Annabel Abbs

Annabel Abbs

Novelist, cook and food blogger

https://www.annabelabbs.com/
Annabel Abbs is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her first novel, The Joyce Girl, tells the story of James Joyce’s daughter, won the Impress New Writer Prize, was translated into 10 languages and is currently being adapted for the stage. Her second novel, Frieda: The Real Lady Chatterley, was a Times Book of the Year 2018, and was translated into seven languages. Her memoir and history of wild walking women, Windswept, was published to great acclaim in June 2021. Her third novel, The Language of Food (2022), tells the story of poet and cookery writer, Eliza Acton. It has been translated into 20 languages, and is currently being adapted for the screen by CBS Studios. Annabel has a degree in English Literature from UEA and is a Fellow of the Brown Foundation. She grew up in Wales but now lives in London and Sussex where she spends her time cooking, walking, reading and writing.

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Q&A: Annabel Abbs on Eliza Acton

Q&A: Annabel Abbs on Eliza Acton

Annabel Abbs’s new novel (Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen in the US and The Language of Food in the UK) tells the story of Eliza Acton, author of the ground-breaking Victorian cookbook Modern Cookery for Private Families (1845). Abbs’s novel explores the creativity and joy of cooking and aims to bring Acton out of the archives and back into the public eye. The book is being made into a television miniseries by CBS in the US by Stampede Ventures, which will give Acton and her work some well-deserved limelight.

Annabel's favorite cookbooks

Available on ckbk now
Modern Cookery for Private Families

Modern Cookery for Private Families

Eliza Acton

My number one, of course! Acton is regarded as the inventor of the modern cook book and of the recipe, but she was also the inventor of gorgeous ‘food prose’ – as befitted her poetic past. Her Apple and Ginger Soup, Chocolate Custards and Acton Gingerbread are family favourites in my house.

The English Bread Book

The English Bread Book

Eliza Acton

This thoroughly modern book contains nothing but bread recipes – it was the first cook book to focus on a single food. I love it because Acton’s campaigning voice shines through, as she fights for the right of all people to eat bread of a decent quality.

Available on ckbk now
Fancy Ices

Fancy Ices

Agnes B. Marshall

Agnes Marshall wrote cookery books, set up cookery schools and invented the ice cream cone. She also produced the first dedicated ice cream recipe book. This beautiful book is impossible to find now, but its graphically designed cover was also (I think) a first for cook books. Good recipes too!

A Book of Mediterranean Food

A Book of Mediterranean Food

Elizabeth David

Simple recipes, beautifully written. I love the way David, almost single-handedly, restored our love of cooking, eating and food-fantasising, after years of War and food rationing. Her shimmering prose reminded us that good food was a cause for joy.

Available on ckbk now
Honey from a Weed

Honey from a Weed

Patience Gray

I often turn to this book when I can’t sleep. Gray’s foraging escapades, her erudite writing, the stories of sun, sea and wild weeds, are both exotic and soothing. And who knew what you could do with a few dandelion leaves?

The River Café Cookbook

The River Café Cookbook

Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

When I bought River Café Blue, I cooked my way through it dish by dish. Suddenly Italian food was greater than pizza and spag bol. But it was the bruschetta that astonished me: glamorous toasties really, but they fired my imagination and for a year we lived off bruschetta.

Flavours of India

Flavours of India

Madhur Jaffrey

I once lived in India for a year, but when I returned I couldn’t find a cook book that enabled me to recreate the dishes I’d eaten. Until I discovered Madhur Jaffrey. Her spiced Bloody Mary is still the best I’ve ever had.

A Modern Way to Eat

A Modern Way to Eat

Anna Jones

When I decided to eat less meat, this book stepped into the breach. Who needs meat when vegetarian meals can taste (and look) so exciting?

Moro: The Cookbook

Moro: The Cookbook

Samantha Clark and Samuel Clark

The Moro restaurant changed our view of Spanish food, much as the River Café changed our view of Italian food. The Clark’s recipes introduced me to an entirely new cuisine. Goodbye paella and gazpacho. Hello sopa de ajo and fattoush!