The Fantastic History Of Food

The entire experience of eating a fancy meal these days is no longer just about the food itself. For decades, chefs like Heston Blumenthal have been creating entire culinary experiences to delight all of your senses at once, pairing sounds, smells and textures along with the already delicious flavours of their food.

But while this trend has taken off again more recently, this is by no means a modern practice. In fact, as far back as the early 1600’s an innovative chef by the name of Robert May was creating similar sensory dining experiences all around Elizabethan England.

Today, we’ll discover just who this man was, and how he went about revolutionising banquets into what would come to be called his "Spectacle Feasts".

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-aaron-mahnkes-cabinet-of-c-29519194/episode/chefs-table-172173292/
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-fantastical-feasts-of-englands-first-celebrity-chef
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_May_(cook)

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It’s well into the northern european winter season at the end of 1939. Five hundred thousand Russian Soviet Soldiers are making a collective push northwards, swarming the countryside as they go. They are armed to the hilt with tanks, explosives, machine guns, grenades and a staggeringly overwhelming number of troops.

But there is one thing that they didn’t count on, one thing that threatened to derail their entire military offensive altogether. And that one thing, was the humble sausage.

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Thank you to my brand-new supporters:

• Josh Lovetere
• Zachary Hedden

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://www.history.com/news/the-bizarre-sausage-war-that-inspired-hitler
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Varolampi_Pond
• https://www.finlandatwar.com/the-sausage-war-an-army-marches-on-its-stomach/
• https://sofrep.com/news/sausage-war-when-hunger-got-the-best-of-the-soviets/
• https://short-history.com/sausage-war-733d71767317
• https://pennytyrrellmcqueen.wixsite.com/togetherapart/single-post/2016/10/26/sausage-war

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For the majority of history they were considered the ultimate delicacy by European nobility who just couldn’t get enough of them. From snack to status symbol, the pineapple has graced many a King and Queens palace courts, while outside of them they took on a mythical quality akin to some sort of precious jewel.

Today, we’ll track the pineapples voyage across the seas and into the history books as it became synonymous with the very peak of royal de rigeour.

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Thank you to our brand-new supporter:

• Sarah Thompson

You too can support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://www.thedailymeal.com/1233796/in-the-1700s-pineapples-were-wildly-expensive-symbols-of-prosperity/
• https://www.britannica.com/plant/pineapple
• https://www.bimstore.co/resources/10-facts-about-pineapples
• https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/a-brief-history-of-foods-pineapple
• https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/25/the-strange-history-of-the-king-pine/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-uKgiyE3Y
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple#:~:text=Precolonial%20cultivation,-The%20wild%20plant&text=By%20the%20late%201400s%2C%20cropped,it%20into%20India%20by%201550.

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For as long as so-called civilised societies have existed, equally uncivilised clubs and groups have sprung up within them, allowing their members to revel in all sorts of weird and wonderful excesses.

In previous episodes we have heard about secret food clubs with a goal of eating every type of animal on earth. Todays story may not be so different, although this clubs members were’nt so picky about reaching any particular goal other that just eating every type of food they could get their hands on.

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Thank you to our 2 brand-new supporters:

• Frank Morales 

• Philipp Surkov

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://www.insidehook.com/culture/revisiting-fat-mens-clubs
• https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/07/469571114/the-forgotten-history-of-fat-men-s-clubs
• https://www.sunjournal.com/2020/01/19/when-fat-mens-clubs-were-big/
• https://www.antikeychop.com/fatmensclub
• https://husheduphistory.com/post/141904668068/girth-and-mirth-the-rise-of-the-fat-mens-club
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/unusual-clubs-in-history

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Turn on the tv or radio, or scroll any news site online and you’ll no doubt be inundated with stories about crazy weather anomalies happening all around the globe.

Volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, earthquakes, tornadoes and so much more.

But none of us, thankfully, have ever lived through one of the strangest events in history when something a lot more dense than rain began falling from the skies onto some unsuspecting farmers in the small town of Olympia Springs, Kentucky. 

