THE HISTORY OF FOOD

By Anthrochef

Society & Culture Arts Education History Food

What's THE HISTORY OF FOOD about?

What makes us human? Humans are just animals who know how to cook. Whether you're interested in food, history, or both like I am, this podcast is for you

Visit anthrochef.blog for recipes.

Theme music by Michael Levy of Ancient Lyre. “An Ancient Lyre” and much more is available from all major digital music stores and streaming sites.

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THE HISTORY OF FOOD episodes:

06.08.2021
HOF Episode 28: The Ancient History of Chefs
Everyone knows the saying about what the world’s “oldest profession” is, but you will find a very close runner up in the kitchen. The history of those who cook professionally to make their living goes way, way back to the...
02.04.2021
HOF Episode 27: A Day in the Life (of a Peasant Farmer)
Have you ever wondered if there’s more to history than dates and major events, what some of the stories and daily lives of regular people looked like? Do you need a reminder that history is populated with real people, who...
09.08.2020
HOF Episode 26: Factory Food (Industrial Revolution)
When Britain industrialized in the late 1700s and the rest of the western world soon followed, humans were transformed to a degree not seen for 10,000 years when we first settled into farming life. But it wasn’t some simple flick...
07.19.2020
HOF Episode 25: The Soul of American Cooking (Colonial USA)
Who founded America? George Washington? Thomas Jefferson? America had founding fathers alright, but they aren’t the ones you’re thinking of. Would you believe that African slaves and Indians were the true minds and bodies behind birthing America’s culture? It’s all...
05.30.2020
HOF Episode 24: The Feeling of Fullness (Sub Saharan Africa)
Is good cooking defined by ingredients, skill in preparation, style of cuisine, or is it something even more fundamental and deeply human? We left out of Africa all the way back in Episode 1, and rarely looked back, but in...
04.17.2020
HOF Episode 23: The Great Sobering (Coffee and Colonialism)
Save this episode to go with your morning coffee. Sip that dark and bitter brew, maybe with cream and/or sugar, maybe not, and listen along as you learn of coffee’s origins, how it came to Europe, displaced alcohol and sobered...
03.25.2020
HOF Episode 22: Melting Pots and Fusion Foods (Globalization)
The “American Melting Pot” is far older, larger, and even more diverse than most people imagine. After Columbus reconnected Eurasia and Africa with the Americas, the world began to change in ways it never had before. Europeans, Africans, Asians, and...
02.13.2020
HOF Episode 21: Umami and Kimchi (Japan and Korea)
What does it mean for one culture to “steal” from another? How often does it happen? Is it a bad thing when it does? Listen to explore those questions and more, as we visit the Far East once again, this...
12.20.2019
HOF Episode 20: The Columbian Exchange
For millions of years, the two main hemispheres of planet earth were separated by an impassible ocean. North/South America and Eurasia/Africa, two divergent ecosystems, food chains, and human civilizations. . . Then one day in 1492, a guy named Columbus...
10.09.2019
HOF Episode 19: Europe Wakes Up (The Renaissance)
Did Europeans suddenly wake up one day, tired of Medieval living, and decide to change course, to rebirth themselves in modern ideas and start creating good art? Or, as usual, is the story something much more complicated, gradual, and subject...
09.03.2019
HOF Episode 18: Crusades and Plagues (later Middle Ages)
How did Europe get out of its dark ages? It’s not a wholesome story, as the secret to their success was mainly the conquest and plunder of other peoples’ luxury goods, namely their foods and spices. Classic Europe. Would it...
07.24.2019
HOF Episode 17: The Power of Tradition (China revisited)
What makes humans special? What makes us rise above all the other animals across the planet, to discover and make great things? Before you answer with the obvious, ” our big brains and intelligence”, take a listen to this episode,...
06.16.2019
HOF Episode 16: The Dark Bread Ages (Medieval Europe)
In Late Antiquity, without the Roman Empire around to control everything, forest and wilderness reclaimed Europe and its people went local. Start with that, then stir to combine with a rising Catholic Church, and you’ve got a recipe for a...
05.14.2019
HOF Episode 15: Princes of Flavor (India)
Which ancient civilization made the most flavorful cuisine? Perhaps you could make a case for any of the cuisines and civilizations we’ve covered thus far, and no doubt each one has been best at something. But when it comes to...
04.04.2019
HOF Episode 14: People of the Book
In what capacity can food serve a spiritual need? The answer is a whole lot! A little over two thousand years ago, the way people thought about themselves and the Universe was beginning to change. Ancient gods, pagan rituals, and...
02.21.2019
HOF Episode 13: Empire of Shepherds (Iran)
Many great moments in civilization happened when cultures of the Far East, interacted with those in the West. Through all those moments, there was one region which sat between them, one which was always happy to be in the middle,...
01.14.2019
HOF Episode 12: Herders of the Old World
Welcome to the second Season of the History of Food! To kick things off, we’ll be walking ground we’ve tread before. The history of pastoral nomadism, that is the animal herders in Europe, Asia, and Africa, has frequently come up...
10.24.2018
HOF Episode 11: Bread and Circuses, but Mostly Bread (Rome)
Rome. Probably what most people think of when they think “Ancient World”. In this episode, however, we discover that in terms of the culinary, the Roman Republic and then Empire was most distinguishable as a lens into the diets and...
09.03.2018
HOF Episode 10: Hombres de Maíz (Mesoamerica)
Of all the food discoveries made across the ancient world, few are more impressive than the domestication and then nixtamlization of maize (corn) in the lands that would one day be called Mexico and Central America. Mesoamerica is one of...
07.23.2018
HOF Episode 9: Raw and Cooked (China)
What does it mean to be a raw (barbarian) person vs. a cooked (civilized) person? To find out, our culinary and historical journey heads east. Far East, to the lands of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. Ancient China. Guzheng music...
06.16.2018
HOF Episode 8: Hunger and Collapse (Mesopotamia and Bronze Age)
No civilization lasts forever. In fact, it’s kind of a miracle any starts at all. The conditions must be exactly right for people to come together into urban environments. So like an overextended, teetering Jenga tower, it’s not if but...
05.01.2018
HOF Episode 7: Age of the Aegean (Greece)
Here we are at last, on the shores of Greece. It’s a brief retelling of Aegean history, a story you’ve heard before, though perhaps not from a chef’s point of view. Come for the history, stay for the foods that...
03.27.2018
HOF Episode 6: Lands of the Nile (Egypt)
Egypt needs no introduction. But here’s one anyway! The ancient people along the Nile built a civilization out of grain like Mesopotamia, but diverged on their own unique path, transforming their food surplus into the greatest monuments the world has...
02.20.2018
HOF Episode 5: Un Otro Mundo (Andean Civilization)
Sumer was the oldest urban civilization, but not by much. Second place followed quickly, and incredibly was across the ocean in South America. People on the coast of modern Peru kickstarted a multi-millennium wave of Andean civilization, passing down a...
01.15.2018
HOF Episode 4: How to Turn Food into Wealth (Sumer)
We’ve done it. We’ve finally crossed into the realm of written records and recorded history. Join me on an odyssey going back 6,000 years ago, when the Sumerians of what is today southern Iraq, took a mega-surplus of grain and...
11.21.2017
HOF Episode 3: Early Farming Around the World
Come travel around the world and follow the Neolithic cultures that spread across it, including very early farmers of Egypt, China, and Old Europe. Then come across the oceans to Mesoamerica, one of two places in the world civilization was...
10.11.2017
HOF Episode 2: Gardeners of the Neolithic
The second episode of our History of Food concerns the greatest turning point in human history since the taming of fire. The New Stone Age, when farming was invented and our species forever changed. What were our lives like, what...
09.14.2017
HOF Episode 1: Human Ancestors and Prehistoric Foragers
What makes us human? Humans are just animals who know how to cook. This first episode attempts to explain what humans and our hominid ancestors have been eating for the 6 million years since we first came down from the...

