52 episodes

Stories of the fun, bizarre and often ridiculous, history of food.

Join me as we explore The Fantastic History of Food.

Contact me on foodhistorypod@gmail.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

The Fantastic History Of Food Storymachine Creative

    • History
    • 5.0 • 8 Ratings

Stories of the fun, bizarre and often ridiculous, history of food.

Join me as we explore The Fantastic History of Food.

Contact me on foodhistorypod@gmail.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

    51 - The London Beer Flood

    51 - The London Beer Flood

    In our modern age we have lived through natural disasters and floods in various parts of the world, and no matter what, they are always tragic. But tragic floods are not always a cause of nature.

    In episode 7, we discussed the great molasses flood that occurred in Boston and the ensuing devastation of that event. Well today, we’ll be taking a look at a similar, albeit less gloopy tidal wave of destruction that occurred 100 years before that.

    And, as much as any of us may love a beer every now and then and dream of swimming in a pool of the bubbly liquid, this tragic event was unfortunately no laughing matter.

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    Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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    Sources for this episode's research:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood
    https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-London-Beer-Flood-of-1814/
    https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/great-beer-flood-1814-what-happened/
    https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-london-beer-flood/
    https://www.history.com/news/london-beer-flood
    https://explorethearchive.com/london-beer-flood
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1814-beer-flood-killed-eight-people-180964256/


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    • 13 min
    50 - How Alcohol Prohibition Created NASCAR

    50 - How Alcohol Prohibition Created NASCAR

    This episode is a look at how in the early to mid 1900’s the abolitionist laws banning the production and consumption of alcohol played a majorly significant role in the creation of what, today, is a veritable institution of the American South, NASCAR.

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    Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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    Sources for this episode's research:


    https://winstoncupmuseum.com/nascar-and-prohibition/#:~:text=Across%20the%20country%2C%20bootleggers%20had,cases%20of%20liquor%20as%20possible
    https://www.history.com/news/how-prohibition-gave-birth-to-nascar
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-moonshine-bootlegging-gave-rise-nascar-180962014/
    https://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/history/nascar-bootleggers.htm
    https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nascar-moonshine
    https://www.ranker.com/list/ways-people-hid-alcohol-during-prohibition/kellen-perry?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=weirdhistory&utm_campaign=wh_active&utm_content=%7Bdate%28%27yyyyMMdd%27%29%7D
    https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-early-american-booze-consumption/rachel-souerbry?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=weirdhistory&utm_campaign=wh_active&utm_content=%7Bdate%28%27yyyyMMdd%27%29%7D
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower


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    • 21 min
    49 - Charles Domery Ate Cats, Grass & A Fellow Soldier's Leg

    49 - Charles Domery Ate Cats, Grass & A Fellow Soldier's Leg

    There are many stories throughout history of individuals with freakish appetites, who seem to be able to consume quantities of food well past what a human stomach should be capable of handling.

    Today, we’ll be diving into the story of Charles Domery, a Polish-born soldier who tried to eat the whole world.

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    Sources for this episode's research:

    https://historianandrew.medium.com/the-man-who-couldnt-stop-eating-including-cats-rats-grass-and-his-friend-s-leg-c7ec7e1fce01https://www.weirdhistorian.com/domery-the-man-who-ate-anything-and-a-whole-lot-of-it/https://allthatsinteresting.com/charles-domeryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Domery

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    • 12 min
    48 - The Dutch Once Ate Their Prime Minister

    48 - The Dutch Once Ate Their Prime Minister

    For most of history, the Dutch have been an almost all-powerful force to be reckoned with. They were the forerunners for a lot of the world's exploration, and for a long time dominated the seas and trade routes through the stranglehold of the Dutch East India Company.

    In the preceding century, they were still under Spanish rule, with 2 of their kings, Charles the Fifth and his Son Phillip II, simultaneously ruling as the kings of Spain and the so-called Low Countries of The Netherlands.

    But the Dutch weren’t having any of this for long and at the first sign of mismanagement, made their feelings known.

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    Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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    Sources for this episode's research:


    https://www.historydefined.net/when-the-dutch-murdered-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt
    https://dutchreview.com/culture/dutch-history-crowds-ate-prime-minister/
    https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/is-it-true-that-an-angry-mob-of-dutchmen-killed-and-ate-their-own-prime-minister-in-1672/
    https://allthatsinteresting.com/johan-de-witt


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    • 15 min
    47 - William McKenna the "Human Ostrich"

    47 - William McKenna the "Human Ostrich"

    For today's story we will be diving into the life of a truly extraordinary man named William V McKenna, and while he fits the category of “people who eat random things”, those things that he ate can’t really be classified as food.

    So let's see just how this man, William McKenna first discovered his talented digestive system.

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    Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : patreon.com/foodhistorypod

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    Sources for this episode's research:

    https://www.picuki.com/tag/humanostrichhttps://www.weirdhistorian.com/appetite-for-intestinal-destruction-the-man-who-ate-glass-nails-tacks-and-frogs/https://historianandrew.medium.com/william-mckenna-the-human-ostrich-who-made-a-living-eating-nails-glass-and-live-frogs-dd1697a3c7d5

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    • 14 min
    46 - Turning Hitler Into A Woman By Poisoning His Food

    46 - Turning Hitler Into A Woman By Poisoning His Food

    WW2 was raging onwards, with men fighting and dying each and every day. It was so delicately poised that there seemed to be no end to the fighting in sight.

    Weeks and months dragged on into years, and with them came more and more plots of how to win the war. Some were impractical, some were impossible, and some were downright insane.

    But every now and again, one of these plots would be just insane enough to work.

    And so, out of this think tank came possibly one of military history’s greatest-ever schemes.

    What if we turned Adolf Hitler into a woman?

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    Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month : https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod

    -------------------

    Sources for this episode's research:
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-15/allies-planned-to-make-hitler-a-woman/2839874https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hitler-estrogen-hormone-plot_n_927281https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/book-claims-allies-tried-to-turn-the-fuhrer-into-a-female-464589https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025975/Hitler-hormone-plot-Bizarre-plan-British-spies-make-Fuhrer-fraulein.htmlhttps://theweek.com/articles/482449/bizarre-plan-turn-hitler-into-womanhttps://medium.com/the-collector/the-bizzare-plot-to-turn-hitler-into-a-woman-185bc837eba5https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8701024/Revealed-sex-hormone-plan-to-feminise-Hitler.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Has_Only_Got_One_Ballhttps://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/hitlers-psychological-profile-shows-feminine-side/72P2CQ6HYWXN6NHH57GO57FMRU/?c_id=2&objectid=10118222

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

    • 12 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
8 Ratings

8 Ratings

Demhaaizof ,

This podcast is one of the joys of my life

So well made. The stories are absolutely captivating. Who would’ve thought food history was so incredible. The research and effort put into each episode is so apparent. I literally saviour episodes and ration them for the right journey where I know I will be able to listen intently and catch every word. I am a broke student so until I’m rich enough to donate, I will leave this review. Thank you!

Womblesmum ,

Captivating and quirky

This is a brilliant show - a really eloquent host with a fantastic turn of phrase and the content interesting, educational and had me giggling over the washing up (not an easy task!). Now just have to ration the episodes available…

TobiasF87 ,

Had me at the opening music...

This is a first rate podcast, that is bitesize (pardon the pun), easily digestible (don't pardon the pun) and simply unbaguetteable (lock me up for the pun).

I'm not sure if this show does itself a disservice in that it would appear fairly niche, but the tremendous voice of the host, the lovely background music and the overall storytelling means it stands up there with some of the best history podcasts.

Genuinely recommended!

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