Corpse Cakes and Funeral Pie: A Short History of Eating Grief
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
00:00
The Story of a Funeral
In the 17th and 18th centuries in Great Britain, official sin eaters were hired by a family. Basically wealthy families would hire poor people and place a biscuit or a cookie on top of the corpse. And then it was believed that the sins of the deceased would be absorbed by that corpse cake. In Chinese culture, leaving a funeral, you're given a piece of candy to stop bad spirits following home.
Transcript
Play full episode
