Hello my curious archeaogastronomers!

il fiori di Levante—the flower of the East—as the Venetians called it. Roughly 1000 kilometres south and west of Venice, as one sails the whole length of the Adriatic sea, and then all the ionian islands, south of Cephalonia, lay Zakynthos.

Our destination today.

The cuisine there, heavily influenced of course from the Venetians; in language, techniques ingredients and style. But one dish stands out for me that also send me to a couple of rabbit holes:

Oven roasted Guinea Fowl in a tomato sauce and cheese.

Enjoy today's recipe!

x

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Welcome back to another episode of The Delicious Legacy!

This time we are going to Yorkshire and explore some of it's most wonderful, unique, rare or delicious, or all the above ingredients, foods, recipes and traditions!

Further reading on some topics mentioned on today's episode:

Traditional Food in Yorkshire by Peter Brears:

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/17049/9781909248335

Patrick Rance the famous chronicler of British Cheese:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Rance

https://archive.org/details/greatbritishchee0000ranc

Derby Dale Pie Dish:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/denby-dale-pie-tin-flowerbed

The story of the humble Havercake – historic Yorkshire fayre:

https://theyorkshiresociety.org/the-story-of-the-humble-havercake-historic-yorkshire-fayre/

Whitby Kippers:

https://www.thewhitbyguide.co.uk/whitby-kippers/

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/25017173.whitby-smokehouse-famous-customers-marks-150-years/

Enjoy!

Recommendations for the week:

The Black Death’s counter-intuitive effect: as human numbers fell, so did plant diversity

https://insideecology.com/2026/03/07/the-black-deaths-counterintuitive-effect-as-human-numbers-fell-so-did-plant-diversity/

Gone Medieval: A Complete History of Medieval Ireland

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-complete-history-of-medieval-ireland/id1564113746?i=1000756742956

BBC The Food Programme: Is Food Processing the “missing Middle’?

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/is-food-processing-the-missing-middle/id342927791?i=1000756213923

Music by Pavlos Karpalos

Love and cheese

The Delicious Legacy

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Welcome to another recipe of the week on a Saturday!

I’m your hungry host Thom Ntinas, and this is The Delicious Legacy podcast! 

Thanks for tuning in!

On today bonus episode I’m leaving you with another lamb recipe and a little bit of a story behind the naming of it; Kleftiko, perhaps one of the most famous Greek recipes abroad....

The name of the dish derives from klephts, who were a group of Greek brigands or militiamen during the period of Ottoman rule over Greece between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries.

But how do you cook it? And did really thieves steal sheep and cooked them underground in the mountain hideouts?

Listen and find out!

Music by Miltos Boumis and Pavlos Kapralos

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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An archipelago of more than 7000 islands. Tribes with more than 200 native languages and a population of 112 million people.

Philippines is a rich ground to discover some amazing ingredients, some delicious food and ancient indigenous recipes!

On this episode I'm relatively quickly touching some of the rarest and fast disappearing native ingredients. The losses are due to industrial products being cheaper and imports of cheap ingredients but also an uncertain climate.

Here's the ones I'm touching on this episode:

• Alingo, Besaang, Buttog aka The Cordillera Native Black pig 
• Darag Chicken of Panay Island
• Gumamela leaves
• Inartem Balayang (Pickled Wild Banana)
• Kaong vinegar
• Asin tibuok sa Albur unbroken salt
• Budbud or Bamboo Salt
• Tultul Artisanal Sea Salt

How the unbroken salt is made:

This 'Dinosaur Egg' Is One Of The Rarest Salts In The World | Still Standing | Business Insider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aY9noX3XOs

My recommendation of the week links below:

The Ancient Romans relied on a curious object to tell time: a sundial in the shape of an Italian ham;

https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2017/01/20/parslowsundial/

Rare Roman “pigs” found in Welsh farm

Two “exceptionally rare” Roman pig lead ingots dating back almost 2,000 years have been discovered on farmland in west Wales:

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2026/02/rare-roman-pigs-found-in-welsh-farm/157123

A is for Apple podcast: C is for Carbonado, Carrot, and Cabinet Pudding:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-is-for-apple-an-encyclopaedia-of-food-drink/id1743840806?i=1000756719333

Enjoy!

Love,

Thom

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Your recipe of the week on a Saturday is back and what have I got for you?

A delicious, tasty, fantastic celebratory recipe from the ancient Greco- Roman world!

A leg of lamb, or kid goat if your prefer, or even a shoulder of lamb for a slow roast, bathed overnight, in milk and honey, and cooked with a rich luxurious sauce of red wine, dates, and garum!

If you want a list with the ingredients and the original recipe from Apicius join me on Patreon here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/roasted-goat-kid-153951881?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Enjoy!

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

Much love,

Thom

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Today is Nowruz, the Persian/ Iranian new year.

So I'm re-sharing with you this episode about Persian Culinary History and Culture through the millennia.

Thinking of all the Iranian people who are suffering and wishing them only the best and hoping for a swift resolution to all the destruction inflicted upon them currently.

In the vast region from Anatolia to Central Asia, a rite or a festival ushering Spring, and marking the new year is celebrated at around 20th or 21st of March.  People in modern countries including  Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan historically observe the Nowruz celebrations.

Enjoy!

Love

The Delicious Legacy

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It's with deep sadness that I've learned the passing of Professor Daniel Newman a prominent scholar of Medieval Arab Cuisine and a friend of this podcast.

He was a guest four years ago, almost to this day when we talked about Persian cuisine in the middles ages, the influence of Arab and Islam on it, and of course vice versa.

It was a fascinating discussion that lasted almost two hours and I thought i'll share with you the best bits, edited down with all the lovely fun facts and delicious recipes of the vast, fascinating period.

And of course I want to dedicate this episode to all Iranian people who are suffering at this horrible time, under unimaginable conditions.

In memoriam of the lovely Daniel Newman. 1963- 7th March 2026.

Love,

Thom

{The music on this episode is titled nihavend pesrev and is probably by a Greek composer of Ottoman era named Πετράκης (Tiryaki) (1543; - 1600)

He was an important Rum composer and musician in the Ottoman empire of the 16th century. He lived in the Istanbul and participated in a dervish order, having the nickname, Tiryaki (theriaklis).

Lived probably between 1543 and 1600, and attributed approximately 10 compositions.

In some sources mention the Great Petrakis (Petraki I Kebir), but is more likely to relate to Peter the Peloponnesian later. Petros Peloponnesios or Peter the Lampadarios (c. 1735 – 1778). He was a cantor, composer and teacher of Byzantine and Ottoman music. He served as second domestikos (ecclesiastic official of the Byzantine Empire and later part of the Orthodox Church in Constantinople, present day Istanbul) between his arrival about 1764 until the death of Ioannes Trapezountios, and it is assumed that he became lampadarios (leader of the left choir) between 1770 and 1778 at the Great Church of Constantinople, after Daniel the Protopsaltes became Archon Protopsaltes.}

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Brand new episode where I explore the "bakaliaros" aka bacalao or salt dried cod for you and me, of the Greeks.

Specifically what's the history of the fried battered salt cod and garlic mash dish that is so popular in Greece generally this time of the year, usually on the 25th of March and what's the connection with the Greek War of Independence?

Recommendations for this week:

The Watercress Queen:

https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com/p/s4e7-the-watercress-queen

Re-creating the complex cuisine of prehistoric Europeans:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/recreating-the-complex-cuisine-of-prehistoric-europeans/

Gourmet magazine:

https://gourmetmagazine.net/

Cuisines of Odesa: recipes and stories from Ukraine’s historic city

https://www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/product-page/cuisines-of-odesa

Love,

Thom

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Something a little different this weekend instead of a recipe...

On today's episode, I'm talking about the recent ancient roman tasting event I went at the Hellenic and Roman Library in Senate House in central London.

I'm discussing the menu that was served by Sally Grainger a prominent food archaeologist specialising in ancient Mediterranean cooking and ingredients. She also talked about her research all these years about Garum and Silphium two of the most well known but equally misunderstood ingredients of the ancient Greek and Roman table.

Overall in my opinion and Sam's opinion the food was tasty and the audience/guests all seem to enjoy it and those who had a negative opinion about ancient food have changed their minds! From a room of 50 or so attendees I think only three or so weren't keen in the tastes of the food.

Anyway it was fascinating and I hope I'll get the chance to interview Sally for this podcast soon!

Love & Garum

The Delicious Legacy

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This is part two of my conversation with the fantastic Anna Ansari about her book "Silk Roads" and the food of Central Asia.

From Baku to Beijing!

Origins, trade routes, influences, and what is the connecting thread behind it all?

Plus a lot of personal stories, especially with melon! Personal dramas of melon!

Find out more, here!

You can buy Anna's book from my affiliate link at bookshop.org:

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/17049/9780241694374

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Your recipe of the week on a Saturday is out!

Thessaly. The flat and fertile land of Central Greece, famed since ancient times for their horses and cavalry that provided the strategic support for Alexander The Great's campaign on his conquest of the Persian Empire.

Our task today -and recipe from the region- will be a lot easier than conquering a continent and subduing the world's mightiest empire! We just need to cook this delicious dish and eat it with family or friends.

Let's find out how to make it, and the ingredients!

Bon Appetit!

Music by Miltos Boumis

Enjoy,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Spices. Bazaars. Enough tales to tantalise even the most incurious mind!

Hello my curious archaeogastronomers!

A new episode is here for your enjoyment!

This time I have the great honour to have the fantastic Anna Ansari as my guest.

We talk all about food, history and cultures of the cultures in Central Asia aka "Silk Roads" and her own personal story.

I hope you'll enjoy this fantastic epic adventure!

You can find Anna here on her website:

https://www.annaansari.com/about

And Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thisplacetastesdelicious/?hl=en

You can buy Anna's book from my affiliate link at bookshop.org:

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/17049/9780241694374

Lots of love

Thom

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Today's recipe on a Saturday is Salt Cod Dolmades with tomatoey avgolemono (egg lemon) sauce:

A Delicious Peloponnesian recipe for the winter times.

In the interior of the Peloponnese, where fresh fish was rare dried fish such as cod became staple.

Enjoy!

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A brand new episode is out, and it's all about the long history of fermented dairy foodstuffs from the vast regions of Central Asia.

Fermented dairy products from Central Asia have been to space! Resilient and nutritious, and good for the bronze age and the space age, are truly interstellar travelers of our civilization!

We all know yoghurt and kefir but have you heard of kumis, chortan, gooroot?

For this reason I 've employed the expertise and knowledge of Dr Simi Rezai Ghassemi, to tell me all about the amazing, uknown, and life giving fermented dairy products of Central Asia countries, from Azerbaijan, to Iran, all the way to Mongolian steppe!

