The Hungry Historians

This week on The Hungry Historians, Matt Phillpott and Kelly Spring interview Andrew Coe about his latest book, American Bread: A History, available from the University of California Press. In this interview Andrew takes us from bread that helps to cure illnesses to 'hippy' bread and sourdough. We also explore how the United States built upon, changed, and made bread their own.  Andrew Coe has previously published the James Beard award-winning, A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression with zo-author Jane Ziegelman, and Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠,  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

This week on The Hungry Historians, Matt Phillpott and Kelly Spring interview Mark A. Johnson about his book American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon. This book has just been released by the University of Georgia Press and focuses on the question of how bacon has overcome centuries of religious prohibition, cultural contempt, and dietary advice to become a popular 21st century meat. In this episode we explore some of that history, asking questions about why bacon is often vilified, and how it has continued to remain a successful food. Mark teaches at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has previously written An Irresistible History of Alabama Barbecue and Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacle. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠,  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

In this episode of The Hungry Historians Matt and Kelly interview Ken Albala about the history and use of fermentation based around Ken's 2026 book published with University of California Press, The World Atlas of Fermented Foods and Drinks. We discuss what fermentation is, the many fermented foods that there are across the world, and why fermentation is increasingly seen as something of a lost art.  Ken Albala is an award winning author of thirty books and has taken part in a food-history video series for the Great Courses learning platform. He has previously written Beans: A History which won the IACP Jane Grigson Award in food history, and Three World Cuisines which won the Gourmand Best Foreign Cuisine Book in the World. He is the Tully Knoles Endowed Professor of History at the University of the Pacific. You can learn more about him on his website.    This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠,  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

How did the original tin can come about and what happened next to make it such an important part of our everyday ingredients? In this week's The Hungry Historians, Matt and Kelly chat with John Coupland, professor of Food Science at Penn State. Earlier this year, he published Containing Nature: The Ongoing Invention of Canned Food with Springer Nature. In our discussion we examine the history of canning, the micro inventions that made the cans that we know today, and challenges around make tin cans safe. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠,  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

In this episode of The Hungry Historians Matt and Kelly interview Angela Ki Che Leung and Hallam Stevens about their edited book Crafting everyday food: technology, tradition, and transformation in East Asia, published through the University of Hawaii Press in 2025. This exploration of foodways across the east Asian region brings in discussions around new foods, trade, and traditional foods in a variety of contexts. You can find Hallam Stevens on his website and Angela Ki Che Leung on her website. For more about the project that the book developed out of check out the Making Modernity in East Asia website. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠,  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.