Podcasts

Leftovers Through History Refuse food waste

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The tops of green, red and yellow waste bins labelled Compost, and RecycleWaste,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:17 — 26.0MB)

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Portrait of Eleanor Barnett
Eleanor Barnett

We all know we’re supposed to reduce our food waste, but what exactly is the difference between waste and leftovers? For me, leftovers become waste when they turn green and furry, forgotten at the back of the fridge, but that’s a very narrow view. Eleanor Barnett is a historian whose book Leftovers: a history of food waste and preservation takes a much broader look at food scarcity, food surpluses and the byproducts of food production that people don’t or won’t eat. Our conversation reflected on the complex relationships among food waste, human behaviour, and systemic factors throughout history, advocating for a renewed appreciation of the value of food.

Notes

  1. Follow Eleanor Barnett as historyeats on Instagram. She also has a website.
  2. Leftovers: a history of food waste and preservation is available from UK booksellers and will be published in the US in September.
  3. Here’s the transcript.
  4. Banner photo from Nareeta Martin on Unsplash. Cover photo by Kathleen Franklin on Flickr.

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Podcasts

What is Chametz? Neither science nor scholarship can really answer the question

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Medieval illustration of passover

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A sign in Jerusalem in Hebrew, Arabic and English. The English text reads: Please refrain from eating "Chametz" (bread and other leavened foods)in the Jewish quarter during Passover. Thank you!One of the key activities in an observant Jewish household’s preparation for Passover is the hunt for and destruction of chametz, anything that involves leavened grain. At one level, the search means that the house gets an extremely thorough cleaning at least once a year. At another, there are associations that equate ridding the house of chametz with ridding the mind of ego and other spiritual concerns. But what exactly is chametz? In trying to get to some sort of “truth” I discovered that there can be no right or wrong answer, only opinions, more or less persuasive, more or less accepted. In the end, the meaning of chametz rests on history and tradition, and new traditions are possible.

Notes

  1. I do have a list of all the sources I consulted, which I can share if needed.
  2. Here is a copy of the script.
  3. Banner image from the National Library of Israel. Cover image via Wikimedia Commons

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Podcasts

Passover and Easter Revisited Another look at some ritual foods of the season

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:46 — 34.7MB)

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The last supper was a Passover Seder, and for two thousand years Passover and Easter have been linked. The links, however, are complex, which is why I am taking the opportunity to expand on a five-year-old episode.

The rituals of the Passover dinner have been in place for thousands of years, although always open to interpretation and evolution. And yet, although different Christian traditions have their ritual Easter foods, there don’t seem to be any universals. The episode looks at these two contrasting aspects of ritual foods.

Susan WeingartenFirst, I talked to Susan Weingarten talks about the Seder dinner and especially an item essential on the Passover table that is not mentioned in God’s original instructions for the last supper of the Israelites in Egypt. While nobody knows how it came to be, every Jewish culture has its own version of haroset and its own idea of what it means.

Edna Holmgren and her daughter Lois Long
Edna Holmgren and her daughter Lois Long at the Hall of Fame celebration in 1988
Then, I spoke to Lois Long about a recipe made famous by her mother, Edna M. Holmgren. Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1969. Later, they were expropriated by some Christians to retell the story of the resurrection, though personally I doubt they will ever become universal.

The Recipe

typewritten recipe for magic marshmallow crescent puffs

This copy of Edna Holmgren’s recipe is not quite the original. Lois Long told me that “the flour in the cinnamon sugar mixture was Pillsbury’s idea. I cut it down to 1 tbsp but I don’t like it. The original recipe has no flour.” I do wonder what it is there for. Possibly to soak up melting gooeyness, because many of the comments on the Hall of Fame website are complaints about the mess if the pastry isn’t very carefully sealed.

Notes

  1. Susan Weingarten’s book Haroset: A Taste of Jewish History is published by The Toby Press.
  2. Huge thanks to Lois Long for sharing her time, her memories, and copies of some of her memorabilia.
  3. The cover image is of an illuminated manuscript from the workshop of Valentine Noh in Prague, about 1470. The Passover plate is Italian majolica from The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Podcasts

Malta Besieged & Black-market Intrigues A blind eye on crime

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Map of Turkish forces at the Great Siege of Malta 1565

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:09 — 26.8MB)

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Black and white photo of Maltese women washing clothes in the rubble of their houses in June 1942Malta, just off the coast of Sicily in the middle of the Mediterranean, has always been of enormous strategic importance. As a result it has been claimed, and fought over, by empire after empire. Each time it was vulnerable to a blockade of essential food supplies because the tiny island — Malta is only 27 kilometres long — cannot possibly feed itself. Despite this history, going into World War II neither the British colonial government nor the Maltese people were prepared for the inevitable blockade. When rationing was imposed, however, the authorities deliberately turned a blind eye to those who were finding ways to evade the restrictions of the black market. It made sense to do so, as I heard from Maltese historian Noel Buttigieg.

Notes

  1. Noel Buttigieg’s paper is Breadways and Black-Market Intrigues in 1942 Malta.
  2. Here is the transcript.
  3. The banner photograph shows part of the Turkish fleet and military at the start of the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. It was created by Giovanni Francesco Camocio as part of an effort to rouse European support against the Turks. Cover photograph shows Maltese women washing clothes in the ruins of their homes at the height of the blockade, 4 June 1942. ©IWM (GM 904)

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Podcasts

The Case for Folic Acid Fortification Finally, a benefit of Brexit?

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A plate of spinach salad because spinach leaves are high in folate

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:54 — 20.2MB)

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Cover artwork

Spina bifida is a neural tube defect that is one of the most common severe birth defects in the world. The main cause is a lack of folate vitamin in the diet, and in 1991, the UK’s Medical Research Council halted a trial of folic acid supplementation early because it was obvious that the supplement was preventing a large number of cases. At the time, the trial’s authors concluded: “public health measures should be taken to ensure that the diet of all women who may bear children contains an adequate amount of folic acid.”

The United States was relatively quick to act, mandating flour be fortified with folic acid in 1998, followed by around 80 countries worldwide. Countries with mandatory fortification have seen a drop in neural tube defects of between one third and one half. But not the European Union nor, until recently, the United Kingdom.

The European Union concedes: “There has been no real progress in preventing NTDs in Europe since folic acid supplementation was shown to be an effective preventive measure.”

Finally, the UK has put forward proposals to fortify white flour, but many doctors say they could do much more. Europe is still to act.

Notes

  1. The US Centers for Disease Control has an excellent series of pages on neural tube defects with links to a lot more research.
  2. The European Union also has a page on Folic Acid and Neural Tube Defects.
  3. Helena Bottemiller Evich recently did a great and personal write-up of prenatal vitamins in her newsletter, Food Fix.
  4. Mun-Keat Looi’s article Folic acid: The case to rethink the UK’s food fortification plans is behind a paywall.
  5. Here is the transcript.
  6. Spinach salad by Lucy Clink, photographed by me. Folic acid molecular model by Ben Mills.

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