Comfortably Hungry

In episode 11, I visit Barry and Chris Flannaghan at the restored Burton watermill in Sussex. I discover how Burton Mill has evolved over the centuries but always using water as its source of power. The present 4 storey, 5 bay mill building dates from 1780 and was built on the foundations of an earlier forge or fulling mill (there is a record of a mill close to this site in the Domesday book). Today Burton Mill produces traditional stoneground flour and I get to taste the results!If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful Links* Burton Mill near Petworth is only open to the public a few times per year. Please check their website for details on their upcoming open days.* You can find Chris’ recipe for Irish tea bread here.* Mills Archive Trust* Sussex Industrial Archaeology SocietySuggested Reading* Modern Cookery for Private Families by Eliza Acton (1845)* The English Bread Book by Eliza Acton (1857)* The Canterbury Tales by Geoffry Chaucer (Modern English Version, 1934)* English Bread and Yeast Cookery by Elizabeth David (1977)* Watermills, Kent and the borders of Sussex by Michael J Fuller and R J Spain1986* Water in England by Dorothy Hartley (1964)* Puck’s Song by Rudyard Kipling (1906)* The English Huswife by Gervase Markham (originally published 1615)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I discover more about the role women played in the distilling of usquebaugh (or the water of life) and whisky in Scotland with Peter Gilchrist, food historian at the Tenement Kitchen and host of the Scottish Food History podcast. Peter and I are joined by Rosalind Erskine, Food and Drink Editor of the Scotsman and host of the Scran podcast.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksDon’t forget to check out Peter’s website The Tenement Kitchen which explores Scottish folk cookery. You can also find him on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. You can also listen to the Scottish Food History podcast which Peter hosts with Dr Lindsay Middleton here.You can find out more about Rosalind’s work on her website and also find her on Instagram. Ros is also the host of The Scotsman’s Scran Podcast.Walter Gregor Tonic Water who make the intriguing turnip tonic!Lots of whisky distilleries were mentioned in the podcast including Ardbeg which was run by early female distillers Flora and Margaret McDougall in the 1850s.You can listen to the talk I gave on the history of gingerbread at the 2025 Scottish Food History here along with Perilla Kinchen’s keynote talk on the influence of Catherine Cranston and her tearooms.Suggested Reading* Rebellious Spirits: The Illicit History of Booze in Britain by Ruth Ball (2015)* The English Housewife (1615) by Gervase Markham (ed. Michael R. Best, 1998)* With Faith and Physic: The Life of a Tudor Gentlewoman by Linda Pollock (1993)* ‘The Early Use of Aqua Vitae in Scotland’ in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1916)* Water of Life: A History of Wine Distilling and Spirits 500 BC to AD 2000 by C. Anne Wilson (2006)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

‘The Carp is a stately, a good, and a subtle fish, a fish that hath not (as it is said) been long in England’ Izaak Walton, The Complete Angler (1653)In this episode I explore the history of carp in Britain, one of the most widely distributed freshwater fish of all the British species, with angler and author John Langridge.By the seventeenth century carp recipes were frequently found in cookbooks of the period but it is seldom eaten now. As well as busting some myths about how the carp first came to Britain I try to find out why the carp leapt from the plate and back into the pond to become arguably the most popular coarse fish in the UK?If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksJohn’s books Aphrodite’s Carp and Fishing for Spanish Barbel are available from Medlar Press.Suggested Reading* A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, by Dame Juliana Berners (1496)* Natural history of British fishes by Frank Buckland (1883)* The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May (1685)* The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton (1653)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

‘We do not know for how many millennia man has exploited the preservative properties of ice.’ Jill Norman in the introduction to Elizabeth David’s Harvest of the Cold Months (1996)In this episode I’m joined by food historian, writer, photographer, and culinary practitioner Dr Nader Mehravari, to find out more about the yakhchals of ancient Persia and how they were used to make and store ice.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksYou can follow Nader Mehravari on Instagram and find out more about his work with Persian food on his website.Nader’s Faloodeh recipe on Serious EatsSuggested ReadingTravels in Persia by John Chardin (a seventeenth century French born traveler who wrote about ice in Persia)Harvest of the Cold Months by Elizabeth David (1996)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2026 in this episode we’ll be hearing the story of Eliza James, a remarkable woman who rose from poverty on the streets of Birmingham to become one of the most successful and wealthiest market traders at Covent Garden in London, all from selling bunches of watercress. So renowned was this woman that on her death in 1927 she was mourned as the watercress queen. Joining me to explore Eliza’s life are food historian Dr Alessandra Pino, food writer and former Director of London Farmers Markets Cheryl Cohen and Tom Amery, Managing Director of The Watercress Company.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Don’t forget to rate and review the podcast on your preferred podcast platform as it will help other listeners discover Comfortably Hungry. Useful LinksFind out more and follow my guests:Dr Alessandra Pino - website, Instagram and BlueSky. Don’t forget to check out our other podcast A is for Apple and Allie’s Fear Feasts.Also check out the fantastic Cheryl Queen of Markets on Substack. You can also find Cheryl on Instagram.Tom Amery is the Managing Director of The Watercress Company. You can find them on Instagram, YouTube and lots of delicious recipe ideas on their ‘foodie’ account @lovewatercressThe annual Arlesford Watercress Festival takes place on 17 May 2026. You can travel to the event on part of the original Watercress Line (charges apply).Suggested ReadingThe Poor Watercress Sellers of London by John Groom (1872)London Labour and the London Poor - Henry Mayhew (1851)The Market Place And The Market’s Place In London, c. 1660 -1840 - PhD thesis by Colin Stephen Smith (1999)John Groom’s Flower (and watercress ) Girl MissionIf you want to read the full story of Sarah Cackett’s tragic life you can find it in Pluckley: The Making and Faking of a Ghost Story Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported podcast and publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Don’t miss the special episode on The Watercress Queen to celebrate International Women’s Day (8/3/26) - released on Thursday 5th March.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries curious yellowish-white waxen lumps encased in the remnants of wooden containers have been unearthed from Irelands peat bogs by turf cutters and farmers. Some specimens weigh several kilos. Many are thought to date back thousands of years to the Bronze age, when the people of Ireland buried supplies of butter.Maeve Sikora, Keeper of Irish Antiquities and Isabella Mulhall Assistant Keeper of Irish Antiquities from the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) in Dublin join me in this episode to tell us more about bog butter.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksNational Museum of Ireland in DublinButter Museum in Cork‘A History of Bog Butter in Ireland’ by Maeve Sikora and Isabella Mulhall in Irish Food History: A Companion (2025)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s episode we will be journeying back thousands of years to ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. I will be exploring arguably the earliest beer culture in the world with Dr Tate Paulette archaeologist and Associate Professor of History at North Carolina State University. Tate is also the author of In The Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksIn The Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia by Tate Paulette (2024)You can watch a short video from Yale University about Babylonian cooking over on YouTube.There Are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak (2025)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 4 I chat to food writer Di Murrell about her experiences with her husband Tam of living and working on canals in Britain and France. Canals were played an essential part in how food and fuel was transported around Britain but it is a way of life that has all but disappeared. Among their various roles Di and Tam were involved in transporting limes in the depths of winter to cordial manufacturer Roses on what was known as the ‘lime run’. Forget messing about on the river - working life on the canals was truly hard graft.