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Was-the-Kentucky-Meat-Shower
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_meat_shower
  
• https://www.vice.com/en/article/kzkmgw/the-mystery-of-the-kentucky-meat-shower
  
• https://www.popsci.com/story/science/weirdest-thing-meat-shower-kodak-cow-sword-swallower/
  
• https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/running-ponies/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-mystery-unwound-by-projectile-vulture-vomit/
  
• https://www.wate.com/news/kentucky/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-147-years-passed-since-the-kentucky-shower-of-flesh/
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lluvia_de_peces
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_of_animals
  

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In our modern age we have lived through natural disasters and floods in various parts of the world, and no matter what, they are always tragic. But tragic floods are not always a cause of nature.

In episode 7, we discussed the great molasses flood that occurred in Boston and the ensuing devastation of that event. Well today, we’ll be taking a look at a similar, albeit less gloopy tidal wave of destruction that occurred 100 years before that.

And, as much as any of us may love a beer every now and then and dream of swimming in a pool of the bubbly liquid, this tragic event was unfortunately no laughing matter.

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood
  
• https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-London-Beer-Flood-of-1814/
  
• https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/great-beer-flood-1814-what-happened/
  
• https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-london-beer-flood/
  
• https://www.history.com/news/london-beer-flood
  
• https://explorethearchive.com/london-beer-flood
  
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1814-beer-flood-killed-eight-people-180964256/
  

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This episode is a look at how in the early to mid 1900’s the abolitionist laws banning the production and consumption of alcohol played a majorly significant role in the creation of what, today, is a veritable institution of the American South, NASCAR.

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Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://winstoncupmuseum.com/nascar-and-prohibition/#:~:text=Across%20the%20country%2C%20bootleggers%20had,cases%20of%20liquor%20as%20possible
  
• https://www.history.com/news/how-prohibition-gave-birth-to-nascar
  
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-moonshine-bootlegging-gave-rise-nascar-180962014/
  
• https://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/history/nascar-bootleggers.htm
  
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nascar-moonshine
  
• https://www.ranker.com/list/ways-people-hid-alcohol-during-prohibition/kellen-perry?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=weirdhistory&utm_campaign=wh_active&utm_content=%7Bdate%28%27yyyyMMdd%27%29%7D
  
• https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-early-american-booze-consumption/rachel-souerbry?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=weirdhistory&utm_campaign=wh_active&utm_content=%7Bdate%28%27yyyyMMdd%27%29%7D
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower
  

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There are many stories throughout history of individuals with freakish appetites, who seem to be able to consume quantities of food well past what a human stomach should be capable of handling.

Today, we’ll be diving into the story of Charles Domery, a Polish-born soldier who tried to eat the whole world.

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Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://historianandrew.medium.com/the-man-who-couldnt-stop-eating-including-cats-rats-grass-and-his-friend-s-leg-c7ec7e1fce01
• https://www.weirdhistorian.com/domery-the-man-who-ate-anything-and-a-whole-lot-of-it/
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/charles-domery
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Domery

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For most of history, the Dutch have been an almost all-powerful force to be reckoned with. They were the forerunners for a lot of the world's exploration, and for a long time dominated the seas and trade routes through the stranglehold of the Dutch East India Company.

In the preceding century, they were still under Spanish rule, with 2 of their kings, Charles the Fifth and his Son Phillip II, simultaneously ruling as the kings of Spain and the so-called Low Countries of The Netherlands.

But the Dutch weren’t having any of this for long and at the first sign of mismanagement, made their feelings known.

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Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://www.historydefined.net/when-the-dutch-murdered-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister/
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt
  
• https://dutchreview.com/culture/dutch-history-crowds-ate-prime-minister/
  
• https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/is-it-true-that-an-angry-mob-of-dutchmen-killed-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister-in-1672/
  
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/johan-de-witt
  

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For today's story we will be diving into the life of a truly extraordinary man named William V McKenna, and while he fits the category of “people who eat random things”, those things that he ate can’t really be classified as food.

So let's see just how this man, William McKenna first discovered his talented digestive system.

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Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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Sources for this episode's research:

• https://www.picuki.com/tag/humanostrich
• https://www.weirdhistorian.com/appetite-for-intestinal-destruction-the-man-who-ate-glass-nails-tacks-and-frogs/
• https://historianandrew.medium.com/william-mckenna-the-human-ostrich-who-made-a-living-eating-nails-glass-and-live-frogs-dd1697a3c7d5

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.