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.

  1. Aug 6

    Macaroni and Cheese: Origins, Myths and History, from Ancient Rome to Renaissance

    Hello! Brand new episode is out! I’m talking with food historian Karima Moyer Nocchi. Earlier this year she published a brand new fascinating book titled THE EPIC HISTORY OF MACARONI AND CHEESE: FROM ANCIENT ROME TO MODERN AMERICA by Columbia University Press, which I devoured from start to finish. I was made aware late last year and I could not wait for its publication. So the honour talking with her and the excitement is even bigger than normally guys and girls! Before we go to the interview with my excellent and erudite guest, let me make an exciting announcement …! The online Serve it Forth Food History Festival will be returning on Saturday 17th of October 2026. Curated by the guild of food writers members and podcasters, historians, writers and all around hyper talented humans, Sam Bilton, Neil Buttery, Alessandra Pino alongside with me, Thom Ntinas. The festival will explore many different aspects of historical food featuring fascinating discussions and historical cookery demos. Details on the full line up will be coming soon but you can view the summary of the day’s “menu” on our website. https://serveitforthfest.wixsite.com/info/bill-of-fare Let me just tell you that for our amuse bouche introduction course we have none other than the amazing food historian Eleanor Barnett! I’ll be exploring the diet and lifestyle of ancient olympians and gladiators in the Greek and Roman world with historian Alexandra Sills. Tickets are available on eventbrite and I’ll put a link below: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2026-tickets-1992224789976?aff=ebdsoporgprofile My recommendations for the week: Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon – classical tragedy as a Celtic caper https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/06/glorious-exploits-by-ferdia-lennon-review-classical-tragedy-as-a-celtic-caper American farmers slid solar panels over 62,000 acres of farmland, and the biggest payoff had almost nothing to do with electricity. https://energiesmedia.com/solar-panels-farmland-crops-agrivoltaics/ The English Olive Co, the original english olive oil: https://www.englisholive.co.uk/. You can get Karima's book here: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-epic-history-of-macaroni-and-cheese/9780231215312/ More about Karima: https://www.theeternaltable.com/. Love, Thom & The Delicious Legacy Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcast https://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacy Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Macaroni and Cheese: Origins, Myths and History, from Ancient Rome to Renaissance
  2. Jul 7

    Flint Dibble: Zooarchaeology, Ancient Greece and Food

    Hello! Ugly stuff? Broken Bones? The earliest archaeologists a century ago ignored these. But not my guest today!  Flint Dibble is an ancient historian and archaeological scientist who studies people, animals, and the environment in the ancient Greek world. According to his words, his goal is to make real archaeological research accessible to everyone. With the publication of "The agropastoral debate in context: the relationship between the consumption and management of animals at Azoria on Crete" I wanted to share this conversation I had with Flint about the food in Ancient Greece. What do we know? What does the archaeological evidence tells us that is the same, similar or diverges, from the literary sources that survived the passage of time? What animals were eaten in ancient Greece? How did the ancient Greeks prepared them? And what was the difference between home cooking and sacrificial, professional butchering and cooking for public feasts? How were the poor and the elite different in their eating habits, and how was the food cooked at home and in mobile situations? What does the isotope analysis of teeth and bones tells us about the climate through a millennia of ancient greek history, and how that affected the agropastoralism and transhumanism? When were the first chickens eaten in the Greek context? All the above and a lot more are discussed in our conversation with the fantastic Flint Dibble! The write up about Flint's article can be found here: A goat’s tooth may have solved a 100‑year debate about ancient Greek farming https://theconversation.com/a-goats-tooth-may-have-solved-a-100-year-debate-about-ancient-greek-farming-285839 The article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-026-02512-7 Flint's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@flintdibble Music by Pavlos Kapralos Enjoy! Thom & The Delicious Legacy Podcast Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcast https://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacy Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Flint Dibble: Zooarchaeology, Ancient Greece and Food

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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.

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