The Delicious Legacy

Hello! Brand new episode is out! Part 4 of our Medieval European Cuisine tour! How did Byzantium played a role to create the first ever French cookbook? Who was Anthimus? And what foods did the Frankish kings ate? And how we could leave out the legendary empire of Byzantium and its influential court, palace life, writers, doctors and physicians who went to establish trends across the medieval Medi...

Hello! A new archaeogastronomical adventure beckons! Come with me and explore the complex flavours of England and Italy a thousand years ago. Let's find out how our ancestors used spices, and what was the common and traditional dishes for the folk of the continent of Europe so many centuries ago. Where do we find our sources from? What recipes and cookbooks have survived? And what archaeology tell...

On the second part of our exploration of Europe's Medieval Cuisine and the regional recipes, we are delving to the amazing, rich and complex foods of Al-Andalus: The medieval Arab Iberian peninsula and the heady mix of spices, fruits from the East, and the mix of Arab, Jewish and Roman cuisines to create something out of this world! The Almohade Cookbook’s 220 recipes have no counterpart in Middle...

In 1000 years of eating & cooking…there are too many things to explore! Before the arrival of new foods from the New World… There was still a remarkable variety of foodstuffs available to European citizens. Certainly not for everyone, not all the time, but many had access to both indigenous varieties of fruit and veg AND meat.. When was the medieval period?  What were the kitchens, cuisin...

Every recipe -almost universally- begins with "finely chop an onion..." or a variation on the theme. Yet, when was the last time you really thought about one? Onions are ubiquitous in every cuisine and every country. But what is their deep history? Join me to find out the symbolism of onions and their healing properties according to ancient sources, form Mesopotamia, to Ancient Egypt and Rome. Let...

The ancient Greek chef, was the first of the genre we know today as "Celebrity Chef". Competitive, highly sought after, creative, innovator...Feuds and fights and fish, gossip and satire! They had it all! Who were they? What did their contemporaries thought of them? What did survive of their fame, of their recipes and their books? Take for example, the only surviving recipe by Europe's oldest cook...

Salt! Homer, Plato, Plutarch, Pliny and Livy all wrote about it in various forms. Life saving, literally we can't survive without salt our bodies won't function. Preserving in more than one ways, giving us the chance to have food in the lean harsh winters... Delicious in so many ways. And yet not known too well, commonly misunderstood, and with many myths attached to it. Let's explore the deep, an...

Did you know that humans couldn't digest milk? All humans except babies and toddlers that is. But cheese...Cheese was OK! Our Neolithic ancestors were goat and sheep herders and had this amazing resource, milk from their animals, which was making them ill. Till something clicked and they've realised that we could utilize it if it is transformed to cheese! When did all that happened? Why? Where was...

On a glorious sunny winter day on 21st of January, I arrive on Horsenden farm intrigued by what I am about  to witness next. It’s a crisp bright afternoon just about lunchtime. People had already gathered and chatted and they were all dressed with some very interesting attire, all mysterious and pagan they’ve seemed to me. Some of them resembled the Holy Man, the winter incarnation of the Gre...

Chocolate, gambling, debauchery, and plotting to bring down the government... You wouldn't expect that from your average coffee house, but this was part and parcel of the most exclusive clubs of the day, the infamous chocolate houses of St James Square, London... And you thought Aztecs were the wild ones... Sadly almost all that we know for the Aztecs is wrong or plainly exaggerated. Montezuma ind...

Fun fact about chocolate: The chocolate drink of today, is nothing like the drink the ancient Mayans had! That was 98% cacao nibs, today is probably 2%! Have you ever thought how on earth someone thought to take the seeds of a difficult to grow tree, dry them, ferment them, toast them, grind them and make them into a delicious yet bitter drink? How did all start? When and where? Chocolate has been...

Deep in the diverse, evergreen, and humid tropical forests of Yucatan, lies a secret; something that in the past 50 years we certainly have become more familiar with, yet when one sets foot today, in these vast tropical landscapes, it is hard to imagine. Once, this was part of the urban landscapes of the Mayans, long before the European invaders trampled on American soil with their armour and leat...

