Talks
Dr Neil Buttery - 'A History of Baking', followed by book signing
Where:
Castle Garden Stage - Castle Gardens
When:
A History of Baking with Dr Neil Buttery
Dr Neil Buttery, writer of British Food History is known for telling the history or Britain through its food history.
He has been writing on the history of British food for over ten years and through the process of writing and cooking he has become a professional chef specialising in cooking food from our past. Prior to this, he was a secondary school teacher and then a research scientist, researching social evolution, a branch of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Neil has go onto specialising in banquets and taster menus; he even turned his house into a makeshift restaurant several times, serving up five-course menus of British food and getting nominated for Manchester Food & Drink Award in the process! And then he opened his first restaurant The Buttery in Levenshulme with a certain Brian Shields (trouble!). Unfortunately it had to close after two years but he has lots of other exciting things going on.
Blogs and the cooking attracted attention and he had the opportunity to appear on Channel 4’s Britain’s Most Historic Towns, Radio 4’s The Food Programme, as well as in a Telegraph cookery competition for food bloggers (where he came second).
For those interested in Food History then you'll enjoy Dr Neil Buttery's talk, one of the key topics he likes to cover in his blogs is sustainability - something very important at the minute.
"My biography of Elizabeth Raffald, Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper won the Best Book category at this year’s Guild of Food Writer’s Awards. I’m still rather bowled over about it, I must say, and certainly wasn’t expecting to win, despite winning the Best First Book award last year, in fact with the Raffald book, I thought it (superficially) niche in the big and varied world of food writing." Dr Neil Buttery
Three fantastic festivals
13, 14 & 15 September 2024
Showcasing independent food and drink producers from the Marches. Embracing contemporary food trends & innovations.
10, 11 & 12 May 2024
Barrels of real ale, live music, talks, food and drink, kids' activities and a host of classic vehicles.
Sunday 10 August 2025
Ramble through the rolling countryside surrounding Ludlow and enjoy delicious food and drink from the region's producers.