The 4000 year old mummified remains of a woman known as "The Beauty of Xiaohe" have fermented dairy (kefir? cheese?) as necklace. A seemingly unbroken tradition of drying and preserving dairy for the long harsh environments of Central Asia since time immemorial...So who indeed invented the first kefir? This side of Caucasus or the desserts of China?

All the above and much more on today's episode!

More about the mummies found in Tarim Basin:

https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-mummies-of-the-tarim-basin/

Find out more about Dr Simi below:

Web: https://simiskitchenblog.wordpress.com

Substack: https://srezaighassemi.substack.com

Intagram: https://www.instagram.com/simiskitchen/

Equinox: https://equinoxpub.com/projects/fermented-dairy-of-central-asia

From bookshop.org:

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/17049/9781800507029

Anyway enjoy our fascinating chat here!

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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New recipe of the week is out!

This one is called "Fasolakia Yahni" and it's a classic of the "lathera" family of dishes, usually vegetarian. The name means "oily" aka cooked in lots of great Greek extra virgin olive oil!

With music from Miltos Boumis.

Enjoy!

Love

Thom

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Brand new episode is out and I'm excited about it!

World fermentation day was on February 1st, just three days ago.

And what better way to celebrate with two amazing inventions of humankind?

Is miso the most astounding transformation in the world of fermentation?

From ancient Chinese meat and fish based pastes to Buddihst monks taking the craft to Japan the story of Miso and Soy Sauce has a long long at least three thousand year old history!

Ok, enjoy today's episode!

Some links:

Excellent traditional soy sauce maker:

https://kaneyoshi.co/english/

Kioke Shoyu Brewers Revival Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K72eethJuU8&list=PLkakkeid1iaj55xr57PzNV-w7uKDLE-Eb&index=1

https://kioke.jp/en4-brewers

My links/ recommendations for the week:

Aubergines Braised With Trahana | My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ni0hu7UDQ

Greek Farms | Apaki & Syglino: Taste Greece’s Tradition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dinXaNT2LlM

How Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Is Made In Greece | Regional Eats | Food Insider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4GrYUUcQG0

Sources:

https://archive.org/details/bookofmisosavory0000shur_j6b4/page/20/mode/2up

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/21/without-time-there-is-no-flavour-a-south-korean-grand-master-on-the-art-of-the-perfect-soy-sauce

The Noma Guide to Fermentation: Rene Redzepi & David Zilber

Enjoy!

Thom

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What happened in Paris in 1669 that ushered the fashion of Coffee in France?

What's the popular myth of the introduction of coffee in Europe and the cafe culture that has to do with the siege of Vienna?

And how an Ethiopian goat herd named Kaldi is credited with the discovery of coffee?

All this and more, exploring the long history of coffee and it's myths from the Cloud forests of Ethiopian highlands to the deserts of Arabia and beyond on this episode!

Enjoy!

Sources and Credits for this episode:

Books:

-A people's history of coffee and cafés by Biderman, Bob

-The devil's cup : coffee, the driving force in history by Allen, Stewart Lee

https://insidearabia.com/coffee-the-lost-treasure-of-yemen/ 

And podcasts that deal with the subject in much more detail:

A History of Coffee:

https://www.spreaker.com/user/filterstories/episode-1-draft-8-ahoc-channel

Original Music by Pavlos Kapralos & Miltos Boumis

Motion Array Music:

-UNCOVERING THE TRUTH A Rhian Talisein Sheehan Karl Solve Steven

-Ashot Danielyan - Above The Long Desert

- Arabia- Spirit of Oman

-EMilarMusic&Audio_Shattered_Stone

That's it!

Now go and listen to the episode!

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New recipe of the week for you!

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New episode is out for your delight!

An interview with food writer Cathy Erway about the foodways and dishes from the beautiful island of Taiwan!

You can buy Cathy's book here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/17049/9780544303010

Recommendations for the week:

The Library of Ancient Wisdom by Selena Wisnom

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/443027/the-library-of-ancient-wisdom-by-wisnom-selena/9780241519639

The Ottoman History Podcast:

https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/

The Hungry Historians podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/show/2dd70WM8rXd2rMKepkbjwu

Enjoy!

Love

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Your recipe of the week on a Saturday is out! And what better dish than a Greek Sunday favourite?

Izmir, Smyrni or Smyrna:

One city, three names, a shared history of three thousand years! Being “born” in such a place, in the crossroads of trade, our recipe for “Soutzoukakia Smyrneika” or Izmir kofte encompasses spices valuable for trade and meat and ideas from East and West. And thus making a syncretic dish, delicious, luxurious and celebratory.

Enjoy!

Thom

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Rhodes is a rich history island with a lush landscape and an illustrious past.

After the fall of Acre in 1291 CE, the Knights Hospitaller last stronghold in the East Med for the next two centuries was the island of Rhodes.

Rhodes is the biggest island of the Dodecanese complex, and place of trade in the eastern Mediterranean for more than three thousand years!

What is 'Souma', and 'Melekounia'? And how do the Rhodians use cyclamen in their cooking?

Let's find out about here food here!

Enjoy!

Thom

The Delicious Legacy Podcast

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Happy weekend.

Here's our recipe of the week;

A Christmas pork stew from the island of Lesvos! I cannot quite shake away the Christmas feeling...!

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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In Act 2, Scene 2 of the Merry Wives of Windsor Frank Ford says:

‘I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vitae bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself.’

Why do certain nationalities have close associations with certain foods? And what does this tell us about early modern English attitudes to foreigners? Was this something common across all strata of society?

One of the ways to explore these attitudes is to look at how foreigners are represented in plays particularly when it comes to food. I spoke to food historian and fellow podcaster Sam Bilton about this. Sam has recently released a cookbook called Much Ado About Cooking which looks at the food references in Shakespeare’s play.

Buy Sam's book here:

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/17049/9781035427680

On this episode then the above questions and a lot more regarding kitchen technology and implements of the time, measurements and terminology in the 16th Century, best recipes and dishes are answered. So join us onto another adventure through food and history!

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

Recommendations of the week:

The UK Will Soon Be Home To The Largest Oyster Reef In Europe – As Four Million Oysters Are Being Dropped Into The North Sea As Part Of A Restoration Project To Help Restore Marine Ecosystems And Clean Water:

https://secretldn.com/uk-home-to-largest-oyster-reef-in-europe-norfolk-coast-restoration-project/#google_vignette

The importance of being malted: making malt and malt sugars from cereals in the Palaeolithic. 

https://merryn.dineley.com/2025/12/the-importance-of-being-malted-making.html?m=1

The Meaning of Borsch:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ne63nGnDvTYgT2OFiayzf?si=c0b1449fe848458b

Love

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Your recipe of the week is out!

Recommendations of the week:

Sarcophagus found at Church of St. Nicholas could be the tomb of “Santa Claus”:

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/12/sarcophagus-found-at-church-of-st-nicholas-could-be-the-tomb-of-santa-claus/154084

Roman occupation of Britain damaged the population’s health:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2508181-roman-occupation-of-britain-damaged-the-populations-health/

On contrarian history:

https://going-medieval.com/2025/11/25/on-contrarian-history/

Enjoy!

Much Love and Happy New Year to all!

The Delicious Legacy Podcast

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Happy Christmas!

Here's your recipe of the week

this time from the beautiful Dodecanese island of Kalymnos!

Enjoy!

With music from Miltos Boumis

Love

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Who were the first beer makers? Why did they even made beer in the first place? Can we even find a Civilization to be the clear winner in this "race"? What's the word for beer in ancient Sumerian?

What role the priests and kings plaid in this? Who even drunk beer in the ancient Mesopotamian world? All this and many more questions were buzzing through my mind.

On today's episode I have as a guest the author of the book In The Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia, Tate Paulette.

Tate’s book has recently won two awards:

Felicia A. Holton Book Award, Archaeological Institute of America

This award is given annually to a writer or writers who, through a major work of non-fiction, represents the importance and excitement of archaeology to the general public. The work should have broad public appeal and be written for an adult lay audience in a clear and engaging style. It should convey the excitement of archaeological discovery accurately and responsibly. It should be well-researched and provide new insight for the general public. 

https://www.archaeological.org/2026-aia-awards-spotlight-felicia-a-holton-book-award/

And he also won the Nancy Lapp Popular Book Award, American Society of Overseas Research:

This award is presented to the author/editor of a book published in the last two years that offers a new synthesis of archaeological or textual evidence from the Ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean intended to reach an audience of scholars as well as students and the broader public.

https://www.asor.org/about-asor/honors-awards/previous-award-recipients/

Alright! Time for my delightful and interesting I hope recommendations for this week are the following:

Disco scallops:

Here’s a link:

https://www.discoscallops.co.uk/

A Spirit Never to Betray” before tequila and mescal there was another: David Lauer investigates the fate of a spiky ancient desert plant called sotol, and its alliance with generations of artisans who distil a fiery spirit from its heart.

https://dark-mountain.net/a-spirit-never-to-betray/

And finally the website https://www.ukrainer.net

A community and organisation that has been researching Ukraine and the Ukrainian context since 2016, telling stories to Ukrainian audiences and broadcasting them to the world in dozens of languages.

x

Enjoy!

Photo credits : Book Tate Paulette, Cuneiform Tablets Justin Kase Conder, Portrait Kathryn Grossman

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Every Saturday in The Delicious Legacy podcast your freshest "stocking filler" recipe of the week is out!

This time I’m travelling to the delightful island of Ikaria in the Western Aegean sea!

With a simple one pot veg recipe!

If you want to know more about Ikaria, read my Patreon post here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/ikaria-island-of-115744979

Music by Milts Boumis

Love,

The Delicious Legacy

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Hello!

New episode is out now!

Why England and by extension all of UK is so allotment "obsessed" ? What does it all mean?

Firstly, what is an allotment? When did it all started?

As someone who moved in UK many years ago, seeing this lovely spaces in cities filled me with a sense of serenity, and an air of quaint old school happiness lets say, they evoked something romantic and from long lost era. Of course over the years I learned a lot about why these exist; what purpose and role fulfil in the society and the soul of the nation.

Who has one, who are they owned and maintained by, and crucially why people still insist having? What is the source of their popularity?

Importantly, can one person/family feed themselves with produce from an allotment? Is there any point on doing so?

Anyway I hope you'll enjoy my little potted allotment history here alongside with the interview with author and gardener Kathy Slack and nature conservationist, environmentalist and wildlife presenter Dr Sean McCormack!

Kathy's Substack and Insta:

https://kathyslack.substack.com/

https://www.instagram.com/gluts_gluttony/

Sean's media:

https://drseanmccormack.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thatvetsean/

Get his lovely children's book about rewilding

https://www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/products/beaver-believerspos=1&sid=f9e160ecd&_ss=r

Links about allotments and London's city farms and gardens:

Calthorpe Community Garden:

https://www.calthorpecommunitygarden.org.uk/about-us

Sitopia Farm

https://sitopiafarm.com/pages/about-our-farm

Community veg boxes:

https://growingcommunities.org/

Love,

The Delicious Legacy

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This is another episode in Greek, my little parallel series of getting some episodes out for Greek audience

This time I thought I'll release a part of my conversation with my grandmother- my yiayia- my father's mother.

From the mountainous north west Greece, her childhood up in the villages, where bandits and others where making life hard in the 1920's. Only a few years earlier this part of Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire.

A fascinating story of a troubled period for Greece, her story takes us from the 1920's to the end of WW2.

I recorded this about 17 years ago! It was 2009.

Enjoy

Thom

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Your recipe of the week is here!

Every Saturday in The Delicious Legacy podcast

Enjoy!

Thom

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Christmas is approaching!

Time for some recipes to inspire you in your Christmas cooking! (If you do cook of course! Otherwise, psssss, pass it on to your spouse!)

It's also the time the ‘Kalikanzaroi’ (goblins that live underground all year according to Greek folklore) are coming up to Earth to annoy humans. How do you distract them? What foods do they like?

So I've got a little treat for you, my curious and greedy gastronomers!

On this episode of The Delicious Legacy podcast, we are going to Greece, so aside from melomakarona, stuffed chicken with rice and chestnuts, or roast piglet, what else do we Greeks ate at Christmas past? What was on the festive table in Epirus, Crete, Mani, Thrace, or even Kastelorizo? Let's re-discover some of the older, regional, and nearly extinct dishes for all corners of the Hellenic world! What is "Patoudo"? What about the dish called 'baby Jesus's "swaddling clothes"? And "babo"? What is the dish called "Gold" from the remotest Greek island to the East? 

These and much more on today's episode!

Listen now -on all platforms that you get your podcasts from- and share with friends, family, colleagues, and rate and review! 

Enjoy! 

x 

The Delicious Legacy

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On this classic episode from the archives of The Delicious Legacy I decided to include some ten minute of extra content from my interview with Farrell and I have remastered the audio as it was a bit dodgy the last time round. Hope it's more pleasant and easier to listen now!

I'm very excited about this episode! Farrell Monaco is a culinary & experimental archaeologist, and bread-baking addict! Especially of the ancient Greco-Roman variety...So what better person to chat about the ancient cuisine? And it's a very thought-provoking and thoughtful. Who were the people (and the animals!) who did the hard work?

Currently in California -where she was when we spoke online- but mostly researching in Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia about ancient Greco-Roman breadways.

More info on bread from Pompeii by Farrell Monaco:

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230629-adoreum-the-newly-discovered-flatbread-fresco-of-pompeii

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230406-arculata-the-bread-that-survived-pompeii

Apuleius and The Golden Ass:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass

Etruscan Tarquinian Tombs:

https://tarquiniaturismo.com/tomb-of-the-triclinium/?lang=en 

Farrell's website and blog:

https://tavolamediterranea.com/

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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I've interviewed cookbook author Emiko Davies about her latest book "The Japanese Pantry" which came out in October this year.

Emiko shares stories of her travels off the beaten track to meet the makers and pay homage to ancient traditions that have been around for centuries. Ingredients, dishes and recipes that are lost in the mists of time, and rare foods that might be lost forever!

How do you make sake and rice vinegar? What are the sake lees and how do we use it? What is the rare delicacy of Yubeshi?

We will explore the key ingredients of Japanese cuisine and on top of this, we will take a deep dive some unknown ingredients and dishes from all over the Japanese archipelago.

You can follow the pensioner, mountain tea farmers who farmed at 1000 feet above sea level deep inside a forest, on Instagram at @nakaichamurai

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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This episode is in Greek and it's the translation of the episode I recorded a couple of months ago with the food writer Olia Hercules about Ukrainian Food and Culture! The original episode can be found here:

https://shows.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy/episodes/ukrainian-food-culture-with-olia-hercules

Γεια σας! Το σημερινό επεισόδιο είναι μια συνέντευξη με την Ουκρανη συγγραφέα και σεφ Ολια Χερκουλες, που θα μας πει για την παραδοσιακή κουζίνα της Ουκρανίας, και τα φαγητά αλλά και τιε επιρροές από τους γείτονες λαούς μέσα στον χρόνο.

Μιλήσαμε επί της ευκαιρίας του καινούργιου της βιβλίου, με τίτλο Strong Roots: "Μια Ουκρανική Οικογένεια Ιστορία δια μέσου πολέμου, εξορίας και ελπίδας"

Μπορείτε να βρείτε αυτό αλλά και όλα τα βιβλία της εδώ: https://oliahercules.com/books

Ευχαριστώ για την ακρόαση. Μέχρι την επόμενη φορά, ας είμαστε δυνατοί γεροί και γεμάτη κουράγιο και ελπίδα.

Η μουσική είναι του Παύλου Καπράλου

Με εκτίμηση,

The Delicious Legacy

Thom Ntinas

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A newly updated episode about Silphium! Or Asafoeitida? I was inspired by History Hit's newly released documentary with Dan Snow called Ancient Adventures: Libya where the team went to explore extraordinary Greek and Roman sites, centred around one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, Cyrene.

So I thought it is time to talk again with more updates about silphium and with recipes and tasting by me here!

What do we know of the ancient silphium? What do the authors say it tastes? And when was the last time that it was mentioned in texts?

Plus the relationship with it's eastern cousin asafoetida and its use in Indian cuisine!

Enjoy!

With the voice over by Mark Knight

and music by Pavlos Kapralos

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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This episode is in Greek language for Greek audience!

It was released on Wednesday in English for the rest of you!

Καλημερα!

Το καινουργιο επεισοδιο, της εκπομπης μας, στα Ελληνικα για το κοινο στην Ελλαδα!

Προβάλλουμε λοιπόν, δίνουμε για λίγο τα φώτα της δημοσιότητας στους Έλληνες Σεφ του εξωτερικού!

Να δουμε την εμπειρια τους και την σχεση τους με το Ελληνικο φαγητο και πως εξελίσσεται εκτος Ελλαδος! Τι επιρροές φερνουν στα πιάτα και ποια η ανταποκριση των κατοικων της καθε χωρας στην Ελληνικη κουζινα?

Ακουστε λοιπον το πρωτο επεισοδιο της σειρας μας στα Ελληνικα!

Θωμάς

The Delicious Legacy

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New episode of the podcast is out. This is part of a little bonus season I'll be occasionally releasing; in between the regular episodes of the podcast!

Here we will be talking with Greek chefs abroad,-that's outside Greece- who cook, work and live in different places, and promote the Greek cuisine in their own way.

What are their dreams? How's Greek food perceived outside Greece in their perspective countries, and do they feel as ambassadors for Greece and her gastronomy?

What are the most embarrassing aspects of Greek food abroad? And how is the national cuisine in the places that they live? Who does what best?

Today for the first episode of this series I' m chatting to chef Aino Mavrogiannaki; a Greek-Finnish chef who lives and works in Helsinki, but who's is from Crete as well, and grew in New York too!

Let's find out!

Love,

Thom

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This week's subject is a little bit darker than normal.

My reason for doing an episode is that this time of the year, specifically near 28th of October, is that is when traditionally in Greece the commemoration and celebration of liberation from Nazis occupation is celebrated. I wanted to examine the role of the famine in the modern Greek psyche a little.

World War 2 was brutal for the Greek people; Greece as country suffered under the triple occupation of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Bulgaria.

Roughly 10% of the pre war population perished. A civil war that lasted 4 years ensued after liberation in 1944. Greece lay in ruins. Whoever could, in the 50's immigrated in USA, Australia and Germany to find a better luck.

The after effects of the devastation and the great famine of WW2 were felt till recently. The grandmas talk about it, it has passed in the language and in the way people saw food in the subsequent decades.

Listen to BBC's Witness History short episode:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct3c59

Recommended reading:

Famine and death in occupied Greece, 1941-1944: By Violetta Hionidou · 2006

The German Occupation Recipes:

https://metabook.gr/books/oi-sintaghes-tis-katokhis-natalia-samara-gkaitlikh-20132

Much Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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New episode is out for your delectable delight!

Thessaloniki is located in Northern Greece in the region of Macedonia, and has a long, long history, being established in 315 BCE by king Cassander to honour his wife, the half-sister of Alexander the Great, Thessalonike. Today is the second largest and most important city in Greece.

As a major port, with access to the Mediterranean, and half way to Constantinople it thrived for centuries, being an important hub for trade and culture from all over the Balkan peninsula, and beyond.

It was also home to a thriving Jewish community for roughly 500 years; the Sephardic Jews.In the beginning of the 20th century they accounted for more than half of the total population of the city.

As a result, Thessalonica’s food culture is a heady mix of influences from all across Greece, Balkans, and Turkey with amazing food, and rightly is considered by many the food capital of Greece.

On today's episode, I have the honour to have as my guest Meni Valle, Greek-Australian cook and author, all about the best gastronomic destination in Greece, the city of Thessaloniki!!!

In Valle’s new book, Thessaloniki: And the Many Kitchens of Northern Greece, published by Hardie Grant, she turns her focus to the diverse and historically rich cuisine of Greece’s second-largest city.

Well, enjoy our discussion!

https://www.menivalle.com.au/

Her new book Thessaloniki is released soon in UK.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thessaloniki-Many-Kitchens-Northern-Greece/dp/1761450980

My food cultural / historical recommendations for the week include:

Dr Roderick Bailey: The British Experience of the Great Fire of Thessaloniki of 1917

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUMh1RoqKiw

Culina vetus

Freezing and Salting Pork:

https://www.culina-vetus.de/2025/09/30/freezing-and-salting-pork/

PopChop - Future Food Culture

https://popchop.at/

Building Blocks: Greek Whole Grain Tahini, and the Artisans Behind It

https://culinarybackstreets.com/stories/athens/building-blocks-37

Music on this episode -as ever- by Pavlos Kapralos

Enjoy!

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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On this second part of our discussion -we pick up from where we left- we talk about the top five must try dishes of the region, that anyone who loves food should try. Foods from the heart of the Balkans.

Such as cevapi, ajvar, dolma/ sarma, bourek, and tres leches revani! Yes....Lets find out why....

I'm interviewing the award winning (James Beard awards on the International Category) and writer and recipe developer Irina Janakievska, author of the book "The Balkan Kitchen, Recipes and Stories from the Heart of the Balkans". She has also won the British Library Food Season Narrative Cookery Book Award (2025) and a Special Award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (2024).

The book was shortlisted for the Jane Grigson Trust Award (2023) and the Fortnum & Mason Debut Cookery Book Award (2025).

She has featured on BBC Woman's Hour, BBC Radio London and Times Radio discussing Balkan cuisine.  She lives in south London with her husband and young son, cooking, researching and writing about Balkan history, food culture and culinary traditions, and where I went to chat about all things Balkan. plus tasting some delicious traditional home made specialities!

Photo Credit is The Balkan Kitchen (Quadrille, 2024), Copyright for photos Liz Seabrook.

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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New episode is out for all of you my darling archaeogastronomers!

This time, I'm going back to my troubled neighbourhood of the Balkans! I'm interviewing the award winning (James Beard awards on the International Category) writer and recipe developer Irina Janakievska, author of the book "The Balkan Kitchen, Recipes and Stories from the Heart of the Balkans". The book was shortlisted for the Jane Grigson Trust Award (2023) and the Fortnum & Mason Debut Cookery Book Award (2025), a British Library Food Season Narrative Cookery Book Award (2025) and a Special Award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (2024). She has featured on BBC Woman's Hour, BBC Radio London and Times Radio discussing Balkan cuisine.  She lives in south London with her husband and young son, cooking, researching and writing about Balkan history, food culture and culinary traditions, and where I went to chat about all things Balkan. plus tasting some delicious traditional home made specialties!

We had so much fun and so many things to say, being neighbours and all, that I had to split this episode in to two parts for you! Next week will have Part two!

How many people used "Balkanisation" as a negative concept though the ages?

Well we are trying today to bring a bit of a balance and talk about about the delightful and delicious common and unique dishes we have throughout this historic, varied and rich part of europe! A crossroad of civilisations for millennia and place with mountains, sea, plateaus and fertile valleys!

Irina is the author of the book The Balkan Kitchen (Quadrille, 2024) which you can purchase now here:

https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/the-balkan-kitchen/irina-janakievska/9781784886851

You can find more about her and her recipes and story here:

http://balkankitchen.co.uk/

Photo Credit is The Balkan Kitchen (Quadrille, 2024), Copyright for photos Liz Seabrook.

Enjoy!

Much love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Welcome to the newest episode of The Delicious Legacy!

Strong Roots, is the memoir of Olia Hercules, food writer, cook, activist amongst many other things.

The book is an ode to the land, to ideas of home and belonging, and to family stories and recipes passed down the generations.

Here we talk about the land, the produce, the culinary treasures of Ukrainian people and their unique foods, a mixture of many people and religions living in the rich bountiful land of Ukraine. Of course war, dispossession, hunger and exiled are part and parcel of the story of Ukraine. For Ukrainians worry is a national pastime. And fermentation is in their DNA. Preservation, is part and parcel of their survival.

Olia is the author of Mamushka, Summer Kitchens, Kaukasis: The Cookbook, Home Food and of course Strong Roots.

You can get a copy of Strong Roots here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/strong-roots/olia-hercules/9781526662927

Who is Taras Shevchenko:

https://shevchenko.ca/taras-shevchenko/biography/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_Taras_Shevchenko

Recommendation of the week:

https://ruby-tandoh.medium.com/empire-of-seeds-ee4308a529c4

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2025-tickets-1490885802569?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdss

It's going to be a fantastic day with many excellent food historian guests, and of course my fellow Serve It Forth members, food historians, Dr Neil Buttery, Dr Alessandra Pino and Sam Bilton!

Join us for a day of historical dishes, cocktails and recipes! * * *

Famously, Diodorus Siculus the Greek geographer said for Britain:

"It is the home of men who are complete savages and lead a miserable existence because of the cold; and therefore, in my opinion, the northern limit of our inhabited world is to be placed there"

But nevertheless the Romans went and conquered it and made it part of the Roman Empire for nearly four hundred years.

The stereotypes even then two thousand years abound:

"Those near the coast in Kent may be more civilised, but in the interior they do not cultivate the land but share their wives with family members, live on milk and meat, and wear the skins of animals."

Horace wrote.

Diodorus continues: "The numerous population of natives, he says, live in thatched cottages, store their grain in subterranean caches and bake bread from it. They are "of simple manners" (ēthesin haplous) and are content with plain fare..."

But beyond this, there was a thriving Celtic and British Roman culture that existed. The local foods and customs and rich pasture for animals helped the invading Romans create a rich culinary legacy, based on many imported foods from across the empire and introduced numerous plants and animals to Britain that since became native to the land, from humble leek to plums to rabbits and pheasants.

So on this episode together with fellow chef and podcaster Lewis Bassett (The Full English) we sat down to chat and explore the legacy of Rome in the British Isles, through food, culinary pathways and how this intertwines with class and politics to our modern age!

Join us and let's find out what did the Roman-British table and pantry had to offer!

Music by Pavlos Kapralos.

Enjoy!

Love,

The Delicious Legacy

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Part two of a catalogue of ingredients that ancient Greeks around the Med ate, how they ate it and what can we learn from it today?

Recommendations for this week include:

Ruby Tandoh, in the New Yorker: Inside the World of “The Great British Bake Off”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/01/inside-the-world-of-the-great-british-bake-off?utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_FoodScene_090625&bxid=64ff2d52fff4462db5008e05&cndid=&hasha=a497a3041ea22b49ac020aa705c07fe1&hashb=9070ee59934b5363ceb4666efcad5b0eff3581b1&hashc=fb91fd7a11300ca6d1ccf6b3ca417c8cbe677ee45325b6d1e26ab60759584734&esrc=subscribe-page&mbid=mbid%3DCRMNYR012019

The Food That Made Us Human

A three part story on how biodiversity gave early humans in South Africa the tools to survive extinction.

https://newworlder.substack.com/p/the-food-that-made-us-human?r=tjeew&triedRedirect=true

An immovable feast? How Dalston fishmongers took on the City of London:

https://www.the-londoner.co.uk/an-immovable-feast-how-dalston-fishmongers-took-on-the-city-of-london/

Enjoy!

x

Thom

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Here’s a quick special bonus episode for you – the lowdown on the Serve it Forth Food History Festival 2025 sponsored by the excellent Netherton Foundry.

My fellow festival coordinators Sam Bilton, Thomas Ntinas and Alessandra Pino and I are here to tell you more about it: how the day will work, what the sessions will be like, the topics and the guests – including guest Tom Parker Bowles.

We have a brief discussion about our own interests and how we all got into food history. We also talk about our biggest/most embarrassing disasters.

Join us for Serve it Forth Food History Festival 2025 for a fantastic day of discussion, chat and learning about food history and traditions.

Date and time:

Saturday, October 18 · 10:30am - 4:30pm GMT+1

Get your tickets with a 25% discount here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2025-tickets-1490885802569?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Today's episode is an elegy for fava beans!

Soup, pottage, gruel, mash...Under many guises, pulses, and especially the ones from the genus Lathyrus, such as Pisum sativum have been eaten in the ancient Greek World since time immemorial...

From Neolithic remains to modern Greek table, fava beans and peas, all these delicious pods of the genus Lathyrus have been cultivated and eaten in the Hellenic lands for thousands upon thousands of years!

What did the ancient Greeks thought of the peas / yellow split peas? Where was the bastions of their cultivation? And how to cook it?

Let's find out on today's episode about this amazing legume, that kept the Greeks alive for centuries!

And why the Santorini Fava tastes just so so delicious?

Also, this week's recommendations are the following:

Odeuropa with William Tullett, by Around The Table podcast:

https://recipes.hypotheses.org/23317

https://odeuropa.eu/

The blog cooking in the archives, rarecooking.com

Bon Appetit, Your Majesty: a talented chef travels to Joseon era korea and meets a tyrant king. Her modern dishes captivate his palate but challenges await her.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37600136/

You can listen to the podcast on YouTube too:

https://youtu.be/xlMe4Zm_1nU

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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New episode is out!

Firstly, remember my news? Our first and possibly only food history festival is happening this year! October 18th , Saturday all day, and of course online! So you can all attend virtually! Get your tickets at eventbrite at serve it forth food history festival. It’s going to be an amazing day, with some fantastic guests, and of course my three fellow food historians, Alessandra Pino, Sam Bilton and Neil Buttery!

Tickets here, with 25% discount!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2025-tickets-1490885802569?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

But let's go back to our adventure!

There’s a vast, uninhabited desert, a huge continental mass than no humans colonised…. A desolate, white, freezing cold land mass, with millions of penguins and seals but no human beings, no permanent settlement by our species, not unless one counts the scientific stations established in the mid of the last century or so.

The Arctic was inhabited for many centuries before the Vikings ventured to Greenland. These people survived and thrived even on occasion! Of course the Antarctic is so much more extreme than the Arctic. And so far and isolated from any other place. But explorers, navigators, and sailors from European Colonial powers who were brave enough, curious enough and driven by some bizarre desire to be the first to reach the south pole or explore the continent from one end to the other, these humans had to learn how to first survive in these extreme, inhuman conditions! And learn, copy, improvise and improve from societies and nations who lived in similar conditions…These adventurers needed to survive for months, many many months on end on ice! Perhaps without ever reaching for outside help. And of course food is paramount! 

Some links about stuff on this episode:

How does kiviaq taste like?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhPCJOaE4ZM&t=132s

Indigenous fish techniques from Canada's First Nations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6li84mjUZT8

Kerguelen cabbage:

https://www.britannica.com/plant/Kerguelen-cabbage

Macquarie Island cabbage:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azorella_polaris

The Flora, Vegetation, and Soils of Macquarie Island:

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Flora_Vegetation_and_Soils_of_Macqua/fEtEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

Much love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy Podcast

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Welcome to Season 7 of The Delicious Legacy!

A New episode for you my dear archaeogastronomers!

I had a fab time discussing with Christopher Beckman all things anchovies, in the West -well, the Western Europe and US- but also how far back our relationship with this small fish goes, how it has changed over the millennia and what does it tell about us?

Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, found them repulsive. Horace was pithier: “They stink.”

My Greek friends, and my family, all enjoy them in various forms, fresh and fried, in vinegar and oil, or in salt, with ouzo or raki!

I hope you'll enjoy this, as much as we did! I want to add the book is fantastic read which was dare I say a little unexpected!

Get a copy of the book here:

https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/a-twist-in-the-tail/

Much love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Excited to announce the inaugural Serve it Forth Food History Festival! Serve It Forth is a new festival devoted to food & drink history curated by Sam Bilton, Neil Buttery, Thom Ntinas & Alessandra Pino.

Join us for Serve it Forth Food History Festival 2025 for a fantastic day of discussion, chat and learning about food history and traditions by getting your tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2025-tickets-1490885802569?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Find out more:

https://linktr.ee/serveitforthfest

See you soon for another archaeogastronomical adventure!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2025-tickets-1490885802569?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl *****

Hello my hungry archaeogastronomers!

Hope your summer is going well!

Here's another fantastic episode from the archives of The Delicious Legacy, 'Recipe Books Buried Under the Sand' where I unfold the exciting discovery of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri in the late 19th century by Grenfell and Hunt.

No one thought that these papyri -found in an ancient rubbish damp nonetheless- will unveil long lost classical literature and this was all very exciting!

In recent decades though, another area became the focus of the papyrologists and translators. The private and personal correspondence between the inhabitants of the city. Letters of love, desire, wishes and taxes, contracts plus lists all where made the focus of archaeologists. In them we have also discovered tiny tantalising morsels of ancient recipes, from famous chef of Antiquity, of the Classical Greek world.

What were their recipes, and what do they tell us about the people of ancient Hellenistic Egypt as well as their food, tastes and can we cook them today?

Let's find out on today episode!

Listen here.

Music by Pavlos Karpalos

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy Podcast

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The first Serve it Forth Food History Festival will take place on Saturday 18th of October 2025.

Together with my food historians friends Dr Neil Buttery, Dr Alessandra Pino and Sam Bilton we have planned an exciting virtual day for you with talks inspired from past dinners, tables and places.

Join us by purchasing your tickets with 25% discount here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2025-tickets-1490885802569?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

More info on our website here:

https://serveitforthfest.wixsite.com/info

*****

Hello!

Welcome back to another archaeogastronomical adventure!

On today's episode my guest is the author of the critically acclaimed books "Scoff" and "Stuffed" and part time food historian Pen Vogler, and she is taking us to an exciting journey through the history of breakfast in UK.

What was the first breakfast? When did we start eating it? Why? And how different is breakfast through different social classes?

Join me through this exciting journey with Pen Vogler!

You can get Pen's books here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/scoff/pen-vogler/9781786496492

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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I'm excited to tell you that I am part of the Serve It Forth Food History Festival together with food historians Dr Neil Buttery, Sam Bilton and Alessandra Pino!

Together we will be live and online only, on Saturday 18th of October 2025 for our very first food history festival! Stay tuned with news about the subjects we will cover, our fantastic guests and ticket info! Subscribe to our mailing list here: https://mailchi.mp/625319c96f80/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival

You can also find us on Instagram and Bluesky

https://www.instagram.com/serveitforthfest/

https://bsky.app/profile/serveitforthfest.bsky.social

OK today's episode is from the archives, and it's all about my interview with Culinary Historian Ursula Janssen.

A fascinating chat with archaeologist, culinary historian and historical cookbook author Ursula Janssen!

An all around brilliant talented human being then, that her passion is history and transmitting this through her ancient cooking!

Garum made of Barley. From middle east. In the Arab times.

Food of of Mesopotamia and Biblical Times.

The Arabic influence in European medieval cuisine.

And much more...!

Find some of her ancient recipes interpretation here:

https://www.youtube.com/@Ursulashistoricalrecipes

and all about the Trullo Cicerone experience here:

https://trullocicerone.com/

Happy listening!

The Delicious Legacy

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She is a giant of the Spanish Food and Wine movement.... She probably single-handedly brought Basque Cuisine in the limelight of the English Speaking world...

María José Sevilla has worked for many years in the field of Food and Wine. She is a cook, a writer and a broadcaster who has been at the centre of the discovery of Spanish cuisine by chefs and food writers throughout the world. 

Who best then, to tell me all about the long history of Spanish food and cuisine other than her?

We caught up into a chat in her home, discussing her new book "Delicioso: A History of Food in Spain" which you can order here:

https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/delicioso

This is the first book in English to trace the history of the food of Spain from antiquity to the present day. 

From the use of pork fat and olive oil to the Spanish passion for eggplants and pomegranates, María José Sevilla skilfully weaves together the history of Spanish cuisine, the circumstances affecting its development and characteristics, and the country’s changing relationship to food and cookery.

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Hello,

New episode is out.

I hope you have a listen to a rather longer episode than normal, and please let me know your thoughts!

Some Palestinian Dishes: Maqluba, Musakhan, Ka’ak, Maamoul, Knafeh

Cookbooks by Palestinian authors or about Palestinian food that Angela Zaher Recommends.

Bethlehem by Fadi Kattan

https://www.waterstones.com/book/bethlehem/fadi-kattan/9781958417287

Falastin by Sami Tamimi (and also Boustany)

https://www.sami-tamimi.com/cookbooks/falastin

Yasmin Khan: Zaitoun: Recipes and Stories from the Palestinian Kitchen

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zaitoun-Recipes-Stories-Palestinian-Kitchen/dp/1408883848

aitoun-Recipes-Stories-Palestinian-Kitchen/dp/1408883848

Joudie Kalla: Palestine on A Plate:

https://www.palestineonaplate.com/

Thank you, much love and see you on the flip side!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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It's heating up this summer!

And what better way to cool down other than learning about the history of ice cream and sorbets?!

Resources and further reading:

"Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat" by Bee Wilson

ISBN: 9780141049083

How Ice Cream Got Its Cone

https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/06/ice-cream-cone-history.html 

The Delicious History of Ice Cream:

https://medium.com/@andersoncuellar/the-delicious-history-of-ice-cream-6a75938630f0 

Martini Fisher Ancient History of Ice Cream: https://martinifisher.com/2020/10/30/the-ancient-history-of-ice-cream/ 

Saltpetre: Regency Refrigeration:

https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/saltpetre-regency-refrigeration/

Thanks for listening!

If you enjoy the content why don't you buy me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcast

Much Love

Thom

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New episode for your archaeogastronomical delights , is out now!

Today I have author, chef and food historian Jay Reifel in this episode as my guest, and we muse about all things "Baghdadical"!

10th century Baghdad the capital of the Islamic world in a sense it was a sensuous place.

And it produced perhaps a cookbook, more than mere recipes something extremely modern in some senses, and something that didn't exist in the West (if we want to put labels on things) for another 400 years or so!

This cookbook, "The Annals of the Caliph's Kitchen" contained a treasure of information and it was more than 500 pages long!

What's Jay's favourite recipes, what did the Abbasids loved to cook and eat and what were the ingredients that we might not know today?

Anyway I hope you'll enjoy today’s musings!

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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On this exclusive episode for you, I'm discussing the music of the podcast, the themes written by my friend and musician Pavlos Kapralos. Over the past five years of the podcast I used a few of Pavlos's compositions, for my ancient Greek food themed episodes and for the Byzantium ones.

Here we talk about his approach in creating the songs, his inspiration and what do we know of ancient Greek music: how it sounded, what instruments the ancients had and how do we recreate it today!

Plus what is the Byzantine music? Both secular and church hymns, and how its the link between the ancient and modern folk music in the East.

I hope you'll enjoy this different episode today!

If you wanna listen to the whole episode, without adverts, then please subscribe to Supercast or Patreon:

https://thedeliciouslegacy.supercast.com/#episodes

https://www.patreon.com/thedeliciouslegacy

Pavlos's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pavloskapralos3969

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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What is "oinos tethalassomenos" ? Where does one find the best eels?

What was a highly regarded game meat?

Let's discover a few of the many unknown delicacies of the ancient Greek world. What was in vogue? What was considered tasty, healthy and accessible to eat for the average citizen of the wider Greek world, two and a half thousand years ago?

Ancient Greeks were quite the foodies.

They recognised local specialities, and local food excellence appears to be an ancient Greek innovation, balanced by the equally novel idea that food preferences, also, vary from place to place. Several lists of local fine produce are quoted by Athenaeus, in Deipnosophistai, from texts of the sixth to fourth centuries BC.

Moreover, importantly, they were also practical; the food was seasonal obviously, in the age before the huge global networks of fast transportation and just 2000 years shy of electrical refrigeration!

So wine that needed to be sold and transported should be preserved and should taste good. As well as other perishable goods and foods too. So many innovations and styles were discovered.

What unusual herbs, salads, pickles, fish and meat, were in vogue, beyond the standard ones of olive oil, olives, grapes, figs, sheep and goat? What were they and how these were consumed in ancient world?

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Humans always wondered why food spoils, what makes it go off, and how to preserve it for longer, and keep it nutritious and healthy. Along the millenia we devised many ingenious ways to make fresh food last, and taste good but also provide us with calories and nutrients.

Nicolas Appert was not a scientist, but a former brewer who became steward to the duke Christian IV of Zweibrücken, then to the Duchess of Forbach, and thereafter became a confectioner. As he made the sweets that were preserved with sugar, he became obsessed with an idea: research into the keeping of foods that until now were considered highly perishable, such as milk, meat and green vegetables.

A native of Chalons-Sur-Marne 1749 -1841 Appert is considered to have discovered the process of preservation by sterilization. No man is a prophet in his own country as the saying goes and so it was the Americans who were the first to call the process ‘appertizing’. He was at least officially declared a benefactor of humanity in 1822 by the Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale, but nonetheless died in poverty and was buried in a communal grave, like Molière before him. 

He made his methods common knowledge so that everyone could preserve food at home, and never bothered to take out a patent (which the Americans and English did not scruple to do on their own accounts). Preserving was basically a very simple business, once you had the idea. All you had to do, said Appert, was

First, enclose the substances you wish to preserve in bottles or jars; second, close the openings of your vessels with the greatest care, for success depends principally on the seal; third, submit the substances, thus enclosed, to the action of boiling water in a bain-marie for a period of longer or shorter duration, depending on their nature and the manner I shall indicate for each kind of foodstuff; fourth, remove the bottles from the bain-marie at the appropriate time. 

This method was to be the basis for all the preserved food produced on the planet, from industrial conveyor-belt lines to housewives bottling jars of garden produce in a home sterilizer. The drawback to glass was its fragility, and it was soon replaced by cans of welded tin-plate, used first by the Dutch for fish and then by the British for fruits preserved in syrup.

Without him the history of canning and tinned food, would be perhaps a lot different, and the subject of today’s episode not possible...

So on today’s episode I have a very special guest to tell me all about the history of one very specific, iconic and somewhat perhaps misunderstood tinned food: SPAM! 

Yes Spam! Dr Kelly Spring is the author of a brand new book that it is coming out this June in UK and July in the US about Spam, called “Spam - A global history”

Kelly is a food historian and consultant and you can find more about her work and her services at theforkfront.com where they bring the past to life through food. She also has a food history podcast called Hungry Historians which you can find on Spotify. I’ll put a link in the show notes with the podcast as well as her new book.

