Jane Austen and Food

by Maggie Lane

What was the significance of the pyramid of fruit which confronted Elizabeth Bennet at Pemberley? Or of the cold beef eaten by Willoughby on his journey of repentance to see Marianne? Why is it so appropriate that the scene of Emma's disgrace should be a picnic, and how do the different styles of housekeeping in Mansfield Park engage with the social issues of the day?

While Jane Austen does not luxuriate in cataloguing meals in the way of Victorian novelists, food in fact plays a vital part in her novels. Her plots, being domestic, are deeply imbued with the rituals of giving and sharing meals. The attitudes of her characters to eating, to housekeeping and to hospitality are important indicators of their moral worth. In a practice both economical and poetic, Jane Austen sometimes uses specific foodstuffs to symbolise certain qualities at heightened moments in the text. This culminates in the artistic triumph of Emma, in which repeated references to food not only contribute to the solidity of her imagined world, but provide an extended metaphor for the interdependence of a community.

In this original, lively and well-researched book, Maggie Lane not only offers a fresh perspective on the novels, but illuminates a fascinating period of food history, as England stood on the brink of urbanisation, middle-class luxury, and change in the role of women. Ranging over topics from greed and gender to mealtimes and manners, and drawing on the novels, letters and Austen family papers, she also discusses Jane Austen's own ambivalent attitude to the provision and enjoyment of food.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Food, Regency, British Literature, Historical, Biography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1995

Reviews

[Deborah Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what it sounds like: a lively exploration of food in Jane Austen's life and fiction.

Except there really is a lot more to it than that. It's true Maggie Lane explains things I always wondered about, like why General Tilney was upset about "the butter being oiled" (whatever that meant) or how Miss Bates baked her apples twice (wouldn't you just bake them until they were done?).

Lane also gives detailed information about things I didn't know enough to wonder about. The meaning of the word "morning" in Austen's time, for instance. Silly flippin' me, I figured it meant then what it means now: the span of time from waking until noon. Nope. "Morning" didn't begin until after breakfast was eaten, and it extended until dinner. It was basically another word for "day," as Austen makes clear in a letter to her sister: "We breakfasted before 9 & do not dine till ½ past 6 on the occasion, so I hope we three shall have a long Morning enough."

So women didn't pay their "morning" visits until what we would call early afternoon, because ladies often wouldn't breakfast until nine or ten o'clock, and would spend the next hour or two sewing, reading "horrid" novels, or engaging in light household chores such as consulting with the housekeeper.

And if morning extended until dinner, "afternoon" was the few hours between dinner and tea. An "afternoon" walk, such as the significant one in Emma, actually took place in the early evening; and tea was not an afternoon snack but an evening ritual.

Lane explains all of this deftly and engagingly. She also gives ample details as to what sort of food one might be offered at any given time of the day in a genteel household, and what those offerings symbolize. Mrs. Bennet's invitations to supper speak of her lower-class origins; the French bread and morning chocolate at Northanger Abbey's breakfast table scream of General Tilney's selfish snobbery.

Just don't expect recipes. Lane writes about Regency food; if you want to learn how to actually prepare such food, you'll need a copy of Hannah Glasse's 1747 The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, or Mrs. Rundell's A New System of Domestic Cookery. (I got a copy of Persephone Book's 1816 edition of this latter book. It's gorgeous, but I did have to order it from England. Glasse's book is available from Amazon, and will tell you everything you need to know about how to make a vegetarian Hedgehog for dessert. But I digress.)

Jane Austen and Food is essential reading for anyone researching the Regency. It's also a lot of fun.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book that describes the important role of food in the life and novels of Jane Austen. Lots of interesting information, such as the great change that occurred in Jane Austen’s life when she went from living at Stevenson, where the Austen’s were virtually self-sufficient, producing almost all their own food, to Bath, where everything was bought. There are chapters on the various ways food is used in the novels, and how the characters view it. This is a great book for anyone interested in Jane Austen, or food in the Regency era, or both.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does an excellent job at detailing and explaining all the mentions of food from both Austen herself, and in the novels. It's broken up into 8 chapters, and from the reviews already written I can infer that the paper version has illustrations. I wish the kindle version did, as well.

There is a lot of information in this book, a ton, really. It was able to explain things I never realized (that dinner in the novels was the first full meal after the breakfast, most of the day later, and that tea was taken after dinner, and that supper was even later).

