Britain's beloved first minister of food offers a decade-by-decade survey of the rich culinary traditions of her home country.

Marguerite Patten OBE has written over 160 cookery books, sales of which amount to over 16 million worldwide. Her long and distinguished career, which began before the war, has included regular appearances on radio and television, live and televised cookery demonstrations, lectures as well as extensive journalism and authorship of books and cookery cards. Marguerite is one of Britain's best known and loved cookery writers and has often been described as England's Cookery Queen. Ainsley Harriott dubbed her "the cookery icon of our times." Her Century of British Cooking pulls together her life's work, with over 200 recipes, and is truly an important work of culinary history. Each chapter covers one decade of the twentieth century, giving both history and recipes.