Comfortably Hungry

Sam Bilton
  • 5.0 (2)
  • FOOD
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY
Comfortably Hungry

Welcome to the comfortably hungry podcast where yesterday’s dinner is tomorrow’s history. If you’re a peckish person who is curious about the history of food and drink, then you’re in the right place. I’m Sam Bilton a food historian, writer and cook and each season I will be joined by some hungry guests to discuss a variety topics centred around a specific theme. As a former supper club host I’m always intrigued to know what people like to eat. So to whet everyone’s appetites I have invited my guests to contribute a virtual dish with them inspired by today’s topic. comfortablyhungry.substack.com

  1. FEB 20

    S3 E11 A Fruit with an Image Problem?

    In Episode 11 I am investigating a fruit with a bit of an image problem. Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is the fruit of an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean. The view of carob as a subsistence food has perhaps tarnished this fruit’s reputation. Yet despite this, the carob grown in the Ragusa district of Sicily has earned a place in the Slow Food Ark of Taste where it is described as having ‘a taste similar to cocoa with hints of honey and caramel, so much so that in ancient times in Sicily it was considered the “poor persons chocolate”.’ In recent years carob has been praised for its healthy credentials being a good source of dietary fibre and antioxidants. However, today it is more likely to be fed to animals than used in a kitchen. So why is it not more widely used in cookery? To help me answer this question I chat to historian Mary Taylor Simeti and food writer Angela Zaher. Useful Links Angela Zaher’s website. You can also follow Angela on Instagram. Mary Taylor Simeti’s books include: * Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-five Centuries of Sicilian Food * Bitter Almonds: Recollections and recipes from a Sicilian girlhood (with Maria Grammatico) * On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal * Travels With a Medieval Queen You can also find Mary on Instagram. Suggested Reading * Slow Food on Carob * ‘How Carob Traumatized a Generation’ by Jonathan Kauffman for the New Yorker * I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga (1881) was translated by Mary A Craig and published in English as The House by the Medlar-Tree (1890) * ‘Carob: The “Poor Man’s Chocolate”’ by Jo Vraca for Italy Segreta Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    46 min

  2. FEB 6

    S3 E10 Naught so sweet as melancholy (Part 1)

    They will act, conceive all extremes, contrarieties, and contradictions, and that in infinite varieties…Scarce two of two thousand concur in the same symptoms. The Tower of Babel never yielded such confusion of tongues, as the chaos melancholy doth variety of symptoms. - Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621 In Episode 10 I take a look at the perplexing affliction of melancholy in the first of two episodes exploring the relationship between food and mental health. Early in the seventeenth century a Leicestershire clergyman Robert Burton set out to untangle complex yet bizarrely alluring renaissance disease of melancholy and its effects on mental and physical well being. His research culminated in The Anatomy of Melancholy, a lengthy treatise on how to identify and treat this illness. Joining me to discuss what melancholy was, Burton’s work and the role food played in exacerbating or treating the condition are Professor Mary Ann Lund of Leicester University and author of A User’s Guide of Melancholy and food historian Ken Albala and author of Eating Right in the Renaissance. Useful Links Ken has written many books over the years including: * Opulent Nosh: A Cookbook * Beans: A History * A Cultural History of Food in the Renaissance * Nuts: A Global History You can also find Ken on Instagram. Mary Ann’s books include: * A User’s Guide to Melancholy * Melancholy, Medicine and Religion in Early Modern England: Reading 'The Anatomy of Melancholy Suggested Reading * The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    51 min

  3. JAN 23

    S3 E9 Mad About the Soy

    In Episode 9 I chat to Professor Thomas David DuBois of Beijing Normal University and author of China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History about the alchemy of fermentation and the importance of fermented foods (especially beans) in Chinese cuisine. Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack! Useful Links You can find out more about Thomas on his website. China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    48 min

