The Fantastic History Of Food

In eighteenth-century France, a young man named Tarrare became notorious for an appetite that no amount of food seemed able to satisfy.From swallowing stones for paying crowds to devouring meals intended for fifteen people, his extraordinary eating habits left doctors baffled.But where medicine saw a mystery, the French army saw an opportunity, deciding that his stomach might be the perfect hiding place for military secrets.It was a remarkable plan, with a few rather unpleasant and unintended consequences.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.Thank you to my all of my supporters! You can also support me over on Patreon starting from just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

Mithridates has claimed his throne, built a reputation for being remarkably difficult to poison, and made himself one of Rome’s most determined enemies. Now the Romans are coming to deal with him.In the second half of our mad honey story, we follow the Poison King through decades of warfare, meet the mountain tribes who prepared a rather unusual welcome for Rome’s soldiers, and discover how a few bowls of roadside honey became a devastating military trap.And for Mithridates, a lifetime spent trying to make himself impossible to poison is about to have one final, deeply inconvenient consequence.This is part two of our story. If you haven’t listened to Mad Honey and the Poison King (Part 1), start there.-------------------------Thank you to the sponsors of this episode The Stephenson Honey Co.Get 10% off your order at www.stephensonhoney.com when you use offer code FOODHISTORY at checkout.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.Thank you to my all of my supporters! You can also support me over on Patreon starting from just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

After surviving months of fighting, starvation and freezing mountain passes, thousands of Greek soldiers finally stumble across something worth celebrating: an enormous supply of free honey.And naturally, they start helping themselves, but before long, they're barely able to stand!In part one of our mad honey story, we discover how bees around the Black Sea produced this strange substance, before meeting Mithridates, a young prince whose father’s murder left him deeply suspicious of everyone around him as well as his own dinner. From an army defeated by it's own lunch to the making of the Poison King, this is a story about honey, paranoia and a rather ambitious attempt to become impossible to kill.-------------------------Thank you to the sponsors of this episode The Stephenson Honey Co.Get 10% off your order at www.stephensonhoney.com when you use offer code FOODHISTORY at checkout.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.Thank you to my all of my supporters! You can also support me over on Patreon starting from just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

There are probably very few people listening to this podcast who don’t already know at least some of the story of the Titanic.But as with all famous stories like this one, there are always miniature sub plots playing out in the background that don’t become quite as famous, but once you hear them add life and color to the story as a whole.Today’s story is just one such tale and stars a man name Charles Joughin. He was the ship’s Chief Baker and on the fateful night of April 14, 1912, he found himself less concerned about the quantities of the following mornings sourdough loaves and somewhat more concerned about the water that was rising all around him.In today's episode we’ll discover just how Charles saved the lives of many on board the ship that night, chief amongst them, his own.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.Thank you to my all of my supporters! You can also support me over on Patreon starting from just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod

In Georgian Era London, some of Britain’s most powerful men formed an exclusive dining club devoted almost entirely to eating enormous steaks, drinking heavily and celebrating the virtues of beef.They took their society so seriously that they even appointed their own bishop and when the Prince of Wales told them that he’d like to join their club, they simply told him they had a strict 24 seat policy, and all 24 seats were already full.This is the strange story of The Sublime Society of Beefsteaks.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-fantastic-history-of-food--3591729/support.Thank you to my all of my supporters! You can also support me over on Patreon starting from just $2 a month: patreon.com/foodhistorypod