Dr Polly Russell works as a curator at the British Library, and as a freelance food researcher, writer and consultant. Polly's research subjects include the history of British food and the social, cultural and political connections between food and everyday life. Outside of her work at the British Library, Polly divides her time between research and writing. Polly is currently advising Heston Blumenthal and staff at The Fat Duck Limited on historical food trends and cooking techniques, and has just completed work on a food map of London for Herb Lester Associates. Polly has written for The Guardian, The Times, Waitrose magazine, and has a regular column - The History Cook - in the FT Weekend magazine; she is also co-author of The Kitchen Revolution (Ebury Press, 2008) a recipe book aimed at helping home cooks minimise waste and overspend. In 2015, Polly contributed to a six-part food history series called Dinner Times for BBC2 as the on-screen historical presenter.