Jonathan Nunn on Food

07/04/22 • 35 min

Lemn is tucking in the British Library Sound Archive with food writer Jonathan Nunn. Jonathan edits the food newsletter Vittles, and has written for various publications including the Guardian and Eater.

Together, they’re exploring the relationship between food and language: both are passed down through generations and are closely linked to identity. But how do the ways we talk about food change over time? And what does the history of food writing tell us about how society has changed?

Recordings in the episode in order of appearance:

French chef Xavier Boulestin explains how to make an omelette. The recording was made in July 1932.

British Library shelfmark: 9CS0012507

Jim from Norfolk speaks about brewing beer. The recording was made between 1980-1989 by Gressenhall Rural Life Museum and Farm. The original recording is held in the Norfolk Record Office and was digitised by the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

British Library shelfmark: UNRO004/84

Madhur Jaffrey, cook and writer of over 15 cookbooks, speaks to Ravinder Bhogal, food-writer and the chef-restaurateur of London’s Jikoni. The online event ‘Madhur Jaffrey: A Life In Food’ was recorded in May 2021 as part of the British Library Food Season.

Full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjnR3keoDIA&t=497s

An oral history interview with a woman called Agnes Davey from Norfolk about hot cross buns. The interview was recorded in Norwich in April 1986, it is held in the Norfolk Record Office and was digitised by the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

British Library shelfmark: UNRO001/1

A man from Great Yarmouth describes his mother’s recipe for Bloater paste, a fish paste made from smoked red herrings. The recording is part of the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service and it was digitised by the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

British Library shelfmark: UNRO005/35

Maeve and Dick discuss how to make ‘Pig Lug’, a Yorkshire dish from the coastal town of Filey. It's similar to a pie or pastry containing currants. The recording is part of the Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture and it was recorded before 1966.

British Library shelfmark: C1829/922

Historian Pen Vogler and writer Ruby Tandoh take part in an online event called ‘From Fish Knives to Fish 'n' Chips’ in April 2021. The discussion was recorded by the British Library and the Chair was Babita Sharma, BBC journalist and author of The Corner Shop.

Full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ytHgPsjTy0

An interview with Tara Din about being the first Asian woman to run a takeaway shop in Tameside. The original recording was stored in the Manchester Central Library and it was digitised as part of the Tameside Oral History Project ‘Here To Stay’. The recording was made in December 2005 in the interviewee’s home.

British Library shelfmark: UAP015/120

Wing Yip, a Chinese entrepreneur who travelled to England from Hong Kong in the 1950s, describes some of Britain's first Chinese restaurants. This recording was made in 2001 for the National Life Stories project 'Food: From Source to Salespoint’ and the interviewer was Polly Russell.

British Library shelfmark: C821/62

Cookbook writer Claudia Roden speaks to Polly Russell as part of the 2001 National Life Stories project 'Food: From Source to Salespoint.’

British Library shelfmark: C821/47

Recordings in the episode in order of appearance:

French chef Xavier Boulestin explains how to make an omelette. The recording was made in July 1932.

British Library shelfmark: 9CS0012507

British Library shelfmark: UNRO004/84

Full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjnR3keoDIA&t=497s

British Library shelfmark: UNRO001/1

British Library shelfmark: UNRO005/35

British Library shelfmark: C1829/922

Full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ytHgPsjTy0

British Library shelfmark: UAP015/120

British Library shelfmark: C821/62

Cookbook writer Claudia Roden speaks to Polly Russell as part of the 2001 National Life Stories project 'Food: From Source to Salespoint.’

British Library shelfmark: C821/47

Previous Episode

Amy Liptrot on the Sea

Where would our language be without the sea? Aground, adrift, the wind taken from our sails.

In today’s episode, Lemn is diving beneath the surface into the British Library Sound Archive (see full credits below) to hear how language, on this island nation, has been shaped by the sea.

To help on his quest, he’s joined by Scottish writer Amy Liptrot, whose 2018 memoir The Outrun won the PEN Ackerley Prize and the Wainwright Prize. In the book, Amy returns to the wildness of Orkney, an archipelago off the northeastern coast of Scotland where she grew up. There, she immerses herself in the sea and the island that she once left, and journeys towards recovery from addiction.

Together, they listen to sea shanties sung in Cornwall; coastguards responding to the aftermath of shipwrecks; tourists enamoured with Orkney’s inebriating charms and more...

