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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...