The curiosities of food : or, The dainties and delicacies of different nations obtained from the animal kingdom / by Peter Lund Simmonds, F.R.G.S., F.S.S.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund), 1814-1897.

Contributor:

Davidson, Alan, 1924-2003, writer of introduction.

Chef Fritz Blank Culinary Archive and Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Culinary Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Food.

Penn Provenance:

Blank, Fritz (bookplate) (donor)

Physical Description:

10 unnumbered pages, xvi, 372 pages, 2 unnumbered pages ; 18 cm

Edition:

Facsimile edition, First Ten Speed Press edition / with an introduction by Alan Davidson.

Other Title:

Curiosities of food

Dainties and delicacies of different nations obtained from the animal kingdom

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, Calif. : Ten Speed Press, 2001.

Summary:

Originally published in London in 1859, this rare treasure of culinary history was recently brought to light in the award-winning Oxford Companion to Food, whose author, Alan Davidson, used it as a primary reference in researching some of the more obscure foodstuffs consumed across the globe. Davidson writes that Curiosities "is in all probability the first attempt to write a general worldwide survey of animal products." Long out of print, this lost classic of wit, erudition, and grand storytelling is now made available in a facsimile edition, with an introduction by Davidson. As Simmonds reveals in his charming culinary travelogue, just about everything that walks, swims, crawls, slithers, or flies has been eaten at one time or another, and the eminent Victorian scholar has the tasting notes.

As Simmonds muses, there is simply no accounting for taste. The author's bold attempt to do so, however, stands as one of the greatest works of gastronomy -- a true culinary cabinet of wonders.

Contents:

Preliminary Remarks

Quadrumana

Pachydermata, or Thick-Skinned Animals

Ruminantia and Cetacea

Birds

Grallatores

Natatores

Reptilia

Fish

Insects

Arachnida

Crustacea

Mollusca, & c.

Concluding Remarks.

Notes:

Originally published: London : Rirchard Bentley, 1859.

Jacket design by Nancy Austin.

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Kislak Center Chef Fritz Blank Culinary Archive and Library copy presented to the Penn Libraries by Fritz Blank in 2008.

Kislak copy has bookplate of Chef Fritz Blank.

Kislak copy has dust jacket retained.

ISBN:

1580082971

OCLC:

46353455