#116 - Leftovers and Scraps in a Frugal Ancestral Kitchen

The more time we spend around ancestral food, the more other ancestral practices begin to filter into our lives as well - our clothing may change, our lighting and screen time may evolve, and our skin, hair and general body care may change as well. Many ancestral methods of caring for the body involved simple food products that could be applied to skin or hair or even injuries. Of course, apothecaries existed for more expensive and sometimes even toxic compounds, just like we suffer from today, but many beauty routines, even for the upper classes, just involved simple food products. Today we will share some of the edible and accessible routines we use to care for our skin, as well as our historical hair routines, and we will discuss the benefits of our food as well as our topical care. We are always curious to hear from our listeners about their routines as well, and we have learned much from our supporter community on Discord as well! If you have methods you enjoy we would love to hear about them, and if you try and like any of ours, do let us know! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sign up to the pod's newsletter here. Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour Get all three of the podcast cookbooks Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Imagine if you could put yourself inside ancestral kitchens all over the world and watch a week’s worth of food. Real people cooking for their real families using real ingredients. That’s what we’re talking about today. Because, thanks to our supporter community, we’ve made that possible for you. Answering a callout for weekly menus, our supporters sent them in and we’re sharing it all in a new expanded book called A Treasury of Ancestral Menus: 50 pages of a week’s worth of food from all over the world. When I sat down to read this book, it blew me away. I was reminded that this way of cooking doesn’t have to be perfect. I saw some ingenious ideas for cooking once, eating multiple times, some simple options I’d never even thought of, some nutritious flavour combinations that were brilliant and some breakfasts, lunches, and dinners I just wanted to copy! These people get it, I thought, and wanted to jump into the kitchen straight away and start cooking! Today we’ll share 20 meal ideas that come directly from these menus. Thank you to all the supporters that wrote down what they ate for a week and sent it to us. You’ve already got the treasury in your inbox. But more than that we wanted to make it available to everyone listening - because we know it will encourage and support more real food in more kitchens around the world. If you’re not a supporter, head to ancestralkitchenpodcast.com/menus and give us what your pocket can afford to download your copy. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sign up to the pod's newsletter here. Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour Get all three of the podcast cookbooks Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What does ethical and sustainable seafood look like, and how in the world do we even begin to find such a thing? In this episode Andrea sat down with Sam Pflaum, owner and operator of Ketchikan Sam’s up in Ketchikan, Alaska, USA. Sam’s family has been living and fishing in Ketchikan, Alaska for several generations, and he understands the nature of the fish and the nature of the fishing industry. We asked him about farmed vs wild-caught salmon, different varieties of salmon, salmon hatcheries, ethics of salmon and eating fish when you live away from the ocean. We talked about alternatives to salmon and other types of fish that are good to eat, and we discussed seasonality and storing of fresh fish. This was a fascinating and eye-opening episode - seafood is a topic we are often asked about but we are not deeply educated on ourselves, and it was a relief to have someone to ask these questions who really understands the industry from all angles. After we finished recording the main feed episode, Sam took us on a walking tour of his fish plant, which you can see on our Ancestral Kitchen Podcast YouTube channel; supporters of the podcast can also listen in to the audio of this on the private podcast feed. Nothing beats seeing the visuals and walking outside to see the salmon running down the creek right outside the fish plant! Sam is educating us on how to find ethical suppliers wherever we may be, and the quality of fish to look for; we have also shared links to his online store for frozen fish shipping everywhere in the USA, in the show notes. There are plenty of other great resources in the show notes today too, so check them out for additional video content from Ketchikan Sam’s! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sign up to the pod's newsletter here. Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour Get all three of the podcast cookbooks Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Fermenting vegetables is a topic we all have questions on, whether we’re just starting with fermentation or we’ve been doing it for years. Today I welcome Holly Howe of makesauerkraut.com and we answer your real-life fermenting veg questions. Holly is amazing. I personally learned so much from the hour and a half I spent with her, and I know that wherever you are in your fermentation practise, you will too. Supporters can also access an after show - I persuaded Holly to stay on a bit longer and talk to me about how to know if a ferment has gone bad and what steps you can take to combat mould. Holly is super busy right now organising her upcoming event, the fermentation summit which will run from September the 15th to 17th this year, 2026. If you would like to get access to a whole load of free video presentations by fermentation experts that will move your practise forward no matter where you are at, sign up at ancestralkitchenpodcast.com/hollysummit. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sign up to the pod's newsletter here. Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour Get all three of the podcast cookbooks Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Every month we ask our supporters to send us their questions so we can tackle them on a special podcast called kitchen table chats, which is shared exclusively with our supporters as a special bonus and a thank you for keeping the podcast on the air for all our beloved listeners around the world. In these episodes we are much more informal and perhaps a bit more forward than we are in the main feed. In the summer, it has become our tradition to take one or two of these episodes and post them to the main feed so you can step in and enjoy this casual, more intimate time with us. Many of our supporters tell us these are their favorite episodes, maybe because sometimes we get a little bit obnoxious and opinionated. In this episode we answered questions from Hannah, Brittney and Ella, four questions in all. We tackled how to handle potlucks and events where you share food with others, and others share food with you? We talked about how to help children adjust or transition to ancestral food, and do we have thoughts on bringing ancestral food to the plates of foster children that may be in our homes? We also discussed the fun question, how did we meet? Lastly we talked about attending social obligations with young children, with all of the junk food and potential scenes that can come from repeatedly telling children they cannot have all of the good things being put in front of them or even handed to them by well-meaning people. There is also a lot more in this episode including discussion of good books we have been reading, and several good titles we recommend; Alison’s quick pancakes; and a contribution from our supporter Rebekah, the most interesting cock-a-leekie soup! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sign up to the pod's newsletter here. Get a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains Read our Guide to Milling Your Own Flour Get all three of the podcast cookbooks Wear our beautiful, sustainable merchandise Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop: US here and UK here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come join the podcast community! You can select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content, and a Discord discussion group Find out more here! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *