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.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

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

My guest today is third generation baker, writer and teacher David Wright author of the excellent book Breaking Bread: How Baking Shaped our World published by Aurum.

We talk about the social benefits of bread making, milling grain into flour, the anatomy of a grain, roller mills, the Chorleywood process and why gluten can be compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.

Those listening to the secret podcast: you get a little over 15 minutes of bonus material that includes additives that don’t have be named on ingredients lists, flatbreads, the National Loaf, the value of bread and more!

Follow David on Instagram @thebreaducator

Breaking Bread: How Baking Shaped Our World is published by Aurum

More on the Pump Street workshops

More about David’s Earth’s Crust Bakery at Camp Bestival

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.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

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

Against the Grain by James C. Scott (2018)

Knead to Know: A History of Baking by Neil Buttery (2023)

My blog post and recipe for a cob

My blog post and recipe for a cottage loaf

Pertinent previous podcast episode:

My guests today are archaeologists Chris Wakefield from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit of Cambridge University Rachel Ballantyne from McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, and they are here to tell me about an absolutely amazing site close to Peterborough that tell us a huge amount about daily life in a late Bronze Age settlement. Prepare to have your minds blown!

We talk about the unique circumstances of how and why the site is so well preserved, kitchen clutter, animal husbandry, querns, frumenty, pike sushi, and whether the English’s love of mustard goes back 3 millennia – among many other things

Those listening to the secret podcast: you get 20 minutes of bonus material that includes the importance of foraging, the evidence for fermentation, Bronze Age recipes, the uses of the whole cereal plant and more!

To view images of the site and the finds, go to the accompanying post on Neil’s blog.

Follow Cambridge Archaeological Unit on Social Media

Facebook: @cambridgearchaeologicalunit

BlueSky: @cambridgearch.bsky.social

Instagram: @cambridgearchaeologicalunit

Follow Cambridge University Department of Archaeology on Social Media:

Facebook: @archaeologycambridge

BlueSky: @cam-archaeology.bsky.social

Instagram: @ cambridge_archaeology

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.

If you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here.

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

Things mentioned in today’s episode

The Must Farm website

The Peterborough Archaeology page about the Must Farm site

Neil’s medieval frumenty recipe

Neil’s blogs and YouTube channel:

‘British Food: a History’

The British Food History Channel

‘Neil Cooks Grigson’

Neil’s books:

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

A Dark History of Sugar...