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.

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Aug 06 58m

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: