Theme - Food in time and place

Food plays a vital role in all our lives, but what and how we eat has changed throughout time, and geographically. Explore the history of food and how it is made.

Our daily bread

15-16 June, 11am-4pm, Holgate Windmill

Trace the history and importance of bread in our diets at this exhibition in York’s only remaining windmill. Find out about the battle between white and wholemeal, bread in wartime and rationing, and the types of bread and sandwiches that we eat now. Vintage recipes, advertisements and interesting facts and figures will be on show.

Admission: £3, children £1, under-5s free

Making the Chocolate City

22 June, 11am-3pm, Mansion House

Visit the Lord Mayor’s kitchen to discover the ingredients and recipes that made York the Chocolate City as it developed from a Medieval trading city to become the home of the world's most famous chocolate bars. Tickets: No tickets required but capacity restrictions may apply to the kitchen at times.

Admission: Free, ticketed

Fair shares for all? Black market Britain, 1940-54

24 June, 12.30pm, Betty's York

Between 1940 and 1954 food rationing meant that diets became less varied and cravings for meat, poultry and fresh eggs in particular, created demand for black market foods. Historian Mark Roodhouse reveals how these illegal markets in rationed foods worked, highlighting parallels with today’s illicit trade in horsemeat. A delicious Bettys Cream Tea, including home-made scones, jam and cream, will be served.

Admission: £12.95, book through Betty's York, 01904 659142

The history of food in 100 recipes

28 June, 6.30pm, Ron Cooke Hub, University of York

One of Britain’s best food writers and editor of the award-winning Waitrose Kitchen magazine, William Sitwell celebrates the great dishes, culinary techniques and chefs over the centuries. His journey takes him from the earliest bread recipe in Ancient Egypt, through the greatest party planner of the Middle Ages and on to the history of the roast dinner.