Surviving on Leather

[@TastingHistory]

Check out the PBS Origins episode on Pirate Food kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJvGi4Cgr5esr9k

[@drthehunterman]

Saw you forgot the link in the description, thank you for posting

[@zimattack9994]

Keep up the great work here to a hover stew someday

[@TastingHistory]

@@drthehunterman yeah and I can’t change the description from my phone. I’ll update as soon as I get in front of my computer.

[@popeyethepirate5473]

That hard tack gimmick man lol

[@michaeldiogenesbest6127]

Re: Eating Rawhide~ After boiling and pounding, roast the strips until crispy. MUCH more platable(and, some flavor)........

[@megamatiman4855]

This man's mental gymnastics to not describe the texture as leathery is truly an inspiration "spongy but firm" he said, respect 07

[@thomasmills3934]

Respect 61

[@shepherddog1199]

@@thomasmills3934 you mean 62?

[@griffinmckenzie7203]

@@shepherddog1199 No, he clearly means "respect 42"

[@ConsistentlyInconsistent_J]

@@griffinmckenzie7203 no he clearly "respect 57"

[@tanyah.9131]

Haha, what are the numbers about?

[@couchingzone2615]

The shoe Chaplin ate was actually made out of licorice. Being the perfectionist that he was, Chaplin filmed the scene 63 times and was subsequently hospitalized due to an insulin shock. Saying goes that Chaplin liked licorice before but hated the sweet afterwards.

[@CineMiamParis]

Another bit of this story is that the confectioner who made the liquorice shoes got rich in the process and went on to create his own liquorice factory. It was called American Licorice, and was still in business when I researched it 10yrs ago.

[@AzureToroto]

@@CineMiamParis The American Licorice company is known for owning product names like Red Vines and Sour Punch, which are still popular nowadays. Shame that neither brands have candied shoes, purely for the novelty.

[@phunkracy]

I'd rather eat leather than licorice tbh

[@bigred9428]

I never heard that he was hospitalized, just that he was sick as a dog for about three days, and production had to be shut down.

[@lenabreijer1311]

Liquorice has a component which affects your blood pressure and heart. Someone recently died from overeating it. He was lucky.

[@DSzaks]

I think the problem w/ the flavor is your forgot to salt your water, it really helps bring out that leather flavor we all know and love.

[@WolfyTheIn-between]

I just laughed so hard, thank you 😆

[@laurean5998]

I think this is a joke, but you may not be far of. I had a sheeps fur tanned with salt as a child and that was delicious...

[@alperry02]

😂

[@benoitbvg2888]

If you really want the "original taste", just use sweat. Those survivors didn't have salt at their disposal.

[@johnwinter2252]

Even though this is a joke I'm sure salt would 100% help lol

[@UncAussie]

“Can’t we just eat jim over there in the corner? We all know we don’t like him anyway” can picture this line of sentence on the ship hahaha

[@andrewbrown6522]

You know the one thing all peoples exterminated by the euros had in common? Eating people. We dont like it.

[@cartoonistanonymous]

Very likely it was probably just a definitely coincidence that the one guy not on the crew drew the short straw

[@applemauzel]

And they did, only on the hms erebus and hms terror ;)

[@UncAussie]

@applemauzel they was picking Jim out of their teeth for weeks!

[@Ana-tj5fm]

When my grandmother was a child, she lived through the siege of St. Petersburg, Russia during World War II, and told me stories about her life. People were starving to death on the streets, and her family was so, so hungry. One time her father brought home glue to eat, and another time, an old leather belt he found somewhere. They boiled it, then passed it around, each of them having some. I always wondered how they did that and what it must’ve tasted like. Unfortunately, my grandmother was the only survivor of her family with 6 children :( But her strength and determination to survive has always inspired me to keep going even when things are hard.

[@gadgetgirl02]

Thank you for mentioning leather eating happened at least as recently as WWII. I expect it's still happening around the world today, unfortunately.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

Wow, what a story, and what a person she must have been!🤗❤️🐝

[@Ana-tj5fm]

@@deborahdanhauer8525 she’s still with us thankfully!!! but she’s incredible :) she went to university later in life to learn english and became an english professor, and now she’s in her 90s so she spends her days at home with her cats haha

[@Ana-tj5fm]

@@Neutral_Ground_With_Larkin she absolutely is :)

[@lwke2137]

DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS

[@CaptainRiterraSmith]

For all the recipes Max has tried and did not enjoy, I believe this is his first "absolutely do not try this!" disclaimer. Thank you for putting your stomach and teeth on the line for us. 👏

[@natviolen4021]

And he definitely will not have to tell me twice 😆

[@ceu160193]

You can't really try it anyway, as now most gear isn't made from natural leather, so it's inedible.

[@ragnkja]

@@ceu160193 It’s hard enough to find leather that isn’t chrome-tanned these days, never mind leather where _every_ ingredient of the tanning agent and dyes is definitely safe to consume.

[@anymoose6685]

Yeh, chromium is pretty bad.

[@hoonterofhoonters6588]

@@ragnkja The tanning agents and dyes are what would scare me. I've sniped a lot of good deals on leather stuff at yard sales and second hand stores, but I prefer to wear it.

[@merphul]

Gotta love Max pointing out an ingredient is "non-toxic and urine free". Breaking new grounds in exploring ingredients on the channel.

[@sabatino1977]

I can see the ads now: Try BELT! Now with 50% less urine!!

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

Yeah I think a lot of leather is/was tanned with heavy metals like chromium so might well be pretty unhealthy.

[@kellysouter4381]

I never heard Nigella make those claims about her food.🤔

[@DaniMartVTen]

Well, considering the group sipping of urine was once a staple of (Roman or Greek?) elite gentlemen at social events, such isn't even a joke to me.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

It's like the old joke about asbestos-free cereal.

[@JimmyTH101]

I've read that the leather fringes on the clothing of frontiersmen in the old days were actually emergency rations. When someone came back without his fringes you knew he'd seen hard times.

