Eating Like an Ancient Spartan: Black Broth, Hunting and the Helots episode artwork

EPISODE · May 27, 2026 · 47 MIN

Eating Like an Ancient Spartan: Black Broth, Hunting and the Helots

from The Delicious Legacy

Hello!The ancient Spartan society still has a grip in our culture. We use the words laconic, and Spartan to describe austere, frugal things, and people who don't use many words, just the right ones and the exact ones. The ancient Sparta was a very weird place and certainly a lot more cruel rather than heroic.It is time to see what their society truly was, how it functioned and what the warrior class do to survive.Of course we can't forget their infamous black broth soup, the dish that only -supposedly- Spartans loved! How was it made? What it consisted of, and was it really tasty?Join me to find the origin myths of Sparta, and dispel any myths that are still pervasive to this day.Read Plutarch's Live of Lycurgus here:https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lycurgus*.htmlYou can buy the books discussed on the podcast here:https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/thedeliciouslegacypodcastMy recommendations for this week include:Eat Like an Ancient Greek PhilosopherBefore attending third-century dinner parties, readers consulted this “marvelous feast of words.”https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eat-like-a-greek-philosopher-oldest-fish-recipeYucatán Peninsula Xunankab Bee Honeyhttps://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/slow-food-presidia/yucatan-peninsula-xunankab-bee-honey/north by sud- ouest charcuterie Northern curing, schooled in South-West France:https://www.northbysudouest.com/aboutMusic by Pavlos Kapralos.Love & GarumThomSupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello!The ancient Spartan society still has a grip in our culture. We use the words laconic, and Spartan to describe austere, frugal things, and people who don't use many words, just the right ones and the exact ones. The ancient Sparta was a very weird place and certainly a lot more cruel rather than heroic.It is time to see what their society truly was, how it functioned and what the warrior class do to survive.Of course we can't forget their infamous black broth soup, the dish that only -supposedly- Spartans loved! How was it made? What it consisted of, and was it really tasty?Join me to find the origin myths of Sparta, and dispel any myths that are still pervasive to this day.Read Plutarch's Live of Lycurgus here:https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lycurgus*.htmlYou can buy the books discussed on the podcast here:https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/thedeliciouslegacypodcastMy recommendations for this week include:Eat Like an Ancient Greek PhilosopherBefore attending third-century dinner parties, readers consulted this “marvelous feast of words.”https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eat-like-a-greek-philosopher-oldest-fish-recipeYucatán Peninsula Xunankab Bee Honeyhttps://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/slow-food-presidia/yucatan-peninsula-xunankab-bee-honey/north by sud- ouest charcuterie Northern curing, schooled in South-West France:https://www.northbysudouest.com/aboutMusic by Pavlos Kapralos.Love & GarumThomSupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Eating Like an Ancient Spartan: Black Broth, Hunting and the Helots

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Hello!The ancient Spartan society still has a grip in our culture. We use the words laconic, and Spartan to describe austere, frugal things, and people who don't use many words, just the right ones and the exact ones. The ancient Sparta was a very...

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