Tasting Difference: Food, Race, and Cultural Encounters in Early Modern Literature. Gitanjali G. Shahani. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2020. xii + 204 pp. $39.95.

sode from my own life history. One set of my grandparents subscribed to what they would have described as religious fundamentals, one aspect of which was a zerotolerance policy where alcohol was concerned. They would not permit its consumption in their presence, let alone imbibe themselves. Yet, their kitchen cupboard always stocked what they called a medicinal bottle of brandy, and they did this openly, without so much as a flicker of embarrassment. As a young person, this seemingly obvious inconsistency left me bewildered. Breen has explained it perfectly. They had made a category adjustment, one very much in the tradition of the early modern Portuguese and British actors who people Breen’s pages.