Quo Vadis
George Fort
An evocation of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn
An excerpt from the 1914 guide to London restaurants, “The Gourmet’s Guide to London”, in which the author gives a detailed description of the interior of the Cheshire Cheese pub, unchanged since at least the 18th century, as thought in the company of the great 18th century personality, Dr Johnson. Including a mouthwatering remembrance of the pub’s own ‘pudding’ – a big, savory pie-like dish concocted from various meats and other ingredients.
Ambergris: or, The Stinking Monarch
An excerpt from “Leviathon or, The Whale”, by Philip Hoare, in which we learn about the precious, pungent substance ambergris; its source-place in the body of the sperm whale and its unlikely use in the coronations of British monarchs in Westminster Abbey.
