The Delicious Legacy

Cheese: A story of place and people. How is that cheese is so universal, yet so unique from one little place to the next few miles down the road? Ned went for an adventure all over France to find an answer on "what is French Cheese?" and "why do we love it so much?" while looking for the most representative cheeses that tell this story.Along the way, he discovered many more extraordinary and surprising details about the history of the villages, cheesemakers and cheesemongers of France.How do some of them still clinging on, on their traditional ways? On mountaintops, through rainy autumns. harsh winters or spring and summer?What cheese and revolution have to tell us about the making of a nation?Ned's book is extraordinary, fascinating and full of individual powerful characters, as pungent and sophisticated at the same time as the cheeses that they create!Join us on the first part of the interview today, to find out the history of French Cheese, and it's survival through the industrial and technological revolutions until this day.Ned's book is out on Thursday 3rd of October and you can get it on all good bookshops, plus you can order it online:https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-cheesemongers-tour-de-france/ned-palmer/9781788166935Enjoy!Thom

Hello!Autumn! The weather's finally turning and it's time to prepare the pickles, preserves and chutneys with the abundance of summer harvest!But what did our ancestors do to prepare for the long cold, dark northern winter months ahead? How did they survive the scarce food resources of Europe's dormant nature?What traditions and superstitions persisted through the ages?What food was eaten in Michaelmas and Martinmas important celebrations of the autumn season?Let's find out on this week's episode!This weeks recommendations are:A Is for Apple Podcast with Neil Buttery, Sam Bilton and Alessandra Pino.https://open.spotify.com/show/4wpXiAoQUoFkeE0YgsT6qx?si=27666b362d434872Dr Alessandra Pinos new book, "A Gothic Cookbook"https://unbound.com/books/a-gothic-cookbookAnd Vittles which has a wealth of food related articles and restaurant reviews and recommendations:https://www.vittlesmagazine.comEnjoy!As ever, music by Pavlos Karpalos.

Hello!Welcome back to another archaeogastronomical adventure!Today's episode is all about ancient vegetarianism.And the philosopher Pythagoras is the central figure on all the stuff we talk today.Pythagoras, the father of mathematics, was born and raised in Samos. around 580BCE. Even though Pythagoras spent more than forty years in his birthplace, he eventually decided to set sail for new seas; his thirst for knowledge led him to travel throughout most of the then known world, most notably Egypt and Babylon, centres of wisdom knowledge and secret mystical rites, before settling down to Croton, a town in Magna Graecia, modern Southern Italy.Notes for some names dropped:Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BCE) was a Peripatetic philosopher who was Aristotle's close colleague and successor at the Lyceum. He wrote many treatises in all areas of philosophy, in order to support, improve, expand, and develop the Aristotelian system. Of his few surviving works, the most important are Peri phytōn historia (“Inquiry into Plants”) and Peri phytōn aitiōn (“Growth of Plants”), comprising nine and six books, respectively.Aulus Gellius (c. 125 – after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome.Ovid (born March 20, 43 bce, Sulmo, Roman Empire [now Sulmona, Italy]—died 17 ce, Tomis, Moesia [now Constanṭa, Romania]) was a Roman poet noted especially for his Ars amatoria and Metamorphoses. Vetch: A member of the pea family, Fabaceae, which forms the third largest plant family in the world with over thirteen thousand species. Of these species, the bitter vetch, was one of the first domesticated crops grown by neolithic people. There are many different vetch species, the purple flowered varieties are all safe to eat.Music Credits:Pavlos Kapraloshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzgAonk4-uVhXXjKSF-Nz1AThanks for listening!The Delicious Legacy

Hello!When did the word 'Barbecue' appeared in our language?As a technique it has been used under various guises from all humans, throughout the planet...This early appearance from 1709: I have been often in their Hunting-Quarters, where a roasted or barbakued Turkey, eaten with Bears Fat, is held a good Dish;Or this from 1707 "The Three Pigs of Peckham, Broiled Under an Apple Tree"...the white folks of Peckham, Jamaica, had “their English appetites so deprav’d and vitiated” by rum that they desired “a Litter of Pigs nicely cook’d after the West Indian manner.” Three hogs were placed on a wooden frame over coals, and “the best part of the town of Peckham” turned out to watch and to eat, “expressing as much Joy in the Looks and Actions, as a Gang of wild Cannibals who, when they have taken a Stranger, first dance round him, and afterwards devour him.”Can we say that every technique that uses fire and smoke, even if it's spit roasting or grilling to a degree, constitutes a barbecuing technique? And what is that we find so attractive so convivial?Listen, and get hungry!The Delicious Legacy

