Tucking Into The Kitchens And Dining Rooms Of Royal Families

Often in life, its not what you know but who you know. Food writer Tom Parker Bowles had a distinct advantage in researching this fascinating, witty and alluring book on royal cuisine. His mum is Queen Camilla.

He has chosen to cover the dining habits of monarchs from the time of Queen Victoria, whose gluttony was legendary, to the time of the incumbent king Charles III. Unlike his increasingly rotund ancestor, until his recent cancer treatment, the king would eat nothing at all at lunchtime. More recently, it has been reported he eats half an avocado for his midday meal.

Parker Bowles suggests that if food is a prism through which one can see history and economics, then the cooking of the royal family offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives and habits of British societys upper strata. From the grand, if admittedly dyspeptic, excess of the Victorian and Edwardian ages, when cream, butter, foie gras and truffles were used with giddy abandon, to wartime parsimony no booze, and a mere two courses at breakfast and on into the modern world.

The best thing about this book is it effortlessly weaves together history and recipes recipes that are not daunting or intricate and dont require a fully equipped royal kitchen, 50 staff and a truckload of freshly slaughtered game birds.