Diets | Three Eggs and a Bottle of Wine | 1

5/7/202635 min

What did Vogue actually recommend women eat in 1977 — and why did it make one food writer cry in the

bathroom? How did the Greeks turn a six-pack into a moral argument? And, has the human obsession with

controlling what we eat ever really been about health at all?

Peter and Afua trace the long, strange history of dieting — from ancient Greek athletics and Roman

feast-and-purge excess, to medieval starvation saints who turned self-denial into a radical act of female agency.

0:00 Vogue’s 1977 Wine and Egg Diet — and what happened when someone actually tried it

6:30 The diet industry’s dirty secret: it was never about nutrition

9:00 Peter on fasting, cranky emails, and what not eating teaches you about your relationship with food

14:30 Ancient Greece: when abs were a moral statement, not just an aesthetic one

19:30 The manosphere’s Spartan fantasy — and what the Greeks would actually make of it

23:00 Rome: the inventors of binge and purge culture

24:30 When Christianity enters the chat — and fasting becomes holy

26:00 Catherine of Siena: the medieval starvation saint who used hunger as protest

30:00 Anorexia mirabilis — holy anorexia, and why Peter is wary of projecting modern diagnoses onto the past

32:00 Why medieval peasants weren’t dieting — they were just trying to stay alive

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Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:

Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.

legacy.supportingcast.fm

Stay connected with Legacy:

Instagram: @originallegacypodcast

TikTok: @legacy_productions

Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

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Clips

Showing 10 of 11

First 90 seconds

Speaker 10:00
[upbeat music] [sighs] You do it all, so why not get all the electrolytes? Hydrate better than water with new Gatorade lower sugar. Now with no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or colors, and 75% less sugar than regular Gatorade. New to the fridge. All the Gatorade electrolytes you love. Gatorade lower sugar. Is it in you? Now available nationwide.
Afua Hirsch· Host0:28
[gentle music] Hello, welcome to a new episode of Legacy. I'm Afua Hirsch.
Peter Frankopan· Host0:44
I'm Peter Frankopan. And this is Legacy, the show that explores the lives, events, and ideas that have shaped our world, and asks whether they have the reputations that they truly deserve.
Afua Hirsch· Host0:54
[upbeat music] This is the Legacy of Diets, episode one, three eggs and a bottle of wine. Okay, Peter, I'm not saying you look like you need this. This is what Vogue was recommending in 1977. It's called The Wine and Egg Diet, and it's basically self-explanatory