Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation

‘Bingeable’ – The Telegraph ‘A book for our time’ – The Spectator ‘[Barnett’s] an indefatigable researcher’ – The Mail on Sunday A richly entertaining and topical history of food preservation and waste in Britain from the Elizabethan kitchen to the present day. At a time when a third of the food we produce globally is wasted, Eleanor Barnett opens a window on the everyday experiences of ordinary people in the past to reveal how factors such as religion, class and gender have historically shaped attitudes towards food waste. Leftovers deploys a wide historical lens to link the many ingenious ways in which our ancestors sought to extend the life of food – encompassing Tudor household management, Victorian public health initiatives and two World Wars – to such contemporary anxieties as climate change, globalisation, scientific advancement, poverty and inequality.