The Delicious Legacy

FROM THE ARCHIVESWelcome back to another episode! An exclusive interview with author, food writer and all around brilliant human Sejal Sukhadwala, where we talk about Indian food, Indian history, the word curry, and the spread of said food but also Indian cuisine around the world and especially UK. We've met at the British Library Member's Area -hence the background chatter- and talking for nearly two hours about the long story of Indian food.Since starting this podcast over two years now, I’ve covered many many topics from the ancient world. But I’ve never ventured in great detail in India’s past, to examine her vast, rich cuisine and history into any detail. Of course we know the ancient Greeks and Romans had trade networks in land and on sea that stretched to the Indian subcontinent, and there was a complex and interconnected commerce of spices, of many expensive ingredients used in the ancient Greek and Roman cuisine. Chiefly pepper, black and long pepper, but also cinnamon and ginger and various others. Some of the world's earliest civilizations rose and fell in the Indian subcontinent long before the Greeks wrote and spread the Homeric epics. But what do we know of the Indian culinary history? What do we know of their foods and ancient recipes? Did the complex mix of religions over the millennia and especially with Hinduism and later on Buddhism played a significant role in the diet of the people?Have many things survived? What's the lineage that connects the past inhabitants of this vast land to the present day? Many of our staples today and some of the most popular vegetables and fruits have their origins in India. Cucumbers and aubergines are two prime examples. Sugar from sugarcane first is mentioned in ancient India of 1000BCE as we’ve seen in the episode of the podcast with Dr Neil Buttery a couple of months ago…Well I’m very happy to say that I have a very esteemed guest on today’s episode to talk to us about many aspects of the complex and often misunderstood cuisine! Today’s episode will be a sort of introduction to the world of Indian cooking and I hope in the near future to explore a lot more in depth and detail the fragrant sweet and savoury character of the food from ancient times till the modern age of spice trade with the English Portuguese and Dutch…Enjoy!Thom & The Delicious Legacy

Hello my lovely archaeogastronomers!Today we'll explore the traditional Greek charcuterie, how is it made, what meat is used, and what continuation and connection has with the Byzantine and the ancient past.I grew up eating bacon, ham, salami (danish style, milano style) and not much in the more traditional local Greek charcuterie. We were never famed for it in our modern cuisine as one knows Greek salad, feta cheese, pastitsio, souvlaki, moussaka etc...I was curious: We don't do at all our unique preserved meats? And if so, why? And if it exists, why I don't know about it? I must taste it!What is "Syglino", "Apaki" or Pasturmas?Anyway let's find out of the unique smoked, salted, and matured meat preparations of Ionian Islands, of Peloponnese, Macedonia, Cyclades, Thrace and Crete!

Volcanoes...Ancient sacred rituals...Cheese matured at the bottom of wine barrels. Cheese steeped in olive oil for months. Today's adventure in the eastern Aegean islands of Greece, is an unusual one.The islands have their own unique, unusual and tasty cheeses that defy specific categorizations.Greece. Cheese.What can possibly else be said?Enjoy today's adventure!This weeks recommendations include:A YouTube lecture from Professor Tate Paulette:"Fermentation in Ancient Mesopotamia, Beer, Bread and More Beer":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDva-HQmLUoAnd his book is out soon and it's called, "In the Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia" , link to get it here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Land-Ninkasi-History-Ancient-Mesopotamia/dp/0197682448/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LACZB9Y4597H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.D8RjokggtN32jESMm27WyQ.FotreWbyENYZGO3fXGoHZ7LODlxcIb5sEFoKLfMWR0M&dib_tag=se&keywords=In+the+Land+of+Ninkasi%3A+A+History+of+Beer+in+Ancient+Mesopotamia&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1730400252&s=books&sprefix=in+the+land+of+ninkasi+a+history+of+beer+in+ancient+mesopotamia+%2Cstripbooks%2C84&sr=1-1An interesting project to map ancient roads, shipwrecks on modern topographic maps:Putting human past on the MAPS:https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/06/harvard-digital-atlas-plots-patterns-from-history-ancient-and-modern/Isaac Rangaswami Wooden City a newsletter about London.https://woodencity.substack.com/The Hollow and the Whole — Picking Apples at Nightingale Cider in Tenterden, Kenthttps://www.pelliclemag.com/home/2024/03/20/the-hollow-and-the-whole-nightingale-cider-katie-matherA Slice of Cheese podcast with Jenny Linford from FoodFM Radio.https://open.spotify.com/show/2weTJIKyG5XqQ04qFfwPUv?si=5b08742d7c5f4e6eThanks for listening and reading!LoveThe Delicious Legacy Podcast

