Today’s guest is the brilliant Stephen Volk, screenwriter behind Ghostwatch, Afterlife, Gothic, The Guardian, and one of my favourite supernatural films, The Awakening (2011).

In this episode we talk about séances as the perfect storytelling device, Dickens’s “The Portrait-Painter’s Story,” which inspired a story of Stephen’s own, belief and doubt as the engine of ghost stories, and the uncanny power of everyday objects in horror, including food, eggs, and even cake decorations that can quietly carry so many emotions. Along the way I also got to hear about some of Stephen’s own food memories.

Stephen discusses his excellent short story collections The Good Unknown (2023) and The Confirmed Bachelors (2025) .

There is a moment from Ghostwatch that has stayed with me since childhood. The poltergeist makes itself known through a ruined dinner when the family’s mackerel suddenly appears covered in something that looks disturbingly like saliva. I remember thinking how awful it was that not only were they experiencing something terrifying, but they now could not even sit down and eat their meal.

Because horror does not just interrupt fear. Sometimes it interrupts dinner!

Part of this conversation also appears in Haunted Magazine #49.

Listen now, and if you enjoy the episode please follow and share A Curious Appetite with Dr Alessandra Pino.

With special thanks to @deliciouslegacy for the audio, @medusazzz for the artwork, and @manu_pino_1111 for the music.

Useful Links/ Works Mentioned

Works by Stephen Volk

Volk, Stephen. The Good Unknown: And Other Ghost Stories. Manchester: Sarob Press, 2023.
Includes the stories “Unrecovered” and “The Waiting Room.”

Volk, Stephen. The Confirmed Bachelors. Manchester: Sarob Press, 2025.

Ghostwatch. Written by Stephen Volk. BBC, 1992.

Afterlife. Created by Stephen Volk. ITV, 2005–2006.

Midwinter of the Spirit. Written by Stephen Volk. ITV, 2015.
Adapted from the Merrily Watkins novels by Phil Rickman.

Gothic. Directed by Ken Russell. Screenplay by Stephen Volk. 1986.

The Guardian. Directed by William Friedkin. Screenplay by Stephen Volk. 1990.

The Awakening. Directed by Nick Murphy. Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy. 2011.

Books and Written Works Discussed

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1957.

Crowe, Catherine. The Night Side of Nature; or, Ghosts and Ghost-Seers. London: T.C. Newby, 1848.

Dickens, Charles (ed.). All the Year Round. London: Chapman & Hall, 1859–1895.

Dickens, Charles. “The Portrait Painter’s Tale.” All the Year Round, 1861.

James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. London: William Heinemann, 1898.

James, M. R. “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.” In Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. London: Edward Arnold, 1904.

Levin, Ira. Rosemary’s Baby. New York: Random House, 1967.

Rickman, Phil. The Merrily Watkins Series. Various publishers, 1998–present.

Tomalin, Claire. The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. London: Viking, 1990.

Film and Television Referenced

A Haunting in Venice. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. 2023.

The Changeling. Directed by Peter Medak. 1980.

The Exorcist. Directed by William Friedkin. 1973.

Evil Dead Rise. Directed by Lee Cronin. 2023.

Ghostbusters. Directed by Ivan Reitman. 1984.

Hereditary. Directed by Ari Aster. 2018.

Host. Directed by Rob Savage. 2020.

The Haunting. Directed by Robert Wise. 1963.

The Innocents. Directed by Jack Clayton. 1961.

Lake Mungo. Directed by Joel Anderson. 2008.

Presence. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. 2024.

The Sixth Sense. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. 1999.

Starve Acre. Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo. 2023.

The Stone Tape. Written by Nigel Kneale. BBC television film, 1972.

The Others. Directed by Alejandro Amenábar. 2001.

Vertigo. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 1958.

Whistle and I’ll Come to You. Directed by Jonathan Miller. BBC, 1968.

The Invisible Woman. Directed by Ralph Fiennes. 2013.

Gothic food, horror, and the culture of consumption.

Hosted by Dr Alessandra Pino, this podcast explores how food shapes literature, history, migration, and the Gothic imagination. Moving between archive and kitchen, theory and lived experience, it considers appetite as a force that structures identity, memory, and power.

Each episode invites listeners to rethink what it means to consume- and to be consumed.

For this episode of A Curious Appetite, I speak with food writer Mallika Basu about curry, food culture, migration, and the loaded question of authenticity.

Mallika recently came to speak with my California university students at the London campus, and I still remember how their minds were blown by the way she explained complex histories of migration, empire, and identity through food. She has an extraordinary ability to make difficult histories feel understandable and, quite literally, more digestible.

In this episode we talk about curry as a British phenomenon, the politics of naming and ownership, why food can provoke such strong emotions, and how recipes can carry meaning even when they do not have a single point of origin.

