“To eat a little is to live splendidly.” ~ Sumerian proverb

Hi, I’m Andrew Coletti. I started this website as a food history blog back in 2017, but I’ve updated it to reflect my most recent work, including writing, videos, and events.

Why “Pass the Flamingo”?

Because the Ancient Romans ate flamingos. Back when I was first exploring cooking Roman food, the first recipe I made for the blog was a whole roast “flamingo” (actually a duck) from the Roman cookbook Apicius. You can still find that post and the rest of my old blog archived here. The site header was made by Kathryn DeFeo, an amazing artist who I actually went to high school with!

Why food history?

Food is a universal connector of people. I believe that, just as food brings empathy and perspective to our understanding of human beings in the present, it can do the same for our understanding of people in the past.

Who am I?

I have a pantry of ingredients organized by geographic region and a months-old paocai jar that I’ve developed an emotional attachment to. I’m passionate about food and the places where it intersects with history, culture, science, and nature. Basically, I just love learning cool stuff about food and sharing it with others.

I grew up in Connecticut, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Classics and a Master’s in Museum Education, and lived in NYC for many years before moving to Boston in 2025. In 2015, while working at education nonprofits, I started giving presentations about food history (with samples) at the Brooklyn Brainery and other venues. A couple of years later, I interned for culinary historian Sarah Lohman, who helped me start the blog.

From the blog, I expanded into making social media videos about food under the same name, and then professional food writing, while still teaching classes and organizing food events. In 2023, I started an Editorial Fellowship at Gastro Obscura. Since the end of that fellowship in 2025, my writing has appeared in Popular Science, Wine Enthusiast, and other publications. Every once in a while I write fiction too, such as my fantasy novella The Knife’s Daughter, which was published in 2018.

My other interests include: vintage shopping, traveling, music, anime, video games, small pets, and dinosaurs.