Stay ConnectedThe Ancestral Kitchen is a twice-monthly podcast hosted by Alison, a European town-dweller and Andrea, living on a family farm in northwest Washington state. Pull up a chair at the table and join us as we talk about eating, cooking and living with ancient ancestral food wisdom in a modern-world kitchen.
Find us here: http://ancestralkitchenpodcast.com
Podcast theme and audio production by Robert Michael Kay, find him at www.robertmichaelkay.com
Copyright: © Copyright 2025 Alison Kay & Andrea Huehnerhoff
I spent a lot of my time researching and making connections with people to find my sources of food, and that takes time. - Alison
Not like I really knew what I was doing, I never know what I’m doing. - Andrea
Once it is ready, the bouza course we referred to will be loaded to the courses page on Alison's blog, Ancestral Kitchen
"The chocolate book" we alluded to is The Secret Life of Chocolate by Marcos Patchett
In this podcast, Alison is asking us to help hold her accountable to leaving the super market! Feel free to leave comments on Instagram and ask us (both!) how it's going!
I think I’m on a soapbox right now. - Andrea
Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes for more fascinating information on the strategy and science behind supermarkets.
Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes
Here's an idea that we didn't mention on this episode but you will hear more about later - share your farm and farmer's market and direct market hauls with the hashtag #bringbackhighstreet !
Once we change the habit it becomes easy to maintain it, it’s the actual push of the switch that requires more impetus. - Alison
A Few Resources 46:37
Real Milk (WAPF Project)
Weston A. Price Foundation "Find Food/Local Chapter" tab
Shannon Hayes interview on a podcast where she talked about shoppers at the farmer's market
(Shannon Hayes also has her own podcast, The Hearth of Sap Bush Hollow)
For my journey, the basics aren’t more expensive if you change what you expect and your habits. Bulk grains are cheaper than bread, offal is cheaper than meat. - Alison
To see how we changed some of our habits to accommodate eating better on a budget, check out this past episode: 5 Most Expensive (and yet, the cheapest!) Foods!
By talking about this I’m not trying to browbeat somebody into making a decision or a choice, what I’m trying to do is reveal to them what perhaps they weren’t aware of. - Andrea
Do you know how to leave us a review? Obviously as you heard at the end of this episode, neither of us have it figured out yet. If you know how to leave a review, we appreciate it!!!! (Also can you tell us how it's done?!)
We'd love to continue the conversation. Come find us on Instagram:
Andrea is at Farm and Hearth
Alison is at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is at Ancestral Kitchen Podcast
If you love what we're doing, please do leave us a review or check out our new Patreon community here.
Original Music, Episode Mixing and Post-Production by Robert Michael Kay
"Admire and respect what you're doing." Andrea
As soon as a listener suggested this topic, we both knew we had to cover it. Burnout is something we've both experienced and our kitchen management rituals have often been painfully won.
"My biggest problem is that I get ridiculously enthusiastic and I take on too much at once" Alison
Join us as we talk about subjects including clarity, delegation, enthusiasm overload, work groups, managing your 'team', routine, ritualizing, organization, the spectre of comparison and the importance of valuing your contribution.
"If it really means something to you, and it really needs to be done, you will get to it" Alison
A Slob Comes Clean podcast (mentioned by Andrea)
How do you manage your kitchen? What helps maintain your energy? We'd love to know. Come find us on Instagram:
Alison's at www.instagram.com/ancestral_kitchen
Andrea's at www.instagram.com/farmandhearth
If you love what we're doing, please do leave us a review or check out our new Patreon community here.
"That led to bakers yeast, which was a household item by 1900... Then we just seem to have gone completely downhill from there, to this place where on the shelves are these loaves made in a process that, if you showed a baker from three or four hundred years ago, they just wouldn't recognize, with all these additives in it... And people just think that's bread." - Alison, in Episode 7, Sourdough
"You basically need to be able to stir a spoon in a bowl. That's about the skill level that's needed." - Andrea
Mentioned in the podcast:
"There's about 18 million ways to do this, it can't be that hard." - Andrea
A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry blog - Bread: Part I
The History of Food Podcast on Apple
Sourdough Recipes on Alison's blog, Ancestral Kitchen
"Spelt has a tendency to go stale quite quickly, also the crumb can be a bit hard; and the scald helps with both those things." Alison
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart
"Each thing along the line has grabbed me and pulled me in more. Each step I've taken away from that 9 to 5 life slowly slowly slowly to intentionally build something else had rewarded me in ways that tell I'm on the right path. This feels in accordance with my nature far more than what I used to do and how I used to live." - Alison
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morell
Bread flour sourced from Azure Standard
EInkorn flour sourced from Young Living
"If we could just awaken everybody to the idea that their food is playing a role -- I don't have to tell you to make sourdough or how to make sourdough once you have the idea that food is affecting everything about your life you will begin to seek out and the things will come to you." - Andrea
Tara Couture of Slow Down Farmstead
Andrea mentioned she was posting Charlotte Mason quotes online. You can see them here: instagram.com/charlottemasoncommonplace
Alison's beloved Emile Henry loaf pan
"I took my own journey and proved them wrong. Once you get a little taste of that, once you see what's possible, then you just can't stop." - Alison
Alison can be found at instagram.com/ancestral_kitchen
Andrea can be found at instagram.com/farmandhearth
We can both be found at instagram.com/ancestralkitchenpodcast
Thank you for listening, reviewing and commenting!!!
"The best books are ones that spin you off on a path; imbue you with passion"
Words. Pictures. Beauty. Comfort. Connection. Guidance. Inspiration. Joy. Support.
Books bring us so much.
In this episode, Andrea and Alison talk about six books they love!
You'll share in a radical chocolate book, two fermentation bibles, a recipe book using simple, locally-sourced food, an alternative bread book and a masterpiece that calls and inspires us to create the world we want to live in.
Here are the publications we cover:
Wild Fermentation - Sandor Ellix Katz (12:07)
12 Months of Monastery Soups - Victor D’Avila-Latourrette (25:00)
Naturally Fermented Bread - Paul Barker (31:34)
The Art of Fermentation - Sandor Ellix Katz (45:00)
The Secret Life of Chocolate - Marcos Patchett (49:35)
Radical Homemakers - Shannon Hayes (1:05:16)
Resources mentioned:
Kobo Fermentary (the Instgram Pongal fermenter)
Irina Georgescu
Tiffany (who did the #veryfarmish challenge)
And author's social media:
We'd love to continue the conversation. Come join us on Instagram. Alison's at @ancestral_kitchen and Andrea's at @farmandhearth
"Fermenting is an adventure!"
In this episode, we give a snapshot of what's bubbling in our kitchens right now.
You'll hear about:
Vegetable ferments such as sauerkraut, ginger carrots, purple onions, jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), mustard and the all-powerful garlic.
Carbohydrate ferments including oatmeal, millet porridge, sowans, boza and sourdough starters.
Drinks (including the sowans and boza above) like fire cider, hard cider and water kefir.
Our conversation also works its way to wild v inoculated ferments and regular fermenting as a way to make meals in minutes. There are lots of breakfast options covered and you'll get a dose of Turkish and Scottish fermenting history as well as learning about a non-dairy, gluten-free, lectin-free fun alternative to dairy kefir.
Keep an eye on www.instagram.com/ancestralkitchenpodcast over the next week or so - we hope to share some of the fermentation recipes mentioned in this episode!
We'd love to continue the conversation. Come find us on Instagram:
Andrea is at Farm and Hearth
Alison is at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is at Ancestral Kitchen Podcast
Original Music, Episode Mixing and Post-Production by Robert Michael Kay
"We make our bone broth almost exclusively out of garbage."
What if eating real food didn't have to be prohibitively expensive? The most nutritious, real, nourishing foods have traditionally been the cheapest and simplest - conversely, the expensive, rich meals of the wealthy were often laborious productions involving sweets and refined foods.
It's time to take back our ancestral wisdom and reclaim foods and skills that once belonged to the people, and have now been relegated to super-expensive and elite grocery stores at staggering prices.
In this episode, Andrea and Alison will discuss five of the most expensive "healthy" foods you can buy - which also happen to be five of the cheapest foods you can make at home!
It should be noted these cost assessments all assume you will be purchasing the ingredients - many of these can be easily raised at home OR obtained for free through invested relationships with farmers.
We will briefly cover the cost of purchasing versus making at home, processes for making, and our favorite resources for each of the following:
Bone broth (12:05)
Sourdough bread* (24:22)
*For a full episode discussing sourdough, there will be a later episode on the podcast!
