Feasting on Oxford's Literary Heritage

How does food fit in and is it still celebrated today?

Oxford is renowned for its world-class scholars, scientists, Nobel prize winners, and celebrated writers - it also has an enviably rich legacy of children’s authors. Many of our most famous 19th and 20th Century children’s stories were inspired by authors working and living here such as Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Kenneth Grahame and Philip Pullman. From Mad Hatter tea parties to picnics with Ratty and Mole, Edmund requesting Turkish delight to the life-affirming hospitality and friendship of the kind folk of Middle Earth, Oxford’s children’s authors have nimbly and memorably intertwined food and entertaining into their characters’ lives leaving an indelible impression on the reader. In Oxford today, to what extent does that magical literary food heritage jump out from the city and if you went searching for it where would you go?

Copyright of The Story Museum, Oxford

The most obvious answer to this question is perhaps the first Saturday of July when ‘Alice Day’ is celebrated and a wonderful set of events is curated by The Story Museum. This day commemorates the beginning of one of the world’s most famous stories told for the first time on the 4th July 1862 when the Christ Church mathematician Charles Dodgson took the Dean of Christ Church's daughters (Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell) on a boat trip, from Oxford’s Folly Bridge to Godstow, where they had a picnic. There they begged for a story and thus the tales of Alice and her fantastical adventures were born. A manuscript was written up as Alice’s Adventures Under Ground in 1864 and an expanded version was published as Alice in Wonderland in 1865 under the name of Lewis Carroll with illustrations by John Tenniel. This year Alice Day fell on the 6th of July and the streets of Oxford came alive with a festival of events, activities for children, a giant Alice and Jabberwock roaming Broad street, even an invitation to learn how to play croquet. There was also a curious trail through the historic 250-year-old covered market full to bursting with delicious picnic items I might add.

There was also the obligatory visit to Alice’s shop in St Aldates which would have been the Victorian sweetshop of the real Alice, Alice Liddell. For literary enthusiasts please note that the old sheep who runs the shop in Through the Looking Glass is sadly not there, but if you look in a very particular way the items on the shelves might just float away momentarily. The shop is stuffed with books, tea sets, jewellery, curios and drink me bottles. Not so many ‘Eat Me’ options last time I checked so if you’re in this stretch, be sure to pop by G & D’s ice-cream shop on St Aldates opposite Christ Church for sweet relief - liquorice for a 19th Century taste from Alice’s day, Jaffa cake to match with tea perhaps, or the very emphatic Super#?*!Chocolate. And if perchance you’re there at 9.05pm, revel in the quirky tradition of ‘Oxford time’ which runs five minutes late and is very much in the Carrollian White Rabbit tradition. Great Tom opposite will chime 101 times at 9.05pm, marking 9pm Oxford time and traditionally the signal for students to return to college (there were 101 in the 17th Century). Even though Greenwich Mean Time was formally adopted nationwide in 1852, Christ Church steadfastly held on to ‘Oxford time’, perhaps one of the reasons Charles Dodgson created a white rabbit that is always late.

If you want to get closer to the original 1862 river trip, then boating is one option or amble along the towpath hugging the Thames heading north from Folly Bridge to The Medley, The Perch and up to The Trout opposite the Godstow nunnery.

Local historian and author of Alice in Waterland, Mark Davies, also regularly takes visitors on walks along this famous route including a stop off at Binsey’s ‘Treacle’ Well which Lewis Carroll celebrates in Alice in Wonderland. At the famous Mad Hatter’s Tea Party where Alice drinks tea and eats bread and butter the Dormouse regales Alice with tales of three girls living off treacle in a treacle well which Alice concludes must have made them very ill. No treacle here but a lovely spot to walk and great options for picnics and tea parties along the banks of the river Thames, in Port Meadow, drinks in the garden at The Perch, and wonderful wood fired pizza at The Medley overlooking the river. If you’re looking for ‘Eat Me’, then the chestnut mushroom with gorgonzola, leek and mozzarella is highly recommended and the pepperoni and nduja is pretty spectacular too. All in all, there are plenty of places to sit with your copy of Alice and embrace the literary legacy with some delicious food.

