Laura Mason

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Laura Mason
Born
Laura Mason

7 August 1957
Ilkley, U.K.
Died2 February 2021(2021-02-02) (aged 63)
NationalityBritish
EducationIlkley Grammar School
Bradford College of Art
Leeds Polytechnic
OccupationFood historian
Spouses
  • Ian Tomlin
  • Derek Johnson

Laura Mason (1957–2021) was a British food historian based in York.[1][2] She studied home economics and food technology and published several books on cookery and its history.

Early life and education[edit]

Mason was born in Ilkley on 7 August 1957 and attended Ilkley Grammar School. Her father was a farmer and her mother a local historian. She took a foundation course at Bradford College of Art and a degree in home economics and a further degree in food technology at Leeds Polytechnic.[1]

Career[edit]

In 1997 Mason co-authored The Taste of Britain with Catherine Brown, published by Harper-Collins with a foreword by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.[3][4]

She published Sugar-Plums and Sherbert: a Prehistory of Sweets in 1998.[5] As Alan Davidson's research assistant she wrote many of the articles in The Oxford Companion to Food (1999).[1] She wrote several books for the National Trust: Farmhouse Cookery in 2005, and Book of Crumbles and Book of Afternoon Tea both in 2018,[2] and Roasts in 2019. Her other publications included Sweets and Candy (2019) and Pine, about pine trees, in 2013.

Personal life[edit]

Mason lived in York after moving there in 1976. She married Ian Tomlin, who died in 1982, and in 2012 married Derek Johnson. She died of cancer on 2 February 2021.[1][2]

Selected publications[edit]

  • Mason, Laura; Brown, Catherine (2006). The Taste of Britain. London: Harper Press. ISBN 9780007241323.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Jaine, Tom (10 March 2021). "Laura Mason obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Gordon, Maxine. "Obituary: Laura Mason, 63, York food historian and writer". York Press. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Made in Britain: The histories behind our food". The Independent. 2 October 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  4. ^ "The Taste of Britain". Slow Food International. 5 November 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  5. ^ Turner, E. S. (29 October 1998). "Suck, chéri". London Review of Books. 20 (21). ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 1 December 2021.