From Washington Street to Atlantic Avenue: Food Stories from New York's Little Syria

Join us as we discover the rich culinary history of Syrian communities in New York City. Beginning in the 1880s, Syrian immigrants settled in lower Manhattan, setting up food shops, restaurants, and grocery stores. We'll taste fermented milk at Arta's Restaurant, reviewed by the New York Times in 1899. We'll listen to opera at Kalil's, a Syrian-owned restaurant which boasted seating for 1,000 at a time! We'll speak to Linda K. Jacobs, a descendant of New York's Syrian Colony and author of Strangers in the West as she helps us to explore the history of this vibrant community. But you can't mention Syrian food in New York without mentioning the James Beard award-winning Sahadi's grocery store, now over a hundred years old! We'll trace the history of the Sahadi family from their arrival in New York to their iconic grocery store in Little Syria, located on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. We'll walk in cookbook author Tracey Ceurvels' footsteps as she prepares a delicious recipe using ingredients from the numerous locally owned Middle-Eastern shops in this neighborhood, the heart of the Syrian and Lebanese New York community today. 

Written and Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Editorial Help from Lynne Provencher

Special Guests include:

Linda K. Jacobs holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Archaeology/Anthropology and spent many years working on archaeological excavations and economic development projects in the Middle East. Dr. Jacobs is committed to promoting Middle Eastern culture and knowledge in the United States, founding KalimahPress in 2011 and sitting on the board of several Middle Eastern organizations, including the Near East Foundation and the Moise Khayrallah Center. All four of her grandparents were members of the New York Syrian Colony.

Linda is the author of Strangers in the West: The Syrian Colony of New York City 1880-1900 and Digging In, published by Kalimah Press. 

Tracey Ceurvels is a food and travel journalist and the creator of popular cooking and lifestyle blog, The NYC Kitchen. She has been published in the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the New York Daily News, Relish, and Time Out, among other places. Tracey lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter, Sabrina.

Visit her at http://newyorkcity.kitchen.

Her new cookbook, The NYC Kitchen Cookbook is available now! 

Episode Soundtrack

Jahzzar, "Solitude" (licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License)

Andy G. Cohen, "A Perceptible Shift" and "Piscoid" (licensed under a Attribution License.)

Enrico Caruso, "Santa Lucia" (available in the Public Domain) 

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Fuelling the Presidency: African American Cooks in the White House

This week, we're exploring the unsung history of African American cooks in the White House with soul food scholar, Adrian E. Miller, author of "The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas". Join us as we uncover the history of two formidable women who put their stamp on American history through their cooking. We'll look at the life of Laura Dollie Johnson, who cooked for not just one US president, but two! Learn how her food made newspaper headlines throughout the 1880s and 1890s. And we'll explore the career of the formidable Zephyr Wright, who may have been the only person who dared to tell President Lyndon Baines Johnson to stick to his diet. Learn how her recipe for Texas chili started a national crisis about beans! 

Written and Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Special Guest: Adrian E. Miller, author of The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans who have fed our First Families from the Washingtons to the Obamas

Don't forget to fill out our listener rewards survey- available here until September 22nd!

Learn more about Adrian Miller's work, this week's episode soundtrack as well as some iconic recipes by Laura Johnson and Zephyr Wright on our show notes. 

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A Thousand and One Recipes: Caliphate Cooking in 10th Century Baghdad

This week we're travelling to the golden age of the Islamic Empire in 10th century Baghdad. Hidden in a bustling paper market, we'll visit a mysterious bookmaker responsible for one of the largest cookbooks from the medieval world. While it may not have exactly 1,001 recipes (only 632 at last count...), the book is a treasure trove of medieval dining etiquette, recommendations for healthy eating, and some of the best food poetry we've ever read (ode to fried fish, anyone?). We'll speak with Nawal Nasrallah, editor and translator of Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchen: Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-Century Bagdadi Cookbook as she reveals the delicious and ancient cuisine of medieval Baghdad. We'll even make a few medieval Baghdadi recipes, discovering some surprising similarities to not only modern Iraqi cuisine, but culinary traditions throughout the world. 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Special Guest: Nawal Nasrallah

Find out more about Nawal's work at her website, www.iraqicookbook.com

You can buy her edition & translation of al-Warraq's 10th century cookbook, Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchen: Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook from Brill Publishers at brill.com

Find out more about the delicious recipes we made from Nawal's book on our show notes.

