Hungry Books

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.

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Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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.

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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.

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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.

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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:

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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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.

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Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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.

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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.

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

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 by John Dickie, 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.

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

Ep 3

This week's 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, having an intention and using 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.

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Links mentioned on today’s episode:

📕 Get the Book!: https://amzn.to/2OhydLU

 Talks by Michael Pollan:

"Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation" | Talks at Google

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

Ep 2

"Eggs or Anarchy, The remarkable story of the man tasked with the impossible: to feed a nation at war" by William Sitwell 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.

Hungry Books is presented by: Rocio Carvajal food anthropologist, culture and gastronomy educator.

Episode 1

This podcast premieres with "Blood Bones and Butter, the Inadvertent education of a Chef" by Gabrielle Hamilton a book that is thorny, delicious, oozing honesty to the point of being slightly uncomfortable, but it is also moving, inspiring and full of vitality intrigued? Have a listen, get the book, and let me know if you also agree with the Anthony Bourdain’s opinion that this is “simply the best memoir by a chef ever. Ever”.