The Good Life
Gullet and palate
Pamela Vandyke Price
Books to give to the serious eater and drinker have to be piping hot off the press, because otherwise they will already have been bought — or rejected with contumely. And how special should a present be? Amateur Winernaking and Brewing by Duncan Gillespie (Teach Yourself Books in association with Amateur Winemaker, 60p) is very good value, and the cartoons by Rex Royle are fun; Maite Majdn's Home Book of Portuguese Cookery (Faber £2.95) is first-rate, practical, with much background information and sections on Portuguese wines by the author's husband, Jan Read; it is worthy of this admirable series, and indeed' makes Portu
guese food appear more interesting than it often is.
But are these truly 'gift' books? Robin McDouall's Clubland Cooking (Phaidon £2.95) would, I think, make an appreciated present to anyone wanting to know about what is eaten in those bastions of British tradition, In addition to the recipes, there is much information about clubland, though the author seems a bit hard on Soyer. There are a number of line drawings indicating the ponderous placidity of many clubs — just as one would wish them to be. Wirna Born's The Concise Atlas of Wine (Ward Lock £3.50) is illustrated with good, simple maps as well as colour plates that one has not seen dozens of times before, and, although the text is basic, it is generally reliable. The Hospices sale, however is not, thank heaven, held in the 'courtyard' of the Hotel Dieu — if it had been, influenza would long since have decimated potential buyers. A very little checking would have made this perhaps the best wine book of the year — as it is, I think it is a very good introduction to wine.
What can be said about Colin Wilson's Book of Booze (Gollancz E3)? It is well written and interesting — because the author is a good writer and interesting person. Much of what he says about the effects of various drinks upon him and other tipplers is novel. But the title indicates the author's attitude' to the subject — any old bottle will apparently do, precision is of no account — from the man who can describe Sancerre and Pouilly Fume as "Chablis type wines," or say that "The Traminer is a grape resemblingtheRiesling." (Well, it is white, round and cultivated in northern vineyards.) I do not really understand why this book was written, except that it is in the tradition of those fearful — and inaccurate — bores. George Saintsbury and Maurice Healy, much cited by the author, who obviously thought that the personal opinions of the outsider merited preservation. But table talk between hard covers can have a short and sour after-taste.
The World Atlas of Food (Mitchell Beazley £12.50) should obviously have been the gastronomic book of 1974. From the house that produced the superb World Atlasof Wine, with contributors including many whom I not merely admire but love — my professional 'alas' is echoed by a personal one. It is not an atlas of food at all: it has gone a-whoring after strange gastronomes. There is a world travelogue (where, dear James Beard, can you now get Maids of Honour for tea except at Richmond, and how can anyone have given you the notion that steak and kidney pudding is traditional for British Sunday lunch?) There are short — much too short — sections on basic foods, and a 22I-page recipe section. If it had been called the 'World Book of Recipes,' [should not have objected — and the compilers make it important as a recipe anthology. But I would bet the last truffle in my cupboard that Jane Grigson, the contributing editor, never approved the sub-titles — any more
wine correspondent of the Times
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