Book Review: Much Depends on Dinner by Margaret Visser

Food is transcendental. All cultures venerate it, a shared meal is the universal symbol of hospitality, the business of food shapes our entire planet.

This book was originally written in the 1980s and updated in the 1990s - but it is a timeless classic. Visser talks us through how a simple meal came to be, its history, and its consequences.

Much Depends on Dinner, the chronicle of a simple meal, includes therefore the consideration of massive modern environmental problems, as well as the questions of just distribution, of gratitude, and of respect that arise whenever we think honestly about food as the sustenance of life.

It is informative as a social commentary as much as it is about the history of food. I didn't know about American proclivities, nor about Peel's Brimstone, nor the ways in which certain foodstuffs were invented and marketed.

It's also a little upsetting to understand that, while homogenisation has increased yields and reduced prices, it has led to a reduction in biodiversity. And it is weird to understand the politics and science around margarine. It's full of smart little phrases like "Conspicuous Competence" which accurately describe the efforts we go to to impress others with food - and this was all written decades before YouTube!

Some of the topics are a little outdated, and the formatting of the eBook version has several transcription errors. A few of the diversions are a little padded - for example the sacred uses of olive oil - but overall it is a marvellous look at a topic most of us are fascinated by.

Some questions it left me with:

• Is there an atheist equivalent of "saying grace"? Should there be?
• What social politics and hierarchies do I accidentally enforce when I eat or consume?
• Are there foods which are no longer available which I would have liked to try?
• Do I really want to know how my (vegan) sausages are made?

I'll end with my favourite words of wisdom from the book:

The very best thing to do with ice cream when it is ready is to eat it at once — all of it. Keeping it always reduces the quality of its texture, consistency, and taste.