My quibble is that I wish the information was presented in a different way. Because there's so little mention of food in many of the novels, those quotes do get overused. I almost wish it was broken into Jan Austen's life, and then the novels themselves. Yes, there is a whole chapter dedicated to Emma, and that would be my favourite one.

I would say this is a good read for those true Austen aficionados.

[Katja Labonté]

Free on Amazon (25.11.22)!

[Angie Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confession--I've only ever read one Jane Austen book start to finish, although I love some of the movie adaptations. But I recently discovered a YouTube channel that analyzes some of the small details in her works and how much they tell us about her characters, and being an author who loves adding that kind of characteristic detail in my own stories, I was fascinated! So now I have become interested in the details contained in Jane Austen's works, even without having read said works. (:

With that history, I found this book fascinating. It contained the same kind of close reading--focusing in on the exact details and what we can glean from them--while also using extracts from Jane Austen's letters and other period sources to place them in their larger context. There were only a couple of places where I felt like something was read into a little too much, but for the most part, all the conclusions made sense, and it really fascinated me. My main idea in adding this to my list several years ago was to get details of the period for a proposed book of my own, and while I did come away with some good insights on that front, I also gained a deeper appreciation for just how much attention Jane Austen paid to her own details, and just how rich her writing really is. Maybe one of these days I'll pick up one of those books I couldn't finish before and try again. ;)

[Pamela Aidan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting interpretation of Austen's employment of food in revealing the characters in her novels. Lane's work is deeply insightful. I was astonished at the shear number of references to begin with besides the obvious ones of Mr Collins and Mr Woodhouse. Then there are the many niceties in regard to times of day for meals and what is served whose significance are completely outside 21st century understanding. My only complaint comes in the chapter that depicted Austen as campaigning against the patriarchy through which I was able to hold my nose. A very important work for deep readers of Austen and writers of Austen-inspired fiction.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first three chapters of this book were interesting and informative, because they focussed on the realities of Austen's time and place and life, and the part played by food therein. There is also an historical overview of dishes, forms of preparation etc that explains many terms that might otherwise sail straight over the modern reader's head, such as the "white soup". (Back in the day when the Republic of Pemberley website was launched, there was still debate as to what that meant.)
However, from Chapter 4, titled "Greed and Gender", Lane started to lose me when her personal agendas became evident. To hear her tell it, greed is an essentially masculine trait, and it is that which makes Austen's female characters who are economically or physically greedy unfeminine, not to mention unattractive. Lane places all the male characters in the least appealing light, making even poor Edmund seem selfish and oblivious. And let's not forget the repeated use of that second-millenium buzzword, "patriarchy." On the one hand, proper women don't think about food or talk about it, and Austen supposedly disapproves of those who do; on the other, she supposedly larded her books with intensive food-related symbolism in some sort of active attempt to "test" and "train" her characters.

From that point on the style is increasingly dry, diffuse and repetitive, often repeating passages nearly word-for-word, and more than once. I don't know if Lane was consciously trying to imitate 18th century literary style (though certainly not Austen's), or if she just writes in that pompous manner naturally. The farther the book goes, the more convoluted and elliptical the sentences get. I got the growing feeling I was reading someone's dissertation, or one of those "publish or perish" tomes so beloved of academia. Lane's insistence that Austen consciously incorporated the emphasis and symbolism of food into her work is redolent of university literature courses which define and trace leitmotifs that the original authors were unaware of, as if the authors had consciously sat down to write to a hidden agenda. This is particulary evident in the emphasis on food in Emma; not content with giving an entire chapter to this idea, it permeates the text to an exhausting degree. However, the academic style does not extend to decent proofreading; we are told that Austen was "at tune with" an idea, instead of being attuned to it, as she would be in English.
As an avid cook myself, I had hoped to find a few recipes for some of the more obscure dishes mentioned in Austen's books, but this is not the resource for that. As far as I can remember, there are only two real "reciepts" cited, and they are in the first three chapters of the book.
For hardline Austen fans and university students only.

[Lisbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jane Austen never gave much detail to food and eating in her novels. Still, food is a very important part of her writing, since all references to food and eating, although indirect, suggests something about the character who refers to it. Maggie Lane, an English author of several books about Jane Austen and her time, has examined the books to find out Jane Austen’s attitude to food and how it affects the social sphere and customs of her characters. Maggie Lane starts:

“One of the characteristics of Jane Austen’s style is how sparing it is of physical detail. She never pauses in her narrative to give a lengthy description, whether of faces, clothes, rooms, meals or any other facet of material life. … Jane Austen pays us the compliment of letting us imagine for ourselves. …”

Jane Austen grew up in the countryside as one of eight children. Her father was a reverend, but also a gentleman farmer, so the household was more or less self sufficient during her early life. Her mother catered for this big family, and we can imagine the logistic of preparing things to eat every day, which must have been full time work. Although Jane Austen did not herself care to much about this duty (it was taken over by her sister Cassandra when her mother died) she nevertheless had an idea of how the food issue worked.


