It takes some gumption to name a podcast History’s Greatest Dishes and proceed to offer episodes on pizza, blancmange, balti, gooseberry fool and Victoria sponge. Where’s the rarebit, the pottage, the pigeon pie? But the boldness of the podcast is one of its charms, and the choice of topics isn’t terribly important. Food historian Annie Gray and podcast host Emily Briffett chew over some fascinating material on each of the dishes they have selected and provoke surprisingly heated debates.
Pineapple on pizza ought to be accompanied by Spam instead of ham
It was suggested, for example, that pineapple on pizza ought to be accompanied by Spam instead of ham. Gray tells us that Hawaiian pizza was invented by a Greek restaurateur in Canada and named after Hawaii because Dole, the largest pineapple company, operated there. And when American troops were stationed in Hawaii in the mid-20th century – which was when the pizza was created – Spam was the staple food. You see the logic, but insisting upon Spam seems to me to be being rather purist about a decidedly impure creation.
Elsewhere, it’s explained that a Victoria sponge should contain no butter. This was news to me. Practically the only cake recipe I learned growing up was the Victoria sponge as a 6-6-6 mix (6oz butter, 6oz caster sugar, 6oz self-raising flour). Such is the Cordon Bleu method. I was also stunned to learn that the original cake was baked in a rectangular tin, sliced into rectangular fingers, and ‘piled like Jenga’ to serve.
