Hungry Ghosts

Welsh coal burns hotter. So hot, in fact, that the mistress of Welsh dandy Beau Nash was so distraught upon his leaving her that she elected to spend the rest of her life living in a hollowed-out tree.  This kind of passion is characteristic of the world of Welsh food and drink, the stranger corners of which we explore in this week's episode. Follow the link in our bio to learn about the Wels...

The boys travel home this week (not literally) to their beloved West Country, discussing scrumpy & western music, the Moonrakers of Devizes, Dorset knob and spoon races, men who eat roadkill, and other strange tales from Bodmin Moor.  This is the last one of series 2, and it's a humdinger! If you're enjoying the podcast, please remember to leave us a review and spread the good word,...

Livers of pike, brains of pheasant and peacock, tongues of flamingoes and entrails of lampreys, anyone?  Just some of the delights on offer at some of Ancient Rome's finest feasts. The appetites of the emperors pale in comparison to some of history's other great gluttons, though: the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Charles Darwin's Glutton Club, and the strange and terrible tale of...

It would be remiss of such a ghoulishly named podcast not to jump on the Halloween bandwagon, so we've put together a seasonal special for you this week. We discuss the curious tale of Stingy Jack, the pagan origins of Halloween,  real-life zombies, and what happened when Dan visited a vampirologist in that scariest of places: France. Keep it spooky! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Where else would a nativity scene include a man with his trousers down, pooping while making direct eye contact with the Baby Jesus? That’s right – we’re in Spain!  La Piel del Toro is a land rich in cultural oddities relating to food and drink, from El Puig’s Festival of Dead Rats to the ‘goose pulling’ of Lekeitio – less rude than it sounds, but just as weird. Apologies for the sound quality in...

For this week's episode we travelled to America and ate the world's hottest chilli. So never let our commitment to stupid content be questioned. The Carolina Reaper clocks in at around 2.2 million units on the Scoville scale, which measures the spiciness of chilli peppers – that's about ten times the heat of a Scotch bonnet. It's the creation of Smokin' Ed Currie, the mast...

Deep-fried butter! Jello salad! State soils! The subject of this week's episode is the land of the free, home of the brave,  domain of erotic corn-dog eating contests – I refer, of course, to the United States of America. Please enjoy the show, and remember: cooking at home and eating vegetables are unAmerican, unless you’re baking salmon in a dishwasher. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

This week it's our pleasure to be joined by Anne Osborne, who talks us through her experience of 30 years as a fruitarian. Anne gives us an insight into the rewards and risks of a fruit-based diet and the reasons that people decide to follow one, from perceived health benefits to the moral imperative of those melon-headed, banana-brandishing ideologues of the dietary world: the ethical fruita...

Raw egg nationalists! Alternative milks! Breatharians! This week's episode is all about the weird eaters of the world, from self-described 'right-wing bodybuilders' to melon-bellied fruitarians, starving saints, and Monsieur Mange-Tout himself, Michel Lotito, a.k.a. the man who ate a plane. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We back baby! After a well-deserved* break we've got another series of Hungry Ghosts podcasts for you, and we start series 2 by sitting down with Phil from 2 Beers Til Takeoff, a great podcast all about people's craziest travel stories. Phil tells us about food, travel and life in his native Canada: growing up among the Inuit, making caribou sunglasses, eating raw seal, and the strange t...

While we put together series 2 of Hungry Ghosts, we have a bonus episode for you! We were lucky enough to interview James Webb, aka J Webby, who is ranked #1 in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere and #10 in the world competitive eating rankings.  James has had a stratospheric rise up the rankings since entering the world of competitive eating during lockdown, and is returning to the legendary N...

We end series one of Hungry Ghosts with a look into our crystal balls as we discuss the foods of the future. Meat grown in a peach tree dish! Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police! And the ultimate measure of human progress: salami made from cells harvested from celebrities. Yummy! Charlie had to go to hospital after this. Not even a joke. That will teach us for attempting an alcohol-free episode. Hosted...

This week’s episode is a tribute to the greats of the competitive eating world. Joey Chestnut. Takeru Kobyashi. And our personal favourite, Sonya Thomas, a.k.a The Black Widow, a.k.a The Leader of the Four Horsemen of the Oesophagus. These guys don’t muck about. 13kg of poutine in ten minutes? 128oz of mayonnaise in eight minutes? 57 cow brains in 15 minutes? All in a day’s eats for the elite comp...

We discuss the complex relationship between food and colonialism, from the linguistic legacy of the tea trade to the real crux of the issue: dogs who are addicted to curry. Bon appétit! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benvenuti welcooome! This week’s episode is about all things Italian, from the masked soirées of Venice Carnival to the unlikely origins of tiramisu and the thorny subject of what can and cannot go on top of a pizza. We also delve into the unlikely story of Venetian wine and reveal why one beloved slapheaded actor is in danger of becoming the first official Enemy of the Podcast… Hosted on Acast. S...

Have you met the Comte de Saint Germain? This week we explore the very strange history of ‘medicinal’ food and drink, from tapeworm pills to arsenic supplements and cigarette diets. Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Restless ghouls, pissed as newts; lost souls, drowning in a fishbowl. And that’s just your hosts. The boys discuss a subject close to their hearts this week: the greatest boozers of all time. From Alexander the Great’s fatal drinking contests to Ernest Hemingway liberating the bar of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, history is littered with problem drinkers – and don’t even get us started on Hunter S. Tho...

We explore the weird and wonderful world of gastrodiplomacy this week, looking at the ways in which food has been harnessed as a marker of national, religious, and ethnic identity – from fatwas on croissants to hummus wars, and everything in between. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neptune’s wrath descends on the podcast this week, as the boys take on the thorny topic of urban food and drink legends, from pink slime and mystery meat to spiked Halloween candy and libido-suppressant breakfast cereals.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is lab-grown pork kosher? Does absinthe make you hallucinate? Would you eat fruit bat at the breakfast buffet? This week the boys talk about taboo in the worlds of food and drink, from chowing down on our furry friends to the ultimate in performative priestly decadence: the eating of the ortolan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can’t force feed a maggot. Our first episode is about all things Japan, from sake and sushi to deadly fugu and chicken sashimi – with a few diversions into the worlds of maggot cheese, West Country cidermakers, and more. Kanpai! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.