Food has always attracted ambition, greed and the occasional spectacularly bad idea. These episodes follow fraudsters, thieves, poisoners and public scandals through the kitchens, markets and dining rooms where their stories unfolded.
From the archive
In the 1880s, Henry Friend claimed he had invented a secret electrical process that could revolutionise the sugar industry. His demonstrations were convincing and at the time, investors were throwing money at him. But almost nobody was allowed to see how it worked. So what exactly was going on inside his locked refinery?
WW2 was raging onwards, with men fighting and dying each and every day. It was so delicately poised that there seemed to be no end to the fighting in sight. Weeks and months dragged on into years, and with them came more and more plots of how to win the war. Some were impractical, some were impossible, and some were downright insane. But every now and again, one of these plots would be just insane enough to work. And so, out of this think tank came possibly one of military history’s greatest-ever schemes. What if we turned Adolf Hitler into a woman?
Today's stories aren’t just about the small-time pilfering of food here and there from your local grocery stores. No, today we’ll be talking about people stealing truckloads of the stuff at a time, not it seems to quell their stomach's callings, as much as to refill those empty wallets.
Hitler had a plan to make Germany self-sufficient during World War 2. The German people had a craving for margarine, unlike any other nation. In order to keep his people happy, Hitler and his advisors hatched a crazy plan to try and ensure that they got what they wanted. This bizarre tale swings wildly from whale hunting to the attempted theft of another nations territorial claim and finally onto a man who makes margarine from coal. You literally can't make this stuff up. Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod Find show notes, transcript and references on the website: www.foodhistorypodcast.com
An exploration of three different origin stories for the famous Egyptian pudding Om Ali. We dive deep into the story of the famous female Sultan Shajar Al Durr, and her far reaching influence in the empire. For show notes and references please visit https://www.foodhistorypodcast.com/ Please support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod Connect with us on Social Media: Twitter: @foodhistorypod Instagram: @foodhistorypod Facebook: facebook.com/foodhistorypod