[@CarrotConsumer]

I'm pretty sure it was just Native American fashion they adopted.

[@andrewbrown6522]

Ive always wondered about those.

[@MyBinaryLife]

it was a native born fashion made to accentuate the movements of their clothes during dances, which were a large part of their culture.

[@ScVmDoZeR8015]

Pretty sure fringes and tassles are for better water runoff

[@dudeinadoughboy4327]

Also something about an old form of camouflage by breaking up the human silhouette. Kind of like a gihlle suit

[@FudgedDiceRoll]

As a leatherworker I totally second the "do not try at home" disclaimer. A lot of the day-to-day leather we come across is what is known as chrome-tanned leather -- it's a rapid tanning process using chromium salts and other chemicals that can take as little as 3 days to tan the hide. The vegetable-tanned leather that you mentioned is a much slower process of typically 1-3 months and is generally harder wearing material that you'd find in applications like saddle making. I love to work with veg-tanned leathers as it actually ages and patinas over time and handling -- soaking in the sunlight and oils from use to darken and burnish making each bag/wallet/belt/etc unique to the owner. Thank you for another educating and entertaining episode, my wife and I are always excited to tune in and see what you're doing next

[@theguywhosnothere]

ive actually always been interested in trying leather for some reason, i know a leathery near me that does the entire process themselves, they have a field of cows and they have plenty of tanning racks outside thst you can see, is there any particular part of the process of leather makijg where it would be most safe? ive always been curious as to what it would be like, and if i could make it more flavorsome for my long trips i take through bush, i feel like small strips of leather boiled in a vegetable broth as opposed to water then salted wouldn't be too bad, would that be safe to consume? i imagine it'd be quite light and small so i feel it'd make a good snack while walking, sort of like a nutritious gummy worm

[@FudgedDiceRoll]

@@theguywhosnothere Well, I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist but from a leatherworker standpoint I'd say that you'd likely would want to go the same route as Max if you're dead-set on eating leather. Prior to tanning the hide of the animal is relatively "safe" for consumption once it has been dehaired and before it is properly tanned as it's essentially skin and composed of mostly water and proteins. To that end I still wouldn't condone eating it when there's a number of other alteritives out there. If weight of food is a concern there's long-keeping and nutrient-dense food like Pemican that you could easily snack on or hard tack (Max has videos on both I believe) which both can be cooked in a broth as mentioned in your post.

[@theguywhosnothere]

@@FudgedDiceRoll thank you! ive been wanting to try pemican as well! i would try hard tack but ive injured the right side of my jaw so i cant handle overly hard foods without my jaw popping out, but soft or chewy foods seem to work well :) plus i just feel it'd be interesting, i feel like it'd hold alot of flavour consisering it looses all of its natural flavors but by being pounded it seems to be quite spongey and might soak in the flavours from the broth :)

[@74KU]

As someone who has eaten rawhide.. all good.

[@GordonTaylorThomas]

tell your wife to shut up

[@MiladyMacabre]

Fun video! As an FYI for everyone, Chaplin's shoes in The Gold Rush was made of black licorice. The scene took 3 days and 63 takes to film, leaving both actors suffering from issues caused by licorice's well-know laxative effects.

[@fourleafclover2064]

Licorice is a laxative???

[@ragnkja]

@@fourleafclover2064 In large quantities, yes.

[@CRneu]

@@ragnkja to be fair, a lot of things are.

[@angrydragonslayer]

@@fourleafclover2064 a shoe of it is probably as laxative as a handful of sugar-free haribo bears

[@WilliamWilson_org]

@@angrydragonslayer NOTHING.. I repeat NOTHING, is as laxative as a bag of sugar free Haribo gummies. lol (I love this thread. Angry Dragon Slayer is talking to Four Leaf Clover. How awesome is that?)

[@Jordy-927]

Thank god you brought back the hard tack scene for another go round. I will never get tired of that clip.

[@jennypaxton8159]

*clack clack*

[@sarahnunez318]

best clip, it always makes me cackle

[@alisaurus4224]

@@sarahnunez318 clack-clackle

[@elizabethp2395]

Clack clack

[@Ghuirm]

Morgan sounds like he was an extremely charismatic person to talk himself out of any charges

[@jamesoreilly1]

The guy they ate was the only non-crewmember. I'm thinking they didn't really cast lots, they just kept their stories straight!

[@rafael_lana]

For sure, that was my first impression too.

[@alisaurus4224]

“Aw shucks, what rotten luck!”

[@ProjectThunderclaw]

Yeah, whenever you hear these stories, for some ~mysterious reason~ the short straw always seems to be drawn by whomever the rest of the crew is least attached to. Iirc it used to be that killing and eating someone under these circumstances was actually legal as a method of last resort, but the law was changed specifically because people mostly seem to have made mob rule decisions and used the "we drew lots" thing as an excuse after the fact.

[@carlosandleon]

@@ProjectThunderclawcannibalism under dire circumstances is always “legal” It’s a hominin survival mechanism.

[@ProjectThunderclaw]

​@@carlosandleon being a survival mechanism has absolutely no bearing on whether it's legal or not. I'm talking about actual literal legislation, not whatever in-quotations sense of "legal" you're getting at and in any case it's not the eating that's the sticking point, it's the killing

[@hardknockscoc]

That hard tack clip (1:27) gets me every time.

[@Ephesians5-14]

I know a girl named Brian.. she's a terrible person lol

[@jamiedildine1785]

I AlWAYS laugh EVERY time that clip pops up. 🤣 It involuntary, I just can’t NOT laugh.

[@komiks42]

@@Ephesians5-14 I think i know her to bro

[@Earthy-Artist]

😁hard tack tap-tap

[@jennypaxton8159]

*clack clack*

[@reigoestoo]

I never thought I would watch a leather cooking show, but here we go.

[@TastingHistory]

Full of surprises 😂

[@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980]

@@TastingHistory This has to be the grossest meal that you have ever made - & that includes the haggis! 🥾🍽🤢🤮

[@nanb4146]

I would imagine something quite different when reading 'leather cooking show'

[@greggi47]

Like something from a (nonexistent) Tom of Finland Cookbook.

[@marsy6359]

@@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980 dont talk smack about haggis like that

[@captaincoolness55]

Loving the continuing call back to the hardtack episode where he smacks them together. Makes me laugh every time. Haha

[@swankygibbons1186]

Same; it will never not crack me up lol

[@elizabethp2395]

clack clack

[@Ohwhale79]

As Max is chewing, his eyes are telling a story that no words could ever adequately tell. 😆 Great episode!!!!

[@Sarah-og3mp]

The pure suffering reflected in those eyes. I hope he treats himself to a nice dessert after this horror of an episode

[@DaimoHope]

"This was a big mistake"

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

Makes me think of The Elder Scrolls 3 : Morrowind, where you can find a skeleton of a sailor in a dungeon, and next to it, his journal, where he details how he got there and how he's trapped. One of the entries has him mention how hungry he is, and that he decided to try to boil his leather shoes because he had heard this would work. It didn't, and now he had no shoes.

[@pbsorigins]

Thanks for delving into the food of the high seas with us Max!

[@NotSomeJustinWithoutAMoustache]

PBS! Thank you for inspiring Max for this episode! Your documentary about pirates were really interesting as well

[@pbsorigins]

@@NotSomeJustinWithoutAMoustache We're glad you're enjoying it!

[@willpannos6826]

My Papou had to resort to eating leather while he fought in the Pacific Theater during WWII. Thanks for making this video, very interesting synopsis of how harrowing hunger can be.

[@Jjwalt1923]

My papou ate rice once

[@aethelred9781]

Your what?

[@skotinoulis4745]

​@@aethelred9781grandpa in greek

[@samholdsworth420]

I never met my papa

[@kght222]

the most hilarious thing is that morgan's crew were probably feasting on leather while sitting right next to edible plants.

[@op-us2xz]

Not worth the risk

[@sekaihunter9378]

Yeah, as a a pirate I can imagine getting poisoned from an unknown plant is probably not worth it...

[@tissuepaper9962]

If they had been dumb enough to try strange plants they wouldn't have survived long enough to get into this predicament in the first place.

[@thescruug2222]

They could also eat tree bark, wich has 400-800 calories every 2lbs

[@Nerobyrne]

@@thescruug2222 but are they digestible by humans? AFAIK, we actually cannot process fibre, yet they do still have calories.

[@EnriquePage]

Oh my god, I asked this question several times to the Mythbusters, after I read about artic expeditioners chewing on their belts to stave off hunger, but it was never selected for an episode! Thank you so much Max! A big hug from Argentina!

[@aceundead4750]

Myth plausible, but unappetizing lol

[@DuncanL7979]

It doesn't involve enough physics or kinetic, flashy experimentation for that show.

[@potatertot360]

I just want to take a moment to thank you for putting in the effort of correctly timed and punctuated closed captioning. It's one of the many things that has always put this channel head and shoulders above the rest for me, and I really appreciate it. Even though Max has truly excellent diction, people like me who struggle with audio processing can still have trouble understanding speech, which is really frustrating when so many things are video-based on the contemporary internet. Thank you so much for making your content accessible.

[@MegaKat]

I also appreciate him, but as a blind person, for his diction! I'm so glad you mentioned that; I absolutely understand Max everytime, every post!

[@seisage]

Yes! I also have audio processing issues and while Max is one of the few people I can listen to and NOT have trouble understanding (the majority of the time, anyway), I still keep the captions on because they're just so phenomenal. I have to appreciate them! Especially since there are so many massive creators who have the budget to commission captioning, but never bother :(

[@jabble__]

Captioning is so important and I’m very frustrated when there are none. Max never fails to deliver!

[@Nikki_Catnip]

I can only imagine Max’s husband walking into the kitchen going “ WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU COOKING?!” 😂

[@sandwich2473]

I didn't know he was married :O

[@FakeAssHandsomeMcGee_]

Husband?

[@sandwich2473]

@@FakeAssHandsomeMcGee_ I think it was on twitter I saw them together, they seem a pretty cute couple

[@Kriss_L]

I'm pretty sure he's used to finding Max cooking "weird" stuff.

[@flexgggjl1309]

Ew

[@sc5424]

What I assume went down in their house Max: I'm gonna eat leather! Jose: Why are you like this

[@KetchupwithMaxandJose]

Pretty much! 🥴

[@jwilliams3269]

😂

[@BrahmaDBA]

One of my most favourite emergency food story is the story of Sengoku Daimyos who would eat ropes during a long siege. These rope are made out of Taro Stalks hence edible after a considerable chew.

[@Rose-jz6sx]

Good roughage! Hahaha very little but roughage though I imagine.

[@nylondaimon]

i imagine taro stalks wouldnt be much different from bamboo albeit considerably softer

[@BrahmaDBA]

@@nylondaimon I mean, young bamboo shoots are actually tasty and a staple food items for Asian cuisines lol.

[@Paelorian]

I have a fact you'd appreciate. After surviving the Siege of Ulsan in Korea during the Imjin War, where the besieged Japanese defenders were starving and vastly outnumbered, when daimyo Kato Kiyomasa returned home to Kyushu he built Kumamoto Castle, perhaps the most defensive castle in Japan. It was more function over form than many other large castles. After a lifetime of battle, sieges, and castle warfare, Kiyomasa tried to improve on many traditional shortcomings in castle design. My favorite feature I've read about is that he had the castle's tatami mats woven with dried edible vegetables, so that in a siege or other emergency the flooring could be torn up, boiled, and eaten. So that he would never again see his men fighting off an army while starving to death. They'd be eating the castle itself before it came to that.

