Fidget Pie

An ode to one of my favourite old cookbooks, Good Things in England and its feisty, passionate and disgracefully overlooked author Florence White.

Hello friends. You’ve caught me drowning in recipe testing. The deadline for my new book is next week and there’s still so much to do I must admit I feel a little bit sick. I’ll get there - I always do - and it’s going to be fantastic. But because I’m so preoccupied with cooking, this week I’m sharing something I’ve already written, but which most of you won’t have had the chance to read before.

The following essay was first published in a wonderful literary magazine called Slightly Foxed, in which writers introduce readers to their favourite books, often ones that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. I’d highly recommend exploring their website and/or subscribing. Good Things in England is one of my favourite cookbooks, but sadly neglected. I’ve been obsessed with its author, Florence White, for many years and have been working on her biography. Three chapters or 20,000 words later, I haven’t yet found a publisher but I’d be happy to share it with any who might be interested. She’s a remarkable and largely overlooked figure in British food history and her legacy is significant.

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Huffkins and Fleads, Surry Ponds and Manchets, Frumenty, Minnow Tansies and Fidget Pie. These evocative recipe titles were what first hooked me; fantastical sounding to my ear, they might have sprung from the pages of a Lewis Carroll story. They were, in fact, authentic recipes in an extraordinary volume I found in a second-hand bookshop more than a decade ago called Good Things in England, by Florence White. It wasn’t Alice in Wonderland, but it led me down a rabbit hole of sorts. I’ve been obsessed with the book and its author ever since.