The Full English

Why is our food so expensive now? James Meadway explains. We also discuss the link between inflation and trade unions, and the current wave of strikes in the UK right now.

James has held senior roles at the New Economics Foundation and the Progressive Economy Forum. He hosts the weekly economics podcast Macrodose.

This interview forms a part of an upcoming episode on whether high food prices (still) make us angry. Be sure to check that out in the New Year!

Mixing and music from Forest DLG.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

Lewis Bassett speaks to Diane Purkiss about her new book 'English Food: A People's History'.

We talk about what English food is, how and when English food became bland, why Elizabeth David is a food snob, why we fear GMOs and how what we eat in England is so deeply interwoven with our social class.

Diane Purkiss is a professor of English Literature at Oxford University. Her book 'English Food' is out now.

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Did former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher help invent Mr Whippy Ice Cream? And what can Mr Whippy tell us about the Conservative Party today?

With guests:

Zoe Philipson, award winning ice cream retailer from Tyne Valley Ices

Jon Agar, author of Science in the 20th Century and Beyond

Ian Lavery, Labour MP for Wansbeck

Will Davies, author of Nervous States

Created by Lewis Bassett. Additional editing and sound design from Forest DLG.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

In this final episode of season one, Lewis Bassett and Forest DLG make a fish finger bhorta with the journalist and commentator Ash Sarkar. Does the fish finger bhorta count as English food? We hear from the academic Jason Edwards on what national cuisine actually is. Lewis eats Ghanian food in London with the cook and author Riaz Phillips. The chef Andrew Wong and the academic Catherine Hall question the boundaries of national cuisines. And journalist Adam Ramsay, Sunder Katwala from the think tank British Future and the academic Mike Kenny examine why so few people discuss English identity today.

This show was produced by Lewis Bassett with music from Forest DLG

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

How did the English go from eating cans of baked beans to dribbling olive oil over a fresh rocket and sundried tomato salad? In this episode, we’ll look at how a movement of cooks and cookery writers helped to challenge the status of elite, classical French cuisine as the gold standard of food in England with provincial French and Mediterranean cooking. It’s also the story of the rise of a new middle class movement whose European tastes not only assumed a central place at our dinner tables but lent politics and culture in England a repertoire of feelings and sentiments that have been mobilised in debates around the EU and inequality in Britain.

Featuring: Shaun Hill, Fay Maschler, Rowley Leigh, Jonathan Meades, Dan Lepard, Margot Henderson, Anna Tobias, Jeremy Lee, Ben Highmore, Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver.

This show was produced by Lewis Bassett with music from Forest DLG.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

Is regenerative agriculture the answer to the problems caused by factory farms, or might modern forms of food production have an important role to play in the future of food in England? In this episode, Lewis Bassett speaks to: Matt Chatfield, sheep farmer and advocate of alternative farming techniques; the nutritionist Lucy Williamson; the historian David Edgerton; the farmer and director of the Soil Association Liz Bowles, Oxford based climate scientist Michael Clark; author and journalist Aaron Bastani; and Elena Walden from the Good Food Institute. Tess Kelly, a spokesperson for Quorn, tells us about their ambitions to see the world eat less meat. And the author Pen Vogler and celebrity chef Tom Kerridge explain how factory food and class intersect in England.

This show was produced by Lewis Bassett with music from Forest DLG.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

What could be more innocent than a nice cup of cha? In this episode we hear from Seren Charington-Hollins, Markman Ellis, Mathew Mauger and Mukta Das on how England's love of tea is deeply intwined with the British Empire, including how Britain once forced the trade of opium for tea in China. The historians Catherine Hall and Padraic Scanlan also tell us about England's taste for sugar and its origins in slavery.

This show was produced by Lewis Bassett. Music comes from Forest DLG.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

Why did the English stop eating mutton? And what can sheep farming tell us about the birth of capitalism in England? In this episode, Lewis Bassett visits Smithfield's meat market with Pen Vogler, the author of 'Scoff'. He speaks to Maia Pal and George Comninel about the what, where, when and why of capitalism. We hear from Susan Rose on how wool made England rich. Ben Rogers explains how the English cooked their meat with the help of dogs. We visit Matt Chatfield's farm in Cornwall. Hear how Jeremy Chan, head chef at Ikoyi, cooks mutton and chef Rezaul Haque tells us about the status of mutton in Bengali cuisine today.

This show was produced by Lewis Bassett, with music from Forest DLG.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

What is English food? And what is England? Looking at the English breakfast can tell us something about the character of England and how the country acquired a bad reputation when it comes to food.

Featuring: David Edgerton, Kaori O'Connor, Ben Rogers, Paul Freedman and Rowley Leigh

Music by Forest DLG. Hosted and produced by Lewis Bassett. Sign up on Patreon for extra content and to support the show.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com