Presented here are 31 fascinating essays on all aspects of fat in cookery throughout the ages. They comprise the proceedings of the 20th Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, the longest running food history conference in the world. These essays, edited by Harlan Walker, cover a wide and eclectic range of subjects relating to fats and oils, reflecting the diverse interest of this annual gathering of food writers, scientists, historians and sociologists. The papers, some of which are illustrated, cover topics as diverse as: oil in Japanese cookery; medieval Arab oils; butter in the diet of Irish monks; the coconut in Filipino life; fat in the Uzbek diet; olive oil pastries in Crete; gluttony in Victorian England and fried food in the US mid-west. Published this year by Footwork, this volume follows the format of the previous year's publications.