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksYou can find out more about Di and Tam’s canal adventures on the A Foodie Afloat website or on her more recent blog Written In My Kitchen.Petits Propos Culinaires the journal which gave Di her first break in food writing is now published by Equinox (and edited by me!). Di has published several articles in the journal over the years.The Sophie Coe Prize is the longest-running and most generous prize for writing in food history in the English language, given once a year for an essay or article of up to 10,000 words on any aspect of the history of food. Entries for this year’s award close on 24 April 2026. You can discover more about Britain’s waterway history at a number of canal museums across the country such as London, Stoke Bruerne and Ellesmere Port or by visiting the Canal & River TrustSuggested Reading* Barges & Bread: Canals & Grain to Bread & Baking* A Foodie AfloatThe following aren’t about working life on the rivers but are fun reads to get you in the mood:* The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graham (1908)* Three Men and a Boat - Jerome K Jerome (1889)* An Inland Voyage - Robert Louis Stevenson (1878) Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 3 I discuss what borsch means to Ukrainians with activist, chef and author Olia Hercules who recently published her family memoir Strong Roots. We chat about how water has shaped Ukraine and why it is so important for this proud nation to reclaim their national dish.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksYou can find out more about Olia and her events on her website and follow her on Instagram and Bluesky.Olia’s books include:* Strong Roots (2025)* Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect (2022)* Summer Kitchens (2020)* Kaukasis (2017)* Mamouska (2015)Chef Louis P de Gouy, quoted at the start of this episode, trained under August Escoffier and had a sterling career working in luxury hotels before becoming the in-house chef for Gourmet magazine. In his Soup Book was published posthumously in 1949, two years after his death.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

If you’re a fan of Jane Austen you’ll be familiar with the concept of ‘taking the waters’. In fact the title of today’s episode comes from a letter Jane wrote to her sister Cassandra who was staying in the spa town of Cheltenham in September 1816. People have been visiting places renowned for their mineral rich waters for centuries. These special wells, streams and pools were believed to cure all manner of ailments either by drinking or bathing in the water.In the first part of today’s episode I’m joined by multidisciplinary artist Gaylene Gould and local historian and guide Emanuela Aru Kay to tell me more about the Mary Woolaston, a Black woman who managed a healing well in seventeenth century London. Then Chris Jones of the Tunbridge Wells Civic society chats to me about the rise and fall of the Kentish spa town Tunbridge Wells.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content such as recipes or extra audio) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksFind out more about Gaylene Gould on her website or follow here on Instagram. You can also find an essay on Black Mary in Thirst. Black Mary also features in the exhibition of the same name at the Wellcome Collection.Follow Emanuela Aru Kay on Instagram and more about the tours she runs through History from Below (which includes a tour uncovering hidden waters). You can also read Emanuela’s essay on ‘Reviving London’s Hidden Healing Legacy: The Black Mary Project And The Story Of Black Mary’s Well’ which includes images of where Black Mary’s Well was located (spoiler alert – the area has been densely built up over the years so the well and the stream that feeds it are no longer visible.)For a more tranquil idea of a healing well visit the Calthorpe Community Gardens (find out more via their website or Instagram) where you can view Marcia Bennett-Male’s statue of Mary. Find out more about Marcia who is the UK’s only black female sculptor on her website and Instagram.The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration opens in May 2026The Tunbridge Wells Civic Society produces are number of books on the history of the area including The Pantiles: A Brief History by Philip Whitbourn & Chris Jones. The Chaleybeate Spring in The PantilesSuggested ReadingFor a list of nineteenth century spas and their purported benefits take a look at B. Bradshaw’s dictionary of mineral waters, climatic health resorts [&c.] ... of the world (1882)Cures and Curses: Ritual and Cult at Holy Wells by Janet Bord (available to download as a free pdf)Holy Wells in Britain: A Guide by Janet Bord (available to download as a free pdf)You can find out more about St Winefride’s Holy Well here or in this short YouTube video.The Journeys of Ceilia Fiennes (1947) available via Internet Archive.A Medical topography of Tunbridge Wells by Dr Robert Powell (1846)The History and Description of the Parish of Clerkenwell by Thomas Cromwell (1828)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back! In Episode 1 of this new season I’m joined by Cass Gardiner, an Anishinaabe Algonquin filmmaker, curator, and writer from Kebaowek First Nation to discuss manoomin, or wild rice, and its importance to First Nation people in North America. We talk about its spiritual and economic significance and how this aspect of the Anishinaabe way of life is under threat from environmental pollution, displacement and climate change.As well as a new season of Comfortably Hungry, there’s also Serve It Forth festive event to look forward to called A Christmas Feast of the Uncanny (think of it as a spookier version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol without the schmaltz!)If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksCass Gardiner’s website and on Instagram.The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University’s new exhibition: Botany of Nations opens on March 28, 2026 and runs until February 14, 2027. It aims to inspire civic dialogue and reshape the historic Corps of Discovery (1804 – 1806) tale of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with Indigenous perspectives against the backdrop of the United States’ 250th anniversary. Cass’s film of the same name will form part of the exhibition. Cass will also be acting as Guest Editor for the autumn ‘26 edition of Petits Propos Culinaires which will explore similar perspectives.Winona LaDuke’s TEDx talk Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of LifeWinona LaDuke: Return to Rice Lake: Anishinaabe celebration welcomes runners honoring — and protecting — the sacred manoominPhoto essay on wild rice harvest via Canada’s HistoryOwamni Restaraunt in Minneapolis, Minnesota restaurant where the entire menu is pre-colonial foods only. Sean Sherman’s first cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, was published in 2017 and his latest cookbook Turtle Island is out now.Chef Crystal Wahpepah restaurant, Wapepah’s Kitchen is in Oakland, California. Crystal released a new cookbook this year, A Feather and a Fork: 125 Intertribal Dishes from an Indigenous Food Warrior.Chef Pyet DeSpain, who is a caterer and also has a cookbook that is coming out soon, Rooted In FireSuggested ReadingTo be a Water Protector - Winona LaDuke (2020)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. You can also listen to the podcast and see short cookery videos on the new Comfortably Hungry YouTube channel.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Following on from my discussions with Diane Purkiss, Sheila Cavanagh and Will Tosh on the less obvious meanings behind the food in Shakespeare’s plays I thought it would be fun to find out more about the early modern foods that are less well-known today or have entirely disappeared.In this episode I chat to Victoria González Gordón of Gonzalez Byass about Sir John Falstaff’s favourite tipple, sack. Wave the flag for the revival of the humble medlar with Jane Steward of Eastgate Larder and try to get to the bottom of what sort of cheese came from Banbury and why it has disappeared.Useful LinksMy latest book Much Ado About Cooking: Delicious Shakespearean Feasts for Every Occasion is out now from all good bookshops.You can find more about Ned Palmer at The Cheese Tasting Co. Ned has written three books including A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles. You can also find him on Instagram and Substack.You can find out more about Jane Steward and medlars on the Eastgate Larder website or in her book Medlars: Growing and Cooking. Jane is also on Instagram.For further details on the history of Gonzalez Byass visit their website. Victoria mentioned Sherry: The Noble Wine by Manuel Gonzalez-Gordon. This appears to be out of print now but you can pick up second hand copies via Abe Books or similar. The best place to follow Gonzalez Byass is via the Tio Pepe Wines Instagram.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

As the title of this podcast suggests much of the discussion around the following episode centres on SEX. So, if you are travelling in the car with young people or anyone who is easily offended you may want to wait until you have dropped them off!Sex is, and always has been, a part of our lives. Without it none of us would be here. The very mention of the word can elicit titters, blushes, disgust and arousal. Shakespeare’s plays are teeming with sexual inuendo often with reference to food. Helping me unpick exactly what the Bard meant by these saucy references is Dr Will Tosh, Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe and author of Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare and several other books.This is the last chance for listeners to claim their 25% off tickets for the Serve It Forth Festival on 18 October 2025! Enter SERVE25 at the checkout.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Don’t forget that you can find links to the books discussed in today’s and other episodes on the Comfortably Hungry Bookshelf on Substack. Much Ado About Cooking is available to pre-order ahead of its release on 23 October 2025.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In an essay entitled “Feasts are too Proud / Better to Starve”: Shakespearean Culinary Divides, Sheila T. Cavanagh, Professor of English at Emory University explains that in Shakespeare’s plays ‘Disputes involving food … often reveal close convergences between dietary options and challenging loci of interpersonal conflict, frequently connected with competing hierarchies associated with status as well as domestic, political, financial, or social power.’In today’s episode Sheila will help me explore how food is weaponised in Shakespeare’s plays, both in a literal and figurative sense, to coerce or punish characters.As a special treat for my listeners I’m extending a 25% discount off the full ticket price for the Serve It Forth Food History Festival on 18 October 2025. I’ll be there continuing my discussion on Food in Shakespeare. Just enter SERVE25 at the checkout to claim the discount.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Don’t forget that you can find links to the books discussed in today’s and other episodes on the Comfortably Hungry Bookshelf on Substack. Much Ado About Cooking is available to pre-order ahead of its release on 23 October 2025.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

One of the challenges of writing a cookbook based on early modern recipes, like Much Ado About Cooking, is that the culinary manuscripts food historians have at our disposal tell us very little about what ordinary people consumed. They record the food largely eaten by the rich or the upwardly mobile merchants and yeomen. As fascinating and delicious as many of these recipes are, they don’t reveal what the everyday folk ate. And this is where the works of playwrights like William Shakespeare are insightful.Helping me to dissect the food references in Shakespeare’s plays to solve this mystery is Diane Purkiss, Professor of English Literature for Keble College at the University of Oxford and author of English Food: A People’s History.As a special treat for my listeners I’m extending a 25% discount off the full ticket price for the Serve It Forth Food History Festival on 18 October 2025. I’ll be there continuing my discussion on Food in Shakespeare. Just enter SERVE25 at the checkout to claim the discount.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Don’t forget that you can find links to the books discussed in today’s and other episodes on the Comfortably Hungry Bookshelf on Substack. Much Ado About Cooking is available to pre-order ahead of its release on 23 October 2025.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Season 4 of the Comfortably Hungry podcast will start in earnest later this autumn. This season I’ll be chatting to historians, food writers, and artists to reveal the importance of water in all its guises and how it was used by our ancestors. To whet your appetite I had a chat with Janice Li, curator of a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London called Thirst: In Search of Freshwater.You’ve no doubt heard the statistic that around 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water. What may come as a surprise, as it did for me, is that only three percent of that water is fresh. And it is that limited resource and how it has been harnessed in the past to produce and preserve our food and drink that is the focus of Season 4.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful Links* Thirst: In Search of Freshwater at the Wellcome Collection is open from 25 June 2025 to 1 February 2026.* Thirst: In Search of Freshwater book* Find out more about Janice Li’s work on her website or follow her on Instagram.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Ever wondered how someone gets into food history? What are the popular misconceptions about what we do? And do we ever have any recipe disasters?In this bonus episode I chat to my food history chums Neil Buttery, Alessandra Pino and Thomas Ntinas about how we got into food history and what inspires us. We also chat about our new food history festival, Serve It Forth, which will take place online on Saturday 18 October 2025 covering topics such as Falstaff’s love of food in Shakespeare’s plays; chefs from the Ancient Greek world; what the Thames can tell us about the feasting tables of the living and memento mori traditions; plus an interview with food writer Tom Parker Bowles about how we can keep food traditions alive. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksServe It Forth websiteServe It Forth ticketsServe It Forth on Social MediaDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

We heard briefly from food writer Kathy Slack about how gardening and cooking helped her overcome anxiety and depression back in Episode 10 of Season 3. Kathy is frank about her mental health struggles in her revealing book, Rough Patch. This is the partner piece to Ami Bouhassane’s interview about her grandmother Lee Miller.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksYou can find out more about Kathy on her website and follow her on Instagram. Kathy has published two books:* From the Veg Patch: 10 favourite vegetables, 100 simple recipes everyone will love* Rough Patch: How a Year in the Garden Brought Me Back to Life* Don’t forget to check out Tales from the Veg Patch by Kathy on SubstackIf you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In this bonus episode I take a look at how some of our best loved authors portray food in their books; why some fiction genres enjoy an enduring popularity and introduce you to the alter ego of a famous food writer. Joining me on this literary romp are some familiar Comfortably Hungry voices (Caroline Crampton, Orlando Murrin and Dr Alessandra Pino) and some new guests (Pen Vogler and Dr Kevin Geddes).If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful Links* Allie is offering Comfortably Hungry listener’s a discount on her Fresh from the Crypt T-shirts - https://www.freshfromthecrypt.com/ discount code is: COMFORTABLYSPOOKY10* The Politics of Pudding: The Past, Present and Future of Yorkshire Food by Pen Vogler at the Ryedale Folk Museum on 12 July 2025 at 2pm* ‘40% of Britons haven’t read a single book in the last 12 months’ Dylan Difford, YouGov March 05, 2025* Shedunnit podcast* Murder in the Kitchen with Caroline Crampton and Orlando Murrin (CHS3 Episode 13)* Death by chocolate with Dr Alessandra Pino and Sue Lawrence (CHS2 Episode 3 )Reading List* Orlando’s thrilling Paul Delamare Mysteries Knife Skills for Beginners and Murder Below Deck are available now.* Caroline’s books include A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria (now available in paperback) and The Way to the Sea: The Forgotten Histories of the Thames Estuary* The Many Careers of Fanny Cradock by Kevin Geddes* The Sherlock Holmes Cookbook by Mrs Hudson (Compiled by Fanny Cradock)* Dinner with Mr Darcy by Pen Vogler* Tea with Jane Austen by Pen Vogler* Scoff by Pen Vogler* Stuffed by Pen Vogler* Martha Lloyd's Household Book: The Original Manuscript from Jane Austen's Kitchen by Deirdre le Faye* A Gothic Cookbook by Ella Buchan and Dr Alessandra PinoDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

As promised this is the full version of the interview I did with Ami Bouhassane, co-director of the Lee Miller Archives and Farley’s House and Gallery in Sussex, and granddaughter of model, photographer, writer and cook Lee Miller.Ami and I delve further into Lee’s career as a photographer and journalist during World War 2 and a childhood trauma (which some listener’s may find upsetting) - experiences which left her with PTSD and struggling with depression in the later years of her life. We also explore Lee’s love of fitted kitchens, cookery competitions and ‘working’ guests.Useful LinksTo see examples of Lee Miller’s photography visit the Lee Miller Archives online.Farleys House & Gallery and on InstagramBooks on Lee’s work including her cookbook A Life with Food, Friends and Recipes can be found here.Chloe Edwards of Seven Sisters Spices runs cookery workshops at Farleys often using Lee’s recipes.Suggested ReadingThe Lives of Lee Miller by Antony PenroseLee Miller: Photographs by Antony Penrose and Kate WinsletDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Today is the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the day the second world war ended in Europe. To mark the occasion I had a chat with journalist and author Alex Johnson about the importance of tea to the British during this conflict. Alex’s latest book While There Is Tea, There Is Hope, published in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum, is packed with wartime ephemera, photographs and vintage recipes.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful LinksYou can find out more about Alex’s work and books on his website. While There Is Tea, There Is HopeMenus That Made HistoryYou can also find Alex on Instagram Imperial War Museum Collections holds a wealth of photographic material from the second world war.Imperial War MuseumDonald Pleasance in The Great EscapeDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Alas this day had to come - this is the last official episode of the DARK season!In Episode 15 I delve into the historical culinary trials and tribulations of Russia with Darra Goldstein, Professor Emerita of Russian at Williams College (USA) and author of The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food. We discuss the importance of ‘black’ rye bread which is at the heart of any traditional Russian meal; the folklore surrounding it and how Russians survived during periods of privation.Useful LinksYou can find out more about Darra and her work on her website which contains some mouthwatering sample recipes. You can also follow Darra on Instagram. Darra’s books include:* The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food* Beyond the North Wind: Recipes and Stories from Russia* Fire and Ice: Classic Nordic Cooking: Classic Nordic Cooking* Darra has written a range of books on preservation co-authored with Cortney Burns. Topics include vegetables, fruit and drinks.