S3 E2: Burnt Cakes and the (not so) Dark Ages

The Sutton Hoo Helmet British Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In Episode 2 I am joined by Emma Kay a Historian and Archaeologist, who specialises in food history. We discuss Emma’s book on Anglo-Saxon culinary history, Fodder & Drincan, and discover why the so called ‘dark ages’ between the Romans quitting Britain in the 5th century CE and the Norman conquest in 1066 are not as gloomy on the food front as people once thought.

Useful Links

Emma is the author of numerous books on culinary history including Fodder & Drincan: Anglo Saxon Culinary History. You can find her on Instagram and X. She is currently digitising her vast collection of antique kitchen equipment which will soon be available on museumofkitchenalia.co.uk.

Emma is also on YouTube: Food & Histo-Archaeology with Emma Kay

Emma’s next book Wortes and All: Medieval Cooking will be available from Amberley Publishing in April 2025.

Anglo Saxon sites in the UK include Sutton Hoo or West Stow Village, in Suffolk. Or visit the British Museum to see the famous Sutton Hoo helmet pictured above.

Vikings, all episodes streaming on Prime.

Suggested Reading

If you want to find out more about this era Emma recommends the following books:

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

• Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Monastic Sign Language and Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming by Debby Banham

• Beowulf

• Cambridge University Press have a number of books available in their Anglo Saxon Studies series.

• Wortcunning and Starcraft (3 Vols) by Oswald Cockayne

• Christine Fell specialised in Anglo-Saxon and Viking history and was an Old English specialist

• The Roman Cookery Book (a translation of De re coquinaria, aka Apicius) by Barbara Flower and Elizabeth Rosenbaum

• Anglo Saxon Food and Drink by Ann Hagen

• Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today by Sally Grainger

• Constance Hieatt has written many books on medieval food including Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks

• Baghdad Cookery Book by Charles Perry

• A variety of translated works by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson can be found on Project Gutenberg

• In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or X @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.