That’s amaro
Our resident food historian on how, with a bit of love and care, you can lift up the throwaways of citrus fruit – pips, pith, peel and all – to their fresh and bitter best
Gillian Riley
Full of beans
Our resident food historian on all manner of beans, from ‘glorious mush’ to a variety for the dead, and a very talented woman who painted them
The Joys of Sludge
Our resident food historian on beauty in beige, and why ordinary folks in the Middle Ages had it right with their ‘dreary but delicious’ diet
Carry on up the Cupola
Our resident food historian explores the compelling history of a special Tuscan stew, and dispels a fanciful myth about its origins
Some like it hot
Our resident food historian on chillies, and why it’s the flavour, not the heat, that is important
Exploding grannies and sleepy pears
Our resident food historian on Italian legends and the joys of pears with cheese
All the fun of the furlough
Our resident food historian takes us through the intrepid legionary’s enforced break, during which he keeps himself busy with sidelines in saffron and fish sauce
Susanna’s Manners
Our resident food historian on 17th-century childcare, from high chairs ‘built like battleships’ to ‘fearsome’ baby walkers
Beanz meanz…
In search of a suitable lockdown subject, our resident food historian hits upon a humble tin of black-eyed beans in her kitchen cupboard
Feast for the eyes
Our resident food historian on Tudor banquets, Mantel, and the two Thomases
Going Ananas
Out with pine needles and in with pineapples as our resident food historian slices into the background of the tropical fruit
Souped Up
Our resident food historian boils down the benefits of a hearty chicken broth
Cornbread and other activities
Our resident food historian leads us on a journey through the maize
Peas and love
Our resident food historian in praise of the ‘delicious, disruptive, ubiquitous, versatile’ chickpea