Over 3,000 entries on every possible food, its history, cultural significance, and culinary usage
Third edition of this international bestseller, which won numerous prizes and accolades around the world when first published in 1999
Retains the original spirit of the book (and almost all of Davidson`s writing) while reviewing, updating, and adding to the text
Almost 200 beautiful line drawings, which are enhanced by a two-colour text design
New to this edition

Includes over 40 new entries on topics such as anthropology and food, genetics and food, kitchens, Mediterranean diet, obesity, and sociology and food
Over 200 entries have been updated, including additives, cupcake, markets, and monosodium glutamate
New biographical entries on important personalities such as Henri Nestlé, Clarence Robert Birdseye, and Louis Pasteur
End-of-entry bibliographies have been reviewed and expanded
While Alan Davidson`s superb prose has been preserved in full, hundreds of entries have been sensitively updated to ensure the Companion remains up to date and relevant to food studies today
`the best food reference work ever to appear in the English language ... read it and be dazzled`
Bee Wilson, New Statesman

First published in 1999, the ground-breaking Oxford Companion to Food was an immediate success and won prizes and accolades around the world. Its blend of serious food history, culinary expertise, and entertaining serendipity, was and remains unique.

Interest in food, cooking, and the culture surrounding food has grown enormously in the intervening period, as has the study of food and food history. University departments, international societies, and academic journals have sprung up dedicated to exploring the meaning of food in the daily lives of people around the world, alongside an ever-increasing number of articles, books, programmes, and websites in the general media devoted to the discussion of food, making the Oxford Companion to Food more relevant than ever.

Already a food writing classic, this Companion combines an exhaustive catalogue of foods, be they biscuits named after battles, divas or revolutionaries; body parts (from nose to tail, toe to cerebellum); or breads from the steppes of Asia or the well-built ovens of the Mediterranean; with a richly allusive commentary on the culture of food, expressed in literature and cookery books, or as dishes peculiar to a country or community.

While building on the Companion`s existing strengths, Tom Jaine has taken the opportunity to update the text and alert readers to new perspectives in food studies. There is new coverage of attitudes to food consumption, production and perception, such as food and genetics, food and sociology, and obesity. New entries include terms such as convenience foods, drugs and food, Ethiopia, leftovers, medicine and food, pasta, and many more. There are also new entries on important personalities who are of special significance within the world of food, among them Clarence Birdseye, Henri Nestlé, and Louis Pasteur.

In its new edition the Companion maintains its place as the foremost food reference resource for study and home use.

"every food lover should have a copy" - Christopher Hirst, Book of the Year 2014, Independent

"The formost food reference resource" - Cake Craft and Decoration

"Open any page and luxuriate in Davidsons wisdom and wit" - Best books of the year 2014, Guardian

"funny and illuminating in equal measure" - The Taster

"Widely regarded as the best food reference book in the world." - Tom Shingler, Great British Food

"The wondrousness of this reference book ... cannot be overstated" - Olive Magazine

"There`s nothing else like it. It`s an encyclopaedia of food that manages to be both erudite and witty and utterly engrossing. I can`t stop reading it. If you haven`t come across this book yet, you`re missing out." - Delicious Magazine

"Stern discipline has to be exercised when using The Oxford Companion to Food for reference purposes. A clear warning should be printed at the beginning advising those who consult it that whole mornings can easily be frittered away, as the reading of an entry relevant to one`s topic of research leads facinatingly to a chain of others, not quite so pertinent ... The Companion remains an erudite and essential volume for anyone seriously interested in food." - Lizzie Collingham, The Times Literary Supplement

AUTHOR Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world`s best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service - after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador - to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are North Atlantic Seafood and Mediterrranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.

EDITOR Tom Jaine is an independent writer and publisher, specializing in food and food history. He is the author of numerous books, including Cooking in the Country, Making Bread at Home, and Traditional Country House Cooking. He frequently writes for The Times, The Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph, the Evening Standard, and many magazines and journals. He was editor of The Good Food Guide from 1989 to 1994, has presented `The Food Programme` on Radio 4, and has participated in discussions of food on radio and television.