I love old cookbooks, looking at how culinary fashions have changed but also picking up useful tips that have been forgotten. Such as the best way to judge when a pig is done ‘is when its eyes pop out’ (the Art of Cookery, by Hannah Glasse, 1747). I was very pleased to read, therefore, that the collection of cookbooks at Leeds University have been Designated by the MLA (Museums Libraries and Archives Council) as an ‘outstanding’ collection. I only hope that they can get some money from HLF to digitise them and make them available online.