Start Date
26-5-2026 4:15 PM
End Date
26-5-2026 4:30 PM
Description
This paper focuses on the status of the Good Food Guide in Britain during a small wave of revived interest among chefs in British regional food in the 1970s, especially under the editorship of Christopher Driver and during a decade when Michelin’s return to Britain and Ireland threatened not only Britain’s recovering sense of its culinary heritage, but also the legitimacy of the Good Food Guide itself. It considers the tiny overlap of restaurants that appeared in both the English Tourist Board’s Taste of England 1978 and the Good Food Guide 1979, and argues that because the Good Food Guide was modeled on a French guidebook and used its restaurant classification hierarchy, it became increasingly redundant when Michelin returned in 1974.
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When Guide Michelin Came (Back) to Town: Christopher Driver, the Good Food Guide, and the Crisis over British Food Heritage, 1970-1979
This paper focuses on the status of the Good Food Guide in Britain during a small wave of revived interest among chefs in British regional food in the 1970s, especially under the editorship of Christopher Driver and during a decade when Michelin’s return to Britain and Ireland threatened not only Britain’s recovering sense of its culinary heritage, but also the legitimacy of the Good Food Guide itself. It considers the tiny overlap of restaurants that appeared in both the English Tourist Board’s Taste of England 1978 and the Good Food Guide 1979, and argues that because the Good Food Guide was modeled on a French guidebook and used its restaurant classification hierarchy, it became increasingly redundant when Michelin returned in 1974.