The Robshaw family are experienced time travellers, but this time they are going further back than they have ever been before - to the turn of the 20th century, to discover how the food we ate and the way we ate it helped shape the modern family. An ordinary house in south London is their time machine, transporting them through five decades and two world wars. Guided by presenters Giles Coren and social historian Polly Russell, they trace the incredible changes to Britain's diet and the extraordinary social transformation they reveal.
This time, it is a decade of feast and famine as the family enter the turbulent 1910s.
This time, the Robshaws experience a thoroughly modern decade as they enter the 1920s. They get their first taste of the racy reputation of the age as they host a jazz age party fuelled by a menu of 14 different cocktails. The decade has something new for everyone, with sweet treats for Fred, spicy food for Brandon in a 1920s curry house, and the kicks and tricks of the charleston for Miranda and Ros with Strictly's James and Ola Jordan. Rochelle has a new role too - as a modern housewife, no longer a lady of leisure, there is a lot of work to do in the kitchen now that Debbie has found new work in a grocers and a fish and chip shop.
The family discover a very surprising decade of progress and optimism as they journey through the 1930s. Gone is all the starch formality of previous decades. Their larder is now stuffed with familiar brands and snacks and deliciously healthy dinners too, even if they are made in a pressure cooker that looks more like an unexploded bomb than a bit of kitchen equipment.
The Robshaws enter the 1940s and experience a decade overshadowed by war and entirely fuelled by rations. In their second world war of the experiment, the Robshaws get used to a diet of duty and determination. Gone are the treats of the 20s and 30s and the Edwardian excess is a distant memory. Now it is powdered egg, nettles on toast and imitation brawn at the dining room table, and they are even one family member down as Fred is evacuated to the countryside.
In the final episode of the series, the family and Debbie reflect on their time travels, discovering that much of what they experienced in the past still lives on around our dinner tables today. The Robshaws try out some of the latest diets promising to make us healthier today. From fermented food to the paleo diet, they discover that our appetite for the perfect healthy diet is something that hasn't gone away. Then Polly shows the family the delights of a contemporary canned meal. It is a world away from the fish and potatoes of the 20s, with luxury ingredients like smoked mussels and chestnuts proving that it is possible to have delicious and convenient dinner. After working her way through five decades of food history, Debbie tries her hand in a professional restaurant kitchen finding out how opportunities have opened up for talented female cooks since the experiment ended in 1949. Brandon and Rochelle sample a Peruvian meal with Giles as they reflect on Britain's longstanding love of foreign food and flavours. And finally the family share a celebratory meal with Giles and Polly as they realise how many of our historical eating habits are still a treasured part of modern family mealtimes.
