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PODCAST

Comfortably Hungry

Welcome to the award winning Comfortably Hungry podcast where yesterday’s dinner is tomorrow’s history. If you’re a peckish person who is curious about the history of food and drink, then you’re in the right place. I’m Sam Bilton a food historian, writer and cook and each season I will be joined by some hungry guests to discuss a variety topics centred around a specific theme. As a former supper club host I’m always intrigued to know what people like to eat. So to whet everyone’s appetites I have

arts food

All Episodes

56:00

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

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/12/11

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 sister Cassandra who was staying in the spa town of Cheltenham in September 1816. People have been visiting places renowned for their mineral rich waters for centuries. These special wells, streams and pools were believed to cure all manner of ailments either by drinking or bathing in the water.In the first part of today’s episode I’m

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52:52

S4E1: Manoomin (Truly Wild Rice)

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/11/27

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 manoomin, or wild rice, and its importance to First Nation people in North America. We talk about its spiritual and economic significance and how this aspect of the Anishinaabe way of life is under threat from environmental pollution, displacement and climate change.As well as a new season of Comfortably Hungry, there’s also Serve It

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46:10

Food in Shakespeare: The Mystery Ingredient

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/11/01

Following on from my discussions with Diane Purkiss, Sheila Cavanagh and Will Tosh on the less obvious meanings behind the food in Shakespeare’s plays I thought it would be fun to find out more about the early modern foods that are less well-known today or have entirely disappeared.In this episode I chat to Victoria González Gordón of Gonzalez Byass about Sir John Falstaff’s favourite tipple, sack. Wave the flag for the revival of the humble medlar with Jane Steward of Eastgate Larder and try to get

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55:36

Food in Shakespeare: Sex, Sack and a Dish of Prunes

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/10/17

As the title of this podcast suggests much of the discussion around the following episode centres on SEX. So, if you are travelling in the car with young people or anyone who is easily offended you may want to wait until you have dropped them off!Sex is, and always has been, a part of our lives. Without it none of us would be here. The very mention of the word can elicit titters, blushes, disgust and arousal. Shakespeare’s plays are teeming with sexual inuendo often with reference to food. Helping

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42:03

Food in Shakespeare: Dinner and Punishment

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/10/11

In an essay entitled “Feasts are too Proud / Better to Starve”: Shakespearean Culinary Divides, Sheila T. Cavanagh, Professor of English at Emory University explains that in Shakespeare’s plays ‘Disputes involving food … often reveal close convergences between dietary options and challenging loci of interpersonal conflict, frequently connected with competing hierarchies associated with status as well as domestic, political, financial, or social power.’In today’s episode Sheila will help me explore

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49:55

Food in Shakespeare: I want to eat like common people

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/10/08

One of the challenges of writing a cookbook based on early modern recipes, like Much Ado About Cooking, is that the culinary manuscripts food historians have at our disposal tell us very little about what ordinary people consumed. They record the food largely eaten by the rich or the upwardly mobile merchants and yeomen. As fascinating and delicious as many of these recipes are, they don’t reveal what the everyday folk ate. And this is where the works of playwrights like William Shakespeare are

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25:13

Season 4 Preview: Thirst - In Search of Freshwater

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/09/19

Season 4 of the Comfortably Hungry podcast will start in earnest later this autumn. This season I’ll be chatting to historians, food writers, and artists to reveal the importance of water in all its guises and how it was used by our ancestors. To whet your appetite I had a chat with Janice Li, curator of a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London called Thirst: In Search of Freshwater.You’ve no doubt heard the statistic that around 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water

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61:16

Bonus Episode: Serving Food History Forth

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/09/04

Ever wondered how someone gets into food history? What are the popular misconceptions about what we do? And do we ever have any recipe disasters?In this bonus episode I chat to my food history chums Neil Buttery, Alessandra Pino and Thomas Ntinas about how we got into food history and what inspires us. We also chat about our new food history festival, Serve It Forth, which will take place online on Saturday 18 October 2025 covering topics such as Falstaff’s love of food in Shakespeare’s plays; chefs

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36:25

Bonus Episode: A Rough Patch

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/07/31

We heard briefly from food writer Kathy Slack about how gardening and cooking helped her overcome anxiety and depression back in Episode 10 of Season 3. Kathy is frank about her mental health struggles in her revealing book, Rough Patch. This is the partner piece to Ami Bouhassane’s interview about her grandmother Lee Miller.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksYou can find out more about Kathy on her website and follow her on Instagram. Kathy has published two

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56:01

Bonus Episode: A Literary Tea

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/07/03

In this bonus episode I take a look at how some of our best loved authors portray food in their books; why some fiction genres enjoy an enduring popularity and introduce you to the alter ego of a famous food writer. Joining me on this literary romp are some familiar Comfortably Hungry voices (Caroline Crampton, Orlando Murrin and Dr Alessandra Pino) and some new guests (Pen Vogler and Dr Kevin Geddes).If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack

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45:11

Bonus Episode: Lee Miller - A life with food, friends...

