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 the earliest beer culture in the world with Dr Tate Paulette archaeologist and Associate Professor of History at North Carolina State University. Tate is also the author of In The Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia.

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Useful Links

In The Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia by Tate Paulette (2024)

You can watch a short video from Yale University about Babylonian cooking over on YouTube.

There Are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak (2025)

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.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 how water has shaped Ukraine and why it is so important for this proud nation to reclaim their national dish.

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 out more about Olia and her events on her website and follow her on Instagram and Bluesky.

Olia’s books include:

* Strong Roots (2025)

* Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect (2022)

* Summer Kitchens (2020)

* Kaukasis (2017)

* Mamouska (2015)

Chef Louis P de Gouy, quoted at the start of this episode, trained under August Escoffier and had a sterling career working in luxury hotels before becoming the in-house chef for Gourmet magazine. In his Soup Book was published posthumously in 1949, two years after his death.

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.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 to the bottom of what sort of cheese came from Banbury and why it has disappeared.

Useful Links

My latest book Much Ado About Cooking: Delicious Shakespearean Feasts for Every Occasion is out now from all good bookshops.

You can find more about Ned Palmer at The Cheese Tasting Co. Ned has written three books including A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles. You can also find him on Instagram and Substack.

You can find out more about Jane Steward and medlars on the Eastgate Larder website or in her book Medlars: Growing and Cooking. Jane is also on Instagram.

For further details on the history of Gonzalez Byass visit their website. Victoria mentioned Sherry: The Noble Wine by Manuel Gonzalez-Gordon. This appears to be out of print now but you can pick up second hand copies via Abe Books or similar. The best place to follow Gonzalez Byass is via the Tio Pepe Wines Instagram.

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.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 me unpick exactly what the Bard meant by these saucy references is Dr Will Tosh, Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe and author of Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare and several other books.

This is the last chance for listeners to claim their 25% off tickets for the Serve It Forth Festival on 18 October 2025! Enter SERVE25 at the checkout.

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.

Don’t forget that you can find links to the books discussed in today’s and other episodes on the Comfortably Hungry Bookshelf on Substack. Much Ado About Cooking is available to pre-order ahead of its release on 23 October 2025.

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.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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 how food is weaponised in Shakespeare’s plays, both in a literal and figurative sense, to coerce or punish characters.

As a special treat for my listeners I’m extending a 25% discount off the full ticket price for the Serve It Forth Food History Festival on 18 October 2025. I’ll be there continuing my discussion on Food in Shakespeare. Just enter SERVE25 at the checkout to claim the discount.

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.

Don’t forget that you can find links to the books discussed in today’s and other episodes on the Comfortably Hungry Bookshelf on Substack. Much Ado About Cooking is available to pre-order ahead of its release on 23 October 2025.

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.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.