Writing my blogs and producing a podcast has given me the chance to appear in the media from time to time. It’s always great fun – and a great honour – to be asked to take part in projects.
If you need to contact me directly, email me at neil@britishfoodhistory.com
Contents:
2025
2025 started with a very exciting new project – I am writing a weekly section in Country Life called ‘Taste of Britain’ where I write a short piece about a regional food from every county of the UK. The first one appeared in the 1 January edition, where I wrote about Aberdeen-Angus cattle. You can read them on my County Foods Series tab on the website.
Season B of A is for Apple also kicked off in January with an episode on Banting, bananas and berries. Listen here:
In February I cropped up on the That Shakespeare Life podcast talking about preserving food in the Early Modern Period. Listen here:
In July I began a monthly column in BBC Countryfile Magazine where I explore the history of a famous British dish and write a recipe. Subjects thus far include Bakewell tart, Eton mess, Eccles cakes and Yorkshire Parkin. July also saw the start of the ninth season of The British Food History Podcast. Kicking things off were Matthew Cockin and Grant Harper of Fruitpig, and the topic was black and white pudding:
Season 9 of The British Food History podcast kicked off in July with an episode about black and white pudding with artisan pudding makers Matthew Cockin and Grant Harper.
In August I popped up on the Around the Table podcast talking about studying food history and how I approach cooking historical food. Listen here:
In October, the very first Serve it Forth Food History Festival happened online. It was a day organised by me, Sam Bilton, Thomas Ndinas and Alessandra Pino. It was excellent fun, and I kicked off the day with a very special guest Tom Parker Bowles and we talked about food traditions and how to keep them alive.
2024
In the first quarter of 2024, I had to keep my head down to focus upon some exciting projects which I will hopefully tell you all about as 2024 goes on, but it didn’t mention NOTHING was happening at all. In February I appear on Radio 4’s The Food Programme providing a historical perspective on the importance and role of bitter foods in our diets:
Then, just like buses, three things came along in March in quick succession:
On 4 March a new podcast launched called A is for Apple: an Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink, a collaboration between myself, Sam Bilton and Alessandra Pino. It’s a separate thing to my food history work, because this is a shared project, and not necessarily about British food or food history. Follow the podcast on Substack via this link!
I appeared on the Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle talking about the institution that is the Sunday roast dinner:
Then I popped up on the Plant Based Podcast hosted by Micheal Perry & Ellen Mary talking about the history sugar and the history of growing veg:
It’s been a very podcasty year so far, because I popped up on the fantastic Gastropod, talking about the history of sugar in May:
But most excitedly, I have collaborated with Sam Bilton and Alessandra Pino to create a brand new podcast called A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink. The idea we spend a season on a letter, and each episode has a theme. Season 1 is the letter A. The pilot, which was a free choice, can be listened to here:
In August I wrote an article in Country Life magazine, all about the Anglo-Saxon harvest festival of Lammas. Read it here:
Then, hot on its heels, came another article with Country Life, this time about the surprising history of the pressure cooker.
In September I achieved another milestone with the publication of my third book Knead to Know: A History of Baking, published by Icon Books.
in September I appeared on the Delicious Legacy podcast to talk about my new book Knead to Know. It was a really fun episode. Listen here:
I also got an article published in the Daily Express, again, about the history of baking, specifically the fashion for making cakes that look like something else, and that it actually has quite a long history. Click this link to read it.
November was a busy month! I appeared on not one but two episodes of Sam Bilton’s Comfortably Hungry podcast talking about black pudding and Christmas/plum pudding and Stir-Up Sunday:
I also had two articles published in Country Life magazine: one was about forgotten kitchen gadgets, and the other – one of my favourite topics – Yorkshire Christmas Pyes:
December was busy with talks, special events, workshops, podcasting and blogging. I had an article published in Country Life about the humble mince pie (a favourite subject of mine).
I also appeared on the Delicious Legacy podcast – along with some other food historians – discussing favourite traditional or historical Christmas foods.
