From Dr Annie Gray, presenter of BBC2’s Victorian Bakers
What does it mean to eat like a queen? Elizabeth gorged on sugar, Mary on chocolate and Anne was known as ‘Brandy Nan’. Victoria ate all of this and more. The Greedy Queen celebrates Victoria’s appetite, both for food and, indeed, for life.
Born in May 1819, Victoria came ‘as plump as a partridge’. In her early years she lived on milk and bread under the Kensington system; in her old age she suffered constant indigestion yet continued to over-eat. From intimate breakfasts with the King of France, to romping at tea-parties with her children, and from state balls to her last sip of milk, her life is examined through what she ate, when and with whom. In the royal household, Victoria was surrounded by ladies-in-waiting, secretaries, dressers and coachmen, but below stairs there was another category of servant: her cooks. More fundamental and yet completely hidden, they are now uncovered in their working environment for the first time.
Voracious and adventurous in her tastes, Queen Victoria was head of state during a revolution in how we ate – from the highest tables to the most humble. Bursting with original research, The Greedy Queen considers Britain’s most iconic monarch from a new perspective, telling the story of British food along the way.
Circa l’autore
Annie Gray is a historian, cook, broadcaster and writer specialising in the history of food and dining in Britain from around 1600 to the present day. She is the author of Victory in the Kitchen and The Greedy Queen, among a number of other titles. An honorary research associate at the University of York and a Fellow of the Royal History Society, she has presented TV history documentaries including Victorian Bakers and The Sweetmakers, and is the resident food historian on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet. She lives in East Anglia.
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