* Darra is also Editor In Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Food Studies. If you’re interested in ancient grains like rye you may also want to check out Ruth Nieman Substack and her book Freekeh, Wild Wheat & Ancient Grains: Recipes for Healthy Eating.This is the last official episode of the season but there will be a few inter-season episodes dropping over the coming months to sustain you! Listen to the end of episode 15 to discover the theme for Season 4.If you enjoyed this season please consider leaving a small tip to help support the podcast for future seasons.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 14 I get passionate about a particular type of pepper which was once so highly prized the Visigoths demand 3000lb of the stuff to leave Rome. Joining me to explore the history and usage of this spice are Giles Gasper, Professor of High Medieval History and Florence Swan from Durham University and food writer and author of Pepper, Christine McFaddenDon’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksYou can find Christine McFadden on Instagram and Facebook Don’t forget to check out Christine’s book on Pepper Blackfriars Restaurant in Newcastle where you will find details of their upcoming events and the Eat Medieval summer schoolProfessor Giles Gasper, Durham University You can find Florence Swan on InstagramLong pepper can be bought in the UK from Steenbergs and Seasoned Pioneers Don’t forget to check out the episode on Anglo-Saxon food with historian Emma Kay.Suggested Reading* Forme of Cury * Natural Histories - Pliny* Apicius (this is just one of many translations)* Le Menagier de Paris (or Goodman of Paris)* Sir John Russell’s Book of Nurture* Le Viander - Guilluame Tirrell* John de Mandeville - Mandeville’s TravelsDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Alice B Toklas reckoned that ‘food is far too pleasant to combine with horror.’ In Episode 13 I will be exploring how food is used in crime fiction with writer and host of the Shedunnit podcast Caroline Crampton and food writer and author of the Paul Delamare mysteries, Orlando Murrin.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful Links* Orlando’s thrilling Paul Delamare Mysteries Knife Skills for Beginners and Murder Below Deck are available now.* Orlando has written lots of delicious cookery books too including Two’s Company: The best of cooking for couples, friends and roommates * Orlando’s website* Caroline’s website* Shedunnit podcast* Caroline’s books include A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria (now available in paperback) and The Way to the Sea: The Forgotten Histories of the Thames Estuary Suggested ReadingWe talked about a lot of books in this episode so here are just a few that we mentioned:* Alice B Toklas Cookbook* The Pimlico Poisoning* The Poisoned Chocolate Case by Anthony Berkeley* ‘The Tuesday Night Club’ in The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie* A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha ChristieDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In the first part (Episode 10) of this investigation into the impact food has on our mental health I explored the renaissance fascination with melancholy with Professor Mary Ann Lund and food historian Ken Albala. In Episode 12 I want to find out how gardening and cooking in particular have helped two modern cooks deal with anxiety and depression. I had a chat with Ami Bouhassane, co-director of the Lee Miller Archives and Farley’s House and Gallery in Sussex. Ami’s grandmother was model, photographer, writer and cook Lee Miller who battled with depression in the later years of her life. Food writer Kathy Slack reveals how gardening and cooking helped her overcome anxiety and depression in her latest book, Rough Patch.This is a bumper episode so a bit longer than usual. Full length interviews with both Ami and Kathy will be released later in the year.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Also, I will be speaking at the annual Scottish Food Heritage Symposium on 28 March 2025. You can find more details here.Useful LinksTo see examples of Lee Miller’s photography visit the Lee Miller Archives online.Farleys House & Gallery and on InstagramBooks on Lee’s work including her cookbook A Life with Food, Friends and Recipes can be found here.Chloe Edwards of Seven Sisters Spices runs cookery workshops at Farleys often using Lee’s recipes.You can find out more about Kathy on her website and follow her on Instagram. Kathy has published two books: * From the Veg Patch: 10 favourite vegetables, 100 simple recipes everyone will love* Rough Patch: How a Year in the Garden Brought Me Back to Life* You can find out more about the French Field to Fork Experience 19-23 June 2025 in France that Kathy is involved in here.Suggested ReadingThe Lives of Lee Miller by Antony PenroseLee Miller: Photographs by Antony Penrose and Kate WinsletDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 11 I am investigating a fruit with a bit of an image problem. Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is the fruit of an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean. The view of carob as a subsistence food has perhaps tarnished this fruit’s reputation. Yet despite this, the carob grown in the Ragusa district of Sicily has earned a place in the Slow Food Ark of Taste where it is described as having ‘a taste similar to cocoa with hints of honey and caramel, so much so that in ancient times in Sicily it was considered the “poor persons chocolate”.’ In recent years carob has been praised for its healthy credentials being a good source of dietary fibre and antioxidants. However, today it is more likely to be fed to animals than used in a kitchen. So why is it not more widely used in cookery? To help me answer this question I chat to historian Mary Taylor Simeti and food writer Angela Zaher.Useful LinksAngela Zaher’s website. You can also follow Angela on Instagram.Mary Taylor Simeti’s books include:* Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-five Centuries of Sicilian Food* Bitter Almonds: Recollections and recipes from a Sicilian girlhood (with Maria Grammatico)* On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal* Travels With a Medieval QueenYou can also find Mary on Instagram.Suggested Reading* Slow Food on Carob* ‘How Carob Traumatized a Generation’ by Jonathan Kauffman for the New Yorker* I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga (1881) was translated by Mary A Craig and published in English as The House by the Medlar-Tree (1890)* ‘Carob: The “Poor Man’s Chocolate”’ by Jo Vraca for Italy SegretaDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

They will act, conceive all extremes, contrarieties, and contradictions, and that in infinite varieties…Scarce two of two thousand concur in the same symptoms. The Tower of Babel never yielded such confusion of tongues, as the chaos melancholy doth variety of symptoms. - Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621In Episode 10 I take a look at the perplexing affliction of melancholy in the first of two episodes exploring the relationship between food and mental health.Early in the seventeenth century a Leicestershire clergyman Robert Burton set out to untangle complex yet bizarrely alluring renaissance disease of melancholy and its effects on mental and physical well being. His research culminated in The Anatomy of Melancholy, a lengthy treatise on how to identify and treat this illness.Joining me to discuss what melancholy was, Burton’s work and the role food played in exacerbating or treating the condition are Professor Mary Ann Lund of Leicester University and author of A User’s Guide of Melancholy and food historian Ken Albala and author of Eating Right in the Renaissance.Useful LinksKen has written many books over the years including:* Opulent Nosh: A Cookbook* Beans: A History * A Cultural History of Food in the Renaissance* Nuts: A Global HistoryYou can also find Ken on Instagram.Mary Ann’s books include:* A User’s Guide to Melancholy* Melancholy, Medicine and Religion in Early Modern England: Reading 'The Anatomy of MelancholySuggested Reading* The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert BurtonDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 9 I chat to Professor Thomas David DuBois of Beijing Normal University and author of China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History about the alchemy of fermentation and the importance of fermented foods (especially beans) in Chinese cuisine.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksYou can find out more about Thomas on his website.China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful HistoryDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

