Scoff cover art

Scoff

A History of Food and Class in Britain

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Scoff

By: Pen Vogler
Narrated by: Emma Gregory
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***

A Book of the Year in the Daily Mail, Independent, Spectator and The Times & Sunday Times

Finalist for the Guild of Food Writers Food Book Award 2021

'Sharp, rich and superbly readable... Fascinating' Sunday Times

'Utterly delicious' Observer

'Superb' 'Book of the Week', The Times

'Terrific' 'Book of the Week', Guardian

'I loved it.' Monty Don

'A brilliant romp of a book.' Jay Rayner

Avocado or beans on toast? Gin or claret? Nut roast or game pie? Milk in first or milk in last? And do you have tea, dinner or supper in the evening?

In this fascinating social history of food in Britain, Pen Vogler examines the origins of our eating habits and reveals how they are loaded with centuries of class prejudice. Covering such topics as fish and chips, roast beef, avocados, tripe, fish knives and the surprising origins of breakfast, Scoff reveals how in Britain we have become experts at using eating habits to make judgements about social background.

Bringing together evidence from cookbooks, literature, artworks and social records from 1066 to the present, Vogler traces the changing fortunes of the food we encounter today, and unpicks the aspirations and prejudices of the people who have shaped our cuisine for better or worse.

'With commendable appetite and immense attention to detail Pen Vogler skewers the enduring relationship between class and food in Britain. A brilliant romp of a book that gets to the very heart of who we think we are, one delicious dish at a time.' Jay Rayner

©2020 Pen Vogler (P)2022 Atlantic Books from W. F. Howes Ltd
Cooking Europe Food & Wine Gastronomy Great Britain England

Listeners also enjoyed...

Choice Cuts cover art
Erotic Vagrancy cover art
Menus That Made History cover art
Eating for England cover art
The Farmer's Wife cover art
Clarissa's England cover art
Borough Market: Edible Histories cover art
Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey cover art
Food Americana cover art
Salty cover art
Chewing the Fat cover art
The Ten (Food) Commandments cover art
The Restaurant cover art
The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People cover art
Winters in the World cover art
The Emperor's Feast cover art
All stars
Most relevant
Enjoyable read and well narrated, not the most interesting subject to me but I enjoyed the whole audio book. Would recommend to anyone with an interest.

Interesting book about food and class

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Short punchy chapters cover a smorgasbord of food stuffs. Loads of interesting facts although some myths are repeated. Great fun!

Extremely interesting food for thought

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I have problems with reading and I hoped that audible would offer this book. I have not been disappointed. The history of food and the development of food fashion traced through the the centuries with clarity and conciseness. it pulled together much that I already knew but backed it up with references from some books I knew and some I didn't. I now have a new list of books to research and add to my library

The reader was clear and attractive and had enough inflexion to put my attention back when it started to wander. I am now waiting for you to put up some Elisabeth David and other authors mentioned - particularly Elizabeth's very entertaining books of essays. Please if you can.

Food History set in it's context

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.