A Brief History of Food: Leeks
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According to a BBC News tweet (see right), the ‘Welsh leek’ could be set for protected status [1], alongside foods including Cheddar...
Tastes Of History
Dec 31, 2021
On This Day: Catherine of Braganza and tea
December 31st, 1705: Catherine of Braganza, widow of Charles II whom she had married in 1662, died in Lisbon, Portugal. Most notably,...
Tastes Of History
Dec 30, 2021
On This Day: Yes, we have bananas
December 30th, 1945, a cold Sunday morning, saw the cargo ship Tilapa docked in Bristol. It was carrying the first bananas to be seen in...
Tastes Of History
Dec 17, 2021
A Brief History of Food: Coffee
Origins Exactly how and when coffee was discovered is uncertain. A legend of its stimulating effects being identified in Ethiopia is...
Tastes Of History
Oct 26, 2021
A Brief History of Food: Sausages
The humble sausage The humble sausage is popular the world over with many nations and individual regions having their own characteristic...
Tastes Of History
Sep 17, 2021
A Brief History of Food: Lemons
The Lemon (Citrus limon) is a species of small evergreen tree in the flowering plant family Rutaceae. Believed to be native to South...
Tastes Of History
Aug 26, 2021
What did the Romans ever do for us? Roman Food
In Britain, many of the foods we eat today, and perhaps take for granted, were actually introduced from further afield during the Roman...
Tastes Of History
Apr 14, 2021
Roman Fast Food
The popular representation of Roman dining is that of reclining on benches enjoying a buffet style meal. This image, however, only really...
Tastes Of History
Apr 9, 2021
A Brief History of Food: Roman Wines
It may be reassuring to know that the wine gods continue to flourish. While many narcotics are now illegal, the Roman god of wine Bacchus...
Tastes Of History
Mar 1, 2021
Kitchenalia: Roman Glirarium
In 'Kitchenalia' we introduce objects from different historical periods, discover a bit about their history and find out how each was...
Tastes Of History
Feb 18, 2021
A Brief History of Food: The Mysterious Silphium
Silphium may have looked unimpressive, with stout roots, stumpy leaves and bunches of small yellow flowers, but it was much prized in the...
Tastes Of History
Oct 27, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Sweet Chestnut
Some friends of ours made some sweet chestnut flour and, knowing that our first passion is for Roman history, asked us for some Roman...
Tastes Of History
Aug 16, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Cheese
As mammals, humans are all supposed to be lactose intolerant and yet more than 70% of western Europeans have no problem drinking milk and...
Tastes Of History
Aug 1, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Chickens in Britain
The history of the humble chicken's arrival in Britain remains a bit of a puzzle. Found everywhere today, just where did these birds...
Tastes Of History
Jun 21, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Roman Pasta?
We keep hearing mention of pasta's ancient Roman roots, but as far as we can ascertain pasta in the form familiar to us today simply did...
Tastes Of History
Jun 20, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Blood Sausage
Introduction As the name implies, blood sausages [1] are sausages filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler...
Tastes Of History
Jun 20, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Spice
The spice trade has a long and lucrative ancestry.As early as 2,000 BC cinnamon and cassia (or Chinese cinnamon) were being imported into...
Tastes Of History
Jun 20, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Chilli Peppers
The chilli pepper (from Nahuatl chīlli/ˈt͡ʃiːli/) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family,...
Tastes Of History
Jun 20, 2020
A Brief History of Food: Turkey at Christmas
There was great excitement during Easter 2019 with the announcement of the first secure dating of a rabbit bone, found in Britain, to the...
Tastes Of History
Jun 19, 2020
Collop Monday
In an earlier post (Daily Meals in Tudor England) mention was made of 'Collop Monday', the day before Shrove Tuesday, in connection with...
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