Episode 22: How Germany Invented the Way You Eat with Claudia Kreklau

In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by historian Dr Claudia Kreklau to uncover the surprising German origins of the way the world eats today. They explore how chefs fleeing the French Revolution found new homes in Prussian courts, how volcanic eruptions and failed harvests triggered starvation and revolution in the 1840s, and how the German middle class turned household preservation tricks into an industrial food empire. From Liebig's meat extract and the rise of tinned goods to the 1879 food law that cracked down on adulterated products, they trace the messy, fascinating path from farmhouse kitchens to global brands like Knorr, Maggi, and Heinz.  And rediscover the women whose culinary innovations were quietly erased from the historical record. Website: https://claudiakreklau.wordpress.com/ Handles and Profiles: ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1621-5300 Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=57204513593 GoogleScholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fJ5HIJgAAAAJ&hl=en Research Profile: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/people/ck230/ BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/claudiakreklau.bsky.social Twitter: @Claudia Kreklau The Making of Modern Eating: How the German Middle Class Forged the Way We Eat, 1780-1910 - Studies in German History (Hardback) Berghahn PDF: https://www.berghahnbooks.com/downloads/OpenAccess/KreklauMaking/9781836953609_OA.pdf Amazon EPUB: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Modern-Eating-1780-1910-Studies-ebook/dp/B0GF76PPNX/ref=sr_1_1 And here the articles mentioned: “Masters of Food: Climate Crisis and Optimized Exploitation in an Atlantic Hinterland before the Revolutions of 1848,” German Studies Review (Johns Hopkins UP), 49:1 (February 2026) 1-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/gsr.2026.a983097 “Vaterland, c.1780-1870,” German History (Oxford UP), 43:3 (October 2025) 373–394. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghaf036 The Vaterland piece is open access. Takes you beyond the familiar clichés to uncover the richness and diversity of the German past. Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: [email protected] Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices