Daily Bread

Feast and Famine Before the Industrial Age

Charlie Taverner

The sumptuous and surprising story of early modern food, drink, and community—and how it has shaped our history.

A village gathers the harvest and celebrates with a feast. A cook adds foraged herbs to a pottage that will feed the entire household of a country estate. Lifting hands in prayer, a monk begins his fast.

Every meal was charged with meaning before the industrial revolution ushered in processed food. The things we value most in food today—seasonality, local ingredients, and community—were at the heart of every dish.

In Daily Bread, historian Charlie Taverner reconstructs the lost flavours and surprising culinary diversity of the past, from bustling, bloody markets in medieval London and summer carnivals in Renaissance Italy to holy brewing in the monasteries of Northern Europe and famine on the frigid coast of New England. What emerges is a colourful, mouth-watering exploration of how food has shaped our history.

Charlie Taverner is a writer, historian and farming policy advisor, who has taught at Birkbeck and Trinity College, Dublin. He has worked as a business and agricultural journalist, and is the author of Street Food: Hawkers and the History of London.

Buy it now in print:

Buy it now in ebook:

Endorsements & Reviews

Early praise for Daily Bread:

“Fascinating. A history buffet with all you can think available. Tiny details jostle with huge social changes to explain the rituals and recipes of centuries.” Philippa Gregory, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl

“A rich banquet of food history, thought provoking, erudite and moreish.” Ned Palmer, author of A Cheesemonger's History of the British Isles

“In this thoughtful, entertaining and knowledgeable account, Taverner revisits the cosmopolitan complexity of early modern culinary culture to supply myriad insights into current debates regarding food security, cost of living concerns, food banks, soup kitchens, intermittent fasting and shrinkflation. A very enjoyable and intellectually nutritious read.” Clare Jackson, author of The Mirror of Great Britain

“A revelatory exploration of food culture from an underreported period. I couldn't put it down.” Mallika Basu, author of In Good Taste

“An entertaining and comprehensive exploration of food in the early modern period, and why it should matter to us today. Read this if you want to understand where our modern food system originated—the lost rituals, seasonality, and communities of the past—and what we can learn from our ancestors about eating better in the modern age.” Dr. Eleanor Barnett, author of Leftovers

Praise for Charlie Taverner

"A tasty tour of how we used to eat. Richly researched." Bee Wilson, The Sunday Times

"An immensely vivid portrayal of a forgotten London, and a tribute to the hard lives and admirable independence and resilience of Londoners past." Christopher Hart, The Daily Mail

"An entertaining, deeply researched history." London Review of Books