Oral history
ANNIE GRAY is entertained by a look at plenty and poverty in the kitchens of Britain through the ages
Another clever title from the author of Scoff (2020), Stuffed is about being replete with food and devoid of it – a history of feast and famine in Britain throughout history.
It’s an ambitious book, leaping merrily from the Neolithic to the modern day, and covering such varied topics as Anglo-Saxon lords allocating resources to their tenants, Tudor smallholders practising pannage (pasturing pigs in woodland), Georgian pie-makers packing pastry parcels, and 1970s housewives struggling to love supermarkets. The breadth of research is impressive (though the bibliography curiously sparse), and it is a more serious book than Vogler’s previous work. It is also less reliant on literary sources, and more urgent and explicit in linking modern themes and concerns to those of the past. Indeed, some of the best parts see Vogler drawing comparisons between the 13thcentury Assize of Bread and Ale (regulating quantity) and modern shrinkflation, or between medieval fish ponds and show-off American-style fridges. Her prose is very readable, and it is packed full of facts.
The structure is, however, an issue, preventing a good book from being a great one. It’s divided into sections, some of which are historical (Before the enclosures), others thematic (Children and families, Crises). Within these are short chapters nominally focusing on specific foods: beans, goose, sugar, pumpkin pie, tea. Vogler is clear that she’s not covering the entire history of each food, but exploring specific items as ways into a wider topic. Sometimes this really works: strawberries, oatmeal, broth, wine and ale, mustard and pickles are all really good. Elsewhere, we don’t get to the food until near a chapter’s end – worts, for example – and focus is lacking. The chapter on potatoes and jam is more properly about allotments; it’s excellent, but I expected to read about Ireland in the 1840s. Some chapters never seem to get to a point at all.
This is a book to dip into rather than to read straight through. It has plenty of wow moments, including a memorable description of the cooking conditions at Scutari Barracks in 1855, when French chef Alexis Soyer arrived to revolutionise British armed forces catering during the Crimean War. A wry sense of humour keeps it light, widening the appeal beyond food-history devotees, and modernised recipes are cleverly used to illustrate Vogler’s points.
The author makes some factual errors – puff pastry was in use by the 1590s, not the 1650s, and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes were developed at the start of the 20th century, not the 19th – and has a slightly irritating habit of repeating myths. Stylistically, I think she can include herself within the category of ‘historians’, rather than citing them like a species apart. However, despite the structural problems, her book offers a fun read and an illuminating look at food inequality – and responsibility – in the past. It’s also an explicit invitation to reflect on the present through that lens. I hope a copy ends up in the House of Commons library.
Annie Gray is a food historian. Her books include At Christmas We Feast: Festive Food Through the Ages (Profile, 2021)
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