The British Food History Podcast Neil Buttery

In this special episode Neil’s guest is esteemed food historian Ivan Day. Ivan is a social historian of food culture and a professional chef and confectioner. He has contributed to dozens of tv and radio programmes over the years, and he is also the author of a number of books and many papers on the history of food and has curated many major exhibitions on food history in the UK, US and Europe.
This special episode compliments Neil’s upcoming book, a biography the 18th cookery writer Elizabeth Raffald. Ivan kindly invited Neil into his home to talk about all things 18th century dining.

They talked about ostentatious coronation feasts, the rise of female food writers in the c18th, including Elizabeth Raffald, market gardens, the presentation of food at the table like, and jelly and flummery moulds. We also talked about how crockery, cutlery and, well, the whole dining experience changed going into and going out of the c18th, authenticity, and the practicalities of spit roasting – amongst many other things.

Find Ivan on Instagram: @ivanpatrickday
Ivan’s blog: http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/

Things mentioned in today’s episode:

The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald, 10th edition, 1786: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Experienced_English_Housekeeper/1I4EAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

The History of the Coronation of James II by Francis Sandford 1687: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_History_of_the_Coronation_of_James_I/R75UAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

The House-keeper's Pocket-book by Sarah Harrison 1777: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_House_keeper_s_Pocket_book/vMSIUOGoEEUC?hl=en&gbpv=0

Ivan’s blog post about the Solomon’s Temple in flummery: http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/2011/10/solomons-temple-in-flummery-culinary.html

Ivan’s Ice Cream Demo which shows many of the items discussed in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNptu7XXqmw

The Elizabeth Raffald dinner table Ivan dressed in The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston: https://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/english-taste-dining-eighteenth-century/

Some of the books Ivan has written, edited or been a contributing author:

Over a Red Hot Stove: https://prospectbooks.co.uk/products-page/current-titles/over-a-red-hot-stove/

Feast & Fast: The Art of Food in Europe 1500-1800: https://curatingcambridge.co.uk/products/feast-fast-the-art-of-food-in-europe-1500-1800

Cooking in Europe 1650-1850: a...

Happy New Year! In the first episode of 2023 Neil talks to historian Charlie Taverner about London’s street food sellers. Charlie’s book ‘Street Food: Hawkers and the History of London’ is published by Oxford University Press on the 12th of January 2023, and it looks at every aspect of sellers’ lives from the latter 16th to the early 20th century.



They talked about how one approaches collecting data from so long a period; what was meant by the terms hawker, costermonger and fishwife; heir importance to London society and economy; ice cream; fruit; and the logistics of delivering fresh milk to an ever-growing population.



Find Charlie on Twitter: @charlietaverner



Charlie’s website: www.charlietaverner.com



‘Street Food: Hawkers and the History of London’ is available to buy from all bookshops from 12th January 2023, including Amazon and Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/street-food-hawkers-and-the-history-of-london/9780192846945



Review of Charlie’s book in History Today: https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/hawk-way



Things mentioned in today’s episode:



Volume 1 of ‘London Labour and the London Poor’ by Henry Mayhew e-book: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/London_Labour_and_the_London_Poor_the_Co/mO09AAAAcAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivqZbGmr_8AhWZ_7sIHdq_CF8QiqUDegQIDRAC



‘Food Cult’, the Irish food project Charlie is involved in: https://foodcult.eu





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



If you want to buy a signed copy directly from Neil for £18 + postage (£2.85 if within the UK, the going rate if outside!). Contact him via email or social media if you fancy it (see below).





Also, don’t forget there will be another postbag episode at the end of the season. 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 dr_neil_buttery my DMs are open. You can now find me at Mastodon too: @neilbuttery@mastodon.gastrokon.com.

Join the new British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory





If you like my blog posts and podcast episodes, please consider a monthly subscription or buying me a virtual coffee or a pint? Go to https://britishfoodhistory.com/support-the-blog-podcast/ for more details.

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/



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



If you want to buy a signed copy directly from Neil for £18 + postage (£2.85 if within the UK, the going rate if outside!). Contact him via email or social media if you fancy it (see below).



Also, don’t forget there will be another postbag episode at the end of the season. 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 dr_neil_buttery my DMs are open. You can now find me at Mastodon too: @neilbuttery@mastodon.gastrokon.com.

Join the new British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1474543579696033



If you like my blog posts and podcast episodes, please consider a monthly subscription or buying me a virtual coffee or a pint? Go to https://britishfoodhistory.com/support-the-blog-podcast/ for more details.

