The Fantastic History Of Food

The entire experience of eating a fancy meal these days is no longer just about the food itself. For decades, chefs like Heston Blumenthal have been creating entire culinary experiences to delight all of your senses at once, pairing sounds, smells and textures along with the already delicious flavours of their food. But while this trend has taken off again more recently, this is by no means a modern practice. In fact, as far back as the early 1600’s an innovative chef by the name of Robert May was creating similar sensory dining experiences all around Elizabethan England. Today, we’ll discover just who this man was, and how he went about revolutionising banquets into what would come to be called his "Spectacle Feasts". ------------------- Thank you to my all of my supporters! We're just one away from 30 Supporters, and it could be YOU! You can support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-aaron-mahnkes-cabinet-of-c-29519194/episode/chefs-table-172173292/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-fantastical-feasts-of-englands-first-celebrity-chef https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_May_(cook) Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

It’s well into the northern european winter season at the end of 1939. Five hundred thousand Russian Soviet Soldiers are making a collective push northwards, swarming the countryside as they go. They are armed to the hilt with tanks, explosives, machine guns, grenades and a staggeringly overwhelming number of troops. But there is one thing that they didn’t count on, one thing that threatened to derail their entire military offensive altogether. And that one thing, was the humble sausage. ------------------- Thank you to my brand-new supporters: Josh Lovetere Zachary Hedden You too can support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://www.history.com/news/the-bizarre-sausage-war-that-inspired-hitler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Varolampi_Pond https://www.finlandatwar.com/the-sausage-war-an-army-marches-on-its-stomach/ https://sofrep.com/news/sausage-war-when-hunger-got-the-best-of-the-soviets/ https://short-history.com/sausage-war-733d71767317 https://pennytyrrellmcqueen.wixsite.com/togetherapart/single-post/2016/10/26/sausage-war Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

For the majority of history they were considered the ultimate delicacy by European nobility who just couldn’t get enough of them. From snack to status symbol, the pineapple has graced many a King and Queens palace courts, while outside of them they took on a mythical quality akin to some sort of precious jewel. Today, we’ll track the pineapples voyage across the seas and into the history books as it became synonymous with the very peak of royal de rigeour. ------------------- Thank you to our brand-new supporter: Sarah Thompson You too can support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://www.thedailymeal.com/1233796/in-the-1700s-pineapples-were-wildly-expensive-symbols-of-prosperity/ https://www.britannica.com/plant/pineapple https://www.bimstore.co/resources/10-facts-about-pineapples https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/a-brief-history-of-foods-pineapple https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/25/the-strange-history-of-the-king-pine/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-uKgiyE3Y https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple#:~:text=Precolonial%20cultivation,-The%20wild%20plant&text=By%20the%20late%201400s%2C%20cropped,it%20into%20India%20by%201550. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

For as long as so-called civilised societies have existed, equally uncivilised clubs and groups have sprung up within them, allowing their members to revel in all sorts of weird and wonderful excesses. In previous episodes we have heard about secret food clubs with a goal of eating every type of animal on earth. Todays story may not be so different, although this clubs members were’nt so picky about reaching any particular goal other that just eating every type of food they could get their hands on. ------------------- Thank you to our 2 brand-new supporters: Frank Morales  Philipp Surkov Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://www.insidehook.com/culture/revisiting-fat-mens-clubs https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/07/469571114/the-forgotten-history-of-fat-men-s-clubs https://www.sunjournal.com/2020/01/19/when-fat-mens-clubs-were-big/ https://www.antikeychop.com/fatmensclub https://husheduphistory.com/post/141904668068/girth-and-mirth-the-rise-of-the-fat-mens-club https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/unusual-clubs-in-history Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

