The Fantastic History Of Food

• 56 - Robert May's "Spectacle Feasts"

  The entire experience of eating a fancy meal these days is no longer just about the food itself. For decades, chefs like Heston Blumenthal have been creating entire culinary experiences to delight all of your senses at once, pairing sounds, smells and textures along with the already delicious flavours of their food.But while this trend has taken off again more recently, this is by no means a modern practice. In fact, as far back as the early 1600’s an innovative chef by the name of Robert May was creating similar sensory dining experiences all around Elizabethan England. Today, we’ll discover just who this man was, and how he went about revolutionising banquets into what would come to be called his "Spectacle Feasts".-------------------Thank you to my all of my supporters! We're just one away from 30 Supporters, and it could be YOU!You can support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod-------------------Sources for this episode's research:https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-aaron-mahnkes-cabinet-of-c-29519194/episode/chefs-table-172173292/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-fantastical-feasts-of-englands-first-celebrity-chefhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_May_(cook)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

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• 55 - How Sausages Helped Win A Battle

  It’s well into the northern european winter season at the end of 1939. Five hundred thousand Russian Soviet Soldiers are making a collective push northwards, swarming the countryside as they go. They are armed to the hilt with tanks, explosives, machine guns, grenades and a staggeringly overwhelming number of troops. But there is one thing that they didn’t count on, one thing that threatened to derail their entire military offensive altogether. And that one thing, was the humble sausage.-------------------Thank you to my brand-new supporters:Josh LovetereZachary HeddenYou too can support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod-------------------Sources for this episode's research:https://www.history.com/news/the-bizarre-sausage-war-that-inspired-hitlerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Varolampi_Pondhttps://www.finlandatwar.com/the-sausage-war-an-army-marches-on-its-stomach/https://sofrep.com/news/sausage-war-when-hunger-got-the-best-of-the-soviets/https://short-history.com/sausage-war-733d71767317https://pennytyrrellmcqueen.wixsite.com/togetherapart/single-post/2016/10/26/sausage-warBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

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• 54 - When Pineapples Were Status Symbols

  For the majority of history they were considered the ultimate delicacy by European nobility who just couldn’t get enough of them. From snack to status symbol, the pineapple has graced many a King and Queens palace courts, while outside of them they took on a mythical quality akin to some sort of precious jewel.Today, we’ll track the pineapples voyage across the seas and into the history books as it became synonymous with the very peak of royal de rigeour.-------------------Thank you to our brand-new supporter:Sarah ThompsonYou too can support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod-------------------Sources for this episode's research:https://www.thedailymeal.com/1233796/in-the-1700s-pineapples-were-wildly-expensive-symbols-of-prosperity/https://www.britannica.com/plant/pineapplehttps://www.bimstore.co/resources/10-facts-about-pineappleshttps://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/a-brief-history-of-foods-pineapplehttps://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/25/the-strange-history-of-the-king-pine/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3-uKgiyE3Yhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple#:~:text=Precolonial%20cultivation,-The%20wild%20plant&text=By%20the%20late%201400s%2C%20cropped,it%20into%20India%20by%201550.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

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• 53 - Fat Men's Clubs

  For as long as so-called civilised societies have existed, equally uncivilised clubs and groups have sprung up within them, allowing their members to revel in all sorts of weird and wonderful excesses. In previous episodes we have heard about secret food clubs with a goal of eating every type of animal on earth. Todays story may not be so different, although this clubs members were’nt so picky about reaching any particular goal other that just eating every type of food they could get their hands on.-------------------Thank you to our 2 brand-new supporters:Frank Morales Philipp SurkovPlease support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod-------------------Sources for this episode's research:https://www.insidehook.com/culture/revisiting-fat-mens-clubshttps://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/07/469571114/the-forgotten-history-of-fat-men-s-clubshttps://www.sunjournal.com/2020/01/19/when-fat-mens-clubs-were-big/https://www.antikeychop.com/fatmensclubhttps://husheduphistory.com/post/141904668068/girth-and-mirth-the-rise-of-the-fat-mens-clubhttps://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/unusual-clubs-in-historyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

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• 52 - The Kentucky Meat Shower

  Turn on the tv or radio, or scroll any news site online and you’ll no doubt be inundated with stories about crazy weather anomalies happening all around the globe. Volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, earthquakes, tornadoes and so much more. But none of us, thankfully, have ever lived through one of the strangest events in history when something a lot more dense than rain began falling from the skies onto some unsuspecting farmers in the small town of Olympia Springs, Kentucky. -------------------Please support me on Patreon for just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod-------------------Sources for this episode's research:https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Was-the-Kentucky-Meat-Showerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_meat_showerhttps://www.vice.com/en/article/kzkmgw/the-mystery-of-the-kentucky-meat-showerhttps://www.popsci.com/story/science/weirdest-thing-meat-shower-kodak-cow-sword-swallower/https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/running-ponies/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-mystery-unwound-by-projectile-vulture-vomit/https://www.wate.com/news/kentucky/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-147-years-passed-since-the-kentucky-shower-of-flesh/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lluvia_de_peceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_of_animalsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.

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