Helloooooo...!

Easter in UK and Western Europe (Catholic or otherwise) is nearly upon us!

Traditionally the most important celebration of Christianity.

On this episode from the archives, from April 2020, I'm re-publishing the episode about Eastern Orthodox Easter where I describe in some general terms what is happening during the Lent and Easter Sunday.

As is the most important date of the religious calendar and as such, is celebrated in style!

The Lent lasts 40 days and then follows the Holy Week (another lent period) and the the Easter Sunday celebrations!

What is tsoureki?

What do the Greek eat on Palm Sunday?

Do they really paint red the hens eggs? Why?

And what is "mageiritsa" that's eaten after the midnight mass on Saturday to Sunday morning?

Centre piece of Easter Sunday is a whole spit roast lamb on charcoal, or two (or as is the case with my family 3)...and kokoretsi...

If you're nostalgic (as a Greek that's stuck abroad and missing it this year) tempted and hungry do have a listen!

Music by Pavlos Kapralos.

We will back next week with a new episode...!

Much love and happy Easter!

The Delicious Legacy

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Bonus episode!

Eastern Orthodox Easter is the most important date of the religious calendar.

And as such is celebrated in style!

The Lent lasts 40 days and then follows the Holy Week (another lent period) and the the Easter Sunday celebrations!

What is tsoureki? what do the Greek eat on Palm Sunday?

Do they really paint red the hens eggs? Why?

and what is "mageiritsa" that's eaten after the midnight mass on Saturday to Sunday morning?

And then a whole spit roast lamb on charcoal, or two (or as is the case with my family 3)...and kokoretsi...

If you're nostalgic (as a greek that's stuck abroad and missing it this year) and tempted and hungry do have a listen!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy.

If you love to time-travel through food and history why not join us at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-delicious-legacy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello!

What is Greek Cuisine today?

How do we define the food of the modern Greek nation? Clear and in many ways transparent cuisine.

can it be defined from the simplicity and freshness of the ingredients, and her frugal, austere or thrifty nature?

Is it just this though?

And how Greek is mousaka, a dish that is considered so Greek throughout the world?

These and much more, I explore on today's episode on the origins of creation of the modern Greek Cuisine and how this is a problem of definition

for many national cuisines and the myth that is essential in their story.

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

Today I have the pleasure to interview historian Dr Eleanor Barnett about her new book, "Leftovers".

The interview was conducted in January, in anticipation of her new book which is coming out on Thursday 14th of March, as a hardback from Head of Zeus.

Preservation of food, and waste management isn't a new problem for our globalized societies. It's part of humankind's story from very early on.

On this episode Dr. Eleanor Barnett will talk about the past 600 years -give or take- and what happened in Britain specifically from Tudor era until today- with an eye looking into our future! 

Why food was wasted in the past? How it was wasted? And what did they do with all the food waste that they created?

In times of abundance it's easy to forget how tough can be to feed one's family and self. In the past when harvest failed, prices rose, riots followed; when unscrupulous merchants tried to sell the produce unfairly or abroad, mobs descented and took the wheat or cheese for themselves. Yet now we throw away seemingly an endless supply of perfectly good to eat food. 

46% of UK waste is from households and hospitality today. Agriculture and farming for 28%, food processing and manufacturing for 17%, and food distribution for 9%. This equates to 9.5 million tonnes every single year. Globally 14% is lost between harvest and retail, and 11% in households. 

So let's take a deep dive in the past and find out more!

Dr Eleanor Barnett posts on instagram as @historyeats and here's her website:

https://www.eleanorbarnett.com/

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Hello!

Welcome back to another archaeogastronomical adventure!

I think you'll enjoy this one! Sweet and complex and full of myths, legends and symbolism!

Honey is a revered food the world over and bees a sacred and important insect.

Let's find out about the first ever apiary, the ancient egyptian practises, mesopotamian myths and ancient greek myths of honeybees.

Plus why the Romans hated Sardinian honey so much? 

Enjoyyyy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

Music by Pavlos Kapralos.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy.

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Hello!

I have a genuinely exciting episode from the archives of The Delicious Legacy! Even though this is a re-run I have added some extra bits on the intro and outro with bonus ancient recipes! And it's massive!

Labyrinth, Minotaur, Talos, and many other myths and legends, Gods and kings and pirates and poets! This is the sun-kissed, sea-guarded Crete everybody!

