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, 1621

In 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 century a Leicestershire clergyman Robert Burton set out to untangle complex yet bizarrely alluring renaissance disease of melancholy and its effects on mental and physical well being. His research culminated in The Anatomy of Melancholy, a lengthy treatise on how to identify and treat this illness.

Joining me to discuss what melancholy was, Burton’s work and the role food played in exacerbating or treating the condition are Professor Mary Ann Lund of Leicester University and author of A User’s Guide of Melancholy and food historian Ken Albala and author of Eating Right in the Renaissance.

Useful Links

Ken has written many books over the years including:

* Opulent Nosh: A Cookbook

* Beans: A History

* A Cultural History of Food in the Renaissance

* Nuts: A Global History

You can also find Ken on Instagram.

Mary Ann’s books include:

* A User’s Guide to Melancholy

* Melancholy, Medicine and Religion in Early Modern England: Reading 'The Anatomy of Melancholy

Suggested Reading

* The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

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 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 Links

You can find out more about Thomas on his website.

China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History

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.

Currant-loaf is now popular eating in all households. For weeks before the great morning, confectioners display stacks of Scotch bun — a dense, black substance, inimical to life – Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, 1878

In Episode 7 I chat with Peter Gilchrist and Dr Lindsay Middleton about a Scottish cake traditionally served at Hogmanay and the role this plays in preserving Scotland’s food heritage.

Useful Links

The Tenement Kitchen where you can also download a copy of the Scottish Food Heritage Report. You can find Peter on Instagram and X.

You can read more about Dr Lindsay Middleton’s thesis here. You can find Lindsay on Instagram and X.

If you want to see how black bun’s were originally made check out this post by my fellow A is for Apple Podcast host Dr Neil Buttery.

Yu-lade is available from some branches of Co-op in Scotland.

Suggested Reading

You read more about the origins of Simnel cake in my book Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron

Glasgow Cookery Book

The cook and housewife's manual : a practical system of modern domestic cookery and family management (1828) by Christian Isobel Johnstone (aka Meg Dods)

The Scots Kitchen: Its Lore and Recipes (1929) by F Marion McNeill

A Scottish Feast: An Anthology of Food and Eating by Hamish Whyte and Catherine Brown

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @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.

In Episode 6 I chat with Dr Peggy Brunache, Lecturer in Public History and Archaeology as well as the founding Director of the Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies at the University of Glasgow, to discover how the culinary creativity of the enslaved people served as a form of resistance.

Useful Links

You can find Peggy on Instagram @negroshire

Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies

Peggy is also one of the women featured the 100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark exhibition at the Leicester Gallery at de Montfort University from 1 October 2024 – 4 January 2025.

Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners on BBC iPlayer. David Olusoga shines a light on Britain's dark past - how it was built on the profits of slavery. The acclaimed series that inspired frank conversations on our colonial history.

Suggested Reading

Bayley, F.W.N. (1830). Four Years’ Residence in the West Indies. London: William Kidd.

Coleridge, Henry Nelson (1825) Six Months in the West Indies. London: John Murray Albermarle Street.

Hearn, Lafcadio (1903) Two years in the French West Indies (Martinique)

Moreton, J.B. (1793). West India Customs and Manners: containing Strictures on the Soil, Cultivation, Produce, Trade, Officers, and Inhabitants; with The Method of Establishing and Conducting a Sugar Plantation. To Which is Added The Practice of Training New Slaves. London: J. Parsons; W. Richardson; H. Gardner; and J. Walter.

Schaw, Janet. (1921) Journal of a Lady of Quality; Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal, in the Years 1774 to 1776. Edited by Evangeline Walker Andrews, in Collaboration with Charles McLean Andrews, Farnam Professor of American History in Yale University NEW HAVEN: Yale University Press, LONDON: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press.

Tryon, Thomas (1684) Friendly advice to the gentlemen-planters... Indies.

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.

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On the Sunday before advent Anglican congregations across Britain will hear this collect, a short prayer to bring together or “collect” their thoughts on a topic. The matter at hand originally had nothing to do with food preparations for Christmas but by the early twentieth century the faithful took this collect as a sign that they should go forth and stir up their Christmas pudding. So, this is where the term Stir Up Sunday originates and as it happens today is that very day.

I had a chat with my fellow A is for Apple Podcast host Dr Neil Buttery about the origins of this ritual and our enduring love for plum pudding at this time of the year.

Useful Links

You can find Great Aunt Eliza’s Victorian plum pudding recipe here.

Neil has written four books (all of which I can highly recommend) including:

* The Philosophy of Pudding

* Knead to Know

* Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper

* A Dark History of Sugar

Don’t forget to check out Neil’s The British Food History Podcast. You can find Neil on X @neilbuttery and Instagram @dr_neil_buttery

Suggested Reading

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @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.

The British High Street is on its last legs - or is it?

In Episode 4 I chat to historian, author and broadcaster Dr Annie Gray about her latest book The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker to find out how the British high street has evolved over the centuries. There’s talk of dodgy grocers, fear of prostitution, giant Christmas cheeses and big shop bashing. But is it all doom and gloom for the high street?

Useful Links

You can find out more about Annie’s books and events on her website anniegray.co.uk and follow her on Instagram or X.

You can also hear Annie on the culinary panel show The Kitchen Cabinet.

Heima homeware and hardware store in York is a great example of a thriving independent shop.

Suggested Reading

The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street is out now (buy it from an independent book shop!)

Victory in the Kitchen by Annie Gray

You can find a list of other titles by Annie on the Profile Books website.

Eating to Extinction by Dan Saladino

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @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.