Episode Soundtrack featuring "Alleys of Istanbul" by Turku, Nomads of the Silk Road (licensed under a Attribution License) 

Learn more about our sponsors for this episode, Sudio Sweden, makers of stylish earbuds for the discerning podcast listener. Right now, Feast listeners can get a 15% discount of their products by entering FEAST17 at checkout. Find out more by visiting sudiosweden.com. (P.S., we're huge fans of the Vasa Blå headphones, check them out here!)

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Cooking with Lightning: Helen Louise Johnson's Electric Oven Revolution

Discover the untold history of electricity in the kitchen. Although the earliest electrical ovens were cooking banquets by 1892, the average North American consumer was slow to adopt this electrifying new technology. With only a tiny percentage of homes wired by 1900, electricity in the kitchen had a long road to go before the countless toasters, coffee makers, blenders, and food processors of today's modern kitchen. Learn how one early domestic scientist, Miss Helen Louise Johnson, became the Rachel Ray of electrical cooking in the late 19th and early 20th century. Whether cooking steaks at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 or baking bread on stage in Brooklyn in 1900, Helen Louise Johnson showed a culinary future powered by current. This week we're exploring a world of wires beyond Edison and Tesla, learning about the unsung electrifying women who changed the future of kitchen technology. 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Music featured:

• Kevin MacLeod, "Ludwig van Beethoven SInfonia Number 5" (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
• Felipe Sarro, "Ravel - Miroirs, III: Une Barque Sur L'Océan" (licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License
• Tim Brymn & His Black Devils Orchestra "Siren of the Southern Sea" (1921) (licensed under a Public Domain Mark 1.0 License)
• Victor Herbert Orchestra, "Venetian Love Song" (1909) (licensed under a Public Domain Mark 1.0 License)

Find out more about the history of electrical cooking by visiting our show notes, including great pictures of the earliest electrical ovens (adapted train heaters!) to long-lost General Electric commercials featuring Betty Davis! 

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A Brief History of Space Gastronomy

The Feast is back! And our debut episode for Season Two is out of this world. Literally! We're going back to one of the most (in)famous meals in the history of NASA, when a contraband corned beef sandwich snuck aboard Gemini 3 in 1965. We'll explore how space food has changed over the years. No more Tang and freeze-dried ice cream for modern astronauts, the space food of tomorrow may include everything from homemade sourdough bread to wine. We'll talk to Sebastian D. Marcu, CEO and founder of Bake in Space, a company with a noble goal: to bring the art of homemade bread to space. Explore how different countries are making sure their classic cuisines are represented in zero gravity, whether it's Italian espresso, German rolls, or Korean kimchi. Learn the difficulties of sending fermented foods into space & how the future missions to Mars may make farmers out of some astronauts!

Written and Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Special Guest: Sebastian D. Marcu, CEO and Founder of Bake in Space

Episode soundtrack featuring music by: Fabian Measure, "Ebb & Flow" (Ebb and Flow by Fabian Measures is licensed under a Attribution License

Click here for Show Notes, including recipes, videos, and more from the episode!

Space Food Bonus Episode: Hear our uncut interview with Sebastian D. Marcu on Second Servings!

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Coming Soon: The Feast's Season Two!

We're cooking up a delicious new season, debuting Friday, August 4th 2017! Discover the hidden stories behind competitive Soba eating in Japan, how the electric oven revolutionized the modern kitchen, and the unsung stories of African American chefs in the White House. All this and more on our delectable season two, starting with a stellar first episode on the history of space food! Don't miss out, subscribe today to The Feast and get ready for more meals that made history! 

A Mythic Meal: A Very Special Season Finale with The Curated Feast

On this very special season finale, we've teamed up with Liz Birnbaum and The Curated Feast to bring you a mythic meal that'll take you from the roots to the stars. Join Liz and her guests at a secret underground location near Santa Cruz, California as they dine on food fit for the gods. We'll explore how food played an integral role in ancient folklore, representing cycles of birth, death, and renewal. Why did the ancient Egyptians associate barley with Osiris? Why did pomegranates confine Persephone to the Greek underworld? All these answers and more on this very special underground edition of The Feast.  

Event Concept & Organization by Liz Birnbaum (The Curated Feast)

Recipes by Hedy Nochimson (Plate & Bottle Supper Club & Catering)

Music by Carl Atilano (www.carlatilano.com)

Photography by Kyle Murphy of KNM Portraits (www.knmportraits.com)

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Click here for show notes, recipes, and more information about The Curated Feast

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The Scandalous, Dangerous, & Unbelievably True History of the Cocktail Party: A Tale of Manhattans, Marriage, & Murder

The Ramos Gin Fizz. The Sazerac. The Mint Julep. Cocktails can have some great origin stories, but how can you tell  sober fact from tipsy fiction? This week, we're going cold turkey to get the details behind that noble institution of pre-dinner drinking: the cocktail party. Legend (or Wikipedia) says the first cocktail party was held by Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. in 1917 St. Louis. As we'll learn, the real story is *way* more complicated, stretching from Revolutionary America to the swinging 1970s. While Mrs. Walsh may not have invented the cocktail party, her life was full up with martinis, mayhem, and, yes, even murder.  

