Description

‘Delicious… Wonderful’ Guardian

‘Fascinating… Full of incident and food for thought’ Mail on Sunday

‘Delightful… Vogler offers up a feast of tales about popular British foods’ Financial Times

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

A WATERSTONES BEST FOOD & DRINK BOOK OF 2023

Do we control our own food choices?
How do supermarkets shape our eating habits?
And just whose responsibility is it to ensure that the country is fed?

Debates about food banks, free school meals and ultra-processed food might seem a modern concern, but they
are deeply rooted in our history. As bestselling author Pen Vogler shows, from uprisings over the right to common land to national campaigns to feed hungry children, food and politics have always been inseparable.

Entertaining and thought-provoking, Stuffed explores the ideas, events and foods – turnips and strawberries, pies and pudding, bread and beer and, of course, tea – from prehistory to the present that have shaped who we are today.

Publisher Review

A fact-stuffed romp through our edible history... Impressively wide-ranging... [Vogler] relishes the moments where the past crashes up against the present. * The Times * A banquet of fascinating titbits, deep research and intellectual nourishment... Stuffed is dusted, metaphorically speaking, all over with icing sugar: a delicious and tempting thing. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer * Fascinating... A scholarly and imaginative book full of incident and food for thought * Mail on Sunday * Delightful... Vogler offers up a feast of tales about popular British foods, ranging from potatoes to kippers and ale. -- Gillian Tett * Financial Times * Delicious... [Vogler] is excellent, as in her 2020 book Scoff, at foraging among the sources to bring us wonderful stories of older food cultures. * Guardian * In this provocative history of British food, Pen Vogler goes back 400 years to lay the blame for our absurd modern eating habits. * Sunday Times * Engaging... Vogler shows how ongoing - and vital - the battle is to eat well... Deeply researched and great fun. It might make you think twice about what you eat, too. * Evening Standard * There is so much to enjoy in Stuffed... Vogler is a hands-on historian for whom the past is right there in the kitchen, the supermarket and the everyday ingredient. In Stuffed, her delight in the taste and craft of food-making, its stories and its skills is irresistibly palpable. * Literary Review * Vogler's book is divided into the histories of different foods - each telling of supply and demand falling into the right or wrong hands. The stories span pre-Enclosure times to the recent pandemic. They are deeply unsettling and anger-provoking, and it's a book that those who have influence over what we eat should read. -- Rose Prince * Spectator * Persuasive... This clever and informative account confirms that we are indeed what we eat, and that our history is a product of it too. * New Statesman * Eating and feeding are the central projects of all human societies and Stuffed reveals that they are the very best lenses through which to understand our shared history. This is an extraordinary book about food, health and power; meticulously scholarly and extremely funny; as important as it is entertaining. Crucially it slices through the contemporary and historical politics of state versus individual responsibility: eating well is our responsibility, but it is the responsibility of the state to ensure we have that ability. And the book furnishes some ability itself with a series of recipes so that you can dine like a 17th central nobleman or a medieval peasant and feel a little more connected to the story of why we eat what we eat. Shot through with wit and humanity Stuffed is an all-consuming read. -- Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People Thoughtful, thought-provoking and full of fascinating detail (and intriguing recipes), this is a timely reminder we should never take our food for granted. -- Felicity Cloake Pen Vogler's Stuffed may tackle the question of hunger, but it is a generous and irresistible feast of a book. Spanning more than one thousand years of history, and focussing on 26 staple foods, Stuffed details the complex forces that determine diet, making clearer than ever that what we feed ourselves, our families and our communities is socially and politically shaped, and it always has been. -- Polly Russell An ambitious book, leaping merrily from the Neolithic to the modern day... A wry sense of humour keeps it light, widening the appeal beyond food-history devotees, and modernised recipes are cleverly used to illustrate Vogler's points... A fun read and an illuminating look at food inequality - and responsibility - in the past. -- Annie Gray * BBC History Magazine * This culinary history of Britain looks at the foods that sustained, nourished or delighted its inhabitants in times of plenty and hardship... Pen Vogler is warm, wise company throughout * History Revealed, 'Book of the Month' * Serves up a veritable smorgasbord of delicious tidbits as it charts the history of our island through the contents of its dinner plates * Buzz Magazine * This mouthwatering, kaleidoscopic history is infused with a light, informative tone and is convincingly argued... Meticulously researched, spiced with penetrating analysis and rich in colourful detail, Stuffed is a sparkling banquet. * Business Post * Informative, enraging and entertaining in equal measure * Choice Magazine * Packed with facts - fascinating, illuminating, sometimes funny and at times shocking - about the history of food and society... You'll be engrossed from the first page. * Delicious Magazine *