One of the appeals YouTube has is the fact it can offer almost anything to anyone.
Of course, much of that is nothing more than entertainment, often aimed to cultivate a persona that can be built into a marketable brand. Yet, there are a few that blend education into an entertaining video – creating something more familiar to PBS viewers. One of the newer YouTube channels to gain recognition amongst the near limitless mass of videos published daily mixes food and history into an enjoyable weekly series.
“Tasting History with Max Miller” is a channel created by a former Disney employee after he was furloughed from his marketing job during the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Miller focuses on historical recipes, often coming from translated texts dating hundreds or thousands of years. Success has been swift for Miller, who declined to return to his Disney job when called to return. Along with posting weekly videos, he’s also working on a cookbook, which he said will be published next year.
Many of the foods he features come from medieval Europe, a period he readily admits is his favorite, yet other foods from ancient Egyptian, Asian, Roman and Babylonian cultures.
At first, it is difficult to comprehend that some of these foods could be made today as one would imagine some of the ingredients have fallen out of favor over the centuries.
While this is true for some meats like flamingo’s tongue (apparently prized since the days of the Roman Empire for its tenderness), the fact is many of the foods featured are older versions of what many enjoy today.
It is not hard to think of having pumpkin pie for a dessert, especially during Thanksgiving. However, the pie dates to the 1600s with “pumpion pie,” a version that uses the flesh of a pumpkin and includes apples and raisins. Cheesecake also is something people have enjoyed for millennia. In one video, Miller explores a 14th century version known as a “sambocade” and later makes a Roman cheesecake called a “placenta” in another video. Miller also makes his own mead from a 13th century recipe. He covers more unusual dishes as well, such as “melas zomos,” a Spartan stew made from pork, pork blood, vinegar and some vegetables.
The food Miller makes is only part of the attraction, as he delves into the history surrounding the dishes. He discusses why medieval monks are sometimes depicted as fat, jolly men while others had a skinny and haggard look to them. He also talks about early cookbooks and the historical significance they provide. All of this is done in a light-hearted and entertaining delivery that is more conversational than simply reciting information in a manner all too common across the more educational wings of YouTube.
YouTube can be an absolute mess of videos and searching for an enjoyable channel that doesn’t rely on annoying stunts for views is a daunting task. Yet, what Miller has created is a fun, weekly series that is enjoyable and surprisingly educational without becoming a long-winded lesson featuring information read verbatim off of a Wikipedia page. His videos are certainly worth checking out.
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