Welcome to the award winning Comfortably Hungry podcast where yesterday’s dinner is tomorrow’s history. If you’re a peckish person who is curious about the history of food and drink, then you’re in the right place. I’m Sam Bilton a food historian, writer and cook and each season I will be joined by some hungry guests to discuss a variety topics centred around a specific theme. As a former supper club host I’m always intrigued to know what people like to eat. So to whet everyone’s appetites I have invited my guests to contribute a virtual dish with them inspired by today’s topic.
comfortablyhungry.substack.com (https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
What can Conquest Man tell us about our diet in 1066?
Ahead of my discussion with Jennie Hood (https://substack.com/profile/446196598-jennie-hood) and Professor Giles Gasper at the Serve It Forth Food History Festival (https://serveitforthfest.wixsite.com/info)about how the Normans changed the way we eat, I had a chat with Kevin Booth, English Heritage’s Head Curator of Collections, about what the skeleton of ‘Conquest Man (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/search-news/310826-conquest-man/)’ can tell us about the diet and health of the English at the time of the Norman invasion.
Facial depiction by Face Lab (https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/research/centres-and-institutes/forensic-research-institute/related-research-groups/face-lab), Liverpool John Moore’s University. Credit: English Heritage
There’s also a little taster of the other courses my co-curators ( A Curious Appetite (https://substack.com/profile/40051343-a-curious-appetite), Neil Buttery (https://britishfoodhistory.com) and Thom Ntinas (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-delicious-legacy/id1494707127)) are serving up during the festival which features Eleanor Barnett (https://www.eleanorbarnett.com), Paul Couchman (https://paulcouchman.co.uk), Sally Grainger (https://www.instagram.com/sally_grainger_garum/), Sudi Pigott (https://substack.com/profile/2321214-sudi-pigott) and Alexandra Sills (https://www.ancientalexandra.co.uk). Tickets for the online festival are available here (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serve-it-forth-food-history-festival-2026-tickets-1992224789976).
The Serve It Forth Food History Festival is made possible with the generous support of our sponsors ckbk (https://app.ckbk.com), Steenbergs (https://steenbergs.co.uk), Regency Fiction Writers (https://regencyfictionwriters.org), Replica (https://replica.co.uk), Blackfriars Restaurant (https://blackfriarsrestaurant.co.uk) and Lindisfarne Mead (https://www.lindisfarnemead.com).
If you happen to be in or near Barton on Humber in Lincolnshire (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/st-peters-church-barton-upon-humber/) on 20 September 2026 between 12pm and 4pm you can see Conquest Man’s skeleton and find out more about this project at St Peter’s Church.
If you’d like to get a sense of what life was like for Conquest Man and his contemporaries during the Norman Conquest, Battle Abbey in East Sussex is hosting its annual reenactment of the Battle of Hastings (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/whats-on/battle-abbey-battle-of-hastings-10-to-11-oct-2026/) on 10 and 11 October 2026, the week before Serve It Forth. Hundreds of reenactors take part, recreating Norman and Saxon camps and giving visitors an insight into everyday life for people almost 1,000 years ago. Tickets are now available from www.english-heritage.org.uk/battle (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/1066-battle-of-hastings-abbey-and-battlefield/)
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com) (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip (https://ko-fi.com/sambilton90015) here.
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mrssbilton/) or Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/mrssbilton.bsky.social) @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com (https://www.sambilton.com).
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-delicious-legacy/id1494707127) for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat (https://www.zapsplat.com) and Pond5 (https://www.pond5.com).
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe (https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
3 Sept 2026
Bonus Episode: Much Depends Upon Dinner
In this extra helping of the Comfortably Hungry podcast I chat to chef Jago Rackham (https://substack.com/profile/9270800-jago-rackham) and author of To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party about the complexities (or not) of hosting a dinner party. We chat about stuffy Victorian etiquette manuals (which Jago’s book most definitely isn’t), his Grandmother’s account book and why plating up à la Russe is overrated.
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com) (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip (https://ko-fi.com/sambilton90015) here.
