Welcome to 'The British Food History Podcast': British food in all its (sometimes gory) glory with Dr. Neil Buttery. He'll be looking in depth at all aspects of food with interviews with special guests, recipes, re-enactments, foraging, trying his hand at traditional techniques, and tracking down forgotten recipes and hyper-regional specialities. He'll also be trying to answer the big question: What makes British food, so...British?
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It’s the end of season seven, so it is time for the traditional special postbag edition of the podcast. Much is covered: feminist dining tables, 17th-century household books, regional gingerbreads, musk-flavoured sweeties and much more.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in with a question, comment or query.
The podcast will return in August.
Support the podcast and blogs by becoming, if you can, a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.
Previous podcast episodes mentioned in today’s episode:
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Don’t forget, there will be more postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open.
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Today I am talking with chef Jay Reifel who specialises in cooking historical food. He has co-written a beautiful book with collaborator Victoria Flexner called The History of the World in 10 Dinners.
We talk about the influence of other cultures on British cuisine as well as the influence British cuisine has had on other cuisines, sweet and sour food, mince pies, mediocre medieval spices, and helmeted cocks – amongst many other things.
This is the last regular episode of the run, meaning that the next episode will be the traditional postbag edition – so send me your comments, questions, and queries. Your deadline is the 28th of May 2024.
Support the podcast and blogs by becoming, if you can, a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.
Follow Jay on Instagram @jayreifel and visit his website jayreifel.com – where you can find more details of his book.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
The Philosophy of Chocolate with Sam Bilton
Season 7 · Episode 4
Friday, January 19, 2024 • Duration 41:39
In today’s episode I am talking to returning guest and friend of the show food historian and writer Sam Bilton about her new book ThePhilosophy of Chocolate published by the British Library.
Today Sam and I talk about how the peoples of Mesoamerica took their chocolate, how it came to Britain, chocolate houses, the sexualisation of chocolate, and the Cadbury’s Crème Egg Controversy, amongst other things.
There are 2 Easter eggs associated with this episode. To become a £3 monthly subscriber, and access them and other premium content, or to buy me a virtual pint or coffee to support the running of the blogs and podcast click here.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Apples & Orchards with Joanna Crosby
Season 7 · Episode 3
Friday, January 5, 2024 • Duration 46:09
S07E03
Apples & Orchards shownotes
Happy New Year and welcome to episode 50 of the British Food History Podcast! I talk to Joanna Crosby about the history of apples and orchards in England. I saved this episode specially for today because it is Twelfth Night – the last day of Christmas – the traditional day of the Wassail, the blessing of the apple orchards. Joanna’s new book Apples and Orchards since the Eighteenth Century is out now from Bloomsbury.
Things discussed today include, the origins of the apple, growing and grafting apple trees, some of the excellent names given to varieties – including Bramley's Seedling and the Cox’s Orange Pippin, Wassailing and the London apple women of the nineteenth century. And more!
There are 4 Easter eggs associated with this episode. To become a £3 monthly subscriber, and access them and other premium content, or to buy me a virtual pint or coffee to support the running of the blogs and podcast click here.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Christmas Special 2023: Mince Pies
Season 7 · Episode 2
Wednesday, December 20, 2023 • Duration 42:55
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!
Leaving a mince pie out for Santa this year? I do hope so. This year’s Christmas Special is all about mince pies: the history and baking, as well as the confusion surrounding the fact that there’s no meat in them. Neil makes some early 18th-century-shaped pies and makes a sweet lamb mincemeat from the North of England. He’s on a mission to get the meat back into mincemeat AND to have them on the menu outside of the Christmas period.
A huge thank you to Ivan Day for his help regarding the making of those 18th-century pies.
