A Feast of Folklore - by Ben Gazur

Book Synopsis

"Endlessly informative and leaning hard into the British Isles' reputation for the off-beat, this is a delight." -- Publisher's Weekly

Folklorist Ben Gazur guides you through the dark alleys of British history to uncover how our food habits have been passed down through generations of folklore.

Who was the first person to throw salt over their shoulder? Why do we think carrots can help us see in the dark? When did we start holding village fairs to honour gigantic apple pies? Or start hurling ourselves down hills in pursuit of a wheel of cheese? Gazur investigates the origins of famous food superstitions as well as much more bizarre and lesser-known tales too, from what day the devil urinates on blackberries to how to stop witches using eggshells as escape boats.

Hilarious and fascinating, A Feast of Folklore will introduce you to the gloriously eccentric folk who aren't often noticed by historians. Here lies a smorgasbord of their dark remedies and deadly delicacies, waiting to be discovered.

Review Quotes

"Gazur's witty and engaging exploration of food-related rituals, remedies and superstitions will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about your dinner plate." -- Dee Dee Chainey, author of A Treasury of British Folklore: Maypoles, Mandrakes and Mistletoe

"A Feast of Folklore by Ben Gazur is one of those gems of a book that keeps you up long into the night because you just want to read "one more page" before putting it down." -- Willow Winsham, author of Treasury of Folklore: Stars and Skies

"Well researched and presented in a light and most digestible manner, this is a must read the next time you are sitting down to a sausage roll." -- Max Miller, creator of Tasting History with Max

"Ben Gazur has categorised the folklore of food under neat, easily accessible headings, turning it into a proper genre, opposed to a tagged on history." -- Emma Kay, food historian, author and broadcaster

"You need to read A Feast of Folklore as a matter of urgency! Diverting, delightful and deliciously weird enough to satisfy the most demanding appetite." -- Christopher Hadley, author of Hollow Places and The Road

"Endlessly informative and leaning hard into the British Isles' reputation for the off-beat, this is a delight." -- Publisher's Weekly

About the Author

Ben Gazur has a PhD in Biochemistry but has given up the glitz and glamour of life in the laboratory for a career as a writer. He has written about everything from Mudlarking for Mental Floss to terrible TV for the Guardian. His work has also appeared in All About History, i-D, the BBC and Fortean Times. He runs the Twitter account @FolkloreThursday and he can often be found in the British Library searching for folklore among a pile of dusty books before whipping up a Whirlin Cake worthy of the Devil himself. He has written three books, Epicurus and his Influence on History, Strangest Deaths in History and A Feast of Folklore. He lives in London, UK.