I had the great honour to talk with food archaeologist Jerolyn Morrison who is in the island of Crete. For the almost 3 decades now, with teams of dedicated, hard working archaeologists from different fields, she explores and excavates ancient sites all over the island. Jerolyn specialises on findings from the Minoan times, so we are talking really ancient stuff here! Times full of myths and legends!

More about how you can get involved you can find here:

https://www.minoantastes.com/about

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

Self-Exploding nuts! Now this is fact for the ages! Sadly they haven't been used as a weapon in the ancient past so I can't claim it's known for millennia..

But...Pistachios!

Evidence so far points to farmers having domesticated the pistachio during the first millennium BCE “somewhere within its wild range,” which spanned southern Central Asia, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan as well as northern Iran and northern Afghanistan.

But how did they spread throughout the world? And where can we find the best tastiest ones?

And a little bonus on the history of peanuts, another misunderstood legume which is treated as a nut, or legume!

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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A huge volcanic explosion...

An city buried under tonnes of pumice and ash...

No, we are not talking about Pompeii or Herculaneum, but another place and volcano, at least one thousand five hundred years before...

An island civilization destroyed by a cataclysmic eruption around 1600 BCE, roughly 3600 years ago!

Akrotiri, a town on the Greek island of Thera, (what we call now Santorini) was buried and forgotten till the 20th century.

This unfortunate event for the Minoans, was great luck for us, as archaeologists unearthed an almost intact city. Amongst the many discoveries were many frescoes.

And on some of them were depicted women picking saffron from crocus flowers! Which for the purposes of our episode today, is perhaps the oldest

depiction of saffron picking ever!

You see the spice of our discussion today, saffron from the flower crocus sativus it always had a magnetic attraction to humans!

With it's vibrant golden colour, saffron was considered important as a medicine, dye and food. And it still is the most expensive spice in world! Worth almost $10,000 per kilo, it still holds it's importance in our cuisine!

So to enlighten us and explore it's history I invited the food historian and author Sam Bilton who's book "Fool's Gold - A History of British Saffron" explores the fascinating story behind saffron in the British Isles!

Let's find out more about the most valuable spice in the world, Saffron!

Sam has recently released another book for The British Library series "The Philosophy of..." about Chocolate.

You can find out more about her and her books and podcast here:

https://www.sambilton.com/

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

According to some definitions, "Globalisation is a term used to describe how trade and technology have made the world into a more connected and interdependent place."

But this is not a new phenomenon. For many centuries, this process was happening driven partly or mostly because of the lust for spices. Rare, highly prized and expensive.

Today we will explore the history of three of these spices which are so important to the story of our globalised world.

But most importantly this story is also a story of the Spice Islands; Deep in Indonesia, there where the amazing local sailors and merchants of Banda Islands. The Bandanese became the undisputed leaders of the inter island trade of spices, travelling in fleets of kora-kora canoes, propelled by rowers on platforms of bamboo lashed five feet away on either side of the canoe proper...

Our spices:

-"Karyophyllon" in Ancient Greek was our Cloves.

The Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) was the first to describe cloves in the West in his Natural History (70 CE) where he recorded that “there is also in India a grain resembling that of pepper but larger and more fragile, called caryophyllom, which is reported to grow on the Indian lotus tree; it is imported here for the sake of its scent”

-Nutmeg and mace are frequently mentioned in the oldest scriptures of Hinduism in India, the Vedas, composed between 1500 and 1000 BCE.

-Madagascar is synonymous with vanilla. But what we know and think and eat as vanilla, is not native to Madagascar; it originated some 10,000 miles away...

Let's find out!

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

Love,

The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!!!

This week we are going back roughly 4000 years ago, in Anatolia, in what is today Turkey. A plateau, created by the forces of the tectonic plates pushing each other, bordering Syria, Iran, Iraq, Armenia or encompassing some of the current countries, the Hittites were an ancient civilization a powerhouse controlling much of the fertile land and trade.

Avid collectors of foreign literature, they saved for our eyes, thousands of clay tablets with myths, legends, incantations and spells of cultures surrounding them, as well as their own history. Peace treaties with Egyptians and trade with the semi-mythical kingdom of the Achaeans or otherwise as we know them Mycenaean Greeks. and their disputre with Wilusa, or as we know it Troy.

Join me to find out more about the people were myth and history collides with some fascinating insights!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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