An Appetite for Violets by Martine Bailey

Did you set out to give a voice to these women? In a world ruled by men, the recipes that women had written seem to be the only surviving record of their lives and the big events – marriage, childbirth, death – that marked them. He loved his time as a traveller and womaniser at others’ expense there must be few other memoirs that conclude, ‘I thought my life was heaven on earth.’ Though I couldn’t find a memoir written by a female servant, I did find an autobiography by an exuberant footman who influenced me to be upbeat about life in service. She is also rather typically Lancastrian, if you think of TV’s Coronation Street, which my Dad worked on, with its strong outspoken female characters giving back-chat behind bars and shop counters.

So yes, I wanted to Biddy to be brave, sharp-witted and a match for her superiors. Biddy is also typical of a new breed of women cookery book writers who were emerging as entrepreneurs and understood what the new middle classes wanted.

I really hate it when historical heroines have completely 21st-century attitudes, but the records show that servants ‘aped their betters’ and were often ‘pert’ or ‘saucy’. Did you consciously set out to create a strong female protagonist? Other favourites are Soul Cakes, eaten to appease the dead on All Hallows’ Eve as part of a very ancient tradition.īiddy seems to be an early feminist icon she is a servant so is limited by her station, but she is daring, clever and capable, and she has the courage to follow her dreams. I’ve made dishes I write about, such as Taffety Tart, a pastry with apples and quince that was once more popular than apple pie. I contacted TV food historian Ivan Day and went to his Cumbrian farm where he makes amazing sugarwork, cooks on a fire and recreates intricate pies, sweets and jellies.

Initially, I gathered lots of recipes but didn’t know how to make them. Also, Biddy lives and breathes food, so I collected lots of slang, proverbs and culinary terms to create her world. I remembered how my granddad used to joke in the language of his youth, all ‘lass’ and ‘thou and thee’, a rhythmic, poetic sort of burr. How did you research her? Can you tell us about how you learnt to cook 18th-century food?īiddy only really sprang to life when I gave her my own childhood Lancastrian accent.

Biddy is such a likeable character and the language she uses so colourful and convincing.

An Appetite for Violets by Martine Bailey