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/06/05

As promised this is the full version of the interview I did with Ami Bouhassane, co-director of the Lee Miller Archives and Farley’s House and Gallery in Sussex, and granddaughter of model, photographer, writer and cook Lee Miller.Ami and I delve further into Lee’s career as a photographer and journalist during World War 2 and a childhood trauma (which some listener’s may find upsetting) - experiences which left her with PTSD and struggling with depression in the later years of her life. We also

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33:37

Bonus episode: While there is tea, there is hope

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/05/08

Today is the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the day the second world war ended in Europe. To mark the occasion I had a chat with journalist and author Alex Johnson about the importance of tea to the British during this conflict. Alex’s latest book While There Is Tea, There Is Hope, published in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum, is packed with wartime ephemera, photographs and vintage recipes.If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which

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48:40

S3 E15 The Kingdom of Rye

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/04/17

Alas this day had to come - this is the last official episode of the DARK season!In Episode 15 I delve into the historical culinary trials and tribulations of Russia with Darra Goldstein, Professor Emerita of Russian at Williams College (USA) and author of The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food. We discuss the importance of ‘black’ rye bread which is at the heart of any traditional Russian meal; the folklore surrounding it and how Russians survived during periods of privation.Useful

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47:37

S3 E14: Long Pepper

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/04/03

In Episode 14 I get passionate about a particular type of pepper which was once so highly prized the Visigoths demand 3000lb of the stuff to leave Rome. Joining me to explore the history and usage of this spice are Giles Gasper, Professor of High Medieval History and Florence Swan from Durham University and food writer and author of Pepper, Christine McFaddenDon’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksYou can find Christine McFadden on Instagram @ and Facebook Don’t forget

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45:38

S3 E13: Murder In The Kitchen

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/03/20

Alice B Toklas reckoned that ‘food is far too pleasant to combine with horror.’ In Episode 13 I will be exploring how food is used in crime fiction with writer and host of the Shedunnit podcast Caroline Crampton and food writer and author of the Paul Delamare mysteries, Orlando Murrin.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful Links* Orlando’s thrilling Paul Delamare Mysteries Knife Skills for Beginners and Murder Below Deck are available now.* Orlando has written lots of

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70:31

S3 E12 Cooking for health (exploring melancholy part 2)

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/03/06

In the first part (Episode 10) of this investigation into the impact food has on our mental health I explored the renaissance fascination with melancholy with Professor Mary Ann Lund and food historian Ken Albala. In Episode 12 I want to find out how gardening and cooking in particular have helped two modern cooks deal with anxiety and depression. I had a chat with Ami Bouhassane, co-director of the Lee Miller Archives and Farley’s House and Gallery in Sussex. Ami’s grandmother was model,

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45:45

S3 E11 A Fruit with an Image Problem?

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/02/20

In Episode 11 I am investigating a fruit with a bit of an image problem. Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is the fruit of an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean. The view of carob as a subsistence food has perhaps tarnished this fruit’s reputation. Yet despite this, the carob grown in the Ragusa district of Sicily has earned a place in the Slow Food Ark of Taste where it is described as having ‘a taste similar to cocoa with hints of honey and caramel, so much so that in ancient times in Sicily it

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50:50

S3 E10 Naught so sweet as melancholy (Part 1)

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/02/06

They will act, conceive all extremes, contrarieties, and contradictions, and that in infinite varieties…Scarce two of two thousand concur in the same symptoms. The Tower of Babel never yielded such confusion of tongues, as the chaos melancholy doth variety of symptoms. - Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621In Episode 10 I take a look at the perplexing affliction of melancholy in the first of two episodes exploring the relationship between food and mental health.Early in the seventeenth

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47:38

S3 E9 Mad About the Soy

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/01/23

In Episode 9 I chat to Professor Thomas David DuBois of Beijing Normal University and author of China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History about the alchemy of fermentation and the importance of fermented foods (especially beans) in Chinese cuisine.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksYou can find out more about Thomas on his website.China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful HistoryDon’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more

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46:36

S3 E8 My Bête Noire

Comfortably Hungry ·

2025/01/09

I thought it was about time I faced my own bête noire. So Episode 8 is devoted to my sweet shop nemesis liquorice. Helping me overcome my dislike of this confectionery is ScandiKitchen founder Brontë Aurell.Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!Useful LinksFind out more about Brontë on her website or follow her on Instagram.ScandiKitchen cafe and deli in London (also on Instagram)Brontë’s next cookbook Smorrebrod: Scandinavian Open Sandwiches is out on 8 April 2025.Brontë’s

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