How did our ancestors celebrated the birth of Christ? What was considered "special" and celebratory dish and food worthy of the birth of Christ? Are there many differences between the nations of Europe, north, south, east and west? What the Greeks of different regions cook for their Christmas table? what other foods and cakes we serve during the twelve day festive table? And most importantly, why...

Io Saturnalia! Long before Christmas existed and was celebrated... There was another mid-winter festival...SATURNALIA! Gaius Valerius Catullus described it as "the best of times"; an extravaganza of food and drink, an inversion of social roles, an expression of one's self through singing gambling... Originating as a farmers' festival dedicated to Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture and the harves...

The Abbasid caliphate (750-1258) and its associated "golden age of Islam" is famous for a range of achievements in science, literature, and culture. The preservations and translations of ancient Greek texts to Arabic and the flow of discussion, philosophy, the merging of Persian, Greek and Arabic thought with Islam the countless inventions and new paths in science, mathematics and astron...

"An Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi one day noticed his best goat dancing about and baaing like a maniac. It seemed to happen after the old billy goat had been nibbling the berries off a certain plant. The goatherd tried a few himself and soon was dancing about, too." How do you like your coffee? Dark, bitter, milky, sweet or spiced? Hot, or iced? From Brazil, Mexico, Java, Jamaica or Colombia? But...

How would our modern day to day life would be like, in a world without sugar? I’m very pleased to have Neil Buttery on the podcast today, the food historian and author of “A dark history of sugar”, who’s book is out now and traces the origins of all the above, sugar’s production and consumption especially during its darkest parts between the 16th and 19th century.     Once, it was called...

Who were the heavy drinkers of Post-Roman Western Europe? What did Kings, monks and bishops did to curb the excess of wine consumption and violence in what is now France, Germany and England? Find out on the newest episode of The Delicious Legacy... I hope you enjoy the start of our wine series so far! Happy Listening! With the so-called collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Europe was in turmoil....

An interview with Aghiles Ourad from the project The Other Grape. From around 800 BCE ancient Phoenician merchant sailors created commercial hubs and trading stations all over North Affrica and Spain. Doubtless they exported their wine making and grape growing there more than 2600 years ago... The Mediterranean is for all intends and purposes a lake as much as a sea. The trade and commerce of the...

Hello! "...For filled with that good gift suffering mankind forgets its grief; from it comes sleep; with it the oblivion of the troubles of the day. There is no other medicine for misery." Wine. More than medicine. More than nourishment. A gift from the Gods... Though wild grapevines have grown on the Italian peninsula since prehistory, historians are unable to determine precisely when domestic vi...

Wine, because no great story started with a salad! Hello! Today we shall explore the legacy of ancient Greece and her wines. Symposiums, ancient Greek grape varieties and wines, like Lemnio, Savvatiano, Assyrtiko, Thassian and Chian wines... And what about the ancient Greek drinking vessels? Which ones did they use? "In ancient Greece, the master of the house would open the festivity known as an a...

"Nothing more excellent nor more valuable than wine was ever granted to mankind by God.” – Plato Hello! Today on this first part of the History of wine, we’ll go back into the past to trace the beginnings, from prehistory and also see some Greek myths about the legendary god Dionysus. Let me ask you this: and be honest with me. When I say ‘wine’ what do you think? What’s the first thing that comes...

The spice trade episode was an epic undertaking and I am so pleased with it, but sadly we have reached the end! On this final part we are examining a number of other spices -namely black pepper, cardamom and ginger- and we learn about the demise of the Nabateans in the early centuries of our common era. We also see how the clever tribes enhanced the selling of their incense and spices by weaving e...

Making this episode was an epic adventure, "travelling" through the ancient world and through time, so I had to divide it into three parts. Today in part two of our adventure amongst other things we follow the trails of frankinsence and who were the Nabataeans? The ancient spice route is inextricably linked with the Arabian peninsula. At first, this seems a little bit odd perhaps, and a little baf...

This week's episode is an epic so I had to divide it in three parts! Part One today and then part two next week, and the final part the week after. The ancient spice route is inextricably linked with the Arabian peninsula. At first, this seems a little bit odd perhaps, and a little baffling. Why this inhospitable desert, is connected with the spice trade so closely? In today's part one of our tril...