Comfortably Hungry

<p></p><p>‘We do not know for how many millennia man has exploited the preservative properties of ice.’ Jill Norman in the introduction to Elizabeth David’s Harvest of the Cold Months (1996)</p><p>In this episode I’m...

<p>To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2026 in this episode we’ll be hearing the story of Eliza James, a remarkable woman who rose from poverty on the streets of Birmingham to become one of the most...

<p>Don’t miss the special episode on The Watercress Queen to celebrate International Women’s Day (8/3/26) - released on Thursday 5th March.</p><p>If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the...

<p>Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries curious yellowish-white waxen lumps encased in the remnants of wooden containers have been unearthed from Irelands peat bogs by turf cutters and farmers. Some...

<p>In today’s episode we will be journeying back thousands of years to ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. I will be exploring arguably the earliest beer culture in the world with Dr...

<p>In Episode 4 I chat to food writer Di Murrell about her experiences with her husband Tam of living and working on canals in Britain and France. Canals were played an essential part in how food and fuel was...

<p></p><p>In Episode 3 I discuss what borsch means to Ukrainians with activist, chef and author Olia Hercules who recently published her family memoir Strong Roots. We chat about how water has shaped Ukraine and why it...

<p>If you’re a fan of Jane Austen you’ll be familiar with the concept of ‘taking the waters’. In fact the title of today’s episode comes from a letter Jane wrote to her sister Cassandra who was staying in the spa town...

<p>Welcome back! In Episode 1 of this new season I’m joined by Cass Gardiner, an Anishinaabe Algonquin filmmaker, curator, and writer from Kebaowek First Nation to discuss manoomin, or wild rice, and its importance to...

<p>Following on from my discussions with Diane Purkiss, Sheila Cavanagh and Will Tosh on the less obvious meanings behind the food in Shakespeare’s plays I thought it would be fun to find out more about the early modern...

<p>As the title of this podcast suggests much of the discussion around the following episode centres on SEX. So, if you are travelling in the car with young people or anyone who is easily offended you may want to wait...

<p></p><p>In an essay entitled “Feasts are too Proud / Better to Starve”: Shakespearean Culinary Divides, Sheila T. Cavanagh, Professor of English at Emory University explains that in Shakespeare’s plays ‘Disputes...

<p></p><p>One of the challenges of writing a cookbook based on early modern recipes, like Much Ado About Cooking, is that the culinary manuscripts food historians have at our disposal tell us very little about what...

<p>Season 4 of the Comfortably Hungry podcast will start in earnest later this autumn. This season I’ll be chatting to historians, food writers, and artists to reveal the importance of water in all its guises and how it...

<p>Ever wondered how someone gets into food history? What are the popular misconceptions about what we do? And do we ever have any recipe disasters?</p><p>In this bonus episode I chat to my food history chums Neil...