Lisa asked Martine Bailey:

How did you find all that great food history? I did a magazine for our town's 375 anniversary last spring and found researching things fascinating. Did not go into such depth as foods eaten, but can now imagine what our earlier settlers had available and how they used their resources. Really liked your tale....oh a sequel would be fun!

Martine Bailey Hi Lisa
Many thanks for your question and also sharing how much you enjoyed researching your town’s history. I can imagine that was very enlightening and brought the past to life for everyone.
The idea for An Appetite for Violets started when I picked up a couple of photocopied recipes at 18th century Erddig Hall (for Roast Venison and Almond Pudding) and then found out there were lots more recipes in the archives. But when I began planning the book I realised the recipes alone weren’t enough to accurately describe a cook's works, so I did re-enactment and went to Ivan Day’s farm to learn about Georgian cookery. Ivan has lots of unique historic books and I read some of those and many more - about English, French and Italian food history. The research went on and on – from how early cooking ranges worked, to food preservation, museum displays, reading lots of diaries about travellers’ meals as well as how the finest banquets in Italy were prepared. I also loved the language of course, because it gave me a world of new culinary terms for Biddy to speak.
I’m so glad you liked the book. At the moment there aren’t any plans for a sequel but A Taste for Nightshade will be out in the US in January, a darker tale about a mistress and her sinister cook. I’m also loving writing a murder mystery set in an 18th century English village at the moment.

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