Petits Propos Culinaires 102

Some of the world’s most adventurous food historians contribute to this thrice-yearly journal of articles and excerpts from works in progress. And thankfully, the pieces seem to be chosen with an interest in good writing as well as good scholarship.

In this issue, for instance, Elizabeth Stainforth and C. Anne Wilson delve into a literary satire of eighteenth-century English tea parties by a passionately disapproving Quaker; David Walddon and Dawn Malmstrom investigate and elaborate on Maestro Martino of Como's method for cooking whole eggs on a spit over a fire (the greatest danger is that they will explode); Andrew Dalby seeks to shed light on whether George, Duke of Clarence, was really drowned in a vat of Malmsey and why; and André Taber explores the history of the use of chemical leaveners such as sodium carbonate, potash, hartshorn, and baking soda. A short section of erudite book reviews follows.

Paperback.