I have some very exciting news to share! The project that I worked on with the Museum of Royal Worcester in 2023-2024 won the Food on Display award at the inaugural British Library Food Season Awards on the 9th of June.
The project, called Dr. Wall’s Dinner was developed with partners Worcestershire LitFest & Fringe and Heart of Worcester College. If you want to know more about the project, check out this short YouTube video.
The judges were chef, writer and television presenter Nadiya Hussain, Food Historian and Curator at the Library, Polly Russell, Scent Designer and Food Historian Tasha Marks and Elly Magson, Senior Interpretation Manager at the Library. A big thank you to all of them, and we’re so glad the project has been recognised in this way.
The judges were all drawn to the detail and creativity of Dr Wall’s Dinner at the Museum of Royal Worcester. The display and accompanying programme explored several interesting narratives around Georgian Dining, in a way that was both educational and visually striking. It was a wonderful example of how food can be used to animate a collection and reach different audiences.
There were several elements to the project, including the recreation of an 18th-century dining table, one that the founder of Worcester Porcelain – Dr Wall – might have enjoyed, including some very realistic fake food made by Kerry Samantha Boyes of the Fake Food Workshop in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. I also delivered some historical food workshops, making junkets with Key Stage 2 pupils; historical pies and pasties with the Hospitality & Catering students at the Heart of Worcester College; and plum pudding workshops with adults. A heady mix!
There was too the Worcestershire LitFest & Fringe, who, as a group, took inspiration and created original poems celebrating the ‘Language of porcelain and food’. Many of these are on display in the museum.
A huge thank you to everyone who was involved, especially Natasha Wilcockson who put in so much groundwork bringing together so many different people and keeping us all driving it forward.
The aim of the project wasn’t to show off the lovely porcelain – the museum was already a fantastic job – the aim was to explore the ways in which the porcelain was used and who was interacting with it: from the cooks in the kitchen to the guests sat around the table itself.
To kick off the project, I gave an online talk on the subject which can be watched here:
British Food: A History 