Struan Stevenson - The Course of History: Ten Meals That Changed the World

First published in 2017 by

Birlinn Limited

West Newington House

10 Newington Road

Edinburgh

EH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

Text copyright Struan Stevenson 2017

Recreated recipes copyright Tony Singh 2017

ISBN 978 085790 942 8

The right of Struan Stevenson and Tony Singh to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Designed and typeset by Mark Blackadder

Printed and bound by Gutenberg Press, Malta

Statistics show that of those who contract
the habit of eating, very few survive
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

1.
Bonnie Prince Charlie on the Eve of Culloden

2.
Sowing the Seeds of the American Revolution

3.
How Washington D.C. Became Americas Capital

4.
Forging a Hundred Years of Peace at the Congress of Vienna

5.
Archduke Franz Ferdinands Dinner in Sarajevo

6.
How Petroleum Politics Was Born over a Scottish Banquet

7.
Austrian Anschluss

8.
Churchills Birthday Banquet in Tehran

9.
Nixon in China

10.
The EgyptIsrael Peace Treaty Dinner

There is a famous Spanish proverb that says The belly rules the mind. This is a clinically proven fact. Food is the original mind-controlling drug. Every time we eat, we bombard our brains with a feast of chemicals, triggering an explosive hormonal chain reaction that directly influences the way we think.

Countless studies have shown that the positive emotional state a good meal induces naturally enhances our receptiveness to be persuaded. It triggers an instinctive desire to repay the provider. This is why executives regularly combine business meetings with meals, why lobbyists invite politicians to attend receptions, lunches and dinners and why major State occasions almost always involve an elaborate banquet. Churchill called this dining diplomacy and sociologists have confirmed that this principle is a potent motivator across all human cultures. As a lifelong politician, I have witnessed dining diplomacy at first hand, sharing meals with royalty, presidents, diplomats and business leaders across the globe.

This book will take you on a journey to discover how food has transcended its primal role as life-giving sustenance to become a weapon of unimaginable power, used throughout history as a means of persuasion. We will explore how eating and drinking have been at the epicentre of some of historys most momentous events. We will look at its role as a key influence on those events and not just its place as an intriguing historical footnote. We will examine the many ways it has been used, consciously, or unconsciously to persuade, coax and cajole major historical figures into epoch-changing decisions.

From the Last Supper and Jesus betrayal, right up to Tony Blair and Gordon Browns notorious Granita Pact formed at the eponymous Islington restaurant, tales of historically significant meals have always fascinated me. Could a lavish dinner washed down with gallons of wine hours before the disastrous Battle of Culloden have clouded Bonnie Prince Charlies judgement and led to the defeat of the Jacobite cause? Could Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie have avoided assassination if they had dined quietly the evening before their fateful visit to Sarajevo rather than indulging in a nine-course banquet accompanied by some of Europes finest wines? Could Austria have dodged absorption into Hitlers Third Reich if the pompous Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg had declined an invitation to lunch in Hitlers Berghof in February 1938?

The list of variables leading to the outcomes of these events is of course endless, but what cannot be denied is that each situation had one thing in common. Food. And what better way to step into the shoes of these historical figures than to taste the meals they ate for yourself? This is why I have collaborated with one of the UKs foremost chefs, Tony Singh, to refashion each recipe into an accessibly modern style, so you can bring history to life in your own kitchen.

All of the meals in this book have been intensively researched and, wherever possible, based on actual menus or historic records of the food that was served. In a very few cases, the information is limited or absent and in these instances the authors have sought to reproduce as authentically as possible the dishes that most likely were consumed.

So next time you have friends or family over for dinner, why not dip into this menu of momentous meals and share with them some of the food that changed the course of history?

Bon appetit!

Struan Stevenson

October 2017

With great thanks to the incomparable Wendy Brown, who introduced me to the amazing celebrity chef Tony Singh. Also to my publisher Hugh Andrew at Birlinn, who has shown profound faith in this book from its earliest days and has patiently guided me through its lengthy gestation. My gratitude, as always, to my long-suffering wife Pat, who saw me typing away in my study hour after hour, day after day, for wearying months and years. Her patience, support and forbearance are forever my inspiration.