Historical Homos19 Jun 2025

A Queer History of Food (feat. Rachel Cleves)

What's so gay about food? (Besides the fact that you use your mouth for it.)

The answer, OF COURSE, lies in 18th century France.

In fact, food's sexy origins go even further back, all the way to the ancients: from Eve's naughty apple to Ancient Roman oysters (they made their orgasms more intense!).

But it was the invention of the restaurant in 18th century Paris that made food sexy, dangerous, and ultimately, gay.

By the 20th century, figures like Oscar Wilde and the Bloomsbury Set had made sure it was officially queer to eat out. Their associations of food with aesthetics and art ran counter to Anglo-American fears of public pleasure.

Eventually, it became more normal for people other than the French to talk about food, and even to try making their daily fare at home more edible. Thus began the modern association of caring about good food with homosexuality.

We end this episode discussing the lasting impact of those associations on our modern relationship with food.

Join us for this open buffet on food's queer history, featuring Professor Rachel Cleves, author of Lustful Appetites: A History of Good Food and Wicked Sex.

Together we uncover:

The origins of the restaurant (aka Whore Dinner)
18th century Viagra broth
Virginia Woolf's gay best friend who made English food more French (thank GOD)
The Lavender Scare's impact on American food
How capitalism made food less gay for straight men

You can follow Historical Homos on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and you should ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you care about gay people at all.

Written and hosted by Bash. Guest speaker: Rachel Cleves. Edited by Alex Toskas. Produced by Dani Henion.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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