Comfortably Hungry

In the last episode of Season 4 (sad but true) we plunge deep into the ‘underworld’, figuratively speaking, in our final quest for fresh water. I chat to Niyati Kukadia about Gujarat’s ancient vavs, or stepwells, once vital for supplying drinking water to communities in one of India’s most arid areas. I discover that these architectural wonders were so much more than a source of water. Historicall...

In this episode I head to the midlands town of Droitwich which was once a powerhouse in the English salt production industry (and arguably still is) on account of its brine springs. Helping me explore the town’s heritage are local historian Paul Jones LRPS and Steve from Churchfields salt works. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which m...

In this episode we’ll be journeying to pre-Colombian Mesoamerica with Dr Gabrielle Vail, Research Collaborator in the Department of Anthropology, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to explore why the worship of rain gods like Chaak was so crucial to the Mayans and discover the role that food played in these ceremonies. You may also want to go back and listen to the first episode o...

In episode 11, I visit Barry and Chris Flannaghan at the restored Burton watermill in Sussex. I discover how Burton Mill has evolved over the centuries but always using water as its source of power. The present 4 storey, 5 bay mill building dates from 1780 and was built on the foundations of an earlier forge or fulling mill (there is a record of a mill close to this site in the Domesday book). Tod...

In this episode I discover more about the role women played in the distilling of usquebaugh (or the water of life) and whisky in Scotland with Peter Gilchrist, food historian at the Tenement Kitchen and host of the Scottish Food History podcast. Peter and I are joined by Rosalind Erskine, Food and Drink Editor of the Scotsman and host of the Scran podcast. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become...

‘The Carp is a stately, a good, and a subtle fish, a fish that hath not (as it is said) been long in England’ Izaak Walton, The Complete Angler (1653) In this episode I explore the history of carp in Britain, one of the most widely distributed freshwater fish of all the British species, with angler and author John Langridge. By the seventeenth century carp recipes were frequently found in cookbook...

‘We do not know for how many millennia man has exploited the preservative properties of ice.’ Jill Norman in the introduction to Elizabeth David’s Harvest of the Cold Months ( 1996 ) In this episode I’m joined by food historian, writer, photographer, and culinary practitioner Dr Nader Mehravari, to find out more about the yakhchals of ancient Persia and how they were used to make and store ice. If...

To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2026 in this episode we’ll be hearing the story of Eliza James, a remarkable woman who rose from poverty on the streets of Birmingham to become one of the most successful and wealthiest market traders at Covent Garden in London, all from selling bunches of watercress. So renowned was this woman that on her death in 1927 she was mourned as the water...

Don’t miss the special episode on The Watercress Queen to celebrate International Women’s Day (8/3/26) - released on Thursday 5th March. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @...

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries curious yellowish-white waxen lumps encased in the remnants of wooden containers have been unearthed from Irelands peat bogs by turf cutters and farmers. Some specimens weigh several kilos. Many are thought to date back thousands of years to the Bronze age, when the people of Ireland buried supplies of butter. Maeve Sikora, Keeper of Irish Antiquit...

In today’s episode we will be journeying back thousands of years to ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. I will be exploring arguably the earliest beer culture in the world with Dr Tate Paulette archaeologist and Associate Professor of History at North Carolina State University. Tate is also the author of In The Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopo...

In Episode 4 I chat to food writer Di Murrell about her experiences with her husband Tam of living and working on canals in Britain and France. Canals were played an essential part in how food and fuel was transported around Britain but it is a way of life that has all but disappeared. Among their various roles Di and Tam were involved in transporting limes in the depths of winter to cordial manuf...

In Episode 3 I discuss what borsch means to Ukrainians with activist, chef and author Olia Hercules who recently published her family memoir Strong Roots . We chat about how water has shaped Ukraine and why it is so important for this proud nation to reclaim their national dish. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll recei...

