Timeline of food through the ages goes on display in Bradford

The Bradfordian Banquet exhibition, which is on display at the Bradford Council-run Bolling Hall Museum, takes visitors on a journey to explore how diets have changed over the past thousand years, and the role the Bradford district has played in this.

Curator Kirsty Young with a Bolling Hall Museum display of a fine tea serving from the 18th and 19th century (Image: Newsquest)

Visitors may be surprised by how long people have been enjoying international flavours. For example, the Tudors enjoyed a dish similar to the modern favourite sweet and sour chicken.

Discover the worldwide influences that have shaped diets since the Middle Ages including the import of fruit, vegetables, spices and sugar, and the way people adapted to what they ate due to industry, war and travel.

Pies and puddings were common in the medieval periods. (Image: Newsquest)

Displays in the Cold and Warm Kitchens explore the diet of people from the Middle Ages to Tudor times and features pies, bread, meats including chicken, bacon and gilded beef. 

The Cold Kitchen also focuses on dairy products featuring butter churning and cheese-making techniques.

Curator Kirsty Young shows the foods and equipment on display at Bolling Hall Museum (Image: Newsquest)

The Great Hall picks up from the Tudor period to the present day with the long table laid out as a timeline of food, where people can see horn cups, Victorian confectionary moulds, ration books and more.

The Georgian Drawing Room is laid out for afternoon tea and tells the story of the creation of the first sandwich.

A display of fish and chips at Bolling Hall Museum (Image: Newsquest)

Other displays include the story of food in the Bradford district including the first chip shops, free meals for school children, the introduction of self-serve supermarkets, how the dining styles of the middle and upper classes have changed and the role of the butler’s pantry.

There are also displays dedicated to the rise of kitchen gadgets during the Victorian period as well as the impact World War Two had on the food people ate, including the effects of rationing and the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign.

Rationing slips were included in a display about food during World War II (Image: Newsquest)

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “This exhibition which is spread across several rooms at Bolling Hall tells the fascinating history of what we eat and also the way that we eat.

“Many of us will recognise elements of the diet of those from the Middle Ages including things like pies and bread, our diet has evolved over past thousand years to include fruits, vegetables and spices that our ancestors from those times wouldn’t be able to identify.”

Decorating food for feasts like gilding the outside of meats to display wealth. (Image: Newsquest)

To find out more about the exhibition, which is on until September, visit bradfordmuseums.org