My guest today is Alex Bamji, Associate Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Leeds, and we are talking about a rare treatise on cheese dating from the Early Modern Period.

We met up at the Brotherton Library which is home to a fantastic collection of cookery books and manuscripts. We talk about cheese, health and humoral theory; what makes a good cheese; the early modern cheese landscape; cheese as a cure for gout; and cheese haters – plus many other things.

Those listening to the secret podcast: Alex and I talk about why cow’s milk is the best milk, and I wonder whether there any clues as to where their microbes are coming from.

Follow Alex on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram @alexbamji

Alex’s page on the University of Leeds website

Alex’s LinkedIn page

The digitised manuscript

Ruth Bramley’s transcription

A piece from Leeds University about the ‘pamflyt’ featuring Peter Brears

The Brotherton Library’s cookery collection

Remember: Fruit Pig are sponsoring the 9th season of the podcast and Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the podcast a unique special offer 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout at their online shop, www.fruitpig.co.uk.

The Serve it Forth Food History Festival website is now live and tickets are available on Eventbrite.

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This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast.

Things mentioned in today’s episode

Serve it Forth website

Serve it Forth Eventbrite page

Listen to a sample of the Knead to Know audiobook