Enjoy!!!

Get a copy of the book here:

https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/spam

Listen to Kelly's podcast here:

https://open.spotify.com/show/2dd70WM8rXd2rMKepkbjwu?si=708838ac72d549c6

Love and cheese

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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The Delicious Legacy has gone a bit drunk with the most snobby of drinks, champagne!

On this weeks interview I've invited the author Becky Sue Epstein to tell me all about the fascinating history of Champagne. This fancy, fizzy wine from the north east of France, which became the staple of kings, queens royalty and the rich and famous all across the world! How and why?

Let's find out here!

The book "Champagne- A Global History" is out now by Reaktion Books and you can but it straight from their website here or Becky's website

https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/champagne-2

https://www.beckysueepstein.com/books/champagne-global-history/

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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Menus.

These little pieces of paper, seem to be so obvious and ubiquitous today, not worth thinking about, no further certainly aside from the restaurant.

The new book from Nathalie Cooke, disproves this notion wholeheartedly. It provides glimpses into the meals enjoyed by royalty and the rogues, food prepared for the great and the good, adults and children, and how they reflect changing notions of health and institutions should feed for nourishment or punishment.

With lavish illustrations, this is an exquisite book, which will make you think deeply.

Nathalie writes "Menus whet our appetites. They tell us stories. They open windows on our past. They are designed both to pique and satisfy our curiosity. But even more so Nathalie argues that are strategic documents. They shape the diners' choices and enhance their dining experience.

Ultimately, the endeavour is to emphasize the persistence of key elements over time and across contexts despite the myriad variations in menu design."

Tastes and Traditions asks not just what is on the menu, but what the menu is doing. One takeaway is that menus “do not always present their wares in a straightforward way; some go off the beaten path, becoming almost as important as the food itself.”

Cooke argues that we, as modern readers of historical menus, experience these documents as artifacts, with hindsight, curiosity and often surprise...

Enjoy our conversation!

Find out more on how to win a copy of Tastes and Traditions here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/do-you-want-copy-129031460

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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What is a craft ale? Who’s C.A.M.R.A? And what is a cask conditioned ale? What is the difference between a lager, a Pilsner, a bitter, a mild, and so on! The world of beer can be very confusing! All i want is to enjoy my beer with my friends in a cosy pub!

The above are some important questions that you might have never thought about, but thanks to the guest of today’s episode Jonny Garrett we have a lot of in-depth analysis and information clearing things a little. 

Beer is never far away in my thoughts nor physically: a pub is relatively close to wherever I am in UK. These are two of the quintessential elements of British life. But my reason for inviting Jonny on the podcast is that he has a new and award winning book out now, with an even more profound and important history regarding beer! The book is called The Meaning of Beer: An Alternative History of the World and explores how -as it was called in many occasions, liquid bread- it gave us nutrition, calories, social bonding, but inventions that went past the food world into medicine and literally saved the lives of millions of humans subsequently! Our understanding of germs started under the microscope of a man trying to work out why beer turned sour! 

How would our history be shaped if there wasn’t beer in our lives for the past 13 thousand years?

To find out, let’s dive into today’s episode!

Buy a copy of the Fortnum & Mason award winning book here:

https://www.davids-bookshops.co.uk/products/the-meaning-of-beer-an-alternative-history-of-the-world-by-jonny-garrett-pre-order

Jonny's Beer YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheCraftBeerChannel

Oh and some lovely news: AUDIO WINNER at Fortnum and Mason Food and Drinks awards was the Comfortably Hungry podcast for the episode "The Culinary Creativity of the Enslaved"

won my friend, colleague, Presenter & Producer: Sam Bilton! This is a podcast that I'm working on in a sound mixing capacity and I'm really happy for Sam I thoroughly enjoyed this season!

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/food-and-drink-awards-winners

Much love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Wine was always central in the life of Ancient Greeks. Both on day to day basis, but also as foundational myths part of the story of being Greeks, their ancient and mythical past and the sacred lores of Gods.

For instance take this line from the mythical battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs.

"For when Pirithous wooed Hippodamia he feasted the centaurs because they were her kinsmen. But being unaccustomed to wine, they made themselves drunk by swilling it greedily, and when the bride was brought in, the attempted to violate her. But Pirithous, fully armed with Theseus, joined the battle with them, and Theseus killed many of them"

-Zenobious, Centauromachy, V33

Please enjoy this wine-soaked archaeogastronomical and mythical adventure in the wine history of Ancient Greece!

Thanks to Pavlos Kapralos for his music.

The A is For Apple Podcast episode that I've appeared is here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6pQrdCPC32VCgsSgunH7jk?si=4001fb78b92646bd

The Europeans podcast I made a guest appearance is here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2DqFL6863dmytM3oxYg5x9?si=666ec898ce7e4d5b

Support the podcast with one off donations on Ko-Fi here:

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New episode for you my lovelies!

My interview with the lovely Jenny Linford, all about her new book, which is out on the 24th of April, Repast The Story of Food by the British Museum and Thames & Hudson.

Get the book here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/repast-british-museum/jenny-linford/9780500481158

x

Much love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Italian food: What comes to mind first when you hear this? A Neapolitan pizza, warm with bubbly tomato sauce and mozarella? A cotoletta alla Milanese, or a Roman cacio e pepe pasta? A lovely bottle of chianti wine or a pasta pesto?

But for all our knowledge -or lack of - how did the food of the Italian peninsula came to be? And why it become so popular?

In his new book, "Al Dente - A History of Food in Italy" Fabio Parasecoli writes "Foodies are enraptured by its endless diversity and its capacity to intrigue and to always offer something new and ‘hot’. Tourists and travellers, often pleasantly surprised by their meals and the warm manners that surround them, end up projecting healthy amounts of romanticism on to dishes and ingredients, enriching Italian food with their own desires and longings. Writers also do their bit to perpetuate the myth..."

So who's better to explain the food history of Italy and what it means other than Fabio Paresecoli himself?

Let's listen to him, today!

The paperback edition of the book is out on 1st of May and you can pre-order here:

https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/al-dente

Find more about Fabio on his website here:

https://fabioparasecoli.com/about/

Enjoy

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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How, when and why the first potatoes were domesticated? Who were the people who did it?

The tough, inhospitable terrain, the extreme climate and the improbably high altitude plateau of the Andean altiplano is the home of the potato. A tuber that was a staple of the diet of the Andean people for thousands of years; then went not only to conquer the world, but be the friend of peasants, farmers, poor people too and save millions from starvation around the world! How did that come about? And what was the genius systems of the Incas that helped grow this amazingly tasty and nutritious food?

Let's find out on today's epic adventure!

Recommendations for the week:

The Puratos Sourdough Library

https://www.questforsourdough.com/puratos-library

People | Planet | Food, a Scigest podcast series exploring the intersection of sustainability, agriculture, and our global food system.

https://www.plantandfood.com/en-nz/people-planet-food

Cradle of Gold:

The Story of Hiram Bingham, a Real-Life Indiana Jones, and the Search for Machu Picchu

https://www.christopherheaney.net/cradle-of-gold/description

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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The island of Corfu was legendary since the homeric times for it's agreeable climate and the lush green forests. Food was abundant and the inhabidants wealthy.

So what's the traditional food of Corfu and the influnces in the island?

And how come and it has over five million olive trees and almost a million of them centuries and centuries old?

Let's find on todays episode!

With music from Pavlos Kapralos

The Delicious Legacy

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In today's episode we have an Interview with Dr Christina Wade, author of the newly released book "Filthy Queens - A History of Beer in Ireland."

Irish stories, myths and legends are full of spirits and ghosts. The history of beer in Ireland is no different; many of these shadowy echoes are still reverberating in the modern brewing history. Beer and ale can bring us together, and importantly understand the past, our past, better, as well as bring us closer to our ancestors, who also drunk beer. And they did so to celebrate, commiserate and of course to socialise with friends and family just as we do.

But beer has a secret. For centuries, women brewers remained key participants in the beer trade, up to the Industrial Revolution when increased mechanisation, alongside Victorian societal constraints, conspired to push a lot of them out. This was true in England, and many other places and it is no different for Ireland. Saints, nuns, wives, queens; the stories of Irish women and ale are countless.

Join me today as I talk with Dr Christina Wade about her latest book Filthy Queens A History of Beer in Ireland, to find out more of the amazing history of women brewers of the Emerald Isle!

You can buy the book here:

https://ninebeanrowsbooks.com/en-gb/products/filthy-queens

and Dr Wades substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151378197

This week's recommendations:

Musician and poet of ancient music Bettina Joy De Guzman:

https://www.bettinajoydeguzman.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@bettinajoydeguzman1981

The Ancient Crops We've Forgotten How to Grow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjFT4PC8YIQ&t=3s

Jonny Garrett:

https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/authors/jonny-garrett

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-meaning-of-beer/jonny-garrett/9781838959944

Enjoy!

Much love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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The abundant fluttering leaves become a welcome guest.

They would send a package to my prefectural office,

But the brick well and copper stove would ruin its

character.

Worse yet, the spring teas from Meng Mountain and

Guzhu

Sealed in white clay, stamped in red, they travel dusty

roads.

If you want to know the pure cooling taste of milky buds,

You must be one who sleeps in clouds and squats on rocks."

These are the words of the early ninth-century poet Liu Yuxi. After drinking tea with Buddhist monks on a mountain, Liu contemplates the tragedy of taking a parcel of tea home with him...

Hello! Welcome back to another episode of The Delicious Legacy, my hungry and curious archaeogastronomers!

I'm Thom Ntinas and this is a short history of Tea. The world's most thirst-quenching liquid after water!

Enjoy!

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Charlemagne was determined to see that it was observed, by force if necessary. Any baptised Lombard or Saxon chieftain who failed to do proper penance had his head cut off, an uninviting prospect for any budding Christian!

Hello,

Enjoy this updated version of an older episode about feasting and fasting in the desert nearly 2000 years ago from the first Christian fathers, the monks who made the religion of Christianity what it is.

How did they live, survive and thrive? What did they eat? And how this strict lifestyle evolved to monasticism as we know it in Europe medieval period?

All the above and much more, with recipes from the past in this updated marathon episode!

Enjoy!

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

The Delicious Legacy

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How did the ancient Greeks and Romans ate turnip? And what was the position of this vegetable at the dinner table? How important was it?

And what the heck is a skirret, how do you cook it and why did we stop cultivating it on a large scale?

All this and more on this weeks episode!

