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LAURA MASON C.V.
Since 1990 I have worked as a writer and food historian with a special interest in local, regional and traditional foods in the UK. I use a variety of sources and methods to investigate these, including documents, visual sources, oral history and practical cookery. My interest is not purely academic: I feel that the past can inform the present, and apply my knowledge in writing and consultancy. Current work includes consultancy for The Countryside Agency (a rural development organisation) investigating links between local foods and landscape character, and for Littoral, an organisation which develops arts projects related to rural issues in England. Work frequently involves public speaking and contributions to radio programmes on the subjects of my research and books. Other interests include travelling, eating out, film and photography.
PUBLICATIONS
Farmhouse Cookery (2005: The National Trust, London)
The Food Culture of Great Britain (2004: Greenwood Publishing, USA)
Food and the Rites of Passage (ed) (2002: Prospect Books. Totnes, UK)
Traditional Foods of Britain: an inventory (with Catherine Brown; 1999: Prospect Books, Totnes, UK)
Sweets and Sweetshops (1999; Shire Publications, Princes Risborough, UK)
Sugar Plums and Sherbet (1998; Prospect Books, Totnes, UK)
Also: contributions to Eat, Drink and be Merry, ed. Ivan Day (Philip Wilson Publishers, London); The Atlas of Food and Culture (Scribner's, USA); the Oxford Companion to Food, ed. Alan Davidson (Oxford University Press, 1999); occasional articles for Slow magazine, and papers for many conferences, notably the annual Leeds Symposium on Food History and Traditions.
CONSULTANCY WORK This has included sourcing dairy products, sugar confectionery, and researching Christmas patisserie recipes for the Conran Group (1997-8); Yesterday's Food Today (Royal Society for Arts: a Unit for Focus on Food, a cookery project for children, 1998) and acting as UK co-ordinator for the Euroterroirs database, identifying traditional local foodstuffs, researching background, interviewing makers and preparing entries (1994-6).
OTHER WORK has included part-time lecturing on Product Development for Leeds Metropolitan University and Food History for Hull University Department of Continuing Education (1990-2); a stint as a research assistant investigating sensory attributes of cook-chilled foods and developing recipes for snack foods and fish dishes (1987-9) and six years as chef (1978-1984).
HIGHER EDUCATION 1996 Leeds Metropolitan University: M Phil in catering technology 1984-87 Leeds Polytechnic: BA (Hons) in Home Economics I also have a basic qualification in teaching English as a foreign language.