All Manners of Food in Retrospect

The author’s book All Manners of Food was published in 1985 and was well received by historians and sociologists. In this chapter, he reflects on how, having begun his academic career mainly as a sociological theorist, he came to write a large book about the history of food in England and France. In particular, he traces his intellectual debt, in writing this book, to Norbert Elias. The chapter concludes with some theoretical and methodological points relevant for further research.