Fear Feasts

Serve It Forth: A Food History Festival

 18 October 2025 – Online
We’re bringing together writers, historians, podcasters, and curious minds for a day of delicious discovery. Talks, conversations… all from the comfort of your own kitchen.

In this bonus episode, Allie (one dark half of Fear Feasts!) is joined by her friends and fellow food historians Thomas Ntinas, Sam Bilton, and Neil Buttery. Together they share how each of them first got drawn into food history, what continues to inspire them, and some of the surprises they've encountered along the way.

How do people find their way into food history? What myths surround the field? And do they sometimes meet with culinary catastrophes of our own?!

Allie's input will of course be tinged with spookiness and dread in the company of death historian and funerary expert Dr Dan O’Brien!

Their session, entitled: The River Remembers: A Journey Through London’s Lost Larder will take audiences on a dark voyage through food, death, and the forgotten histories of the Thames. From butchered whales washed ashore to bottles dredged from disaster sites, and from the feasting tables of the living to the memento mori traditions that remind us that bodies too become food. Allie and Dan will explore how the river bears witness to centuries of consumption and decay. Following the shifting shoreline, they'll trace fragments of lost lives and meals that once sustained the capital- an unsettling story of what (and who) London has eaten.

Important Links

• Serve It Forth website
  
• Tickets for Serve It Forth
  
• Serve It Forth on social media
  

What would you do if your mother lost her mind, cut off your dad's finger, went into a mental institution, came out and wanted to cook up a feast for Halloween? That's the premise of Guile Branco's darkly hilarious and horrific film A Halloween Feast, and the subject of our bonus episode today! We interviewed Branco on his latest film, the connection between food and horror (something we know a little about!), and what's next for this up-and-coming actor and director, so give it a listen!

Contact us at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Like us on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://facebook.com/fearfeastspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/fearfeasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Xcite us on X (Twitter): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/fear_feasts⁠⁠

Allie and Vanessa sink their teeth into Salem’s Lot, exploring the hunger that haunts Stephen King’s classic novel, the eerie 1979 miniseries by Tobe Hooper, and Gary Dauberman’s 2024 film. From small-town suppers to vampiric cravings, this episode serves up a feast of unholy appetites…

What would you do if you were a gorgeous blond vampire who loved attention and fame but were constantly seeking new diversions? What if being immortal and unable to enjoy treats such as red wine, chocolate custard, pasta and steak was getting to be too much to bear? What if drinking blood and living perpetually at night had lost its charm? What if a strange man made you an offer of switching bodies so that you could experience the hellish joy of being human again? What if you made the switch, realized you'd been swindled by this body thief, and proceeded to guzzle wine, devour food, have sex with many women and decided you wanted your vampiric body back? We'll discuss these tastily terrifying questions as we analyze the connection between food and horror in Anne Rice's novel The Tale of the Body Thief, so please join us!

Contact us at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Like us on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://facebook.com/fearfeastspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/fearfeasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Xcite us on X (Twitter): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/fear_feasts⁠⁠

Follow Vanessa's blog at: https://foodinbooks.com

Follow Allie's other podcast at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink/id1743840806

A devilishly delectable taste of next week's episode!

This very fun and special episode features our favorite guest, Jamieson Ridenhour, creator of the podcast Palimpsest, as we analyze Sheridan Le Fanu's masterpiece of vampirism.

Jamieson Ridenhour

https://www.jamiesonridenhourwriter.com/

Carmilla (1871-72)

J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Edited by Jamieson Ridenhour (2009)

Available at: https://www.valancourtbooks.com/carmilla-1871-72.html

Carmilla

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (author), Carmen Maria Machado (editor)

Annotated edition (2020)

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Carmilla-by-Joseph-Sheridan-Le-Fanu-author-Carmen-Maria-Machado-editor/9781941360385

Re: Dracula (Audio Drama)

https://redracula.live/#carmilla

The Phantom World by Augustin Calmet (1850)

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29412/29412-h/29412-h.htm

Vampires, Burial, and Death by Paul Barber (1988)

https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300164817/vampires-burial-and-death/

White is for Witching  by Helen Oyeyemi (2009)

https://lighthousebookshop.com/book/9780330458153

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (2025)

Highgate Wood (Teaser)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6N8v9WBfFDZLrNa3MhYjzC

Viola’s Room (Immersive Experience)

https://www.punchdrunk.com/work/violas-room/

A horrifyingly hungry taste of next week's episode!

What would you do if you were a bored Southern housewife in a book club that focused on true crime, horror and murder, in addition to drinking wine and eating lots of snacks? What would you do if your boring doctor husband and bratty, dysfunctional kids befriended the strange new guy who moved in just next door? What would you do if the strange new guy started showing up at your house around dinnertime and was always invited in for fried chicken, roast potatoes, chocolate cake and ice cream? What if his strange behavior around young women, and toward you, made you suddenly suspect he was a vampire? What if you tried to tell your family and book club friends about his bloodthirsty proclivities and were reviled and called a liar? You'd be pretty pissed off and would want to stop cooking things like cheese straws, frozen salads, casseroles and Swedish meatballs, and would probably want to find a way to slay this bloodsucking bastard, right? We're discussing these tastily terrifying questions and analyzing the connection between food and horror in Grady Hendrix's 2020 darkly humorous novel The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, so please join us!

A tastily terrifying tidbit of next week's episode!

What would you do if you were an angst-ridden teenager with a secret crush on the new boy in the neighborhood and a taste for fish and chips? What would you do if your vomiting vegan sister was chased through the woods, nearly attacked then turned around and killed her would-be assaulter by sinking her teeth into him? What would you do if your seemingly normal mother, who loved to bake bread, make cakes, and cook blood sausages and pancakes for breakfast, and your seemingly normal father who loved cocktails and the taste of his own blood, told you one day that you were vampires? What would you do if your super cool uncle showed up one day to help hide the murder of the attacker kid, demonstrated his love for chocolate chip cookies and mesmerism, and showed you the fun aspects of drinking blood? We'll be discussing these scarily scrumptious issues and analyzing the connection between food and horror in the 2024 film The Radleys, so please join us.