Book

Bourgeois consumption : food, space and identity in London and Paris, 1850-1914

Rich, Rachel

Overview

\"Bourgeois Consumption looks at how the middle classes in late nineteenth-century London and Paris used food and dining as forms of social expression and identity. This engaging treatise about how class and gender informed people's eating habits focuses on the complex interactions between bodies, ritual and identity. Forgoing the traditional food history territory of recipes and ingredients in favor of how people ate in different circles, Bourgeois Consumption explores the role of real and imagined meals in shaping Victorian lives. The perception of the middle classes as rigid and upright, found in the extensive pages of their etiquette books, is contrasted with a more flexible and spontaneous bourgeoisie, gleaned from the pages of their own colorful memoirs, diaries and letters, leading us on a lively journey into eating spaces, mealtimes, manners, and social interactions between diners. Further, contrasting Paris with London reveals some of the ways each city shaped its inhabitants but, more surprisingly, throws up a range of similarities that suggest the middle classes were, in fact, a transnational class. Locations such as the private home, the restaurant, the club and the banquet, traversed by individuals moving between social groups and spaces, offer insights not only into how class informs, but how it is actually shaped by consumption. Rachel Rich's work will be of interest to anyone intrigued by the history of food, consumption and leisure, as well as to a broader audience curious about how the Victorian middle classes distinguished themselves through daily life and manners.\"--Publisher's website.

• Publisher: Manchester University Press ; Distributed in the United States by Palgrave Macmillan
• Subject: Middle class England London Social life and customs 19th century. / Middle class France Paris Social life and customs 19th century. / Dinners and dining Social aspects England London History 19th century. / Dinners and dining Social aspects France Paris History 19th century. / Food habits England London History 19th century. / Food habits France Paris History 19th century. / London (England) Social life and customs 19th century. / Paris (France) Social life and customs 19th century.
• ISBN: 9780719081125, 0719081122

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
HT690.G7 R53 2011	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE