A Taste of the Past

Latest Episodes:

Episode 104: Origins of the Modern Cookbook May 24, 2012

Show notes

On this episode of A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio is talking with cooking instructor, author and founder of LaVarenne Cooking School, Anne Willan. Anne’s cookbook, The Cookbook Library, includes cooking instructions from four centuries of recipe history. Tune in to hear about cooking instructions from all over Europe throughout the ages, the history of dining utensils, and the role of illustrations in cooking manuals. Hear about some of the difficulties involved with recreating dishes from the 15th or 16th century. Anne has collected over 5,000 cookbooks, and you can find some excerpts of these gems of cookbook history in The Cookbook Library! This program has been brought to you by White Oak Pastures.

“It’s wonderful because the whole of Europe was interested in writing down and recording what they were eating.”

“The oldest recipes were the most difficult to recreate because hard to know just what ingredients tasted like and what people were getting, so it was kind of a bit of a guess. What I wanted to do was to present something that’s feasible in a modern kitchen.”

—Anne Willan on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 103: Ancient Grains May 17, 2012

Show notes

On this week’s episode of A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio is talking about ancient and whole grains with Maria Speck, IACP award winning author of the NYTimes notable book Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. Topics include Maria’s upbringing with whole grains, the health benefits of eating grains, and why ancient grains have become fashionable in the food world. Quinoa has been back on the scene for a while, but learn about some lesser known grains such as emmer, kamut- and the most ancient of them all- einkorn. Maria’s book includes grain dishes for all of your courses- appetizers, meals, and deserts! Listen to this episode, and you will be an ancient grain expert. This episode is sponsored by Cain Vineyard and Winery.

“The key and my passion is to tell people that whole grains can taste really good.”

“In average supermarkets, grain selections are becoming bigger and bigger.”

“A big trend in baking is that bakers are looking for local grains and freshly-milled flour.”

— Maria Speck on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 102: Sake May 10, 2012

Show notes

On this episode of A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio is in the studio with Tim Sullivan, sake educator and founder of the site UrbanSake.com. Tune in to hear about how rice processing and milling determines sake quality, why sake is more similar to beer than wine, and why sake is unlikely to give you a hangover. Did the tsunami affect sake quality and production in Japan? Is the sake contaminated by nuclear material? Tim says that sake production is monitored by the Japanese government and is completely safe! Sake doesn’t necessarily need to accompany traditional Japanese food; it suits all types of cuisines and can compliment any meal. Learn more about the history of sake, and try some with your next dinner. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.

“Sake today can be very elegant. There’s a lot of nuance. That’s a modern phenomenon. That is something that has only been around for the last forty or fifty years. Sake itself has been around for 2,000 years.”

“The more you mill down [the rice], the higher the quality. All the rice we eat is brown; if you’re eating white rice, it has been milled.”

—Tim Sullivan on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 101: Julia Child’s 100th Birthday May 03, 2012

Show notes

This week marks the 100th episode of A Taste of the Past; congratulations to our hostess, Linda Pelaccio! To celebrate her 100th episode, Linda is remembering Julia Child’s 100th birthday with food writer and author of Julia Child: A Life, Laura Shapiro. Julia was one of the most natural television personalities, and her joy for teaching cooking was more than apparent. Linda and Laura recall Julia’s accessibility, and her ability to motivate and communicate great cooking methods. They also discuss Julia Child’s influence on culinary culture in the 1950s and 60s – making good food accessible to all, and breaking gender barriers. This episode has been brought to you by Edwards.

“She was going straight into the world of very distinguished cooking, and she didn’t look like anyone on television… She was completely unapologetic; she made it fun because it was fun for her.”

—Laura Shapiro on A Taste of the Past

“Her talent was cooking, her medium was food, but the way she did everything with that food- that was her character.”

—Linda Pelaccio on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 100: Preserving the Past Apr 26, 2012

Show notes

“Each time a good cook dies without passing down recipes, family dishes become suddenly lost forever.” – Unknown. This week on A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio talks with food writer Donna Pierce about preserving the past through cuisine and recipes. Donna Pierce started Skillet Diares, a website dedicated to “remembering, preserving, and passing down the flavors of home.” Tune in to hear Linda and Donna discuss the importance of digital media in preserving recipes, the necessity for oral traditions, and the variations in recipes from region to region. Also, check out Donna’s other site, Black American Cooks, which is all about preserving an African American cultural history through generations of recipes. This episode has been brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“When I grew up, I clung to everything about my grandmother and parents’ past, and the creole food that they loved.”

“I really understand the importance of [cookbook style and design]. Sometimes it’s more important than the written description- and that’s a hard thing for a writer to say.”

—Donna Pierce on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 99: Milk Through the Ages Apr 19, 2012

Show notes

Is milk “nature’s perfect food”? This week on A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio is joined by cookbook historian Anne Mendelson to debunk this myth. Anne is the author of Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, a cookbook and overview of milk’s history. Learn about milk’s volatile chemistry, the differences between different mammals’ milks, and Anne’s thoughts on the raw milk debate. Also, Anne explains the beginnings of the pasteurization and homogenization processes, and how it changed the lives of urban dwellers in the late 1800s. Hear about modern pasteurization processes, from small to large scale. This program has been brought to you by Cain Winery.

“It [milk] is intended to be supplied in one particularly way, and one alone…under those circumstances it is quite safe to drink, even if it’s raw. But if you divert it, if you interrupt that closed system… it changes as soon as you divert it into the outside world; you’ve already interrupted nature the moment you do that.”

“Raw milk’s sales allow farmers to sell directly to consumers without a middle man. And it’s one of the ways that farmers can sell their product for a price so that they can make a living.”

—Anne Mendelson on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 98: Sheilah Kaufman and Turkish Cuisine Apr 12, 2012

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio talks with Sheilah Kaufman, author of The Turkish Cookbook: Regional Recipes and Stories.The Ottoman Turks controlled areas from Egypt to Austria, and all of the foods of these regions are incorporated into the Turkish palette. Tune in to hear how history and conquest has shaped Turkish cuisine; here’s fish from the Aegean, pistachios from Anatolia, and bananas from the Mediterranean. Listen to Linda and Sheilah discuss the home cooking traditions in Turkey, and why Turkish food is so easy to make. What do yogurt, coffee, and tulips have in common? They all originate in Turkey! This program is sponsored by White Oak Pastures.

“The Turks were culinary plunderers. Where ever they conquered, they went looking for the best ingredients and the best recipes.”

“In Turkish cooking, there are no unusual ingredients. You can go into any supermarket in this country and find what you need to make very easy Turkish dishes.”

—Sheilah Kaufman on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 97: The Manioc Route Apr 05, 2012

Show notes

What staple food feeds over 500 million people, and is gluten-free? Answer- the manioc root, and it’s this week’s topic on A Taste of the Past. Linda Pelaccio sits down with Teresa CorÃ§Ã£o, chef/owner of O Navegador restaurant and co-founder of Instituto Maniva- a group that promotes the heritage root called manioc. She is an active governing member of Slow Food Brazil, and has been honored by IACP with a Humanitarian of the Year award. Sara B. Franklin is also in the studio. A writer, oral historian, and multi-media storyteller, Sara is co-writing The Manioc Route cookbook with Teresa. Also joining Linda is Margarida Nogueira, co-founder of Instituto Maniva with Teresa, and founder of Slow Food Brazil. Tune in to hear about the upcoming cookbook, The Manioc Route, and how it combines cooking with history, culture, and emotion. Did you know that the manioc has been in the upper Amazon Valley since 7,000 B.C.E.? Or that the manioc is naturally poisonous? All these facts and more on this week’s A Taste of the Past. Be sure to get more information about the Manioc Route and visit their Kickstarter on Facebook. Watch a clip from Seu Bené Vai Pra Italia, a film about manioc flour producer Benedito Batista da Silva. This program is sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

“There’s so much cultural history around this root, and it’s delicious.”

—Sara B. Franklin on A Taste of the Past

“Food is affection, culture, and heritage.”

“Peruvian people had brought all types- over 2,000 varieties- of potatoes and today in Lima you can find lots of varieties of potatoes, and maybe this can be an example of how you can take an underestimated a staple and make it a gourmet food.”

—Teresa CorÃ§Ã£o on A Taste of the Past

“When I discovered the Slow Food Movement on the Internet, I fell in love with the philosophy” —

—Margarida Nogueira on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 96: Jay Buchsbaum & Kosher Wine Mar 29, 2012

Show notes

In this episode of A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio talks kosher wine with Jay Buchsbaum of the Royal Wine Corp. Tune in to hear Linda and Jay define kosher wine, the history of wine in Israel, the caliber and standards for kosher wine and its place among wine connoisseurs. Forget what you know about Manischewitz; these are some high-quality wines! Listen in as Linda samples three of the wines that Royal Wine Corp. distributes. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

“Wine is an integral part of every part of Jewish life- Friday nights, every celebration, etc. And the only grapes were available were of the Labrusca variety, and they need sugar to make them palatable. So that’s when the tradition- in fact, it’s a new tradition, only 100 years old- of [sweet] kosher wine started.”

—Jay Buchsbaum on A Taste of the Past

“The producers invariably want to be judged by the quality of the wine, not whether or not it’s kosher. That’s first and foremost.”

—Jay Buchsbaum on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 95: William Rubel and a History of Bread Mar 22, 2012

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past we’re talking about the history of bread with hostess, Linda Pelaccio, and her guest, William Rubel. William authored the hearth-cooking book The Magic of Fire, and now has a new book called Bread: A Global History. Listen in as Linda and William discuss the ancient roots of bread making, the social and class implications of certain types of flour and bread, and bread’s place in different religious traditions and texts. This program was brought to you by Whole Foods Market.

“Bread is a staple that allowed for the accumulation of material culture, the building of cities. It allowed for the accumulation of surplus, which lead to craft.” — William Rubel on A Taste of the Past

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