In this programme Ruth Alexander learns about ‘forever’ foods, stocks, soups and sourdough starters that can be replenished again and again and used for weeks, months or even years. Ruth hears about a beef soup in Bangkok that has been maintained for fifty years, and she bakes a loaf of sourdough bread using a 69 year old starter that’s been kept going by Hobbs House Bakery in the South West of England. Cookbook writer Fuchsia Dunlop in London, UK talks about the tradition of cooking with an ‘everlasting’ broth in Chinese cuisine. Annie Ruewerda in New York in the US was charmed by the idea of a perpetual stew, she kept hers going for two months and it became an online hit – bringing hundreds of strangers to her local park to try the stew and add ingredients. Lee-Ann Jaykus, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and food microbiologist at North Carolina State University in the US explains the food safety rules you need to know if you want to try a perpetual dish at home. Martha Carlin, Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the US helps unravel the claimed historical origins of perpetual stew. And our thanks to World Service listeners David Shirley and Mark Wood for telling us about the oldest dishes they’ve eaten. Produced by Rumella Dasgupta and Beatrice Pickup Additional reporting by the BBC’s Ryn Jirenuwat in Bangkok, Thailand. (Image: beef soup in a huge pot that has been added to over fifty years at a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. Credit: David Shirley/BBC)
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Would you fancy a broth or a stew that's been bubbling away on the stove for weeks, months, years, even decades?
I love the soup.
It's not too oily and it's just on rich umami.
It is really, really good.
It's amazing, actually.
This is the food chain from the BBC World Service with me, Ruth Alexander, and this week we're going in search of forever food stocks and stews and starters that are replenished again and again.
Kept going, day after day, year after year.
It's the fact that we've nurtured it and, you know, been custodians of it and it's.
It's given us back more than we've given it.
We'll be finding out how far back the idea goes, separating fact from fiction.
Peas porridge hot.
Peas porridge cold.