I absolutely love it when I look forward to a book and when I finally get to read it, it is as good as I imagined. Quite often, that's not the case - see The Binding by Bridget Collins - but when it is, boy it boosts my literary ego.
Pie Fidelity: In Defence of British Food is one of these - in fact, it has surpassed expectations for me, anyway. I think I first found out about it when applying for a job at Penguin Press last Spring which, despite not even flirting with the idea of giving me the job, has since become my favourite imprint. Penguin Press encompasses Allen Lane, Penguin Classics, Particular Books and Pelican: basically everything I could ever want in life. Their books include Kings of the Yukon and poetry anthology Zoo of the New (highly recommended, I keep it on my desk at all times) for example; and now, Pie Fidelity.
Pete Brown sets out to re-discover and re-evaluate nine typically British dishes - at least that's the easy way to sum up, but what counts as 'typically British' and why is another question put to rather interesting debate in this book. From pie and peas through fish and chips, spag bol and even the humble cheese sandwich, not only does he try to consume these dishes in their most traditional setting, he also writes about their history, how they came to be a 'national dish' and far and wide anything interesting that relates to them.
What did I like about it?
Everything. Pete's humorous, tongue-in-cheek writing style mirrors perfectly the sentiments towards the dishes he writes about, the very Britishness of although publicly we'd denounce fish and chips with an apologetic smile, try saying something bad about the dish and we'll be quick to aggressively defend it.
He especially comes into his element when describing the eating experiences, and despite reading this at 7am on the tube, he still made me crave spag bol immediately. The enthusiasm, detail and gentle love for these dishes makes the reader feel these exact feelings towards the book; it even makes me want to head to Blackpool for some proper fish and chips (despite vehement opposition from my partner) and to try 'off-the-bone' chicken curry even though... ugh. Gross.
I especially enjoyed his description of taking cream tea, and how his initial skepticism towards the pomp of the ceremony quickly turned into passionate love and understanding once he saw his scones arrive on a tiered cake stand. (Who wouldn't have a change of heart?) "As soon as I see the stand ... I'm flooded by the feeling that this is a special occasion. Suzanne could have served our order on a bunch of separate plates, but where would the fun be in that? And besides, with so many different components, the tidy order of our relatively small table would have been ruined. It would have become... unseemly."
There's also lots of fascinating food history and research; Pete has dug deep in the archives. From how fried fish came to be sold together with fried potato, to why Danish bacon imports made it affordable, he covers it all - one of my absolute highlights from the book though is his detailed calculation of the possible varieties of full English one can order at a café. Also, did you know Britain produces over 700 named cheese varieties? No, you didn't.
What was I not massively fond of?
Perhaps the only thing I'd highlight here is the varying lengths of the chapters - crumble and cream tea get much less air time than fish and chips or curry. But I'm not blaming this on Pete. After all, just how much research could be done on crumble?
Also, for some reason I keep imagining Pete as Jay Rayner, even though he's not and I don't even like Jay Rayner. Annoying. Sorry, Pete.
Overall...
Writing this review was like being a kid in a candy shop, all 'ooh, that was a good bit' and 'ooh, I should include this too'. I didn't realise how much I enjoyed this book. The selection of dishes is perfect, I wouldn't have it any other way; the research is brilliant, the writing flows, the eating is enviable.
It's funny, it's kind, it's interesting and totally delicious. We are so ordering a curry tonight.
9/10
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