Kombucha & Water Kefir (35:14)
Kefir & Yoghurt (48:40)
Sauerkraut (1:04:30)
Resources mentioned, in approximate order of appearance:
Andrea quoted from the Radical Homemakers book by Shannon Hayes
Frequently mentioned: The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
Bone Broth Resources
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Nourishing Broth by Sally Fallon Morell
Bone broth and boullion cubes on Andrea's blog
Sourdough Bread Resources
How to Create a Sourdough Starter by Alison
The Fresh Loaf online forum
Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart (with sourdough pizza crust recipe)
Traditional Cooking School sourdough posts
Briefly mentioned
GAPS diet mentioned offhand by Andrea
Kombucha Resources
Kombucha recipes on Andrea’s blog
Kombucha flavorings on Andrea’s blog
Fruit scrap vinegar on Andrea's blog
Kombucha Revolution by Stephen Lee and Ken Koopman
The Organic green tea and organic black tea Andrea uses
Cultures for Health kombucha scobys
Kefir & Yoghurt Resources
Wise Traditions podcast kefir episode
Alison’s DIY proofing box post
Beyond the North Wind by Darra Goldstein – the Russian cookbook Alison mentioned
Cultures for Health kefir grains
Sauerkraut & Kimchi Resources
Super Simple Sauerkraut on Alison's Blog
Andrea’s sauerkraut class packet/recipe download
The Healthy Home Economist sauerkraut
Traditional Cooking School sauerkraut
Alison’s Instagram Post about Sauerkraut
Asian Pickles by Karen Solomon
Keeping Food Fresh by The Gardeners & Farmers of Terre Vivante (I found this book by following the footnotes in Nourishing Traditions)
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
Bonus Resources
Long Way on a Little by Shannon Hayes
Easy Beans by Jackie Freeman
Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourette
We'd love to continue the conversation. Come find us on Instagram:
Andrea is at Farm and Hearth
Alison is at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is at Ancestral Kitchen Podcast
Original Music, Episode Mixing and Post-Production by Robert Michael Kay
"I follow the river of joy, curiosity and passion. That's what has moved me into a place where cooking ancestrally is part of my life"
Why do we cook ancestrally?
We try to answer that question in this, our third episode.
We cover:
Our conversation touches on sourcing/growing, what we eat, industrialisation, organ meat, preparing meals at home, 'fast' ancestral cooking, soaking and fermenting, drawing on multiple ancestors' traditions and our seasonal eating/preserving patterns.
Useful links from this episode:
What are Paraprobiotics and Postbiotics?
We'd love to continue the conversation. Come find us on Instagram:
Andrea is at Farm and Hearth
Alison is at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is at Ancestral Kitchen Podcast
Original Music, Episode Mixing and Post-Production by Robert Michael Kay
"For ages, I thought cooking wasn't creativity, that creativity was art; it was music - that kind of thing. It took many gentle, soft words from my husband, Rob, and much experimenting and changing for me to realise that what I was doing in the kitchen was just as creative as writing music."
Come meet Alison, the European half of Ancestral Kitchen, in this second 'meet' episode of our podcast.
You'll hear about the life she's created in Italy with her husband and 6-year old son. We cover her health journey, including her 10-stone (140lb) weight loss, carving a different path from the environment you grew up in, her kitchen set up, the joy ancestral food brings her, changing the food system and why connection is central to her life and cooking.
Alison's website:
www.ancestralkitchen.com
We'd love to continue the conversation. Come find us on Instagram:
Andrea is at Farm and Hearth
Alison is at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is at Ancestral Kitchen Podcast
Original Music, Episode Mixing and Post-Production by Robert Michael Kay
"When we eat close to the land, everything is about connection"
Come meet Andrea, the American half of Ancestral Kitchen, in this kick-off episode of our podcast.
You'll hear about her life, family and newly-created farm as we cover such topics as taking ownership, moving from the city to a farmstead, not being able to 'un-know' something, eating close to home, heritage breeds, tiny kitchens and how it's all about connection!
We'd love to continue the conversation. Come find us on Instagram:
Andrea is at Farm and Hearth
Alison is at Ancestral Kitchen
The podcast is at Ancestral Kitchen Podcast
Original Music, Episode Mixing and Post-Production by Robert Michael Kay
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