  4. JAN 9

    S3 E8 My Bête Noire

    I thought it was about time I faced my own bête noire. So Episode 8 is devoted to my sweet shop nemesis liquorice. Helping me overcome my dislike of this confectionery is ScandiKitchen founder Brontë Aurell. Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack! Useful Links Find out more about Brontë on her website or follow her on Instagram. ScandiKitchen cafe and deli in London (also on Instagram) Brontë’s next cookbook Smorrebrod: Scandinavian Open Sandwiches is out on 8 April 2025. Brontë’s cookbooks include: * The ScandiKitchen Cookbook: Recipes for good food with love from Scandinavia * ScandiKitchen: Fika and Hygge: Comforting cakes and bakes from Scandinavia with love * ScandiKitchen: The Essence of Hygge * ScandiKitchen Summer: Simply delicious food for lighter, warmer days Suggested Reading * Adam in Eden, or, Natures paradise by William Coles, 1657 * The History of Pontefract, in Yorkshire by George Fox, 1827 * The herball, or, Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard, 1636 * Mr Halley’s description of liquorice cultivation around Pontefract can be found in The review and abstract of the county reports to the Board of Agriculture; from the several agricultural departments of England. by Mr. Marshall v. 1 * Delights for ladies: to adorne their persons, tables, closets, and distillatories. With beauties, banquets, perfumes, and waters by Hugh Platt, 1602 * Chronicles of Old Pontefract by Lorenzo Radgett, 1905 Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    47 min

  5. 12/19/2024

    S3 E7 Black Bun

    Currant-loaf is now popular eating in all households. For weeks before the great morning, confectioners display stacks of Scotch bun — a dense, black substance, inimical to life – Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, 1878 In Episode 7 I chat with Peter Gilchrist and Dr Lindsay Middleton about a Scottish cake traditionally served at Hogmanay and the role this plays in preserving Scotland’s food heritage. Useful Links The Tenement Kitchen where you can also download a copy of the Scottish Food Heritage Report. You can find Peter on Instagram and X. You can read more about Dr Lindsay Middleton’s thesis here. You can find Lindsay on Instagram and X. If you want to see how black bun’s were originally made check out this post by my fellow A is for Apple Podcast host Dr Neil Buttery. Yu-lade is available from some branches of Co-op in Scotland. Suggested Reading You read more about the origins of Simnel cake in my book Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron Glasgow Cookery Book The cook and housewife's manual : a practical system of modern domestic cookery and family management (1828) by Christian Isobel Johnstone (aka Meg Dods) The Scots Kitchen: Its Lore and Recipes (1929) by F Marion McNeill A Scottish Feast: An Anthology of Food and Eating by Hamish Whyte and Catherine Brown Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    50 min

  6. 12/05/2024

    S3 E6 The Culinary Creativity of the Enslaved

    In Episode 6 I chat with Dr Peggy Brunache, Lecturer in Public History and Archaeology as well as the founding Director of the Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies at the University of Glasgow, to discover how the culinary creativity of the enslaved people served as a form of resistance. Useful Links You can find Peggy on Instagram @negroshire Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies Peggy is also one of the women featured the 100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark exhibition at the Leicester Gallery at de Montfort University from 1 October 2024 – 4 January 2025. Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners on BBC iPlayer. David Olusoga shines a light on Britain's dark past - how it was built on the profits of slavery. The acclaimed series that inspired frank conversations on our colonial history. Suggested Reading Bayley, F.W.N. (1830). Four Years’ Residence in the West Indies. London: William Kidd. Coleridge, Henry Nelson (1825) Six Months in the West Indies. London: John Murray Albermarle Street. Hearn, Lafcadio (1903) Two years in the French West Indies (Martinique) Moreton, J.B. (1793). West India Customs and Manners: containing Strictures on the Soil, Cultivation, Produce, Trade, Officers, and Inhabitants; with The Method of Establishing and Conducting a Sugar Plantation. To Which is Added The Practice of Training New Slaves. London: J. Parsons; W. Richardson; H. Gardner; and J. Walter. Schaw, Janet. (1921) Journal of a Lady of Quality; Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal, in the Years 1774 to 1776. Edited by Evangeline Walker Andrews, in Collaboration with Charles McLean Andrews, Farnam Professor of American History in Yale University NEW HAVEN: Yale University Press, LONDON: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press. Tryon, Thomas (1684) Friendly advice to the gentlemen-planters... Indies. Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    44 min

  7. 11/24/2024

    Bonus Episode: Stir Up Sunday

    STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. On the Sunday before advent Anglican congregations across Britain will hear this collect, a short prayer to bring together or “collect” their thoughts on a topic. The matter at hand originally had nothing to do with food preparations for Christmas but by the early twentieth century the faithful took this collect as a sign that they should go forth and stir up their Christmas pudding. So, this is where the term Stir Up Sunday originates and as it happens today is that very day. I had a chat with my fellow A is for Apple Podcast host Dr Neil Buttery about the origins of this ritual and our enduring love for plum pudding at this time of the year. Useful Links You can find Great Aunt Eliza’s Victorian plum pudding recipe here. Neil has written four books (all of which I can highly recommend) including: * The Philosophy of Pudding * Knead to Know * Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper * A Dark History of Sugar Don’t forget to check out Neil’s The British Food History Podcast. You can find Neil on X @neilbuttery and Instagram @dr_neil_buttery Suggested Reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    48 min

  8. 11/21/2024

    S3 E5: Bleeding Cows and Black Puddings

    In Episode 5 I am joined by my fellow A is for Apple podcast co-host and the author of The Philosophy of Pudding, Dr Neil Buttery, and award winning food writer Kate Ryan to discuss the merits of blood as food and in particular, the most democratic of puddings, the black pudding. Useful Links You can find more information about Kate’s work on her website flavour.ie including further details on her research into Ireland’s black pudding heritage. You can find Kate as @flavour.ie on Instagram and X Do check out Neil’s British Food History podcast as well his books on A Dark History of Sugar and Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald England’s Most Influential Housekeeper, and of course his latest releases Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Pudding. You can find Neil on Instagram @dr_neil_buttery and X @neilbuttery Euro Toques in Ireland National Folklore Collection of Ireland The Cresswell Archive, Kinvara which includes images of Killing the Pig discussed by Kate in this episode. Some of the black pudding manufacturers mentioned in this podcast: * Bury Black Pudding * Clonakilty Black Pudding * Fruit Pig * Jane Russell Handmade Sausages * Sneem Black Pudding * Stornoway Black Pudding Suggested Reading Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking by Fergus Henderson Cattle in Ancient Ireland (Studies in Irish Archaeology & History) by A T Lucas Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal by Jennifer McLagan ‘I’m the last drisheen maker in all of Ireland’ on EchoLive.ie by Kate Ryan on 14 November 2022 ‘A drisheen recipe that Joyce recommended!’ on EchoLive.ie by Kate Ryan on 21 November 2022 ‘Recipes for drisheen, from Cork’s top chefs’ on EchoLive.ie by Kate Ryan on 28 November 2022 ‘Great Scotch! Manchester's take on the Scotch egg has become a snack sensation’ in The Independent by Paul Vallely, 19 November 2011 Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. Get full access to Comfortably Hungry at comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 1m
See All (36)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Welcome to the comfortably hungry podcast where yesterday’s dinner is tomorrow’s history. If you’re a peckish person who is curious about the history of food and drink, then you’re in the right place. I’m Sam Bilton a food historian, writer and cook and each season I will be joined by some hungry guests to discuss a variety topics centred around a specific theme. As a former supper club host I’m always intrigued to know what people like to eat. So to whet everyone’s appetites I have invited my guests to contribute a virtual dish with them inspired by today’s topic. comfortablyhungry.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Sam Bilton
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sam Bilton
  • Show Website
    Comfortably Hungry

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada