Comfortably Hungry

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.

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_

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.

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

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

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.

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 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’