An historian of spirituality in Australia’s Anzac history has been awarded for a book he co-authored with his wife on the food and drink supplied to Australian soldiers during World War I. The Anzac Table by Daniel Reynaud and Emanuela Reynaud received the Anzac Memorial Trustees Military History Prize at the State Library of New South Wales on September 7.
Dr Reynaud is Emeritus Professor of History at Avondale University and has published two books on Anzac chaplains with Signs Publishing. “In my research into Anzac spirituality, I was reading the diaries and letters of hundreds of soldiers,” explained Dr Reynaud. “Being married to a hospitality professional who has a passion for all things food related, I couldn’t help noticing all the comments about food in the soldiers’ writings. I talked it over with Emi and we began collecting quotes from these sources about food.”
The resulting book was published earlier this year. “The Anzac Table was a truly enjoyable, shared process that saw each of our individual passions—Anzac history and food—come together,” reported Dr Reynaud. “And the responses to this book have been overwhelmingly positive. Anzac food is a new field of research, yet really obvious when you think of the fact that what soldiers eat has a direct impact on their military capacity.”
The award judges described The Anzac Table as “grounded in thorough archival research and richly illustrated, this well-structured and easily read book achieves the rare feat of being both authoritative and accessible to a wide readership.”
According to Dr Reynaud, the judges told him that they had enjoyed reading his biography of Anzac chaplain Walter Dexter published by Signs Publishing also submitted to the history awards. “Sailor, Soldier, Vicar, Farmer has sold well and has had very positive and widespread media coverage,” he said. “Richard Fidler, the renowned ABC Radio interviewer for Conversations told me that he found the book riveting and that he fell in love with Chaplain Walter Dexter’s story.”
Dr Reynaud said that he hopes this award will continue to widen the reach of his work on Anzac spirituality. “While not a faith-based book, The Anzac Table’s reach and success inevitably draws attention to my books on Anzac spirituality, therefore widening their reach, especially with secular audiences who would otherwise never be exposed to the faith narratives that are woven through Anzac history.”
Sailor, Soldier, Vicar, Farmer and The Man the Anzacs Revered are available from bookshops across Australia and New Zealand, and Dr Reynaud’s interview with ABC Conversations is available for listening on demand.
