Cocktails are not just enjoyed in bars but also at home. Join us, Kelly Spring and Matthew Phillpott, in this week's episode of The Hungry Historians, where we explore the world of the cocktail parlor with Nicola Nice. In 2024, Nicola published The Cocktail Parlor with Countryman Press, and in the episode we discuss the history of cocktails at home, how women are crucial to the development and uses of cocktails, and much more.

You can find out more about Nicola at her website licolanice.com, and on Instagram.

This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠, an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

In this episode of The Hungry Historians Matthew Phillpott and Kelly Spring interview Eric C. Rath about his book Kanpai: The History of Sake (Reaktion Books, 2025).

Eric brings us into the world of sake, both in Japan and its increasing popularity internationally. You can find out more about Eric C. Rath on his profile page. Kanpai is available from Reakton Books and all good bookshops.

This episode is sponsored by Bloomsbury Food Library, an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

Welcome to the second episode of season 2 of The Hungry Historians. In this episode Kelly A. Spring and Matt Phillpott interview educator, scholar and creator Marcus Weaver-Hightower about his book Unpacking School Lunch. In this episode we explore the challenges and politics of school lunches, mainly in the US, but also with a quick excursion into the UK system.

You can find out more about Marcus Weaver-Hightower at his ⁠website⁠. Unpacking School Lunch is available from Palgrave Macmillan and all good bookshops.

Welcome to the first episode of season 2 of The Hungry Historians. In this episode Kelly A. Spring and Matt Phillpott interview historian and writer, Or Rosenboim on her 2024 book Air and Love: A Story of Food, Migration and Belonging. This book is one part history told through the story of food, cooking, and eating, and one part family history. The book follows Or's family as it migrates from Samarkand, Riga, Jerusualem, and Tel Aviv in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

You can find out more about Or Rosenboim at her website. Air and Love is available from Pan MacMillan and all good bookshops.

In this month's Hungry Historians, Kelly A. Spring and Matt Phillpott discuss the history of menus with Nathalie Cooke (McGill University). We were surprised by just how much can be learned from menus and excited to hear about the various tricks used to encourage certain choices and illustrations used to excite interest. We also discuss cryptic menus and who is left out.

You can find out more from Nathalie's latest book, Tastes and Traditions: A Journey through Menu History, available from Reaktion Books and all good bookstores.

We hope you enjoy the episode!