*blog posts of recipes to accompany the episode will appear on Wednesday 20th December and Friday 22nd December 2023.*
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
BONUS EPISODE: 18th Century Female Cookery Writers with the Delicious Legacy Podcast
Season 7 · Episode 1
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 • Duration 01:17:55
Welcome to a special bonus episode of the podcast which is a collaboration between myself and the Delicious Legacy, hosted by Thomas Ntinas. It’s all about some of the women who were writing cookery books in the 18th century, their characters and the influence they still have upon us today.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
English Food, a People's History with Diane Purkiss
Season 6 · Episode 10
Sunday, August 27, 2023 • Duration 43:37
Neil’s guest is Diane Purkiss and they talk about just some of the topics covered in her book English Food a People’s History published by William Collins. Diane is Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, and she has written about such topics as the English Civil War, the supernatural, especially witchcraft; folklore and fairytales; writer’s block and of course food and food history.
They had a rather meandering conversation that covered: bread, and its poor reputation compared to that bake in France; coffeehouses and politics, and coffeehouses as early examples of gay bars; tea and Empire; and foraging – the latter being particularly tricky to get at.
Neil will be speaking at the Ludlow Food Festival on Sunday 10 September at 2.30pm, talking all things Elizabeth Raffald:
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
The School Meals Service with Heather Ellis
Season 6 · Episode 9
Sunday, August 20, 2023 • Duration 44:30
S06E09 The School
Meals Service with Heather Ellis: shownotes
Neil’s guest today is Heather Ellis from Sheffield University. Helen is a historian of Education and she, along with academics from the University of Wolverhampton and UCL, have just embarked on an ambitious project looking at people’s experiences and memories of their school dinners in all four UK Home Nations. School dinners have been supplied by the School Meals Service – i.e. by the Government – since 1908.
They talked about the project, the origins of the School Meals Service in the first decade of the 20th century, the foods served up over the next 100 years or so including pink sponge and custard, liver with the tubes attached and the now infamous turkey twizzlers, Maggie Thatcher – milk snatcher, the fall in the quality of school dinners, as well as Jamie Oliver’s campaign to get them sorted out, and many other things. The School Meals Project wants your food memories if you have had experience with school meals in the UK, however old you may be and whatever the interaction may be.
When published, Neil’s blog post with a recipe for sago pudding, will be found at www.britishfoodhistory.com
Other past blog post recipes for school dinner-style foods:
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Early Television Cookbooks & Tie-ins with Kevin Geddes
Season 6 · Episode 8
Sunday, August 6, 2023 • Duration 42:08
Neil talks to returning guest Kevin Geddes. He told us all about the wonderful, fabulous Fanny Cradock, but today he is talking to me about Television Cookery Shows and their cookbook tie-ins. Kevin wrote a very interesting paper on the early history and origins of TV Cookbooks, and Neil found it so interesting, and he thought you would find it interesting too.
We talked about the early cooking programmes on the BBC before the war, and afterwards; the post-war TV cooks the theatrical Philip Harben and the steady pair of hands Marguerite Patten and how they published their own books whilst working for the BBC; the BBC’s worry about selling commercial products whilst being a public service broadcaster; and the one who really got it all going Mrs Fanny Cradock.
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open.
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open. He is also on BlueSky at @neilbuttery.bsky.social
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open. He is also on BlueSky at @neilbuttery.bsky.social
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open. He is also on BlueSky at @neilbuttery.bsky.social
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery his DMs are open. Youcan also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Mentioned in this episode:
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Don’t forget, there will be more postbag episodes in the future, if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery his DMs are open. You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory
Mentioned in this episode:
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Don’t forget the upcoming postbag episode, if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or find me on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery my DMs are open. You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory
Mentioned in this episode:
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Neil will be speaking at the Ludlow Food Festival on Sunday 10 September at 2.30pm, talking all things Elizabeth Raffald: https://www.ludlowfoodfestival.co.uk/
Don’t forget there will be a postbag episode at the end of the season, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or find me on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery my DMs are open. You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory
Mentioned in this episode:
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
Neil will be speaking at the Ludlow Food Festival on Sunday 10 September at 2.30pm, talking all things Elizabeth Raffald: https://www.ludlowfoodfestival.co.uk/
Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast
Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.
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