Monthly Archives: October 2025

29/10/2025 · 10:22 am

Welsh Sheep & Cattle with Carwyn Graves

My guest on The British Food History Podcast today is food historian Carwyn Graves, a specialist in the foodways and traditions of Wales, and we are talking about Welsh Sheep and Cattle – and their products.

Carwyn has written a wonderful book called Welsh Food Stories, published in 2022 by Calon, which explores more than two thousand years of history to discover the rich but forgotten heritage of Welsh foods – from oysters to cider, salted butter to salt-marsh lamb. Despite centuries of industry, ancient traditions have survived in pockets across the country among farmers, bakers, fisherfolk, brewers and growers who are taking Welsh food back to its roots, and trailblazing truly sustainable foods as they do so.

We talk about the importance of sheep and cattle in Wales’s physical and cultural landscape, salt marsh lamb, cawl, colostrum puddings, the Welsh and their love of roasted cheese and sheep fancying Cistercian monks – amongst many other things.

Listen via your favourite podcast app, or stream here via this embed:

Shakespearean Food & Drink with Sam Bilton – The British Food History Podcast

My guest on The British Food History Podcast today food historian and friend of the show Sam Bilton, podcaster and author of Much Ado About Cooking Delicious Shakespearean Feasts for Every Occasion, published by Headline and commissioned by Shakespeare’s Globe. It was, of course, a great opportunity to talk about the food of Shakespearean England as well as the food and drink references in Shakespeare’s plays, and what they meant to those watching the plays at the time they were first performed.We talked about lots of cookery manuscripts, the importance of keeping historical recipes relevant, capons, Early Modern bread and greedy Falstaff’s sack, amongst many other things.Those listening to the secret podcast can hear about horrible, sweet spinach tarts, Early Modern cakes, possets and more!Much Ado About Cooking by Sam BiltonSam’s websiteFollow Sam on BlueSky, Insta and Threads @mrssbiltonComfortably HungryAis for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & DrinkRemember: Fruit Pig are sponsoring the 9th season of the podcast. Visit their website http://www.fruitpig.co.uk to learn more about them, their journey, to find your local stockist and access their online shop.If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast.Things mentioned in today’s episodeThe Globe TheatreWho is Falstaff?Books discussed or mentioned and further readingFirst Catch Your Gingerbread by Sam BiltonKnead to Know: A History of Baking by Neil ButteryA Dark History of Sugar by Neil ButteryEnglish Bread & Yeast Cookery by Elizabeth DavidThe Good Housewife’s Jewel by Thomas Dawson<a…

Those listening to the secret podcast can hear 15 minutes of extra material including flummery, mutton, laverbread sauce, the traditional skills in the collective cultural memory of the Welsh, the etymology of rarebit/rabbit plus more!

Welsh Food Stories by Carwyn Graves

Carwyn’s website

Follow Carwyn on Instagram @carwyngraves

Remember: Fruit Pig are sponsoring the 9^th season of the podcast, and Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the podcast a unique special offer 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout at their online shop, www.fruitpig.co.uk.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast.

Things mentioned in today’s episode

The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy by Hannah Glasse

The First Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge Made by Andrew Boorde

Wikipedia page of Welsh sheep breeds

Rare Breeds Survival Trust page on Welsh cattle breeds

Previous pertinent blog posts

Colostrum (Beestings) post with pudding recipe

Welsh Rarebit (and Locket’s Savoury)

#98 Cawl

#155 Welsh Rabbit

#183 Scotch Rabbit (1747)

#230 English Rabbit (1747)

Previous pertinent podcast episodes

A Regional Food Tour with Jenny Linford

Neil’s other blog and YouTube channel

The British Food History Channel

‘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 neil@britishfoodhistory.com, 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

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Filed under Britain, food, General, history

Tagged as beef, Carwyn Graves, cattle, Cawl, lamb, mutton, Podcast, podcasts, salt marsh lamb, sheep, The British Food History Podcast, Welsh Food, Welsh rarebit

14/10/2025 · 6:36 am

Subversive Feasting in Medieval King & Commoner Tales with Mark Truesdale

My guest on The British Food History Podcast today is historian Mark Truesdale, scholar of the fifteenth-century King and Commoner tradition and its early modern afterlife and author of The King and Commoner Tradition: Carnivalesque Politics in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, published by Routledge.

