Folklore, Food and Fairytales – Details, episodes & analysis

So, some big news about changes to the podcast plus a wonderful story: Davey & The King of the Fishes.

You can find out and get updates about my new podcast at my new website: A Question of Death

You can find more about me and Folklore, Food and Fairytales via my ⁠⁠Linktree⁠⁠ which will continue as purely as storytelling podcast with a monthly folktale or two featuring food.

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: ⁠⁠How Food Frames Stories⁠⁠. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: ⁠⁠Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller ⁠⁠

You can also ⁠⁠subscribe⁠⁠ here (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at ⁠⁠Hestia's Kitchen⁠⁠ which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  

A collection of wintery and festive tales for the season: Why the Sea is Salt, The Christmas Bear and Twelve Brothers.

The first is 'Why the Sea is Salt' a Norwegian tale adapted from Christmas Fairytales colled by Neil Phillip. The story begins on a bitterly cold Christmas Eve when a poor and hungry man finds himself unable to provide for his family and turns to his rich brother. The brother unwittingly starts him on the road toto a better life, but first he must pay a trip to hell with a side of bacon .........

The second is The Christmas Bear inspired by and adapted from the tale shared by both Lari Don in Fire & Ice and by Margaret Sperry in Scandinavian Stories. The story begins in the coldest part of Norway with a hunter and the capture of a strangely stubborn but wise snow bear. They stop on their journey to find out why a family is forced from their home every Christmas Eve ........

The third is Twelve Brothers, adapted from Folktales of Scandinavia collected by Polly Curren. The story begins when a Queen of the of the cold northern lands who has been blessed with many sons, spills red blood on the white snow and dreams of a daughter. This sets in train a set of entirely unforeseen circumstances .....

You can find more about me and Folklore, Food and Fairytales via my ⁠⁠Linktree⁠⁠

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: ⁠⁠How Food Frames Stories⁠⁠. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: ⁠⁠Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller ⁠⁠

You can also ⁠⁠subscribe⁠⁠ here (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at ⁠⁠Hestia's Kitchen⁠⁠ which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  

In which we find out that certain tropes aren't always true, that a heart of gold sometimes needs assistance and that brownies and a bannock in the house are invaluable. We also venture into peat bogs and cheese riots in pursuit of food and folklore.

Our story: The Laird with a Heart of Gold adapted from Thistle and Thyme : tales and legends from Scotland - Sorche Nic Leodhas

Our Recipe: Fresh Cheese

If you would like to hear more about what I talked about in this episode you can find books and links at Further Reading

You can find more about me and the podcast via my Linktree

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe here (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here

This episdoe is a little different but I hope you enjoy a wonderful Welsh tale from fantastic storyteller Owen Staton and our chat in which we barely touch the depths of how both food and stories can break down barriers between people and nourish our souls but had a fabulous time in the talking just the same.

As a bonus I also interviewed Catherine Warr about her fascinating new book A Yorkshire Year: Folklore, history, traditions as well as finding out all about how she got interested in folklore as well as 'fakelore'.

You can find Owen on Twitter and Youtube. As well as being the host of Time Between Times Storytelling Podcast, he also hosts Spectre of the Sea, a folklore and legends podcast with Bethan Briggs-Miller. You can also join Owen as he hosts a Sunday Story every week via Twitter Spaces - one of the best cures I know for the Sunday night blues.

You can find Catherine on Twitter and Youtube and her website. Her book is available from Carnegie Publishing or other good booksellers.

You can find more about me and the podcast via my Linktree

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe here (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here

In which we discover that taking care of animals is its own reward, fishermen are somehow inherently magical, womens voices can achieve change and a good risotto creates its own legend.

Our story: Why Cats and Dogs Disagree - adapted from a Korean tale found in Nine Lives: the Folklore of Cats edited by Katharine Briggs

Our Recipe: Risotto

Risotto Meditation

If you would like to hear more about what I talked about in this episode you can find books and links at Further Reading

You can find more about me and the podcast via my Linktree

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe here (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here

In this episode I talked with Aaron Bobick the host of Appalachian Folklore Podcast and Stories from the Cabin, a storytelling podcast within a podcast and we talked all things food, folklore and story.

Aaron is a brewer-turned-distiller by day. His undergraduate and graduate studies were in literature, bibliography, and textual editing where he gained a love for research; for finding the history of any given topic that interests him. 

His research into UK folklore is what started his fascination with the history of Appalachian folklore: how the folk practices still seen today through various regions of Appalachia can be traced back to much older practices throughout Europe, and the world. The podcast takes a researched-based, academic-adjacent, look at the world of Appalachian folklore while making it approachable to all listeners.

You can find the podcast by following the link above or wherever you get your podcasts and his most recent episode explores one of the topics we discussed in much more detail: Ramp Harvesting, Festival Traditions, and Sustainability.

The links I mentioned in the episode:

The Cornish Pasty in Northern Michigan by William G Lockwood and Yvonne R Lockwood - Food in Motion, The Migration of Foodstuffs and Cookery Techniques – Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1983

Orange Chips - Vittles Article about Chippy Traditions

Fried Chicken - This is the Guardian article that I mentioned by Melissa Thompson where she discusses Fried Chicken and racism (my apologies to Melissa as I referenced Korean Fried Chicken in the episode but I should have said karaage from Japan) . Her new book, Motherland, is fabulous and is packed with excellent, mouth-watering recipes.

Interview with Robbie Armstrong - How Food Frames Stories

Green Bean Casserole - This is the book chapter Aaron references.

You can find also find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here

In which we find out that eggs are not as straight forward as you might think, that luck doesn't really come into it, that truths can be uncomfortable and that the advice you recieve from old women is invaluable no matter where they heard it.

Our story: The Search for Luck adapted from Modern Greek Folktales by RM Dawkins from 1953

Our Recipe: Chip Omelette

Here are the newsletter and Episode Recipe I mentioned.

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore,    history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional    cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If  you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here

In which we discover that princes can be forgiven anything, that women are destined to some sorrow no matter what they do, that onions aren't always just onions and secure mail is essential. 

Our story: Prince Lindorm, adapted from the Pink Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang

Our Recipe: French Onion Soup

If you would like to hear more about what I talked about in this episode you can find books and links at Further Reading

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore,   history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional   cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here

In which a shoemaker reluctantly becomes a hero, a princess reluctantly gets married and we discover the relevance of a giant, a unicorn, a wild boar and some ricotta.

The Story in this episode is: The Brave Little Shoemaker, a Sicilian tale adapated from various sources including Laura Gonzenbach

The Recipe in this episode is: Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne

If you would like to hear more about what I talked about in this episode you can find books and links at Further Reading

Jack the Giant Killer Episode

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore,  history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional  cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If  you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here

The Story in this episode is: The Christmas Cuckoo - This story is adapted from a literary fairytale written by Frances Elizabeth Browne from a book called from Granny’s Wonderful Chair, first published in 1856.  Frances was born in 1816 in Donegal but moved first to Scotland and then to London. She originally wrote poetry but also wrote short stories.  The whole collection is beautiful and she created a gorgeous world rich in imaginative detail, made even more incredible by the fact that she lost her sight at 8 months old. 

If you would like to hear the festive story collections I talked about in this episode you can find them at Festive Story Collections

You can find the interviews in my newest interview series here: How Food Frames Stories. You can find my interviews with storytellers here: Vernacular Voices of the Storyteller 

You can also subscribe (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog.  If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me here