The History of Food Waste & Preservation with Eleanor Barnett

Today I am talking to Eleanor Barnett about the history of food waste and preservation.Eleanor has written a fantastic book about the history of how we as a society have (and sometimes have not) dealt with eliminating waste and preserving precious food resources. It is called Leftovers: A History of Food Waste & Preservation, and it is out now published by Bloomsbury.We talk about the fabulously wasteful food of 17th century cook Robert May, whose responsibility it was to preserve food in the home (hint: not the man of the house), pies as preservation method, the food waste used in agriculture and industry, food preservation in wartime, and Hannah Glasse’s dubious method for preserving very rank potted birds, plus many other things – we fit a lot into today’s episode. Support the podcast and blogs by becoming, if you can, a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.Leftovers: A History of Food Waste & Preservation is out now.Books mentioned in today’s episode:Robert May’s The Accomplisht CookSir Hugh Platt’s Delights for LadiesHannah Glasse’s The Art of CookeryPrevious podcast episodes pertinent to today’s episode:London’s Street Food Sellers with Charlie TavernerChristmas Special 2023: Mince PiesUpcoming events:The Leeds Symposium of Food History & Traditions, York, 27 April 2024. British Library Food Season 2024, 25 May at 2pm. Tickets and info to come soon!Ludlow Food Festival, Friday 13th September. Warwick Words History Festival, Thursday 3rd October at 4.30pm. Neil’s blogs:‘British Food: a History’ ‘Neil Cooks Grigson’ Neil’s books:Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential HousekeeperA Dark History of Sugar Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops. 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 Neil at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open.You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistoryThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp