The Old Foodie

Sometime ago, I wrote a short article called ‘ The Other Uses of Coffee’ for my regular gig with a bakery trade magazine. The curse and ble...

November 2 … English is such a rich language that it always seems a shame when we force a word to do double duty for two different co...

October 29 ... It may be true that you can judge a book by its cover, but what of the days before colour printing and graphic designers and ...

October 26 th When the word “persimmon” is mentioned, is the word “puckery” ever far behind? It seems not, and Henry Thoreau certainly pu...

Warning! This is not a food HISTORY post! I’ve had a couple of requests for my Macadamia and Orange Biscotti since mentioning them in res...

Today, October 18 … Monsieur Pierre-Aphonse Buffet did not exist. Or if he did, he lived and disappeared with no obvious trace in the la...

Today, October 16 ... The first coffee house in London opened in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, in 1652. Like many newly introduced fo...

Today October 4 th … Amelia Earhart is one of the world’s most famous missing persons. The female flying ace disappeared on an attempted...

Some days, because you might have been very good, you deserve a second story for the day. I have had a lovely evening browsi...

Today, September 17 th …. Today I have for you another little bit of Retro Cake trivia (are you reading this, Patron Saint of Retro Cake...

Today, August 13th … As promised, this week we will be inspired by the mid-nineteenth century menu and recipe book of the Baron Léon Brisse....

Today, August 7th … With the War under way, the employees of the British Ministry of Food must have been working overtime by August 1940. So...

Today, July 16 th Today is the feast day of the patron saint of Naples , Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and a great excuse to indulge – or ove...

Today, July 6th The Horlick brothers' new product - a malted milk drink- was finally released on this day in 1886. The English brothers ...

Today, June 27 th The first known reference to tea by an Englishman appeared in a letter dated this day in 1615. An East India agent, R.L....

Today, June 15 th … “We had for Dinner boiled Calfs Head and Pigs face, a Piece of rost Beef and a Gooseberry Pudding’. The Englis...

Today, June 11 th … Today is a public holiday in most of Australia . It is the Queen’s official birthday, hence, as a relic of our colonia...

Today, June 8 th … A young soldier stationed in North Carolina called Frederick Osborne wrote home to his family in Massachusetts on...

Today, June 4 th … According to some almanacs, this day is Old Maid’s Day. In spite of the efforts of the feminist movement, there doe...

Today, May 10th … On this day in 1876 the Centennial Fair opened in Philadelphia. It was the first World Fair in the USA, and as its name su...