[Vwoolf] Woolf’s good food guide

[Peter Adkins]

Making my way through my backlog of *TLS *issues, I thought the following
letter from the January 13 2023 edition might be of interest to Woolfians
on the list (and apologies if it has already been shared!):

*Woolf’s good food guide*
Reviewing Diane Purkiss’s book on English food (December 23 & 30), Ysenda
Maxtone Graham mentions the familiar passage in A Room of One’s Own
contrasting the food served in a men’s college at Cambridge (King’s) and
one for women (Newnham). It should be regarded as purely rhetorical, alas.
The “counterpane of the whitest cream” over the men’s sole may or may not
have tasted good, depending on how much flour there was in it; the meal at
Newnham would certainly have tasted better (and there is nothing wrong with
“beef with its attendant greens and potatoes”) had Virginia Woolf arrived
on time for it. Katherine Duncan-Jones, whose mother, Elsie, arranged the
meal specially for Woolf at Newnham, told me that she was in fact
extravagantly late (having been fascinated by the men’s conversation,
perhaps) and the carefully prepared meal was consequently ruined. In any
case there is reason to doubt Woolf’s ability to recognize good food. The
fuss about Mrs Ramsay’s daube in To the Lighthouse is hardly reassuring,
and it is noticeable that in writing of Nelly Boxall, her own cook, Woolf
hardly ever in her diaries mentions what comes to table. It’s probable that
she wasn’t very interested.

Martin Dodsworth
Brill, Buckinghamshire


*Dr Peter Adkins *
(He/Him/His)

*Website: peteradkins.net <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://peteradkins.net/__;!!KGKeukY!y90iaaNKkjJJu-5FDIgTdFTDNlGdyvXDS5e-HvDpl-DeknqCFBtFkmyjmW3ygN0wKb9Ju6DsO138hEAzXZgjVzkkCYsyFgAvHb7X-l-b$ >*
*Twitter: *@peteradkins17
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