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PODCAST

Family Tree Food Stories

Nancy May & Sylvia France

Family Tree, Food & Stories podcast will take you on a mouthwatering journey through generations of flavor! We"re digging up and sharing the juiciest family secrets, hilarious dinner table disasters, and the heartwarming moments that make your favorite foods, meals, and relationships unforgettable. From Great-Grandma"s legendary cheese crust apple pie to that questionable casserole your Uncle Bob swears by. With Family Tree, Food, and Stories, we"re serving a feast of laughter, tears, and

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

24:33

You Had Me at Butter: Is Expensive Butter Worth It?

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/10/01

Fancy butter, family enterprise, and accused witches: what are the real stories behind your favorite butter spread?Is expensive butter worth it, or are you paying for a delicious story? Cultured butter gets its tang from fermented cream. Compound butter adds flavor with ingredients like herbs or fruit. But a fancy label? That takes a little more tasting.In this episode of Family Tree Food Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia France investigate what makes butter taste different, how butter molds helped

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28:12

When Family Recipes Go to Someone Else: What Do You Do?

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/09/24

She Got the Cookbook. I Got Nothing. But I Found a Solution!Your sister gets Mom's or Grandma's cookbook, the one you wanted, and your best friend is lucky enough to have her mom's recipe box. The handwriting's faded, the cards are stained, and it says, among other things, "add butter the size of an egg, a tea cup of flour, and bake until done." That's it. No further instruction. What do you do when trying to make her cake just as you remember it? Well, if you have side notes like this or something

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29:55

Is Your Old Mason Jar Worth Money? 5 Clues to Check

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/09/17

Could the most interesting thing in your pantry be the jar?That old Ball jar holding your sourdough starter has a real and interesting story behind it. It could also have some real value that you might have overlooked. Before you put it in the yard sale, take a closer look. Odd lettering, unusual colored or wavy glass, and some easily overlooked markings might make you think twice about putting that fifty-cent sticker on it.So, go grab a jar from your kitchen shelf or pantry and join Nancy May and

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35:51

What's Grandma's Cast Iron Pan Really Worth?

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/09/10

Decode your skillet’s markings, discover its history, and explore what makes it valuable.Hidden markings, cooking myths, and the family stories your favorite pan carries.That old cast iron skillet might hold more than tonight’s dinner. But does the date on the bottom tell you its age, or has some convincing marketing fooled you?Nancy May and Sylvia France investigate vintage cast iron, skillet markings, and the stories behind the pans we inherit, rescue, and cook in for decades in this episode of

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34:45

Is Your Old Rolling Pin Worth Money? 5 Ways to Tell

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/09/03

Before you donate Grandma’s old rolling pin, look at the ends. That mark you assumed was damage could reveal its age, maker, and if it’s worth $20 or even thousands.Is your old rolling pin worth thousands, or nothing at all? Some antique rolling pins bring real money, and the clues are right there in the wood: the shape, the handles, the wear, and the maker's mark most people mistake for damage. Before you toss Grandma's rolling pin, here's how to read the one in your kitchen.This is the first

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35:31

Everything You Know About Pickles Is Probably Wrong

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/08/27

The "4,000-year pickle history" everyone repeats? It's 1893 marketing copy. The Connecticut law? Never existed. Here's what's actually true.You've likely heard the same pickle origin story before... about Mesopotamia, Cleopatra's beauty secret, Caesar's energy food for his troops, WWII rationing, and more. It's on every food blog, and it's the first thing Google shows you. But there's just one problem: most of it is a lie (or stretched truth) from an 1893 pickle trade group's marketing brochure.In

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40:09

Why We Put Candles on a Birthday Cake? The Weird True...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/08/20

Birthday candles aren't Greek. They're German, and they were meant to scare off demons. Plus: the $50M fight over the Happy Birthday song. Who won?Birthday candles didn't start with the ancient Greeks and a moon goddess, although many believe that. That's honestly pure "forklore" as we call it, with no historical record. The real origin is 18th-century Germany's Kinderfest, where families lit one candle for each year of a child's life, plus an extra "Lebenslicht" (light of life), and kept them

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37:27

The Strange History of Jell-O: Gelatin, Bone Broth,...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/08/13

Why Jell-O Is Back, and Suddenly Hotter Than Ever.Jell-O is back! But not just in the form that you might remember. Gelatin and Jell-O are suddenly everywhere again: in bone broth, collagen powders, cocktail jellies, and high-end food art, and they've got a very devoted online following that is recreating old recipes and inventing new ways to use and eat them.In this episode of Family Tree Food Stories, Sylvia France and I (Nancy May) dig into the unusual history of Jell-O, gelatin, aspic, bone

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30:13

Dog Days of Summer and the Fake Greek Sala: Ways to...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/08/06

The "dog days of summer" have nothing to do with dogs, and the Greek salad you think you know could be faking you out!This week in Family Tree Food Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia France chase one ancient instinct on a hot summer day... how to eat and stay cool.From Persian ice pits in the desert to a Florida sponge dock to that coffee cup you're holding in your hand. You'll find out why the same star made the Greeks brace for disaster while the Egyptians threw a party. What to know how a favorite

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24:21

School Lunch: Square Pizza, Mystery Meat, Meal Debt &...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/07/30

