I’ve very recently become extremely enamoured with The Supersizers.
This is a BBC2 mini-doc series starring Restaurant critic Giles Coren and comedian Sue Perkins. The first series, “The Supersizers Go…” follows Giles and Sue as they pick personas (usually siblings or spouses) then dress, live, and eat their way through the lifestyles and cuisine of six different eras in Britain’s history.
Part docu-drama, part cooking show, part history lesson, Giles and Sue never fail to see the humour and the ridiculousness of what they’re doing, wearing, or eating. My favourite episode thus far has definately been the Regency and theWar Time episodes. Especially the latter as it really is a facinating look into how closely rationing and national health were monitored and executed.
They followed this up with “The Supsersizers Eat…” which places them in facinating historical periods all over the world, including Ancient Rome and TheFrench Revolution.
What’s facinating is the way they hire a chef to come in and help them make some of the dishes, but that Sue, as the woman, often has to be in the kitchen with the chef. And that Sue is NOT a chef AT ALL. I love when they lay out all the week’s food as well, to give you a visual clue as to how much it all is.
If foodstuffs were used for cosmetics, then Sue and Giles also use them as people would have at the time.
I wish they did do some more middle or lower class families, or some less European-centric cultures (I’d love to see Edo-era Japan or pre-Columbus Latin America), but it seems like the series is still ongoing, so maybe my wish will be granted.