[@BrahmaDBA]

@@Paelorian Just as I expected from the Tiger Kato Kiyomasa. The Imjin war was insane, made more insane by the feats of Admiral Yi Sun-sin.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Hats off to you max! You go above and beyond everytime for our sakes! You're the best!

[@TastingHistory]

Anything for my audience 😆

[@1815matt]

Don't let him near your hat, he may now have a taste for clothing

[@arifhossain9751]

Hats off... shoes off... jackets off... im makin leather stew.

[@greggi47]

@@TastingHistory Jose must be extraordinarily patient and prepared to deal with some very odd sights and smells.

[@jamiedildine1785]

Keep him away from your leather trousers! He just might chew your pants right off you. 🤣

[@redtankgirl5]

Ahh this episode brings backs memories of times past and my late husband. We were both chefs and camping and experimenting with cooking with lichen. We boiled it and poured the water off nine times to get rid of the bitterness and tannins as we had read you should. We proceeded to make a sort of gruel with it added. I laugh to this day when I think of that meal and my husband’s first words about it. “I don’t liken the lichen”. Bahahahaha. Hot dogs it was.

[@dougb2121]

When my times are turbulent and not in fair weather, or my stomach quivers from sustenance nether, I’ll shun your advice and dine on fine cooked leather!

[@ThunderStruck15]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@user-bo3mp8un6c]

Brilliant

[@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger]

"This needs sauce" *dumps boiling water on the leather and calls it good*

[@nextcaesargaming5469]

If you do, take my advice since I actually had to do this years ago: Make sure the leather was made with animal fat. Obviously you want to avoid chromium and formaldehyde, and Tannins can actually be toxic in certain volumes. With animal fat, at least you know the leather is "probably" safe and might have some extra nutritional value. Also, for the love of god, actually check to make sure you have absolutely no other options. I did do this, but I was an idiot and still had regular food. Not much food (times were lean, hence my situation), but still.

[@EphemeralTao]

Pig skin (not tanned, so more like rawhide) is a pretty common ingredient in a lot of dishes where pork is popular. One of my favorites is larb moo made by a local Lao restaurant, which includes diced pig organs with short strips of skin.

[@snazzypazzy]

Yeah, I think the tannins would make the experience quite different. I use tannins for dying fabric sometimes and they are very bitter. And while a little is fine (it's in tea and wine and all sorts of food), a lot of the would not be good for the body. But dried hide is just one step away from skin, and skins are pretty commonly eaten. It looks like the texture was the main issue for him, and I'm not going to try it myself. But fried pig skin is pretty tasty!

[@TheMKBOxide]

Mexican have chips made from pig skin, but skin is not leather.

[@francescov.3610]

Also don't forget Chicharrones

[@ragnkja]

@@TheMKBOxide Scandinavians too. Both the real thing (called “fleskesvor” in Norwegian and “fleskesvær” in Danish) and starchy imitation snacks.

[@ericwilliams1659]

Pork rinds is fried pig skin

[@danielknowles3051]

When I was little, I read about the soldiers at Trenton eating leather shoes when they were starving. It’s stuck in my mind ever since. Thanks for helping me see how miserable this would have been

[@ConsensusX]

Came for a delicious leather recipe, stayed for the history lesson.

[@Your.Uncle.AngMoh]

Morgan wasn't the only one who was a "legal" pirate. William Dampier is an example. He was the person who introduced the words "barbecue", "avocado", "chopsticks", and many more into the English language as well as the first recipes in English for guacamole and mango chutney.

[@dirpyturtle69]

He’s actually talked about him before irc

[@Your.Uncle.AngMoh]

@@dirpyturtle69 Because pirates!

[@seronymus]

Where would we be now without William Dampier?

[@zaxmaxlax]

Just imagine starting of as a pirate, getting knighted, later a governor and even a judge.

[@thesaurus9226]

@@zaxmaxlax That's basically the plot of Sid Meier's Pirates!

[@sammyw7301]

I will never not love the hard tack flashbacks. I appreciate you and your channel so much Max! Today was a day of hanging out with my sick kids and cleaning out barf buckets, so thank you for doing what you do. This gives me a little time to myself to pretend I’m not surrounded by upchuck.

[@Bigmike24743]

😮

[@mono9578]

Dang. Sick kids, that's tuff. Hope they get better

[@thatwelshman2713]

Clack clack

[@hithere911]

I hope they get better soon. That sucks, for them and you.

[@victoriahoward8244]

Feed them hard tack! ( not leather!)

[@therealhellkitty5388]

Max, if you ever need simply tanned leather contact Peter Kelly at The Woodland Escape… he does reenactment of the 1700’s and makes his own. His channel is a worthy look for all. Also, Charlie Chaplin’s shoe was made out of licorice… he ate so much of it, he had a heart attack and they had to suspend production for a while.

[@Pygar2]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2POlH2bhMiCiq8

[@adamazzalino5247]

Nobody, not one single tasting history fan: Max: I'm gonna eat belt leather

[@PaniPunia]

The chewing face looks like a nice addition to the hard tack classic. Much love Max, much love, You are a brave man.

[@evapreu3011]

I really love the videos you do about the more gross stuff. Not because I like to see you suffer, but because I find it super interesting what people can actually survive on. I still hope you treat yourself to something extra nice and tasty next time!

[@terminator3000]

Be honest, you wanted to write: "Not ONLY because I like to see you suffer".

[@adilsongoliveira]

Max just proved this is a history channel and not a cooking channel. He teaches history through the culinary of the times, even if it's not food at all 😁

[@komiks42]

What we consider food really depends of how hungry you are.

[@yesfinallygot1]

@@komiks42 exactly. almost anything is food if youre hungry enough

[@JohnClark-tt2bl]

@@yesfinallygot1 Donner, party of five!😱

[@colinburke8389]

@@yesfinallygot1 "Hunger is the best sauce in the world." ~ Miguel de Cervantes

[@sophiophile]

As someone who has (compared to almost every other common field of academic study possible) ignored the details of history, I've definitely learned so much on this channel. I wonder if growing up with a History Channel that ran 'Ancient Aliens' 24/7 subconsciously turned me off the subject... Almost like they had _alien technology_ to control my subconscious, hahah.