I thought it was about time I faced my own bête noire. So Episode 8 is devoted to my sweet shop nemesis liquorice. Helping me overcome my dislike of this confectionery is ScandiKitchen founder Brontë Aurell.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksFind out more about Brontë on her website or follow her on Instagram.ScandiKitchen cafe and deli in London (also on Instagram)Brontë’s next cookbook Smorrebrod: Scandinavian Open Sandwiches is out on 8 April 2025.Brontë’s cookbooks include:* The ScandiKitchen Cookbook: Recipes for good food with love from Scandinavia * ScandiKitchen: Fika and Hygge: Comforting cakes and bakes from Scandinavia with love* ScandiKitchen: The Essence of Hygge* ScandiKitchen Summer: Simply delicious food for lighter, warmer days Suggested Reading* Adam in Eden, or, Natures paradise by William Coles, 1657* The History of Pontefract, in Yorkshire by George Fox, 1827* The herball, or, Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard, 1636* Mr Halley’s description of liquorice cultivation around Pontefract can be found in The review and abstract of the county reports to the Board of Agriculture; from the several agricultural departments of England. by Mr. Marshall v. 1* Delights for ladies: to adorne their persons, tables, closets, and distillatories. With beauties, banquets, perfumes, and waters by Hugh Platt, 1602* Chronicles of Old Pontefract by Lorenzo Radgett, 1905Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Currant-loaf is now popular eating in all households. For weeks before the great morning, confectioners display stacks of Scotch bun — a dense, black substance, inimical to life – Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, 1878In Episode 7 I chat with Peter Gilchrist and Dr Lindsay Middleton about a Scottish cake traditionally served at Hogmanay and the role this plays in preserving Scotland’s food heritage.Useful LinksThe Tenement Kitchen where you can also download a copy of the Scottish Food Heritage Report. You can find Peter on Instagram and X.You can read more about Dr Lindsay Middleton’s thesis here. You can find Lindsay on Instagram and X.If you want to see how black bun’s were originally made check out this post by my fellow A is for Apple Podcast host Dr Neil Buttery.Yu-lade is available from some branches of Co-op in Scotland.Suggested ReadingYou read more about the origins of Simnel cake in my book Fool’s Gold: A History of British SaffronGlasgow Cookery BookThe cook and housewife's manual : a practical system of modern domestic cookery and family management (1828) by Christian Isobel Johnstone (aka Meg Dods)The Scots Kitchen: Its Lore and Recipes (1929) by F Marion McNeillA Scottish Feast: An Anthology of Food and Eating by Hamish Whyte and Catherine Brown Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 6 I chat with Dr Peggy Brunache, Lecturer in Public History and Archaeology as well as the founding Director of the Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies at the University of Glasgow, to discover how the culinary creativity of the enslaved people served as a form of resistance.Useful LinksYou can find Peggy on Instagram @negroshire Beniba Centre for Slavery StudiesPeggy is also one of the women featured the 100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark exhibition at the Leicester Gallery at de Montfort University from 1 October 2024 – 4 January 2025.Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners on BBC iPlayer. David Olusoga shines a light on Britain's dark past - how it was built on the profits of slavery. The acclaimed series that inspired frank conversations on our colonial history.Suggested ReadingBayley, F.W.N. (1830). Four Years’ Residence in the West Indies. London: William Kidd.Coleridge, Henry Nelson (1825) Six Months in the West Indies. London: John Murray Albermarle Street.Hearn, Lafcadio (1903) Two years in the French West Indies (Martinique)Moreton, J.B. (1793). West India Customs and Manners: containing Strictures on the Soil, Cultivation, Produce, Trade, Officers, and Inhabitants; with The Method of Establishing and Conducting a Sugar Plantation. To Which is Added The Practice of Training New Slaves. London: J. Parsons; W. Richardson; H. Gardner; and J. Walter.Schaw, Janet. (1921) Journal of a Lady of Quality; Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal, in the Years 1774 to 1776. Edited by Evangeline Walker Andrews, in Collaboration with Charles McLean Andrews, Farnam Professor of American History in Yale University NEW HAVEN: Yale University Press, LONDON: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press.Tryon, Thomas (1684) Friendly advice to the gentlemen-planters... Indies.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.On the Sunday before advent Anglican congregations across Britain will hear this collect, a short prayer to bring together or “collect” their thoughts on a topic. The matter at hand originally had nothing to do with food preparations for Christmas but by the early twentieth century the faithful took this collect as a sign that they should go forth and stir up their Christmas pudding. So, this is where the term Stir Up Sunday originates and as it happens today is that very day.I had a chat with my fellow A is for Apple Podcast host Dr Neil Buttery about the origins of this ritual and our enduring love for plum pudding at this time of the year.Useful LinksYou can find Great Aunt Eliza’s Victorian plum pudding recipe here.Neil has written four books (all of which I can highly recommend) including:* The Philosophy of Pudding* Knead to Know* Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper* A Dark History of SugarDon’t forget to check out Neil’s The British Food History Podcast. You can find Neil on X @neilbuttery and Instagram @dr_neil_butterySuggested ReadingA Christmas Carol by Charles DickensDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 5 I am joined by my fellow A is for Apple podcast co-host and the author of The Philosophy of Pudding, Dr Neil Buttery, and award winning food writer Kate Ryan to discuss the merits of blood as food and in particular, the most democratic of puddings, the black pudding.Useful LinksYou can find more information about Kate’s work on her website flavour.ie including further details on her research into Ireland’s black pudding heritage. You can find Kate as @flavour.ie on Instagram and X Do check out Neil’s British Food History podcast as well his books on A Dark History of Sugar and Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald England’s Most Influential Housekeeper, and of course his latest releases Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Pudding.You can find Neil on Instagram @dr_neil_buttery and X @neilbutteryEuro Toques in IrelandNational Folklore Collection of IrelandThe Cresswell Archive, Kinvara which includes images of Killing the Pig discussed by Kate in this episode.Some of the black pudding manufacturers mentioned in this podcast:* Bury Black Pudding* Clonakilty Black Pudding* Fruit Pig* Jane Russell Handmade Sausages* Sneem Black Pudding* Stornoway Black PuddingSuggested ReadingNose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking by Fergus HendersonCattle in Ancient Ireland (Studies in Irish Archaeology & History) by A T LucasOdd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal by Jennifer McLagan‘I’m the last drisheen maker in all of Ireland’ on EchoLive.ie by Kate Ryan on 14 November 2022‘A drisheen recipe that Joyce recommended!’ on EchoLive.ie by Kate Ryan on 21 November 2022‘Recipes for drisheen, from Cork’s top chefs’ on EchoLive.ie by Kate Ryan on 28 November 2022‘Great Scotch! Manchester's take on the Scotch egg has become a snack sensation’ in The Independent by Paul Vallely, 19 November 2011Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

The British High Street is on its last legs - or is it?In Episode 4 I chat to historian, author and broadcaster Dr Annie Gray about her latest book The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker to find out how the British high street has evolved over the centuries. There’s talk of dodgy grocers, fear of prostitution, giant Christmas cheeses and big shop bashing. But is it all doom and gloom for the high street? Useful LinksYou can find out more about Annie’s books and events on her website anniegray.co.uk and follow her on Instagram or X.You can also hear Annie on the culinary panel show The Kitchen Cabinet.Heima homeware and hardware store in York is a great example of a thriving independent shop.Suggested ReadingThe Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street is out now (buy it from an independent book shop!)Victory in the Kitchen by Annie Gray You can find a list of other titles by Annie on the Profile Books website.Eating to Extinction by Dan SaladinoDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 3 I explore how food and death have been intrinsically linked over the centuries focusing on two extraordinary funeral feasts. First of all, I am joined by food historian and chef Jay Reifel to dissect the Emperor Domitian’s famous black banquet complete with tombstone party favours. Then historian Giles MacDonogh and I visit pre-Revolutionary France where a young gourmand, Grimod de la Reynière, hosts his own dark repast much to his parent’s chagrin.Useful LinksYou can find Jay Reifel on Instagram @jayreifel or visit his website https://jayreifel.com for more information on his work and his book A History of the World in 10 Dinners: 2000 years, 100 recipes (2023) which features his take on Domitian’s feast including the spectacular chicken dish at the top of this post.You can find Giles McDonogh on X @GilesMacDonogh or you can find him on Susbtack at Giles MacDonogh. Details of Giles’ 15 books are available on his website http://www.macdonogh.co.uk/books.htm including Grimod de la Reynière’s biography A Palate in Revolution (1987)You may also want to check out A Question of Death, a newsletter and podcast from Rachel Mosses which explores our relationship with death through respectful enquiry.Suggested Reading* ‘Dio Cassius’ Roman historian see the entry on Britannica* An Alphabet for Gourmets by MFK Fisher (Fisher deals with funeral food in the chapter ‘S is for Sad’)* Almanach des Gourmands by Grimod de la Reynière (this is a digitised version of the 1904 reprint of the 1803 edition)* ‘Parentalia - Festival of the Ancestors’ by Lesley Laws on the Vindolanda Charitable Trust website* Feast by Nigella Lawson (2006)* ‘Black Banquets and Funeral Feasts’ in Gastronomica, The Journal of Food & Culture 12:4 (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, Winter 2012), pp 96-103.