Turn on the tv or radio, or scroll any news site online and you’ll no doubt be inundated with stories about crazy weather anomalies happening all around the globe. Volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, earthquakes, tornadoes and so much more. But none of us, thankfully, have ever lived through one of the strangest events in history when something a lot more dense than rain began falling from the skies onto some unsuspecting farmers in the small town of Olympia Springs, Kentucky.  ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Was-the-Kentucky-Meat-Shower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_meat_shower https://www.vice.com/en/article/kzkmgw/the-mystery-of-the-kentucky-meat-shower https://www.popsci.com/story/science/weirdest-thing-meat-shower-kodak-cow-sword-swallower/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/running-ponies/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-mystery-unwound-by-projectile-vulture-vomit/ https://www.wate.com/news/kentucky/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-147-years-passed-since-the-kentucky-shower-of-flesh/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lluvia_de_peces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_of_animals Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

In our modern age we have lived through natural disasters and floods in various parts of the world, and no matter what, they are always tragic. But tragic floods are not always a cause of nature. In episode 7, we discussed the great molasses flood that occurred in Boston and the ensuing devastation of that event. Well today, we’ll be taking a look at a similar, albeit less gloopy tidal wave of destruction that occurred 100 years before that. And, as much as any of us may love a beer every now and then and dream of swimming in a pool of the bubbly liquid, this tragic event was unfortunately no laughing matter. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-London-Beer-Flood-of-1814/ https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/great-beer-flood-1814-what-happened/ https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-london-beer-flood/ https://www.history.com/news/london-beer-flood https://explorethearchive.com/london-beer-flood https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1814-beer-flood-killed-eight-people-180964256/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

This episode is a look at how in the early to mid 1900’s the abolitionist laws banning the production and consumption of alcohol played a majorly significant role in the creation of what, today, is a veritable institution of the American South, NASCAR. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://winstoncupmuseum.com/nascar-and-prohibition/#:~:text=Across%20the%20country%2C%20bootleggers%20had,cases%20of%20liquor%20as%20possible https://www.history.com/news/how-prohibition-gave-birth-to-nascar https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-moonshine-bootlegging-gave-rise-nascar-180962014/ https://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/history/nascar-bootleggers.htm https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nascar-moonshine https://www.ranker.com/list/ways-people-hid-alcohol-during-prohibition/kellen-perry?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=weirdhistory&utm_campaign=wh_active&utm_content=%7Bdate%28%27yyyyMMdd%27%29%7D https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-early-american-booze-consumption/rachel-souerbry?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=weirdhistory&utm_campaign=wh_active&utm_content=%7Bdate%28%27yyyyMMdd%27%29%7D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3591729/advertisement

There are many stories throughout history of individuals with freakish appetites, who seem to be able to consume quantities of food well past what a human stomach should be capable of handling. Today, we’ll be diving into the story of Charles Domery, a Polish-born soldier who tried to eat the whole world. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://historianandrew.medium.com/the-man-who-couldnt-stop-eating-including-cats-rats-grass-and-his-friend-s-leg-c7ec7e1fce01 https://www.weirdhistorian.com/domery-the-man-who-ate-anything-and-a-whole-lot-of-it/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/charles-domery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Domery This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3591729/advertisement

For most of history, the Dutch have been an almost all-powerful force to be reckoned with. They were the forerunners for a lot of the world's exploration, and for a long time dominated the seas and trade routes through the stranglehold of the Dutch East India Company. In the preceding century, they were still under Spanish rule, with 2 of their kings, Charles the Fifth and his Son Phillip II, simultaneously ruling as the kings of Spain and the so-called Low Countries of The Netherlands. But the Dutch weren’t having any of this for long and at the first sign of mismanagement, made their feelings known. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://www.historydefined.net/when-the-dutch-murdered-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt https://dutchreview.com/culture/dutch-history-crowds-ate-prime-minister/ https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/is-it-true-that-an-angry-mob-of-dutchmen-killed-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister-in-1672/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/johan-de-witt This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3591729/advertisement

