Customer Reviews
Pick n' Mix - By: Secret Spi, 01 Dec 2008 
"Eating for England" is a Pick n' Mix of a book. Read it allin one go & it gets repetitive & downright indigestible. But there are a few sweet & well-written little pieces within that make the book worthwhile. I would not really recommend this to anyone under 30 or over 65: & if you are the sort of person who is quickly bored by 40-somethings reminiscing about BBC children's programs of the 1960s or long-vanished crisp flavours, then you should give it a miss, too.
Where Nigel Slater's book rises above the standard nostalgia-trip, it does so because he can write well on occasions & his genuine love of food comes through. But there were far too many instances when a well-written piece was followed by yet another push for Farmers' Markets or another dive into the 1960s biscuit tin which all got a bit too much even for this nostalgia fan.
You'd have to be a Nigel ... - By: M, 27 Nov 2008 ... to write this. Or a Jeremy. Or possibly a Terence. But maybe we all have anorak-y tendencies when it comes to name-checking the fondly remembered foods of our 1950s & 60s childhoods.
But sorry, Nigel - you've done this too many times before - & so have too many other people. Spangles, Dairylea triangles, Jammie Dodgers, Tunnock's teacakes have had the Proustian treatment before. And let's face it though Spangles now RIP, nearly all of these along with Sarson's vinegar & Bisto can be boughtin any Tesco today. Though I agree that floral gums (and cherry lips, the best for eating surreptitiously through double Latin) have had the chemistry formula changed & don't taste the same.
When Nigel gets stuck, or his Proustian madeleine/Rich Tea disintegrates soggily into his mug of PG, he throwsin a page or two about farmers' markets - & then he simply gets BORING.
Eating for England is simply Toast reheated. And Nigel is getting to be an old aunt who retells the same stories too many times. (He's getting careless, too; the delectable lime barrel was neverin Dairy Box, p166, it was everybody's favourite centrein Milk Tray. And Dairy Box wasn't made by Cadbury's, either. )
A disappointing mess of a book - By: Jl Adcock, 03 Nov 2008 
"Eating For England" is re-heated "Toast". Disappointingly, Slater has produced a clunker here, & where Toast worked because he linked food memories to his own childhood, this latest volume lacks any structure on which to hang various short observations & sketches about food. What's more, it's quite repetitivein places, & simpy doesn't workin others.
Slater at his best pinpoints a long forgotten food memory that several of us of a certain age will have had. There are a few gems like that here (the whole chocolate Club biscuit experience for example) - but these are too few & far between for my liking.
Nigel Slater writes best about himself & his relationship with food. When he tries something different - observational stuff about different types of cook, or diner, it simply doesn't work because he's not part of that set up. You can't remain aloof from such things & pretend otherwise. These pieces of the book come over as phoney - &in places bitchy & unamusing.
"The Kitchen Diaries" was neither a practical cook book or a particularly entertaining diary; "Eating For England" maintains this loss of focus from an excellent food writer who needs to re-connect with a loyal audience next time around. Nige - let's just cut to the recipes for the next one, eh?
All puddings are English. Nigel is a pudding. Therefore Nigel, regrettably, is English. - By: Angeln, 23 Oct 2008 Eating for England - The Delights & Eccentricities of the BRITISH at Table? I skimmed this book before delivering it to one of my numbskull relatives as a birthday present. After seeing the response here to this curious choice of words I'm reminded that no-one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the public.
It's an easy enough volume to follow. The layout is good, the writing merry & informal (if slightly knowingin the unappealing sense of the word 'clever'). There is even an interesting culinary suggestion or two.
Unfortunately nothing is value-free, & with Jamie Mockney under contract to sell us the fake barrow-boy-next-door line I'm afraid Nigel (change of name Nige?) Slater has still to win me over. Cookery's cultural implications, the idea of its saying something about the nation at large, is obviously dear to people's hearts.
But Britain is not a nation. It is a bureaucratic manoeuvre. In any event things like puddings are an ENGLISH speciality. So too Syllabub (very popular with the Elizabethans, who if nothing else knew who they were) & much else besides (try Florence White's 'Good Thingsin England' to learn more about native cooking & put to rest the usual slurs).
The title of this book is a masterpiece of ignorance & effrontery. Fortunately the modern English are the most passive, stupid & easily exploited peoplein Europe. They will buy itin droves. I just wonder how much faith we should placein the judgement of someone who doesn't know the difference between an administrative convenience & a nationin the truest sense of the word.
farmer's market propaganda - By: B. S. HARPER, 09 Oct 2008 I must say there were many times where I laughed out loud or smiledin relation to many things I do or eat & how they are quintessentially British. I also learned that I AM the 'oh-i-never-measure-anything cook.' The experience of reading this lovely book, however has been marred by every other page judging people for not going to local greengrocers & not supporting farmer's markets.
I may be lucky enough to afford (or just a good budgeter!) to eat organic/local/fairtrade & have time to shop 3 times a week instead of one big one (I'm a student) but I know of too many people who simply don't have the time, energy OR money to buy ethically all the time & they shouldn't be made to feel bad for this. I want Nigel, Hugh AND Jamie (3 men I love very much) to spend a weekin a council estate with a family of 5 & see how much money they have to spend on their groceries!
