Food is the physiological basis of man’s existence but is also an expression of a society’s culture and may play many roles other than physiological in terms of both personal and group relationships. Originally published in 1976, The Making of the Modern British Diet focusses on the role of food during industrialisation and urbanisation in Britain.

Part One contains a series of commodity studies covering bread, cereals, biscuits, meat, milk, tea and cocoa which reflect trends in the supply of some of the foods in the British diet during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The emphasis in Part Two is predominantly on consumption, either through the study of living standards or consumer preference or through the presentation of food and the organisation of its outlets to the consumer. Part Three provides a nutritional evaluation which is an entirely new approach in an historical work.