Tasting History with Max Miller

Max traces airline food from 1919's first commercial meal to aviation's Golden Age (1950s-70s). He covers flight kitchens, cold-to-hot meal evolution, themed flights, flight attendant hiring, the 1958 Great Sandwich War, and 1978 deregulation. Max recreates a 1954 United Airlines meal of pot roast, vegetables, Delmonico potatoes, and marshmallow-apple salad.

Max recreates Ötzi the Iceman's last meal (c. 3,359-3,105 BC), discovered in 1991. He covers Ötzi's clothing, tools, health (tattoos, heart disease, parasites), and likely murder by arrow. Using stomach contents-smoked ibex, charred red deer, and einkorn pancake with fiddle ferns-Max cooks over an open fire to mimic Neolithic methods.

Max explores the 4-6 month, 2,200-mile Oregon Trail journey (1846-1869), covering provisions like flour, bacon, and hardtack, cooking over buffalo chips, and staple meals like Johnny cakes. He discusses hunting, trading with Native Americans, celebrations, and hardships, including spoiled food, salt-rising bread, pies, and pioneers leaving possessions at Fort Laramie.

Max explores Titanic's first class breakfast from April 11, 1912, featuring over a dozen dishes by Escoffier. He recreates baked apples, smoked salmon coronets, shirred eggs, and buckwheat cakes with blackcurrant conserve. The episode highlights dining venues, passenger pets, and the tragic story of honeymooners Victor and Maria Josefa Peñasco.

Max explores Titanic's luxurious first class, from modest suites to lavish parlor suites with private promenades. He covers dining in the saloon and Ritz, daily meals, amenities like the gym and Turkish bath, and the 10+ course final dinner. Using survivor accounts, he recreates the famous peaches in Chartreuse jelly dessert from April 14, 1912.

Max explores WWII home front rationing in the U.S., from 1942 sugar limits to the red and blue point system for meat, dairy, and canned goods. He covers price controls, Victory Gardens, labor shortages, internment camps, and black-market "meatleggers." He also recreates Betty Crocker's "emergency steak," a budget-friendly mix of ground beef, cereal, and milk.

Max explores the Old West saloon as a social hub for food and drink. He covers its evolving design, popular beverages like whiskey, beer, champagne, and cocktails, gambling games such as poker, and the famous "free lunch" tradition. The episode highlights regional foods, oysters' popularity, and recreates an 1886 pork and beans recipe from *Cooking for Profit*.

Max explores medieval English taverns, inns, and alehouses, each serving different roles and social classes. Taverns sold wine, inns provided lodging, and alehouses were private homes selling ale. The episode covers wine quality control, bread and ale laws, and their reputations for gambling and excess. He recreates bokenade, a beef pottage with saffron, cloves, and verjuice.