From Suet Pudding to Healthy Ageing

Join us for a live suet pudding cooking demonstration inspired by Florence Petty, the famous "Pudding Lady" of early twentieth-century London. Learn how simple, affordable dishes helped families make ends meet, taste traditional recipes, and share your own memories and tips for making food and money go further. Discover how nutritional advice for older adults differs from advice for younger people and explore how good food can support healthy ageing.

This interactive session explores the history of food, thrift and nutrition through the work of Florence Petty, known as the "Pudding Lady", who taught practical cookery to low-income families through the St Pancras School for Mothers in early twentieth-century London. A live cooking demonstration will show how a traditional suet pudding could provide an affordable and filling family meal. Participants will be invited to taste and share memories of food, budgeting and household cooking practices, discussing how previous generations made food stretch during difficult times and what lessons remain relevant today. The session will also connect historical food advice with contemporary research on healthy ageing and nutrition, highlighting how dietary needs can change across the life course. Combining social history, food, discussion and practical learning, the event offers an opportunity to reflect on resilience, community knowledge and eating well in challenging economic circumstances.

Underpinned by the research of Dr Sue Davies (Researcher and historian of food and public health), Dr James Shepherd (Senior Researcher and Chef), Professor Rebecca O'Connell, and Dr Angela Dickinson (Senior Research Fellow) will be providing demonstrations and research around food in later life.

All

Older adults and carers of older adults

This cooking session is scheduled from 10:30-11:30am as part of the wider Food in Hard Times event (running from 10am-4pm)