In this episode we talk food with cultural historian Dr Melissa Calaresu. The need to nourish ourselves is an eternal, daily preoccupation for all of us, but what we eat, and why, is an altogether meatier subject.

Food is pleasure, performance, politics and even panic.

Which fruit was a full-blown fashion craze in the 1600s? What did an undergraduate Isaac Newton feel guilty about buying? And why are our own early food memories so powerful?

(This episode was recorded before Covid-19 lockdown restrictions)

LEARN MORE:

For a short film on Melissa Calaresu's 'Feast and Fast' exhibition featured in this episode, please click here https://feast-and-fast.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/film/.

For an academic introduction to food culture in Europe from 1500-1800 by Melissa Calaresu please click here https://brill.com/view/journals/jemh/24/1/article-p1_1.xml.

And for more of Melissa Calaresu's research on the Neopolitan food experiences of Welsh painter Thomas Jones, featured in this episode, please click here https://brill.com/view/journals/jemh/24/1/article-p84_5.xml.