A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink – Details, episodes & analysis

In this bonus episode Sam explores the Instagram sensation that is the avocado and why this berry that takes its name from the Aztec word for testicle makes some people rather anxious. This is the full interview with author and environmental journalist Louise Gray, who’s book  Avocado Anxiety tracks the stories of our five-a-day from farm to fruit bowl and uncovers the impact that growing fruits and vegetables has on the planet.

You can follow Louise on Instagram and X or find out more about her work here.

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and X (Twitter).

In this episode - the last of the A series! - Alessandra, Neil and Sam take on listeners’ suggestions to create quite the pot pourri mix of anchovies, alewives and avocados.

If you have any suggestions for season ‘B’ let us know! You can find A is for Apple on Instagram and X (Twitter) or email us at aisforapplepod@gmail.com

Useful links and things mentioned in the episode

• Neil Buttery, Knead to Know, Icon Books, out this September 2024!
• Fresh, (2022)
• Food Standard Agency Food additives 
• British Food: a History, Scotch woodcock
• Marine Conservation Society
• Neil Cooks Grigson, To Make a Nice Whet Before Dinner
• Ortiz anchovies 
• Sally Granger , The Story of Garum (2020)
• The Epic of Gilgamesh  (c.2150-1400 BCE)
• William Shakespeare,  The Taming of the Shrew  (1594)
• Women in Beer
• Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado (1958)
• Bee Wilson, Swindled: From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee (2008)
• Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery (1747) 
• Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper (1769)
• Judith M Bennett, Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England (1996)
• William Langland, Piers the Plowman (1887)
• Charlie Taverner, Street Food: Hawkers and the History of London (2023)

In this bonus episode, Allie interviews apple detective Tom Adams to discuss his work in uncovering forgotten and nearly extinct apple varieties, and why preserving them is crucial.

Contact us:

email: aisforapplepod.gmail.com

Find our Substack, social media & various other bits and bobs via our Linktree: linktr.ee/aisforapplepod

In the very first episode, Neil is presenting and gives everyone a free choice as to what topic they want to talk about, as long as it begins with A of course. Alessandra goes for apples, Neil chooses absinthe and Sam looks into adulteration.

Links to things mentioned in this episode:

‘13 Magical Ways to Use Apples’

Glyn Hughes’ Alan Turin sculpture

‘Lancashire man poisoned after eating cherry seeds’ article on BBC News

‘How Did La Belle Époque Become Europe’s Golden Age?’ article on The Collector

‘Site of "The Absinthe Murders"’ article on Atlas Obscura

The Apple Tree (1952) by Daphne du Maurier

Hallowe’en Party (1969) by Agatha Christie

The July Ghost (1982) by A.S. Byatt

Join our free Substack to get extra bonus features: https://substack.com/profile/147444179-sam-bilton 

Anything to add? Don’t forget we want to hear your suggestions for future topics.

Contact us:

email: aisforapplepod.gmail.com

Social media:

twitter/X: @aisforapplepod

Instagram: @aisforapplepod_

In this extra bonus episode, Neil talks with Sam and Alessandra about why getting plenty of nitrogen in the soil is good for making amino acids and therefore protein.

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and X (Twitter).

Sam Bilton also hosts the Comfortably Hungry Podcast and is the author of First Catch Your Gingerbread, Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron and The Philosophy of Chocolate. You can find her on Instagram and X.

Dr Neil Buttery also hosts the British Food History Podcast and is the author of A Dark History of Sugar and Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald Britain’s Most Influential Housekeeper. You can find him on Instagram and X.

Dr Alessandra Pino also co-hosts the Fear Feasts Podcast and is the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook. You can find her on Instagram and X.

In this episode Allie gives Sam and Neil a topic to sink their teeth into as we discuss all things meaty. We chat about fake birds, meat jellies and learn why certain molecules make savoury food so irresistibly scrumptious.

Useful Links and things mentioned in the episode

Neil cooks Jane Grigson’s recipe for Guards of Honour

Eating Ortolans - Gastro Obscura

Neil’s woodcock recipe

Neil’s snipe recipe

Alouette, Gentile Alouette

Neil’s recipe for Seftons (savoury custards)

Neil cooks Jane Grigson’s recipe for Hindle Wakes

Jurassic Park Lysine Scene

What Should We Call Frankenmeat? The Cut by Edith Zimmerman (2018)

Carry on Screaming Reel (sadly this doesn’t show the ‘victims’ getting encased in wax but it gives you an idea)

Han Solo frozen in Carbonite

Suggested Reading

The Inferno (1265-1321), by Dante Alighieri

Forme of Cury (c.1380)

Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron (2023) by Sam Bilton

‘The Sit Down’ in Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (2010) for the description of eating Ortolans

A Gothic Cookbook (2024) by Ella Buchan and Dr Alessandra Pino

Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most influential Housekeeper (2023) Neil Buttery

The Constance Spry Cookery Book (1956) by Rosemary Hume and Constance Spry

Mrs Beeton and Mrs Marshall (2023) by Emma Kay

Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier

Here is an extra helping of the A is for Apple podcast following on from our last episode on vegetables. If you listened to the last 'A' episode, you’re probably thinking that we were on our best behaviour. But you should know us better than that by now!

