Food and drink

Tudor advent calendar

History advent calendar: 24 facts about Christmas in the Tudor period

Prohibition protesters parade in a car emblazoned with signs and flags calling for the repeal of the 18th Amendment, which outlawed the production and consumption of alcohol in the United States. (Archive Photos/Getty Images)

“A great social experiment”: your guide to prohibition

Oxtail stew. (© CICO Books 2017)

Top 5 Dickensian recipes

A 'Thanksgiving Greetings' postcard. (Photo by K.J. Historical/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

A brief history of Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving in 1621, after a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme; screen print, 1932. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

7 things you might not know about the history of Thanksgiving

How to throw a medieval feast. An elaborate banquet depicted in a 14th-century illuminated manuscript of Froissart's Chronicles. (Getty Images)

How to throw a medieval feast

Men enjoying a drink and a chat in a coffee house, 1674. Coffee houses became known as ‘schools of the wise’, where people would gossip, argue and discuss the breaking news of the day. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A drink for the devil: 8 facts about the history of coffee

Men sealing cases of Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa, York, Yorkshire, 1893. (Photo by Borthwick Institute/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Chocolate and empire: from the land where the cocoa grows

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A woodcut of a woman thought to be baking bread, printed in 1497. In the Middle Ages baking was a luxury few were able to enjoy, but those who could afford a wood-burning stove would start with bread. In the 15th century Britain saw explosion of expensive spices, such as saffron, and sweetened dough became popular. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

A brief history of baking

History Extra’s top 10 podcast episodes

Intellectuals, dieting businessmen, Indian students and fitness fanatics were among those to exhort the benefits of a meat-free diet in the 19th century, as shown in our illustration. (Illustration by Femke de Jong for BBC History Magazine)

Veggie Victorians

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A chocolate house in Georgian times. Coffee and chocolate houses were popular, and served as clubs and meeting places for business (© TopFoto)

Hangover cure, medicinal wonder-drink and Valentine’s Day gift: the history of our obsession with chocolate

Coca cola bottles from the 1990s

From Velcro to Viagra: 10 products that were invented by accident

A view of a calander showing the date, Friday the 13th. (Photo by William C. Shrout/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

10 historical superstitions we carry on today