The Full English

Ben Highmore joins me to discuss the lifestyle revolution that Britain’s middle classes went through in the 1960s - the one that gave us the ubiquitous rustic Italian food we have in England today.
Ben’s book is available from Manchester University Press.


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“What is this fantasy of hardship and labour endemic to those parts of the city catering to the rise of affluence, the empire of the flat-whites, draining neighbourhoods of colour, and leaving in their wake a mild-mannered army dressed in Breton stripes and vintage labouring apparel? What is this love of the workshop, the jailhouse, the farm, and the forces, which has caused a swathe of the population to tether their identities to the gates of histories and industries that they will never enter? I give to you, the superlative product of middle-class cognitive dissonance, the double-tracker.”
So writes Rosanna McLaughlin in her brilliant little book ‘Double Tracking’. In this episode we discuss what this idea is, and how it plays out in our food culture.
Rosanna’s other work includes the essay ‘Against Morality’ and a novel ‘Sinkhole: Three Crimes’.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

Craft matters for our sense of self. And studies show that taking part in craft production can be a balm for the kinds of anxieties produced in our world of screens.
Lewis speaks to historian, writer and broadcaster James Fox about his book ‘Craftland’ which uncovers the extent to which our country was once a deeply crafty place, and it champions the artisans still at work in Britain today.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

If you know one thing about English food culture it’s probably that it’s riven by class. But what is class? Is class a matter of taste or a matter of wealth, or both? And how do different classes affect contemporary politics?
Lewis speaks to sociologist Dan Evans about his book ‘A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petty Bourgeoisie’.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com

And we’re back. After almost two years the Full English podcast is back!
I've been busy writing a book: The Full English: The Ways We Eat and Why is out now with Verso.
We’re kicking off this new season of the podcast with a truly exceptional guest. Fuchsia Dunlop is ‘The English person with a Chinese stomach’; she is a one woman gateway to the infinities of Chinese cuisine and it’s deep traditions of culinary culture.
Her new book Five Tastes: The Magic of Flavour in a Chinese Kitchen is out now with Penguin.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lewisbassett.substack.com