[@3dmoniumdiseno806]

Hi Max we had high hopes for you making leather, in Mexico we eat hide "cueritos" as we call them, it is pork hide prepared in vinegar and spices, this is a snack so we eat it over tostadas, with nopales and aguacate. Other ways we eat pork skin is in the form of "Chicharrón". The skin of the pork is fried in pork lard and we eat it with tortillas, nopales, aguacate, red tomato, soft cheese, cilantro, etc. Pherhaps in the future you can make an episode of "cueritos and Chicharón" it will be great.

[@andrewbrown6522]

We have that. For dogs.

[@thespankmyfrank]

Isn't that just pork rinds? That's pretty popular in a lot of countries worldwide. I've seen it in Europe, Asia, the US, etc.

[@golddragonette7795]

Chicharron sounds like pork scratchings, not something I've ever eaten but it's fairly popular in pubs

[@Walter-Dodds]

Yes​@@thespankmyfrank

[@NobleCelery]

Pork rinds are not good for dogs, but go off. ​@@andrewbrown6522

[@Firegen1]

The brave things you'll do for the channel Max

[@TastingHistory]

Brave. Dumb. Same thing 😂

[@Firegen1]

@@TastingHistory Same Max, Same! I'll pop a poem on Insta as internet is bad but already choked up giggling.

[@IanRubin2]

Remember: If you write it down (or in this case film it), it’s SCIENCE.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@TastingHistory The only difference is an audience.

[@onewomanarmy6451]

As someone whos into working with leather and did a fair bit of research into the history of leather here in Sweden and Scandinavia I would have been a bit nervous if I had seen this title on pretty much any other channel. I knew I didn't have to be scared that I'd witness an unintentional self-poisoning so thanks for that. This was really interesting, as always.

[@hic_tus]

same, i don't work with leather but i know that tannins are actually toxic. that's why we don't eat acorns nowadays. in this case veggies are not good for you, let alone modern dyed leather

[@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken]

@@hic_tus Just to let you know, acorns (traditionally processed into jelly) are a popular food still in asia, particularly Korea

[@hic_tus]

@@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken oh yeah i heard of that! the processing is the key! we used to make flour and other things in italy too back in the day. but in our particular climate now it's no longer profitable. so we feed acorns to the pigs and they frikkin love them :D btw we used to have huuuuuge trees in sardinia, my homeland. some of them are the oldest in the world. but uhm, some arsholes like to set the land on fire, because reasons. if they destroy my old lady, a 4000ys old wild olive tree imma cry myself to sleep. haha anyway, fun fact a guy lived in its trunk for a while, before that was unesco, you gotta love that shite :D google sardinia oldest tree you get it. we grow a lot of cork oak for, you know, wine. they evolved to withstand fire... for a reason. so yeah, we get a lot of acorns, goats and pigs are super happy

[@hic_tus]

@@Kehy_ThisNameWasAlreadyTaken i mean, even chestnuts are no longer profitable, nowadays. my last buisness talk with my older uncle was like... "as boys we used to go helping the farmers, that was an easy buck. hard work but we didn't mind too much. that was the good season in the mountains. either that or the factory." that was.. nearly 70 years ago. :) my uncle, i love him to pieces:D

[@SirNinja425]

@@hic_tus you tell a story that I wish to see more of

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

Chilean here. Pig's skin is eaten here as part of some traditional recipes. Checking in Spanish, there are plenty of Latin American recipes to cook "cuero de chancho" (cuero de cerdo, pellejo/cueritos de chancho/cerdo). They start with the fresh stuff. It takes some time to get cooked, but it's not only edible, but delicious. Yep. These recipes are highly recommendable to make at home.

[@Scum42]

Well... not THIS recipe, with the leather he used. But with actual food-grade pig skin, yeah.

[@santisis]

And even when you cook the whole pig the skin is edible, without any special treatment at all. Here in Argentina there are even the "fiesta del chancho con pelo" and the "fiesta del asado con cuero", the last one from cows.

[@ragnkja]

If you’ve had the rind on a pork roast, you’ve eaten pig skin. Or in some countries (definitely Norway and Denmark) you can buy a bag of crispy pork rind as a snack food. There are even starch-based imitation snacks, which are significantly cheaper but just as delicious.

[@WinstonSmithGPT]

Leather is TANNED. It’s not comparable to fresh pork rind.

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

@@WinstonSmithGPT Of course not. But, I think, many people doesn't know that animal skin can be edible at all. And tasty 😋

[@suspecthalo]

“Please do not make this recipe. Let only me make this recipe,” you can’t hide the forbidden fruit from us.

[@craggleshenanigans]

Funnily enough, after you finished boiling it, it actually reminded me of a dish called Balbacua (and the name actually comes from Barbacoa). It's also actually made with.... beef and/or buffalo skin

[@michelestellar7725]

Try the word amusingly, that's what it was coined for. As in amusingly enough people think funnily is a replacement for amusingly because funnily enough they have removed the subject VOCABULARY FROM PUBLIC EDUCATION. As you may have guessed I was taught by real teachers and went on to become one myself. Not the fault of young folks they have been denied facility with their own language.

[@s1lh0u3x]

@@michelestellar7725 you must be fun at parties

[@michelestellar7725]

@@s1lh0u3x sarcasm when someone tries a bit of educating...how very typical of the younger generation. Look around at the world the brainwashed generations have created. It is a dystopian mess where they blame OTHERS for their lacking skills and talent. Try actually being open to LEARNING. Nah, just use sarcasm to attack those who are more learned and intelligent. Tha will help to assure all become even more ignorant.

[@michelestellar7725]

@@s1lh0u3x and I do not attend parties where people do not have a problem with their own native tongue. There ARE educated people still, they just don't associate with the uneducated.

