ABSTRACT
This opening is apt, as the travelogue is replete with descriptions of Trollope’s meals, provided both to inform and entertain. He praises or condemns food served at dinner parties, at hotels and inns, on ships and railways, and even in packs made up for travel by mule. He expresses appreciation for fresh produce, a well-prepared meal, and the generosity of hosts and “friends,” but also warns readers away from particular routes or hotels based on available provisions. Moreover, with an anthropological eye, Trollope observes food and food-related rituals, typically framing them as novel for his English readers: he eats shark and declares it “delicious,” describes the misery of campsite cooking with multiple culinary mishaps, and marvels at the habit of White Jamaicans’ drinking sherry and bitters before rather than after dinner (chs. 10, 3, and 3). These elements of the text – descriptions of the author’s meals, recommendations for future travelers, and anecdotes about cultural differences relating to food and drink – might reasonably be expected of travel writing. Beyond this, however, Trollope also investigates and comments extensively on the production, processing, and transporting of food commodities, especially sugar and coffee. Trollope’s 1857-1858 journey to the Caribbean isles and to Central and South America was made on behalf of the British Postal Service, his mission being to carry forward a number of initiatives that aimed at greater efficiencies, but of his official duties, Trollope reveals to readers only that his “purposed
business” is “the accomplishment of certain affairs of State,” and promises that this will be of no “further concern” (ch. 1). Trollope honors this promise to such an extent, and the book is so filled with references to food, that an attentive reader might reasonably guess that Trollope’s assignment is to experience and propose improvements to the global food system rather than the British postal system.
