Cooks, Gluttons and Gourmets

This is the first and only book which traces the history of cookery from the days of primitive man up to the present day of the Four Seasons Restaurant and gourmet supermarkets. It is full of curious lore about cooking down through the ages, and also features over 150 extra-special recipes, adapted from their historical sources for the modern American kitchen.


Opening with a description of feasts in ancient Greece, Miss Wason rapidly covers a gastronomical tour of Greece and Rome—including feasts where each guest was served an entire roast boar; visits to neighbors when you brought your own goatskin of wine and they provided appetizers; banquets at which one rose was placed on the table, signifying that nothing said there could be repeated, thus sub rosa.


Undaunted by the scope and complexity of her subject matter, Miss Wason covers cookery in the Far and Near East, all of Europe and the New World, using anecdotes about those who cook and enjoy food. The last four chapters are devoted to the United States—from Thomas Jefferson to the Harvey girls to Betty Crocker.


COOKS, GLUTTONS AND GOURMETS is a book for everyone interested in food—fun reading for the gourmet, invaluable as a reference work for home economists and others in the food field, it is also a practical guide for the home cook who can now give company meals the added spice of history.