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''The Oxford Companion to Food'' is an
encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
about
food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
. It was edited by Alan Davidson and published by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in 1999. It was also issued in softcover under the name ''The Penguin Companion to Food''. The second and third editions were edited by Tom Jaine and published by Oxford in 2006 and 2014. The book, Davidson's ''magnum opus'' with "more than a million words, mostly his own", covers the nature and history of foodstuffs worldwide, starting from
aardvark The aardvark ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata, although other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata are known. Unlike ...
and ending with zuppa inglese. It is compiled with especially strong coverage of
European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
and in particular British cookery and contains no
recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. His ...
s. It was an "outgrowth" of the annual
Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery The Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery is an annual weekend conference at which academics, food writers, cooks, and others with an interest in food and culture meet to discuss current issues in food studies and food history. Overview The Sympos ...
. The entry for this work in
WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OC ...
includes the following abstract: Major articles are signed and include bibliographic references, and there is a comprehensive overall bibliography. Some of the material in it was previously published in Davidson's ''
Petits Propos Culinaires ''Petits Propos Culinaires'' (PPC) is a journal covering the history of food and cookery. History and content Founded by Jane and Alan Davidson in 1979 and first published in 1980, ''Petits Propos Culinaires'' is edited by Tom Jaine and publish ...
''.


Editions

* * * (later reprints) * *


Reception

''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called the book "a masterly work with a variety of voices, from the straightforward, almost dry, to the quirky and the witty" and a work "dense with extremely thorough and well-written entries, enhanced by cross-references and indexes and larded with anecdotes and strong opinions." The
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
recognized ''The Oxford Companion to Food'' with an Honorable Mention in the
Dartmouth Medal The Dartmouth Medal of the American Library Association is awarded annually to a reference work of outstanding quality and significance, published during the previous calendar year. History Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a Priv ...
competition for 2000, as well as inclusion as one of its ''Outstanding reference sources 2000'' by the Reference Sources Committee of the Reference and User Services Association (RULA). In May 2000, it received a
James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...
as best reference work.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford Companion To Food, The 1999 non-fiction books Books about food and drink Encyclopedias of culture and ethnicity English-language books English non-fiction books Oxford University Press reference books Penguin Books books