The Oxford Companion to Food

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to Food has been over 20 years in the assembling, but here it is; and it is superlatively worth the wait. In fact, superlatives fall silent. A huge and authoritative dictionary of 2,650 entries on just about every conceivable foodstuff, seasoning, cuisine, cooking method, historical survey, significant personage and explication of myth, it is supplemented by some 40 longer articles on key items. Davidson himself (no relation) contributes approximately 80% of the 2,650 entries, thereby guaranteeing high levels of erudition, readability and deadpan feline wit. Since this is a monument intended to last, nothing so frivolous as a recipe is included. A decision taken early in the development of the project to abjure issues whose significance is largely topical has also ensured an agreeable high-mindedness--nothing on those crucial but essentially dreary topics BSE and GM foods, for example.

If a fault could be found, it would only be that it's often difficult to read to the end of an entry, as the abundant cross-referencing all too easily sends one off to another entry, thence bouncing off to another, and all too soon the original is forgotten. A random alphabet of seductions might include: Aardvark, Botulism, Cup Cake, David (Elizabeth), Enzymes, Fat-Tailed Sheep, Gender/Sex and Food, Hallucinogenic Mushrooms, Ice Cream Sundae, Jewish Dietary Laws, Kangaroos, Lobscouse, Microwave Cooking, Norway, Offal, Puffin, Queen of Puddings, Roti, Scurvy, Termite Heap Mushroom (or Taillevant), Umeboshi, Vegetarianism, Washing up (a very elegant little article), sadly no X, Yin-yang and Zabaglione. As this might show, Alan Davidson's aim, borrowed from Dumas' great Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, that his work would appeal not only to persons of "serious character" but also those "of a much lighter disposition", is utterly fulfilled. --Robin Davidson

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Mail on Sunday (Live- Night and Day), January 28, 2007
This gem of food reference retains the wit, elegance, erudition
and style that made the first edition so memorable.

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Review
There is no better way to stave off the winter blues than the second edition of Alan Davidson's The Oxford Companion to Food. Tom Jaine has taken over from the late Davidson and he is a worthy heir. This gem of food reference retains the wit, elegance, erudition and style that made the first edition so memorable. (Tom Parker Bowles, Mail on Sunday (Live - Night and Day) )

Seriously fascinating (Cathy Pryor, Independent )

No kitchen should be without The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Edition. An absorbing culinary reference book, worth its weight in foie gras. (Image magazine Ireland, )

Extraordinarily comprehensive and detailed. As a reference book it is unlikely to be surpassed but it is also a fun book to dip into and every page includes masses of startling and original information. (Tom Jaine, Country Landowner Magazine )

The Oxford Companion to Wine - like the Food Companion it is detailed, scholarly and endlessly fascinating. (Tom Jaine, Country Landowner Magazine )

essential reference guide (Daily Express )

Brilliantly original

An astonishing encyclopaedia of food, food history and culinary knowledge...Enjoyable to read, enlivened by Alan Davidson's easy wit and humour... This book will appeal to anyone with a serious interest in food - Especially if they like their facts spiced with a little humour (Food magazine )

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Food Magazine, October 11, 2006
An astonishing encyclopaedia of food, food history and culinary
knowledge.

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Food Magazine, October 11, 2006
Enjoyable to read, enlivened by Alan Davidson's easy wit and
humour...

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Image magazine Ireland, Nov/Dec 2006
No kitchen should be without The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd
Edition

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Image magazine Ireland, Nov/Dec 2006
An absorbing culinary reference book, worth its weight in foie
gras.

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Independent, 10 Dec 2006
'seriously fascinating'

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Cathy Pryor, Independent
"seriously fascinating"

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Tom Jaine, Country Landowner Magazine
"The Oxford Companion to Wine - like the Food Companion it is detailed, scholarly and endlessly fascinating."

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2000-06-21 rating:
Probably the best reference on food around
20 years work and 2650 entries. Alan Davidson has long been my favourite food author and this confirms it.

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review by: S.S.H. date: 2000-05-11 rating:
A simply excellent reference book, and readable with it.
This is a great book for both reference, and just to browse through when the mood takes. The content is clear and concise, and as an amateur food writer, it has never failed to yield the information I needed when researching a subject. The entries are by no means exhaustive but gives enough to certainly use as a basis for further research, or indeed just settle an argument with a friend!

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review by: date: 1999-12-28 rating:
Very much worth reading for any lover of food
If you are like me - you like food -, then you will enjoy this book a lot. It might be of practical value to your daily life now and then, but I think that this is not its strong point. It is an excellent volume to browse at random, or to look up a fact about a particular foodstuff that you always wanted to know. It is very pleasant book to read in any respect. The lay-out is beautiful, something that has become rare these days. The authors (it's not just Alan Davidson alone) write in a very accessible way, so that I can recommend this work to non-native speakers of English (like myself) as well.

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review by: date: 1999-12-01 rating:
An outstanding compilation of everything to do with food.
This is a remarkable book, highly readable, endlessly fascinating and an essential addition to every foodie's library. It is not only the sort of book that is a delight to browse through while eating solitary breakfasts, but a book that comes out over dinner when food is part of a serious discussion. There are minor errors to be found in descriptions of more obscure regional dishes; for example the Northeast Brazilian dish 'Vatapa' which is a thick nut based sauce is confused with 'Mocequa' , a seafood casserole which it usually accompanies. However this is minor carping for a book containing such a depth and breadth of food knowledge.


review by: date: 1999-11-20 rating:
Excellent (times 20) -- by Emma Cookson
Alan Davidson is my grandfather and has been writing this book for twenty years, way before I was even born. I'm thirteen, so he started writing it when I was minus seven years old. I have read lots of his entries on an enormous range of different topics - from Aardvark to Zucchini. I can assure you that my grandfather really knows an awful lot about foods from all over the world and throughout human history. He writes in a really amusing and interesting way. I recommend this book to you, not only as a reference work, but as a source of endless amusement and surprise. It may interest you to know that whenever I am in a restaurant with him and my grandmother, he always seems to order the best dishes (putting his knowledge to good use, I see).

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