BBC's Supersizers Go

I’ve discovered the most brilliant show EVER.  I’ve never been huge on the food programs on television.  When I watch them, I just get immensely hungry, and disappointed by whatever my next meal is actually going to be; or I feel gross and bloated just from looking at all the fatty and grotesque amount of foods being displayed on my television.

The other night though, I discovered “The Supersizers Go…” a British program, which follows restaurant critic Giles Coren, and writer and comedian Sue Perkins, as they travel through time and spend a week at a time, living and eating through different eras in history.  The program is HILARIOUS.  I can’t tell you how much I laughed out loud and even uncontrollably whilst watching these two time travel.  They’re both really funny, and Sue is like the British Ellen Degeneres.  And when I say that they live and eat through these different eras, I mean, they dress, behave, take up gender roles, common cultural activities, and entertain as they did through these periods.  It’s marvelous.  It’s brilliant.  It’s even educational.  It’s lessons on history, culture, lifestyles, as well as health and fitness.  Each week, Giles and Sue get a fitness and health test done before they begin their week, and again at the end of their week to see what their period diet has done to them. 

I have to say I never realized how common oysters are in British cuisine.  Oysters existed in Britain even before tea did.  Although, it does make sense since Britain is essentially an island.  For fitness and health reasons, I probably wouldn’t have minded the food rationing days of wartime.  In fact, I’m thinking maybe we should go back to some sort of food rationing program, just for health and fitness purposes, minus the powdered eggs and spam.  While some people might think that drinking ales and wines all day long would be a magnificent idea, I couldn’t imagine not being able to drink water during the Restoration period—during that period the water was undrinkable.  I would not have survived that period. I’d either die early of starvation from not being able to ingest any of the period delicacies, or I’d die of alcohol poisoning.  I probably would have preferred eating as a regular civilian in Ancient Rome, too, as opposed to an aristocrat, because I’m not sure I could even go near testicles, womb, or door mice.  In fact, through many of the eras before the 19th century, I’d probably be really thin, because I couldn’t handle the many animal delicacies—although, I wouldn’t have minded eating like Marie Antoinette.  The 1970’s proved the importance of being active throughout the day.  My favorite is the 1970’s alarm clock that brews tea while you sleep, so that you have hot tea ready for you as soon as you wake up.  I think we need to bring that back!  I also love the live frogs jumping out of the pie just for fun and entertainment during the Elizabethan era.  That certainly would be entertaining, if you thought you were receiving a pie, and then frogs started jumping out of it.  I must say, I have a whole new respect for chefs, whose cooking begins with the skinning, deboning, and de-organing of animals.  It’s quite a job!

The funny thing, is that after traveling through all these different time periods, the general lesson about health and fitness, is what we all know—what you eat and what you physically do matters!  It matters not just for your physique, but also for your hygiene, your mood, and your life expectancy rate.

Tune into the first two seasons on Hulu, and travel with these two through wartime (WWII), the Restoration period (1660’s), the Victorian era, the 1970’s, Shakespearean times (aka the Elizabethan era), the Regency years (1789-1821), the 1980’s, Medieval Times, the 50’s, the French Revolution, the 1920’s, and Ancient Rome.  It’s fantastic, it really is! Giles and Sue are a riot!

BIG LOVE & HUGS

Love,

Justine
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