I'm on a break so to fill the gap here are some of my favourite episodes from the podcast's vaults.

Welcome to episode one of the new fourth season of The British Food History Podcast.

Kicking us off is Neil’s guest Felicity Cloake. Neil & Felicity talk all things breakfast and Felicity’s new book Red Sauce, Brown Sauce, a celebration of the breakfast in all four home nations of the UK.

We talk about how breakfast might be the only thing uniting all 4 countries that make up the UK, the complexities of planning a nation-wide breakfast tour, injuries, why it’s okay to like both red and brown sauce, as well as neither, the importance of pudding on a fried breakfast, regional specialities and recipe writing.

Felicity’s book Red Sauce, Brown Sauce is published by Harper Collins: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/red-sauce-brown-sauce-a-british-breakfast-odyssey-felicity-cloake?variant=39584484687950

Felicity will be appearing at the Abergavenny Food Festival 17 & 18 September 2022 (https://www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com/), Divizes Food Festival 24 Sept to 2 Oct 2022 (https://www.devizesfoodanddrinkfestival.info/category/events/) and the Dartmouth Food Festival 21 Oct to 23 Oct 2022 (https://www.dartmouthfoodfestival.com/).

Follow Felicity on twitter and Insta @felicitycloake.

Neil’s recent podcast appearances:

Season’s Eatings: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GJlffoU9dVYCdGyJGOvDX?si=90285119f6644271

The Well-Seasoned Librarian: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5wps3FiGdVDynPQVl62G4M?si=b0e53ab4fe1c4c1b

That Shakespeare Life: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2w7xGGBye93jvO39IuntTO?si=e5bf9543b9794eaf

Neil’s book A Dark History of Sugar is available now from all bookshops as well as from the publisher Pen & Sword: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/A-Dark-History-of-Sugar-Hardback/p/20481

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.

I'm on a break so to fill the gap here are some of my favourite episodes from the podcast's vaults.

Today Neil talks to Susan Flavin and Marc Meltonville about recreating as close as possible beer from the accounts of Dublin Castle right at the end of the 16th century. This investigation is part of a much larger project called Food Cult, which is, according to their website “a five-year project funded by the European Research Council. This project brings together history, archaeology, science and information technology to explore the diet and foodways of diverse communities in early modern Ireland. It will serve as a model for future comparative and interdisciplinary work in the field of historical food studies.”

In today’s episode we talk about the Food Cult project, the aims of the beer project, misconceptions about beer and beer drinking in the past, when beer becomes porridge, how to source 16th century ingredients and – of course – what the beer tasted like!

Follow Susan Flavin on Twitter @flavin_susan

Follow Marc on Instagram @marcmeltonville

Marc Meltonville’s website: www.meltonville.uk/

The FOOD CULT website: https://foodcult.eu/

Their journal article: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/understanding-early-modern-beer-an-interdisciplinary-casestudy/76C118F73B8D35FED9E5B69CB3E966FB

There are 4 Easter eggs associated with this episode, to access them start a monthly £3 subscription.

Subscribers get access to all of the Easter eggs, premium blog content and Neil’s monthly newsletter. Visit https://britishfoodhistory.com/support-the-blog-podcast/ for more details. On that page, you could also donate a one-off ‘virtual coffee’ or ‘virtual pint’. All money received goes into making more content.

Other bits:

Neil’s new blog post ‘Forgotten Foods #10: Porpoise’: http://britishfoodhistory.com/2023/06/25/forgotten-foods-10-porpoise/

Neil’s blogs:

‘BritishFood: a History’ http://britishfoodhistory.com

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’ http://neilcooksgrigson.com

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.

I'm on a break so to fill the gap here are some of my favourite episodes from the podcast's vaults.

Neil has a most enlightening chat with Kevin Geddes about the fabulous television cook Fanny Cradock (1909-1994). Fanny has a reputation for being difficult to work with, cruel and monstrous, and that she was a fake. In this chat Kevin upturns SOME of those preconceptions. We talk about her way into radio and television, her manner and presenting style, the fantastic Christmas special, as well as her decline and fall from television cookery. Much of her life is fabricated and it is difficult to see where the real Fanny stops, and the celebrity Fanny begins.

Subscribers: don’t forget to check out the Easter Egg tab on the website to listen to the many extras from this episode: http://britishfoodhistory.com/easter-eggs/

Kevin’s book Keep Calm and Fanny On! The Many Careers of Fanny Cradock is published by Fantom https://www.fantompublishing.co.uk/product/kevin-geddes-fanny-cradock/

It’s All in the Booklet: Festive Fun with Fanny Cradock is also published by Fantom https://www.fantompublishing.co.uk/product/kevin-geddes-its-all-in-the-booklet-festive-fun-with-fanny-cradock/

Follow Kevin on Twitter and Insta @keepcalmandfannyon

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.

