“Supped well, and mighty merry, and our fears over”: Food, Drink and Companionship as Escapism Philosophy in Samuel Pepys’s Diary
“Supped well, and mighty merry, and our fears over”: Food, Drink and Companionship as Escapism Philosophy in Samuel Pepys’s Diary

Summary/Abstract: The Diary of Samuel Pepys offers not only a firsthand account of the political and social life in the 17th-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.

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