If you’re a fan of Jane Austen you’ll be familiar with the concept of ‘taking the waters’. In fact the title of today’s episode comes from a letter Jane wrote to her sister Cassandra who was staying in the spa town of Cheltenham in September 1816. People have been visiting places renowned for their mineral rich waters for centuries. These special wells, streams and pools were believed to cure all...

Welcome back! In Episode 1 of this new season I’m joined by Cass Gardiner, an Anishinaabe Algonquin filmmaker, curator, and writer from Kebaowek First Nation to discuss manoomin, or wild rice, and its importance to First Nation people in North America. We talk about its spiritual and economic significance and how this aspect of the Anishinaabe way of life is under threat from environmental polluti...

Following on from my discussions with Diane Purkiss, Sheila Cavanagh and Will Tosh on the less obvious meanings behind the food in Shakespeare’s plays I thought it would be fun to find out more about the early modern foods that are less well-known today or have entirely disappeared. In this episode I chat to Victoria González Gordón of Gonzalez Byass about Sir John Falstaff’s favourite tipple, sac...

As the title of this podcast suggests much of the discussion around the following episode centres on SEX. So, if you are travelling in the car with young people or anyone who is easily offended you may want to wait until you have dropped them off! Sex is, and always has been, a part of our lives. Without it none of us would be here. The very mention of the word can elicit titters, blushes, disgust...

In an essay entitled “Feasts are too Proud / Better to Starve”: Shakespearean Culinary Divides , Sheila T. Cavanagh, Professor of English at Emory University explains that in Shakespeare’s plays ‘Disputes involving food … often reveal close convergences between dietary options and challenging loci of interpersonal conflict, frequently connected with competing hierarchies associated with status as...

One of the challenges of writing a cookbook based on early modern recipes, like Much Ado About Cooking , is that the culinary manuscripts food historians have at our disposal tell us very little about what ordinary people consumed. They record the food largely eaten by the rich or the upwardly mobile merchants and yeomen. As fascinating and delicious as many of these recipes are, they don’t reveal...

Season 4 of the Comfortably Hungry podcast will start in earnest later this autumn. This season I’ll be chatting to historians, food writers, and artists to reveal the importance of water in all its guises and how it was used by our ancestors. To whet your appetite I had a chat with Janice Li, curator of a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London called Thirst: In Search of Freshwater ....

Ever wondered how someone gets into food history? What are the popular misconceptions about what we do? And do we ever have any recipe disasters? In this bonus episode I chat to my food history chums Neil Buttery, Alessandra Pino and Thomas Ntinas about how we got into food history and what inspires us. We also chat about our new food history festival, Serve It Forth , which will take place online...

We heard briefly from food writer Kathy Slack about how gardening and cooking helped her overcome anxiety and depression back in Episode 10 of Season 3. Kathy is frank about her mental health struggles in her revealing book, Rough Patch . This is the partner piece to Ami Bouhassane’s interview about her grandmother Lee Miller. Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack ! Useful Link...

In this bonus episode I take a look at how some of our best loved authors portray food in their books; why some fiction genres enjoy an enduring popularity and introduce you to the alter ego of a famous food writer. Joining me on this literary romp are some familiar Comfortably Hungry voices ( Caroline Crampton , Orlando Murrin and Dr Alessandra Pino ) and some new guests ( Pen Vogler and Dr Kevin...

As promised this is the full version of the interview I did with Ami Bouhassane, co-director of the Lee Miller Archives and Farley’s House and Gallery in Sussex, and granddaughter of model, photographer, writer and cook Lee Miller. Ami and I delve further into Lee’s career as a photographer and journalist during World War 2 and a childhood trauma (which some listener’s may find upsetting) - experi...

Today is the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the day the second world war ended in Europe. To mark the occasion I had a chat with journalist and author Alex Johnson about the importance of tea to the British during this conflict. Alex’s latest book While There Is Tea, There Is Hope, published in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum, is packed with wartime ephemera, photographs and vintage recipes....