Find my interview on a Victorian Christmas and the change in our food choices over time in today’s Telegraph.

‘Barnett’s detailed storytelling makes food waste fascinating […] From medieval England to Brexit and the pandemic, Barnett expertly rolls out the dough of U.K. history to prove that “if ‘you are what you eat,’ our values and culture are equally defined by what we don’t eat.” 

“‘The world produces enough food to feed everyone, if distributed equally,’” Barnett writes, quoting the founders of Food Not Bombs. Pandemic-era distribution efforts showed us what’s possible in terms of food rescue, and AI is already in the kitchen tracking scraps. Pick up Leftovers for motivation on reducing the muckpile.

I share my knowledge on the history of dieting in this fascinating article!

Leftovers is recommended as one of the 23 Fall Food and Agriculture Books to Discover Now!

“There are of course many traditional British sauces, gravies and condiments,” says Eleanor Barnett, author of Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation. “But it’s not until the 1960s that you really see references to ‘dips’ like we would recognise … In Woman’s Own magazine in 1962, you see the instruction: ‘Have a trolley of savouries and dips ready to wheel in.’ Like most trends of that time, this came from America.”

Leftovers ‘couldn’t be timelier than right now… a very readable deep dive into everything from pickles and canning to what we did during Covid-19 and what we should do in the future’

‘A thought-provoking and entertaining examination of our relationship with food from Tudor times right up to the food banks and Covid lockdowns of more recent times’

Featured in the Caterer on the history of the cheese course in Rosie Conway’s article on savoury desserts

Leftovers ‘shows us what the past can teach us about the future of food waste’!

‘A scholarly history of food waste and preservation, Eleanor Barnett’s Leftovers explores the inventive ways our ancestors sought to make the most of their food, how we do so today, and how we might go about it in the future’

‘[Barnett is] an indefatigable researcher. And she keeps the reader’s spirits up with some splendid stories’.

‘Wasting food means wasting life, but also the huge amounts of energy and resources that go into making it.’

‘Studying past habits is a reminder to keep up pressure on how we manage surplus food, but it also highlights successes such as inventing products from waste streams - Golden Syrup and Marmite are industrial by-products - and the impact of a state-run thriftiness campaign in the 40s’

‘What better way to connect to the lives of people in the past than through their food - Leftovers recreates the tastes, smells, and sights of Victorian London, where poor rag-and-bone men scavenged for crumbs and flecks of meat on discarded bones; the striking bursts of sweetness provided as a reward for many sweaty hours spent preserving oranges in the Tudor still-room; and what it was like to taste banana for the first time, as the invention of artificial refrigeration made it possible to transport them to Britain in 1901 all the way from the Canary Islands.’

‘Eleanor Barnett [is] one of the UK’s leading food historians, as well as one of the most accomplished communicators of academic research to a wide popular audience’!

‘Leftovers is more than a historical respective; it is a book for our time’!

‘Timely - according to the Business of Waste (who’d known), the UK currently throws away 9.5m tonnes of food waste per year. Perhaps this will inspire some home ferments and reduce your bin’s load?’

‘If mum’s a foodie, I’d recommend a fascinating newly published book: Leftovers. It’s an informative and entertaining history of food preservation and waste in Britain, from the 16th Century to today.’

'Barnett excels at choosing specific, often funny examples that demystify the past, a skill she’s honed from running her popular Instagram account, @historyeats. Her nimble, confident writing makes Leftovers bingeable (as it were), without coming at the expense of rigour or depth. It’s clear that she loves her subject material, and her enthusiasm is contagious'. The Telegraph

‘As timely as it is fascinating’!

A fascinating…informative history’!

Quoted in Ashleigh Arnott’s article ‘Marvellous Marmalade’ on the history of marmalade

Read about aphrodisiacs here

Quoted in this article on the history of McDonald’s in British culture

Interview on food history and food traditions!

Read my interview all about food history

I share a recipe to make Tudor ‘Jumbles’ biscuits!

Read about the history of fisherman’s pie

Learn about the history of Diwali food

Consultant on the history of ciabatta bread.

Quoted in Vaughn Stafford Gray’s Atlantic article ‘How Our Relationships Affect What We Eat’ .

See my top 10 recipe books from history on CKBK!

Post on the history of Rosh Hashanah food for the Jewish New Year featured on Eater London

Historyeats’ post on Chinese Mooncakes for mid-Autumn festival featured on Eater London

My attempt of the viral Quarantine challenge, a take on A Roman Osteria by Carl Bloch makes it to the Daily Mail, Metro and Fox News, as well as international media

Dr Rachel Rich gives a fascinating and positive review of my conference, hosted at the University of Cambridge

Feature article on my research after being chosen as a ‘Post-graduate Pioneer’ at the University of Cambridge