The English Taste

Between 1887 and 1943, the bestselling English writer E. Phillips Oppenheim published more than 160 novels that today are almost entirely forgotten. The English Taste explores how Oppenheim used literary portrayals of food in general and haute cuisine in particular to reinforce the social themes of his works, including his support for class stratification and his opposition to democracy and women's rights. It looks at the restaurants and nightclubs he favored, inquires into the brands of champagne he preferred, and investigates how much it cost to eat like Oppenheim did, as well as examining the value of Oppenheim's works as social propaganda and the symbiotic relationship that Oppenheim perceived to exist between fine food and intelligence.