The Delicious Legacy

Hello!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/9781784886851You 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 LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is it to lose a paradise? How do you square the feeling of deep loss for a place?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/9781526662927Who is Taras Shevchenko:https://shevchenko.ca/taras-shevchenko/biography/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_Taras_ShevchenkoRecommendation of the week:https://ruby-tandoh.medium.com/empire-of-seeds-ee4308a529c4Music by Pavlos KapralosEnjoy!Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

* * * Reminder: The first ever FOOD HISTORY FESTIVAL is happening on the 18th of October and it's all online! Get 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=ebdssIt'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 LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello!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%3DCRMNYR012019The Food That Made Us HumanA 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=trueAn 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!xThomSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello,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+1Get 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=ebdsshcopyurlLove,Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hellooooo!!!!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/23317https://odeuropa.eu/The blog cooking in the archives, rarecooking.comBon 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_1nUMusic by Pavlos KapralosEnjoy!Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello!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=ebdsshcopyurlBut 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=132sIndigenous fish techniques from Canada's First Nations:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6li84mjUZT8Kerguelen cabbage:https://www.britannica.com/plant/Kerguelen-cabbageMacquarie Island cabbage:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azorella_polarisThe Flora, Vegetation, and Soils of Macquarie Island:https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Flora_Vegetation_and_Soils_of_Macqua/fEtEAAAAYAAJ?hl=enMusic by Pavlos KapralosMuch love,Thom & The Delicious Legacy PodcastSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello!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 fo the book here:https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/a-twist-in-the-tail/Much love,Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello!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=ebdsshcopyurlFind out more:https://linktr.ee/serveitforthfestSee you soon for another archaeogastronomical adventure!Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

***** Tickets for the Serve It Forth Food History Festival now available to buy 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 *****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 KarpalosLove,Thom & The Delicious Legacy PodcastSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.