Author: Ali

Farinaccio is a wild green that tastes a little like spinach. It is named so because, when you rub your fingers on the leaves, it leaves a powder behind that’s a little like flour (farina in Italian).
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I love the variety of greens I find at my local market. In fact, I love the variety of greens in Italian cuisine. I am sure there have been an array of foraged greens in all cuisines, but I certainly didn’t taste any of them when I was growing up in a supermaket-stocked kitchen in the UK.
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Check my story today to see what I cooked this up with 🙂

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Who hasn’t dreamt of packing everything up and setting off on a campervan adventure?!
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But for those of us who care about what we eat, the thought of cooking four plates of nutrient-dense food three times a day in a tiny van; of only having a two-burner stove; of no limitless water supply, no freezer and a tiny fridge. Man, that sounds hard, right?!
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That’s exactly what Charlie, our guest today on @ancestralkitchenpodcast did for two years, whilst travelling around Europe with her husband and her two small children.
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Download to hear how she did it (including how she cooked pizza!), some wonderful tales of the seasonal produce she found in the many countries she visited, what the experience taught her and why, back in a normal house, she misses her tiny kitchen!
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Thank you @babybusadventures for sharing your story and thank you for taking this gorgeous picture!
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You can find us by searching for Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your app or by streaming/downloading via the link in my profile.

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I love this statement from @historicalitalianfood’s article deconstructing The Mediterranean Diet.
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We, as a society, believe so much about our food and our health that just does not stack up when you scratch under the surface.
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How is that whole food paradigms that are followed by millions turn out to not be based on the truth? Why after years of walking this path am I still uncovering truths that change the fabric of everything I’ve ever been taught?
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These are our bodies. This is our health. These are the lives of our children. I praise every single person that’s wanted to (or been forced to by bad health) find the truth. Keep going. Keep sharing.
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Whilst recording our patron-exclusive podcast, Kitchen Table Chats, @farmandhearth and I often talk earnestly about food lies and food truths. Because they are *so* important. Our next episode will dive deeply into the ‘Mediterranean’ diet and what we’ve both learnt.
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Thank you @historicalitalianfood, thank you @homegrown_education, thank you @farmandhearth and thank you @food.lies

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Making ‘imperfect’ looking chocolate is so incredibly more satisfying for the taste buds and soul than buying bars at the store.
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This started life as a bag of raw cacao nibs. I roasted them, cracked them, shelled them, ground them and then mixed them with a small amount of melted cacao butter and coconut oil to make chocolate!
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The result is rustic…one might say stone-ground. The flavour, however, is amazing. It’s so much deeper, more nuanced, more zingy and more satisfying than anything I’ve eaten from a wrapper.
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And like all the foods we prepare with love in our kitchens there is some undescribable life in it *because* I gave it care and attention.
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I’ve been making chocolate this way since I read the 700-page The Secret Life of Chocolate by @nocturnalherbalist and I can’t go back. There’s a set of videos that will walk you through how to do it yourself on the courses page of www.ancestralkitchen.com.
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Fancy having a go?!

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After a while using ground linseed, I’ve gone back to using psyllium husk to help gel my #glutenfreesourdough breads.
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This is sorghum and millet, both ground at home, with a teaspoon of psyllium, some salt and my millet sourdough starter. It is so good fresh from the oven.
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It’s both gluten and lectin free and much lighter than my other sourdoughs (which are spelt and rye). I like to eat it at supper, with butter and a boiled egg 🙂
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There’s a link to the recipe in my profile. Nestled in that recipe you’ll find a link to an article on how I create a glutenfree sourdough starter.

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Lard and bread. They are so good together!
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Here’s my recipe for Pane con Ciccioli a.k.a. lard crackling bread. It’s inspired by the litany of bread recipes that see the left over crunchy bits from lard-rendering cushioned in soft carby pillows.
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Because I’m a sourdough girl, I make mine with wild yeast and because I adore spelt, that’s what I’ve used here. I thought I’d have a bit of fun by making a rolled up, strudel-style loaf and added some garlic and rosemary for an additional pep.
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You can find a link to the recipe in my profile.
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I know Italians have been combining lard and bread for a looong time and I’ve recently learnt about a crackling bread sold by street vendors in Argentina. I get access to so many cultures here on IG, anyone else got a lard crackling bread they want to share with me? 🙂

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Sourdough pancakes for lunch today!
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I spent the morning filming the ‘what to do with your sourdough discard’ section of my upcoming rye sourdough course for @thefermentationschool. No sooner had I switched off the camera than I slipped this 100% wholegrain pancake out of the pan and onto my lunch plate! I topped it with leftover spicy lentils (cooked yesterday) and local salad.
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I like to fold it up and see if I can bite into one end without the filling all falling out of the other 🙂

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If my terrified-of-fat 30-year-old self could see this bowl of crunchy pig skin I’ve just made, she’d have thought that I was making a terrible choice for my health and that I’d pile weight on.
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How pervasive is the lie that fat makes us fat and when will it die?
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Following on from yesterday’s post about the latest @ancestralkitchenpodcast episode where I talk about my 140lb weight loss, I wanted to celebrate my love of all things pig by making these again today.
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Processed (and the new ultra-processed) foods are the enemy of our society’s future, not locally-sourced, nutritious fat.
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I’m hoping to make a video of how to make these ancestral-popcorn style yummies out of pig skin soon. In the meantime I’ll keep practising and munching.
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Thank you for the feedback on the podcast episode we’ve had – it’s challenging to be open and it makes a difference for me to hear such wonderful comments. If you’ve not listened yet, you can find us on your podcast app as @ancestralkitchenpodcast or download/stream from the link in my profile.

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It’s easy to think, when you see someone, that they have always been that way.
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Yet so many of us hold stories of change.
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People who I meet these days can barely imagine that I’ve looked any different to how I do now. When they find out that I used to carry twice the weight I do now, they can’t believe it.
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After over a year of podcasting, @farmandhearth and I decided it was time to talk about my 140lb/10 stone/65kg weight loss. It wasn’t easy to distill a childhood of being the fat kid, the 18-month journey to lose the weight, the decade of determination and fat avoidance lest I regain and the embracing of ancestral foods that has seen my need for restraint ending. But we tried!!
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I sincerely hope that, whatever your own relationship with food, my sharing inspires, softens and informs you. And that it strengthens your belief in the possible.
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You can subscribe to the podcast by searching for @ancestralkitchenpodcast in your app, or you can listen via the link in my profile.
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Please do let me know what you think. And please do share this episode with anyone you think would enjoy listening. 🙂

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