Hellenistic Egypt: A land of opportunity. A rich, ancient, fertile land where anything is possible.

Hello! Welcome back to another episode of The Delicious Legacy

Bustling and busy cities with their markets and food stalls, and sellers hollering theirs goods isn't a new phenomenon exclusive to our metropolis of New York or London. These markets and people existed as long as cities existed!

But how these markets were organised in the ancient Mediterranean? What did they sell? How did they smell, who could trade and where in the city were they?

Well let's find out on the latest episode where we explore a particular market of a town that we have so much information -found quite literally in the rubbish- written by her own inhabitants, at the time they were alive!

I'm talking of course of the City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish, or as we know it , 'Oxyrhynchos', and the episode today is based on the book of Peter Parsons.

Enjoy!

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From Neolithic hunter-gatherers, to ordering food via an app on our phone and getting delivered with our groceries the English Table went through an extraordinary travel.

For access on the extra content subscribe on my Patreon page...

Food writer legend. Award winning author. Editor at Penguin Publishing. The lady is extraordinary!

Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson. Two names that might not resonate as much with today’s audience as they should, but significantly their food writing in the 60’s & 70’s created the genre that led to everyone from Delia Smith to Nigella Lawson today. They are perhaps the two most important cookbook authors and recipe writers (amongst many other things they did) of post-world war two Britain -and indeed very influential in the English speaking world-, in shaping how modern books about recipes and food are written; how the subject of food is seen as inclusive of many people from diverse backgrounds with the act of cooking and putting food on the table for a family and friends (regardless of social class or level of experience with cooking)

Anyway find out more about her life, and her new book and English food here!

The book is out on November the 4th: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/the-english-table

Music by Pavlos Kapralos:

Much love,

The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

Fermented food is literally everywhere.

Why do we love fermented foods so much? When did we start making them intentionally and crucially are they good for us?

Today's special guest on the podcast is James Read, author of the book "Of Cabbages & Kimchi"

James Read is on a mission to smuggle bacteria into our kitchens. In Of Cabbages & Kimchi, he takes the ten greatest ‘living’ ferments – fermented foods that are neither cooked nor pasteurized – and places them under the microscope, before cooking with them in all their delicious versatility.

From the fiery funk of kimchi to the velvet tang of kefir, James describes the microbial process, then shares his recipes for recreating these wonders in your own kitchen. Alongside his recipes, James investigates the extraordinary cultural and historic backgrounds of fermented foods, exploring how the microbes that bring them to life have developed alongside our culinary evolution.

So I went into his house yesterday and had a lovely chat about his favourite fermented foods. We also tried some lovely home-made kimchi, soy sauce and tepache drink the Mexican slightly sweet slightly sour fermented beverage!

Find out more about James and order his book here: https://jamesreadwriter.com/

He is also on Instagram as @jamesreadwrites

Enjoy our conversation and if you have any questions or recommendations do let me know!

The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

Sushi and sashimi are now global sensations. But how sushi begun? The book Oishii reveal the deep history of sushi which began perhaps in China and mostly as a sour fermented food.

On this episode i have the honour to have as a guest Professor Eric C Rath of the University of Kansas to explain to us the history of sushi in Japan and how it conquered the world!

Our discussion is based of course on his 2021 book "Oishii: The History of Sushi" which is rather lovely and detailed and is out now by Reaktion Books.

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

In any discussion of French cheese, it is impossible to avoid that exasperated question from President De Gaulle "how can you govern a country that has more than 246 varieties of cheese?"

I'm Thom Ntinas and this is The Delicious Legacy Podcast!

This week, continuing our adventure with Ned, we taste and explore through the cheeses some forgotten corners of France and French history for that matter.

Mons cheesemonger for the best French cheese: https://mons-cheese.co.uk/

Salers cheese from Auvergne: https://www.cheese.com/salers/

José Bové, farm union leader from Larzac to MEP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riGwPStcPo

Patrick Rance: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013fm7g

Enjoy!

Book recommendation of the week is Koji Alchemy: Rediscovering the Magic of Mold-Based Fermentation(Soy Sauce, Miso, Sake, Mirin, Amazake, Charcuterie)

and you can find it on Amazon etc.

Podcast recommendation Sam Bilton's "Comfortably Hungry" podcast, new season, Dark Food is out now. You can listen here the first episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5K3H51ujWsu33S39vKb0E8?si=fa632f073ece4be2

See you again next week!

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Cheese: A story of place and people. How is that cheese is so universal, yet so unique from one little place to the next few miles down the road?

Ned went for an adventure all over France to find an answer on "what is French Cheese?" and "why do we love it so much?" while looking for the most representative cheeses that tell this story.

Along the way, he discovered many more extraordinary and surprising details about the history of the villages, cheesemakers and cheesemongers of France.

How do some of them still clinging on, on their traditional ways? On mountaintops, through rainy autumns. harsh winters or spring and summer?

What cheese and revolution have to tell us about the making of a nation?