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

For show notes, cocktail recipes, & more, click here

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Behind the Deep Fat Fryer: America's Original Fair Food

What's the most iconic fair food? Popcorn? Hot dogs? Deep-fried apple pie on a stick? Today, fair food and the fryer may be a match made in heaven, but where did the trend of eating adventurously at the fair start? Today, we're heading back to the original American fair: the Centennial Exposition of 1876. But don't get out the deep-fried twinkies just yet. Turns out, the biggest battle in 19th century American fair food was about fine dining! Despite the white tablecloth service visitors received in 1876, we'll learn how the Centennial Exposition saw the birth of some of America's most famous casual foods: the hamburger and soda. 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

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Edible Monuments: Naples' Salami Castle of 1768

Forget Hansel & Gretel's candy cottage, Naples was building fortresses of food in the 18th century! This week, we're investigating the Neapolitan tradition of cuccagna- a festival celebrating a mythical land of food, where roast chicken rained from the skies and wine flowed in rivers. Learn how early modern Neapolitans built giant edible monuments to celebrate birthdays, weddings, and holidays, complete with fortresses of ham, bell towers made of cheese, and lakes of beer! Was it all in good gluttonous fun or did the festival have a deeper political purpose? We'll also speak with Dr. Alan Darr at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where you can see relics of these early modern feasts at the Edible Monuments Exhibition, on until April 16th. 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Click here for show notes, episode soundtrack, pictures, & more sources on the cuccagna. 

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Excuse me, Sir, but are you going to eat that woolly mammoth?

Pass the mastodon, would you? This week we're talking about the famous Explorers Club Dinner of 1951, where woolly mammoth (or was it ancient giant sloth?) was a featured appetizer. We'll find out how a Connecticut museum ended up with the leftovers of this crazy meal & how it took over 60 years to finally figure out what was really for dinner that night. Join us for a great discussion with Jessica Glass & Dr. Matt Davis, the two scientists who discovered the identity of the most famous mystery meat in history. We'll talk about the curious tendency for scientists to nibble on their specimens, including Darwin's regrettable dinner of owl, and how food might have a major role in the future of conservation.

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Click here for more info, show notes, and episode soundtrack

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A Man Named Peppercorn: Saving & Savoring the Foodways of the Sonoran Desert

This week, we're headed to the land of bean trees & cholla buds: the Sonoran Desert. Home to UNESCO's new capital of gastronomy, Tucson, we'll trace the desert's diverse culinary history, from the cornfields of the Hohokam to the mission gardens of the German Jesuits. Why did 18th century missionaries bring fruit trees to Sonora? Could heritage wheat be the solution to sustainable farming in southern Arizona? We'll look at several projects revitalizing the ancient foodways of the desert, including exclusive interviews with Jesús Garcia, co-founder of the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project, and Sonya Norman, public programs coordinator at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Quotations from Father Pfeffercorn's Sonora: A Description of the Province (Southwest Center Series) (Trans. Theodore E. Treutlein)

Click here for show notes, including information about the mission gardens, Sonoran recipes, and more! 

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A Battle of the Chicken Pot Pies: A History of Department Store Dining

This week, take the escalator to menswear and turn left at home goods. We're heading to the glory days of department store dining with a trip back to old Toronto. Learn how Eaton's and Simpson's battled for the hearts and dollars of Torontonians through their opulent in-store restaurants. We'll explore why these stores are remembered more for their chicken pot pies than for their sales! We'll enjoy a nostalgic dinner at the historic Arcadian Court, a survivor of the golden age of department stores, & we'll put two stores' pot pie recipes to the test, settling a 100-year-old company rivalry once and for all! 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

For more on Eaton's & Simpson's & the epic battle of chicken pot pies, click here. 

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Maple Roosters and Tofu Tumults: A Han Dynasty Banquet

This week, The Feast is bringing you a very special Canadian episode dedicated to Chinese New Year! We're exploring an opulent Han Dynasty banquet from the second century CE as the basis for our own Chinese New Year celebrations in Toronto. Join us as we search for the origins of tofu, find out the proper way to make a baijiu cocktail, & recite some foodie poetry from ancient China. All this & more rooster puns than you can shake a tail feather at on this week's episode of The Feast. 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Find all the images mentioned in the episode, plus delicious recipes here. 