2023
At the end of February, I made a second appearance on the Food Matters Live podcast, this time to talk about food innovations past and present. The host was, again, Stefan Gates and the other guest was food futurologist Morgaine Gaye. Listen here:
March was a very exciting month for me: First, my second book Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper was published by Pen & Sword History. It is available to buy from all bookshops, or directly from the publisher. For Women’s History Month, I wrote a piece about Elizabeth for the Pen & Sword blog. Read it here.
Then, at the very end of the month I appeared on Sir Tony Robinson’s new podcast Cunningcast! I’ve been a fan of Tony and his work since I was a kid, so it was such an honour to be asked to come on and talk to him about the history of pies. Also on this episode was Great British Bake Off winner David Atherton. Listen here:
In May I wrote a piece for Country Life magazine about Elizabeth Raffald. Very exciting to see my article in print going out to people who will discover just how amazing she was in her, or anybody’s, lifetime:
In the same month I teamed up with food historian Sam Bilton to produce a special between-season episode of the podcast all about that iconic/infamous foodstuff tripe. Sam interviewed Rachel Roddy and I visited one of the few remaining tripe sellers at Bury Market:
I was also interviewed on Selina MacKenzie’s RTE radio show to talk about my biography of Elizabeth Raffald:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0bLePirMuQTujS31TtNVLY?si=fa4913c325c549ea
At the end of July, I appeared on the Truly Scrumptious podcast, hosted by Elizabeth Raffald fangirl Lotte Duncan about – you guessed it – Mrs Raffald:
In September 2023 I wrote a piece for Country Life magazine about the history of dental heath and false teeth. It was a really fun one to write! Read it in its entirety below:
I appeared on the fantastic Shackbaggerly podcast talking about the enigma that is Elizabeth Raffald. Listen here:
At the end of October 2023, I wrote another piece for Country Life, this time looking into the tradition of making soul cakes for All Soul’s Day:
And then a month later I wrote all about the tradition of Stir-Up Sunday in the 22 Nov 2023 edition of Country Life:
2022
In February I appeared on the Channel 5 show Secrets of the Royal Palaces where I cooked the infamous Coqz Heaumez, an edible sculpture of a gallant knight riding his steed into battle, made from a roast chicken and sucking pig. it was fun and also bizarre, presenter Kate Williams was a great sport. Catch the episode here on Channel 5‘s streaming site, My5.
In March was lucky enough to contribute to an excellent article about one of our most beloved cookery books, The Be-Ro Book, on CKBK. It was written by Ramona Andrews. Annie Gray and Roopa Gulati also contributed. Read it via this link.
In April I was invited onto the excellent Table Talk podcast to discuss the dark history of sugar, including the evolutionary adaptations humans have acquired to keeping eating it and thinking about it! Catch the episode wherever you find your podcast, or follow this link. Here’s a short excerpt:
May 2022 was a landmark date for me with the publication of my first book, A Dark History of Sugar, published by Pen & Sword History. It’s available from all good bookshops, on Kindle, or direct from me (signed of course). I’ve been blown over by all of the great reviews & ratings it has received so far; and if you have bought a copy, I doff my cap to you.
I have been talking about sugar lot this year, so I was very pleased to appear on Cassidy Cash’s podcast in May, This Shakespeare Life, to talk about one of my favourite topics, that forgotten fruit, the medlar.
Then in June, I popped up on the Well Seasoned Librarian podcast to talk about sugar, as well as many other things such as the American’s opinion of British food, and how I have come to have a “career” in food and history.
With August came the fourth season of the British Food History Podcast, which started its run with the fabulous Felicity Cloake to discuss Britain’s traditional breakfast foods:
Later on in the very same month, I appear on Lubber’s Hole podcast to talk about Georgian food, dining and manners:
I was involved in some behind the scenes work for a Radio 4 programme called One Dish. The premise of the show is host Andi Oliver interviews a special guest who brings along with them their favourite food, hence the name, One Dish. My role was to research each dishes’ history and science, and a little bit of scriptwriting too. So far it has been well received since it started in August 2022. You can listen to the series on BBC Sounds now by following this link.