Why School Lunch Was a Matter of National SecuritySummary: What did school lunch really taste like, and why was the pizza always a rectangle? It came down to math! In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia France reveal the history and stories of our American school lunch. There are some surprising details, including WWII military roots, the 1946 National School Lunch Act, the familiar mystery meat, ketchup as a vegetable, metal lunchboxes, free school meals, Red Dye

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24:00

Revolutionary War Recipes You Can Cook at Home: Part...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/07/23

We're cooking 8 shockingly simple colonial recipes today. From George Washington's hoecakes and Jefferson's famous mac and cheese to the cherry bounce that took us three months to make. It really is easy to do 1776-style.You probably assume Revolutionary War recipes are fussy, obscure, and impossible to make today. In this America 250 grand finale of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia France prove that colonial cooking slides straight into a modern kitchen, no hearth, no weird 1776

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26:15

The Founding Fathers’ Dinner Table Was a Lie: Food of...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/07/16

George Washington, Rented Pineapples, America’s First Food Flex. What the rich really ate, and who actually made it.What if the Founding Fathers’ dinner table was less about elegance and more about power, performance, and people history forgot? Similar to today's power rooms.In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia France continue their America 250 Revolutionary food series by sharing the dinner table with America’s colonial gentry. At first glance, these tables looked

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30:38

America Was Built on Beer, Bread, and Stolen Coffee:...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/07/09

How did ordinary families feed a revolution when tea was suspicious, water was risky, and coffee was worth stealing?From liberty tea and eight-pound bread to women-led food riots, this is the everyday kitchen rebellion that fed America’s fight for independence.In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia France continue their America 250 Revolutionary food series by stepping into the everyday kitchens that helped feed our new nation. After the Boston Tea Party, British tea

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37:00

What did Revolutionary War soldiers eat? Colonals,...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/07/02

What did Revolutionary War soldiers eat? Broken supply chains, buggy fire cake, boiled shoe leather, and the allies who ate far better. Episode 93.On paper, Congress promised each man a pound of meat, a pound of bread, peas, beans, milk, and beer or cider every day. In practice, a broken supply chain meant that Continental soldiers often went without, surviving on bug-infested “fire cake,” and at Valley Forge, they were even known to boil shoe leather to make soup! Meanwhile, the French, Spanish,

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22:15

A Goat Stomach, a Nobel Prize Winner, and How the...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/06/25

Yogurt Secrets: 7,000 Years of Live Cultures, Instant Pot Homemade Yogurt, and the Grateful Dead’s Benefit That Saved Nancy’s YogurtThis episode of Family Tree Food and Stories explores yogurt’s origins, surprising cultural history, and recipes. From its accidental invention 7,000 years ago when Central Asian herders carried milk in animal-stomach pouches while on horseback to global variations like dahi, labneh, skyr, and Bulgaria’s famous yogurt variety.Hosts Nancy May and Sylvia France share how

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29:33

Father's Day Gifts for the Dad Who Says He Wants...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/06/18

Father's Day gifts feel impossible because Dad says he wants nothing, and that's the lie your brain falls for every single June.Every Father's Day, the dads in our lives pull the same quiet con: "Don't get me anything." This Father's Day episode is our answer to that lie — because we're convinced Dad wants something, he just can't always say what.In 2026, Father's Day lands on June 21st, sharing the date with the summer solstice and National Peaches 'n Cream Day. Three holidays, one long June

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28:42

How to Make the Perfect Wedding Toast; The Secrets of...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/06/11

Wedding season, and somewhere right now, a panicked best man is googling "how to give a wedding toast."This episode of Family Tree Food & Stories is the #WeddingToast crash course that every best man and maid of honor needs. It’s 6 simple rules for giving a toast people will remember, rather than have to endure. Then, do you know where the word "toast" comes from? It’s about a soggy piece of bread dropped in bad wine.Hosts Nancy May and Sylvia France serve up wedding speech tips, the myth behind

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32:25

A New Seat at The Table and Mythbuster Recipes Tested

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/06/04

Generational Food Stories: When Your Mom Was the Worst Cook in America and Your Grandfather Took You to French Restaurants Instead.New foods, new stories, new hosts at our table.Nancy May of Family Tree Food and Stories welcomes guest co-host Sylvia France, while Sylvia Lovely steps back temporarily to focus full-time on Azor Restaurant and Patio in Lexington, Kentucky.Her mother put her on a diet at age five. Her dad did all the cooking. And yet Sylvia France grew up to be the kind of woman who

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28:05

The Surprising History of Penny Candy: NECCO Wafers,...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/05/28

The History of Penny Candy in America.Discover how penny candy grew from 19th-century sweets into a childhood ritual shaped by corner stores, five-and-dimes, and iconic treats like Necco Wafers and Tootsie Rolls.If you have ever wondered about the history of penny candy or searched for the origins of your favorite childhood sweets, this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories takes you right back to your old neighborhood corner store. Here, Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely unwrap the history of

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00:40

Pasta History & Italian Food Myths: How it Went From...

Family Tree Food Stories ·

2026/05/21

What's Pasta Really All About? Ancient Noodles, Busted Myths, Bare Feet & Why 4,000 Years Later Pasta Still Holds a Place on Our Dinner Table.Did you know that it was once common practice to knead pasta dough with your bare feet? That tons of people were tricked into thinking spaghetti grew on trees. And one of America's Founding Fathers smuggled a pasta machine across the Atlantic, then made it even better! This is not the back story you think you know about pasta.In this episode of Family Tree

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