Category Archives: General

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

Neil’s books

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 leave a comment below.

Welsh Food Stories by Carwyn Graves

Filed under Books, Britain, food, General, history, Podcast, Uncategorized

Tagged as Early Modern Period, Elizabethan era, history, Podcast, podcasts, Sam Bilton, Shakespeare, The British Food History Podcast, The Stuarts, Tudor

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!

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.

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

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

Neil’s books

You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory

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

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

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!

Medieval Meals & Manners with Danièle Cybulskie

Previous pertinent podcast episodes

Neil’s blogs and YouTube channel

‘British Food: a History’

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

Neil’s books

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.

Filed under events, Festivals, General, history

Tagged as events, food, history, Serve it Forth

30/09/2025 · 7:33 pm

#447 Roast Saddle of Lamb (Neil Cooks Grigson)

#447 Roast Saddle of Lamb

Hello! I thought some of you might be interested in a post I just published on the other blog, Neil Cooks Grigson.

YouTube video of the episode with images of the porcelain discussed

Filed under Britain, food, General, Meat, Recipes

Tagged as English food, food, Jane Grigson, lamb, meat, recipe, roast, roast dinner, roasting, saddle of lamb

25/09/2025 · 7:33 am

Worcester Porcelain with Paul Crane

In this episode of the podcast, I talk with ceramics expert Paul Crane FSA about the early years of Worcester porcelain. Paul is a consultant at the Brian Haughton Gallery, St James’s, London, and a specialist in Ceramics from the Medieval and Renaissance periods through to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. He presently sits as a Trustee of the Museum of Royal Worcester and is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, an independent historian and researcher and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars.

Our conversation was recorded in person at the Museum of Royal Worcester. If you want to see the pieces we discuss, check out this post where I’ve added images of the majority of the items discussed or go to the YouTube channel where I’ve lined up the images with our discussion. Paul and I really do our best to describe the pieces, but of course, it’s best if you can see them for yourself.

The images used are a mixture of my own and those taken from the Museum of Royal Worcester archives. Thank you to the museum for the permission to use them.

The podcast is available on all podcast apps, just search for “The British Food History Podcast”, or stream on this Spotify via this embed:

Alternatively, watch this episode on YouTube to see the images below matched up with the sound.

We talk about Dr Wall and how he got the Worcester manufactory up and running, the importance of seeing porcelain by candlelight, asparagus servers, the first piece of porcelain you see when you walk into the museum, the Royal Lily service and how Worcester porcelain attained the Royal warrant, amongst any other things.

Those listening to the secret podcast can hear more about the early blue and white pieces, including a rare bleeding bowl, the first commemorative coronation porcelain mug and the stunning Nelson tea service, plus much more.

Some examples of the early blue and white porcelain.

The first piece of porcelain you see when you enter the museum: the beautiful Wigornia cream boat; the ‘Wigornia’ mark; the first image of the Worcester porcelain manufactory from *The Gentleman’s Magazine*.

The ‘smoky primitives’ that Paul mentions that attempt to emulate the feel of silverware sparkling in the candlelight.

Two of the more frivolous items: the asparagus server and grape cart.

The ‘Dr Wall’s Dinner’ display at the museum with the excellent food made by Kelly Samantha Bowes at the Fake Food Workshop – notice the asparagus server in use!

The dessert course case at the museum and that ice pail containing the painted inner bowl that so excited Ivan Day!

Two of the pieces from Paul’s own curated case that focuses upon the work of James Giles, plus two illustrations from the book that inspired most of the Giles art called *The Natural History of Uncommon Birds*

The Duke of Gloucester tureens and service and the Royal Lily set that got Worcester Porcelain its Royal Warrant.

Some of the pieces discussed in the secret podcast version of the discussion: a bleeding bowl (1754), the Wall Mug (1754) and the Nelson Tea Service (1802)

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

Things mentioned in today’s episode

Museum of Royal Worcester website

Paul’s YouTube talk called ‘Nature, Porcelain and the Enlightenment’

Paul’s YouTube talk called ‘Early Worcester from Dr Wall to James Giles’

My museum talk about Worcester porcelain and 19th-century dining

The Natural History of Uncommon Birds by George Edwards

A video about the first project Neil took part in with the Museum of Royal Worcester

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

18th Century Dining with Ivan Day

Previous pertinent podcast episodes

Neil’s other blog and YouTube channel

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

Neil’s books

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 leave a comment below.