In September I got the opportunity to talk about one of my favourite topics, puddings, on the Bread and Thread podcast. It was fun to go through the complex history covering the evolution of the pudding from its intestinal origins:
In October I was a guest on the fantastic Delicious Legacy podcast, talking about all things sugar. Although I touched on the dark history, host Thom asked a lot of questions about its not-so-dark origins, which no one has asked me about thus far.
I was honoured at the beginning of November to be the guest on Sam Bilton’s new podcast Comfortably Hungry, talking about Bonfire Night, gingerbread, sugar, treacle and parkin. Alessandra Pino was also a guest which brought an interesting gothic element to discussions. Both Sam and Alessandra have appeared on my podcast, so check those out too!
2021
The British Food History Podcast season 3, December 2021-present. At the very end of 2021, I started up the third season of the podcast with a Christmas special all about Christmas pudding, an interview with Emma Kay about her book A Dark History of Chocolate and a great chat with Allesandra Pinto about food in gothic literature.
Atlas Obscura, September 2021. I helped out with a great article by Reina Gattuso in the excellent Atlas Obscura; it was all about Virginia Woolf and her excellent skills as a baker of cottage loaves. Check out the article via this link.
Amazing Christmas Cakes and Bakes, December 2021. Channel 5 were keen to film a Christmas special for their cakes and bakes show ready for Christmas 2021, however they put it out early on their streaming service My5. Check it out here. I talk about Christmas Cake, Christmas Pudding, Christmas food adverts of the past and lots of other things too.
The British Food History Podcast season 2, July-August 2021. In the summer I brought back my podcast (with some minor re-branding). Guests and topics included, Gingerbread with Sam Bilton, Forme of Cury with Dr Christopher Monk, and eels with Andrew Kerr, Elver Dave & John Wyatt Greenlee. Check out the podcast via link.
2020
Wonderful World of Cakes, November-December 2020. I became the resident food historian on this show on Channel 5, and it covered alot of subjects. Aside from sticking my twopenneth in on the topics covered, I also made some traditional recipes and broke the world record for the largest Jaffa Cake. Here’s a link to the show’s page on the Channel 5 website.
Monkman and Seagull’s Genius Adventures, June 2020. I was asked to reproduce some of the dishes served up at the infamous nineteenth century Dino Dinner celebrating the first dinosaur sculptures displayed in Crystal Palace Park. Here’s a link to a clip of the scene.
Vice Magazine: A Brief History of the Humble Chip Butty, March 2020. Burger King now do a ‘Fries Sandwich’ and they think they are geniusus or something. I helped out with this article looking at the history of the proper chip butty.
British Food: a History Podcast Season 1 – Lent, February to April 2020. The first season of my podcast went out covering a huge variety of subjects from the Forme of Cury, to bean-to-bar chocolate making. Amonst others, I also interviewed the Bishop of Manchester David Walker and Professor of Zoology and writer Matthew Cobb. Click this link for the podcast page.
2018
Britain’s Most Historic Towns, April 2018. I was asked to cook up some mediaeval food for presenter Alice Roberts as part of the Norman Winchester episode. I cooked up a delicious eel pie from Britain’s oldest cook book The Forme of Cury. Here’s a link to the full episode.
2015
In 2015 I was asked by The Telegraph newspaper to take part in a cookery competition for food bloggers. Have never competed, I was pretty nervous at first, but in the end I did alright, coming second! The videos, articles and most of my recipes from the competition can be seen via this link.
Later in that year, I took part in a two-part Jane Grigson tribute special edition of BBC Radio 4‘s The Food Programme, where the life and influence of my food hero Jane Grigson was discussed. The episode was filmed in front of a live audience as part of Bristol Food Connections Festival. To listen to the episode, follow this link.
British Food: A History 