First Catch Your Gingerbread! Plus UK Supper Clubs: What Are They?

Culinary Historians of Chicago

First Catch Your Gingerbread! Plus UK Supper Clubs: What Are They? Sam Bilton, Food Historian and Restauranteur Food historian and writer Sam Bilton is encouraging bakers to immerse themselves in the joy of making gingerbread. Gingerbread is a lovely, squidgy treat which has played a part in almost everyone’s childhood. But do you know what gingerbread was made of when it first arrived on our plates? Was it flavoured with honey? When did treacle, dark, sticky, and fairly strong tasting, which adds moisture, depth of flavour and character to baking, first become available? Then there’s the question of when gingerbread migrated from the home kitchen to commercial products. And why did the gingerbread man leap from the tin, and run so fast with a fox snapping at his heels? Gingerbread is a delectable treat which has played a part in almost everyone’s childhood. First Catch Your Gingerbread is for enthusiastic bakers and families who bake together as well as anyone with an interest in historical food. It explores the history of gingerbread from its early medieval origins when it was made from honey and was considered the height of luxury right up to the treacly confections everyone enjoys today. ‘There is a gingerbread for everyone in this book, adds Sam. ‘Warming spices cheer the soul.’ Sam Bilton is a food historian, who runs the Repast Supper Club, food events with a historical theme. She is also a food and drink writer, with articles appearing in magazines and online, with English Heritage, and she works on historical recipes, recreating them for the modern day, including an eighteenth-century recipe for a Bride Cake. Sam is a member of the Guild of Food Writers Committee. www.SamBilton,com Recorded via Zoom on October 30, 2021 www.CulinaryHistorians.org