Hungry Books

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Hungry books is a podcast that explores the best books ever written on the subject of food, from history, anthropology, sociology, economics, biography, journals and politics and each episode presents a book that will change your life. Host and producer: Rocio Carvajal, food history writer and cook…

Rocio Carvajal


    • Nov 3, 2023 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 45m AVG DURATION
    • 12 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Hungry Books

    Alcohol in the Age of Industry, Empire, and War

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2023 110:04


    Presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food anthropologist, culture & gastronomy educator. Episode 12 This hybrid episode brings together of Hungry Books and Pass the Chipotle Podcast and I'm joined by Dr Deborah Toner editor of "Alcohol in the Age of Industry, Empire, and War," a ground-breaking volume that explores the intricate connections between alcohol and society from 1850 to 1950.  Through the episode we examine in detail the volume's eight chapters following the complexities of alcohol production, consumption, regulation, and commerce, delving into gendered, medical, religious, ideological, and cultural meanings that surround alcohol. We unpack all the juicy ways in which this book illuminates the global impact of alcohol and its essential role in shaping the processes of empire-building, industrialization, and decolonization. Join us as we uncover the profound influence of alcohol on societies during a transformative era, exploring the intersection of history, culture, and the human spirit. Get the book! Alcohol in the Age of Industry, Empire, and War. Edited by Dr Deborah Toner. (2021)  https://tinyurl.com/25b6au9j Contact Dr Toner: Twitter: @DeborahToner + @DrinkingStudies  Email: dt151@le.ac.uk  Academia.edu: https://tinyurl.com/yphw4wzy Research: https://le.ac.uk/people/deborah-toner  Drinking Studies Network

    Feeding the People: The Politics of the Potato. by Rebecca Earle.

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2021 68:31


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. Episode 11 Welcome to season 2! This book is so much more than a commodity's biography, potatoes are an entry point to explore the history of food policies, the relationships between land, power, botany, science, health, economy and the consequences of colonialism. Find out why our modern attitudes towards eating reflect the complex relationships between individual rights, freedom and the role of the state in society.

    An edible history of humanity by Tom Standage. Ep 10

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2021 47:29


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. Episode 10 Season 1 of Hungry Books Podcast comes to an end with a book that the brings a refreshingly innovative approach to food studies. Tom Standage looks at how food has lead to societal organisation, the creation of geo-political regions, transformation of the landscape, technological revolutions and exploration. From the transition to a sedentary life and the birth of farming to the political and ideological weaponisation of food policies, the book covers 12,000 years of innovation, war, technology, the rise of civilisations and the paradoxes and crossroads that define our present and indeed our future.

    A Short History of Drunkenness by Mark Forsyth

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 11, 2021 53:16


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. Episode 9 Throughout history and across cultures alcohol has been our faithful companion. We have bestowed upon it meanings and functions in our lives and cultures, and wether we consume it or not we are not indifferent to its existence and the power it has in our societies. A Short History of Drunkenness: How, Why, Where, and When Humankind Has Gotten Merry from the Stone Age to the Present by Mark Forsyth is a little, sharp, relentless funny and enlightening read that takes us into a wild historical journey and into different cultures, places and times where alcohol shaped the fait of humans in such a profound way, that it still echoes our to this very day.

    The apple orchard, the story of our most English fruit by Pete Brown

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2020 35:45


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. Episode 8 Our relationship with nature has always been a complex one. Unlike any other species in the world, we’ve dedicated our entire existence to alter it in all sorts of ways, for our own benefit. An apple orchard is a delicate man and nature-made ecosystem where not only apple trees live but also more than 2000 insects that call it home. The book explores the meandering and fascinating history of apples through many intertwined stories that go from horticulture to politics, taste, farming, mysticism and cultural history. With an evangelical passion, Pete Brown introduces us to the wondrous universe of traditional apple orchards and history’s most desired, feared and worshipped and intriguing fruit. Links mentioned on today’s episode:

    Making sense of taste, food and philosophy

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2020 36:09


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. . Episode 7 This book by Carolyn Korsmeyer challenges the traditional philosophical views on 'taste" as an aesthetic category and explores the changing concepts about the sense of taste which was historically considered as inferior to the other senses. Traditional aesthetics doesn’t consider food as an art form, yet, the author argues that food, unlike art can lead to stronger and more complex sensory, emotional and psychological aesthetic experiences in a way that no artistic creation. The episode explores the evolution of ideas about the senses, the philosophical concept about “tasteful and distasteful"and the role of food as a means of artistic expression. Get the books mentioned in the episode:

    Empires of food

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2020 41:08


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. . Episode 6 The premise of "Empires of food. Feast, famine and the rise and fall of civilisations” is that history has shown us that most civilisations have fallen because of the flaws of their food system and that they have followed a clear pattern, one that our very own civilisation seems to be following to the letter. The authors urge us to look into the history of such food systems to understand the success stories and learn from the many cautionary tales such as the Irish potato famine, the fall of the Roman Empire and the disappearance of the Mayan civilisation. They show us how it is possible to create better-integrated solutions to address the increasing demand for food, managing natural resources, and fixing food inequality. This is a book that requires us to become critical thinkers and engages us with provocative ideas, timely calling us to take action.

    The Way We Eat Now: Strategies for Eating in a World of Change. By Bee Wilson

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2020 49:23


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. . Episode 5 This book by award wining author Bee Wilson is a masterclass in food studies, consumption habits, and a great introduction to food economics, it is uncomfortably relentless at providing hard evidence about how little control we have on our lives and the way politics and economics rule our world, our plates and our health. The Way We Eat Now: Strategies for Eating in a World of Change also guides us with compelling arguments, examples and clarity to foster our ability to develop new skills, learn to feed ourselves and others, and take pleasure in eating foods and doing things that are good for us.

    Delizia! The epic story of the Italians and their food

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2020 35:34


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. . Episode 4 Italian is one of the world’s most popular cuisines, but how did it all start? What makes it so delicious? And how it became a global comfort food? This book is filled with fascinating and unexpected revelations, like the fact that many recipes became the best form of political propaganda, and that hunger and war were key in shaping how people ate, even more so than peace and abundance. Delizia! The epic story of the Italians and their food, is a true culinary thriller, that it is as enticing as as it is revealing about how migration, cultural exchange and shifting identities are the true pillars of a culinary tradition that tells the story of the people that made it, one dish at the time.

    Cooked, a Natural History of transformation ♨

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2019 32:31


    Cooked a Natural History of transformation. By Michael Pollan ♨ Ep 3 Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. This weeks book is like taking the red pill, you will embark on a deep philosophical and existential soul searching from the comfort of your kitchen. It is an invitation to understand the value of being mindful, have intention and use information and our creativity to cook for ourselves and others and more importantly it will encourage you to make the conscious effort to get in the kitchen and reclaim what made us human: cooking. ——————————————————— Links mentioned on today’s episode:

    Eggs or Anarchy

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 20:49


    Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal Food history writer, cook and author. The book: Eggs or Anarchy, The remarkable story of the man tasked with the impossible: to feed a nation at war. By William Sitwell Ep 2 This book follows the events that lead to the creation and operation of The Ministry of Food and the man who shaped it: Frederick James Marquis 1st Earl of Woolton, commonly known as Lord Woolton. A man of humble origins compared to the Westminster elite, used his entrepreneurial genius and firm ideals of social justice to run a clock work machine to ensure that Britain survived Hitler’s attempt to starve it by ensuring supplies, rationing and distributing them. This is a book about the work of one of Britain’s most transcendent leaders whose name has almost been forgotten in history. ——————————————————— Links mentioned on today’s episode: ›To get "Eggs or anarchy!" - Click here ›To get some wartime memorabilia - Click here ——————————————————— Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hungrybookspodcast/ web: www.passthechipotle.com/hungrybooks email: hello@passthechipotle.com Twitter: @rocio_carvajalc Make a donation to the show: Buy me a cup of coffee! ☕

    Blood, bones and butter

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2019 15:14


    Blood, bones and butter

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