This week's recommendations are

A is For Apple Podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s2e2-b-is-for-buttery-bistro-bournville/id1743840806?i=1000691341726

Kentwell medieval gardens

https://www.kentwell.co.uk/

Charlie Taverner Street Food

https://charlietaverner.com/street-food/

Chiara Vigo: The last woman who makes sea silk:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33691781

Music on this episode by Pavlos Kapralos and Miltos Boumis

Enjoy!

Much love,

Thom

Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes!

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A new episode is out!

"Aedepsus in Euboea, where the baths are, is a place by nature every way fitted for free and gentle pleasures, and withal so beautified with stately edifices and dining rooms, that one would take it for no other than the common place of repast for all Greece. Here, though the 'earth and air yield plenty of creatures for the service of men, the sea no less furnisheth the table with variety of dishes, nourishing a store of delicious fish in its deep and clear waters."

So Plutarch tells us in his book, Moralia.

How much fish did the ancient Greeks eat? Was it popular? Expensive? What are the surviving recipes?

Let's explore on this episode the story of fish eating in the ancient Greek World!

Music by Pavlos Kapralos

Love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy podcast

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A brand new episode for your delight!

How does one deconstruct a meal to it's historical components? What is the truth behind the myths of a dish, the stories we tell about its origins, and how interconnected is the world's history with the cuisines, the spices, the ingredients we use on each country of ours?

On this episode I interviewed Andreas Viestad, about his book "Dinner in Rome- A History of The World in One Meal".

A meal in a restaurant in Rome, can provide all the inspiration that one needs to travel though millennia of human history and across the oceans in search for the ingredients that constitute the meal.

Andreas Viestad's book is out now from Reaktion books and you can get it here:

https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/dinner-in-rome

If you want access to the bonus bits of this episode, please join me on Patreon!

www.patreon.com/thedeliciouslegacy

Much love,

The Delicious Legacy

Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes!

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New week, new episode for you!

We are soon approaching the period that is in Greek Orthodox (and not only) Church the Big Lent! Forty days of fasting before the Holy Week (more and severe fasting here!) and Easter Sunday.

The abstinence of meat and dairy products it's something that the first monks practised; some of them for many years. Slowly, gradually these solemn personal "traditions" of how to step closer to God, Jesus, or saintliness, passed down to the canon of the Church and many monasteries all over the Christian world followed some sort of fasting rules throughout the year. Some with more rigour and fanatical devotion to meagre portions of food than others. So the question I had all this time in my mind was "what did the monks eat throughout the year and where they've found their produce?"

Let's explore all this and more on today's episode!

Also, this week's recommendations:

"Localizing 4000 Years of Cultural History. Texts and Scripts from Elephantine Island in Egypt":

https://elephantine.smb.museum/?lang=en

Why 5 Of The World's Priciest Salts And Spices Are So Expensive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Myw4fYyBM

Abundance London:

https://abundancelondon.com/

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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For this bonus episode I've interviewed the author and food historian Priscilla Mary Işın about her delightful book "Bountiful Empire - A History of Ottoman Cuisine" which is out now!

I hope you'll enjoy our chat, trying to untangle the different strands of the origins of the Ottoman Cuisine through the centuries, and explore the myriad dishes, with vegetables, cheeses, sweets, and savoury.

You should buy the book is so so good!

https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/bountiful-empire

For bonus chat please go to my Patreon page.

https://www.patreon.com/thedeliciouslegacy

Much love,

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes!

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I’m your greedy archaeogastronomer Thomas Ntinas and I welcome you to my smoky and heavily perfumed with spices kitchen! Another adventure beckons!

On today's episode we are travelling to South America and explore the connection between food and revolution! Food always of course played a part in the prosperity of the common people and the nation as a whole. The balance in South America was and still is more precarious in what it means for the people to have control of the means and distribution of their sustenance. What is the national food that needs to be seen to be abundant to all strata of the society?

For that reason I enlisted the ever knowledgable Dr Alessandra Pino to explain this to me while eating some arepas, the national dish of her homeland of Venezuela!

Dr. Alessandra Pino is an expert in the intersections of the Gothic, food, and cultural memory. Born in Hampstead, London, to an Italian mother and a Venezuelan father, she grew up across several countries. She spent nearly a decade working with a Michelin-starred chef. Her research and publications cover topics such as food, cultural memory, the supernatural and the Gothic. She regularly contributes to Haunted Magazine and is the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook, which explores food themes and motifs in classic and contemporary Gothic novels from the 19th century to the present day. She is the writer, producer, and co-host of A is for Apple Podcast, which investigates the history of food, and Fear Feasts, a podcast that analyses the horror genre through the lens of food. She lectures at RomancingtheGothic.com and is a member of the Guild of Food Writers. For more information, visit Alessandra's website: www.alessandrapino.com

A Gothic Cookbook will be out in October 2026!

Podcasts

Listen to Fear Feasts here

Listen to A is for Apple here

Upcoming publications

Palgrave Handbook of Literary Memory Studies

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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New episode is out for you to enjoy!

Today’s guest is Neil Ridley and will delve into the story of crisps, why we love them and what’s the kernel of truth behind the stories of its origin.

This week's recommendation is the Guardian article "the weird, secretive world of crisp flavours by Amelia Teit"

link:

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/02/the-weird-secretive-world-of-crisp-flavours

Love,

The Delicious Legacy

Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes!

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The second part of our adventure in Ottoman food culture is here for all to enjoy!

On today's episode we will talk about coffee, salep and street food in Istanbul. What are imarets, what was the social life for people across the Empire, and what was the culture and table etiquette of raki-drinking and meze-eating?

My recommendations for this week include Claudia Romeo’s youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@claudia-romeo

Dr Eleanor Janega's and Matt Lewis's History Hit’s Gone Medieval, their episode Gone Medieval Goes Wassailing! https://open.spotify.com/episode/7DdRLwR5CqlyS5mmdrykKw?si=3714e6ee9db1495b

And finally the book by Moudhy Al-Rahid titled Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History scheduled for release in February 20th: https://www.waterstones.com/book/between-two-rivers/moudhy-al-rashid/9781529392128

Enjoy,

The Delicious Legacy

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What were the origins of the Ottoman Cuisine? What were the influences behind?

And how the Roman and Greek history influence the Sultan and the Palace alongside the cuisine of the upper classes?

If you went to Istanbul in the late 15th or 16th century what would be the "go-to" food?

Join me on Part One, for an epic adventure through the centuries exploring the foods, the drinks, the dishes and the ingredients of the rich and tasty Ottoman cuisine!

Friday will be the release of Part Two so stay tuned!

This week's recommendations include Sam Bilton's podcast Comfortably Hungry new episode Soy,

The book by author Rachel Laudan Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History:

https://www.amazon.com/Cuisine-Empire-Cooking-History-California/dp/0520286316

And Jenny Linford's news that she has three books about food out this Spring! Hurray!

More here: https://jennylinford.co.uk/

For an updated reading listing, selected bibliography and source for this episodes, join me on Patreon:

www.patreon.com/thedeliciouslegacy

Love,

The Delicious Legacy

Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes!

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On this bonus episode today, I'm sharing with you my personal details of food, cooking and journey through food I had as a young child, teenager, young adult and beyond with the food, the cooking adventures and all that happened to me that shaped me and brought me here with you, passionate about food, history and curious about global gastronomy!

It a lot more intimate than I thought it would be although it doesn't feel like it should be! A strange sensation not sure how to describing exactly.

My friends and family of course know about this so it's not that weird to share it with the wider world!

In any case I hope you'll enjoy this and see you again next week, for a proper epic archaeogastronomical adventure!

Please join me on Patreon, or BlueSky, the rest, well I'm trying to quit twitter, instagram and facebook so...!

Have a great weekend!

x

The Delicious Legacy

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This is one from the archives, updated and with added bonus content from the year 2022!

My interview with author and beer historian Pete Brown

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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Happy New Year and a Happy New Season of The Delicious Legacy Podcast!

Pubs. I love them! Who doesn't?

Culturally and socially important spaces throughout the centuries, more so the past two hundred years.

We mourn when one has closed down. We regularly hear about their supposed demise now or in the near future. But pubs, inns, taverns, alehouses, have been part of the fabric of life in these Isles since early medieval times.

They are everywhere and ever evolving in nature.

On today's episode I have invited the esteemed buildings archaeologist James Wright to explain a little bit behind the myths, mysteries and misunderstandings about the institution that is the British Pub!

How did you order and got served your beer in the 17th century pub? And what's a "buttery hatch"?

What are some of the most prevalent myths about the oldest pub in England? Why these stories keep persisting?

How did the pub started in the Medieval period and how does it differ to the pub we know today?

These and many more subjects you'll find on today's episode all about the history of our beloved pubs!

You can find more about James's work here:

https://triskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com/blogs/

In search of Britain’s oldest pub

https://www.historyextra.com/period/general-history/britain-england-oldest-pub-where-how-identify/

You can purchase his book here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/historic-building-mythbusting/james-wright/9781803994475

Love,

The Delicious Legacy

Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes!

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The second bonus episode of this Christmas season is out!

Just less than a week now till Christmas day, this is a special one, with friends of the podcast -and fellow podcasters- plus food historians, Neil Buttery, Sam Bilton, Brigitte Webster and Ali Pino

talking to me about their favourite historic Christmas recipe!

What do they like preparing, eating and sharing with friends and family and why?

Let's find out here!

Plus, I'm in the kitchen, preparing a bunch of traditional Christmassy things! English such as Christmas Pudding, mince pies, and Smoking Bishop and the famous Greek melomakarona of my childhood!

Have a lovely time off, with health and happiness for all your families and loved ones!

Listen to Sam's Comfortably Hungry Podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3iSZMea3TBwMx1tZ1c9rN7?si=f2b5705dd1b14b12

To listen to Neil Buttery's podcast, go here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5dJzPk1ux4b4o8Q9s2L7m6?si=4dd7111b1dde40ac

And for Ali's podcast go here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5IV7dms3DLxrVF81zj6ZRY?si=5c63b4da75174237

Much love as always,

Thom

Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes!

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Hello and welcome back to another archaeogastronomical adventure!

Christmas time in nearly upon us!

And what better way to start the celebrations, other than an episode about the Christmas food traditions of the Tudor era?

We are not quite in modern times yet, we are short of out of the Medieval time, the world is expanding with Europeans travelling East- West and South all over the Atlantic in the Americas and bringing back strange new foods!

So what did the English eat then and how the common folk and aristocracy celebrated during these troublesome times?

For this reason I invited back Tudor food expert Brigitte Webster to tell us all about the food of the Tudor Christmas Table!

You can get Brigitte's fantastic book here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Tudors-Recipes-Brigitte-Webster/dp/1399092596

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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Have you heard of Avgotaraho and Trahana?

Two very different, interesting ingredients and dishes from Greece's vast menu.

