The Delicious Legacy
The Delicious Legacy
A Greek Gourmand, travels through time...Imagine yourself dining with Socrates, Plato, or Pythagoras! What tasty morsels of food accompanied the conversations of these most significant minds in Western philosophy?Now picture yourself as you sat for a symposium with Cicero, or Pliny the Elder or Julius Caesar. The opulent feasts of the decadent Romans!Maybe, you're following Alexander the Great during his military campaigns in Asia for ten years. Conquering the vast Persian empire, while discovering new foods. Or try and picture the richness of fruits and vegetables in the lush Hanging Gardens of Babylon.What foods did our ancestors ate?How did all begin? Who was the first to write a recipe down and why? Sauces, ingredients, ways of cooking. Timeless and continuous yet unique and so alien to us now days. Staple ingredients of the Mediterranean world -as we think now- like tomatoes, potatoes, rice, peppers, didn't exist. What did they eat? We will travel far and wide, reconstructing the diet, the feasts, the dishes of a Greek Philosopher in a symposium in Athens, or a Roman Emperor or as a rich merchant in the last night in Pompeii.....Lavish dinners, exotic spices, so-called "barbaric" traditions of beer and milk, all intertwined...Stay tuned and find out more here, in 'The Delicious Legacy' Podcast!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 14, 2024 • 58min
A Short History of Pickles, Vinegar and Fermentation
Hello!Pickled food through the ages and continents!We will go to the ancient lands of China, India, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, and through them to Persia, the Arab world, Spain and Latin America!I think a history of civilization is a history of pickles, and fermentation!Without fermentation we wouldn't have beer, wine, cheese, miso, kimchi. sauerkraut and pickled herrings!Where would we be then huh? Or how the lactobacillales domesticated humankind...We will also be seeing a medieval chutney from Richard the II's cookbook "Forme of Cury", evidence of the first "modern" mention of brined cheese aka feta from Crete, the emergence of Dutch pickled herrings and how it conquered Europe, a brief history of saurekraut, Indian pickles, why balsamic vinegar is such a special vinegar, and of course the holy triptych of soya beans- soy sauce- miso!Sources used in this episode is Jan Davidsons book: Pickles A Global Historyand the fantastic Noma Guide to Fermentation alongside with Cato "Liber De Agricultura"and Columella's "De Re Rustica" agricultural manualMusic theme is Seikilos Epitaph the oldest recorded surviving melody, performed by the formidable Panos Kapralos.Thank you and enjoy!The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 7, 2024 • 36min
Food in the Ancient Olympic Games
Hello!With the arrival of the Olympic Games in Paris, we have a reached a peak of reminders of the ancient Greek Olympic games and with them, a tonne of misinformation and misconceptions about the ancient Olympians!Well, the most important thing, was left out however from most of these articles; The food and the drink and the partying in Ancient Olympia! What was it like?How did an ancient Olympian athlete and a winner ate, what was their diet and how they've used food and wine as ways to cheat their way to the first place?These and a lot more, with myths from the ancient times on today's episode!Enjoy!The Delicious Legacy Music by Pavlos KapralosSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 31, 2024 • 49min
China in Seven Banquets Part2 -An Interview with Thomas DuBois
Hello! Part two of our archaeogastronomical adventure is out!How the myth of Marco Polo bringing "pasta" back to Italy started? What's the truth behind it?What are the origins of tea and tea drinking ceremonies?How important are dairy products, milk and cheese in Chinese culinary history and what's the impact today?All this and a lot more on our episode today!Excited to have as a guest Professor Thomas DuBois introducing us to his new book, an adventure through China's culinary history "China in Seven Banquets, A Flavourful History", published by Reaktion Books: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/china-in-seven-banquetsYou can purchase Professor Thomas DuBois book from many online shops like here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/china-in-seven-banquets/thomas-david-dubois/9781789148619Enjoy part two, of our adventure through China!The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 24, 2024 • 39min
China in Seven Banquets Part1 -An Interview with Thomas DuBois
Hello!Excited to have as a guest Professor Thomas DuBois introducing us to his new book, an adventure through China's culinary history "China in Seven Banquets, A Flavourful History" , published by Reaktion Books: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/china-in-seven-banquetsYou can purchase Professor Thomas DuBois book from many online shops like here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/china-in-seven-banquets/thomas-david-dubois/9781789148619Enjoy part one, and I'll see you next week for part two!The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 17, 2024 • 42min
The Culinary Treasures of Persia: Part Two
Enjoy a nearly three thousand year exploration of Persian food, culture and inventions that made our culinary pleasures, even more pleasurable!Info if you want to find out about yakhtchal, the ancient Persian refrigerators check here;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81lThe Shahnameh (“Book of Kings”) By Ferdowsi -the Persian epic poemhttps://sdbiblestudy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Shahnameh.pdfMedieval Persian Cookbook"A Baghdad Cookery Book"https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baghdad-Cookery-Book-Al-oTabaikh-Culinaires/dp/1903018420/ref=pd_bxgy_d_sccl_1/258-4486056-9939464?pd_rd_w=h0uD7&content-id=amzn1.sym.46f507f3-7fc1-4bf4-9492-ed026d6e4f68&pf_rd_p=46f507f3-7fc1-4bf4-9492-ed026d6e4f68&pf_rd_r=CY9W5FDBRDZ88YJH8B8J&pd_rd_wg=jGw6S&pd_rd_r=287bc114-87a3-4bc4-bc48-174d24e4ac0b&pd_rd_i=1903018420&psc=1-How Persian Kings and the Imperial Court was drinking wine from rhyton:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yJCay1_CA4Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies by Najmieh Khalili Batmanglij https://www.najmieh.com/book/food-of-life-ancient-persian-and-modern-iranian-cooking-and-ceremonies/I hope you will enjoy this episode as much as I did!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.
