Author: Alison

In this episode I got to sit down with Meagan Francis, a supporter and friend of Ancestral Kitchen and veteran podcaster herself. She is the host of The Kettle with Meagan Francis, which is a lovely podcast, and author of “The Last Parenting Book You’ll Ever Read” which just came out this spring. Meagan also owns a tea and variety shop and in this episode she shared with me some surprising and interesting tidbits on the history of tea and how it was introduced to Western civilization, some of the finer points of sourcing and brewing, where some of our familiar tea traditions came from and what High Tea really means.

In this episode we will deal head-on with histamine and how it interacts with an ancestral diet. We’ll explain what histamine is and the problems it can cause. We’ll explore which staple ancestral foods are high in histamine and discuss alternatives that we can turn to if histamine is an issue for us.

It’s almost May, the month which the early medieval Anglo-Saxons called thrymilce, because according to the Venerable St Bede, “in that month cattle were milked three times a day.” We don’t know if you’re milking your cow three times a day, but ‘tis the season for lots of fresh and available milk. What to do with all that milk? – and if you don’t have a cow, what to do if you have access to raw milk and want to make staple value-added dairy products in your home, like cottage cheese, sour cream and yoghurt?

Combining gluten-free eating with ancestral eating need not be daunting. Today I talk with Rebecca Zipp, a beloved podcast guest and supporter. She’s been gluten-free for the last 16 years – bringing her husband and her children along with her. In addition, for most of last year I ate gluten-free. Between the two of us we’ve a lot to talk about!

What are some traditional foods we can eat for breakfast, and do we have examples of ancestral breakfasts in history? In this episode Alison and I got together to talk about what we eat to start the day.

Alison has just released a free 30-page guide to baking with ancient grains and this companion podcast episode will give you everything you need to know to bring the world of ancient grain baking into your own kitchen. We’ll define an ancient grain, we’ll talk about why they’re different to modern wheat and how that change happened, Alison will share why she believes ancient grains are so important in our modern world and then talk about how you can bring them into your own baking.

The cost of eating an ancestral, nourishing diet, vs the cost of eating a conventional, supermarket diet: people are already stretched to the limit on their grocery budgets, so how can we ask them to spend even more on buying more nutritious or local food? Even if it’s important to them, what if the dollars literally do not exist? How are we to eat? These were the questions burning in my mind when I sat down with the Nourishing Traditions cookbook to make a list of ten easy, favorite recipes.

How, when you’ve got limited money, no spare time and family who are used to eating what they eat… How when you can’t find alternatives, don’t have the room to grow it yourself and don’t have the headspace… How do you get out of supermarkets? In this, our Guide to Getting Out of Supermarkets episode, we’ll give you a stack of practical ideas (from us and from our supporters) that’ll change things up.

How does one prepare for times of illness? Having supplies on hand, such as home remedies, some handy rubrics and rules of thumb in your back pocket, and healing foods prepared and set aside for such a time, are steps the wise person takes to avoid being caught off guard and unprepared. In this episode, Alison and Andrea will talk about some favorite tools and remedies they keep on hand, as well as procedures they use, in times of illness.

What is ancestral eating? After three years of recording podcast episodes, we thought it was about time we tackled this topic head-on. Because, although the word ancestral has become much more mainstream since we started, there is still much confusion about eating and living this way.

Ask us anything, we said! Grill us like a cheese sandwich! And you did! Our podcast supporters sent in questions for Alison and I to answer for this final episode of 2024 and we had a lot of fun answering them. Some of them were crazy!

Do you dislike all the fuss, packaging and stress that a mainstream Christmas involves? So do we! Both of us have spent many years cultivating Christmases that are low-key, close to zero-waste and calm. And they are beautiful. Listen in as we share our tips for experiencing a green and peaceful Christmas.

In this wonderful episode, I got to sit down with Christine Muldoon, who is a friend, the creator of NourishtheLittles.com, a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, a mother and wife, and also a follower of the Weston A Price principles of food. She is also the co-host of the podcast Modern Ancestral Mamas with her amazing co-host, Corey Dunn. I wanted to tap into Christine’s incredible knowledge base and wisdom for post-partum care, and really nourishing mom in the post-partum window of time.