The Raj at Table: A Culinary History of the British in India

Front Cover
Faber & Faber, 1994 - Cooking - 240 pages

While the British were in India they developed a curious cuisine all of their own. As they made their mark on their host culture, the formidable memsahib - or English housewife - made sure that much traditional cuisine was rejected in favour of an impossible combination of European customs, and the results were frequently chaotic.

Anglo-India cooking was at its best when it achieved a kind of cultural balance; mulligatawny, kedgeree and Worcestershire sauce are all products of the Raj.

David Burton's book - subtitled 'A Culinary History of the British in India' - is now considered a classic, and was acclaimed by the Observer on publication as 'one of those rare and delightful works from which, once caught, you have no desire to escape'.

About the author (1994)

David Burton is a professional cookery writer and journalist living in New Zealand. He is the author of The Raj at Table and Savouring the East, which was shortlisted in the food category for the 1997 Andre Simon Memorial Awards. His seven New Zealand Food Writers Awards include an unbroken hold over the Food Feature Writer of the Year category since 1995. His first book, 200 Years of New Zealand Food and Cookery, won the A. W. Reed Memorial Book Award in 1981 and was shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Award in 1982.

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