Crisps with Natalie Whittle

Today is an exciting day because we are tackling a topic that I consider extremely important, CRISPS, with food writer and journalist Natalie Whittle.

We talk about the North American origins of the crisp, the excitement of discovering the crisps of other countries, iconic brands like Walkers and Tayto, and most importantly what the best flavour is – amongst many other things.

Natalie’s book Crunch: An Ode to Crisps is published by Faber & Faber.

Natalie’s website

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

My new books Knead to Know: AHistory of Baking and The Philosophy of Puddings are out now.

Things mentioned in today’s episode:

Tayto Crisps

Walkers Crisps

Upcoming events:

Find out about upcoming events on the website here.

Neil’s blogs:

‘British Food: a History’

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

A Dark History of Sugar

Knead to Know: a History of Baking

The Philosophy of Puddings

Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email me at [email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. My DMs are open.

You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory

Mentioned in this episode:

Fruit Pig are currently sponsoring The British Food History Podcast

Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.

Serve it Forth Food History Festival 18 October 2025

I thought you might want to know about the first Serve it Forth Food History Festival is on 18 October 2025 – it’s online, it’s £16 a ticket but you can get 25% off the price using the offer code SERVE25. Visit the website https://serveitforthfest.wixsite.com/info for more information and links to Eventbrite.

I’ve teamed up with fellow food historians (and friends of the show) Sam Bilton, Thomas Ntinas and Alessandra Pino – we are all presenting a session each. I’m kicking off the day in conversation with food writer and cook Tom Parker Bowles. Brigitte Webster, another friend of the show, will also be appearing. To find out more, check out the recently published bonus episode of the podcast all about the festival to find out more information.

The day is being sponsored by the excellent Netherton Foundry. It’s going to be a really fun and exciting day and I hope you can join us.