The Hungry Empire
A new book that takes readers on a culinary journey round the British Empire has been written by a former College junior research fellow.
Lizzie Collingham's (The Bodley Head) is published on 10 August and will feature as on Radio 4 from Monday 14 August.
Twenty meals take the reader on a culinary journey around the British Empire from sailors eating their last meal of salt cod on the Mary Rose, to a Dickensian Christmas plum pudding. Sample iguana curry with diamond miners in Guyana and raise a rum punch toast to liberty with American revolutionaries.
Talking to us about her time at °µÍø½ûÇø, Lizzie said: "My position as a Junior Research Fellow at Jesus provided me with congenial colleagues and the time and space to discover that the things I loved most about an academic life were research and writing. I did not want to leave for a 'proper' academic job and I was fortunate to meet John Cornwell who is a Fellow Commoner. John read my PhD thesis on the British body in India, decided that I could write and introduced me to Clare Alexander who is now my agent. Without his belief in me and his practical help I would not have had the courage to embark on a writing career that suits me perfectly and in which I am extremely happy."