We also discuss her latest book In Good Taste, which explores what shapes what we eat and drink and why it matters.

One line that stayed with me from our conversation:

“Recipes don’t have IP, but they have meaning.”

There is also mango, biryani, childhood memory, and the complicated onion that is the modern food system.

Listen to the episode on A Curious Appetite.

Read more on Substack:
https://substack.com/@dralessandrapino

Artwork: @medusazzz
Audio: @thedeliciouslegacy
Music: @manu_pino_1111

A Curious Appetite is a reader-supported podcast and publication.
Subscribe on Substack to receive new essays and episodes.

Please follow this show on Spotify. It really helps!

Useful Links & Works Mentioned

Books by Mallika Basu

• In Good Taste: What Shapes What We Eat and Drink – and Why It Matters (2026)
• Masala: Indian Cooking for Modern Living (2018)
• Miss Masala: A Stylish Indian Cookbook for Effortless Ethnic Cooking and Modern Living (2010)

Literary References & Historical Context

• Collingham, Lizzie. Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Dickson Wright, Clarissa. A History of English Food. London: Random House, 2011.
• Glasse, Hannah. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. 1803.
• Huxley, Aldous. Jesting Pilate. 1926.
• Panayi, Panikos. Migrant City: A New History of London. 2020.
• Panayi, Panikos. Spicing Up Britain. 1995.
• Sukhadwala, Sejal. The Philosophy of Curry. 2023.

Empire Podcast – “Inventing Curry: The British Taste for India”

Empire (BBC / Open University, 2012)

• Episode 1 – A Taste for Power
• Episode 2 – Making Ourselves at Home
• Episode 3 – Playing the Game
• Episode 4 – Making a Fortune
• Episode 5 – Doing Good

What do we eat around death? What has food meant at funerals in the past? And why does something as small as a biscuit carry so much emotional and symbolic weight?

In this episode of A Curious Appetite, I’m joined by death historian Dr Dan O’Brien to explore funerary food, mourning rituals, and the deeply human ways food helps us navigate loss. Dan’s research focuses on the undertaking trade in eighteenth century England, and together we uncover how food has shaped grief, memory, and remembrance.

We discuss the fragile afterlife of the funeral biscuit wrapper, a small piece of paper that outlives the food it once held. Funeral biscuits themselves were more than simple refreshments. They were portable, symbolic, and quietly powerful, creating a tangible connection between the dead and the living.

We also explore:

• The ritual role of food and drink at funerals
• Black sealing wax and the symbolism of opening and closing
• Women’s often overlooked role in funerary hospitality
• Mulled wine, alcohol, and the balance between mourning and release
• Hymn texts, memory, and echoes of the Eucharist

At the heart of the episode is a simple but profound idea: food becomes a carrier of memory. It moves between bodies, between people, and between the living and the dead.

And, in true A Curious Appetite fashion, the conversation takes an unexpected turn. Dan reveals his favourite childhood food and let’s just say, it might surprise you.

For more morbid morsels and extra snippets of darkness head to my Substack: https://substack.com/@dralessandrapino

Artwork by @medusazzz
Audio by @thedeliciouslegacy
Music by @manu_pino_1111 

Useful links:

Misson, Henri. Memoirs and Observations in His Travels over England. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/mmissonsmemoirs00ozelgoog

Pitt Rivers Museum. “English Funeral Food.” University of Oxford. https://england.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness-funeral-food.html

Wesley, Charles. “Worthington.” https://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/music/p45.htm

A is for Apple is back with a brand new season.

I’m delighted to share that Season C has officially begun. Hosted by me Dr Alessandra Pino, alongside Sam Bilton and Dr Neil Buttery, the podcast returns with more curious ingredients, unexpected histories, and playful explorations of food through the alphabet.

https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/s3e1-c-is-for-carbonado-carrot-cabinet-pudding/id1743840806?i=1000756719333

In this episode, I speak with chef and writer Emiliano Amore, who writes Britalian on Substack, about migration, identity, adaptation, and what he beautifully calls “the liminal larder” that space between cultures where Branston pickle meets pecorino, cheddar finds its way into lasagna, and food becomes a language of belonging. Born in Rome and now based in England, his work emerges directly from this in-between space.

We talk about Britalian identity, culinary stereotypes, emotional ingredients, recipes as memory, and the idea that adaptation is not compromise but a form of becoming. Throughout, we return to the idea that food carries emotional weight, that it holds memory, longing, and the quiet traces of where we have been and who we are becoming.

I can’t tell you how much I loved this conversation with Emiliano. It is a rich, thoughtful exploration of home, appetite, and the stories we tell through what we eat.

