Gillian Riley, Author at Hackney Citizen

Our resident food historian on beauty in beige, and why ordinary folks in the Middle Ages had it right with their ‘dreary but delicious’ diet

Our resident food historian explores the compelling history of a special Tuscan stew, and dispels a fanciful myth about its origins

Our resident food historian on chillies, and why it’s the flavour, not the heat, that is important

Our resident food historian on Italian legends and the joys of pears with cheese

Our resident food historian takes us through the intrepid legionary’s enforced break, during which he keeps himself busy with sidelines in saffron and fish sauce

Our resident food historian on 17th-century childcare, from high chairs ‘built like battleships’ to ‘fearsome’ baby walkers

In search of a suitable lockdown subject, our resident food historian hits upon a humble tin of black-eyed beans in her kitchen cupboard

Our resident food historian on Tudor banquets, Mantel, and the two Thomases

Our resident food historian on the rise of veganism

Out with pine needles and in with pineapples as our resident food historian slices into the background of the tropical fruit

Our resident food historian boils down the benefits of a hearty chicken broth

Our resident food historian on how to stave off the cold

Our resident food historian leads us on a journey through the maize

Our resident food historian in praise of the ‘delicious, disruptive, ubiquitous, versatile’ chickpea

Our food historian brings us more on the Siberian and Ukrainian delights shown off at June’s Stoke Newington Literary Festival, and says farewell to a local favourite