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.

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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:

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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.