BACH Feb 2025 - Adam Balic: Origins & Disappearance of the Savoury Course

Please join us, Sunday, February 23, 2025, at 5:00pm PST, for an online presentation by Adam Balic on "The Obscure Origins and Mysterious Disappearance of the Savoury Course"

Balic writes, 'A “savoury” is an English foodstuff whose purpose is to stimulate and awaken the appetite of diners. In this context it overlaps in meaning with a vast array of other small piquant dishes. What distinguishes the English “savoury” from other similar dishes is that it is served towards the end of the meal, rather than the beginning. For non-English diners and chefs, the savoury course is a mild perversion at best, and an abomination at worst. From its peak popularity from the mid-19th century to the early-20th century, the savoury course has now all but disappeared as British society and dining habits rapidly changed in post-WWII era.'

In this talk Adam Balic will explore the origins, popularity and waning of this largely overlooked area of British food history. He will present evidence that the savoury course was not so much a collection of specific recipes, but an English cultural phenomenon. Finally, he asks the question: Is there any desire to resurrect the savoury course as part of the modern dining experience?

Adam Balic is an immunologist (Ph.D. 1999, The University of Melbourne) and independent scholar. He has a special interest in Scottish food history and British food history in general. He has been a committee member of the Leeds Symposium on Food History and Traditions, presented papers on Scottish food traditions at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, and is a co-author of “Food on the Move: Dining on the Legendary Railway Journeys of the World” (2019).

​As always, it is super-helpful if you indicate your interest on the BACH Events page on Facebook in addition to registering here.

Host or Publisher Andrew Sigal