From domestic economy to mealtimes, menus and manners we enter a world of the better gentry in the 18th century. A world that seemed to consist of a leisurely life, with visits, walks, dinners and teas. Maggie Lane gives a general idea of the overall social customs of England and the different class traditions at the time, and compare it to Jane Austen’s writing. This shows us that Jane Austen really knew what she was writing about, and a lot of the references to food as based on real life scenarios.

“It now occurs to her that Mr Bingley might be the unexpected visitor, and she bursts out, 'But - good lord! how unlucky! there is not a bit of fish to be got today. Lydia, my love, ring the bell. I must speak to Hill, this moment.' We know from the text that this is Monday, when fish cannot be bought because there has been no catch the previous day. In such minor domestic detail the world of Pride and Prejudice is anchored in the real world. At the same time, and in such brief and apparently insignificant sentences, Jane Austen manages to convey a great deal of information about character. Mrs Bennet is so ill-judging that she imagines Mr Bingley's love for Jane will be affected by the presence or absence of fish on the table.”

You could tell where on the social ladder people were, just by knowing when they had their breakfast, dinner and tea. The higher up in society you were, the later you ate the various meals. Since there was no work to go to, the day started much later and thus the meals were shifted for later in the day. They idled through their days with visits, walks or other leisurely occupations.

The hospitality seems to have been great and there was a constant flow of visits, not always with prior notice. Any household with self-respect had to be prepared to offer something to satisfy the stomach of uninvited guest, whether it was dinner time or tea time. A man who could not afford a housekeeper had to look for a wife who could cook and be able to care for the household. It was expected that the women should be able to take up this duty, but as we see in this passage, it might not always be the case. The passage shows, once again, how Jane Austen’s writing always has its base in a realistic world.

“There are three things in which, as a housekeeper, Mrs Bennet prides herself, and which she is anxious that everybody should acknowledge. First, that her daughters have no household work to do. When Mr Collins comes to Longbourn, he admires the dinner and begs to know 'to which of his fair cousins, the excellence of its cookery was owing. But here he was set right by Mrs Bennet, who assured him with some asperity that they were very well able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen.' (P&P, 65) Perhaps at this stage it has not crossed Mrs Bennet's mind that Mr Collins might be looking for a wife, and it would not be unreasonable for him to want one who can cook.”

It seems that in Jane Austen's world people did not overindulge in eating “with the exception of a few comfortable middle-aged women like Mrs Musgrave and Mrs Jennings, whose size does indeed reflect their usual ‘good cheer and good humour’, all the fatness and certainly all the epicurism and gluttony in the novels belong to men.” Most of the young girls seem to have little or no interest in food.

Jane Austen and Food is an original and very well-researched book. It is rather academic in its structure, and it has to be a must read for anyone studying English literature or Jane Austen specifically. Maggie Lane has managed to cover all references to food there are in the books, and for someone who does not indulge in food and eating, there are a lot. It is not only Jane Austen’s own experience and writing we meet here, but it is compared with the social customs at the time, which makes it a very rich book. If you are interested in food and its traditions, Jane Austen, social history, and customs during this era, this is a book for you.

Being a fan of Jane Austen, I must nevertheless admit that I have only read Pride and Prejudice (my absolute favourite) and Persuasion. I have tried two times with Emma, but cannot really stand this character, so it is laid aside for the moment. I think it is an advantage to have read all Jane Austen’s books before reading this book. Mainly because there are a lot of references to places and people and without knowing the books there might be some lost connections. However, after having read Maggie Lane’s book, I will approach Jane Austen’s books in the future in a totally different manner, which will be an interesting outcome of this book.

Jane Austen and Food
Maggie Lane
Endeavour Press Ltd. (2013)
This book was given to me by Endeavour Press for reviewing. The views put forward are my own, personal ones.

[Krista D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Sarah]

I guess I'm just not into Jane Austen enough for this book to capture my attention.

I will give the author credit for sticking to Jane Auten's letters and works for most of her source information.

