In Episode 3 I explore how food and death have been intrinsically linked over the centuries focusing on two extraordinary funeral feasts. First of all, I am joined by food historian and chef Jay Reifel to dissect the Emperor Domitian’s famous black banquet complete with tombstone party favours. Then historian Giles MacDonogh and I visit pre-Revolutionary France where a young gourmand, Grimod de la Reynière, hosts his own dark repast much to his parent’s chagrin.

Useful Links

You can find Jay Reifel on Instagram @jayreifel or visit his website https://jayreifel.com for more information on his work and his book A History of the World in 10 Dinners: 2000 years, 100 recipes (2023) which features his take on Domitian’s feast including the spectacular chicken dish at the top of this post.

You can find Giles McDonogh on X @GilesMacDonogh or you can find him on Susbtack at Giles MacDonogh. Details of Giles’ 15 books are available on his website http://www.macdonogh.co.uk/books.htm including Grimod de la Reynière’s biography A Palate in Revolution (1987)

You may also want to check out A Question of Death, a newsletter and podcast from Rachel Mosses which explores our relationship with death through respectful enquiry.

Suggested Reading

* ‘Dio Cassius’ Roman historian see the entry on Britannica

* An Alphabet for Gourmets by MFK Fisher (Fisher deals with funeral food in the chapter ‘S is for Sad’)

* Almanach des Gourmands by Grimod de la Reynière (this is a digitised version of the 1904 reprint of the 1803 edition)

* ‘Parentalia - Festival of the Ancestors’ by Lesley Laws on the Vindolanda Charitable Trust website

* Feast by Nigella Lawson (2006)

* ‘Black Banquets and Funeral Feasts’ in Gastronomica, The Journal of Food & Culture 12:4 (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, Winter 2012), pp 96-103.

* The Rituals of Dinner by Margaret Visser (1991)

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.

A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.

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