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A Punchy Inauguration Special: Andrew Jackson & the Mob of 1829

Feeling punchy this inauguration season? Take a note from Andrew Jackson & join the wildest party the White House has ever seen! In our first episode of 2017, we’re heading to 1829 when 10,000 people crashed Jackson’s Inauguration Reception for a bit of cake and barrels of free punch. But was this party as wild as rumors have suggested? Did Jackson plan the whole thing? And where did all those punch barrels come from? We’ll learn the history of the popular tipple & why it’s been the drink of American politicians for over two hundred years. We’ll even throw in some great punch recipes straight from the history books for you to make at home. All this and more on a very punchy inauguration special of The Feast.

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Find more punchy recipes, info on Old Hickory and the episode soundtrack here. 

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Boars & Butchers: A Porky History of Winter Festivals

Sitting down to the traditional holiday ham this season? This week on The Feast, we're celebrating the unofficial animal of winter: the pig! Find out why a boar's head is the center of holiday traditions from London to Louisville. We'll learn a porcine Christmas carol, some tips on how to buy off the mayor of medieval London, & why an Oxford college still celebrates an epic 14th century battle of student vs. pig. Discover the distant & unexpected roots of the spiral-cut holiday ham this week on a very special porky holiday episode.

Written and Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Episode Music featuring Jahzzar: "Gramaphone" & "Where It Goes" 

A huge thanks to the community at St. Paul's Methodist Church for their help with this episode.

For more information, including videos of the many Boar's Head Festivals around the world, click here. 

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Bulldozer Butter & C-Rations: The Food that Built the Alaskan Highway

Moose milk. Powdered eggs. Coffee a la Yukon. This week, The Feast is heading to the Canadian wilderness- where 10,000 US soldiers helped to build the Alaskan Highway in 1942. But how do you feed an army in the middle of nowhere? We'll look at how these soldiers survived arctic winters & mosquito-plagued summers with the latest in military food technology, including dehydrated foods and the rise of the dreaded C-Ration, the meal for the soldier on the go. With nothing but powdered milk and tinned food to eat for up to six months at a time, soldiers got creative with the local wildlife. Bear steak, anyone? 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Find out more about food on the Alaskan Highway here.

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Subterranean Snacks: Cornish Pasties in 19th Century Mexico

Struggling to decide what to have for lunch today? Take a tip from history & pack a pie! This week, The Feast explores how the pastry pie was the original grab & go lunch option, from the Ottoman börek to the Cornish pasty to the Hot Pocket. Although the Cornish pasty may be an icon of English cuisine, learn how a small town in the mountains of Mexico made this traditional mining meal their own. Plus, all the EU pastry laws you can handle on this week’s special collaboration episode featuring Rocio Carvajal & PassTheChipotle.com

Co-written by Rocio Carvajal & Laura Carlson

Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical direction by Mike Portt

Click here for recipes, photos, episode soundtrack, and more.

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Thomas Jefferson & the Mammoth Cheese of Cheshire

It’s that time of gruyère: it’s the Feast’s election episode! And we’re dedicating a whole show to some great White House food traditions. What do you get the President that has everything? A giant cheese, of course! Not just for fans of “The West Wing” anymore, we’re looking into the weird and wacky world of White House cheeses, going back to one of the founding fathers himself, Thomas Jefferson. Find out how a 1200-pound cheese ended up on the president’s doorstep one cold January morning in 1802. Learn what Jefferson did with all that cheese, and how a White House room earned its name from a dairy product. All this and all the cheese puns you can handle on this week’s episode of The Feast.  

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

For all the cheese info you can handle, plus more information about early American elections, cheese-making, cakes, and more, click here. 

Episode Soundtrack Available Here

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Dining with the Dead in Imperial Rome

We’re back with a whole new season of feasting! Join us for a very special Halloween episode that takes us back to February in ancient Rome. Tag along with a Roman family as they prepare for the annual festival of Parentalia, where the best parties in town are happening down at the graveyard. Find out how to appease an angry Roman ghost with a lovely bouquet of roses and some…black beans? See how the Romans engineered their tombs to be homes away from home, complete with dining tables, bars, even kitchens. Grab a seat at an epic feast, held in the finest tomb money could buy. 

Written & Produced by Laura Carlson

Technical Direction by Mike Portt

Episode Soundtrack Available Here

More information on Roman funerary feasts, including pictures, maps, and more.

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