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Feast Sir Roy Strong

Feast By Sir Roy Strong

Feast by Sir Roy Strong


22,49 $
Condition - Very Good
Only 4 left

Summary

Toenails cut while dining, meals served to wax effigies of the dead, napkins concealing singing birds, dishes descending from the ceiling - this title covers five millennia of formal eating, from the splendours of the Renaissance banquest to the rigours of the Victorian dinner party.

Feast Summary

Feast: A History of Grand Eating by Sir Roy Strong

Toenails cut while dining, meals served to wax effigies of the dead, napkins concealing singing birds - these are just a few of the more exotic aspects of everyman at the table. From the stupendous banquets of the Ancient Babylonians, Feast covers five millennia of formal eating. Sharing a meal, in particular a grand one, has always been a complex social mechanism for uniting and dividing people. Such an event could signal peace, a marriage, a victory, a coronation or a funeral, to name but a few. The feast was a vehicle for display and ostentation, for flattering and influencing people as well as providing a theatre in which to exercise the art of conversation and the display of manners. Feast offers a fascinating and, at times, a highly unusual mirror of society as it evolves. It gathers together for the first time all the threads which contributed to the phenomenon of the celebratory meal: the people, the clothes, the food, the setting, the action and its surrounding circumstances, for in the consumption of food can be found the origins of every kind of theatre. Taking the reader from the elegancies of the Roman villa to the austerities of the monastic refectory, from the splendours of the Renaissance banquet to the demands of the Victorian dinner patty, Feast sets out to answer the basic questions of our eating habits, and the answers are never less than surprising.

About Sir Roy Strong

Sir Roy Strong was educated at the University of London, and the Warburg Institute. He joined the staff of the National Portrait Gallery in 1959 and became its Director from 1967 to 1973. He was Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum from 1974 to 1987 when he resigned to become a full-time writer, broadcaster and consultant. His books include The Story of Britain and The Spirit of Britain.

Additional information

GOR001351786
9780224061384
0224061380
Feast: A History of Grand Eating by Sir Roy Strong
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Vintage Publishing
2002-10-03
368
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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