Leftovers:A History of Food Waste and Preservation

by: Eleanor Baett (Author)

Publisher: Apollo

Publication Date: 14 Mar. 2024

Language: English

Print Length: 384 pages

ISBN-10: 180328157X

ISBN-13: 9781803281575

Book Description

A topical and richly entertaining history of food preservation and food waste in Britain from the sixteenth-century kitchen to the present day.In Leftovers, Eleanor Baett explores the many ingenious ways in which our ancestors sought to extend the life of food through preservation, the culinary reuse of leftovers and the recycling of food scraps. Embracing a broad historical lens, the book spans Tudor household management; the world-changing inventions in food preservation of the Industrial Revolution from the tin can to artificial refrigeration; the growth of public health initiatives and organised food waste collection in the Victorian era; state promotion of thrifty eating during the two World Wars; and the politics of food and packaging waste in the mode era of sustainability.Opening a window on the everyday experiences of ordinary people in the past, Leftovers reveals how factors such as religious belief, class identities and gender have historically shaped attitudes towards food waste. At a time when a third of the food we produce globally is wasted, Leftovers links its central historical focus to humanitarian and environmental issues of urgent contemporary interest - including climate change, globalisation, scientific advancement, poverty and inequality.