What's THE HISTORY OF FOOD about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

THE HISTORY OF FOOD episodes:

HOF Episode 28: The Ancient History of Chefs

HOF Episode 27: A Day in the Life (of a Peasant Farmer)

HOF Episode 26: Factory Food (Industrial Revolution)

HOF Episode 25: The Soul of American Cooking (Colonial USA)

HOF Episode 24: The Feeling of Fullness (Sub Saharan Africa)

HOF Episode 23: The Great Sobering (Coffee and Colonialism)

HOF Episode 22: Melting Pots and Fusion Foods (Globalization)

HOF Episode 21: Umami and Kimchi (Japan and Korea)

HOF Episode 20: The Columbian Exchange

HOF Episode 19: Europe Wakes Up (The Renaissance)

HOF Episode 18: Crusades and Plagues (later Middle Ages)

HOF Episode 17: The Power of Tradition (China revisited)

HOF Episode 16: The Dark Bread Ages (Medieval Europe)

HOF Episode 15: Princes of Flavor (India)

HOF Episode 14: People of the Book

HOF Episode 13: Empire of Shepherds (Iran)

HOF Episode 12: Herders of the Old World

HOF Episode 11: Bread and Circuses, but Mostly Bread (Rome)

HOF Episode 10: Hombres de Maíz (Mesoamerica)

HOF Episode 9: Raw and Cooked (China)

HOF Episode 8: Hunger and Collapse (Mesopotamia and Bronze Age)

HOF Episode 7: Age of the Aegean (Greece)

HOF Episode 6: Lands of the Nile (Egypt)

HOF Episode 5: Un Otro Mundo (Andean Civilization)

HOF Episode 4: How to Turn Food into Wealth (Sumer)

HOF Episode 3: Early Farming Around the World

HOF Episode 2: Gardeners of the Neolithic

HOF Episode 1: Human Ancestors and Prehistoric Foragers