Gastropod
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Are eggs going to give you high cholesterol, or are they the base of a great protein-rich meal? Will coffee give you cancer, or will it help you live longer? If you're confused about what nutrition science has to say about which foods are healthy and which are not, you're not alone. But why is it so hard to figure out what's good for us, and why does the advice seem to change constantly? This week on Gastropod, we reveal the hidden history of how nutrition science got started, why its early successes saved millions of lives, and how those successes then led the field astray. From debunking the Blue Zones, to the discredited “French paradox” that had everyone washing their Brie down with glasses of red wine, to the most recent research on ultra-processed foods, we’re breaking down how nutrition research actually gets done—and what that means for what should be on your plate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Quinoa is everywhere these days, the base for a million salads and grain bowls. But, until recently, barely anyone outside the nutritious seed's ancient's homeland—the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes—had ever heard of it. This week, we're telling the story of how a gorgeous spinach-like plant traditionally grown in a remote, high-altitude region of South America was transformed into one of the hottest foods on the shelves at Whole Foods. This is a tale that began with Coloradan hippies, the deliberate invention of a new Peruvian gastronomy, and beer, but truly took off when the United Nations declared that this so-called "superfood" was the secret to solving global hunger, adapting to climate change, and rescuing Andean farmers from poverty. So, did quinoa deliver? Listen in now for the story behind your next Buddha bowl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
During World War II, the Soviet city of Leningrad was surrounded, cut off from food supplies for nearly two and a half years. People were desperate: they ate boiled leather, machine oil, toothpaste, and wallpaper paste just to stay alive. But, in the center of the city, a group of botanists spent their days surrounded by food that they refused to touch—nuts, seeds, and even a basement full of potatoes—even as several of them starved to death. The seeds for which these scientists were willing to sacrifice their lives formed the collection of the world's very first seed bank: a library of crop varieties that contained the genetic diversity future generations of plant breeders have relied on to feed the world. In this episode, the story of the almost unimaginable bravery that lies behind the food we eat today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dry January may be over, but, for many people, drinking less alcohol or none at all is an increasingly common choice year-round. And, unlike in the past, when dealcoholized options were few and far between—and had a well-deserved reputation for tasting bad—there’s now a booming market for non-alcoholic beers, wines, canned cocktails, and even spirits for the so-called "sober curious." But how do they get the booze out of our favorite tipples—and why is hard to keep the flavor? Gastropod is here to investigate! Join us for the history of breakfast beer, worker’s wine, and Welch’s Prohibition-era roots, as well as the science behind the “spinning cone” technology that revolutionized the world of non-alcoholic beverages. Plus: our hosts and a few brave volunteers put their taste buds on the line to find out which of these new drinks is worth swapping for the hard stuff, and which they wish they'd left on the shelf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
(Guest episode) On September 18, 1998, an unusual ad ran in USA Today — a company called John's Estate Sales was looking to buy a moon rock. But the phone number on the ad didn't lead to, say, a store front in a strip mall. Instead, the phone number belonged to Special Agent Joe Gutheinz at NASA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
(Guest episode) Matt wants to know how to tell if he’s being scammed by his dentist. To find the answer, we open up the surprising history of dentistry, ask why it seems so different from internal medicine, and drill down on why dental insurance doesn’t really feel like insurance. Explain It To Me's host Jonquilyn Hill talks with journalist Mary Otto and Dr. Lisa Simon, DMD, MD, to find the answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Just in time for the holidays, Ask Gastropod is back with a plate full of listener questions for your listening delight! You came to us with mysteries both large and small, both ancient and eternal, and, honestly, all totally fascinating. Such as: What is up with ranch dressing, and how did a bottled salad dressing invented by a plumber and owned by a cleaning products company become *the* flavor of America? What did Europe's oldest human mummy, found frozen in the Alps, eat before his mountain trek—and why could no one find his stomach for twenty years? And, in news you can use this holiday season, why does a “food coma” make you drowsy and slow after a big holiday meal? We’ve got the answers to all of these fabulous listener queries in our latest installment, featuring murder in the Alps, a bathtub full of ranch, and more sea slugs than you might expect. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Taste is the oldest of our five senses, and yet perhaps the least understood. It's far more complicated than salty versus sweet: new research is dramatically expanding our knowledge of taste, showing that it's intimately connected to obesity, mood, immunity, and more. In this episode, we get into the science of how taste works, why we taste what we do, and what makes supertasters unique. And finally, we hack our taste buds—for fun, but, in the future, maybe for health, too. (encore) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What’s the coolest flavor of the holiday season? It's peppermint, obviously, and it’s showing up in everything from coffee to chocolate and cookies to ice cream right now. But while standing in line for a peppermint mocha is a standard feature of the holiday season today, there was a time when this garden-standard herb was seen as so special—even powerful—that it made three American entrepreneurs rich enough to be crowned the "Peppermint Kings." This episode, the story of the forgotten American mint monarchy, plus the fascinating science behind why mint cools your tongue and maybe really does cure all. Join us to jingle all the way through peppermint heists, the surprising link between mint essence-peddlers and the abolition movement, and the true stories behind your favorite mint candies—including the disputed origins of the iconic candy cane. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Next week, the US celebrates the dishwashing Olympics—also known as Thanksgiving. But how best to tackle the washing-up after the big meal can cause as much conflict as your uncle’s hot takes at the table. Do dishes get cleaner when they’re hand-washed or run through the dishwasher? Which is better for the environment? Are those convenient little detergent pods poisoning our oceans with microplastics? And who do we have to thank for that most glorious of inventions, the dishwashing machine? This episode, we’ve got answer to all these crucial questions and more, as we dive into the sudsy story of dishwashing through the ages and across cultures. Listen in now to make the most mundane household chore 100 percent more fascinating, guaranteed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
They're added to breakfast cereal, bread, and even Pop-Tarts, giving the sweetest, most processed treats a halo of health. Most people pop an extra dose for good measure, perhaps washing it down with fortified milk. But what are vitamins—and how did their discovery make America's processed food revolution possible? On this episode of Gastropod, author Catherine Price helps us tell the story of vitamins, from Indonesian chickens to Gwyneth Paltrow. (encore) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Klamath River on the California-Oregon border was once the third largest salmon river in the continental U.S. There were so many fish, indigenous histories claim that you could cross the river walking across their backs—which made the peoples who lived in this remote, beautiful region some of the wealthiest in pre-colonial North America. But, for more than a century, salmon have been shut out of the Klamath: thanks to multiple hydroelectric dams that blocked the river, these fish couldn’t reach miles of cold, clear waters where they historically spawned. Their population plummeted to the point where even catching salmon for traditional ceremonies was banned, to help the few remaining fish survive. In just the past couple of months, however, the dams have come down, thanks to a scrappy coalition of local tribes, commercial fishermen, and environmental groups who spent decades fighting to free the Klamath—and bring the salmon home. Listen in this episode for the epic tale of the largest dam removal project in history—but also for the much bigger story of why these fish matter, and what it will take to make the Klamath their home again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today, a half century after Neil Armstrong took one small step onto the surface of the Moon, there are still just ten humans living in space—the crew of the International Space Station. But, after decades of talk, both government agencies and entrepreneurs are now drawing up more concrete plans to return to the Moon, and even travel onward to Mars. Getting there is one thing, but if we plan to set up colonies, we'll have to figure out how to feed ourselves. Will Earth crops grow in space—and, if so, will they taste different? Will we be sipping spirulina smoothies and crunching on chlorella cookies, as scientists imagined in the 1960s, or preparing potatoes six thousand different ways, like Matt Damon in The Martian? Listen in this episode for the stories about how and what we might be farming, once we get to Mars. (encore presentation) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