Neil kicks off the season with a Christmas special, talking Christmas feasting – and cooking – with scholar and author Dr Annie Gray. Annie is author of books such as the excellent The Greedy Queen: Eating with Victoria and Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill’s Cook. Her new book At Christmas We Feast: Festive Food Through the Ages, published by Profile Books, is out now in paperback, and she kindly came on the podcast to tell me about it.
We talked about many things including the myths and misconceptions about the food we eat at Christmas, why and we feast, and how the feast of Christmas has changed through time, what the Victorian’s DIDN’T invent, jelly, wassail, the ancient Christmas centrepiece the boar’s head, trifle, Yorkshire Christmas Pye, and the recipes contained within the book.
At Christmas we Feast is published by Profile Books: https://profilebooks.com/work/at-christmas-we-feast/
Find Annie on social media: @DrAnnieGray on Twitter and Instagram.
Her website is www.anniegray.co.uk
Things mentioned in today’s episode:
View Francatelli’s book The Modern Cook here: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Modern_Cook/F68_6rvpwdsC?hl=en&gbpv=0
Neil’s disastrous Yorkshire Christmas Pye: http://neilcooksgrigson.com/2021/12/22/445-to-make-a-yorkshire-christmas-pye-part-2/
Neil’s Smoking Bishop recipe: https://britishfoodhistory.com/2018/12/14/smoking-bishop/ 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
If you want to buy a signed copy directly from Neil for £18 + postage (£2.85 if within the UK, the going rate if outside!). Contact him via email or social media if you fancy it (see below).
Also, don’t forget there will be another postbag episode at the end of the season. 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 dr_neil_buttery my DMs are open. You can now find me at Mastodon too: @neilbuttery@mastodon.gastrokon.com.
Join the new British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1474543579696033
If you like my blog posts and podcast episodes, please consider a monthly subscription or buying me a virtual coffee or a pint? Go to https://britishfoodhistory.com/support-the-blog-podcast/ for more details.

Welcome to the first postbag edition of ‘The British Food History Podcast’.
On this episode: memories of Glyn Hughes; listeners letters; Yorkshire puddings; and new book news.

Links to things mentioned on this episode:
‘The Foods of England’ website: http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/
Glyn Hughes’s book ‘The Surprising History of Fish and Chips’: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471631656
Contain the Samaritans 116 123 or go to www.samaritans.org
Mind website: www.mind.uk
Smack Barm Pea Wet video: https://youtu.be/N_oIys5KS4A
The ‘Peniarth Manuscript 513D’ manuscript via The National Library of Wales: https://viewer.library.wales/4631573#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&manifest=https%3A%2F%2Fdamsssl.llgc.org.uk%2Fiiif%2F2.0%2F4631573%2Fmanifest.json&xywh=-193%2C-450%2C3844%2C5793
My post from the ‘Neil Cooks Grigson’ blog on Cawl (apologies for the terrible photo): http://neilcooksgrigson.blogspot.com/2008/12/98-cawl.html
My ‘Savouries’ blog post which includes my recipe for Welsh Rarebit: https://britishfoodhistory.com/2018/02/05/savouries/
The New York Times article about Dutch Babies: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/6648-dutch-baby
‘The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding’ by Elaine Lemm is published by Great Northern Books: https://www.gnbooks.co.uk/product/great-book-yorkshire-pudding/
Elaine’s YouTube video about making Yorkshire Puddings: https://youtu.be/lQfMw0nbjKY

Podcast episodes referred to:
The Foods of England Project with Glyn Hughes
Lent Episode 6: Social Evolution and Lent
Cheddar and the Cheese Industry with Peter Atkins
Gingerbread with Sam Bilton
A Dark History of Sugar Parts 1 & 2
A Dark History of Chocolate with Emma Kay
British
Saffron with Sam Bilton
Yorkshire
Pudding with Elaine Lemm
Savouries

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

If you want to buy a signed copy directly from Neil for £18 + postage (£2.85 if within the UK, the going rate if outside!). Contact him via email or social media ifyou fancy it (see below). 

Remember, 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 dr_neil_buttery my DMs are...

Today’s guest is food writer and Yorkshire Pudding expert Elaine Lemm to discuss the good old Yorkshire Pudding.
They discussed many things including: the origins of the Yorkshire pudding, what links it to Yorkshire anyway, excellent cooking tips, including the importance of the vessel it is cooked in as well as the fat used; YP haters; and toad-in-the-hole.
 

‘The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding’ is published by Great Northern Books: https://www.gnbooks.co.uk/product/great-book-yorkshire-pudding/

‘More Than Yorkshire Pudding: Food, Stories And Over 100 Recipes From God's Own Country’ is out in the UK on 21st October 2022, also published by Great Northern Books : https://www.gnbooks.co.uk/product/more-than-yorkshire-puddings/


Find Elaine on social media: @britishfood on Twitter and @foodwriting on Instagram

Elaine’s YouTube video about making Yorkshire Puddings: https://youtu.be/lQfMw0nbjKY

The raspberry vinegar, made by Womersley Foods, recommended by Elaine available here: https://youtu.be/lQfMw0nbjKY

 
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

If you want to buy a signed copy directly from Neil for £18 + postage (£2.85 if within the UK, the going rate if outside!). Contact him via email or social media if you fancy it (see below).
 

Also, don’t forget there is a postbag episode coming soon. 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 dr_neil_buttery my DMs are open.
 
If you like my blog posts and podcast episodes, please consider a monthly subscription or buying me a virtual coffee or a pint? Go to https://britishfoodhistory.com/support-the-blog-podcast/ for more details.


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