[woodcote]

Never much a fan of parkin myself. But looking behind the hyberbole in the British tabloids today, neither do I have a problem with what Leeds City Council are allegedly up to.

Like most councils around the UK, Leeds are looking at local contexts for teaching - in this case how local culinary favourites are reliant on global trade. There's plenty of important history in there too - tea and ginger nicely illustrates the colonial ties with India and of the earlier spice (and tea) trade with China. Of course, to look at the history of sugar without considering slavery would be ignorant in this day and age. All in all, sounds like a great locally-themed teaching resource based on a simple afternoon snack. I don't think it is any more than that.

There are plenty of fabulous resources out there which show how complex history can be taught from looking at an object or a product. The British Museum's 'A History of the World in 100 Objects' project with the BBC was a fine example and has created a popular way of teaching. There's also this about tea on the Royal Museums Greenwich website...



The page is here: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/cup-char