As ever Allie, Neil and I talked for ages about our vegetal A’s and inevitably we strayed onto our pet subjects of aphrodisiacs and sex. So here are the saucy bits we couldn’t fit into the previous episode on vegetables. But we start by continuing our discussion on the perils of recipe testing. 

Suggested Reading

English Food (1998) by Jane Grigson

Good Savouries (1934) by Ambrose Heath

Royal Cookery or the Compleat Court Cook by Patrick Lamb (1726)

Put Out More Flags (1942) by Evelyn Waugh

In today’s episode we will be discussing what many a child dreads encountering on their dinner plate. So prepare yourself for a wrinkled nose or two, an impromptu visit to the sick room and a few prickly surprises as Allie, Neil and I explore the verdant world of vegetables. 

Useful Links

Sam’s Recipe for William Verrall’s Sweetbreads With Asparagus (1759)

Sam’s interpretation of Hannah Glasse’s Asparagus in a French Role (sic) on Instagram (essentially a quiche in a loaf of bread)

Neil’s Butter Sauce (a classic accompaniment to asparagus)

You can also find Neil’s talk on 'Navigating 19th Century English meals through Worcester porcelain' for the Museum of Royal Worcester onYouTube

Lindsay Middleton’s project Dishes for the Sickroom examines the links between food, health, education and international ingredients in the culinary collections of the Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) Archive Centre.  

Suggested Reading

Emma by Jane Austen (1815)

The Diner’s Dictionary by John Ayto (1993)

Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton (1861)

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (1993)

The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy by Giacomo Castelvetro (1614)

‘Crumbs! A history of biscuits in 15 fantastic facts – from flatulence cure to phenomenal fuel’ by Lizzie Collingham in The Guardian, 18 October 2020

The Art of the Asparagus by Daisy Dunn in the Spectator, 15 May 2021

Acetaria. A discourse of sallets by John Evelyn (1706)

In today’s baking themed episode, Alessandra looks into that classic piece of kitchen kit, the Aga, Neil investigates hyper-regional Welsh biscuits called Aberffraw cakes and Sam goes oh-so-retro with a deep-dive into angelica.

Books and other things mentioned in this episode:

Joanna Trollope A Village Affair (1989) Televised version (1995)

Book on Archive.org Television adaptation on YouTube

Mary Berry New Aga Cookbook (1999) Book on Archive.org

Ambrose Heath First Aga cookbook: Good Food on the Aga (1933) Book on Persephone Books

Sussex Pond Pudding Recipe on Neil Cooks Grigson blog

Cassel’s Dictionary Link on Wellcome Collection

Laura Mason and Catherine Brown The Taste of Britain (2010) Book on HarperCollins

Aberffraw Traditional Biscuit Company Website

Tale of Thormod and Thorarin translated in The Sagas of Kormak and The Sworn Brothers. Trans. Lee M Hollander, New York: Princeton University Press, 1949 pp179 

'Angelica: From Norwegian Mountains to the English Trifle' by Ove Fosså in Wild Food: Proceedings of the Oxford Food Symposium on Food and Cookery 2004. Totnes: Prospect Books, 2006, 13 PDF link

Edward Daniel Clarke Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa (1810-1823)Link on Wellcome Collection

John Parkinson Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris (1629) Link on Wellcome Collection

Robin Weir Ices: The Definitive Guide (1995) Book on Amazon

Curnonsky La Table et l’Amour (1950) Book on Untje.com

Contact us

email: aisforapplepod@gmail.com

linktree: linktr.ee/aisforapplepod

Social media

twitter/X: @aisforapplepod

Instagram: @aisforapplepod_

Things start to get fruity in this third episode. Neil chooses almonds, fuelling a historical debate that goes a bit nuts. Apricots are more Allie’s jam as she looks at their use in literature and Sam takes the less beaten track of the aubergine, sparking memories of the time she made a parmigiana…on TV!

Useful Links

Neil's recipe for - or, rather, interpretation of - medieval blanc mange and modern, sweet blancmange.

‘Almond trees in Ancient Greek lore’ on the Greek News Agenda website

History of the Bimberlot Festival. ‘A French Party 600 Years in the Making’ by Hugh Thomas on the Smart Mouth Substack.

‘The "pretty art" of detecting pregnancy in The Duchess of Malfi’ by Claire McEwen Duncan via University of British Colombia Open Collections.

‘Eggplant (aubergine) — A Mad Apple with a Dark Liaison’ on the Vegetarians in Paradise website

‘Eggplant (aubergine) Symbol Timeline in Love in the Time of Cholera’ on the LitCharts website

Suggested Reading

In Search of Lost Time (1913) by Marcel Proust

The Experienced English Housekeeper (1769) by Elizabeth Raffald

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1605) by William Shakespeare

Apricot Jam and Other Stories (2008) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking (1987) by Hilary Spurling (based on the late sixteenth century manuscript notebook belonging to Elinor Fettiplace)

The Duchess of Malfi (1613) by John Webster 

Pride and Pudding: The History of British Puddings, Savory and Sweet (2016) by Regula Ysewijn

Anything to add? Don’t forget we want to hear your suggestions for future topics.

Contact us

email: aisforapplepod.gmail.com

linktree: linktr.ee/aisforapplepod

Social media

twitter/X: @aisforapplepod

Instagram: @aisforapplepod_