Cita Stelzer

Fun to read anecdotes of how Churchill used food and meals as diplomatic and educational opportunities.
Now meals to him meant 3 to 4 hours together, without Facebook, in conversation (or perhaps himself expounding..).
There was actually too much info on the menus, etc for me as a barely capable minimalist cook - but some foodies will love it. Though I must say that one serious handicap of the Kindle is its inability to display any detail (like text…) with images. I do hope Amazon can find a solution for this.

To have an entire chapter on “Cigars” was a first for me. But for Churchill, it deserved it.

The inside information on some of the world leaders that Churchill dined with was of course usually interesting.

The lengths to which world leaders (in particular Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin) went to impress each other with their food and resources was actually beyond my imagining. Flying ham to Potsdam overnight from London, for example!
And to deliver a large sumptuous meal in a foreign war zone took incredible logistics resources and people. The price of high level diplomacy, eh?
The was a long chapter at the end of the book, where the author delivered brief biographical sketches of many of the folks Churchill had dined with. It was often quite interesting.
The book is supplemented with a long bibliography and a deep index.… (plus d'informations)

Really, this deserves 3.5 stars. Dinner with Churchill is a fairly delightful look at the banquets and dinners and eating and drinking habits of the King's First Minister, before, after, and mostly during the Second World War.

If there's anything holding the book back, perhaps, it's the rather sweeping claims about Churchill's dining representing so much of his character. I know the normal school of thought when it comes to history requires a thesis, but this one may have been a bit...stretched (skillfull use of ration coupons for group dinners = concern for the common Briton, that sort of thing). On the other hand, the use of - and ability to find - a surprising array of primary sources on Churchill's meal tabs and cigar orders is quite impressive.

Perhaps the best parts of the book are the final three chapters, which examine at some length Churchill's food, alcohol, and cigar preferences. They were certainly inspirational in their own way, and just plain fun. So while the book isn't a masterpiece, it's a relatively quick read, and therefore well worth your time.… (plus d'informations)

The title of this book describes it well, and yet promises more than it can deliver. The author sets out to describe the various meals Winston S. Churchill participated in, and the characters who attended them, particularly during the war years. His mannerisms and goals are gone into. The food is described in a very cursory way. There are complete chapters on his drinking and smoking. It is not an unflattering book, one can tell that the author is a fan, but it comes across as second hand knowledge, perhaps promising more than it can deliver.

This is not a book which benefits from its ebook format. I couldn't read the menus included, some of the notes seemed randomly placed. To my surprise, it ended when my Kindle said I was only 56% done. I would have hated that in most books, but this one I didn't mind. It seemed to me that the author was stretching for material by the end, and especially when I read that the author never actually sat at table with Churchill. It was interesting, in a fangirl way, but not enchanting. Others might like it, I did not much. I think I was hoping for more or better food descriptions. I should have picked up one of the books I have written by Churchill himself. I really enjoy his writing, I was feeling lazy and I got what I deserved.… (plus d'informations)