Alan Davidson (food writer)

Alan Eaton Davidson (* March 30, 1924; † 2 December 2003) was a British diplomat and cultural historian with the subject of food history. His most important work is the Oxford Companion to Food, which was published in 1999.

Life

Alan Davidson was born in Northern Ireland and studied at Oxford University in classical languages. During the Second World War he was a soldier in the Royal Navy. In 1948, he began his diplomatic career in the Foreign Office and worked in Washington, Tunis, Brussels, Cairo and The Hague; 1973 to 1975 he was ambassador in Laos. In Washington, he married Jane Macatee, the daughter of an American diplomat.

Work

From private interest he began in the late 1960s to deal with culinary arts and the cultural history of different foods, at first mainly with edible fish and seafood. His first book was published in 1972 under the title Mediterranean Seafood in the UK. It is now considered a standard work on the subject and contains information for both cultural history and biology as well as recipes. More books on fish were Seafood Of South East Asia (1979) and North Atlantic Seafood (1979 ) for which he collected thousands of recipes from different countries. Davidson is also regarded as an expert of the Lao cuisine.

In 1979, the English-language journal Petits Propos Davidson Culinaires and the book publishing Prospect Books. He is also the founder of the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, which takes place each year in Oxford.

Awards

  • 2003: Erasmus Prize

Publications

  • Mediterranean seafood, 1972.
  • Fish and fish dishes of Laos, 1975. ISBN 0-907325-95-5.
  • Seafood of South - East Asia, 1977. Revised ed 2003. ISBN 1-903018-23-4.
  • North Atlantic seafood, 1980.
  • Alan Davidson / Phia Sing ( ed. ): Traditional Recipes of Laos, 1981 Illustrated by Soun Vannithone. . ISBN 0-907325-02-5.
  • On fasting and feasting: a personal collection of favorite writings on food and eating, 1988.
  • Seafood: a connoisseur 's guide and cookbook, 1989, ISBN 0-85533-752-4 ( German: Fish and Seafood, 1991).
  • A dump truck with my tea: selected food essays, 1990.
  • The Cook 's room: a celebration of the heart of the home, 1991.
  • Fruit: a connoisseur 's guide and cookbook, 1991, ISBN 0-85533-903-9.
  • The Oxford Companion to Food, Oxford, 1999, ISBN 0-19-280681-5.
  • Trifle with Helen Saberi, 2001, ISBN 1903018-19-6.
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