In Episode 11 I am investigating a fruit with a bit of an image problem. Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is the fruit of an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean. The view of carob as a subsistence food has perhaps tarnished this fruit’s reputation. Yet despite this, the carob grown in the Ragusa district of Sicily has earned a place in the Slow Food Ark of Taste where it is described as having ‘a taste similar to cocoa with hints of honey and caramel, so much so that in ancient times in Sicily it was considered the “poor persons chocolate”.’ In recent years carob has been praised for its healthy credentials being a good source of dietary fibre and antioxidants. However, today it is more likely to be fed to animals than used in a kitchen. So why is it not more widely used in cookery? To help me answer this question I chat to historian Mary Taylor Simeti and food writer Angela Zaher.

Useful Links

Angela Zaher’s website. You can also follow Angela on Instagram.

Mary Taylor Simeti’s books include:

* Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-five Centuries of Sicilian Food

* Bitter Almonds: Recollections and recipes from a Sicilian girlhood (with Maria Grammatico)

* On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal

* Travels With a Medieval Queen

You can also find Mary on Instagram.

Suggested Reading

* Slow Food on Carob

* ‘How Carob Traumatized a Generation’ by Jonathan Kauffman for the New Yorker

* I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga (1881) was translated by Mary A Craig and published in English as The House by the Medlar-Tree (1890)

* ‘Carob: The “Poor Man’s Chocolate”’ by Jo Vraca for Italy Segreta

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.

A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

They will act, conceive all extremes, contrarieties, and contradictions, and that in infinite varieties…Scarce two of two thousand concur in the same symptoms. The Tower of Babel never yielded such confusion of tongues, as the chaos melancholy doth variety of symptoms. - Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621

In Episode 10 I take a look at the perplexing affliction of melancholy in the first of two episodes exploring the relationship between food and mental health.

Early in the seventeenth century a Leicestershire clergyman Robert Burton set out to untangle complex yet bizarrely alluring renaissance disease of melancholy and its effects on mental and physical well being. His research culminated in The Anatomy of Melancholy, a lengthy treatise on how to identify and treat this illness.

Joining me to discuss what melancholy was, Burton’s work and the role food played in exacerbating or treating the condition are Professor Mary Ann Lund of Leicester University and author of A User’s Guide of Melancholy and food historian Ken Albala and author of Eating Right in the Renaissance.

Useful Links

Ken has written many books over the years including:

* Opulent Nosh: A Cookbook

* Beans: A History

* A Cultural History of Food in the Renaissance

* Nuts: A Global History

You can also find Ken on Instagram.

Mary Ann’s books include:

* A User’s Guide to Melancholy

* Melancholy, Medicine and Religion in Early Modern England: Reading 'The Anatomy of Melancholy

Suggested Reading

* The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.

A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In Episode 9 I chat to Professor Thomas David DuBois of Beijing Normal University and author of China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History about the alchemy of fermentation and the importance of fermented foods (especially beans) in Chinese cuisine.

Don’t forget to check out the Comfortably Hungry Substack!

Useful Links

You can find out more about Thomas on his website.

China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.

A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.

Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.