Eating Out in Georgian London with Peter Ross

Welcome back to The British Food History Podcast. In this episode, I am speaking with Peter Ross. Peter was, until recently, the Principal Librarian at the City of London's Guildhall Library. He is an historian of both food and crime in Georgian London, an Arts Society lecturer, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

He has also written a fantastic book called Insatiable Appetites, Eating Out in Georgian London, published by the Bodleian Library. Published 14 May 2026.

We talk about the migrating mealtimes of the Georgian period, chophouses, the importance of satirical cartoons when studying food history in this period, turtle soup, and why you wouldn’t want to be seen hanging around the saloop stand – amongst many other things.

Those listening to the secret podcast get some top drawer bonus material where we discuss what Georgian chocolate was really like, and the beautiful and amazing Vauxhall gardens + more.

Insatiable Appetites, Eating Out in Georgian London by Peter Ross

Peter will be at the Chalke History Festival on 27 June 2024 talking about Georgian Feasting

Season 10 of the podcast is sponsored by Netherton Foundry, makers of high-quality kitchen and outdoor cookware. Netherton Foundry ships to several countries outside of the UK, including the USA and Canada. Visit www.netherton-foundry.co.uk to find out more about their wonderful products – approved not just by me but by folk such as Tom Parker-Bowles, Diana Henry and Nigella Lawson.

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Things mentioned in today’s episode

Accompanying blog post showing the Gilray cartoon + more

The Guildhall Library

Peter’s London street food exhibition

The British Housewife by Gilly Lehmann

The London Art of Cookery by John Farley

The English Art of Cookery by Richard Briggs

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper by Neil Buttery

Previous pertinent podcast episodes

18th Century Tavern Cooking with Marc Meltonville (& Richard Briggs)

London's Street Food Sellers with Charlie Taverner

18th Century Dining with Ivan Day

Elizabeth Raffald with Alessandra Pino & Neil Buttery

Previous pertinent blog posts

Mock Turtle Soup

Neil’s blogs and YouTube channel:

‘British Food: a History’

The British Food History Channel

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email me at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. My DMs are open.

You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory

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