Traditional Food of Derbyshire with Mark Dawson

My guest on The British Food History Podcast today is Mark Dawson, a food historian specialising in the food and social history of the early modern period, but also on the regional food of the Midlands. Today we are talking about the traditional food and drink of his home county of Derbyshire.

You may remember he was on last season talking about Derbyshire Oatcakes, well, since then he has written a fantastic book called Lumpy Tums: Derbyshire’s Food & Drink published by Amberley and out in the wild from the 15th April 2026.

We talk about oat-based foods like thar cakes, which were traditionally eaten on All Souls Day, thin pudding and savoury pudding, the origins of the Bakewell pudding and Derbyshire’s very high proportion of drinking establishments per head, amongst many other things.

Those listening to the secret podcast get more than a quarter of an hour of bonus material where we talk about Derbyshire cheeses, the return of small-scale breweries to the county, wakes cakes and Ashbourne gingerbread.

Lumpy Tums: Derbyshire’s Food & Drink by Mark Dawson and published by Amberley

Mark’s website

Mark’s Speakernet profile

Follow Mark on Instagram @lumpytums

Season 10 of the podcast is sponsored by Netherton Foundry, who make 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.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast.

Things mentioned in today’s episode

County Recipes of Old England by Helen Edden (2008)

Good Things in England by Florence White (1932)

Tindall’s of Tideswell – purveyors of Thar Cakes

The English Alehouse by Peter Clarke (1983)

Bakewell Pudding Shop

Knead to Know: A History of Baking by Neil Buttery (2024)

The Rutland Arms

Ivan Day’s blog post about the Bakewell pudding

Vegetable Cookery by Martha Brotherton (1833): the page with the potato Bakewell pudding!

Anne Lister of Shibden Hall

Betty’s Vintage Tea Rooms

Previous pertinent blog posts

To Make a Bakewell Pudding

To Make a Bakewell Tart

Yorkshire Parkin

Dock Pudding

#321 Sweetmeat Cake

Previous pertinent podcast episodes

Derbyshire Oatcakes with Mark Dawson

Traditional Food of Lincolnshire with Rachel Green

Gingerbread with Sam Bilton

Ormskirk Gingerbread with Anouska Lewis

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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