S4E10: Water of Life

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 with Kevin Booth, English Heritage’s Head Curator of Collections, about what the skeleton of ‘Conquest Man’ can tell us about the diet and health of the English at the time of the Norman invasion. Facial depiction by Face Lab, Liverpool John Moore’s University. Credit: English Heritage

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 not) of hosting a dinner party. We chat about stuffy Victorian etiquette manuals (which Jago’s book most definitely isn’t), his Grandmother’s account book and why plating up à la Russe is overrated. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful Links To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party is available now from lots of great independent booksellers (and the other usual suspects). You can find Jago on Substack and Instagram. I will be appearing at the Ludlow Food Festival (as will Jago) and the Gloucester History Festival later this month and will be one of the hosts of the Serve It Forth Food History Festival on 17 October 2026. Suggested Reading There are lots of Victorian etiquette manuals available online at Internet Archive if you want to see examples of the advice that used to be dished out, such as: * The Habits of Good Society (1859) * Host And Guest : A Book About Dinners, Dinner-Giving, Wines, And Desserts by A. V. Kirwan (1864) * Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (1864) - not an etiquette book but his characters Mr & Mrs Veneering are perfect examples of the sort of people that these books were aimed at.

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 evangelist, explore the lives of the women (sobadoras) who are vital to the anchovy industry and lots more. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful Links Consider the Anchovy is available from all good independent bookshops (and the usual big book suppliers but they don’t need a plug here). Don’t forget to visit Sudi’s website for more details on her work and events plus follow her anchovy travels on Instagram and Substack. You’ll find Sudi at festivals in Abergevenny, Chiswick and Folkestone later this year. And I will be appearing at the Ludlow Food Festival and the Gloucester History Festival. You can find out more about the Serve It Forth Food History Festival on 17 October 2026 here. * Consider the Anchovy Dinner at Caldesi Restaurant in London * Anchovy Festival and the Anchovy Tapa Trail in L’Escala (Spain) * Museo Dell’acciuga in Aspra (Sicily) * Anchoas Hazas Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5. Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 colonial FOMO, the macaroni fashion craze and debunk a stubborn gastro myth concerning Mac ‘n’ cheese’s popularity in the US. You can catch me at the Ludlow Food Festival on Friday 11 September where I’ll be discussing what foods were served in castles over the centuries in a live A is for Apple podcast with my co-hosts Alessandra Pino of A Curious Appetite and Neil Buttery of the British Food History podcast. If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful Links You can find Karima on Instagram and don’t forget to check out her website, The Eternal Table. Karima’s books include: * The Epic History of Mac and Cheese (2026) * The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome (Big City Food Biographies) with Giancarlo Rolandi (2019) * Chewing the Fat: An Oral History of Italian Foodways from Fascism to Dolce Vita (2015) Suggested Reading * A complete system of cookery by William Verrall (1759) - the White Hart inn in Lewes where he served as chef is still open today! * La cuisiniere bourgeoise by Joseph Menon (1771) - you can find a later English translation here. Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com. A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5. Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 Moyer-Nocchi, author of The Epic History of Mac and Cheese. In Part 1, Karima and I explore the antecedents of this iconic pasta dish and how it found its way to England to develop into a recipe fit for medieval kings complete with a liberal sprinkling of spices. Part 2 will follow soon! If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here. Useful Links You can find Karima on Instagram and don’t forget to check out her website, The Eternal Table. Karima’s books include: * The Epic History of Mac and Cheese (2026) * The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome (Big City Food Biographies) with Giancarlo Rolandi (2019) * Chewing the Fat: An Oral History of Italian Foodways from Fascism to Dolce Vita (2015)