Archaeologists have long established that, just like animals, early humans lived in groups and certainly ate their food as a group. These groups were eventually broken down into family units but the “herd” instinct still seems to remain in most of us today when it comes to eating, such is the popularity of feasts and banquets.

Durban radio presenter John Simpson will trace the history of banquets from Roman times to millennium feasts in The Inner Ear on SAfm on October 13 at 20h00 (re-broadcast October 17 at 09h30). In The History of Feasting from the Beginning of the Millennium, he takes a look at the strange ritual of banquets from the time of Roman banquets to French banquets before the Revolution. He also considers an English royal banquet where history credited an incident to the wrong king as well as the biggest millennium feast in the world planned for later this year.