Have you ever wondered how common or rare the ovens once were? What was the original mince pie? And what was the first EVER bread humankind invented?Hello!Welcome back to another archaeogastronomical adventure!Today I have as a guest an old friend of the podcast; Dr Neil Buttery and we have a good long chat about his new book, all about baking!The book will be released on 12th of September and our interview today will give you a taste of the subjects covered in the book as well some of our favourite baked goods, and myths that are baked in our societies and have to do with the discovery of certain items!You can pre-order 'Knead to Know' here:https://www.waterstones.com/book/knead-to-know/neil-buttery/9781837731213Neil has also another book ready for publishing, for The British Library, called "The Philosophy of Puddings" which is released on 24th of October!and you can find it here:https://shop.bl.uk/products/the-philosophy-of-puddingsEnjoy!Thom & The Delicious Legacy

What is with vinegar? Why it is so popular as an ingredient in our cooking?Why do we love the sour taste so much when mixed in our dishes?In the ancient Mediterranean vinegar was practically always made from wine, hence the epic epithet oininon oxos 'winy vinegar' employed by Archestratus.Vinegar is most often used as a culinary ingredient and as a preservative. Numerous medicinal uses are listed by ancient physicians. A vinegar and water mixture, known in Greek as oxykraton, was also used medicinally. A very similar mixture, flavoured with herbs, formed a popular cheap drink (Latin posca, Greek oxos and later phouska)Music by Pavlos Kapralos.Enjoy!The Delicious Legacy

Hello!Pickled food through the ages and continents!We will go to the ancient lands of China, India, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, and through them to Persia, the Arab world, Spain and Latin America!I think a history of civilization is a history of pickles, and fermentation!Without fermentation we wouldn't have beer, wine, cheese, miso, kimchi. sauerkraut and pickled herrings!Where would we be then huh? Or how the lactobacillales domesticated humankind...We will also be seeing a medieval chutney from Richard the II's cookbook "Forme of Cury", evidence of the first "modern" mention of brined cheese aka feta from Crete, the emergence of Dutch pickled herrings and how it conquered Europe, a brief history of saurekraut, Indian pickles, why balsamic vinegar is such a special vinegar, and of course the holy triptych of soya beans- soy sauce- miso!Sources used in this episode is Jan Davidsons book: Pickles A Global Historyand the fantastic Noma Guide to Fermentation alongside with Cato "Liber De Agricultura"and Columella's "De Re Rustica" agricultural manualMusic theme is Seikilos Epitaph the oldest recorded surviving melody, performed by the formidable Panos Kapralos.Thank you and enjoy!The Delicious Legacy

Oh hi!Nice to see you here hey?OK here's is a little present. The latest episode about the history of Chinese food, based on the book of Thomas DuBois, "China in Seven Banquets" which I interviewed for this episode all, in one episode, no ads etc, with additional content basically about soya bean, history of soy sauce, and a few bits and bops about tea.Enjoy!WEIGHTS AND MEASURESBefore 1930 1930–59 After 1959Weightjin 斤 0.6 kg 0.5 kg 0.5 kgliang 兩 37 g 31 g 50 gqian 錢 3.7 g 3.1 g 5 gfen 分 .37 g .31 g .5 gLengthcun 寸 3.2 cm 3.3 cm 3.3 cmfen 分 3.2 mm 3.3 mm 3.3 mmVolumedou 斗 10.3 litre 10 litre 10 litresheng 升 1.03 litre 1 litre 1 litrege 合 103 ml 100 ml 100 mlCups and bowls: pre-twentieth-century recipes often give measurements in cups and bowls, which then as now came in different sizes. Readers seeking the comfort of an arbitrary standard could think of these as 200 ml and 300 ml, respectively. Modern recipes use the u.s. cup measure of 240 ml.Recipe:Hanging Roasted Meat (Qing)Mix 2 jin of short ribs, 1 bowl of bean paste, 2 qian of crushed star anise and vinegar as needed into soy sauce. Place four iron bars on top of a pot. Use the vinegar paste to paint the meat and rest it on top of the bars. Add 4 or 5 onion whites and cover the pot with a plate so it is airtight. Once smoke and oil start to escape, turn the meat over and apply more of the paste, vinegar and onions. Do this several times until the skin is golden. To improve the taste, spread some fine salt at the end.For chicken, goose or duck, first boil the meat until it is cooked. Spread with sugar syrup or honey. Add fat or sesame oil to the pot and fry until golden. As with hanging meat, sprinkle some salt over the meat and spread it evenly. Letthe boiled meat cool before frying and then add the sugar or honey. Fry at a low temperature to ensure that the insides are warmed.The Delicious Legacy

Hello!With the arrival of the Olympic Games in Paris, we have a reached a peak of reminders of the ancient Greek Olympic games and with them, a tonne of misinformation and misconceptions about the ancient Olympians!Well, the most important thing, was left out however from most of these articles; The food and the drink and the partying in Ancient Olympia! What was it like?How did an ancient Olympian athlete and a winner ate, what was their diet and how they've used food and wine as ways to cheat their way to the first place?These and a lot more, with myths from the ancient times on today's episode!Enjoy!The Delicious Legacy Music by Pavlos Kapralos