This was a fun read on history and folklore in relation to food. It was well researched and concise, everything I could want in a book like this. Looking forward to getting a physical copy when it releases.

A real treat packed full of facts relating to two of my favourite subjects, food and history, so a winner from the start really.
There were plenty of morsels that I didn’t already know plus a few that I did but it was all presented in a fascinating way and in bite sized sections which made it easy to dip in and out of (I promise I’ll stop the food puns at some point, couldn’t resist)
It seems we are a really superstitious lot and paranoid about the things that are most important to us, notably staying well enough fed and also finding love so there are plenty of rituals that involve either or both of those topics. There were also some brilliant snippets of local history which I didn’t already know including about my adopted home county of Hertfordshire.
I can see this book having wide appeal and I wish it all the success it obviously deserves.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out this month. This was a light and interesting read for those interested in random folklore and history. I enjoyed reading this.

[ARC Review]

A Feast of Folklore definitely made me hungry when reading it!

I really enjoyed this piece of non-fiction. I rarely read non-fiction so when I requested this one, I hoped it would not bore me as other forms of non-fiction have done so in the past, and I was greatly surprised.

Gazur writes about everything food imaginable, including even fairy food! His writing was very extensive, showing a lot of research and love was put into this book to make it informative as well as enjoyable. He effortlessly makes big paragraphs of text not boring but making funny little one-liners that made me chuckle and want to read more. I especially loved reading about pancake lore and how for many years there was an annual pancake tossing competition somewhere in the UK.

This book has helped me appreciate the tradition behind certain foods that I have eaten in my life, and how traditions are for everyone,

My only qualm is that one or two sections are dragged a little too long, but they were still interesting regardless.

And as Gazur put it "Long may folklore continue to be generated. It adds a little bit of spice both to our meals and to our lives."

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for a free, honest review.

Well researched book on the folklore of different foods, specifically. A little bit of history and interesting facts. Liked the cover!

I would like NetGalley and Unbound for the ARC.

Charming compilation of historical facts about foods passed down though the ages in the folk tradition. Great to dip into for entertaining stories about everyday food items.

3.75

If you are interested in folklore and superstitions regarding food and wonder where they came from and their history, this is absolutely the book for you!

Although it focuses mostly on the UK’s perspective on history and folklore, a lot of the beliefs and sayings are international so no matter where you’re from, you’ll recognize quite a few. As someone from Portugal, I was already quite familiar with some of them, by hearing about them from movies or online, but also by having contact with the translated version of it in my own language. But others were new to me and quite interesting to figure out the historical context where such beliefs were born.

It’s witty, it’s interesting, it will teach you about the world of food throughout history. I will be recommending this book to quite a few people.


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Review will be posted on Instagram and on Amazon in the near future.

3.25 stars. An interesting and well researched book looking at the many and varied folklore stories that relate to food and drink. There are some truly weird and not too wonderful examples, and you do wonder at some of our ancestors, for example thinking that putting some of a particular cake under their pillow, then walking backwards to bed saying a rhyme would show them who they’d marry. You see how some stories are widespread (maybe with minor variations), but also there are some very regional food items or folklore.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

It was an easy and fun read, just what I needed. I am not a Brit, but it was fun to know that some of the 'recipes' for diseases are the same as the ones we have in the other end of Europe. I got it as a ARC on Kindle, but I plan to buy a physical copy as well, just so I can have easy access to the different lore and stories

Weird and Wonderful, A Feast of Folklore is an evocative look at food traditions and the fabled roots that they have derived from. Culinary enthusiast will enjoy this fresh take on food history. Written in a quirky and fun cadence readers will be delighted and sometimes appalled ( in a good way!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I do love a book that takes you back in time and when it involves food I love it even more. This is such a fun and interesting read and I enjoyed it and was definitely entertained by it. It is so much fun and is a book you can read again and again finding things you may have missed the first time. It is a fun way to learn as it is very informative yet it is full of humour and light-heartedness.

Folklore, ancient remedies, superstitions, customs of the times and so much more. A well presented and well researched book, a great read and if you love food and history, stories and tales from the past you will love this book. I did!

Thank you NetGalley and Unbound for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A Feast of Folklore is a deliciously intriguing journey through the strange stories and superstitions surrounding British food.