I'm on a break so to fill the gap here are some of my favourite episodes from the podcast's vaults.

Today Neil talks with Paula McIntyre about Hogmanay and her BBC TV show, the excellent Hamely Kitchen. Paula is an Ulster-Scots chef who lives on the north coast of Northern Ireland and she specialises in combining those two cuisines, reviving traditional recipes and shouting about good producers.

Paula has a Hamely Kitchen Hogmanay special out on 30th December, 7.30pm on BBC1 Northern Ireland.

Paula and Neil talked about Hogmanay traditions, like first footings and gifting shortbread, cockie-leekie soup, clootie dumplings and boiled/steamed puddings in general, TV show Two Fat Ladies and dulse – and much more.

Hamely Kitchen’s BBC webpage: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zmyh

Find Paula on social media: Twitter @paula_mcintyre; Instagram @paulacooks

Things mentioned in today’s episode:

Kilchoman distillery: https://www.kilchomandistillery.com/

Ursa Minor bakery: https://www.ursaminorbakehouse.com/

Abernethy Butter: https://abernethybutter.com/

Two Fat Ladies BBC TV programme on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu9yUU0fTAk

Neil’s blog post on the classic Scottish Hogmanay treat the black bun: https://britishfoodhistory.com/2022/12/27/black-bun-scotch-bun-part-1-history/

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.

Merry Christmas everyone! Welcome to the 2024 British Food History Podcast Christmas special.

Today I am talking with Tudor Food historian Brigitte Webster about what Christmasses were like in Tudor times – just what were the Tudors eating and drinking at this time of year?

We talked about harrowing Advent and its stockfish, food as gifts, the boar’s head, venison, frumenty and the similarities and differences between Christmasses then and now – amongst many other things.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

Brigitte’s book Eating with the Tudors is available from all good book shops.

Brigitte’s website

You can find Brigitte on social media: Twitter @tudorfoodrecipe; Instagram/Threads tudor_experience; Bluesky @tudorfoodrecipe.bsky.social

Things mentioned in today’s episode

The work of Andrew Boorde

Don’t forget to check out the website on Christmas Day for my Irish coffee recipe

Listen to the Delicious Legacy Christmas special here

Blog posts pertinent to today’s episode

My recipe for roast venison

My recipe for medieval frumenty (subscribers only)

Previous podcast episodes pertinent to today’s episode

Lent Episode 2: The History of Lent

Tudor Cooking and Cuisine with Brigitte Webster

Christmas Feasting with Annie Gray

Christmas Special 2023: Mince Pies

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

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 me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @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.

The tables are turned today for I am being interviewed by Lindsay Middleton and Peter Gilchrist of The Scottish Food History Podcast about my book The Philosophy of Puddings, published by the British Library.

We talk about the origins of puddings, the emergence of the pudding cloth and the pudding mould, blancmange, the work of Catherine Brown and the Be-Ro book, amongst many other things

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

The Philosophy of Puddings is out now and available from all good book shops.

The Scottish Food History Podcast is available on all podcast apps

Peter’s website Tenement Kitchen

Peter can be found Instagram @tenementkitchen

Lindsay can be found on Instagram @lindsaymiddleton_ ; Twitter @lindsmiddleton ; Bluesky @drlindsaymiddleton.bsky.social

Things mentioned in today’s episode

Nigella Lawson’s gift book recommendations

Catherine Brown’s website

The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by Kenelm Digby

The Compleat Housewife by Eliza Smith

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse

Blog posts pertinent to today’s episode

The Be-Ro Book

Blancmange

Spotted Dick

Neil’s basilica mould can be seen on this post for subscribers

What is a pudding?

How to make a steamed sponge pudding

Previous podcast episodes pertinent to today’s episode

Invalid Cookery with Lindsay Middleton

Tinned Food with Lindsay Middleton

The Philosophy of Curry with Sejal Sukhadwala

The Philosophy of Chocolate with Sam Bilton

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

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 me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @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.

Today I talk about Irish food, food history and identity with Michelin-starred chef Jp McMahon.

Jp is the culinary director of the EatGalway Restaurant Group and runs the restaurant Aniar in Galway, Ireland. He’s the founding chair and director of the Galway Food Festival, Jp is an ambassador for Irish food. He has written several books including the excellent Irish Cook Book published by Phaidon. However, the subject of our discussion was his new book, An Irish Food Story: 100 Foods That Made Us, published by Nine Bean Rows, which delved into Irish food identity, traditions and history.

