The Old Foodie

It is a while since I gave you a cruise ship menu, so here is one from New Year’s Eve, 1941. It is from a ship of the Aberdeen and Commonwea...

I will be at the beach later today, so my thoughts have inevitably turned to the great tradition of eating out of doors. In Australia nowada...

On this day in 1863 was held in London, England, an ‘American Dinner.’ Here is what The Epicure's Year Book And Table Companion said of...

Today is my birthday, so birthday food is my topic. On Thursday I am off to the beach for ten days with my grandsons (and their parents), so...

As the peak of Christmas season passes we can all wind down and enjoy the fridge full of leftovers, right? I like this idea for leftover tu...

Herewith the menu, prepared by Escoffier himself, for Christmas Eve, 1899 at the Savoy Hotel in London. Caviar frais      Bouquet de cre...

Yesterday we looked at some slightly different ideas for Christmas pudding and mince pies; today I want to offer you a couple of slightly di...

Not everyone considers alcohol an essential Christmas pudding ingredient, as we discussed yesterday. Indeed, apparently not everyone even li...

Not everyone in Britain would have taken up Messrs. Hennessy’s offer of free brandy in 1905, as was discussed in yesterday’s post. There are...

The British public received an offer almost too good to believe in November 1905. The makers of Hennessy’s Brandy offered, via display adver...

Another short and sweet – and musical – post today for you, folks. I hope your holiday season plans are going very smoothly, and your holida...

A short, commentary-free post today, folks – I have Christmas preparation to do myself, don’t you know? And my pantry is still disorganised ...

It is Christmas in the year 1866. You are a gentleman farmer in England, who espouses vegetarianism, and wish to promote the philosophy amon...

When gold was discovered in Coolgardie, Western Australia in 1892 - just as the other goldfields reached depletion and the economy was strug...

I moved house, finally. Although delighted with my new home, I found myself too tired to cook dinner. And anyway, I had not yet stocked the ...

Earlier in the week we had some fun (at least, I had fun – I hope you did!) with some old food words. There is, of course, no law against in...

On this day in 1898 in Sedan, Kansas, the circus performer Emmett Leo Kelly was born. Kelly was the creator of “Weary Willie”, the famous tr...

December 8th in 1542 was the birthday of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary Stewart, as we know, became Queen of Scotland at the age of six days upo...

If the bread left over yesterday from your experiment with ‘bust-coat’ is now cool and less appetising, you could make yourself a nice dish ...

I hope you will indulge my love of old food words over the next few days in posts that may be brief as I move house. I am on a constant voya...