Hi everyone who likes Shakespeare. And
by everyone of you, I mean all...one of you.
My name is John Tufts, and I'm an
actor, and I do a lot of Shakespeare.
If you don't believe me, here's a picture of
me in tights doing some Shakespeare.
Still don't believe me? And honestly why
would I lie about something like that?
Here's another picture of me getting sad
during a soliloquy.
Believe me now?
In addition to being an actor, I'm also a
cook,
and I've written a cookbook called "Fat Rascals: Dining at Shakespeare's
Table."
Why did I do this?
Well basically I thought it would be fun.
And when I say
fun, I mean actually fun.
Not fun in that way that I tell my six-year-old,
"Number
bonds are fun."
"Spelling practice at breakfast is fun."
"Pick up your room, it's
so much...fun."
I mean I actually thought it
would be fun to travel back in time and
taste some of the things that
Shakespeare tasted.
Some of the things!
Some of the things!
And so that's why I wrote this book,
"Fat Rascals Dining at
Shakespeare's Table."
Oh, it's real baby.
It even has blurbs. On the back.
So I  spent a year combing Shakespeare's plays.
Hmm ninety-nine, one hundred,
Hmm.
And I discovered something.
Shakespeare talks a lot... about food. He
talks about food people eat, he talks
about how people look like food, he
insults people with food, he names
characters after food, he bakes his
characters into food! So I took all of
these references I found in the plays,
and then I cross-referenced them against
several 16th century in 17th century
cookbooks. I took those recipes, updated
them for the modern kitchen, and then
compiled them all in this book,
"Fat Rascals Dining at Shakespeare's
Table."
And today I'm gonna teach you how
to make one of the recipes in the book.
Chewets.
Chewets.
Alright, quick literature lesson.
In Henry IV, Part One,
Prince Hal is trying to get Falstaff to
be quiet so he's not discovered by the
police, and he says Peace, Chewet, Peace.
Now a chewet, in this case, is like a
small meat pie. And so hal is essentially
using a fat joke.
It's like my mom calling large babies butterballs.
Or her husband a cream puff.
Or me a fourth of July mistake.
So.  Chewets.
Let's get started.
You're going to need
these things:
It's a microphone, right?
It is a microphone so you can say, "My
name is Henry Tufts" into the microphone
if you want.
My name is Henry Tufts
and I came here to just try a chewet.
Oh. All right, let's let's let's see let's see if
this to it will do it.
Good? You want another bite?
No Thanks.
> Okay. Now get outta here.
If you're interested in the book and
you want to learn how to make other
things, you can go to my website
john-tufts.com click on Fat Rascals and
order the book. Or you can go to your
favorite theatre's bookshop, because
they're the only people nerdy enough to
actually stock the thing.
Did I mention
it has blurbs on the back?
See you later Shakespeare nerds!