Ned's book is extraordinary, fascinating and full of individual powerful characters, as pungent and sophisticated at the same time as the cheeses that they create!

Join us on the first part of the interview today, to find out the history of French Cheese, and it's survival through the industrial and technological revolutions until this day.

Ned's book is out on Thursday 3rd of October and you can get it on all good bookshops, plus you can order it online:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-cheesemongers-tour-de-france/ned-palmer/9781788166935

Enjoy!

Thom

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Hello!

Autumn! The weather's finally turning and it's time to prepare the pickles, preserves and chutneys with the abundance of summer harvest!

But what did our ancestors do to prepare for the long cold, dark northern winter months ahead? How did they survive the scarce food resources of Europe's dormant nature?

What traditions and superstitions persisted through the ages?

What food was eaten in Michaelmas and Martinmas important celebrations of the autumn season?

Let's find out on this week's episode!

This weeks recommendations are:

A Is for Apple Podcast with Neil Buttery, Sam Bilton and Alessandra Pino.

https://open.spotify.com/show/4wpXiAoQUoFkeE0YgsT6qx?si=27666b362d434872

Dr Alessandra Pinos new book, "A Gothic Cookbook"

https://unbound.com/books/a-gothic-cookbook

And Vittles which has a wealth of food related articles and restaurant reviews and recommendations:

https://www.vittlesmagazine.com

Enjoy!

As ever, music by Pavlos Karpalos.

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Hello!

Welcome back to another archaeogastronomical adventure!

Today's episode is all about ancient vegetarianism.

And the philosopher Pythagoras is the central figure on all the stuff we talk today.

Pythagoras, the father of mathematics, was born and raised in Samos. around 580BCE. Even though Pythagoras spent more than forty years in his birthplace, he eventually decided to set sail for new seas; his thirst for knowledge led him to travel throughout most of the then known world, most notably Egypt and Babylon, centres of wisdom knowledge and secret mystical rites, before settling down to Croton, a town in Magna Graecia, modern Southern Italy.

Notes for some names dropped:

Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BCE) was a Peripatetic philosopher who was Aristotle's close colleague and successor at the Lyceum. He wrote many treatises in all areas of philosophy, in order to support, improve, expand, and develop the Aristotelian system. Of his few surviving works, the most important are Peri phytōn historia (“Inquiry into Plants”) and Peri phytōn aitiōn (“Growth of Plants”), comprising nine and six books, respectively.

Aulus Gellius (c. 125 – after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome.

Ovid (born March 20, 43 bce, Sulmo, Roman Empire [now Sulmona, Italy]—died 17 ce, Tomis, Moesia [now Constanṭa, Romania]) was a Roman poet noted especially for his Ars amatoria and Metamorphoses. 

Vetch: A member of the pea family, Fabaceae, which forms the third largest plant family in the world with over thirteen thousand species. Of these species, the bitter vetch, was one of the first domesticated crops grown by neolithic people. There are many different vetch species, the purple flowered varieties are all safe to eat.

Music Credits:

Pavlos Kapralos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzgAonk4-uVhXXjKSF-Nz1A

Thanks for listening!

The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

When did the word 'Barbecue' appeared in our language?

As a technique it has been used under various guises from all humans, throughout the planet...

This early appearance from 1709:

 I have been often in their Hunting-Quarters, where a roasted or barbakued Turkey, eaten with Bears Fat, is held a good Dish;

Or this from 1707 "The Three Pigs of Peckham, Broiled Under an Apple Tree"

...the white folks of Peckham, Jamaica, had “their English appetites so deprav’d and vitiated” by rum that they desired “a Litter of Pigs nicely cook’d after the West Indian manner.” Three hogs were placed on a wooden frame over coals, and “the best part of the town of Peckham” turned out to watch and to eat, “expressing as much Joy in the Looks and Actions, as a Gang of wild Cannibals who, when they have taken a Stranger, first dance round him, and afterwards devour him.”

Can we say that every technique that uses fire and smoke, even if it's spit roasting or grilling to a degree, constitutes a barbecuing technique?

And what is that we find so attractive so convivial?

Listen, and get hungry!

The Delicious Legacy

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Have you ever wondered how common or rare the ovens once were? What was the original mince pie? And what was the first EVER bread humankind invented?

Hello!

Welcome back to another archaeogastronomical adventure!

Today I have as a guest an old friend of the podcast; Dr Neil Buttery and we have a good long chat about his new book, all about baking!

The book will be released on 12th of September and our interview today will give you a taste of the subjects covered in the book as well some of our favourite baked goods, and myths that are baked in our societies and have to do with the discovery of certain items!

You can pre-order 'Knead to Know' here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/knead-to-know/neil-buttery/9781837731213

Neil has also another book ready for publishing, for The British Library, called "The Philosophy of Puddings" which is released on 24th of October!

and you can find it here:

https://shop.bl.uk/products/the-philosophy-of-puddings

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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