From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.

I'm Farah Karim Cooper, the Folger Director.

For many families, the holidays revolve around food.

Perhaps in your family, you see the same recipes every year, like green bean casserole, gingerbread cookies, or eggnog.

Some we can't wait to taste each year, and others might be ready for retirement.

According to food historian Sam Bilton, if you're looking to liven up your holiday table,

you should consider adding an Elizabethan dish. Maybe try a carbonato, a veal, a mince pie, or a pear frangipane tart.

In her new book, Much Adieu About Cooking, Billton explores the surprisingly varied diet of early modern England.

Bilton's previous books covered the histories of chocolate, saffron, and gingerbread.

She's also the host of the podcast, Comfortably Hungry.

Here's Sam Bilton in conversation with Barbara Bogue.

There is a lot of food, it turns out, in Shakespeare's plays. I mean, they're just, right?

There's banquets and feasts and endless food metaphors. Yeah, it's actually a wealth of food in his plays. And you don't really

think about it until you start looking for it. That's the thing. It sort of glosses over it,

almost when you're watching a play. You don't necessarily think, oh, that's a food reference,

but there is a lot of food in his plays.

Yeah, that's true. It does. It just seems to be like a kind of scene setting.

And as I was reading your book, I was thinking, oh, there's so many quotes that are so wonderful that I didn't really pay that much attention to in the theater or while reading.

And for instance, one of my favorite ones is,

let the sky rain potatoes, let it thunder to the tune of green sleeves, hail kissing comfits

and snow. Is it eringoes? Eringoes, yes. Yeah, which is what? Marangs? I don't know what that is.

No, aringas. It's not marangs. It would be nice if know what that is. No, it's not marangs.

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