[@dasja9966]

@@michelestellar7725 Your reply to Aristocrat is very amusing and funny to me. You pretend to have great language skills, yet you made a huge mistake with that double negative. Based on context you tried to say you only go to parties with educated/grammarpolicing people. Yet you said the complete opposite. Lol. Disclaimer: English is not my native language. Feel free to correct my comment though, if that makes you feel good about yourself.

[@kimberlyblackwell3807]

You know it's bad when what you are eating makes hardtack ( will love that clip forever ❤️) look like a delicacy. Thanks Max for all you do to entertain and educate us 💕💕💕

[@NeonNecropolis92]

*clack clack*

[@lyndelgado6138]

OMG! I am so glad Max did not choke on that damned leather! And I agree with those who said, "Max, it will not bother me if you have to spit this crap out for any reason!" Be safe!

[@panjimartiandaru3081]

@@NeonNecropolis92 thank you for the laugh XD I, too, loves that little clip (*clack clack*)

[@giraffesinc.2193]

Oh gosh, Max, your facial expressions when you ate the leather!!!! Thank you for 'taking one for the [history] team'!!! I hope you had a wonderful dinner afterwards!

[@johnnybadboy3475]

Hello, I used to live in Panama. Henry Morgan did not burn Panama to the ground. This is a common misconception. The pirates would have preferred to loot rather than burn the city. The governor of the city set ablaze some supplies he didn’t want the pirates to use against Panamanians. The fire got out of control and the city burned. You can learn more in Panama Viejo and see the old city, with a cool museum and archeological digs to boot.

[@k-lingon-berry]

I have loved this channel ever since the hard-tack video. This was once again informative and entertaining, especially seeing Max go trough the five stages of food grief while he chewed the boiled hide.

[@nilcarborundum7001]

@Klingonberry Thank you so much for the term "food grief". It is a timely & necessary antidote to the more common youtube terms of "food coma" and "this insane food will kill you"- the latter of which is meant as praise… The uncomfortable truth is that HOW many millions of people in the world right now experience "food grief" out of necessity ever day??

[@micheleparker3780]

@@nilcarborundum7001 😔

[@H0mework]

For another type of tasting history check out steve1989 eating a worm castle from the US civil war.

[@twistedgamer238]

The look on your face when trying the leather was priceless. It was prob the exact face that every single person who has tried too eat leather has made and it was most likely followed by I need water as well.

[@threestrandsministry6319]

I am marking this on the calendar as the first day I ever felt truly sorry for Max. Someone get this man some kind of trophy or money or something for this bravery!

[@zenfrodo]

It's not so amazing that they ate leather -- it's amazing that someone actually wrote a recipe for eating leather.

[@GroundZeroMusic15]

I always questioned how realistic that scene in Fullmetal Alchemist of Edward eating his leather shoe was, today I realized it was very much in fact based in truth 😂 great video as always Max!!

[@afluffylittlefriend4597]

Yeah, that episode was all I could think about.

[@lGipsyDanger]

@@afluffylittlefriend4597 same

[@ThinWhiteAxe]

There are a lot of comments about eating skin. Lots of cultures eat skin (I'm a Southerner, and in the Southeastern US, pork rinds are a somewhat popular snack food - deep-fried porkskin). There's a difference between *leather,* which is thick animal skin that's treated and prepared into clothing, and thin animal skin that's prepared as food!

[@Nu_Atma]

I look forward to every new Tasting History episode with as much zeal as my favorite anime. This show really is something special. Thank you Max

[@AngelavengerL]

totally same!

[@the.art.of.healing]

One of my favorite little bits you've had in your show is you trying to work in hardtack if you can just so you can throw in that clip 😂😂😂 I love it!

[@emmahardesty4330]

Big thanks. You need an award for this one. I bet a whole bunch of us have wondered about this. Many accounts only say it's gaggy, nauseating--but most times it came straight from their very last animal.

[@Bmans88]

The journey Max's face made as he was eating the leather was oscar-worthy 😂

[@fionaclaphamhoward5876]

The captions are worth turning on for sections like that - a veritable story in themselves!

[@biggusdickus1689]

Oscar's are for acting, that was real as could be 🤣

[@poopsiedoodlesp8506]

really screams "im literally eating leather for a career"😂

[@zordo90]

I’ve always been curious about the consumption of leather. I feel like you hear about it all the time but who wants to actually try it… thank god we have Max at tasting history. Seriously though, love it! Keep it up. One of my favorite videos here

[@johnmarkmcintyre4204]

My grandfather was in the horse cavalry serving under General “Black Jack” Pershing in the Mexican Punitive Expedition (immediately before WW I). He told of the time the U.S. Army had some of Pancho Villla’s troops under siege. After the Mexican troops had been forced to eat their horses, they then turned to eating their saddles.

[@julieneff9408]

This is in the vein of dwarf bread from Discworld. When all you have is dwarf bread, you will eat anything else, including cooked leather.

[@LunarisArts]

I know Terry Patcett used hard tack as inspiration for dwarf bread, but I still think og it as old fashioned Finnish rye bread, which was made into rounds with a hole and stored on a pole in the ceiling, is a more acurate description. That type can become hard and unchewable, and a last resort in modern cooking 😅

[@jamesrourke8785]

I’m extremely impressed that Max Miller is able to get videos out as often as he does. It takes a lot of longevity to be able to get that many videos out in such a short time frame.

[@nextcaesargaming5469]

I have actually done this years ago. No, I don't wanna talk about wtf happened to bring me to that point. So, the line about "hunger as the buccaneers knew it" struck a *very* different cord for me.

[@jonesnori]

I'm glad you are still here.

[@nextcaesargaming5469]

@@jonesnori Thank you

[@Glorfindel_117]

As a leatherworker, thank you for not eating the tannery dyed piece. The dye used at tanneries is INCREDIBLY strong, to the point where you CANNOT wash it out, even with pure alcohol. If you dye plain vegtan yourself, you have to go to very great lengths to keep the dye in the leather, and not the skin or clothing of anyone who touches it. While the dye *might* not be toxic, it will probably never leave your body.