Jul 10, 2024 • 37min
The Culinary Treasures of Persian Empire
An early fourteenth-century Baghdadi cookbook begins thus: “The pleasures of this world are six: food, drink, clothing, sex, scent, and sound. The most eminent and perfect of these is food, for food is the foundation of the body and the material of life.”What is a "rhyton"? What's a yakhtchal? And how is that Persian walled gardens are connected to Christian paradise?I am Darius, the great king, the king of kings, the king in Persia, the king of countries, the son of Hystaspes, the grandson of Arsames, the Achaemenide.Join me on this new episode to explore nearly three thousand years of Persian food, culture and inventions that elevated our culinary pleasures to higher standards that we still follow to this day! Music by Pavlos Kapralos and Motion ArrayEnjoy!The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 26, 2024 • 1h 8min
Burmese Food Culture
Hello!Burmese food writer turned activist MiMi Aye has been raising awareness about the crisis in Myanmar since the coup in February 2021. MiMi’s award-winning book ‘MANDALAY: Recipes & Tales from a Burmese Kitchen’ is loved by Nigella Lawson and was chosen by The Observer, The FT, and The Mail on Sunday as one of their Best Books of 2019. MiMi also co-hosts the food and culture podcast The MSG Pod and is on social media as @meemaleeThanks for listening, The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 19, 2024 • 36min
Medieval Table Manners and Food Hygiene
'Many other improprieties a good servant will avoid.’ ...Rules for health, hygiene and manners in Middle Ages...Yes! They existed. People were worried about manners, and food poisoning and etiquette.Yes people washed their hands before they sat on the table.And much, much more! Listen to todays fascinating episode!Voiceover on "The babees book" by Lucy Davidson.https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-davidson-a31682136/Enjoy!xThe Delicious LegacyBooks on medieval manners:Frederick James Furnivall, ed., Early English meals and manners: John Russell’s Boke of nurture, Wynkyn de Worde’s Boke of keruynge, The boke of curtasye, R. Weste’s Booke of demeanor, Seager’s Schoole of vertue, The babees book, Aristotle’s A B C, Urbanitatis, Stans puer ad mensam. For the overview of medieval table manners see Hammond, Food and Feast, 116–19; Henisch, Fast and Feast, 159–203; Gies, Life in a Medieval Castle, 116; and Hans Sachs, “Ein Tischzucht,” in Astrid Stedje, Deutsch gestern und heute: Einführung in Sprachgeschichte und Sprachkunde (Lund: Liber Läromedel, 1979), 130.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 12, 2024 • 31min
Rice and the history of biryani; one dish that conquered the world!
Hello!Rice is a very ancient food…People ate rice perhaps from 12000 BCE gathered with other seeds and nuts. Today every third person on earth eats rice every day in one form or another. Rice is grown on about 250 million farms in 112 countries. But one dish more than any other, defines the global reach of rice and how it is claimed by many nations and has a deep, complex history: Biryani!From Persian "birinj biriyan" - literally, fried rice, to the Mughal Empire and an old Mughlai recipe from Shah Jahan's kitchen, to subtle pulaos that let the fragrance and flavour of highly aromatic rice shine through and would have been considered more refined and fit for a king there's a rich cultural trail to follow in todays exploration of one of my favourite rice dishes!Enjoy!The Delicious Legacy Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 5, 2024 • 41min
Myths and superstitions of tomato and potato's introduction in Greece and Europe
How old is a Greek salad? And how 'Greek' for that matter?Who introduced the potato to the Greeks?What other dark misunderstandings the introduction of the tomato and potato in Europe has?( and what's got to do with werewolves?)And finally some delightful tomato recipes from the Greek Cycladic Islands for your gastronomic enjoyment!Just to kick start your summer!Enjoy!The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
