The Delicious Legacy

Ancient Cuisines Around the World

Author: 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.
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Language: en

Genres: Arts, Food, Places & Travel, Society & Culture

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Food, Foreigners and Shakespeare
Episode 22
Wednesday, 7 January, 2026

Hello! New episode for all my hungry archaeogastronomers!In Act 2, Scene 2 of the Merry Wives of Windsor Frank Ford says:‘I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vitae bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself.’Why do certain nationalities have close associations with certain foods? And what does this tell us about early modern English attitudes to foreigners? Was this something common across all strata of society?One of the ways to explore these attitudes is to look at how foreigners are represented in plays particularly when it comes to food. I spoke to food historian and fellow podcaster Sam Bilton about this. Sam has recently released a cookbook called Much Ado About Cooking which looks at the food references in Shakespeare’s play.On this episode then the above questions and a lot more regarding kitchen technology and implements of the time, measurements and terminology in the 16th Century, best recipes and dishes are answered. So join us onto another adventure through food and history!Enjoy!The Delicious LegacyRecommendations of the week:The UK Will Soon Be Home To The Largest Oyster Reef In Europe – As Four Million Oysters Are Being Dropped Into The North Sea As Part Of A Restoration Project To Help Restore Marine Ecosystems And Clean Water:https://secretldn.com/uk-home-to-largest-oyster-reef-in-europe-norfolk-coast-restoration-project/#google_vignetteThe importance of being malted: making malt and malt sugars from cereals in the Palaeolithic. https://merryn.dineley.com/2025/12/the-importance-of-being-malted-making.html?m=1The Meaning of Borsch:https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ne63nGnDvTYgT2OFiayzf?si=c0b1449fe848458bLoveThom & The Delicious LegacySupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.