Eating the Empire

Troy Bickham is Professor of History at Texas A&M University. He is the author of The Weight of Vengeance: The United States, the British Empire, and the War of 1812 (2012), Making Headlines: The American Revolution as Seen through the British Press (2009) and Savages within the Empire (2005).

"Much has been written over the past 20 years, particularly with regard to the long 18th century, on material culture, and much of what falls within the purview of these histories concerns eating and drinking. But Bickham brings a fresh approach to the discipline, successively examining the commodities themselves, the roles they played in the forging of cultural self-awareness, and even the political functions that consumable goods took on in the era of abolitionism. What this results in is a study that doesn’t just trace a historical timeline through food and drink fashions and the development of a national cuisine, but also sets these currents in thematic contexts such as the economic and ethico-political, so that the book becomes a social history told through consumption rather than retailing a history of consumer culture itself." - World of Fine Wine"Well researched and a highly enjoyable read, Eating the Empire is a good place to start for those seeking an introduction to Britain’s commodity culture, its imperial dimensions, and the range of stimulating products that increasingly came to define the practices of “civilized” consumption in the British Isles over the long eighteenth century. Bickham’s beautifully illustrated text is chock full of interesting tidbits and fun asides while still engaging themes that are central to the historiography of this critical period of British imperial history." - Journal of British Studies"Wide in scope and pacily written, the book successfully pulls together a diverse body of scholarship and poses challenging arguments for the broad readership at which it is aimed. . . . To scholars of empire and the Atlantic World – and all those studying the social and cultural history of the long eighteenth century – Eating the Empire presents an energetic case for taking greater heed of the gustatory dimensions of British expansion. Especially now, it is unsettling to consider how a country’s imperial history can be tracked through the everyday." - Cultural and Social History"This is a well-researched, original study . . . If there were any shred of doubt, this book demonstrates that we are what we eat, but with the caveat that what we know about it is shaped by official policies and protocols of food’s procurement." - Print Quarterly"The study is well written and very engaging . . . For its insight into the motivations for and the causes of change, this book would interest not only cultural historians of the British Empire and globalization, but also social and economic historians, sociologists and anthropologists. Bickham has successfully described the link between Britain and its empire through food." - Food & History"richly illustrated with visual materials: well-chosen satires, political engravings, and trade cards. The narrative that runs throughout this publication is convincing and elegantly composed. Well crafted and painstakingly researched, in the hands of this authoritative scholar, readers will find Troy Bickham's Eating the Empire approachable and informative. Clearly, Bickham’s work suggests the trajectory of food studies and is an important contribution to the fields of political and culinary histories. There is much to learn from Bickham’s scholarship and, moreover, Eating the Empire is an enormously enjoyable read. This reviewer is eager to see where his research leads and awaits a second helping." - Reviews in History"As Bickham explains in his introduction, this book is less an examination of food than it is of "foodways," or the use of food to better understand society. His book is a model study of the subject, as he uses cuisine and the sociocultural elements surrounding it to detail the many ways in which the British Empire was present in the everyday lives of 18th-century Britons . . . Bickham's insightful analysis of such a wide-ranging subject makes his book a highly recommended addition to all libraries with concentrations in early modern British history, British imperial history, and the history of consumerism." - Choice"Entertainingly written, with blessedly little historiographical jargon, amusingly illustrated with a wealth of contemporary caricatures, this book allows you to ponder the interpenetration of consumption and social action. Great stuff." - Tom Jaine, Asian Affairs"[Bickham's] book is an elegantly interlocking story, and is extensively illustrated, typically with satirical prints that show commodities’ imperial associations, making it an engaging overarching history of food and empire." - Eighteenth-Century Studies Journal"Everyone is wondering what the corona pandemic can teach us about ourselves and the world we live in. Maybe the answer is in a new . . . book on British food habits in the 17th and 18th centuries . . . Although Troy Bickham had no idea about the virus when he wrote his book, he draws a vivid and suddenly up-to-date picture of how people's everyday lives intertwine across worlds and time zones, when goods are constantly crossing borders." - Politiken, Denmark"Eating the Empire is a delicious soup, which brings humble and familiar ingredients together into a satisfying and nutritious meal. By studying the foodways of the British Isles during the long eighteenth century, Bickham shows how ordinary men and women encountered and appropriated the Empire, Europe and the Enlightenment and developed a national cuisine that was both local and global." - Erika Rappaport, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara and author of A Thirst for Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World"The nature of food and eating is so central to social experience, and this book succeeds in saying something new in a lively scholarly field, showing an admirable grasp of both the broader background – Britain and the empire – and the specific details about a range of foodstuffs." - James Walvin, Professor Emeritus of History, University of York and author of How Sugar Corrupted the World: From Slavery to Obesity