Comfortably Hungry

What can Conquest Man tell us about our diet in 1066?

Ahead of my discussion with Jennie Hood and Professor Giles Gasper at the Serve It Forth Food History Festival about how the Normans changed the way we eat, I had a chat

Bonus Episode: Much Depends Upon Dinner

In this extra helping of the Comfortably Hungry podcast I chat to chef Jago Rackham and author of To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party about the complexities (or

Bonus Episode: Consider the Anchovy

In this bonus episode I plunge into the history of the anchovy - the little fish with a big flavour with food writer Sudi Pigott. We discuss how Sudi became an anchovy ev

Bonus Episode: An Epic History of Mac 'n' Cheese - Part 2

In Part 2 of my deep dive into the history of macaroni and cheese with culinary historian Karima Moyer-Nocchi, author of The Epic History of Mac and Cheese, we chat about

Bonus Episode: An Epic History of Mac 'n' Cheese - Part 1

July 14 is National Macaroni and Cheese day! To mark the occasion I thought it would be fun to delve into the history of Mac ‘n’ Cheese with culinary historian Karima Mo

S4E14: Gujarat's Stepwells

In the last episode of Season 4 (sad but true) we plunge deep into the ‘underworld’, figuratively speaking, in our final quest for fresh water. I chat to Niyati Kukadia

S4E13: A Pinch (or two) of Salt

In this episode I head to the midlands town of Droitwich which was once a powerhouse in the English salt production industry (and arguably still is) on account of its bri

S4E12: Fetching the Rains

In this episode we’ll be journeying to pre-Colombian Mesoamerica with Dr Gabrielle Vail, Research Collaborator in the Department of Anthropology, at the University of Nor

S4E11: Burton Mill

In episode 11, I visit Barry and Chris Flannaghan at the restored Burton watermill in Sussex. I discover how Burton Mill has evolved over the centuries but always using w

S4E10: Water of Life

In this episode I discover more about the role women played in the distilling of usquebaugh (or the water of life) and whisky in Scotland with Peter Gilchrist, food histo

S4E9: The One That Got Away

‘The Carp is a stately, a good, and a subtle fish, a fish that hath not (as it is said) been long in England’ Izaak Walton, The Complete Angler (1653) In this episode I

S4E8: Cold snow in the time of harvest

‘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 Mon

S4E7: The Watercress Queen

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

Coming Soon: S4E7 - The Watercress Queen

Don’t miss the special episode on The Watercress Queen to celebrate International Women’s Day (8/3/26) - released on Thursday 5th March. If you enjoyed the podcast you c

S4E6: Bog Butter

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries curious yellowish-white waxen lumps encased in the remnants of wooden containers have been unearthed from Irelands peat

S4E5 In the Land of Ninkasi

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 th

S4E4: River Fed

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 esse

S4E3: The Meaning of Borsch

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 h

S4E2: 'While the waters agree, everything else is trifling'

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 sist

S4E1: Manoomin (Truly Wild Rice)

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 m