[Darien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book, both for the insight the author gave me into Jane Austen's life and writing, but also the social and practical influence of western European history on our contemporary meal preparation and timing (the definitions of "lunch", "dinner" and "supper"). I found the discussions of how the definition of 'hospitality' has changed over time to be particularly thought provoking, and still relevant to the social significance of food for our modern society.

Overall an excellent commentary on the social and political ramifications of food in the Regency period, as demonstrated by Jane Austen's works. It gave me a better appreciation of the period and how Jane chose to reveal information about her characters through food and social interaction.

I do think that any reader who has read the books (or even watched dramatizations) will get more from this analysis because the author specifically references individual characters from the novels.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK - some interesting historical background to food production and mealtime etiquette which rounded out my knowledge of the books, but there were shortcomings. It reads like an academic paper and should possibly have been edited for publication in book form. Some of the interpretations were drawing a very long bow, which I don't think can be justified from the text (repeated references to eating disorders, for example). And the proof-reading was very poor - far too many typos, by someone who can't apparently tell the difference between cl and d, so due becomes clue etc.

[Ms_prue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love engaging, informative histories of everyday life, which this book certainly is from the topic of food. This book has been sitting neglected on my Kindle shelf for probably over a year now - I finally got the urge to pick it up while I was in Bath, and my limited time in Bath was much richer for it. I still haven't read/re-read any Austen for ages but I am now much better prepared next time I launch into one to appreciate the skewering and witty parts, well, the skewering and witty parts that are told with reference to dining.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically the significance of food in the works of Jane Austen are explained, plus the changing importance of various foods through the Regency period.

[Christina Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful reference book for writers, and it's always fun to have all the novels referenced and analyzed. It verges on academic at times, but in all there's plenty of enjoyment to be found here.

[Lady Entropy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Tony Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Jane Austen’s time, jolly ole England was the time of change/progress.
The characters in her sentimental novels: Sense and Sensibility (1811); Pride and Prejudice (1813); Mansfield Park (1814); Emma (1815); Persuasion (1818) reflect the family domestic side, which included cooking, & sharing of at least 3 meals (breakfast; lunch; dinner: 4-6 or later if you worked).

It was of utmost importance for survival or just being hospitable.
Jane’s reference to specific foodstuffs in her books symbolize certain qualities in the settings or of more intense moments.
Male servants or family members hunted/fished for the wild game.
Most cows/pigs were butchered by family members or others.
Female servants tended to the gardening or bought produce or other goods from a vendor, general store, or other farmers.
Of course, cooking/cleanup for the most part was done by the female servants.
They or their family members were not normally allowed to eat with their household owners.
Of course, the poorer people didn’t have the same luxuries but for the most part meals were still quality time spent together socializing.

2020, Have times changed, of course, they have & a lot depending on urban vs rural where you live.
Even when the kids have a million other things to do my son & daughter grocery shop (son online), cook, eat, spend quality time with their children, & for the most part the adults do the clean-up.
They’re both excellent cooks.

I do not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing free books from publishers & authors. Therefore, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one.

An awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very professionally written Regency era family cooking book. It was extremely easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a huge description list of unique characters, settings, facts etc. to keep track of. This could also make another great Regency era family cooking movie, or better yet a mini TV series. It was just OK for me so I will only rate it at 4/5 stars.

Thank you for the free author; Lume Books; BookZio; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; book.
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maggie Lane how food is portrayed in Jane Austen's novels and juvenilia in this fascinating book. I hadn't appreciated how much Emma revolves around food until I read this book. Mr Woodhouse is so much concerned about his own health and the health of other people and that includes the food he eats and the food he gives to his guests. Then gifts of food are frequently given to the Bateses because their relative poverty is a concern of all their neighbours.

I shall now read Emma with greater appreciation of the more subtle nuances of the writing. In the other novels food is only described in connection with relatively minor characters and usually to show what the reader is meant to think of those characters. In Mansfield Park Dr Grant is obsessed with his food and subjects his wife to tantrums if anything is not quite right with his meal.

In Pride and Prejudice Mr Hurst main pleasure in life is food apart from playing cards. He likes fancy food rather than the plain food Elizabeth Bennett prefers. The book deals with hospitality as well as greed and gender and how it is mainly the male characters who display greed.

If you enjoy Jane Austen's novels and like reading about the more minor aspects of her writing then you may enjoy this book. Maggie Lane writes in an easy conversational style and really brings her subject to life. There is an index of the various foods mentioned in the novels as well as notes on the chapters and a bibliography.

[Éowyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years there have been a glut of 'Jane Austen and.....' books. She just far enough away for us to need some explanation of some of the things that her contemporary readers wouldn't have thought twice about and this is one of the things that this book does very well. Confused about service a la Francaise or a la Russe? Think the French Bread at Northanger is like a modern French Stick or not sure why Mrs Grant's Turkey wouldn't keep until Sunday? - this book will certainly help you there!

Of course, it goes a little deeper than that. Only on occasion are we given reference to very specific foodstuffs, so when we do, you can bet there is some greater significance to it. There is also the significance of female characters as 'housekeeper' and what this says about them. Mrs Jennings may at times be a comic character and have lower social origins, but sh is a good housekeeper, in contrast to Mrs Price, who really doesn't know what she is about.

I read this on Kindle and there could have been a little more in terms of proof reading. The book itself ends at about 80% in due to index, bibliography and an extract from another book - I mention it as it came sooner than I expected.

[Leila Mota · Rating 5 out of 5]

It could be irrelevant to read about what kinds of food Jane Austen mentioned in her books or letters. But that's not what this book is about. It shows us how Austen used food to convey thoughts. Very subtle. And the author's research translates to us, modern readers, some concepts that we would never have guessed. At least I wouldn't. So much so that I intend to re-read every Austen book, and I'm certain I'll see them in a new light. My love and admiration for Jane Austen won't change. But I'll be able to better understand her craft.

[Devan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brought up a few interesting points, but it felt a bit repetitive and ended without a satisfying conclusion of idead.

[ColleenIsBooked · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but a bit repetitive at times

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definitely gave me an appreciation of my refrigerator and my stove. I never really considered the challenges of preparing meals and storing food without these conveniences I take for granted.
Some of the chapters did get a bit tedious and Lane stood on a soap box at times. On the whole I found the information very interesting. It as also caused me to pull out by Jane Austen books and dvds.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book about food in the works of Jane Austen, covering both its significance in the novels and what it tells us about the life and times of Austen herself.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly edited attempt to profit from Jane Austen’s name.

My favorite typos were the Aliens instead of the Allens and Mr Burst instead of Mr Hurst.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. I enjoyed it a lot.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A treat for die-hard Janites.

Modern Americans take food - in abundant quantities, in wide variety, and easily accessed - for granted. But in past times (and in many places today) simply getting enough food to eat and preparing it and preserving it was/is the major preoccupation of the majority of people. In the novel "Christy", the sheltered young heroine says moving to a poverty-stricken isolated Apalachian area made her realize the harsh reality of the prayer "Give us this day our daily bread."

During Jane Austen's life in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, feeding yourself and your family was a full-time job and this author shows the various circumstances in which Jane lived and how they affected the diet of her family. I was particularly interested in reading the wide differences in country living and city living and in the growing concern with using food and eating times and customs to show class. Even then, England was a class-obsessed society and those above the poverty level were anxious to impress others with their culture and sophistication.

Jane started life as the daughter of a prosperous Church of England rector. Mr Austen had a substantial "living" (salary) as well as extensive farm lands. His energetic wife made full use of their opportunities to produce and preserve healthy foods. When Mr Austen retired to Bath, their situation went downhill and after his death, their income was even further restricted. In town, food was expensive and frequently unsafe. Jane and her sister and mother had some hard years.

Finally, the wealthy son of the family gave his mother and sisters the use of Chawton Cottage, a substantial house with grounds for raising fruits and vegetables, keeping chickens, bee-keeping, etc. Returning to the country where they could grow their own food or buy cheaply from nearby farms, meant a much more comfortable life for the Austen females. In her turn, Mrs Austen "retired" and housekeeping duties devolved on Cassandra Austen. Jane took a minor part, possibly to allow her more time for her writing, which had begun to provide some income.

The Austens were a close, loving family and were grateful to be together and to enjoy more freedom and comfort than they had in Bath. There were frequent visits to family and friends, with opportunity to observe customs in larger, more affluent houses. And the constant letters between the Austen women and their friends recorded their lives in lively, witty style.

The author also brings in Austen's novels and what they have to say about food and dining norms. It's noted that Jane Austen said little about domestic matters in her books. Did she want to emphasize that woman are capable of taking intelligent interest in things other than entertaining and dress? Or was she simply not that interested in them herself? No way of knowing, but it requires careful study of her novels to cull the few mentions of food, food preparation, and eating.

