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.
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.
Hello!
New episode is out for all of you my darling archaeogastronomers!
This time, I'm going back to my troubled neighbourhood of the Balkans! I'm interviewing the award winning (James Beard awards on the International Category) writer and recipe developer Irina Janakievska, author of the book "The Balkan Kitchen, Recipes and Stories from the Heart of the Balkans". The book was shortlisted for the Jane Grigson Trust Award (2023) and the Fortnum & Mason Debut Cookery Book Award (2025), a British Library Food Season Narrative Cookery Book Award (2025) and a Special Award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (2024). She has featured on BBC Woman's Hour, BBC Radio London and Times Radio discussing Balkan cuisine. She lives in south London with her husband and young son, cooking, researching and writing about Balkan history, food culture and culinary traditions, and where I went to chat about all things Balkan. plus tasting some delicious traditional home made specialties!
We had so much fun and so many things to say, being neighbours and all, that I had to split this episode in to two parts for you! Next week will have Part two!
How many people used "Balkanisation" as a negative concept though the ages?
Well we are trying today to bring a bit of a balance and talk about about the delightful and delicious common and unique dishes we have throughout this historic, varied and rich part of europe! A crossroad of civilisations for millennia and place with mountains, sea, plateaus and fertile valleys!
Irina is the author of the book The Balkan Kitchen (Quadrille, 2024) which you can purchase now here:
https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/the-balkan-kitchen/irina-janakievska/9781784886851
You can find more about her and her recipes and story here:
Photo Credit is The Balkan Kitchen (Quadrille, 2024), Copyright for photos Liz Seabrook.
Enjoy!
Much love,
Thom & The Delicious Legacy
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.