Useful Links
To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/to-entertain-instructions-for-a-dinner-party-jago-rackham/d5c4121d95960ca5?ean=9781408783283&bkshp-astro=t) is available now from lots of great independent booksellers (and the other usual suspects).
You can find Jago on Substack (https://greed.substack.com) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ecstasy_cookbook/).
I will be appearing at the Ludlow Food Festival (https://www.ludlowfoodfestival.co.uk/whats-on/sam-bilton-a-is-for-apple-c-is-for-castle) (as will Jago) and the Gloucester History Festival (https://www.gloucesterhistoryfestival.co.uk/events/chocolate-night/) later this month and will be one of the hosts of the Serve It Forth Food History Festival (https://serveitforthfest.wixsite.com/info) on 17 October 2026.
Suggested Reading
There are lots of Victorian etiquette manuals available online at Internet Archive if you want to see examples of the advice that used to be dished out, such as:
* The Habits of Good Society (https://archive.org/details/habitsofgoodsoci00unse/mode/2up) (1859)
* Host And Guest : A Book About Dinners, Dinner-Giving, Wines, And Desserts (https://archive.org/details/b21527544)by A. V. Kirwan (1864)
* Our Mutual Friend (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/883/883-h/883-h.htm) by Charles Dickens (1864) - not an etiquette book but his characters Mr & Mrs Veneering are perfect examples of the sort of people that these books were aimed at.
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mrssbilton/) or Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/mrssbilton.bsky.social) @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com (https://www.sambilton.com).
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-delicious-legacy/id1494707127) for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat (https://www.zapsplat.com) and Pond5 (https://www.pond5.com).
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe (https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
15 Aug 2026
Bonus Episode: Consider the Anchovy
In this bonus episode I plunge into the history of the anchovy - the little fish with a big flavour with food writer Sudi Pigott (https://substack.com/profile/2321214-sudi-pigott). We discuss how Sudi became an anchovy evangelist, explore the lives of the women (sobadoras) who are vital to the anchovy industry and lots more.
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com) (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip (https://ko-fi.com/sambilton90015) here.
Useful Links
Consider the Anchovy (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16372/9781035431212) is available from all good independent bookshops (and the usual big book suppliers but they don’t need a plug here).
Don’t forget to visit Sudi’s website (https://sudifoodie.com/) for more details on her work and events plus follow her anchovy travels on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sudifoodie) and Substack (https://howtobeabetterfoodie.substack.com/). You’ll find Sudi at festivals in Abergevenny (https://www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com), Chiswick (https://www.chiswickbookfestival.net) and Folkestone (https://www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/whats-on/sudi-pigott-taste-describe-devour-andndash-a-food-writing-workshop/) later this year.
And I will be appearing at the Ludlow Food Festival (https://www.ludlowfoodfestival.co.uk/whats-on/sam-bilton-a-is-for-apple-c-is-for-castle) and the Gloucester History Festival (https://www.gloucesterhistoryfestival.co.uk/events/chocolate-night/).
You can find out more about the Serve It Forth Food History Festival on 17 October 2026 here (https://serveitforthfest.wixsite.com/info).
* Consider the Anchovy Dinner at Caldesi Restaurant (https://www.caldesi.com/caldesi-in-marylebone/)in London
* Anchovy Festival and the Anchovy Tapa Trail (https://www.visitlescala.com/en/activities-lescala/traditions/fiesta-anchoa-y-tapas)in L’Escala (Spain)
* Museo Dell’acciuga (https://www.museodellacciuga.it) in Aspra (Sicily)
* Anchoas Hazas (https://anchoashazas.com)
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mrssbilton/) or Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/mrssbilton.bsky.social) @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com (https://www.sambilton.com).
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-delicious-legacy/id1494707127) for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat (https://www.zapsplat.com) and Pond5 (https://www.pond5.com).
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe (https://comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
Who has been a guest on Comfortably Hungry
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Caroline Crampton
Orlando Murrin
Alessandra Pino
Pen Vogler
Kevin Geddes
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4 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 47 / 100
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49
Social presence
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YouTube
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Engagement
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