Read more on my Substack https://substack.com/@dralessandrapino

Artwork by @medusazzz
Audio by @thedeliciouslegacy
Music by @manu_pino_1111 

Useful links/references

⁠Emiliano's substack⁠ an online cookbook and writing project exploring Italian and British food cultures

Lou Taylor, artist

Russell Norman, award-winning restaurateur associated with Polpo and Brutto, often linked to the idea of Britalian cooking styles

M. F. K. Fisher, American food writer exploring food, desire, memory, and identity

Panikos Panayi, Spicing Up Britain, a study of migration and the transformation of British food culture

Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747), an influential British cookbook including early references to pasta such as vermicelli and macaroni

The Grand Tour, eighteenth-century travel tradition through which British elites encountered Italian culture, art, and food

The eighteenth-century “macaronis”, British dandies returning from the Grand Tour associated with cosmopolitan taste and Italian influence

Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian writer and filmmaker associated with representations of marginal, subcultural Italy

Anna Magnani, Italian actress emblematic of a raw, authentic Italian cultural identity

Cesare Pavese, Italian writer exploring themes of place, identity, and modernity

Vivienne Westwood, British designer representing alternative and subcultural British identity

Nigel Slater, British food writer known for intimate, domestic, and reflective food writing

Fleabag, British television series exploring contemporary identity and emotional life

St John, London restaurant known for nose-to-tail cooking and the use of offal in British cuisine

This episode was not sponsored by Greggs. But it begins with a sausage roll! I’m joined by Richard Crampton-Platt (you might know him as @thegreedydick).

We talk about chicken rolls and why they disappoint. Raw chicken sushi and what “safe” really means. Why Britain trusts takeaways and Italy doesn’t. Food delivery and what it reveals about how we live. The myth of pizza margherita. Carbonara, cream, and the illusion of authenticity. Food smuggling, migration, and adaptation. And why food feels different from art or music. 

It starts light

It turns philosophical

And somewhere along the way it becomes about trust. Because food is the one thing we choose to put inside our bodies. And that always says more than we think.

Read more on Substack https://substack.com/@dralessandrapino

Email: acuriousappetite@gmail.com

Artwork by @medusazzz
Audio by @thedeliciouslegacy
Music by @manu_pino_1111 

Useful links and references
Richard Crampton-Platt’s writing, videos and restaurant commentary can be found via The Greedy Dick on Substack and his wider online platforms. 

Café Britaly, Peckham
Richard discusses founding Café Britaly, a British-Italian café in Peckham, and its playful approach to “Britalian” food, including carbonara with cream and a fried egg. 

Bocca di Lupo, Soho
Richard talks about working at Bocca di Lupo, the regional Italian restaurant in Soho, which helped shape his understanding of Italian food and food history. 

Britalian food and Italian cafés in Britain
Topics include British-Italian greasy spoons, post-war Italian café culture in London, and the blending of British and Italian food traditions.

Greggs sausage rolls
Richard mentions Greggs expanding its sausage roll range, including pork, vegan and chicken sausage rolls.

Bovril
The conversation touches on Bovril, Bovril on toast, Bovril as stock, Bovril in Arctic contexts, and its role in British food memory.

Claude Lévi-Strauss, “The Culinary Triangle”
Discussed in relation to broth, boiling, food preparation and social bonding. 

Sidney Mintz- Sweetness and Power (1985)
Mentioned in relation to industrialisation, sugar, work, pleasure and modern eating habits.

Fellini’s Satyricon / Trimalchio’s feast
Richard discusses Fellini’s strange, uncanny representation of Roman feasting, excess and food spectacle.

Carbonara and authenticity
The episode explores carbonara as a contested dish, including cream, pancetta, guanciale, egg, authenticity and cultural negotiation.

Zuppa Inglese
Mentioned as an Italian dessert whose name translates as “English soup”, and as an example of Anglo-Italian culinary overlap.

Fagioli all’uccelletto
Mentioned in relation to beans, sage and their transformation within a British breakfast context.

Full English breakfast and global variations
The conversation touches on full English breakfasts, British breakfast culture, and variations such as full Turkish, full Greek and other cultural reinterpretations. A Full English on Pizza?

La Cucina Italiana
Richard mentions looking through La Cucina Italiana for elaborate celebratory dishes, including timbales.

Le Gavroche and the Roux family
Discussed in relation to French food in Britain, ingredient sourcing and the challenges of early fine dining in the UK.

Delivery food and food trust
The episode compares British and Italian attitudes to takeaway, delivery apps, trust, ingredients and food safety.

Food safety, industrialisation and adulteration
Topics include adulterated bread, chalk, alum, salmonella fears, raw chicken in Japan, and different cultural attitudes to risk.

Mussolini, rural fantasy and Italian food nostalgia
Richard mentions the darker historical roots of certain romanticised images of rural Italian food culture.

A is for Apple: Bovril episode
Alessandra mentions having discussed Bovril previously on A is for Apple.

What kind of job requires you to carry knives, toothpicks, pastry brushes, chopping boards, glycerine spray, and sometimes half a kitchen in the back of your car?