[@irenekutchey2856]

Let's not forget that this is true history. You may not find it appetizing but this is a history channel that weI look forward to every week. I am first-generation Belarusian my father very poor before he was taken by the Germans. You do what you have to survive in this should be tasting history and it is. Thank you Max great video.

[@occheermommy]

Absolutely. There are stories during the civil war of men Eating their boots. Also the Germans that were in Russia during WWII

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Sometimes, history isn't quite so easy to stomach.

[@sergicrisan5564]

Hi Max! I grew up in Romania, and there's this winter food called slanina, which is a slab of pork fat and usually it still has the skin attached, so we do eat the skin and I totally agree with your description. Although it's commonly smoked or spiced, so that helps.

[@oliviapop5613]

This video's thumbnail instantly reminded me of șorici. But I think it's different from the leather the pirates would eat though.

[@Mindlabytinth]

a lot of old traditional dishes from northern Italy use exactly that cut! Usually called cotenna, I've mostly seen it used to flavor soups, but I've seen it used in a bunch of different ways, including smoked and spiced

[@zitronentee]

Crispy pork belly. Definitely eat the skin for crunchiness

[@katarh]

I've had deep fried pork rinds before and those are actually quite delightful. I mean, anything is tasty when deep fried, but the pork skin and fat when fried become crunchy and airy.

[@Mindlabytinth]

@@katarh my grams used to say even shoes are tasty, if you deep fry them. Unquestionable wisdom, right there

[@jackieheidorn5875]

I remember an interview with Audrey Hepburn. She said that as a child in Nazi-occupied Netherlands they ate tulip bulbs. This is probably why she was so small all her life. I miss her.

[@thesavvyblackbird]

Yeah, people celebrated her svelte figure, but it was from severe malnutrition as a child. She use to dance ballet to raise money for the Dutch resistance but had to stop because she was too weak. She did a lot of work with UNICEF and the UN so children in other war torn countries and poor countries had enough food. Her stomach cancer that killed her was thought to have been caused by the damage done by almost starving to death. She would have loved to have been a healthier weight. It made it difficult for her to have children and stay pregnant. Yet people forget all the good she’s done or never knew and love her for being beautiful and skinny.

[@jasonsummit1885]

Yep. The only part of the tulip that isn't poisonous are the petals, they taste like sweet lettuce or cucumber.

[@georgiafrye2524]

I had also heard that. I also read she hoarded chocolate in her dressing room as affected by those days. The series the Crossing about the Princess of Norway coming to the US was horrified to hear if her countrymen having to eat tree bark and grind acorns for flour during WWII.

[@sachabinky2915]

Potassium Dichromate is known to have been used in Tanning leather as well. Some Chinese imports of Gelatin Capsules were recently found to contain it , since they had used old discarded Leather as a feedstock to make the capsules.

[@SatanClauze]

I'd love to see a ranking of top 5 (or bottom 5) worst things you've eaten on this show!

[@imnotcreativeenough7208]

I cannot stress enough the effort Max puts into these videos. Even when he`s eating hecking leather, he goes all in. Even the subtitles are clear and even include visual gags. Holy mole i love this channel.

[@denisemetzger305]

The man cooked and ate shoe laces for us! Mad respect Max

[@unhiddenhistory]

OMG...Max's facial expressions while chewing that leather...funniest thing ever! 🤣

[@teosandev6116]

Yeah...Panama had it coming. Just imagine those fat greasy priests having lunch when your sorry pirate self sees them for the first time after eating your mate's ripe leather trousers...or worse what they used to contain. Hard not to use Genghis' handbook when it comes to them.

[@charlenestrauss3539]

The clack clack hardtack and Max chewing for minutes... what more can I ask for 😂

[@johnnivek9653]

Just yesterday I was reading the book Under the Black Flag the Romance and Reality of Life Among Pirates. So I was pleasantly surprised that you uploaded a video about a really crappy part of certain pirates and privateers experiences at sea. Also for anyone who's interested I'd highly recommend this book. It has maps from the period of seaways and coastlines often frequented and raided by the pirates of the 1700s.

[@benberlin57]

I have that book too!🏴‍☠

[@angelface925]

I always thought, when they would show people eating shoes or hats, that the chemicals they treat it with would make you seriously ill! I mean... Pure collectors would tell you that things would not taste great... 🤢🤮 Edit: a word

[@TastingHistory]

Today, you would not want to eat modern leather. That’s how you poison yourself.

[@ragnkja]

@@TastingHistory Yeah, chrome generally isn’t considered very good for you.

[@thecreweofthefancy]

@@TastingHistory retail leather, even when "organic," especially if only partially tanned or raw is often treated with formaldehyde. I work a lot replicating buccaneer items and cooking, the goal is by 2024 to do a full immersion to include hunting and tanning from scratch.

[@TastingHistory]

@@thecreweofthefancy probably why it still smelled ghastly and why I decided not to eat it 😂

[@thecreweofthefancy]

@@TastingHistory the hair on tells me that it was likely bags or belts which were only partially tanned. The shoes too were sometimes made from raw, untreated hog's legs. (I'm working with a few folks on figuring out how to tan them enough my wife won't leave me. Haha)

[@DevonNothingSpecial]

“Watch as I prepare and try human even though I’m not starving today on tasting history”😂

[@JaakuSan]

The damning silence and micro expressions as Max just chews and chews and chews😂

[@FelisTerras]

I tip my hat to you(no, don't eat it) for your dedication and devotion towards the cause of teaching and entertaining us.Thus said, I find it funny that the leather was more agreeable to your palate than the 1950's fish pudding.

[@AlaskaKid1974]

That frown said it all, Max! "Now it's time to floss," that look seemed to say. I loved the historical content of this episode, if it's any consolation.

[@MartinMCade]

It's still more appetizing than the cauliflower Chick-Fil-A that keeps showing up in ads.

