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The Curiosities of Food: Or the Dainties and Delicacies of Different Nations Obtained from the Animal Kingdom

peter lund simmonds alan davidson

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Originally published in London in 1859, this rare treasure of culinary history was recently brought to light in the award-winning Oxford Companion to Food, whose author, Alan Davidson, used it as a primary reference in researching some of the more obscure foodstuffs consumed across the globe. Davidson writes that "[CURIOSITIES] is in all probability the first attempt to write a general worldwide survey of animal products." Long out of print and scarce even in the antiquarian market, this lost classic of wit, erudition, and grand storytelling is now made available in a facsimile edition, with an introduction by Davidson. As Simmonds reveals in his charming culinary travelogue, just about everything that walks, swims, crawls, slithers, or flies has been eaten at one time or another, and the eminent Victorian scholar has the tasting notes. On lizards: "In Guatemala, there is a popular belief, that lizards eaten alive cure cancer. . . . The man who first eat a live oyster or clam, was certainly a venturous fellow, but the eccentric individual who allowed a live lizard to run down his throat was infinitely more so." • One of the most important works of culinary history from the nineteenth century, and a significant primary source for Alan Davidson's award-winning Oxford Companion to Food.

372 pages, Hardcover

First published June 22,2001

This edition

Format
372 pages, Hardcover
Published
June 22, 2001 by Ten Speed Press
ISBN
9781580082976
ASIN
1580082971
Language
English

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About the author

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peter lund simmonds

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Peter Lund Simmonds (1814-1897) was a journalist and founder of Simmonds' Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany, a magazine focusing on issues of British colonial and commercial affairs. As well as editing this magazine for many years, Simmonds wrote books on a variety of subjects including food, agriculture, international trade and polar exploration.

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Pnigg
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Although Simmonds has produced various useful reference works, this is one time I was too grossed out to continue. Yes, if you want to know about eating insects, reptiles, or putrid fish, it's all here. Don't try to read this while eating.
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Aron1412
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Egad! What a portrait of humanity as an all-gobbling, endlessly hungry pestilence upon every other thing that moves or breathes!

Mr. Simmonds is a charming wit, and he does seem to play favorites -- roasted iguana, anyone? -- but once you peel back the top layer of self-congratulatory Victorian Anglocentricism, you find two truths.

The first is that, even 100 years ago, everywhere on earth human beings were honing the process of consuming EVERYTHING, always boasting about how much, always certain that they'd never run out. Birds, animals, fish, sure. Snakes, lizards, certainly. Also insects and their larve, also worms, snails, bats, also parchment paper and leather clothing, also dirt. Also each other. This book is a catalogue of all that, and it includes detailed instructions on just how to go about depopulating the world of a hundred once-plentiful species. The descriptions are fascinating, and occasionally they lapse into momentary appreciation of the beauty of life, but never without returning to the fundamental issue of eating, eating, eating.

The second is that, only 100 years ago, the earth was home to mass migrations of land crabs, sea birds, insects of all kinds. There were tremendously more animals back then than there are today. The reports from those who gathered these windfalls of meat are poignant and haunting, because the days of plentiful animal life on earth are well and truly over now. Numerous extinct species are described as delicious and fortifying in this book.

There was probably a moment in human history -- perhaps right around the time this book was first published -- when a strong dose of environmental consciousness would have made a world of difference. My kingdom for a time machine.
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