History & Food & Fun with the Supersizers

Ok, so maybe it’s not a documentary, but the show The Supersizers Go is basically one of my favorite history TV shows. It helps that it’s an accumulation of everything I love: history, food, and old timey clothes. But seriously, this show, despite it’s somewhat craziness at times, does teach about history. Through eating like they did in the old days, Giles Coren and Sue Perkins helps to shed light on past cultures and society.

In this show, Giles and Sue take on the role of people from the past, I guess you could say they take a third person interpretation approach- haha, and eat the food that was popular from the time period for people of their social class. The Supersizers Go have done several different time periods throughout the show’s lifespan, from Roman times all the way up to the 1970s. Giles and Sue talk to traditional historians, social historians, food historians, and etc to gain insights into why these people at the food they did, the meanings and implications of the food they ate- and the volume of food they ate, and  they explore the larger historical context behind the times in which they are eating.

My one critique is that the two hosts mostly portray the upper class, so we don’t often get to see the food of ordinary people. But, overall I think this series does an interesting thing with history. It makes the past cultures seem tangible. Food is an essential part of life and The Supersizers use it to illuminate past society in a really cool way. If you get the chance you should watch, most of the episodes can be found on Youtube.