The Old Foodie

Thomas Tryon (1634 -1703) was an interesting man for his time – or for any time, for that matter. He was the archetypal self-taught, self-ma...

Today I would like you to join me, and the other ‘Second Cabin’ passengers aboard the Cunard liner RMS Mauretania , for breakfast on this d...

My gift to those of you celebrating Cinco de Mayo today was to be the best of all gifts (well, one of them anyway), it was to be the gift o...

I understand that mutton is making a come-back in Britain. I do hope I have not been misinformed, as, in the light of this information, I ha...

I thought it would be interesting on this Good Friday to dine with the seventeenth century brethren at the Hospital of St.Cross. This was a...

Household hints are not the only treasures to be found in the depths of books such as yesterday’s source, Cottage comforts, with hints for p...

Today’s household hints come from Mrs. Ellis's housekeeping made easy, or, Complete instructor in all branches (Sarah Stickney Ellis; 18...

I am particularly fond of the sort of household manual that is not afraid to meet the challenge of assisting the housewife to cope with the ...

James Boswell, the diarist and author best known for his biography of Samuel Johnson, was very excited to be invited to his hero’s home for ...

There was a sudden large spike in visits to this blog a couple of weeks ago. When I looked to see what had triggered it, most of the searche...

Today is April Fool’s Day. I just know I am going to get an email from someone (who assumes that this is my April Fool joke – or that I am j...

The title says it all today folks. I have something different planned for you tomorrow, so to end our milk series I give you a little cache ...

Centuries before it spread to Europe, the use of coffee was virtually confined to the Arab and then the Ottoman Empires. The Arabs protected...

Our source for the week, Adam's Luxury and Eve's Cookery, or, the Kitchen-Garden display’d , (1744), has, I think, singlehandedly p...

I have never eaten cardoons. I know a little about them, of course, but it is all theoretical. Now that I have realised this, deficit in my ...

The Cabbage has been a staple vegetable for humans for millenia. We probably domesticated the wild form well over two thousand years ago, wh...

In the year of 1744, France declared war on one old enemy (England), and made peace with another (Prussia), James Bradley, the English Astro...

I seem to have become distracted somewhat from my original intention to focus on liqueurs this week. I am going to give you a brief glimpse ...

A few years ago, a list of Britain’s ten best dishes was created and made much of. I have previously given this list, and intended to event...

Some historians say that the best time of all – by which I assume they meant the most fun time - to be alive was between the two world wars,...