For today's story we will be diving into the life of a truly extraordinary man named William V McKenna, and while he fits the category of “people who eat random things”, those things that he ate can’t really be classified as food. So let's see just how this man, William McKenna first discovered his talented digestive system. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://www.picuki.com/tag/humanostrich https://www.weirdhistorian.com/appetite-for-intestinal-destruction-the-man-who-ate-glass-nails-tacks-and-frogs/ https://historianandrew.medium.com/william-mckenna-the-human-ostrich-who-made-a-living-eating-nails-glass-and-live-frogs-dd1697a3c7d5 This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3591729/advertisement

WW2 was raging onwards, with men fighting and dying each and every day. It was so delicately poised that there seemed to be no end to the fighting in sight. Weeks and months dragged on into years, and with them came more and more plots of how to win the war. Some were impractical, some were impossible, and some were downright insane. But every now and again, one of these plots would be just insane enough to work. And so, out of this think tank came possibly one of military history’s greatest-ever schemes. What if we turned Adolf Hitler into a woman? ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- Sources for this episode's research: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-15/allies-planned-to-make-hitler-a-woman/2839874 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hitler-estrogen-hormone-plot_n_927281 https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/book-claims-allies-tried-to-turn-the-fuhrer-into-a-female-464589 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025975/Hitler-hormone-plot-Bizarre-plan-British-spies-make-Fuhrer-fraulein.html https://theweek.com/articles/482449/bizarre-plan-turn-hitler-into-woman https://medium.com/the-collector/the-bizzare-plot-to-turn-hitler-into-a-woman-185bc837eba5 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8701024/Revealed-sex-hormone-plan-to-feminise-Hitler.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Has_Only_Got_One_Ball https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/hitlers-psychological-profile-shows-feminine-side/72P2CQ6HYWXN6NHH57GO57FMRU/?c_id=2&objectid=10118222 This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3591729/advertisement

Hello and welcome to this very special bonus episode of The Fantastic History Of Food. Today, I'm breaking away from my usual format of pure storytelling to chat with the amazing author Lydia Moland. Lydia is so much more than simply an author, she is also a philosophy lecturer at Colby College in Maine, an institution that has been around for over 200 years. She has written for publications like The Paris Review, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post to name but a few. We chat about her upcoming book all about an incredible woman by the name of Lydia Maria Child, who she was, why she is such an important figure in history, and what it was about her that drew Lydia to make her the subject of her book.

There is a spice we use so commonly today that it's hard to believe that at one time, wars were fought, people were killed and entire civilizations almost wiped out, simply so that the strongest force could get their hands on this prized spice. ------------------- Thank you to Four Sigmatic for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Four Sigmatic is offering you 30% off anything in their range when you use promo code: FOODHISTORY at checkout. Check out their range here: https://us.foursigmatic.com/ ------------------- Thank you also to Chemists In The Kitchen by LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. In each episode, real scientists walk you through things like making your own pickles, the chemistry behind ceviche, the formula for perfect homemade pretzels, and much, much more! Watch their YouTube Channel Here: https://bit.ly/3CVKz5E ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod

If ever you’ve doubted food's integral place in history, today’s stories are sure to remind us all, that no matter what life and history in general, wouldn’t and in fact, couldn’t be the same without the daily rituals that food brings. ------------------- Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance! ------------------- Thank you also to Chemists In The Kitchen by LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. In each episode, real scientists walk you through things like making your own pickles, the chemistry behind ceviche, the formula for perfect homemade pretzels, and much, much more! Watch their YouTube Channel Here: https://bit.ly/3CVKz5E ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod

Many old food-based fortunes were light-hearted party games mainly played around Halloween time, but some of there were deadly serious, and their results were taken as gospel truth. And at the time, all you needed to tell the future, was a full pantry and a little imagination. ------------------- Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance! ------------------- Thank you also to Chemists In The Kitchen by LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. In each episode, real scientists walk you through things like making your own pickles, the chemistry behind ceviche, the formula for perfect homemade pretzels, and much, much more! Watch their YouTube Channel Here: https://bit.ly/3CVKz5E ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod

Today's stories aren’t just about the small-time pilfering of food here and there from your local grocery stores. No, today we’ll be talking about people stealing truckloads of the stuff at a time, not it seems to quell their stomach's callings, as much as to refill those empty wallets. ------------------- Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance! ------------------- Thank you also to The Side Hustle Show, an award-winning business podcast you can actually apply. Find it on your favourite podcast app. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod

There are few things more universally loved than a good sandwich. We as humans love the simplicity and deliciousness of having something to hold all of our favourite fillings together. But there was a time in our history when the venerable sandwich was used not for sustenance, or delight in a tasty meal, but rather as a loophole with which to get around some rather limiting laws. ------------------- Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance! ------------------- Thank you also to Heal Nourish Grow: A podcast that provides practical keto tips and tricks that you can use to improve your keto experience. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raines_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/raines-sandwich?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b6ba86c80f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_09_20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-b6ba86c80f-74451350&mc_cid=b6ba86c80f&mc_eid=3a82d4ea19

As soon as people became wealthy enough not to have to spend every waking hour of their day, working, cleaning, hunting or cooking, they had enough to look in the mirror and decide what they didn’t like about themselves. From the truly horrific and crippling footbinding practices in imperial china to modern day plastic surgery, people have been searching for ways to achieve their body goals. Victorian England, the initial setting for todays story, was possibly one of the craziest times in history when it came to the number of diet fads and body morphing practices. So what better place to dive in and see where the stories take us. ------------------- Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance! ------------------- Thank you also to Startuprad.io - The Authority on German Startups for supporting this episode. Startuprad.io is an English-only startup podcast with exclusive startup content, including regular news, and interviews. They are the international voice of the German-speaking startup scene. Find them on whichever platform you prefer to listen on. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod ------------------- References: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-horrifying-legacy-of-the-victorian-tapeworm-diet https://www.vice.com/en/article/xw5nnq/inside-the-lasting-legacy-of-tapeworm-diets https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20695743 https://www.historyextra.com/period/modern/weird-fad-diets-weight-loss-history-new-year/

Even the most famous and lauded among us still have a few tasty secrets up their sleeves, and today we’re going to dive into this fascinating side of one of modern cookings most famous gourmands: Julia Child. ------------------- Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance! ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod Find transcripts and sources on the website: www.foodhistorypodcast.com ------------------- References: https://allthatsinteresting.com/julia-child-spy https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/julia-child-and-the-oss-recipe-for-shark-repellent/ https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/julia-child-cooking-up-spy-ops-for-oss/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/05/02/julia-child-hbo-oss-sharks/ https://www.history.com/news/julia-child-oss-spy-wwii-shark-repellent

Not only were western cultures happily eating raw fish for ages, at one point they were uh, in fact eating it so raw as for it still, in fact, to be alive. That’s right, today we’re talking about the 1939 craze of college students competing to swallow as many as they could of the humble goldfish. ------------------- Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode. To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance! ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod Find transcripts and sources on the website: www.foodhistorypodcast.com ------------------- References: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/great-goldfish-swallowing-craze-1939-180954429/#:~:text=The%20Great%20Goldfish%20Swallowing%20Craze%20of%201939%20Never%20Really%20Ended,-A%20Harvard%20undergrad's&text=One%20of%20the%20weirdest%2C%20most,once%20eaten%20a%20live%20fish. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish_swallowing https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2011/01/1939-the-year-of-goldfish-swallowing.html https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/goldfish-swallowing/ https://dutchreview.com/news/live-goldfish-swallowing/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odori_ebi https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/the-fish-prasadam-remedy-annual-festival-where-thousands-swallow-live-fish-to-cure-asthma/articleshow/91811468.cms#:~:text=In%20Hyderabad%2C%20fish%20prasadam%20is,that%20fish%20prasadam%20cures%20asthma.