[@Myrtle2911]

The grand introduction got me. 😄 "And here we have it.... some leather."

[@sylviegauthier2145]

What dedication to the craft you show! The subject reminded me of a documentary on the Siege of Leningrad that I watched a long time ago. One survivor remembered boiling her father's leather belts for the family to eat. I can't remember the specific title of the doc, unfortunately.

[@Ana-tj5fm]

oh man, my grandma was there and they boiled their father’s leather belts to eat as well!!! do you remember where you saw it? maybe it was my grandma

[@sylviegauthier2145]

@@Ana-tj5fm I watched the doc on KZbin and never saved the link. Sorry. The woman was living in France at the time she was interviewed for the film.

[@Ana-tj5fm]

@@sylviegauthier2145 ahh definitely not her then! i’m sure there were tons of instances of this happening though sadly

[@spiritfatalis]

I absolutely love Jose's subtitles of the subtleties and mood of the videos. Always fantastic, just like the rest of the episodes!

[@mindstalk]

[chewing intensifies]

[@acharyajamesoermannspeaker6563]

Oil and tannin tanned leather would have been the norm back then before the chrome tan process started. The polishes and dies would have been the issue with poisoning themselves. Historical leather would have certainly been edible, however not very nutritious. Animal hide as such is clearly edible. Wolves, lions, bears, they all eat it routinely.

[@Geri05]

That good 20 second just silently staring into the camera chewing, for whatever reason i found hilarious

[@jonesnori]

José's captions make that scene even funnier.

[@lauribleu7558]

I had a German Shephard/Doberman mix dog that took it into her head to eat an entire knee length leather boot down to the heel. She accomplished this in one night and survived it just fine, but the owner of that boot was mightily annoyed.

[@scottyrose9106]

4:08 "Actua-wee," lmao. Love the content, keep up the good work.

[@LeMcCHarStar4ever]

Props to you for always keeping the "hard tack claps" handy. Gets me every time! 😀

[@alwkw3783]

This may have been the most morbidly fascinating episode yet! Thanks for educating us, Max! Ps- Yay, hardtack clip!

[@professor_lembach]

I don't know what shocks me more: that Max ate leather for us or that he doesn't have leather pants.

[@yael3326]

I searched for this video because I saw a vlog on cooking 5 year old sun-dried raw hides in coconut milk. It was from a man in the Philippines.

[@auntvesuvi3872]

Thanks, Maxwell! 👞 I'm glad you mentioned *Charles* *Chaplin* eating a shoe in GOLD RUSH (1925). When I saw that, as a child, I expressed disbelief to my father and he answered, "You'd be surprised what you'd eat if you were starving." Blessedly, I haven't had to put that to the test. #TastingHistoryWithMaxMiller #SurvivingOnLeather #EatingLeather #Pirates

[@Pygar2]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2POlH2bhMiCiq8

[@redlcn]

You really took a bullet on this episode. To you, sir, I tip my hat. Just hope that your show isn't forcing you to become "Bizarre Foods 2.0"

[@LordButtsauce]

or worse, "Food for Louis 2.0". that guy ate the most disgusting stuff you can think of. one time he found a roadkill fox and started eating it right then and there totally raw starting by ripping the tongue out with his teeth... luckily for max, i doubt many cultures around the world ever saw fit to subsist off of untrustworthy raw meat they found on the side of the road

[@borealisnight1]

Makes me rethink about what I give my dog. Max, you are a brave man.

[@jonesnori]

It made me wonder if Max would have been better off starting with a dog chew toy (unchewed by dogs, of course). Presumably they're non-toxic. At least, I hope so.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

@@jonesnori For what it's worth, most dog foods in the US are required by law to be fit for human consumption because we have a long history of people eating dogfood during economic recessions here. Apparently it was even fairly common during the 2008 recession according to the professor of my companion animal class. I took it during spiring 2019, so pre-covid, but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume dogfood eating went down because of Covid as well. Dog chew toys I'm not sure about, but yes they *should* be nontoxic, but it's not uncommon for them to be recalled due to bacterial contamination

[@JAB671]

@@Amy_the_Lizard I have never understood that. I believe you but canned dog food isn't all that inexpensive compared to inexpensive, canned food intended for people - especially if you buy things on sale. I think that in tough times I'd rather share a can of SPAM, beef stew or soup with my dog than have her share a can of Alpo with me. Heck, sometimes I will go for a stretch where I make her homemade food that is just about as cheap and a lot better for her (lately I have been feeding her a mix of chopped up, cooked chicken livers and gizzards with gravy made from the drippings, canned 100% pumpkin and brown rice). Of course she is a mutt who is part hound so she can eat whatever I eat if it became necessary. My approach to food stores in case of disaster, etc. actually takes that into account - I make sure to have things I could share with her rather than planning to eat dog food.

[@Openreality]

I'm willing to hazard a guess and say that it was probably hard tack, of which many described as "eating leather buckles and all"

[@JaNeija]

Soaked hardtack is not bad if it's not terribly old. Odd recipe, but take the dry stuff and soak it in black coffee for a bit, but not long enough to get soggy, and then scoop on maple syrup baked beans. The ones baked with the scrap meat in the pot are the best.

[@EuelBall]

I usually have to have *something* to eat while watching Max's videos, as he creates such lovely historical food. Not today...

[@claudiaelodie]

Nobody can say you don't do a lot for us. Lol. Also the hartack clip makes me giggle every time. Thank you again for a great episode!

[@greaseball9537]

this has slowly become my favorite cooking/history show ever please never stop doing these so entertaining

[@zyanidwarfare5634]

What I find interesting, is that if you fried that in oil you’d end up with something similar to pork rhind or cracklings and it would definitely be easier to eat but also harder

[@The_Bird_Bird_Harder]

Well, this is tanned leather, pork rinds are just fresh skin.

[@zyanidwarfare5634]

@@The_Bird_Bird_Harder true, I kinda forgot about that