Today I am talking to Eleanor Barnett about the history of food waste and preservation.

Eleanor has written a fantastic book about the history of how we as a society have (and sometimes have not) dealt with eliminating waste and preserving precious food resources. It is called Leftovers: A History of Food Waste & Preservation, and it is out now published by Bloomsbury.

We talk about the fabulously wasteful food of 17th century cook Robert May, whose responsibility it was to preserve food in the home (hint: not the man of the house), pies as preservation method, the food waste used in agriculture and industry, food preservation in wartime, and Hannah Glasse’s dubious method for preserving very rank potted birds, plus many other things – we fit a lot into today’s episode.

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Leftovers: A History of Food Waste & Preservation is out now.

Books mentioned in today’s episode:

Robert May’s The Accomplisht Cook

Sir Hugh Platt’s Delights for Ladies

Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery

Previous podcast episodes pertinent to today’s episode:

London’s Street Food Sellers with Charlie Taverner

Christmas Special 2023: Mince Pies

Upcoming events:

The Leeds Symposium of Food History & Traditions, York, 27 April 2024. 

British Library Food Season 2024, 25 May at 2pm. Tickets and info to come soon!

Ludlow Food Festival, Friday 13th September. 

Warwick Words History Festival, Thursday 3rd October at 4.30pm. 

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

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