Filthy Queens: A History of Beer in Ireland

Filed under Britain, Eighteenth Century, food, General, history, Podcast, The Royals, Uncategorized

Tagged as ceramics, dining, history, Museum of Royal Worcester, Paul Crane, Podcast, podcasts, porcelain, Royal Worcester, The British Food History Podcast, Worcester porcelain

17/09/2025 · 8:32 am

Ireland, Ale & the Colonising British with Christina Wade

In this episode, I speak with Christina Wade, a beer historian specialising in the UK and Ireland, with a particular focus on women. She has written an excellent book, Filthy Queens: A History of Beer in Ireland, which was published by Nine Bean Rows earlier this year (2025).

We talk about ale and beer in Ireland, and how colonisation by the English, and then the British, affected beer production and consumption. Topics include: ale in early medieval Ireland, the man who inspired the title of her book, ale consumption during the Irish Rebellion and the Potato Famine, and the use of human skulls in medicinal ales, amongst many other things.

The British Food History Podcast is available on all podcast apps, but you can also hear it on YouTube or stream it via this embed:

Those listening to the secret podcast can hear about the links between alewives and witchcraft, whiskey and beer consumption, tea kettle brews and more!

Christina’s social media handle on Instagram and Bluesky is @braciatrix.

Christina’s website

Christina’s Substack

The Devil’s in the Draught Lines: 1000 Years of Women in Britain’s Beer History

The Beer Ladies Podcast

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.

Things mentioned in today’s episode

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

Neil’s blog post about cock ale/beer

Barnaby Rich’s book The Irish hubbub or, the English hue and crie. 1617

Neil’s blog post about junket for £3 subscribers

Listen to Neil on Around the Table

Previous pertinent podcast episodes

Making Medieval Ale at Home with Alison Kay

Recreating 16th Century Beer with Susan Flavin and Marc Meltonville

Neil’s other blog and YouTube channel

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

Neil’s books:

The Serve it Forth Eventbrite page

Filed under Books, Brewing, Britain, General, history, Podcast, Uncategorized

Tagged as ale, beer, books, brewing, Christina Wade, fermentation, history, Ireland, Podcast, podcasts, porter, The British Food History Podcast

06/09/2025 · 3:38 pm

BONUS PODCAST EPISODE: Serve it Forth Food History Festival Special!

Hello there everyone!

Here’s a quick special bonus episode of the podcast for you – the lowdown on the Serve it Forth Food History Festival 2025, sponsored by the excellent Netherton Foundry. It’s available on all podcast apps, but if you like, listen via this Spotify embed:

My fellow festival coordinators Sam Bilton, Thomas Ntinas and Alessandra Pino and I are here to tell you more about it: how the day will work, what the sessions will be like, the topics and the guests – including my guest Tom Parker Bowles.

We have a brief discussion about our own interests and how we all got into food history. We also talk about our biggest/most embarrassing disasters.

Most important headlines are: it’s online on 18 October. It’s £16, but there’s 25% off ticket price until September 14th. Don’t worry if you miss some, or even all of the day, we will be making every recording available to all ticket holders.

NB: If you want to get 25% off the ticket price after the early bird has finished, use the offer code SERVE25 at the Eventbrite checkout.

Serve it Forth website

Mark’s previous book Plenti and Grase (2009) is published by Prospect Books

Filed under Festivals, food, General, history, Uncategorized

Tagged as festivals & celebrations, food, history, Serve it Forth, Tom Parker Bowles

31/08/2025 · 9:09 am

Derbyshire Oatcakes with Mark Dawson

My guest today is Mark Dawson, food historian, specialising in the food of the Tudor period, but also food of Derbyshire. We met up at Mark’s home in Derbyshire to talk all things Derbyshire oatcakes.

Mark and I talk about the oatcakes of Britain, doshens and sprittles, the usefulness of probate inventories, oatcakes as penance, and oatcake goblins – amongst many other things.

It’s available on all podcast platforms and YouTube. If you’re not a podcast/YouTube sort of person, listen here:

Those listening to the secret podcast can hear about other Derbyshire foods made from oats; a discussion about why oatcake is better than porridge; and I grill Mark on one very important matter: just what is the difference between a Derbyshire and a Staffordshire oatcake.

Follow Mark on Instagram @drdobba

Mark’s book Lumpy Tums: Derbyshire’s Food & Drink will be published by Amberley in April 2026

Mark Dawson’s Food History Pages

Mark’s SpeakerNet profile

L to R: sprittle, slice and oatcake toaster (Derby Museum); an oatcake stone (Joan Clough); my attempt at a sourdough Staffordshire (shock-horror!) oatcake

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.

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

Things mentioned in today’s episode

Serve it Forth website

Find out more about Joan Thirsk

General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire by John Farey (1811)

Mark’s research on oatcakes can be found in Farmers, Consumers, Innovators: The World of Joan Thirsk (2016)

Neil’s other blog and YouTube channel