‘The Feasts of Autolycus: The Diary of a Greedy Woman’ with Sam Bilton (premium content)

A podcast episode features a discussion between the host and Sam Bilton regarding Elizabeth Robins Pennell's book, *The Feasts of Autolycus: The Diary of a Greedy Woman* (1899). The conversation explored Elizabeth Robins Pennell, the societal expectations placed on women and concepts of greediness in the late Victorian period, the intersection of food and morality, and specific culinary topics such as Camp coffee, stirring savouries, magnificent mushrooms, and kidneys. The discussion also touched upon how Sam Bilton discovered Pennell and included an exploration of related themes within the historical context.

The pattern emerges from a historical focus on the domestic sphere and foodways as sites for exploring broader societal tensions regarding gender roles and economic behavior during the late Victorian era. The specific focus on "greediness" alongside detailed culinary descriptions—magnificent mushrooms and kidneys—suggests an examination of how material consumption was framed by prevailing moral codes, positioning eating habits not merely as sustenance but as a moral and social performance. This framing highlights the tension between the perceived delicacy of female experience and the harsh realities of Victorian economic structures. The act of historical rediscovery, engaging with an author whose voice touches on these themes, suggests a continuous inquiry into how food history reveals underlying power dynamics regarding female agency. The implication is that analyzing historical food diaries allows for a critical understanding of how morality was constructed around consumption, potentially exposing the ways in which societal expectations codified roles through material experience.