Which is another way of saying that I enjoyed this book very much, but I'm not sure that it would be of great interest to those who are not avid Austen fans. I've read and reread Austen's novels, as well as "completions" of her two unfinished novels ("Sandition" and "Emily Watson.") So I was able to follow along as the author discussed passages from the novels and their meaning.

I am not familiar with the "juvenalia" (written for the family by Jane Austen as a child/girl) and was lost when the author discussed those works. Which makes me wonder if a reader only moderately familiar with Austen's novels would find this book of interest.

I love "social history" which tells of the past through the daily lives of people. To me, that's the value of this book. I think the author has to stretch to "prove" some of her assumptions about Jane Austen's beliefs and personality. And there is some repetition and heavy-handed treatment.

I did enjoy the chapter about "Emma" even though it's not my favorite Austen novel. As the author correctly says, "Emma" shows the workings of a small English village with people of all economic and social positions living together. Today, Americans take friends out to eat in restaurants, but there were no restaurants in Highfield. Friends showed their concern and respect with gifts of food and by sharing that food with others. I was so interested in that chapter than I re-read "Emma."

I don't agree with all of her conclusions, but this author has produced a well-researched book that gives a detailed look at daily life two hundred years ago. That's a valuable contribution in itself and the information about one of my favorite writers is icing on the cake.

[Isabell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this! I downloaded it on my kindle because the title sounded promising. I expected a treatise on food in the Regency period and not much on Jane Austen (which would have been interesting enough). But the book really was about Jane Austen and the food in all of the Jane Austen novels:

- literary analysis, specifically analysis on what different foodstuffs and food-related things and sayings symbolize in different scenes (the mulberry tree at Delaford, the peach pyramids at Pemberly, etc),
- the relationship women had to food at the time and their role at home
- the various customs surrounding food (what was tea? How did dinner look like, and so forth?)
- a lovely discussion on women's changing role at the end of the Regency through the Victorian period

Throughout all of this, the author draws on a variety of sources, the Jane Austen novels, of course, but also contemporary sources such as history books, women magazines, recipe books, etc, as well as letters from Jane and her relatives herself. She even included a recipe written by Jane Austen's mother in poetic form.

Maggie Lane manages to package what could theoretically be very dry in a very entertaining and fluent style of writing. Thankfully, we are spared the odious self-aggrandizement part of American books of the sort, and are thrown right into the (food) world of this book.

I think anybody who loves Jane Austen's novels and has an interest in literary analysis and historic background would really enjoy reading this.

[Andrea Hickman Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I read a book like this I have a desire to go back and read all 6 novels again so as to put my new insights and ideas to the test. I tend not to actually do it, because I like to let the information settle in my brain before I reread the novels. I prefer for the information to pervade my subconscious rather than impinge on my reading by my consciously thinking "I must remember to note the things about food (or whatever it may be)". I found this book fascinating. So many details that would be obvious to JA's contemporaries and are obscure to us - white soup, melted butter (it never even occurred to me that this might be something other than butter that had melted a bit) and so many others. The meanings of food are particularly interesting - I'm not sure how I feel about Willoughby and his roast beef, but Mr Hurst's ragout is exactly what I thought it, only more so. The symbolic uses of food and related terminology and imagery is very interesting as well, and I think it shows the maturation of her art as you track it through the novels. Highly recommended.

[Jess Swann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alors, déjà je dois admettre qu'au niveau vocabulaire, c'était un peu ardu à suivre... Cependant, passés les premiers chapitres qui m'ont semblé un peu indigestes (mais intéressant, notamment sur la vie de Jane), je suis rentrée dedans et j'ai particulièrement apprécié les analyses portant sur les romans de Jane. J'ai trouvé les mises en parallèle des personnages très pertinentes et les opinions de l'auteure m'ont amenées à réfléchir plus avant sur certains personnages notamment Marianne, Fanny et Emma ! Je pense que je vais retirer pas mal de profit de cette lecture dans mon activité d'auteure et je compte bien m'y référer à l'occasion. J'ai également aussi aimé les apports sur le contexte historique et les usages de l'époque.

Ce que j'aime : Les analyses des personnages et des romans de Jane

Ce que j'aime moins : Parfois un peu indigeste

En bref : Une étude bien documentée et très intéressante. A réserver cependant aux fans de Jane Austen ou aux amateurs d'histoires anglaises

Ma note : 7/10