Mark is a historian researching and writing on the history of food and drink in the early modern period. Much of what is written about the history of food uses evidence from printed sources – cookery books, dietary advice books, etc. – with the resulting concentration on the wealthy and at best generalisations (often inaccurate) about the experience of those not so fortunate. Mark’s approach is to work from the ground up, using documentary evidence of everyday life to build up a picture of what was actually going on in the households of our forebears.

Mark generally only charges £40 for talks in the evening to local groups In Derbyshire and Notts and that includes travel costs. There is a usually an updated list of talks on his website at mdfoodhistory.weebly.com.  The list includes:

• Food and Drink in Tudor and Stuart Derbyshire.  A look at the foods being eaten and patterns of dining in the county from c.1540 through to c.1700.
• Food and Drink in Tudor and Stuart Nottinghamshire – Similar to the above but using evidence from Nottinghamshire communities.
• To everything a season? Seasonality in the Tudor period.- The nature and importance of changing dietary patterns through the year.
• Oatcakes: farming and diet in North Derbyshire.
• What’s up with ewe? A thousand years of English sheep’s milk cheese.
• Eating out of house and home. – How did people in the early modern period get food when they were away from home and what sorts of food did they eat?

You can contact mark at mdfoodhistory@gmail.com