The book is both hilarious and informative; you can tell there has been intensive research behind it. Gazur skillfully keeps us interested in history and folklore through his witty writing and bizarre superstitions. Ranging from tossing salt over your shoulder to all sorts of unusual remedies and rituals to cure a whipping cough, it explores the stories behind several customs, some of which we still keep in present times.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in food history, folklore, or just looking to learn about random bits to show off at their next pub's trivia night.

The stories my mom and grandma always told me about food finally have an origin story! I love looking at the myth and folklore of some of my favorite superstitions surrounding food!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I really had fun with this book. Food is something that we all gather about, on a daily basis, and it’s no surprise that there’s such a storied history in the folklore of it.

This book balances humour and intrigue very successfully, spotlighting the bizarre and the mundane, giving plenty of reasons and possibilities for much of our fare.

It was a very well thought-out book, although I do wish a couple more odd and interesting traditions were included. With a little bit more, this would have been a perfect read for me.

This book is both unusual and entertaining. It’s a very easy read but if you have any interest in food and even minor internet in folklore, I think you’ll find the content absolutely fascinating. It’s divided into short sections which consider different foods or food related subjects and then looks at the origins of legend associated with that food. I didn’t know that parsley had association with the devil and although it’s not always easy to attribute origins of some myths and folklore, it’s fascinating to read and consider the likely reasons. A cracking book to dip into and I’ve learned a lot. It would make a great gift fir a foodie.

I’ve read a lot of books about the history of food, and written one, but l wasn’t impressed. This reads like a string of anecdotes pulled together without any context or depth. Very little or no awareness of how food and class are inseparable. Did not finish.

This book was such a fun ride. I learned such a broad variety of food folklore, some which felt reasonable and others that were very bizarre indeed. I liked that the present day was consistently included with references to festivals and traditional events that happen today that celebrate the food myths.

It was really well structured, as it took you through each food/ingredient and went through common superstitions or illnesses that the ingredient was used to treat which was eye opening. It did get a bit repetitive and some of the folklore I personally felt wasn't that interesting - personally I would've preferred if it was organised by classic superstitions or myths rather than the ingredients because it did start to feel slightly monotonous.

Other than that, loved the concept of the book and it did teach me some interesting facts (who knew carrots don't actually help you see in the dark, it was a myth created in WW2 so civilians didn't know about cutting edge tech to see in the dark the military had?!)

Last year I read a few pretty heavy non-fiction books because I was in the headspace for it. But this year, I've read mostly fiction. I still want to learn new things but I also want to think good things about humanity. This lovely food and folklore history was just what I needed, especially coming into Halloween which is the time I think most about tradition and superstitions.

I love reading about the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of human experience.

Reading this book I couldn't believe how many cures for warts and whooping cough. Similarly, I was charmed by the number of foods we used to divine who we would marry or when. There are also some interesting portents of death and ill omens.

There's the stuff we already may be familiar with, but don't know the origins of - like why we get oranges at Christmas or never disposing of eggshells in a fire. And then there are stories I had never heard before about rabbits and lampreys and pies that blackbirds actually flew out of.

The superstitions in this book are sometimes ridiculous and sometime heart-warming but always fascinating. And the author's writing style is human and accessible, as well as funny.

I just have to remember to bake a cake next time I lose my keys!

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I enjoy folklore in all forms and I love food. One of my favourite academics is Richard Tellström, so this book fit me like a glove. The texts are easy to follow and very well structured.

This is more of a book you keep at hand to reference different folklore about food than to read from cover to cover but, oh, what a nice book it is for that purpose.

You don’t need to be a chef to enjoy this volume. Combining history and food, this is a look into superstitions and traditions from the beginning of time. It is limited to Britain, as extending it all over the world would require millions of pages. As it is, it shows a lot of fun beliefs through the ages. I don’t cook, but knowledge of the culinary art is not required, as some of the concoctions discussed involve dung, dirt or ashes. It is amusing to see how much we’ve changed - or maybe how little? The historical part was especially fascinating, setting all these superstitions in context. There was one thing that I didn’t like at all, and it’s all the casual animal cruelty. We now laugh at how people could possibly think those practices could do anything but torture a living creature but, for an extreme animal lover like me, it was painful to read. I did love the author’s sense of humor and the rest of the content.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Unbound.