Jocelyn Bell Burnell at the table

In 1960s Britain, meals follow fixed appointments rather than a French 'starter-main-dessert' structure: a hearty breakfast, the mid-morning 'elevenses' break, a light lunch, afternoon 'tea' (teapot + bread or cake), and a modest supper in the evening. For Jocelyn Bell, raised in a Quaker family in Northern Ireland and later a student in Glasgow and Cambridge, these meals remain simple, thrifty, and centered around homemade bread and the ever-hot teapot.

Two threads run through this cuisine: strong black tea, stretched with milk, warming long observation nights; and buttermilk, the acidic ferment that, with bicarbonate, leavens Irish breads without yeast or a fancy oven.