We talk about medieval carnival, the plot of a king and commoner tale, spying foresters, rude monks, the love of eating tiny birds, who the audience might be, and the ridiculousness of baking a venison pasty in Sherwood Forest – amongst many other things.

The British Food History Podcast is available on all podcast apps, YouTube, and can be streamed here via this Spotify embed:

A selection of illustrations from manuscripts of various king & commoner tales

Those listening to the secret podcast can hear about Henry VIII’s love of Robin Hood tales, cowardly herons, and Mark tells me who the king in these tales may (or may not) be referring to.

This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast.

Things mentioned in today’s episode

The King and Commoner Tradition: Carnivalesque Politics in Medieval and Early Modern Literature by Mark Truesdale

Mark’s article The Medieval Robin Hood: Folk Carnivals and Ballads on Folklore Thursday

My blog post about King Alfred burning the cakes

The Great Household in Late Medieval England by C.M. Woolgar

Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales

Sentimental and Humorous Romances

Ten Bourdes

Serve it Forth website – You can still receive 25% off the ticket price using the code SERVE25 at the checkout!

Serve it Forth Eventbrite page

Previous pertinent podcast episodes

Medieval Meals & Manners with Danièle Cybulskie

Neil’s blogs and YouTube channel

‘British Food: a History’

The British Food History Channel

‘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

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Filed under food, Game, General, history, Mediaeval Age

Tagged as carnival, festivals & celebrations, folklore, food, history, Late Middle Ages, Mark Truesdale, Mediaeval, Middle Ages, Podcast, podcasts, Robin Hood, The British Food History Podcast

11/10/2025 · 4:38 pm

Serve it Forth Food History Festival: 1 week to go!

Hello everyone – I do hope you are all having a great weekend.

This is just a super-short post just to remind you that the first Serve it Forth Food History Festival is just one week away – it’s online and on Saturday 18 October!

We are all very thankful to the fantastic Netherton Foundry and Steenbergs Spices for sponsoring the day.

If you want to get hold of a ticket, visit the Eventbrite page, but remember to use the offer code SERVE25 at the checkout to get 25% off the ticket price.

So, come and join my and my cohosts – Sam Bilton, Thomas Ntinas and Alessandra Pino for an educational and fun day with guests such as Tudor food expert and author Brigitte Webster and food writer, journalist and author Tom Parker Bowles. Check out the full Bill of Fare here.

If you didn’t catch it, here’s a podcast episode we made to let you know more about the day, but also to get to know us all a little better.

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Filed under events, Festivals, General, history

Tagged as events, food, history, Serve it Forth

05/10/2025 · 7:53 am

Housekeepers & Butlers with Peter Brears

In today’s episode of The British Food History Podcast, I speak with Peter Brears, a world-leading food historian. He was director of both York and Leeds City Museums, and is a consultant to the National Trust, English Heritage and Historic Royal Palaces.

He is the winner of the André Simon award for his book, Cooking and Dining in Medieval England, published in 2012, which is a must-have, as are his other books in the series that focus on upper-class cooking and dining in the Tudor and Early Stuart periods, and most recently in the Victorian country house.

He is also a founding member of the Leeds Symposium of Food History and Traditions, which will have its 40th next year.

Our conversation was recorded in person at his home in Leeds.

We talk about the roles of the housekeeper and butler first in the Victorian period, but then trace their histories back right to the Middle Ages in the case of the butler. Also covered: orchestrating big meals, the drinks prepared by the butler, the mysteries of the stillroom, and the pressures of preparing a baked Alaska – amongst many other things.

The podcast is available on all podcast apps and YouTube. You can also stream it via this Spotify embed:

Those listening to the secret podcast can hear about French and Russian service, when housekeepers are definitely not subservient, the dos and don’ts of displaying porcelain and the contents of the housekeeper’s cupboard.

Remember: Fruit Pig are sponsoring the 9th season of the podcast, and Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the podcast a unique special offer 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout at their online shop, www.fruitpig.co.uk.

This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast.