Comfortably Hungry (Sam Bilton)

Welcome to the very first episode of Comfortably Hungry with food historian and author of First Catch Your Gingerbread Sam Bilton! I will be discussing this delectable treat with fellow food historian, podcaster and author of A Dark History of Sugar, Dr Neil Buttery. Joining us is Dr Alessandra Pino writer and researcher on how cultural memory, food and the Gothic intersect and co-author of A Gothic Cookbook which will be released in 2023. As it's 5th November (also known as Bonfire Night in the UK) we'll be chatting about parkin, dragons and gothic food. Keep listening to find out what spicy delights Neil and Allie are contributing to our virtual pot luck supper.

More gingerbread history and recipes are available in my book First Catch Your Gingerbread. If you are a fan of spices you may also like my book Fool's Gold: A History of British Saffron.

You can find Neil's recipe for parkin here https://britishfoodhistory.com/2011/11/04/yorkshire-parkin/ and more details on the knucker can be found here https://britishfoodhistory.com/2019/11/09/how-to-kill-a-dragon-with-pudding-or-parkin/

Neil's book A Dark History of Sugar is available from all good bookshops (physical or online) now.

Do give Neil's podcast British Food: A History a listen https://britishfoodhistory.com/support-the-blog-podcast/ particularly the episodes he recorded with myself on gingerbread and Allie on her forthcoming book.

Further details on A Gothic Cookbook are available here https://unbound.com/books/a-gothic-cookbook/

You can follow all of us on Twitter:

Sam Bilton (@sjfbilton)

Dr Neil Buttery (@neilbuttery)

Dr Alessandra Pino (@foodforflo)

And Instagram

Sam Bilton (@mrssbilton)

Dr Neil Buttery (@dr_neil_buttery)

Dr Alessandra Pino (@sasacharlie)

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In this week’s episode I will be exploring the benefits of using a haybox or Wonder Bag to prepare meals and cut down on energy costs. My guest is Liz Trigg (liztrigg_), one of the hosts of the Original Home Economist, who has had first hand experience of this mode of cooking.

As the name suggests haybox cookery involves placing partially cooked food in a box lined with hay although other materials with similar insulating properties can be used. A dish is prepared on a hob then brought up to boiling point and usually cooked for a short period at a highish temperature before being transferred to the haybox. The hay helps harness the residual heat in the cooking vessel. It’s a great way to prepare things like stews and porridge that benefit from slow cooking. Hay boxes were particularly popular during the world wars, although as I discovered the idea of cooking with residual heat may go back to the medieval era.

Interest in this form of ‘automatic’ cooking appears to have been sparked by an exhibit at the World’s Exposition in Paris in 1867:

The twentieth century would see a number of authors praise the virtues of this mode of cooking although it has to be said that not everyone was convinced. Margaret Johnes Mitchell (1869–1952) was an American writer and a dietician at the Manhattan State Hospital, New York. She published The Fireless Cook Book in 1909 which includes details on how to build a haybox. As well as saving energy, she believed the haybox eliminated excessive heat and odours from the kitchen, improved the flavour of food and could even dispense the need for servants. She also offers the following tips:

* Cooking depends on the retention of heat so the larger quantity of food/liquid the more likely the heat will be retained.

* The cooking vessel should be full in order to maximise the benefits of this style of cooking.

* The cooking vessel should fit into its nest snugly.

* Make sure the haybox is close to the stove so that you can transfer hot food quickly.

* The box should be tightly closed once the food has been put in.

* All food needs to be cooked for a certain amount of time before being moved to the haybox. This is vital to ensure that the contents cook correctly.

* Hardness of water can affect cooking times i.e. food will take longer.

Useful Links & Further Reading

Liz’s recipe for Fabada Asturiana can be found in Instagram

Oatmeal porridge in a haybox (Ministry of Information film, 1940)

The Self-Acting Norwegian Cooking Apparatus - New York Medical Journal Vol X 1870

A fragment of a mediaeval fireless cooking pot, found in Monmouth Castle grounds

The Great War Cook Book by May Byron (1918)

Haybox Cookery by Ambrose Heath (1961)

“Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections Edited from British Library Manuscripts Additional 32085 and Royal 12.C.Xii.” Speculum 61, no. 4, by Hieatt, Constance B., and Robin F. Jones. (1986)

The Fireless Cook Book by Margaret Johnes Mitchell (1909)

Wonderbag

In Episode 1 Sam discusses a nineteenth century food protest with freelance writer and illustrator Josh Sutton.

The early years of the nineteenth century were marked by social and economic upheaval caused by war, rising inflation and the loss of access to common land due to the The General Enclosure Act of 1801. As a result, many agricultural labourers during this period struggled to support themselves and their families and were forced to rely on parish relief to supplement their meagre earnings. Even this did not prevent huge numbers of people living in a state of poverty where hunger was a daily reality.

The Ely and Littleport riots took place in April and May 1816 as a response to hunger, poverty and unemployment. The protestors’ slogan was ‘bread or blood’ which was inscribed on their banners. They also brandished a loaf on a stick as they marched.

Hundreds of people were involved in this demonstration. For a short while it appeared their demands for higher wages would be met but their protest ended in tragedy. Listen to the podcast to find out what happened.

If you enjoy the podcast please don’t forget to rate it to help other listeners discover the Comfortably Hungry series.

Josh explores the Ely and Littleport riot and many other food protests in his book Food Worth Fighting For, (Prospect Books, 2016). Other titles by Josh include:

Outdoor Ovens – if you can’t stand the heat, go al fresco (Prospect Books, 2017)

Food from Childhood (Prospect Books, 2019)

For details on his other books visit joshsutton.co.uk or follow Josh on Twitter @BooksFez and Instagram @redfezbooks

This podcast features the song Bread or Blood by The Commoners Choir which is available to download here.

You can follow Sam on Twitter @sjfbilton and Instagram @mrssbilton or discover more about her work and books at sambilton.com.

Further Reading

Besides Food Worth Fighting For you may find these other publications and websites of interest:

John Burnett - Plenty & Want: A Social History of Diet in England (1979)

William Cobbett - Rural Rides (1830)

JL & Barbara Hammond - The Village Labourer (1920)

Trussell Trust

You may be aware from my posts on social media that this inaugural series of Comfortably Hungry has been somewhat delayed. So far 2023 hasn’t gone according to plan. The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry as they say and in my case spectacularly so.

I spent the first few months of the year wallowing in chocolate history like a veritable Augustus Gloop researching a book for the British Library which will be published later this year. However, two days after I submitted the manuscript I discovered I have detached retinas in both eyes and required emergency surgery. Recovery is going to be slow but I am getting there.

Fortunately, I had recorded a few episodes before the proverbial hit the fan, so while this season will be shorter than originally planned and perhaps not as slickly produced as I would like it to be, it should get the ball rolling. Due to the ongoing cost of living crisis I have chosen ‘austerity’ as the theme for this season. What I plan to do with my guests this season is look at how people have coped or reacted in times of austerity in the past. We’ll be exploring everything from food riots, heroic ingredients and the origins of some popular energy saving devices.

Having said that ‘I'm back’, my next round of surgery takes place on 11 May. So while I have scheduled some posts to come out over the coming weeks please forgive me if I don’t respond to any questions or comments immediately.

Hopefully, (and I really mean this) I’ll SEE you soon!

Welcome to Episode 3 where Dr Neil Buttery and I continue our exploration of the curious world of tripe. This time we’re keeping our feet firmly in Britain.

‘So home and dined there with my wife upon a most excellent dish of tripes of my own directing, covered with mustard, as I have heretofore seen them done at my Lord Crew’s, of which I made a very great meal.’ Samuel Pepys, Friday 24 October 1662

Perhaps one of the reasons tripe has declined in popularity is that we’ve forgotten how to prepare it? Neil tracks down a tripe seller (yes, they do still exist) and tries some historic recipes to see why this meat was once popular.

Do you eat tripe? If so, tell us your favourite recipe!

You can tag me on Instagram: @mrssbilton or Twitter: @sjfbilton (Neil’s details are below) or drop me an email at comfortablyhungry@gmail.com

Don’t forget to check out Neil’s website British Food: A History loaded with fascinating historical recipes. His books include The Dark History of Sugar and Before Mrs Beeton. And if you haven’t done so already, do give his British Food History podcast a listen.

You can find Neil on Instagram: @dr_neil_buttery and Twitter: @neilbuttery

If you enjoy the podcast please don’t forget to rate it to help other listeners discover the Comfortably Hungry series.

Useful Links/Further Reading

In 2016 the Oxford Food Symposium had Offal: Rejected and Reclaimed Food as its theme. The proceedings of the symposium contains some fascinating papers on tripe and other offal.

For a history of tripe in Britain try Tripe: A Most Excellent Dish by Marjory Houlihan

For further culinary inspiration try:

The Talisman Cookbook by Ada Boni (1975 - English Version)

The Cook and Housewife’s Manual by Margaret Dods (1827)

Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking by Fergus Henderson

Offal: The Fifth Quarter by Anissa Helou

The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May (1678)

The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (1786)

Pressure cookers have been hailed as a saviour of the kitchen in these financially straitened times. They cook food quickly and efficiently thereby saving energy and money. BUT… I can’t get the idea of the pressure cooker being a steaming demon out of my head, ready to spew forth its contents like Regan MacNeil of The Exorcist fame being told she has to attend church on Sunday. Hence, my pressure cooker has been buried beneath a tower of boxes in the attic for many years.

Or at least it was until I read Modern Pressure Cooking by Catherine Phipps. She has a far more positive view of pressure cookers and chats to me in this episode about the history behind this device, how it works and the benefits of this mode of cooking. So if you’re a pressure cooking doubter be prepared to be converted.

Like so much kitchen gadgetry the pressure cooker has its origins in the depths of history. A French protestant refugee called Denys Papin (1647-1713) is credited with designing a prototype for the pressure cooker. Papin’s steam digester cooked meat under pressure to produce tender, tasty and nutritious morsels. So intense was this process that even after a short period of time bones were rendered as soft as cheese. He published his results in A New Digester Or Engine For Softening Bones, Containing The Description Of Its Make And Use in 1681. Papin’s aim was that the digester could be used to make portable meat jellies for use at sea (these he argued would be more nutritious than the salted meat usually served on board ships). He concluded that when the jelly was seasoned with sugar and lemon juice he ate it with much pleasure.

The Fellows of the Royal Society were seemingly not put off by the device looking and sounding like a contraption designed for torture and were astounded by the results. Seventeenth century diarist John Evelyn exclaimed:

‘I went this afternoon with several of the Royal Society to a supper which was all dressed, both fish and flesh, in Monsieur Papin’s digester, by which the hardest bones of beef itself, and mutton, were made as soft as cheese, without water or other liquor, and with less than eight ounces of coals, producing an incredible quantity of gravy; the best for clearness and good relish, and the most delicious that I had ever seen, or tasted.’ (12 April 1682)

In the twentieth century the pressure cooker was tamed and additional safety features mean that the risk of explosion has been nullified so kitchen worktops and walls do not run the risk of being sullied by any sudden pressurised outbursts. I’m a convert, how about you?

You can find Catherine Phipps on Twitter @catlilycooks or Instagram @catherinephipps. Do subscribe to Catherine’s Substack newsletter Catherine Phipps . Catherine has written several books including Modern Pressure Cooking, as well as Citrus, Leaf, Chicken and The Pressure Cooker Cookbook.

Further Reading

Castro Opts For Steam Power, Associated Press in The Guardian, 10 March 2005

The Diary of John Evelyn, Volume 2 (M.W. Dunno, 1901)

A New Digester Or Engine For Softening Bones, Containing The Description Of Its Make And Use by Denys Papin, (1681)

Papin’s Digester by Andrea Sella and Thony Christie in Chemistry World, 1 October 2019

It’s very easy to get carried away when chatting to my guests so I’ve collated a few of the bits that didn’t make it into the original pressure cooking episode. Given that we’re in the height of summer I thought it would be interesting to explore how nations with consistently hotter climates than Britain utilise pressure cookers and even slow cookers to great effect.

As an aside I was intrigued to discover that it wasn’t only Denys Papin who was convinced chicken would benefit from the pressure cooker treatment (listen to Episode 5 if you don’t know what I’m talking about). A certain ‘Colonel’ Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame doctored a pressure cooker in 1939 so that he could fry chicken quickly and with less oil. This is dangerous in modern, domestic pressure cookers so don’t try it at home. Today’s fast food chains use specially designed pressure fryers. This ultimately helped Sanders (who was given the honorary title of ‘colonel’ by the state in 1935) grow his franchise and in 1964 sold his interest in the company for $2m.

You can find Catherine Phipps on Twitter @catlilycooks or Instagram @catherinephipps. Do subscribe to Catherine’s Substack newsletter Catherine is Under Pressure. Catherine has written several books including Modern Pressure Cooking, as well as Citrus, Leaf, Chicken and The Pressure Cooker Cookbook.

Further Reading

Taste of Life: When Punekars warmed up to introduction of Icmic cooker by Chinmay Damle, 10 November 2022

Indumadhab Mallick revolutionized the kitchen with the invention of ‘Icmic Cooker’, 7 May 2021 on GetBengal.com

Kentucky Fried Chicken Started With An Iron Pan, Dining Room Table & A Gas Station, Consumerist May 2015

In Episode 6 I chat with Professor Rebecca Earle from the University of Warwick about the fascinating history behind the potato.

The potato is one of the most versatile vegetables we eat in the western world. To quote Rebecca from her book Feeding the People: The Politics of the Potato :

‘Today the potato is a remarkably successful global food. It ranks just behind wheat, maize and rice in terms of the volume harvested each year, and is the world’s fifth most valuable food crop. More potatoes are eaten per capita in Malawi than Peru itself. Overall, Europeans are now the world’s most assiduous eaters of potatoes consuming on average some 82 kilos per person each year.’

But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for this south America immigrant. It has been plagued by myths surrounding it’s edibility, such as links between its consumption and leprosy, leading some writers to assume that potatoes weren’t widely eaten in Europe by the working classes prior to the nineteenth century when in fact they were. Over the centuries it has been hailed as both a health food and as a nutritional pariah accused of making the working population lazy. At times the potato has been a source of social unrest yet during both world wars it was relied upon to feed allied and enemy nations. Although in Britain they don’t count as one of your five a day, potatoes are a source of potassium, vitamins C, B1 and B6 and their skins contain fibre. However, finally the potato’s importance to global food security has been officially recognised by the United Nations which declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato.

You can find out more about Rebecca on her website. Rebecca has written a number of books including:

Feeding the People: The Politics of the Potato, Cambridge University Press (2020).

Potato (Object Lessons), Bloomsbury (2019)

The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492-1700, Cambridge University Press (2012). Winner of the Conference on Latin America History 2013 Bolton-Johnson Prize.

The Return of the Native: Indians and Mythmaking in Spanish America, 1810-1930, Duke University Press (2008). Winner of the Conference on Latin American History's 2008 Bolton-Johnson Prize Honorable Mention.

Further Reading

Domestic Medicine by William Buchan (1801)

Rural Rides by William Cobbett (1822)

Cottage Economy by William Cobbett (1828)

I’m afraid there were a few Gremlins in the system when we recorded this session but there is a transcript available here.

In this last episode of season 1 of the Comfortably Hungry Podcast I wanted to take a slightly different approach to the theme of austerity.

I’m sure many with you are familiar with the ‘Make Do And Mend’ initiative launched by the British government in 1941. New clothing was rationed from June of that year so people were encouraged to repair or repurpose clothes (you can hear one of my earlier guests Liz Trigg and her mother Val talking about this on the Original Home Economist podcast). I’m not going completely off piste but the concept of ‘make do and mend’ did get me wondering about how it can be applied to the kitchen. Whether it’s a canny use of leftovers or utilising vegetable offal (more on that later), I want to explore how we can make the most of what we have available in our kitchen cupboards.

I could of course have focused on the war years in Britain when food rationing was place but I‘m particularly interested in how other cultures approach this idea of making do. To help me answer this question I have two guests with me today of Gujarati heritage. Now we talked for a very long time so I have split this final episode into two parts. The second part will be released in a couple of weeks.

Useful Links

Biting Biting: Snacking Gujarati-Style by Urvashi Roe

https://urvashiroe.com/

Follow Urvashi on Instagram & Twitter

Kitchen Press

Urvashi will be appearing at the following food festivals:

Rangeelu Gujarat 1st - 3rd September 2023

Ludlow Food Festival 8th - 10th September 2023

Dartmouth Food Festival 20th - 22nd October 2023

If you’d like to try making Dhokra ENO Fruit Salts are available here

Philosophy of Curry by Sejal Sukhadwala

Whoever heard of Vegetable Offal? by Sejal Sukhadwala

Follow Sejal on Instagram & Twitter

Original Home Economist Podcast ‘Make Do and Mend’

The British Food History Podcast ‘Tinned Food with Lindsey Middleton’

Welcome back to Part 2 of Make Do and Cook, the final episode of Season 1. Last time I chatted to food writer Urvashi Roe and food historian Sejal Sukhadwala about resourcefulness in the kitchen particularly when it comes to store cupboard ingredients and leftovers.

In this part I discover that eating leftovers was not always embraced by some sectors of Indian society while others took more of a stalk to root approach to cooking vegetables.

Useful Links

Biting Biting: Snacking Gujarati-Style by Urvashi Roe

https://urvashiroe.com/

Follow Urvashi on Instagram & X

Kitchen Press

Urvashi will be appearing at the following food festivals:

Rangeelu Gujarat 1st - 3rd September 2023

Ludlow Food Festival 8th - 10th September 2023

Dartmouth Food Festival 20th - 22nd October 2023

If you’d like to try making Dhokra ENO Fruit Salts are available here

Philosophy of Curry by Sejal Sukhadwala

Whoever heard of Vegetable Offal? by Sejal Sukhadwala

Follow Sejal on Instagram & X

Original Home Economist Podcast ‘Make Do and Mend’

The British Food History Podcast ‘Tinned Food with Lindsay Middleton’

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.

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 Links

Maite’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 podcast

The British Museum produced this short film on the Day of the Dead celebrations.

Further Reading

The 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.

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 Links

Do 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 Berlin

Aldi’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 Website

Demel the famous Viennese Pastry Shop

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 Links

Allie Pino on Twitter and Instagram

Fear Feasts Podcast & Instagram

A Gothic Cookbook co-authored with Ella Buchan

Romancing the Gothic with Dr Sam Hirst

Sue Lawrence on Twitter

Sue’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 Grange

The Green Lady

Down To The Sea

Suggested Reading/Listening

If 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 omelette

The Philosophy of Chocolate by Sam Bilton

The Christiana Edmonds case was the inspiration for The Black Spectacles by John Dixon Carr

Australian Poison Mushroom Case by Bill Chappell on NPR

The Chocolate Box by Agatha Christie

The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders

Stephen Fry on the enduring appeal of Georgette Heyer

Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

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 Noel

Elle 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 Links

You 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.

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 Links

Chocolate House Greenwich Exhibition at the Old Royal Naval College

Follow the Old Royal Naval College on Instagram and X (Twitter)

Further Reading

Reading and Writing Recipe Books, 1550-1800 (2013) Edited by Michelle DiMeo and Sara Pennell

The 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 Blog

Greenwich Historical Society

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 Obscura

The Apple Tree (1952) by Daphne du Maurier

Hallowe’en Party (1969) by Agatha Christie

The July Ghost (1982) by A.S. Byatt

A 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 Accum

Join 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: @aisforapplepod

Instagram: @aisforapplepod_

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 Liberté

Mix, 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 Links

Commodifying 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 Bash

Shanti Project

Suggested 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 2023

Brownie 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

'

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 Links

Fear 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/Viewing

Charlie 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 Studies

Vol. 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, 2014

Consuming 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 Unexpected

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory trailer (1971)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trailer (2005)

Wonka trailer (2023)

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 Links

Alex the Archivist

Penny Thorpe Books:

* The Quality Street Girls

* The Mothers of Quality Street

* The Quality Street Wedding

* A Quality Street Christmas

You 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.uk

Don’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 Reading

Fry's Chocolate Dream: The Rise and Fall of a Chocolate Empire by John Bradley, 2013

Cadbury's Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate's Best-Loved Brand by John Bradley, 2008

Chocolate 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 UK

Sailor Rations in the 18th Century - Burgoo (YouTube)

The Chocolate Conscience by Gillian Wagner, Chatto & Windus, 1987

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 Links

Alex the Archivist

Penny Thorpe Books:

* The Quality Street Girls

* The Mothers of Quality Street

* The Quality Street Wedding

* A Quality Street Christmas

Suggested Reading

You can discover more about the history of chocolate in my book, The Philosophy of Chocolate, published by the British Library

You 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.

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.

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 Links

You 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. Vygotsky

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.

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 Links

Emma 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 Kay

Emma’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 Reading

If 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 Wood

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.

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 Links

You 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.