Hellenistic Egypt: A land of opportunity. A rich, ancient, fertile land where anything is possible.Hello! Welcome back to another episode of The Delicious LegacyBustling and busy cities with their markets and food stalls, and sellers hollering theirs goods isn't a new phenomenon exclusive to our metropolis of New York or London. These markets and people existed as long as cities existed!But how these markets were organised in the ancient Mediterranean? What did they sell? How did they smell, who could trade and where in the city were they?Well let's find out on the latest episode where we explore a particular market of a town that we have so much information -found quite literally in the rubbish- written by her own inhabitants, at the time they were alive!I'm talking of course of the City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish, or as we know it , 'Oxyrhynchos', and the episode today is based on the book of Peter Parsons.Enjoy!

From Neolithic hunter-gatherers, to ordering food via an app on our phone and getting delivered with our groceries the English Table went through an extraordinary travel.For access on the extra content subscribe on my Patreon page...Food writer legend. Award winning author. Editor at Penguin Publishing. The lady is extraordinary!Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson. Two names that might not resonate as much with today’s audience as they should, but significantly their food writing in the 60’s & 70’s created the genre that led to everyone from Delia Smith to Nigella Lawson today. They are perhaps the two most important cookbook authors and recipe writers (amongst many other things they did) of post-world war two Britain -and indeed very influential in the English speaking world-, in shaping how modern books about recipes and food are written; how the subject of food is seen as inclusive of many people from diverse backgrounds with the act of cooking and putting food on the table for a family and friends (regardless of social class or level of experience with cooking)Anyway find out more about her life, and her new book and English food here!The book is out on November the 4th: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/the-english-tableMusic by Pavlos Kapralos:Much love,The Delicious Legacy

Hello!Fermented food is literally everywhere.Why do we love fermented foods so much? When did we start making them intentionally and crucially are they good for us?Today's special guest on the podcast is James Read, author of the book "Of Cabbages & Kimchi"James Read is on a mission to smuggle bacteria into our kitchens. In Of Cabbages & Kimchi, he takes the ten greatest ‘living’ ferments – fermented foods that are neither cooked nor pasteurized – and places them under the microscope, before cooking with them in all their delicious versatility.From the fiery funk of kimchi to the velvet tang of kefir, James describes the microbial process, then shares his recipes for recreating these wonders in your own kitchen. Alongside his recipes, James investigates the extraordinary cultural and historic backgrounds of fermented foods, exploring how the microbes that bring them to life have developed alongside our culinary evolution.So I went into his house yesterday and had a lovely chat about his favourite fermented foods. We also tried some lovely home-made kimchi, soy sauce and tepache drink the Mexican slightly sweet slightly sour fermented beverage!Find out more about James and order his book here: https://jamesreadwriter.com/He is also on Instagram as @jamesreadwritesEnjoy our conversation and if you have any questions or recommendations do let me know!The Delicious Legacy

Hello!Sushi and sashimi are now global sensations. But how sushi begun? The book Oishii reveal the deep history of sushi which began perhaps in China and mostly as a sour fermented food.On this episode i have the honour to have as a guest Professor Eric C Rath of the University of Kansas to explain to us the history of sushi in Japan and how it conquered the world!Our discussion is based of course on his 2021 book "Oishii: The History of Sushi" which is rather lovely and detailed and is out now by Reaktion Books.Enjoy!The Delicious Legacy

Hello!In any discussion of French cheese, it is impossible to avoid that exasperated question from President De Gaulle "how can you govern a country that has more than 246 varieties of cheese?"I'm Thom Ntinas and this is The Delicious Legacy Podcast!This week, continuing our adventure with Ned, we taste and explore through the cheeses some forgotten corners of France and French history for that matter.Mons cheesemonger for the best French cheese: https://mons-cheese.co.uk/Salers cheese from Auvergne: https://www.cheese.com/salers/José Bové, farm union leader from Larzac to MEP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riGwPStcPoPatrick Rance: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013fm7gEnjoy!Book recommendation of the week is Koji Alchemy: Rediscovering the Magic of Mold-Based Fermentation(Soy Sauce, Miso, Sake, Mirin, Amazake, Charcuterie)and you can find it on Amazon etc.Podcast recommendation Sam Bilton's "Comfortably Hungry" podcast, new season, Dark Food is out now. You can listen here the first episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5K3H51ujWsu33S39vKb0E8?si=fa632f073ece4be2See you again next week!

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