Why craft matters - with James Fox

Ben Highmore joins me to discuss the lifestyle revolution that Britain’s middle classes went through in the 1960s - the one that gave us the ubiquitous rustic Italian food we have in England today.Ben’s book is available from Manchester University Press. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

“What is this fantasy of hardship and labour endemic to those parts of the city catering to the rise of affluence, the empire of the flat-whites, draining neighbourhoods of colour, and leaving in their wake a mild-mannered army dressed in Breton stripes and vintage labouring apparel? What is this love of the workshop, the jailhouse, the farm, and the forces, which has caused a swathe of the population to tether their identities to the gates of histories and industries that they will never enter? I give to you, the superlative product of middle-class cognitive dissonance, the double-tracker.”So writes Rosanna McLaughlin in her brilliant little book ‘Double Tracking’. In this episode we discuss what this idea is, and how it plays out in our food culture.Rosanna’s other work includes the essay ‘Against Morality’ and a novel ‘Sinkhole: Three Crimes’. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

Craft matters for our sense of self. And studies show that taking part in craft production can be a balm for the kinds of anxieties produced in our world of screens.Lewis speaks to historian, writer and broadcaster James Fox about his book ‘Craftland’ which uncovers the extent to which our country was once a deeply crafty place, and it champions the artisans still at work in Britain today. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

If you know one thing about English food culture it’s probably that it’s riven by class. But what is class? Is class a matter of taste or a matter of wealth, or both? And how do different classes affect contemporary politics?Lewis speaks to sociologist Dan Evans about his book ‘A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petty Bourgeoisie’. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

And we’re back. After almost two years the Full English podcast is back!I've been busy writing a book: The Full English: The Ways We Eat and Why is out now with Verso. We’re kicking off this new season of the podcast with a truly exceptional guest. Fuchsia Dunlop is ‘The English person with a Chinese stomach’; she is a one woman gateway to the infinities of Chinese cuisine and it’s deep traditions of culinary culture.Her new book Five Tastes: The Magic of Flavour in a Chinese Kitchen is out now with Penguin. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

It's the final episode of the Full English and we're talking about Rick Stein and Keith Floyd, two of the most popular cooks on TV in Britain.Lewis is speaking to the editor and writer John Merrick. Find his essay on Stein here.The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG.Follow the Full English on Instagram. Follow Lewis on Instagram here. And Forest DLG here.Thanks for everyone who listened and supported this show. Watch this space... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

Fergus Henderson! The man who thirty years ago opened St John and ever since has implored us to eat from "nose to tail".Lewis Bassett talks to Zoe Williams, columnist at the Guardian newspaper, and Amber Husain, author of Meat Love: An Ideology of The Flesh.Read Lewis' article on St John here.The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG.Follow the Full English on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

The only person who has sold more books in Britain than Jamie Oliver is J. K. Rowling. Jamie has been watched and read by millions. His enthusiasm for food is often infectious. His cooking and his campaigning have changed the way we eat.I'm speaking about Jamie with Rachel Roddy, author of a regular column on Italian food for the Guardian.We focus mainly on how Jamie, and others, have viewed food in Italy and I ask whether this helps explain why Jamie is often seen by some people as blaming poorer individuals for what he says are bad eating habits.In this episode we mention Alberto Grandi, Carla Tomasi and Massimo Montanari.Rachel is the author of An A-Z of Pasta, among other books on food.The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG.Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

Alexis Soyer cooked for the rich and poor alike. He transformed elite restaurant kitchens in London with new technologies such as gas stoves and he provided nourishment to the starving in Ireland and the battered and the bloody during the Crimean war. Soyer's fierce desire to feed people went against the grain of Victorian common sense and he helped change how we think about who is responsible for public nutrition today.Joining Lewis Bassett is Pen Vogler and Miranda Carter. Pen discusses Soyer in her book Stuffed: A Political History of What We Eat and Why it Matters and some of Soyer's recipes also appear in her book Dinner with Dickens.Soyer is a central character in Miranda's novel The Devil's Feast.The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG.Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

The most influential cook that you've probably never heard of, according to food historian Neil Buttery.Elizabeth Raffald captured the distinctly modern English food of the 18th century. The Heston Blumental of her time, inspiring cooks like Fergus Henderson today.Neil Buttery is the author of "Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England's Most Influential Housekeeper". He's also got two new books coming out, Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Puddings.Find Neil's blog and his brilliant podcast here.The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG.Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com