For anyone after a themed ‘Alice’ restaurant, there’s always The Alice at The Randolph which also benefits from being very centrally located. It’s fairly classical in its approach and, sadly, not embracing the eccentric quality of its inspiration. The most unusual flavour combination in the £39.50 afternoon tea is a sandwich of egg, tamarind and date! The blackberry meringue tart is also a bold departure from the more conventional lemon. Reviews by William Sitwell have kept me away - he described the brasserie main courses as competent but bland - but don’t let me deter you. He didn’t sample the tea so perhaps this is more flavourful.

Other great tea spots in the city for a cake or afternoon pick-me-up are worth hunting down. There’s North Parade’s Barefoot Bakery with its blackberry bramble doughnuts and biscoff cruffins. At the wonderful Hamblin Bread with its new covered market kiosk (and main shop on Iffley Road) you can grab a tea cake with saffron and candied seville orange, cardamom bun or a vanilla custard bun. Further afield is Proof Social Bakehouse on Sandford Lane (you’ll need to grab your bike and head south on the Thames towpath) for incredible lemon curd and honey danishes, and even a bacon, hazelnut, maple, bechamel croissant! Proof Social is also worth supporting for its social entreprise credentials - it provides paid training and employment to people, during and after prison sentences. In short, plenty of options if you want to enjoy tea and more in Alice’s Oxford.

Flat white and lemon and honey danish at Proof Social Bakehouse

If all you’re after is a quiet pint in a classic Oxford literary destination then it may take a few years yet. The Eagle and Child on St Giles - well known for being where literary group The Inklings gathered on Tuesday mornings for beer, conversation and readings by notable members such as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis - has been closed for four years since the pandemic. Last year the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), established in Los Angeles by billionaire Larry Ellison, announced plans for a new laboratory campus at Oxford Science Park, and also bought the much loved pub requiring serious restoration. Award-winning architects Norman Foster and Partners have been appointed to develop the Science Park due to open in 2026, but due to the complexity of the pub re-development, there is still no date for reopening. EIT executives flew in earlier this year having pints of XT3 West Coast IPA in the Lamb and Flag opposite. The plan is to demolish what the Execs called the ‘horrible’ conservatory at the back, open up the rear garden, and recreate the pub’s original features, including the alcoves at the front and the Rabbit Room where writer's group the Inklings used to meet. EIT chief operating officer Lisa Flashner told the Oxford Drinker, the magazine of real ale group CAMRA: "If people celebrate us half as much when we open the campus as when we reopen the pub, we’ll be doing well.”

Oxford is teeming with literary history and, thankfully, hasn’t turned into a themed playground to its fictional characters. The best spots that bring alive the legacy of picnics, tea parties, and scholarly discussion over literary texts, are there; you just have to search for them and hopefully your imagination will do the rest. Of course, in the case of The Eagle and Child, commonly and alliteratively known as “The Bird and Baby”, best to head across to the Lamb and Flag until they reopen again.

Recommended Oxford places

• Oxford Covered Market, Market St, Oxford OX1 3DZ

• George and Danver (G and D’s), 94 St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1BT

• The Medley, Thames Towpath, Medley Manor Farm, Oxford OX2 0NJ

• The Perch, Binsey Ln, Binsey, Oxford OX2 0NG

• Barefoot Bakery, 9 N Parade Ave, Oxford OX2 6LX

• Hamblin Bread, Covered Market kiosk and 247 Iffley Rd, Oxford OX4 1SJ

• Proof Social Bakehouse, 68, Sandford Lane Industrial Estate, Kennington, Oxford OX1 5RP

• Lamb and Flag, 12 St Giles', Oxford OX1 3JS

• The Eagle and Child, 49 St Giles', Oxford OX1 3LU - Temporarily closed