We talked about food in Ireland versus Irish food, oysters and stout, the deliciousness of seaweed, Irish stew and dulse-flavoured croissants – plus many other things.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

Find Jp on Instagram: @mistereatgalway

Anair website

An Irish Food Story: 100 Foods That Made Us

The Irish Cook Book

An Alphabet of Anair

Things mentioned in today’s episode

The Great Cream Tea Debate on YouTube

BBC Countryfile magazine website

Neil’s blog post and recipe for Bakewell pudding

Upcoming events:

Find out about upcoming events on the website here.

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

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 me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @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.

It’s December, Advent has begun, and we can officially start discussing Christmas so I have put together an episode about turkey that is very much of two halves. There’s an interview with Tom Copas, a turkey farmer who really looks after his flock: slow-grown, high welfare, and I have bought many a turkey from him over the years. Before that, I have prepared a little bit on the history of the turkey in Britain, spanning from Tudor times to the 20th century where it went from regal food to Christmas Day staple. Tom and I talked about farming family history, the intricacies of turkey farming, when the term ‘free-range’ is misleading, cooking tips and turkey crackling: amongst many other things.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

Order your Christmas turkey from the Copas Farm shop

Find Copas Turkeys on social media: Twitter/X @CopasTurkeys; Insta: @copasfarmshop or @tomcopas

Podcast episodes pertinent to today’s episode:

Christmas Feasting with Annie Gray

Tudor Cooking & Cuisine with Brigitte Webster

Turkey history references:

At Christmas We Feast: Festive Food Through the Ages (2021) Annie Gray

Eating with the Tudors: Food and Recipes (2023) Brigitte Webster

The Good Housewife’s Jewel (1596) Thomas Dawson

The Compleat Cook (1662) W. M.

E. Kidder's Receipts of Pastry and Cookery (1741) Edward Kidder

A Christmas Carol (1843) Charles Dickens

Upcoming events:

Find out about upcoming events on the website here.

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

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 me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @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.

Today I am in conversation with Jill Norman – author of several books, and editor at Penguin. She very kindly talked to me about Jane Grigson and the book English Food at the start of this season. Well, Jill is on the podcast today to talk about her new book The English Table.

We talk about service a la française and a la russe, important food writers throughout history like Hannah Woolley and Claudia Roden, the origins of fish and chips, and the time she met Dorothy Hartley, amongst many other things

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

Jill’s website

The English Table by Jill Norman

Podcast episodes pertinent to today’s episode:

50 Years of 'English Food' by Jane Grigson with Sam Bilton, Annie Gray, Ivan Day & Jill Norman

Things mentioned in today’s episode:

The Queen-Like Closet by Hannah Woolley

A New System of Domestic Cookery by Mrs Rundell

A Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

Lost Country Life by Dorothy Hartley

Upcoming events:

Find out about upcoming events on the website here.

The Foyle’s Christmas Evening 28 November

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

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 me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @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.

The tables have turned today because I am being interviewed by author, food historian and friend of the show Sam Bilton. My book Knead to Know is out now and published by Icon Books, and Sam very kindly agreed to interview me about it for the podcast. We talk about baking evolution, bakestone cookery, Jaffa Cakes and taxation, what’s so great about wheat plus many other things.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

Sam Bilton’s website

Social media: mrssbilton

Sam's blog Comfortably Hungry

Neil’s book Knead to Know is out now and published by Icon Books.

The Philosophy of Puddings is also out now, published by The British Library

Blog posts pertinent to today’s episode:

Manchets and Payndemayn

My Best Yorkshire Pudding Recipe

Clotted Cream

Podcast episodes pertinent to today’s episode:

Cake Baxters in Early Modern Scotland with Aaron Allen

Yorkshire Pudding with Elaine Lemm

50 Years of 'English Food' by Jane Grigson with Sam Bilton, Annie Gray, Ivan Day & Jill Norman

The Philosophy of Chocolate with Sam Bilton

Tripe Special: Sam Bilton & Neil Buttery Talk Tripe

British Saffron with Sam Bilton

Gingerbread with Sam Bilton

Things mentioned in today’s episode:

Hodmedod’s website

Doves Farm website

The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse

The Whole Duty of a Woman

Upcoming events:

Find out about upcoming events on the website here.

The Foyle’s Christmas Evening 28 November

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

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 me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky@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.