Let me take you into a journey with the nomadic transhumanism shepherds of the Balkans and down to the labyrinthine lagoons and wetland of West Greece in Messolonghi where Lord Byron made a heroic last stance giving his life for Greece's independence and freedom.

There a part of what used to be called Roumeli region, from around November through April, it is the season for lavraki (sea bass), the rockfish govios (goby), and a small local shrimp, roughly an inch long, that is fried and eaten whole. November also marks the beginning of the saltwater eel season, which is a very important local fish commercially—most of it is exported directly to Italy, and there much of it is consumed in Comoccio, south of Venice, where eel is the national dish...

Well today's episode is all about them, their history, lineage and how they are made and eaten! Listen, get hungry and repeat! :-)

Enjoy!

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Mid eighteenth century.

A busy, raucous city, capital of a growing economic power.

Wars abroad. Art, theatre, music. Plotting.

What better symbol of English manliness, in the face of all the difficulties, winning against all enemies, than beef?

And what better meal than a steak? And where do you get your steak with your mates and your cigars and your politics and plotting?

Welcome to the Sublime Society of Beef Steaks, on of the most prestigious private members clubs in the history of private clubs!

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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Welcome back to another episode! An exclusive interview with author, food writer and all around brilliant human Sejal Sukhadwala, where we talk about Indian food, Indian history, the word curry, and the spread of said food but also Indian cuisine around the world and especially UK. We've met at the British Library Member's Area -hence the background chatter- and talking for nearly two hours about the long story of Indian food.

Since starting this podcast over two years now, I’ve covered many many topics from the ancient world. But I’ve never ventured in great detail in India’s past, to examine her vast, rich cuisine and history into any detail. Of course we know the ancient Greeks and Romans had trade networks in land and on sea that stretched to the Indian subcontinent, and there was a complex and interconnected commerce of spices, of many expensive ingredients used in the ancient Greek and Roman cuisine. Chiefly pepper, black and long pepper, but also cinnamon and ginger and various others. Some of the world's earliest civilizations rose and fell in the Indian subcontinent long before the Greeks wrote and spread the Homeric epics. But what do we know of the Indian culinary history? What do we know of their foods and ancient recipes? Did the complex mix of religions over the millennia and especially with Hinduism and later on Buddhism played a significant role in the diet of the people?

Have many things survived? What's the lineage that connects the past inhabitants of this vast land to the present day? Many of our staples today and some of the most popular vegetables and fruits have their origins in India. Cucumbers and aubergines are two prime examples. Sugar from sugarcane first is mentioned in ancient India of 1000BCE as we’ve seen in the episode of the podcast with Dr Neil Buttery a couple of months ago…

Well I’m very happy to say that I have a very esteemed guest on today’s episode to talk to us about many aspects of the complex and often misunderstood cuisine! Today’s episode will be a sort of introduction to the world of Indian cooking and I hope in the near future to explore a lot more in depth and detail the fragrant sweet and savoury character of the food from ancient times till the modern age of spice trade with the English Portuguese and Dutch…

Enjoy!

Thom & The Delicious Legacy

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Today we'll explore the traditional Greek charcuterie, how is it made, what meat is used, and what continuation and connection has with the Byzantine and the ancient past.

I grew up eating bacon, ham, salami (danish style, milano style) and not much in the more traditional local Greek charcuterie. We were never famed for it in our modern cuisine as one knows Greek salad, feta cheese, pastitsio, souvlaki, moussaka etc...

I was curious: We don't do at all our unique preserved meats? And if so, why? And if it exists, why I don't know about it? I must taste it!

What is "Syglino", "Apaki" or Pasturmas?

Anyway let's find out of the unique smoked, salted, and matured meat preparations of Ionian Islands, of Peloponnese, Macedonia, Cyclades, Thrace and Crete!

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Ancient sacred rituals...

Cheese matured at the bottom of wine barrels. Cheese steeped in olive oil for months. Today's adventure in the eastern Aegean islands of Greece, is an unusual one.

The islands have their own unique, unusual and tasty cheeses that defy specific categorizations.

Greece. Cheese.

What can possibly else be said?

Enjoy today's adventure!

This weeks recommendations include:

• A YouTube lecture from Professor Tate Paulette:

"Fermentation in Ancient Mesopotamia, Beer, Bread and More Beer":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDva-HQmLUo

And his book is out soon and it's called, "In the Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia" , link to get it here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Land-Ninkasi-History-Ancient-Mesopotamia/dp/0197682448/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LACZB9Y4597H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.D8RjokggtN32jESMm27WyQ.FotreWbyENYZGO3fXGoHZ7LODlxcIb5sEFoKLfMWR0M&dib_tag=se&keywords=In+the+Land+of+Ninkasi%3A+A+History+of+Beer+in+Ancient+Mesopotamia&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1730400252&s=books&sprefix=in+the+land+of+ninkasi+a+history+of+beer+in+ancient+mesopotamia+%2Cstripbooks%2C84&sr=1-1

• An interesting project to map ancient roads, shipwrecks on modern topographic maps:

Putting human past on the MAPS:

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/06/harvard-digital-atlas-plots-patterns-from-history-ancient-and-modern/

• Isaac Rangaswami Wooden City a newsletter about London.

https://woodencity.substack.com/

• The Hollow and the Whole — Picking Apples at Nightingale Cider in Tenterden, Kent

https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/2024/03/20/the-hollow-and-the-whole-nightingale-cider-katie-mather

• A Slice of Cheese podcast with Jenny Linford from FoodFM Radio.
• https://open.spotify.com/show/2weTJIKyG5XqQ04qFfwPUv?si=5b08742d7c5f4e6e

Thanks for listening and reading!

Love

The Delicious Legacy Podcast

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Hello! Welcome back to another episode of The Delicious Legacy

Bustling and busy cities with their markets and food stalls, and sellers hollering theirs goods isn't a new phenomenon exclusive to our metropolis of New York or London. These markets and people existed as long as cities existed!

But how these markets were organised in the ancient Mediterranean? What did they sell? How did they smell, who could trade and where in the city were they?

Well let's find out on the latest episode where we explore a particular market of a town that we have so much information -found quite literally in the rubbish- written by her own inhabitants, at the time they were alive!

I'm talking of course of the City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish, or as we know it , 'Oxyrhynchos', and the episode today is based on the book of Peter Parsons.

Enjoy!

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For access on the extra content subscribe on my Patreon page...

Food writer legend. Award winning author. Editor at Penguin Publishing. The lady is extraordinary!

Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson. Two names that might not resonate as much with today’s audience as they should, but significantly their food writing in the 60’s & 70’s created the genre that led to everyone from Delia Smith to Nigella Lawson today. They are perhaps the two most important cookbook authors and recipe writers (amongst many other things they did) of post-world war two Britain -and indeed very influential in the English speaking world-, in shaping how modern books about recipes and food are written; how the subject of food is seen as inclusive of many people from diverse backgrounds with the act of cooking and putting food on the table for a family and friends (regardless of social class or level of experience with cooking)

Anyway find out more about her life, and her new book and English food here!

The book is out on November the 4th: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/the-english-table

Music by Pavlos Kapralos:

Much love,

The Delicious Legacy

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Fermented food is literally everywhere.

Why do we love fermented foods so much? When did we start making them intentionally and crucially are they good for us?

Today's special guest on the podcast is James Read, author of the book "Of Cabbages & Kimchi"

James Read is on a mission to smuggle bacteria into our kitchens. In Of Cabbages & Kimchi, he takes the ten greatest ‘living’ ferments – fermented foods that are neither cooked nor pasteurized – and places them under the microscope, before cooking with them in all their delicious versatility.

From the fiery funk of kimchi to the velvet tang of kefir, James describes the microbial process, then shares his recipes for recreating these wonders in your own kitchen. Alongside his recipes, James investigates the extraordinary cultural and historic backgrounds of fermented foods, exploring how the microbes that bring them to life have developed alongside our culinary evolution.

So I went into his house yesterday and had a lovely chat about his favourite fermented foods. We also tried some lovely home-made kimchi, soy sauce and tepache drink the Mexican slightly sweet slightly sour fermented beverage!

Find out more about James and order his book here: https://jamesreadwriter.com/

He is also on Instagram as @jamesreadwrites

Enjoy our conversation and if you have any questions or recommendations do let me know!

The Delicious Legacy

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Sushi and sashimi are now global sensations. But how sushi begun? The book Oishii reveal the deep history of sushi which began perhaps in China and mostly as a sour fermented food.

On this episode i have the honour to have as a guest Professor Eric C Rath of the University of Kansas to explain to us the history of sushi in Japan and how it conquered the world!

Our discussion is based of course on his 2021 book "Oishii: The History of Sushi" which is rather lovely and detailed and is out now by Reaktion Books.

Enjoy!

The Delicious Legacy

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In any discussion of French cheese, it is impossible to avoid that exasperated question from President De Gaulle "how can you govern a country that has more than 246 varieties of cheese?"

I'm Thom Ntinas and this is The Delicious Legacy Podcast!

This week, continuing our adventure with Ned, we taste and explore through the cheeses some forgotten corners of France and French history for that matter.

Mons cheesemonger for the best French cheese: https://mons-cheese.co.uk/

Salers cheese from Auvergne: https://www.cheese.com/salers/

José Bové, farm union leader from Larzac to MEP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riGwPStcPo

Patrick Rance: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013fm7g

Enjoy!

Book recommendation of the week is Koji Alchemy: Rediscovering the Magic of Mold-Based Fermentation(Soy Sauce, Miso, Sake, Mirin, Amazake, Charcuterie)

and you can find it on Amazon etc.

Podcast recommendation Sam Bilton's "Comfortably Hungry" podcast, new season, Dark Food is out now. You can listen here the first episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5K3H51ujWsu33S39vKb0E8?si=fa632f073ece4be2

See you again next week!

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Ned went for an adventure all over France to find an answer on "what is French Cheese?" and "why do we love it so much?" while looking for the most representative cheeses that tell this story.

Along the way, he discovered many more extraordinary and surprising details about the history of the villages, cheesemakers and cheesemongers of France.

How do some of them still clinging on, on their traditional ways? On mountaintops, through rainy autumns. harsh winters or spring and summer?

What cheese and revolution have to tell us about the making of a nation?

Ned's book is extraordinary, fascinating and full of individual powerful characters, as pungent and sophisticated at the same time as the cheeses that they create!

Join us on the first part of the interview today, to find out the history of French Cheese, and it's survival through the industrial and technological revolutions until this day.

Ned's book is out on Thursday 3rd of October and you can get it on all good bookshops, plus you can order it online:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-cheesemongers-tour-de-france/ned-palmer/9781788166935

Enjoy!

Thom

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