In today’s episode, I am talking with Ian Anderson who has written a fantastic book published by the History Press called The History and Natural History of Spices.

We discuss what a spice is – the definition changes through time, and includes animal as well as plant products – black pepper, the Portuguese spice trade, sugar as a spice, mustard and Thomas Moore’s head – amongst many other things.

Ian’s Instagram page: @ian.d.anderson

Find out more about The History and Natural History of Spices here.

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Links to things mentioned in today’s episode:

Ivan Day’s blog post showing some of his sugar sculptures

The Hoxne pepperpot

Eventbrite page for the 2024 Leeds Food and Drink Symposium April 2024

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.

Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open.

You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory

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