Food styling.

In this episode of A Curious Appetite with Dr Alessandra Pino, I’m joined by Dorothy Barrick, known as Dot, a food stylist and home economist whose work brings food to life on screen in ways that are often invisible, but absolutely essential.

We talk about what it really means to work behind the scenes on film sets, from preparing edible props to understanding how food behaves under lights, heat, pressure, and repetition. A dish might need to look fresh for hours. It might need to be eaten repeatedly by an actor. It might need to appear identical across multiple takes. And sometimes it needs to do something stranger altogether, like ooze, collapse, bleed, or stand in for something else entirely.

I first came across Dot’s work through The Radleys (2024), based on Matt Haig’s novel, where food becomes part of the film’s unsettling emotional atmosphere. We explore how food on screen creates mood, reveals character, and shapes tension, especially in horror and uncanny cinema.

We also discuss:
• Working on The Roses with Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch
• Nicholas Hoult’s enthusiastic eating on The Great
• Horror food styling and beautifully grotesque visual tricks
• Cooked watermelon used as tuna sashimi
• Pear standing in for delicate raw fish
• Continuity, repetition, and the pressure of keeping food camera-ready
• Fashion, colour, design, and food as visual storytelling

We also spend time discussing Babette’s Feast, one of the great films about food, grief, memory, and transformation. Dot reflects beautifully on the meditative power of baking and how repetitive, intricate culinary tasks can help us process difficult moments and sit quietly with ourselves.

And of course, because this is A Curious Appetite, we end with food memories: childhood casseroles, the horror of beef tongue, oysters, whelks, seafood towers, and the foods that stay with us.

This episode is a deep dive into the mysterious, meticulous, and often under-credited world of food on film.

Because next time you watch a scene and think “that food looks incredible,” it is worth asking: who made it look that way?

Useful links:

Dorothy Barrick / @dotscookin
Cherry Bombe interview with Dorothy Barrick and Olivia Colman
Fear Feasts podcast episode on The Radleys
A Curious Appetite Substack

📧 acuriousappetite@gmail.com

🎧 Available now on all major podcast platforms.

Artwork by @medusazzz
Audio by @thedeliciouslegacy
Music by @manu_pino_1111 

What happens when history itself becomes a magic trick?

In this episode of A Curious Appetite, I am joined by writer, director, and Artistic Director of Pither Productions, Nina Atesh, to discuss In League with the Devil, her fascinating new play inspired by the extraordinary life of Erik Jan Hanussen: illusionist, clairvoyant, celebrity showman, fraudster, political opportunist, and one of the most enigmatic figures of twentieth-century Europe.

Together we explore the challenges of researching a man who spent his life reinventing himself, blurring the boundaries between fact, fiction, performance, and belief. We discuss historical truth, psychological horror, charismatic manipulators, cults, scammers, influencers, and why audiences continue to be drawn towards certainty, spectacle, and the promise of hidden knowledge.

We also delve into the theatrical process behind the production, including Nina's collaboration with legendary illusionist Simon Drake and mind reader Graham Jolley, whose work helped recreate some of Hanussen's techniques on stage. Along the way we discuss theatre-making, pub theatre culture, the changing economics of performance, and the enduring magic of gathering together in a room to experience a story unfold in real time.

Because this is still A Curious Appetite, we also talk food memories, childhood kitchens, Cypriot family meals, smoky bacon crisps, Sunday roasts, and the surprising connections between cooking and theatre. Both rely on ritual, timing, community, and a little bit of everyday magic.

We also touch upon horror theatre, GrimFest, Kim Newman, creative collaboration, and the strange power of performance to make us believe, if only for a moment, in something impossible.

• Erik Jan Hanussen
• Illusion, magic, and performance
• Historical research and unreliable sources
• Psychological horror and theatrical storytelling
• Cult leaders, scammers, and charisma
• Simon Drake and stage illusion
• Graham Jolley and mind reading
• Pither Productions and GrimFest
• Kim Newman and horror culture
• Pub theatre and creative communities
• Cyprus, Canada, and England
• Food memories and family kitchens
• Smoky bacon crisps
• Theatre, ritual, and belief

Special thanks to Nina Atesh, Simon Drake, Graham Jolley, Kim Newman, and everyone at Pither Productions for their generosity, creativity, and for helping bring one of the most intriguing theatrical projects I have encountered in recent years to life.

Hosted by Dr Alessandra Pino.

A podcast exploring how food shapes memory, identity, longing, fear, culture, and storytelling.

📩 Contact: acuriousappetite@gmail.com

Artwork: @medusazzz
Audio Production: @thedeliciouslegacy
Music: @manu_pino_1111

Useful Links

• Pither Productions
• GrimFest London Horror Theatre Festival
• Simon Drake's House of Magic