Cleves argues that “Puritanism” is the wrong explanation for the hangups of the English-speaking peoples, given the long history of abstemiousness tracing back to Greek and early Christian precepts. Instead, the connection between luxurious food and sin was more deep-seated

Mmm. Manichaeism too - the body as the source of all evil!

That 1932 anecdote about Churchill's a GREAT way to end the first volume.