Charlemagne's Tablecloth; a piquant history of feasting

Charlemagne's Tablecloth; a piquant history of feasting.

Published Weidenfeld & Nicolson in association with Peter Crawley, 2004. Available from Nichola.

Possibly Nichola’s favourite book. A fascinating account of why and how we feast, eminently readable and informative. It consists of a series of essays taking you through time and over the world, exploring the background to the successes, catastrophes and eccentricities of the extraordinary world of feasting. Nichola won a Silver Gourmet Voice Media Award in Cannes for this book in 2004, and it was shortlisted for the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2005 Food Book of the Year. It was also published by St Martin’s Press in New York, as well translated into Finnish and Chinese.

“Another good book for reading in bed, with its rich gallimaufray of feasts, from medieval bathtub titillations to a 14-course meal held on horseback on the fourth floor of a New York restaurant in 1903, with plenty of other curios (some modest, some wildly extravagant) explored in between.” Philippa Davenport, Financial Times.

"Four stars. This is an essential book for anyone who likes food" Mail on Sunday.

"... an irresistible combination of haute cuisine and high-mindedness ... that deserves a Michelin rosette." The Spectator.

"This delicious volume is a splendid goulash of historical incidents, anecdotes, culinary customs, myths, and more or less anything else that has taken the author's fancy ... The range of Nichola Fletcher's research and scholarship is impressive." Scotland on Sunday