Review from The Book Shop

Dorset Food
By Jo Draper

14 June 2007

Does Dorset need another book about local food? I doubted that it did until I picked up Jo Draper's excellent book.Of course it has many recipes, as you would expect, and I can recommend the few that have been cooked for me already. I particularly like the old fashioned puddings and I can hardly wait for gooseberries to be in season so that I can try the Gooseberry Pudding!However the beauty of the book for me is in the detailed history of local food. I really enjoyed the sections on Farmhouse Food, Shopping and Housekeeping. Included are details from an account book from a Loders Household in 1761. This shows how our eating habits and the value of money have changed over the years. Wouldn't we like to be able to buy 24 mackerel today for less than 5p?Throughout the book there are many old photographs which are refreshingly not to be found in every other local history book. What a bonus this is.All of this coupled with a list of farmer's markets and other local food suppliers go together to make this a most useful and interesting addition to the library of anyone who loves good food.Dorset Food by Jo Draper is published by Sutton Publishing and is available from the Book Shop in South Street Bridport, priced at £12.99

Reviewed by John Wright of The Book Shop