Comfortably Hungry

In this episode I discover more about the role women played in the distilling of usquebaugh (or the water of life) and whisky in Scotland with Peter Gilchrist, food historian at the Tenement Kitchen and host of the Scottish Food History podcast. Peter and I are joined by Rosalind Erskine, Food and Drink Editor of the Scotsman and host of the Scran podcast.
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here.
Useful Links
Don’t forget to check out Peter’s website The Tenement Kitchen which explores Scottish folk cookery. You can also find him on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. You can also listen to the Scottish Food History podcast which Peter hosts with Dr Lindsay Middleton here.
You can find out more about Rosalind’s work on her website and also find her on Instagram. Ros is also the host of The Scotsman’s Scran Podcast.
Walter Gregor Tonic Water who make the intriguing turnip tonic!
Lots of whisky distilleries were mentioned in the podcast including Ardbeg which was run by early female distillers Flora and Margaret McDougall in the 1850s.
You can listen to the talk I gave on the history of gingerbread at the 2025 Scottish Food History here along with Perilla Kinchen’s keynote talk on the influence of Catherine Cranston and her tearooms.
Suggested Reading
* Rebellious Spirits: The Illicit History of Booze in Britain by Ruth Ball (2015)
* The English Housewife (1615) by Gervase Markham (ed. Michael R. Best, 1998)
* With Faith and Physic: The Life of a Tudor Gentlewoman by Linda Pollock (1993)
* ‘The Early Use of Aqua Vitae in Scotland’ in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1916)
* Water of Life: A History of Wine Distilling and Spirits 500 BC to AD 2000 by C. Anne Wilson (2006)
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

‘The Carp is a stately, a good, and a subtle fish, a fish that hath not (as it is said) been long in England’ Izaak Walton, The Complete Angler (1653)
In this episode I explore the history of carp in Britain, one of the most widely distributed freshwater fish of all the British species, with angler and author John Langridge.
By the seventeenth century carp recipes were frequently found in cookbooks of the period but it is seldom eaten now. As well as busting some myths about how the carp first came to Britain I try to find out why the carp leapt from the plate and back into the pond to become arguably the most popular coarse fish in the UK?
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here.
Useful Links
John’s books Aphrodite’s Carp and Fishing for Spanish Barbel are available from Medlar Press.
Suggested Reading
* A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, by Dame Juliana Berners (1496)
* Natural history of British fishes by Frank Buckland (1883)
* The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May (1685)
* The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton (1653)
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

‘We do not know for how many millennia man has exploited the preservative properties of ice.’ Jill Norman in the introduction to Elizabeth David’s Harvest of the Cold Months (1996)
In this episode I’m joined by food historian, writer, photographer, and culinary practitioner Dr Nader Mehravari, to find out more about the yakhchals of ancient Persia and how they were used to make and store ice.
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here.
Useful Links
You can follow Nader Mehravari on Instagram and find out more about his work with Persian food on his website.
Nader’s Faloodeh recipe on Serious Eats
Suggested Reading
Travels in Persia by John Chardin (a seventeenth century French born traveler who wrote about ice in Persia)
Harvest of the Cold Months by Elizabeth David (1996)

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2026 in this episode we’ll be hearing the story of Eliza James, a remarkable woman who rose from poverty on the streets of Birmingham to become one of the most successful and wealthiest market traders at Covent Garden in London, all from selling bunches of watercress. So renowned was this woman that on her death in 1927 she was mourned as the watercress queen. Joining me to explore Eliza’s life are food historian Dr Alessandra Pino, food writer and former Director of London Farmers Markets Cheryl Cohen and Tom Amery, Managing Director of The Watercress Company.
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here.
Don’t forget to rate and review the podcast on your preferred podcast platform as it will help other listeners discover Comfortably Hungry.
Useful Links
Find out more and follow my guests:
Dr Alessandra Pino - website, Instagram and BlueSky. Don’t forget to check out our other podcast A is for Apple and Allie’s Fear Feasts.
Also check out the fantastic Cheryl Queen of Markets on Substack. You can also find Cheryl on Instagram.
Tom Amery is the Managing Director of The Watercress Company. You can find them on Instagram, YouTube and lots of delicious recipe ideas on their ‘foodie’ account @lovewatercress
The annual Arlesford Watercress Festival takes place on 17 May 2026. You can travel to the event on part of the original Watercress Line (charges apply).
Suggested Reading
The Poor Watercress Sellers of London by John Groom (1872)
London Labour and the London Poor - Henry Mayhew (1851)
The Market Place And The Market’s Place In London, c. 1660 -1840 - PhD thesis by Colin Stephen Smith (1999)
John Groom’s Flower (and watercress ) Girl Mission
If you want to read the full story of Sarah Cackett’s tragic life you can find it in Pluckley: The Making and Faking of a Ghost Story
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported podcast and publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe

Don’t miss the special episode on The Watercress Queen to celebrate International Women’s Day (8/3/26) - released on Thursday 5th March.
If you enjoyed the podcast you can become a paid subscriber to the Comfortably Hungry Substack (which means you’ll receive additional content) or show your appreciation by leaving a small, one off tip here.
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast.
Comfortably Hungry is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comfortablyhungry.substack.com/subscribe