Foreword

The history of every nation lies visible on its table. Its wars and victories, its occupation in defeat, the marriages of its kings, its religion, its overseas empires – all have left behind them a dish or two destined to be adopted into the national life.

The Medicis, by marrying the Louis, transformed the French table, which then claimed the credit and conquered the world with its cuisine. The Auld Alliance, forged by endless interlocking marriages between the two kingdoms, still leaves many mementos in the Frenchified names of Scotland’s food. A revolution gave us restaurants, when the chefs of the aristocracy were reduced to serving the very people who had so rudely cut off the heads they used to feed.