The Fantastic History Of Food

This is the story of Gail Halvorsen, who was known to the children of Berlin as Der Schokoladen Flieger or The Chocolate Flier, Uncle Wiggly Wings or the most widely known of all, The Candy Bomber of Berlin. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod and get early access to episodes, and bonus content. Find transcripts and sources on the website: www.f...

In today's society, those who are able to, are always seeking out new and wondrous dining experiences. More than a hundred years ago, men and women with too much time on their hands and more money than they knew what to do with, were hosting equally bizarre and fascinating dinners of their own. But it was a man named C.K.G Billings who would go down in the history books as being the host of one of...

Onions have been a part of human history since long before records began. It's played a vital part in our diets, but also in our mythology, representing eternal life to some cultures, as well as playing a part in the origin stories of the stars. Onions are one of natures most versatile products and in this episode we dive deep into the role it's played throughout the ages. ------------------- Plea...

In the late 1800s in Japan, there was a disease that seemed to target not just inner-city dwellers in Edo, what we know as modern-day Tokyo, but it affected mainly the upper classes. Not even the emperor and his family were immune to this slow, agonizing disease that saw people waste away in front of their loved ones. It would be a few years until the true culprit was discovered and it would throw...

Pirates weren’t known for their discerning tastes in cuisine. If movies and television are to be believed they seemed to subsist purely on rum alone. But it was out of this quagmire that one of food history's earliest pioneers arose. He was so incredibly influential in fact that he is responsible for giving us the words barbecue, cashew, tortilla, soy sauce, breadfruit, and chopsticks. -----------...

It’s almost unthinkable that just a few hundred years ago, potatoes were only eaten in a very small corner of the earth. They are now one of the most widely eaten vegetables around the globe and a lot of that has to do with the cunning and trickery of our man Parmentier. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod and get early access to episodes, and b...

The people of Nottingham don't take kindly to people fleecing them for their very own cheese. The time had come to stand up and fight the gouda fight. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod and get early access to episodes, and bonus content. Find transcripts and sources on the website: www.foodhistorypodcast.com ------------------- Huge thanks als...

Albert Broel was a man of mystery. Claiming to be the son of Polish nobility, he arrived in America during World War 1 and set out to make his fortune. After a few failed ventures in alternative medicine and matchmaking, he turned to raising and canning giant frogs. Not content to stop there, he made up ingenious ways to get other people to pay him to start their own farms too. -------------------...

3 men, at different times, have all tried to push a peanut up Pikes Peak with nothing but their noses. This episode tells you all about their grueling efforts and what led them to attempt such an astonishing feat. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod and get early access to episodes, bonus content and more. Find full episode transcripts and sourc...

What begins as just a little bit of seasonal fun, ends with smashed windows, bannisters ripped from stairways and a military barracks surrounded by rubble in a state of near ruin. By the end, our cast of characters are in a serious amount of trouble, and surprisingly, amongst them was a student who would one day become a future president of the United States Confederacy. And all of this carnage wa...

Food inherently is meant to sustain life, but this has not always been the case, in fact, for as far back as history goes food has also been used as a vehicle, not for invigorating life, but for delivering death. In this episode, we’re looking at some of the most bizarre moments in which food was involved in assassination plots throughout history. . In an extra special segment in today's episode,...

For many of history’s most famous characters, we all know, at the very least, the basics of what makes these men and women famous to begin with. And of history's most famous people, outside of religious figures, one of the most well known, revered and mysterious is the Renaissance Man himself, Leonardo Da Vinci. Today, we’re going to look at one of the lesser-known sides to a man most famous for h...

From it's origins in ancient China, to the accidental discovery of the first ice cream cone, we take a journey to see how ice cream has influenced cultures all around the world. World War 2 plays a surprising role in the story as some navy men valued it almost more than their own lives and safety. Listen to the episode to find out even more crazy stories from the long and interesting history of ic...

Al Capone was a model student for most of his childhood, but he didn't take long to go from fresh-faced to scar-faced. The Great Depression had just hit and people were out of work and starving. The man who was known to the law as a gangster was seen by the public as a hero. Every day Al Capone's soup kitchen served 350 loaves of bread and more than 1200 rolls to 2000+ hungry people in the city of...

The past is a crazy place, and no matter how many times we go back there, there's always something new to surprise us. This episode we learn about a continental witch panic that just happened to coincide with tomatoes arriving in Europe. An unfortunate mistranslation from the original Ancient Greek really didn't help matters either. ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.pat...

For this episode we're travelling to the small Italian island of Sardinia where we explore the a generations long delicacy known as Casu Marzu. While the Sardinian people love it, it's been named as the worlds most dangerous cheese by the Guinness Book Of Records and has been made illegal to buy or sell all throughout Europe! ------------------- Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.co...

This is the 2nd episode in our two part series on coffee. Last time we heard about the origins of coffee discovered by dancing goats in Ethiopia, as well as a few scandinavian kings who took a particular dislike to what they believed was the devils brew. After a few human experiments and Prussian sniffer squads we find ourselves back here today about to talk about coffees role in the Ottoman empir...

Coffee was discovered in the 9th century in Ethiopia. From there it spread across the globe, making its way through Europe and at some point into Sweden. It was not as welcome there as in other parts of the world, especially not for King Gustav III. With no ethics board to hold him back, he embarked on a mad plan to prove once and for all that coffee was the root of all evil. Please support me on...

In this episode we explore one of the worlds favourite foods, CHEESE! We hear a bit about it's origin story and then dive into 3 different stories involving cheese throughout history, and it's a cracker! (Pun very much intended). Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod and get early access to episodes, bonus content and even free merch! Find transcripts and references...

Hot chocolate has been a favourite drink of so many households throughout the ages. Not many people know the rich and varied history that this simple drink actually has. From Columbus first encountering chocolate in the 1500s to the deep connection it has to witchcraft and potions, the drink has evolved in so many ways from the first frothy, bitter mugs consumed by those early explorers. Please su...

Charles Darwin is one of the most famous men in history. Not as many people know about his penchant for eating almost every animal he studied, from puma to armadillo, tortoise to brown owl. Discover a whole new meaning of the phrase "survival of the fittest". Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod Find transcripts and references on the website: www.foodhistorypodcast....

William Buckland and his son Francis were two men whose goal in life seemed to be to consume every single animal on earth. From bluebottle flies to mice on toast they were not afraid to try anything put in front of them, not even a mummified king's heart! Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod Find show notes, transcripts and references on the website: www.foodhistory...

Throughout medieval times all the way until the 19th century, there are tales of people using food in all manner of creative ways.  We know that ultimately what we put into our bodies will have either a positive or a negative effect on our wellbeing. It has the effect of working from the inside out in a sense. In this episode we look at the ways in which people thought food could have the same pos...

Hitler had a plan to make Germany self-sufficient during World War 2. The German people had a craving for margarine, unlike any other nation. In order to keep his people happy, Hitler and his advisors hatched a crazy plan to try and ensure that they got what they wanted. This bizarre tale swings wildly from whale hunting to the attempted theft of another nations territorial claim and finally onto...

The bizarre story of a man named August Engelhardt who started a cult on a tropical island in the early 1900's. He forced his followers to only eat coconuts and to worship the sun. They weren't even allowed to wear clothes. After a few mishaps, diseases and unfortunate circumstances, things began to look bleak for the little German coconut cult. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spre...