Recordings in the episode in order of appearance:

An interview with Violet Bonham Carter recorded by the BBC. The original recording was part of the Aberdeenshire Museums Service John Junner Collection and it was digitised as part of the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

British Library shelfmark: UNLS028/254 S2 C3

Coastguards David Jackson and Graham Hale recall responding to the aftermath of a shipwreck. The interview was conducted in St Levan in 2001 and the original recording is held at the Telegraph Museum in Porthcurno and it was digitised as part of the Library’s Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

British Library shelfmark: UBC035/7

Farmer Wilfred Keys and fish salesman Thomas Kyle speak in Belfast in 2013 about the superstitions of fishermen. Their conversation was part of the Listening Project recorded for the BBC © BBC.

British Library shelfmark: C1500/0416

Kei Miller reading his poem ‘The Law Concerning Mermaids’ in 2012. The recording was made by the British Library at The Power of Caribbean Poetry – Word and Sound conference in Homerton College, Cambridge.

British Library shelfmark: C1532/12

Sea shanty group The Oggymen performing their version of ‘The Mingulay Boat Song’ at the The Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival in 2017

British Library shelfmark: DD00010583

‘Scapa Flow’ on melodeon performed by Jimmy Leslie. This recording was made in 1955 in St Ola, Orkney and is part of the Peter Kennedy Collection.

British Library shelfmark: C604/1128

A song about Brighton nudist beach performed by folk singer Miles Wootton in 1981 at BBC Radio Brighton. The recording was digitised by the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

British Library shelfmark: UTK006/1043

Next Episode

Monica Ali on Love

From stories about star-crossed lovers to heartfelt poetry, we’re enamoured with love itself. But how do we capture what love feels like in language? Novelist Monica Ali joins Lemn to explore affairs of the heart through the British Library Sound Archive.

Monica Ali is a bestselling writer and Booker Prize nominee whose work has been translated into 26 languages. She’s written five books: Brick Lane, Alentejo Blue, In the Kitchen, Untold Story and her most recent is called Love Marriage.

Recordings in the episode in order of appearance:

‘I’m in love’ by The Subways, demo submitted to the Glastonbury Festival Unsigned Performers competition in 2004. Donated to the British Library Sound Archive and digitised by the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

British Library shelfmark: C1238/2540

‘Love is Strange’ performed by the The Bob Cort Skiffle Group, 1957.

British Library shelfmark: 1CS0042286

‘Al buren matau ae aki tara bai’ or ‘The Fault of my Eyes,’ a Pacific Island love song. The recording was made in South Tarawa, the capital of the Pacific island Republic of Kiribati, in August 1985 by Daisy Maerere and Simon Seligmann. The performers are Tokana (voice) Teawate (ukulele / voice) Ioatene (guitar / voice) Tio (chorus) Raiwan (chorus) and Tekaie (chorus).

British Library shelfmark: C205/1

Gabriel Aragón plays his own composition on a large harp with sound holes; the piece is described by the performer as an 'alegre fox', and as belonging to the music of the Inca area. The recording was made in October 1980 in Cusco, Peru, by Peter Cloudsley Collection and was digitised as part of the Unlocking our Sound Heritage Project.

British Library shelfmark: C9/17/ C1

Poet Choman Hardi reads her poem ‘Summer Roof’ in the British Library recording studio, made in September 2009 for the project ‘Between Two Worlds: Poetry and Translation.’

British Library shelfmark: C1340/30

Mr and Mrs Smethhurst recall the ‘monkey parade’ of how teenagers used to meet and socialise in Salford. The interview was recorded in August 1977 and it was part of the Manchester Studies Oral History Project, digitised as part of the Unlocking our Sound Heritage Project.

British Library shelfmark: UAP008/218 S1-S2

Diana Martin remembers her visits to the cinema in Great Yarmouth in the late 1950s, the interview was made in 2007. It was found in the Norfolk Record Office and digitised as part of the Unlocking our Sound Heritage Project.

British Library shelfmark: UNRO005/204

Actor Sir John Gielgud plays Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in August 1955. The extract is from Act 5 Scene 3.

British Library shelfmark: 1CL0005072

Ex-husband and ex-wife Andy and Jo reflect on the breakdown of their marriage. The recording was made as part of the Listening Project for the BBC in August 2016 © BBC.

British Library shelfmark: C1500/1002

A piece called ‘Gendhing 'Rondhon sari' minggah Ladrang 'Surèngrana' sléndro manyur.’ Part of a performance on one of the gamelan sets of Mangkunegaran palace in Surakarta; the recordist focussed on the gendèr panerus part, played by Pak Turus. The recording was made in September 1990 in Central Java, Indonesia and is part of the David Hughes Collection.

British Library shelfmark: C1450/17/S1/C2

Civil partners Lyn and Mary discuss the future of their relationship. The recording was made as part of the Listening Project for the BBC in November 2012 © BBC.

British Library shelfmark: C1500/0257