Abstract
The Diary of Samuel Pepys offers not only a firsthand account of the political and social life in the 17 th -century England, but also a profound insight into the culinary habits of the diarist and his contemporaries. In circumstances of grief or jeopardy, Pepys appears to be searching for ways to obliterate and shun the peril by turning to his favourite pleasure which is food and drink enjoyed in a good company. The author clearly treats the activity as a form of escapism and a social emollient which mitigates feuds and conquers fears. The paper examines Pepys’s life philosophy focusing on those aspects of the Diary where eating and drinking appear as the main sources of the author’s merriness and a technique which helps to overcome the hardships and adversities of everyday life.
Highlights
In circumstances of grief or jeopardy, Pepys appears to be searching for ways to obliterate and shun the peril by turning to his favourite pleasure which is food and drink enjoyed in a good company
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, being a remarkable source of knowledge of the political and social life in the 17th-century England, can be read as an enthralling story of a young Londoner who found pleasure in cherishing and sharing his meals in a company of friends or relatives. When such a reading filter and prism of interpretation is applied to the Diary, it emerges as an impressive compendium of the 17th-century English cuisine and, more importantly, a private testimony of a person in his early thirties who treats the custom of meeting at a table for a sheer physiological need of consumption to maintain his living functions, and an immense source of joy and distraction from the surrounding reality
The paper looks at how the diarist develops his individual life philosophy by turning to food and drink as emolliate factors in times of sorrow, instability or a threat to life
Summary
The Diary of Samuel Pepys offers a firsthand account of the political and social life in the 17th-century England, and a profound insight into the culinary habits of the diarist and his contemporaries. The paper examines Pepys’s life philosophy focusing on those aspects of the Diary where eating and drinking appear as the main sources of the author’s merriness and a technique which helps to overcome the hardships and adversities of everyday life.
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