[Vwoolf] Woolf’s good food guide

[mhussey at verizon.net]

Epic snark!

 

From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Peter Adkins via Vwoolf
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2023 9:06 AM
To: VWOOLF listserv <vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: [Vwoolf] Woolf’s good food guide

 

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 

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$> 

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