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Prehistoric Cooking
Based on experimental archaeology at the author's world-famous research settlement in Cornwall, this book describes the ingredients of prehistoric cooking and the methods of food preparation.
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2009
This book is awesome and highly recommended for foodies with a penchant for history and archaeology.
We ran across this in the visitors' center at Skara Brae in Orkney. We'd been trying to avoid picking up too many things to carry back home, but this book was so unusual and so fascinating that it overcame our reticence.
Wood's purpose is to explore the possible foods of our (well, her) ancestors, given the best current archaeological knowledge from Northern Europe and Britain. As she says in her intro, while we can't really know how they prepared their foods, before there was any written record of what they did, it's a safe bet that humans then were a lot like humans now: crafty, clever, knowledgeable about their environment, and lovers of good food. Rather than assume that something didn't exist, until we find evidence that it did, she assumes that if it could have existed (within the known constraints on technology) then it probably did.
So she sets out to construct a plausible cuisine, while staying meticulously faithful to known archaeology. She is well qualified to do so as a practicing archaeologist and director of a research center and a reconstructed bronze-age village project. (And advisor to Council for British Archaeology and a bunch of other things -- her vita is lengthy.) Indeed, her text is littered with numerous references to foods and cooking equipments found in archaeological digs for the last century.
This book is a fusion of a history text and a cookbook. The first few chapters are devoted to a whirlwind tour of British history from Mesolithic through Iron Age. These are general discussions of life, times, people, and technology, but there is some emphasis on food.
The real history of food comes in, though, in the remaining chapters, where she covers everything from cheese making through desserts. In each chapter, she talks about knowledge and open hypotheses about how such foods came about. (Though, to my disappointment, she doesn't discuss the discovery of rennet, which has always been a mystery to me.) Following that, she lays out a number of tasty-looking recipes that can be done with period equipment and using native ingredients. (Well, native to Cornwall, anyway.)
Ever wanted to boil a haunch of lamb with a pool of water and red-hot rocks? Or make butter with willow-switch whisks? Clay bake a fish or bread-roast a chicken? Make your own elderberry wine and use its yeast to leaven bread? It's all in here. She even discusses the proper shape of a pit for pit-roasting a pig.
Needless to say, many of the recipes can also be cooked in home kitchens. Some of the ingredients may be tricky to come by, but she does suggest a number of equivalents or sources.
My only two gripes about this book are the handfuls of small errors and typos and the lack of a detailed references section. She's forever tossing in comments to the effect that, "In a dig in 19??, archaeologists discovered Bronze Age butter stored in wooden buckets and buried in a bog." Which is enough knowledge to be tantalizing, but I'd like to actually read the paper.
Overall, though, this is a fascinating book that will sit happily on our shelf between Joy of Cooking and On Food and Cooking.
We ran across this in the visitors' center at Skara Brae in Orkney. We'd been trying to avoid picking up too many things to carry back home, but this book was so unusual and so fascinating that it overcame our reticence.
Wood's purpose is to explore the possible foods of our (well, her) ancestors, given the best current archaeological knowledge from Northern Europe and Britain. As she says in her intro, while we can't really know how they prepared their foods, before there was any written record of what they did, it's a safe bet that humans then were a lot like humans now: crafty, clever, knowledgeable about their environment, and lovers of good food. Rather than assume that something didn't exist, until we find evidence that it did, she assumes that if it could have existed (within the known constraints on technology) then it probably did.
So she sets out to construct a plausible cuisine, while staying meticulously faithful to known archaeology. She is well qualified to do so as a practicing archaeologist and director of a research center and a reconstructed bronze-age village project. (And advisor to Council for British Archaeology and a bunch of other things -- her vita is lengthy.) Indeed, her text is littered with numerous references to foods and cooking equipments found in archaeological digs for the last century.
This book is a fusion of a history text and a cookbook. The first few chapters are devoted to a whirlwind tour of British history from Mesolithic through Iron Age. These are general discussions of life, times, people, and technology, but there is some emphasis on food.
The real history of food comes in, though, in the remaining chapters, where she covers everything from cheese making through desserts. In each chapter, she talks about knowledge and open hypotheses about how such foods came about. (Though, to my disappointment, she doesn't discuss the discovery of rennet, which has always been a mystery to me.) Following that, she lays out a number of tasty-looking recipes that can be done with period equipment and using native ingredients. (Well, native to Cornwall, anyway.)
Ever wanted to boil a haunch of lamb with a pool of water and red-hot rocks? Or make butter with willow-switch whisks? Clay bake a fish or bread-roast a chicken? Make your own elderberry wine and use its yeast to leaven bread? It's all in here. She even discusses the proper shape of a pit for pit-roasting a pig.
Needless to say, many of the recipes can also be cooked in home kitchens. Some of the ingredients may be tricky to come by, but she does suggest a number of equivalents or sources.
My only two gripes about this book are the handfuls of small errors and typos and the lack of a detailed references section. She's forever tossing in comments to the effect that, "In a dig in 19??, archaeologists discovered Bronze Age butter stored in wooden buckets and buried in a bog." Which is enough knowledge to be tantalizing, but I'd like to actually read the paper.
Overall, though, this is a fascinating book that will sit happily on our shelf between Joy of Cooking and On Food and Cooking.
April 11, 2013
"Prehistoric Cooking" looks at what archaeology can tell us about food in prehistoric Britian. The author initially explained what archaeology has uncovered about food practices in prehistory, hunter-gatherer, bronze, and iron ages. This included types of food and how they got it (gathered wild vs. raised). I like that she doesn't think prehistoric people were stupid just because they didn't have a written history yet.
Next, she talked about the experimental archaeology she's been doing using this knowledge and the knowledge of primitive societies today to uncover likely cooking methods and recipes. She talked some about how the food was actually cooked, but she didn't give the high level of detail I was hoping for. The photographs from some of the demonstrations they've done and of some of the cooking steps for several recipes did help, though. There was enough detail that I think I could make the recipes work successfully with a little experimenting of my own.
About two-thirds of the book was recipes and related cooking methods, and they were divided into the categories: bread; dairy; meat, fish, and vegetable stews; cooking with hot stones; clay-baked foods; salt and the seashore menu; peas, beans, and lentils; herbs and spices; vegetables; yeast, wines, beer, and teas; sweets and puddings. Some of these recipes use plants that don't grow in my section of the world (southern USA), but others did. Though I didn't buy the book for the recipes, I think I'll try a couple of them since she makes it sound fun and do-able.
Next, she talked about the experimental archaeology she's been doing using this knowledge and the knowledge of primitive societies today to uncover likely cooking methods and recipes. She talked some about how the food was actually cooked, but she didn't give the high level of detail I was hoping for. The photographs from some of the demonstrations they've done and of some of the cooking steps for several recipes did help, though. There was enough detail that I think I could make the recipes work successfully with a little experimenting of my own.
About two-thirds of the book was recipes and related cooking methods, and they were divided into the categories: bread; dairy; meat, fish, and vegetable stews; cooking with hot stones; clay-baked foods; salt and the seashore menu; peas, beans, and lentils; herbs and spices; vegetables; yeast, wines, beer, and teas; sweets and puddings. Some of these recipes use plants that don't grow in my section of the world (southern USA), but others did. Though I didn't buy the book for the recipes, I think I'll try a couple of them since she makes it sound fun and do-able.
January 25, 2021
I acquired this book after reading a recommendation by Francis Pryor in either The Fens or The Making of The British Landscape or possibly Home, all very interesting, practical books about early British society and the development of our understanding of it from modern archaeology.
Jacqui Wood writes a practical and fascinating account of what we have learnt about prehistoric cookery from excavations and from the testing our understanding by researching and recreating the dishes people would have possibly eaten.
A bit niche, perhaps? No, she writes well from practical experience, trial and error, not academic archaeology and it proves a surprisingly engrossing read. There are recipes and details of ingredients of all types that would have been used plus approaches to cooking the dishes as background and even how they can be recreated in a modern setting. The book is full of extra detail in between the cooking methods and recipes.
All in all, quite a worthwhile read! She writes straightforwardly and communicates her interest effectively.
Jacqui Wood writes a practical and fascinating account of what we have learnt about prehistoric cookery from excavations and from the testing our understanding by researching and recreating the dishes people would have possibly eaten.
A bit niche, perhaps? No, she writes well from practical experience, trial and error, not academic archaeology and it proves a surprisingly engrossing read. There are recipes and details of ingredients of all types that would have been used plus approaches to cooking the dishes as background and even how they can be recreated in a modern setting. The book is full of extra detail in between the cooking methods and recipes.
All in all, quite a worthwhile read! She writes straightforwardly and communicates her interest effectively.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews