Neil’s guest is Diane Purkiss and they talk about just some of the topics covered in her book English Food a People’s History published by William Collins. Diane is Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, and she has written about such topics as the English Civil War, the supernatural, especially witchcraft; folklore and fairytales; writer’s block and of course food and food history.

They had a rather meandering conversation that covered: bread, and its poor reputation compared to that bake in France; coffeehouses and politics, and coffeehouses as early examples of gay bars; tea and Empire; and foraging – the latter being particularly tricky to get at.

£3 subscribers can hear the full interview with Diane on the Easter Eggs page of the website: http://britishfoodhistory.com/easter-eggs/

Diane’s book English Food: a People’s History available here: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/english-food-a-peoples-history-diane-purkiss?variant=39825973411918

Neil’s blog post about dock pudding (with recipe): http://britishfoodhistory.com/2023/05/26/dock-pudding/

Other bits:

The Elizabeth Raffald Manchester Central Library event at 6pm on 13 September: https://librarylive.co.uk/event/elizabeth-raffald-englands-most-influential-housekeeper/

Neil will be speaking at the Ludlow Food Festival on Sunday 10 September at 2.30pm, talking all things Elizabeth Raffald: https://www.ludlowfoodfestival.co.uk/

He is also talking at Chelsea History Festival on Friday 29 September 2023, at 6pm about the history of sugar: https://chelseahistoryfestival.com/events/dark-history-sugar/

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’ http://britishfoodhistory.com

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’ http://neilcooksgrigson.com

Order Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper at your favourite bookshop, or from the publisher Pen & Sword History: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Before-Mrs-Beeton-Hardback/p/22437

Neil’s other 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

Don’t forget the upcoming postbag episode, 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 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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