Reviews
A well-written and well-researched work that uses food to reintroduce readers to a fascinating group. Public libraries should consider., "Just when you think everything has been written about the Bloomsbury Group . . . The Bloomsbury Cookbook offers a fascinating culinary perspective. Much more than a cookbook. . . . A social and cultural history liberally spiced with gossip, allowing us to "taste" the heady lives of the Bloomsbury Group.", Seamlesslyweaves together history, recipes, hand-written notes, and liberal quotes fromthe characters involved for a unique literary and culinary feast., Through painstaking research, Rolls has pieced together a gastronomical history of the Bloomsbury group, providing an intimate peek into the past and revealing a new facet of the group's friendship. . . . Rolls offers readers a chance to experience the Bloomsbury group like never before., Plumbs an inarguably rich archive of food references and recipes among Woolf's circle. . . . Ondaatje Rolls's whimsical sensibility, good humor, and excellent storytelling skills are distinguishing features of the entire work., Truly an artifact that offers an intimate tablesideexperience to witness the lives, dreams, conversationsand meals of one of our most influential artistic and intellectualcommunities., A revelatory collection of art, history, photography and literary memoir of the Bloomsbury Group, as seen through recipes culled from the culinary archives and personal cookbooks of its members.
Synopsis
Gathered at these tables were many of the great figures in art, literature, and economics as the modern world was created and tirelessly interpreted: E.M. Forster, Roger Fry, J.M. Keynes, Lytton Strachey, and Virginia Woolf, among many others. Arranged chronologically from the late 19th century through the ascendency of the group between the wars, all the way to their present-day legacy, the book gathers together hundreds of photographs, letters, journals, paintings, and delicious recipes--some handwritten and never-before-published--that bring to life the group's lingering breakfasts and "painting lunches." Part cookbook, part social and cultural history, The Bloomsbury Cookbook will delight the modern chef searching for a certain distinctiveness, but also recreates an intimate portrait of a vastly influential intellectual and artistic community., Sheds light on the vivid personalities, ideas, and achievements of the Bloomsbury Group from a unique culinary perspective, Throwing aside the stifling mores of late Victorian Britain, the Bloomsbury Group fostered a fresh, creative and vital way of living that encouraged debate and communication ('only connect'), as often as not across the dining table. Gathered at these tables were many of the most important figures in art, literature, politics and economics of the modern era: E. M. Forster, Roger Fry, John Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, among many others. In The Bloomsbury Cookbook Jans Ondaatje Rolls invites us to dine with these enduringly fascinating individuals, taking us into the very centre of their world through the meals around which they argued, debated, laughed and loved. Part cookbook, part social and cultural history, the book tells the story of the Bloomsbury Group with nearly 300 recipes, many from previously unpublished material by members such as Frances Partridge, Helen Anrep and David and Angelica Garnett, accompanied by paintings, photographs, quotations, letters and personal reminiscences. Together they paint an intimate and astonishingly detailed portrait of the group, conjuring up the scents, colours and textures of breakfasts at Monk's House, lunches at Charleston, tea in Tidmarsh, evening parties in Gordon Square and dinners in the south of France. Beautifully illustrated, including original artwork by Cressida Bell, this is both a source of inspiration for the modern chef and a unique celebration of life, love and art at the heart of Bloomsbury., Throwing aside the stifling patriarchy of late Victorian Britain, the Bloomsbury Group fostered a fresh, creative, and vital way of living that encouraged debate and communications, as often as not across the dining table. In The Bloomsbury Cookbook , Jans Ondaatje Rolls collects more than 180 recipes for dishes that take us into the very heart of their world through the meals around which they congregated, argued, debated, laughed, and loved. Gathered at these tables were many of the great figures in art, literature, and economics as the modern world was created and tirelessly interpreted: E.M. Forster, Roger Fry, J.M. Keynes, Lytton Strachey, and Virginia Woolf, among many others. Arranged chronologically from the late 19th century through the ascendency of the group between the wars, all the way to their present-day legacy, the book gathers together hundreds of photographs, letters, journals, paintings, and delicious recipes--some handwritten and never-before-published--that bring to life the group's lingering breakfasts and "painting lunches." Part cookbook, part social and cultural history, The Bloomsbury Cookbook will delight the modern chef searching for a certain distinctiveness, but also recreates an intimate portrait of a vastly influential intellectual and artistic community.