story is the friendship between the twosome. As they cooked and chatted, I wanted to walk into that kitchen, grab a plate and join them. I am thinking in particular of that lovely French dinner that they linger over…..

Oh the food, the flavours, the aromas and that cover!! I am in that kitchen with these two women covered in flour and chatting, cooking and baking and I am loving it!

BookTrail locations in The Language of Food

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More books about food

BookTrail Boarding Pass:  The Language of Food

Twitter:  @annabelabbs  Web: https://www.annabelabbs.com/