The Hungry Historians

Sauces with Andrew Donnelly, Beth M. Forrest, and Deirdre Murphy

Sauces are often important parts of a meal, but a part that we don’t think too much about when studying the history of food. In this week’s episode Kelly A. Spring discusses how sauces define our meals and influence the way we think about ourselves and the food that we eat. This discussion is with Andrew Donnelly, Beth M. Forrest and Deirdre Murphy, authors of an edited collection called From Garum to Mole: Sauces and Identity in the Western World [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/from-garum-to-mole-9780190622091?cc=gb&lang=en&], which was released by the Oxford University Press in 2026. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠ [https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home],  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content. https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home

Food as a clue - Alias Agnes - The Guilded Age Spy with Elizabeth DeWolfe

When Elizabeth A. DeWolfe delved into her sources about the notorious case of Madeleine Pollard verses her former lover, Congressman William C.P. Breckinridge, she discovered that food was used as a clue and a method of connection for Jane Tucker (using the alias Agnes Parker), the woman Breckinridge employed to spy on Madeleine. In this week’s episode of The Hungry Historians, Matt Phillpott and Kelly Spring talk with Elizabeth DeWolfe about her research and how food became an essential ingredient in the tale of an eighteenth century American scandal. Elizabeth DeWolfe published this research in 2025  as Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of A Gilded Age Spy [https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781985902244/alias-agnes/], through the University Press of Kentuck. You can learn more about Elizabeth at her website https://www.elizabethdewolfe.com [https://www.elizabethdewolfe.com/]. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠ [https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home],  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content. https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home

Tomatoes in Egypt with Anny Gaul

Tomatoes arrived in Egypt in the 16th century but quickly became ubiquitous with Egyptian foodways. In this episode we talk with Anny Gaul, an assistant professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Maryland. Anny published in 2025, Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian culinary history of the tomato [https://www.ucpress.edu/books/nile-nightshade/paper], through the University of California Press. She also runs the popular food blog Cooking with Gaul [https://cookingwithgaul.com]. You can learn more about Anny Gaul on her website [https://cookingwithgaul.com]and buy her book on the University of California Press [https://www.ucpress.edu/books/nile-nightshade/paper] website and other bookstores. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠ [https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home],  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content. https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home

Post-colonial realism and cuisine with Hanna Kassab

How do people think about their own cuisines and those of their neighbouring countries? How does this ‘feeling’ reflect on our political attitudes and our defence of what we see as ours? In this week’s episode of The Hungry Historians Matt and Kelly talk with Hanna Kassab, Associate Professor at East Carolina University. Hanna describes his discoveries from travelling to various countries and exploring their attitudes to their cuisines. This was for his 2025 book, Post-Colonial Realism: Cultural Conflicts, Cuisine, and the Changing International System [https://www.routledge.com/Post-Colonial-Realism-Cultural-Conflicts-Cuisine-and-the-Changing-International-System/Kassab/p/book/9781041052227] from Routledge. You can learn more about Dr Hanna Kassab on his ECU profile [https://politicalscience.ecu.edu/about/faculty-staff/kassab/]page and follow him on X [https://x.com/hskassab] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@handaman112/videos]. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠ [https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home],  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content. https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home

Ruin their Crops on the Ground with Andrea Freeman

Food is politics, and politics is food. In this week’s episode Matt and Kelly talk with Andrea Freeman about her 2024 book Ruin their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food, in the United States, from the trail of tears to school lunch, which was published by Macmillan [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250871046/ruintheircropsontheground/]. Andrea’s study makes the argument that food policy and laws in the US have created and maintained racial and social inequality. Using history to understand this ‘food oppression’. Andrea Freeman works at the Southwestern Law School Lost Angeles and you can learn more about her on her profile page [https://www.swlaw.edu/faculty/full-time/andrea-freeman]. This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠ [https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home],  an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content. https://www.bloomsburyfoodlibrary.com/home