* The Rituals of Dinner by Margaret Visser (1991)Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 2 I am joined by Emma Kay a Historian and Archaeologist, who specialises in food history. We discuss Emma’s book on Anglo-Saxon culinary history, Fodder & Drincan, and discover why the so called ‘dark ages’ between the Romans quitting Britain in the 5th century CE and the Norman conquest in 1066 are not as gloomy on the food front as people once thought.Useful LinksEmma is the author of numerous books on culinary history including Fodder & Drincan: Anglo Saxon Culinary History. You can find her on Instagram and X. She is currently digitising her vast collection of antique kitchen equipment which will soon be available on museumofkitchenalia.co.uk.Emma is also on YouTube: Food & Histo-Archaeology with Emma KayEmma’s next book Wortes and All: Medieval Cooking will be available from Amberley Publishing in April 2025. Anglo Saxon sites in the UK include Sutton Hoo or West Stow Village, in Suffolk. Or visit the British Museum to see the famous Sutton Hoo helmet pictured above.Vikings, all episodes streaming on Prime.Suggested ReadingIf you want to find out more about this era Emma recommends the following books:* Anglo-Saxon Chronicle* Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Monastic Sign Language and Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming by Debby Banham* Beowulf* Cambridge University Press have a number of books available in their Anglo Saxon Studies series.* Wortcunning and Starcraft (3 Vols) by Oswald Cockayne* Christine Fell specialised in Anglo-Saxon and Viking history and was an Old English specialist * The Roman Cookery Book (a translation of De re coquinaria, aka Apicius) by Barbara Flower and Elizabeth Rosenbaum * Anglo Saxon Food and Drink by Ann Hagen* Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today by Sally Grainger* Constance Hieatt has written many books on medieval food including Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks* Baghdad Cookery Book by Charles Perry * A variety of translated works by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson can be found on Project Gutenberg* In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael WoodDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 1 I’m joined by my fellow A is for Apple podcast host Dr Alessandra Pino who is an expert on the intersection of the Gothic, food and cultural memory. We talk about her theory on ‘dark food’ in literature, an original concept that provides an insight into the legacies of slavery and its relationship to capitalism, in the context of Cristina Garcia’s novel Dreaming in Cuban (1992). We also chat about the long awaited A Gothic Cookbook, which is finally out of its ‘coffin’.Useful LinksYou can find Allie on Instagram @sasacharlie and X @foodforflo or discover more about her work on her website. Allie also co-hosts the Fear Feasts podcast.A Gothic Cookbook is published by Unbound and can be ordered direct from their website. For more information on Allie’s theory of dark food see her essay on the subject in The Palgrave Companion to Memory and Literature.Professor Lorna Piatti Farnell founded the Gothic Association of New Zealand and Australia.Roland Barthes was a French essayist and social and literary critic. Suggested Reading* Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen* Dark Tourism by Malcolm Foley and J. John Lennon* Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia* Sweetness & Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney Mintz* ‘Exploring the Role of Food in Gothic Literature’ by Alessandra Pino in Petits Propos Culinaires 129, Autumn 2024* Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes by L. S. VygotskyDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Season 3 of the Comfortably Hungry podcast will be launching on 3 October 2024 in which my guests and I will be taking a walk on the dark side of the culinary realm.Here’s a little preview of what’s coming up.The first ‘course’ of episodes will feature:* Dr Alessandra Pino on the meaning of dark food.* Emma Kay on the (not so) dark ages.* Jay Reifel and Giles MacDonogh on funeral banquets.* Dr Neil Buttery and Kate Ryan on black puddings* Dr Lindsay Middleton and Peter Gilchrist on a Hogmanay favourite.* Thomas DuBois on fermented beans.Plus lots more!A second ‘course’ of episodes will follow in the new year. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Roald Dahl’s second children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory celebrates its 60th birthday this year. In this episode I’m joined by Dr Alessandra Pino and Vanessa Baca from the Fear Feasts Podcast . We’re delving into the wicked side of chocolate and how this is represented in Dahl’s book and its movie adaptations.Useful LinksFear Feasts Podcast that analyses the horror genre in films and literature through the use and symbolism of food. You can find Fear Feasts on Instagram and Twitter/X.Vanessa is also one of the hosts of the Sharing the Flavor podcast. You can find Vanessa on Instagram and Twitter/X.Allie is a co-host of the A is for Apple Podcast (along with myself and Dr Neil Buttery). You can find Allie on Instagram and Twitter/X. Her book A Gothic Cookbook, co-authored with Ella Buchan, will be out this autumn. Allie was also a guest on Episode 4 of this season in which we looked at murderous chocolate.You can find the chocolate aubergine ‘parmigiana’ recipe we talked about at the end of this episode over on the A is for Apple Substack.Suggested Reading/ViewingCharlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (2000)The Witches by Roald Dahl (2022)James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (2024)The Twits by Roald Dahl (2016)Marvellously Revolting Recipes by Roald Dahl (2023)Complete Short Stories by Roald Dahl (2013) - this contains many of the stories which became the television series Tales of the Unexpected.The Gremlins : The Lost Walt Disney Production : A Royal Air Force Story by Roald Dahl (2006)Neil Gaiman author of books such as American Gods, Good Omens and Coraline.Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories And Funny Pictures by Heinrich Hoffman (1845)‘Candy Boys And Chocolate Factories’ by Catherine Keyser in Modern Fiction StudiesVol. 63, No. 3 (Fall 2017), pp. 403-428‘The 19th-Century Book of Horrors That Scared German Kids Into Behaving’ by Sarah Laskow on Atlas Obscurer 14 June, 2014Consuming Gothic: Food and Horror in Film by Lorna Piatti-Farnell (2017)Sibéal Pounder author of the Witch Wars and the novelisation of Wonka‘Roald Dahl And Danger In Children's Literature’ by Barbara Basbanes Richter in The Sewanee Review Vol. 123, No. 2 (Spring 2015), pp. 325-334 Tales of the UnexpectedWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory trailer (1971)Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trailer (2005)Wonka trailer (2023) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

THE FOLLOWING EPISODE FOCUSES ON THE MEDICINAL USES OF CANNABIS WITH OCCASIONAL REFERENCES TO RECREATIONAL USE.In the early days of chocolate, before we started stuffing it full of sugar, it was hailed as something of a health food. Chocolate was recognised as a suitable vehicle for all manner of medicines such as laxatives and vermifuges. In the twentieth century chocolate confections like brownies were adapted to convey cannabis as an alternative to smoking it.In this episode I’m joined by Dr. Bradley Borougerdi Professor of History from Tarrant County College in Arlington, Texas and drug historian Emily Dufton. We will be exploring the history of hash or weed brownies and how they have been used to alleviate the symptoms of critical diseases like AIDS. In particular we discuss Meridy Volz and Mary Jane Rathbun who achieved notoriety by selling these chocolate delicacies in the 1980s. Potpourri a la LibertéMix, in a big country, a magic herb, a blend of people (do not separate), and lots of chutzpah. Pour off prohibition, strain out and discard unjust laws. Use no DEA. Whip media into a frenzy. Smoke remainder for several decades. Serve. (Brownie Mary's marijuana cookbook, Dennis Peron's recipe for social change)Useful LinksCommodifying Cannabis: A Cultural History of a Complex Plant in the Atlantic World by Dr Bradley Borougerdi (2020). Reaktion Books will be publishing a Global History of Cannabis by Bradley in 2025.Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America by Emily Dufton (2017). Her new book, tentatively titled Addiction, Inc: Medication-Assisted Treatment and America’s Forgotten War on Drugs will be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2025. You can find out more about Emily on her website or follow her on Instagram or Twitter/X.You can find Meridy Volz on Instagram and Facebook where you can see examples of her artwork.The recipe for Brian Gysen’s Haschich (sic) Fudge originally published in the UK edition of the Alice B Toklas Cookbook (1954) can be found online in a collection of Alice’s writing called Murder in the Kitchen (2011)Ann Arbor Hash BashShanti ProjectSuggested Reading/Viewing‘Go Ask Alice: The History of Toklas’ Legendary Hashish Fudge’ by Layla Eplett, Scientific American, 20 April 2015 ‘Activist Preserves Legacy Of Husband Who Won Right To Medical Marijuana Grown By The Feds 45 Years Ago’ by Kyle Jaeger on the Marijuana Moment website, 8 May 2023Brownie Mary's Marijuana Cookbook, Dennis Peron's Recipe For Social Change by Mary Jane Rathbun and Denis Peron (1996)Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco by Alia Volz (2020)‘My Mom Secretly Made Pot Brownies For AIDS Patients And It Changed My Life’ by Alia Volz on the Huffington Post website, 5 August 2020‘Activist Robert C. Randall Dies’ by Graeme Zielinski in the Washington Post, 7 June 2001‘Brownie Mary’ Robert Dunes Video on YouTube‘I love you Alice B Toklas - Best Brownie Recipe’ (clip from Peter Sellers’ movie via YouTube)Bong Appetit on YouTube' This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In Episode 6 I am joined by chocolate historian, archivist and novelist Alex Hutchinson to discuss the rise and fall of the Bristol based Fry’s chocolate company.In this episode I discover what made quakers such good business people and why chocolate in particular appealed to them (aside from its delicious taste, obviously). We chat about the innovations in chocolate processing and business opportunities that helped make Fry’s the leading British chocolate manufacturer in the nineteenth century before its decline in the early twentieth century. So what went wrong? Useful LinksAlex the ArchivistPenny Thorpe Books:* The Quality Street Girls* The Mothers of Quality Street* The Quality Street Wedding* A Quality Street ChristmasYou can follow Alex on Twitter/X and Instagram.Records of J S Fry and Sons, chocolate manufacturers, of Bristol are kept at the Bristol Archives.You can view an advert for Fry’s Churchman’s Chocolate here.A written Virtual Tour of chocolate sites in Bristol is available on Internet Archive.More information about the various Test Acts is available at parliament.ukDon’t forget to check out my new podcast collaboration with Dr Neil Buttery and Dr Allie Pino the A is for Apple Podcast. You can follow this podcast on Instagram, Twitter/X and there is a newsletter on Substack too!Suggested ReadingFry's Chocolate Dream: The Rise and Fall of a Chocolate Empire by John Bradley, 2013Cadbury's Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate's Best-Loved Brand by John Bradley, 2008Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry. by Deborah Cadbury, London: Harper Press, 2010‘J.S. Fry & sons: Growth and Decline in the Chocolate Industry, 1753-1918’ by Stefanie Diaper in Studies in the Business History of Bristol edited Charles E. Harvey and Jon Press, Bristol: Bristol Academic Press, 1988, pp33-55‘Dying for a Humbug, the Bradford Sweets Poisoning 1858’ by Ben Johnson on Historic UKSailor Rations in the 18th Century - Burgoo (YouTube)The Chocolate Conscience by Gillian Wagner, Chatto & Windus, 1987 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Before you tuck into your chocolate eggs today I thought you might like to hear a little bit about how they came being. In the UK Fry’s of Bristol are credited with inventing the first moulded chocolate bar in 1847 and hollow chocolate eggs a couple of decades later. I had a chat recently with chocolate historian and archivist Alex Hutchinson about Fry’s which led to a discussion about the unsung beauty of French chocolate. So were Fry’s as creative as we think or should we be looking further afield for the chocolate innovators?You’ll be able to hear the full interview with Alex soon where we discuss rise and fall of the Fry’s chocolate company. You can also find two recipes for Easter Biscuits on this Substack including a chocolatey version.Useful LinksAlex the ArchivistPenny Thorpe Books:* The Quality Street Girls* The Mothers of Quality Street* The Quality Street Wedding* A Quality Street ChristmasSuggested ReadingYou can discover more about the history of chocolate in my book, The Philosophy of Chocolate, published by the British LibraryYou can read more about the origins of Easter eggs in this article I wrote for English Heritage a few years back. Rachel over at Folklore, Food & Fairytales has also written a rather good piece on Easter Food Traditions on Substack. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I explore the life of some extraordinary business women in the eighteenth century with Helen White, Senior Interpretation Manager from the Old Royal Naval College and Dr Sara Pennell, Associate Professor in Early Modern British History at the University of Greenwich. We had a fascinating chat about chocolate house owner Grace Tosier and confectioner Mary Eales.There is a teensy error in my intro. Thomas Tosier (Grace’s husband) became the Royal Chocolate Maker in 1714 not 1717 as stated by myself. You can read more and watch a short video about the discovery of the Chocolate Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace here.From 29 March until 3 November 2024 you will be able to visit a new exhibition at the Old Royal Naval College to discover the key role chocolate played in the revival of Greenwich. As part of the exhibition, there will be a recreation of the Tosier Chocolate House, which was run by Grace Tosier, and was once located on the edge of Blackheath in what became known as Chocolate Row. Discover how Greenwich became a popular destination for sophisticated people, and a hub for astronomy, science and culture, with Sir Christopher Wren’s iconic architectural project, the Royal Hospital for Seamen at its centre.  Useful LinksChocolate House Greenwich Exhibition at the Old Royal Naval CollegeFollow the Old Royal Naval College on Instagram and X (Twitter)Further ReadingReading and Writing Recipe Books, 1550-1800 (2013) Edited by Michelle DiMeo and Sara PennellThe Birth of the English Kitchen, 1600-1850 (2016) by Sara Pennell Mrs Mary Eales’s Receipts (1718)Royal Chocolate House, Greenwich on the Blackheath & Greenwich History BlogGreenwich Historical Society This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Apologies for the radio silence folks! 2024 has been hectic so far hence no new Comfortably Hungry episodes. There will be some more additions to Season 2 but in the meantime I wanted to share this new podcast I am working on with Dr Neil Buttery (of the British Food History Podcast) and Dr Allie Pino (of the Fear Feasts Podcast).A is for Apple is an encyclopaedia of food and drink in podcast format. Each season we will be discussing a variety of edible and drinkable delights (and anything in between). You subscribe to the A is for Apple Podcast newsletter on Substack which will include extra audio and recipes inspired by the episode theme.In this pilot episode Allie takes on apples…a seemingly simple route but she looks at the darker side of this humble fruit. Witchcraft, ghosts murder and….apple detectives! Neil explores the green tinted history of absinth and I investigate the nineteenth century dodgy dealings done in the name of adulteration.Links to things mentioned in this episode:‘13 Magical Ways to Use Apples’Glyn Hughes’ Alan Turin sculpture‘Lancashire man poisoned after eating cherry seeds’ article on BBC News‘How Did La Belle Époque Become Europe’s Golden Age?’ article on The Collector‘Site of "The Absinthe Murders"’ article on Atlas ObscuraThe Apple Tree (1952) by Daphne du MaurierHallowe’en Party (1969) by Agatha ChristieThe July Ghost (1982) by A.S. ByattA treatise on adulterations of food, and culinary poisons. Exhibiting the fraudulent sophistications of bread, beer, wine, spirituous liquors, tea, coffee, cream, confectionery, vinegar, mustard, pepper, cheese, olive oil, pickles and other articles employed in domestic economy ; and methods of detecting them. (1820) by Friedrich AccumJoin our free Substack to get extra bonus features: https://substack.com/profile/147444179-sam-bilton Anything to add? Don’t forget we want to hear your suggestions for future topics.Contact us:email: aisforapplepod.gmail.com Social media:twitter/X: @aisforapplepodInstagram: @aisforapplepod_ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode  I will be discussing the enduring popularity of the yule log or bûche de noel (the edible version rather than the flammable one) with American baker and author of Sweet Paris, Frank Adrian Barron who you may know from Instagram as @cakeboyparis. We’ll also be talking about how this dessert has evolved and the secret to making a great bûche de noel.To whet your appetite here is French pastry chef, Pierre Lacam’s recipe originally published in Le Mémorial Historique Et Géographique De La Pâtisserie (1890).Bûche de NoelElle se fait en biscuit à la poche, et en génoise sur plaque. En biscuit, c’est plus coûteux pour la crème, vu les cintres des bouchées. La génoise est chère par sa pâte et ses rognures, mail n’a pas de cintres à boucher. Prenons la génoise, vous coupez une dizaine de ronds égaux, je suppose, vous les collez l’un contre l’autre à la crème moka ou chocolat. Vous masquez bien tou autour et lissez. Vous la couchez sur un front allongé parsemé d’amandes grillées. Vous a décorez d’un bout à l’autre à la fine douille à breton, bien égale, imitant l’écorce de l’arbre, et après, vous y posez quatre ou cinque noeuds en biscuit épais coupés à l’emporte-pièce imitants les noeuds de branches, vous les masquez et les décorez de bas en haut même douille, l’on masque les deux extrémités de la bûche sans décorer. Il y a des maisons qui passent avec pression de la pâte d’amandes vert à la passoire, d’autres sèment des pistaches hachées très fines. On en fait à la meringue italienne, mais ferme.Here is the literal translation from Google to give you an idea (clearly it doesn’t do technical pastry terms!).It is made in biscuit in the pocket, and in sponge cake on a plate. In biscuit, it is more expensive for the cream, given the hangers of the bites. Sponge cake is expensive in its dough and trimmings, but has no hangers to butcher. Let's take the sponge cake, you cut about ten equal circles, I suppose, you stick them against each other with mocha or chocolate cream. You mask well all around and smooth. You lay it on an elongated forehead sprinkled with toasted almonds. You decorate from one end to the other with a thin Breton nozzle, very even, imitating the bark of the tree, and then you put four or five knots in thick biscuit cut with a cookie cutter. imitating branch knots, you mask them and decorate them from bottom to top, same sleeve, we mask the two ends of the log without decorating. There are houses that strain green marzipan through a sieve, others sow very finely chopped pistachios. We make it with Italian meringue, but firm.Pierre Lacam (1836-1902) was the son of a dyer born near Sarlat in the Dordogne, France. He decided to follow his older brother into the patisserie profession working his way up to eventually work for the Prince of Monaco, Charles III in 1877. He was interested in regional cakes and breads which led to the publication Le Mémorial Historique Et Géographique De La Pâtisserie in 1890. This was the first time a recipe for the bûche de noel appears although it was invented earlier.In Le Glacier Classique et Artistique en France et en Italie par Pierre Lacam and Antoine Charabot (1893), Lacam wrote:‘Today there are new desserts but we no longer know the name of the inventor. For example, we were never able to find out who had created the Yule Log…. after looking, I found that it was a man named Antoine Charabot, chef at Maison Sanson , 14, rue de Buci, who created the tree branch in 1879. It remained the same for a few years. Several patisseries began to make it and since 1886 its fashion has not diminished.’Le Glacier Classique includes an ice cream version of this Christmas dessert.Useful LinksYou can find out more about Frank Adrian Barron’s cakes and workshops on his website or follow him on Instagram.Sweet Paris by Frank Adrian Barron (2022)This year Maxime Frédéric of Le Cheval Blanc in Paris has produced a bûche de noel shaped like an old fashioned steam train, ‘La Chocomotive’.Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert by Michael Krondl (2010) - don’t forget to listen to episode 3 of this podcast where Michael and I discuss the history of the Sachertorte.A full biography (in French) on Pierre Lacam can be viewed here.‘Ceremonies for Christmas’ in Hesperides by Robert Herrick (1648)Le Mémorial Historique Et Géographique De La Pâtisserie by Pierre Lacam (in French)Le Glacier Classique et Artistique en France et en Italie par Pierre Lacam and Antoine Charabot (1893) (in French)Fanny Cradock has a lot to say about Swiss Roll’s (including yule logs) and the best way to roll them. Take a look at Kevin Geddes’ blog post or this clip of Fanny’s TV Christmas favourites. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

We all know that chocolate can be lovely but it definitely has a darker side and I’m not referring to the amount of cocoa solids there are in a single bar. In this episode I am joined by author Dr Alessandra Pino, who has co-written the forthcoming Gothic Cookbook, and food writer and novelist Sue Lawrence (check out the links below to Sue’s books) to explore how chocolate has been used in the past as a vehicle for poison (mostly by women). Hell hath no fury, as they say..Useful LinksAllie Pino on Twitter and InstagramFear Feasts Podcast & InstagramA Gothic Cookbook co-authored with Ella BuchanRomancing the Gothic with Dr Sam HirstSue Lawrence on TwitterSue’s cookbooks include A Taste of Scotland's Islands (plus many more). Sue also has a new book on Scottish Baking out in August 2024.Sue’s novels include:Lady’s Rock (out March 2024)The Unreliable Death of Lady GrangeThe Green LadyDown To The SeaSuggested Reading/ListeningIf you’d like to find out more about the two murder cases discussed in this episode take a listen to Lucy Worsley’s Lady Killers Podcasts on Madeleine Smith and Christiana Edmonds.The Phantom Thread movie which features a poisoned mushroom omeletteThe Philosophy of Chocolate by Sam BiltonThe Christiana Edmonds case was the inspiration for The Black Spectacles by John Dixon CarrAustralian Poison Mushroom Case by Bill Chappell on NPRThe Chocolate Box by Agatha ChristieThe Invention of Murder by Judith FlandersStephen Fry on the enduring appeal of Georgette HeyerSunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Ever since Europeans encountered chocolate in the sixteenth century it has been a divisive substance as I explore in my latest book The Philosophy of Chocolate. So you probably won’t be surprised to learn that wars have been fought over it. We’re not talking about modern warfare with guns and tanks but in the field of commerce where chocolate and who or what it represents can be a controversial subject.In this episode I am joined by food historian and author of Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert, Michael Krondl. We’re going to be talking about the iconic Sachertorte which Michael has described as ‘an edible manifestation of an urban, cosmopolitan Vienna, as smooth and fitted as a little black dress.’Useful LinksDo take a look at Michael’s Books Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert, The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice and The Donut: History, Recipes, and Lore from Boston to BerlinAldi’s Cuthbert Advertisement (2023) can be found here.Ed Cumming, Caterpillar wars: time to pick sides in battle of Colin v Cuthbert, The Guardian, 18 April 2021.The Original Sachertorte on the Hotel Sacher WebsiteDemel the famous Viennese Pastry Shop This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Season 2 of the Comfortably Hungry Podcast!Today is the 2nd of November (unless of course you are listening to this episode after this date). In the Christian calendar it is known as All Souls Day and in Mexico specifically Dia de los Muertos or day of the dead. But as we shall see it is far from a mournful occasion.‘To the modern Mexican death doesn't have any meaning. It has ceased to be the transition, the access to the other life which is more authentic than this one. But the unimportance of death has not taken it away from us and eliminated it from our daily lives. To the inhabitant of New York, Paris, or London death is a word that is never uttered because it burns the lips. The Mexican, on the other hand, frequents it, mocks it, caresses it, sleeps with it, entertains it; it is one of his favourite playthings and his most enduring love. It is true that in his attitude there is perhaps the same fear that others also have, but at least he does not hide this fear nor does he hide death; he contemplates her face to face with impatience, with contempt, with irony: 'If they're going to kill me tomorrow, let them kill me for once and for all.’ Octavio Paz The Labyrinth of Solitude (1959)In this episode my guest is Maite Gomez-Rejón an educator, writer and cook who explores the connection between art and culinary history with Artbites. She has recently curated two exhibitions at LA Plaza Cocina in Los Angeles, Maize: Past, Present & Future and The Legacy of Cacao. When you have a moment do check out Maite’s podcast with actor Eva Longoria Hungry for History. We are taking a look at the role chocolate plays in the Day of the Dead celebrations.Are there any chocolatey subjects you’d like me to explore further? Let me know in the Subscriber chat.Useful LinksMaite’s website is Artbites and you can find her on Instagram @artbites_maite Hungry for History Podcast with Maite & Eva Longoria. In particular you may like these episodes:“Pan Dulce y Dia de los Muertos” “Chocolate: The Food of the Gods” Maite also recommends this “Day of the Dead special” on Pass the Chipotle podcastThe British Museum produced this short film on the Day of the Dead celebrations.Further ReadingThe True History of Chocolate by Sophie & Michael Coe (1996)The Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy (2009)Sacred Consumption: Food and Ritual in Aztec Art and Culture by Elizabeth Moran (2016)Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World by Marcy Norton (2010)Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity by Jeffrey Pilcher (1998)The Village in the Valley by Corinna Sargood (2021) (for an evocative description of the Dia de los Muertos celebrations from a British perspective)If you’d like to find out more about Josefina Velazquez de Leon (the subject of the next exhibition Maite is curating at LA Plaza Cucina) take a look at The Forgotten Legacy of Mexico’s Original Celebrity Chef from Saveur (2016).Additional music (Mexican Dia De Muertos Mariachi composed by Brais González) produced by Blue Panda, sourced via Pond5. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to the comfortably hungry podcast where yesterday’s dinner is tomorrow’s history. I hope you’ve been keeping well over the past few months and are ready for a new season of delicious episodes.2023 has been a hectic year for me. As well as the podcast I’ve busy writing articles on everything from my pet subject gingerbread to festive food which appears in the new Christmas Book published by Phaidon earlier this year. I’ve also just released my third book called The Philosophy of Chocolate published by the British Library which is handy as CHOCOLATE is the theme for season two of the podcast.The Philosophy of Chocolate explores our complex relationship with this versatile confection. The book moves between the ceremonial uses of chocolate and its reputation as an aphrodisiac, investigates its reputed health properties and poisonous possibilities. Other chapters reveal the darker side of its production in the Americas, through slave labour and exploitation of indigenous populations, as well as its commercialisation as a sweet treat in Western cultures, and chocolate consumption around the world.This season I’ll be taking a look at some of chocolate’s more surprising history. So join me on All Souls day on the 2nd November when I’ll be examining chocolate’s role in the Mexican Day Of The Dead celebrations. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe