The Fantastic History Of Food

Nick Charlie Key

Stories of the fun, bizarre and often ridiculous, history of food.

Join me as we explore The Fantastic History of Food.

Contact me on foodhistorypod@gmail.com

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59 episodes
Updated June 19

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Episodes59

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June 19 · 17 min
When A Navy Destroyer Fought A Submarine Using Potatoes
War often calls for quick thinking and unconventional tactics, but few battles have ever been won with… potatoes. But, during World War II, the USS O’Bannon, a U.S. Navy destroyer, found itself in a tense standoff with a Japanese submarine. With the...
June 5 · 22 min
Defending A Town With Just Two Loaves Of Bread
At it’s very core, war is essentially throwing everything you have at your enemy hoping that they break first, and at times that breaking point can be as much a psychological one as a physical one. Wars of attrition, as in the case of prolonged...
Jun 21, 2024 · 15 min
56 - Robert May's "Spectacle Feasts"
The entire experience of eating a fancy meal these days is no longer just about the food itself. For decades, chefs like Heston Blumenthal have been creating entire culinary experiences to delight all of your senses at once, pairing sounds, smells and...
Jun 7, 2024 · 15 min
55 - How Sausages Helped Win A Battle
It’s well into the northern european winter season at the end of 1939. Five hundred thousand Russian Soviet Soldiers are making a collective push northwards, swarming the countryside as they go. They are armed to the hilt with tanks, explosives,...
May 24, 2024 · 15 min
54 - When Pineapples Were Status Symbols
For the majority of history they were considered the ultimate delicacy by European nobility who just couldn’t get enough of them. From snack to status symbol, the pineapple has graced many a King and Queens palace courts, while outside of them they...
May 10, 2024 · 14 min
53 - Fat Men's Clubs
For as long as so-called civilised societies have existed, equally uncivilised clubs and groups have sprung up within them, allowing their members to revel in all sorts of weird and wonderful excesses. In previous episodes we have heard about secret...
Apr 25, 2024 · 15 min
52 - The Kentucky Meat Shower
Turn on the tv or radio, or scroll any news site online and you’ll no doubt be inundated with stories about crazy weather anomalies happening all around the globe. Volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, earthquakes, tornadoes and so much more. But none...
Apr 15, 2024 · 13 min
51 - The London Beer Flood
In our modern age we have lived through natural disasters and floods in various parts of the world, and no matter what, they are always tragic. But tragic floods are not always a cause of nature. In episode 7, we discussed the great molasses flood...
Nov 8, 2023 · 21 min
50 - How Alcohol Prohibition Created NASCAR
This episode is a look at how in the early to mid 1900’s the abolitionist laws banning the production and consumption of alcohol played a majorly significant role in the creation of what, today, is a veritable institution of the American South,...
Oct 6, 2023 · 12 min
49 - Charles Domery Ate Cats, Grass & A Fellow Soldier's Leg
There are many stories throughout history of individuals with freakish appetites, who seem to be able to consume quantities of food well past what a human stomach should be capable of handling. Today, we’ll be diving into the story of Charles Domery,...
Sep 15, 2023 · 15 min
48 - The Dutch Once Ate Their Prime Minister
For most of history, the Dutch have been an almost all-powerful force to be reckoned with. They were the forerunners for a lot of the world's exploration, and for a long time dominated the seas and trade routes through the stranglehold of the Dutch...
Aug 31, 2023 · 14 min
47 - William McKenna the "Human Ostrich"
For today's story we will be diving into the life of a truly extraordinary man named William V McKenna, and while he fits the category of “people who eat random things”, those things that he ate can’t really be classified as food. So let's see just...
Aug 16, 2023 · 12 min
46 - Turning Hitler Into A Woman By Poisoning His Food
WW2 was raging onwards, with men fighting and dying each and every day. It was so delicately poised that there seemed to be no end to the fighting in sight. Weeks and months dragged on into years, and with them came more and more plots of how to win...
Jan 4, 2023 · 17 min
45 - A Spice Worth Killing For
There is a spice we use so commonly today that it's hard to believe that at one time, wars were fought, people were killed and entire civilizations almost wiped out, simply so that the strongest force could get their hands on this prized spice....
Oct 24, 2022 · 18 min
44 - Were The Salem Witch Trials Caused By Infected Food?
If ever you’ve doubted food's integral place in history, today’s stories are sure to remind us all, that no matter what life and history in general, wouldn’t and in fact, couldn’t be the same without the daily rituals that food brings....
Oct 19, 2022 · 19 min
43 - Foodie Fortune Tellers
Many old food-based fortunes were light-hearted party games mainly played around Halloween time, but some of there were deadly serious, and their results were taken as gospel truth. And at the time, all you needed to tell the future, was a full pantry...
Oct 7, 2022 · 17 min
42 - Delicious Robberies
Today's stories aren’t just about the small-time pilfering of food here and there from your local grocery stores. No, today we’ll be talking about people stealing truckloads of the stuff at a time, not it seems to quell their stomach's callings, as...
Oct 4, 2022 · 19 min
41 - The World's Worst Sandwich
There are few things more universally loved than a good sandwich. We as humans love the simplicity and deliciousness of having something to hold all of our favourite fillings together. But there was a time in our history when the venerable...
Sep 9, 2022 · 18 min
40 - The Tapeworm Diet
As soon as people became wealthy enough not to have to spend every waking hour of their day, working, cleaning, hunting or cooking, they had enough to look in the mirror and decide what they didn’t like about themselves. From the truly horrific...
Aug 20, 2022 · 15 min
39 - Julia Child: WW2 Spy Who Created Shark Repellent Cakes
Even the most famous and lauded among us still have a few tasty secrets up their sleeves, and today we’re going to dive into this fascinating side of one of modern cookings most famous gourmands: Julia Child. ------------------- Thank you to...

The Fantastic History Of Food

Support the show

When A Navy Destroyer Fought A Submarine Using Potatoes

Defending A Town With Just Two Loaves Of Bread

56 - Robert May's "Spectacle Feasts"

55 - How Sausages Helped Win A Battle

54 - When Pineapples Were Status Symbols

53 - Fat Men's Clubs

52 - The Kentucky Meat Shower

51 - The London Beer Flood

50 - How Alcohol Prohibition Created NASCAR

49 - Charles Domery Ate Cats, Grass & A Fellow Soldier's Leg

48 - The Dutch Once Ate Their Prime Minister

47 - William McKenna the "Human Ostrich"

46 - Turning Hitler Into A Woman By Poisoning His Food

45 - A Spice Worth Killing For

44 - Were The Salem Witch Trials Caused By Infected Food?

43 - Foodie Fortune Tellers

42 - Delicious Robberies

41 - The World's Worst Sandwich

40 - The Tapeworm Diet

39 - Julia Child: WW2 Spy Who Created Shark Repellent Cakes