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 Links

You 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 @neilbuttery

Euro Toques in Ireland

National Folklore Collection of Ireland

The 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 Pudding

Suggested Reading

Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking by Fergus Henderson

Cattle in Ancient Ireland (Studies in Irish Archaeology & History) by A T Lucas

Odd 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 2011

Comfortably 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.

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 Links

You 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 Reading

The 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 Saladino

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.

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 Links

You can find Peggy on Instagram @negroshire

Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies

Peggy 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 Reading

Bayley, 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.

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 Links

You 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 Sugar

Don’t forget to check out Neil’s The British Food History Podcast. You can find Neil on X @neilbuttery and Instagram @dr_neil_buttery

Suggested Reading

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

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.

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, 1878

In 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 Links

The 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 Reading

You read more about the origins of Simnel cake in my book Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron

Glasgow Cookery Book

The 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 McNeill

A 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.

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 Links

Find 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, 1905

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.

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 Links

You can find out more about Thomas on his website.

China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History

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.

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, 1621

In 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 Links

Ken 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 History

You 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 Melancholy

Suggested Reading

* The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

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.

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 Links

Angela 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 Queen

You 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 Segreta

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.

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 Links

To see examples of Lee Miller’s photography visit the Lee Miller Archives online.

Farleys House & Gallery and on Instagram

Books 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 Reading

The Lives of Lee Miller by Antony Penrose

Lee Miller: Photographs by Antony Penrose and Kate Winslet

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.

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 Reading

We 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 Christie

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.

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 McFadden

Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!

Useful Links

You 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 school

Professor Giles Gasper, Durham University

You can find Florence Swan on Instagram

Long 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 Travels

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.

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 Links

You 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.

Welcome to Episode 2 and the first part of my journey to find out more about the alien like substance called tripe. Assisting me in this quest is food historian and host of the British Food History podcast Dr Neil Buttery.

Tripe refers to the stomachs from cows, sheep, pigs and other animals. It was once widely eaten across Britain by all levels of society and was regarded as a nutritious and economical meat. But tripe has gradually fallen out of favour in Britain since the mid twentieth century making it quite tricky to source.

‘Tripe called by any other name would achieve the popularity it undoubtedly deserves. It is one of the most digestible of foods - indeed, a doctor of my acquaintance puts all his patients suffering from indigestion upon a diet in which tripe stewed in milk, figures largely - while it can be most palatable and is undeniably cheap.’ Majorie Swift, Feed The Brute (1925)

In other parts of the world there is a fondness for this curious white flesh. Tripe soup is popular in both Mexico and Turkey. In Rome there is an area called Testaccio which is renowned for its offal based cuisine. In this episode British food writer and Guardian columnist Rachel Roddy shares some insights into how modern day Romans prepare tripe.

Rachel’s books include Five Quarters: Recipes and Notes from a Kitchen in Rome, Two Kitchens: 120 Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome and the An A-Z of Pasta: Stories, Shapes, Sauces, Recipes. You can find more of her recipes and musings in her Guardian column or on her blog Rachel Eats.

You can find Rachel on Instagram: @rachelaliceroddy or Twitter: @racheleats

Don’t forget to check out Neil’s website British Food: A History loaded with fascinating historical recipes. His books include The Dark History of Sugar and Before Mrs Beeton. And if you haven’t done so already, do give his British Food History podcast a listen.

You can find Neil on Instagram: @dr_neil_buttery and Twitter: @neilbuttery

If you enjoy the podcast please don’t forget to rate it to help other listeners discover the Comfortably Hungry series.

You can follow me on Twitter @sjfbilton and Instagram @mrssbilton or discover more about my work and books at sambilton.com.

Useful Links/Further Reading

In 2016 the Oxford Food Symposium had Offal: Rejected and Reclaimed Food as its theme. The proceedings of the symposium contains some fascinating papers on tripe and other offal.

The tripe recipe Rachel mentions can be found in The Talisman Cookbook by Ada Boni originally published in the 1930s but link above is for English version published in 1975.

For a history of tripe in Britain try Tripe: A Most Excellent Dish by Marjory Houlihan

For further culinary inspiration try:

The Cook and Housewife’s Manual by Margaret Dods (1827)

Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking by Fergus Henderson

Offal: The Fifth Quarter by Anissa Helou

The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May (1678)

The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (1786)