The Rituals of Dinner

by Margaret Visser

480 pages, Paperback

Published April 22, 2025

About the author

Margaret Visser writes on the history, anthropology, and mythology of
everyday life. Her most recent book is The Gift of Thanks, published by HarperCollins. Her previous books, Much Depends on Dinner, The Rituals of Dinner, The Way We Are, and The Geometry of Love, have all been best sellers and have won major international awards, including the Glenfiddich Award for Foodbook of the Year in Britain in 1989, the International Association of Culinary Professionals' Literary Food Writing Award, and the Jane Grigson Award. In 2002 she gave the Massey Lectures on CBC radio, subsequently published as the best-selling book, Beyond Fate. Her books have been translated into French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. She appears frequently on radio and television, and has lectured extensively in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia. She divides her time between Toronto, Paris, and South West France.

Reviews

[Eiden Brewer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t like this book that much. first of all, the use of “our culture” to talk about American culture as if no other ethnicity is gonna read this book is kinda appalling. also, there was no structure. the chapters indicated the chapter was going to be about something, but it read more like a rant than anything. she jumped from topic to topic with such ease. however, i did find myself thinking twice about table manners and why we do what we do. definitely haven’t read any book about this topic, and probably won’t need to ever again.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many schoolmarmish definitions and etymologies.