After the feast of the festive season comes the pain of the January fast. Well, to help us better understand our relationship with the food we eat, Making History goes on the spice trail with historians Roger Michel and Matthew Cobb. Curator Victoria Avery tells us why pineapples were all the rage in Elizabethan times and Dominic Sandbrook offers up a potted history of fast food in the UK - with a side of fries and a banana milkshake.

Feast and Fast: The Art of Food in Europe, 1500 - 1800 at the Fitzwilliam Museum runs until 26th April.

Producer: Craig Smith
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4