On the grounds that team 5pm had their Christmas night out yesterday, today’s blog will be a quiet affair.
No mention of whizzbang new openings or shouting about the latest pulled pork and barbequed banana dish that people are going wild for in this darling little pop-up which has already closed.
Instead, today is a day for a spot of quiet reading. Contemplation. Gentle reflection. Indigestion. Nothing that requires too much concentration.
To this end, click through to the wonderful Foods of England project. A massive undertaking, the site attempts to chart the history and evolution of British food.
Birth of chicken tikka masala
From the first written mention of Cheshire Cheese in 1086 to to the first mention of chicken tikka masala in 1975, it’s a brilliant resource to dip in and out of.
In addition to a timeline, the site details some 3300 British dishes and also has the texts of some 60 historical cookbooks from The Forme of Cury (1390) onwards.
Hannah Glasse, Alexis Soyer, Mrs Beeton and Escoffier are all in there, the latter on the basis that, even though he is French, like Soyer, Escoffier spent much of his life in the UK.
Nail a myth
The site also tries to nail a few myths. Perhaps controversially, the authors maintain that Brown Windsor soup, the terror of many a Sixties menu, was a comic creation of The Goons rather than an actual food that people voluntarily ate for pleasure.