To painters and poets in late-1800s France, absinthe was "the green muse" or the "green fairy," an almost magical potion that promised vivid dreams, wild ideas, and artistic inspiration with every sip. By the 1910s, this once incredibly popular herbal liquor was banned—not only in France, but in countries around the world. Condemned as the cause of both individual ruin and social decline, absinthe consumption was blamed for seizures, memory gaps, hallucinations, and even murderous rage. So what's the deal: is absinthe just a drink, or is it actually deadly? This episode, we've got the story behind the myths, from witchy distillers to women on bicycles, and military rations to pre-ban bottles. Join us for the trip! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Every day, at the end of service, restaurants throw away tons of entirely edible food: heaps of pastries and whole loaves of bread, vegetables chopped but not cooked, noodle dough, fish off-cuts, and more. An estimated 20 billion meals's worth of still edible food overall is tossed every year here in the US, and more than 85 percent of it ends up in the landfill. Meanwhile, more than one in ten Americans are food insecure. So why is it so hard to keep all of that perfectly good food out of the trash and get it onto people’s plates instead? This week, we’re taking a deep dive into the dumpster (not literally!), to explore the most innovative and surprising new solutions to this toughest of food challenges, including the wizards transforming everything from stale bagels to gallons of banana cream concentrate into a delicious dinner. Did someone order meals, not methane? Oui chef! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s already begun: that time of the year now known across the land as Decorative Gourd Season. Squash are everywhere—carved into jack o’lanterns on front porches, adorning our sideboards and porches with strange shapes and autumn colors, and of course, baked into pies for fall celebrations. But get ready to rethink squash, because despite their slightly cheesy House Beautiful vibe and family-friendly pumpkin patch associations, they are—and we quote—"the most interesting plants in the world." Join us this episode as we explore our surprisingly long entanglement with the cucurbit family, from its star role as the very first plant domesticated in the Americas to the can of Libby's behind nine out of every ten pumpkin pies. Along the way, we figure out what on Earth the difference actually is between a squash and a pumpkin, and we get a sneak peek into the weird and wonderful world of giant pumpkins, where growers compete to break the two-ton barrier with fruits the size of a compact car. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The produce section of most American supermarkets in the 1950s was minimal to a fault, with only a few dozen fruits and vegetables to choose from: perhaps one kind of apple, one kind of lettuce, a yellow onion, a pile of bananas. Today, grocery stores routinely offer hundreds of different fruits and vegetables, many of which would be unrecognizable to time travelers from a half century ago. What changed, and how did Americans learn to embrace spaghetti squash, sugar snap peas, and kiwi fruit? This episode, we tell the story of the woman behind this transformation: Frieda Caplan, the Queen of Kiwi. (Encore) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
School’s back in session, and kids are boarding the bus with lunchboxes in tow. Many of them contain sandwiches stuffed with turkey and ham slices, bologna, even salami—but where did these staples of the lunch break, not to mention the charcuterie platter, come from? Long before the 1900s meat-cute that birthed the deli sandwich, preserved meats were a standby in human diets: from dried yak cured in salt in the Himalayas, to pork fermented into salami in Italy, to beef pressed in the saddle and pickled in horse sweat in Central Asia, people all over the world invented ways to make meat inhospitable to microbes, more portable—and even more delicious! But, in recent years, these meats have gotten a bad name: in 2015, the World Health Organization even labeled them a carcinogen. So should you chuck the corned beef for the sake of your health? This episode, join us for a dive deep on the science behind whether your charcuterie could kill you—plus, the story of how cured meats became a staple of American diet and culture, thanks to German immigrants and Jewish delis, military-manufactured meat glue, and some truly orgasmic sliced pastrami on rye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
About ten years ago, insects were constantly being hyped as the future of food. Headlines proclaimed that, within the decade, everyone would be eating bugs as part of their daily diet—and saving the planet in the process. But while the buzz on edible insects hasn’t completely turned to crickets, the ento-revolution hasn't proceeded exactly as planned. In the Western world, insects are not yet what's for dinner, and, even in parts of the world where bugs are a traditional and treasured part of the cuisine, their consumption is on the decline. So what's the deal? Can edible insects really help solve climate change and world hunger? And, if so, what's stopping us from jumping on the bug bandwagon? Listen in this episode as we debunk insect conspiracy theories and sexist archaeology, savor tangy ants and a cicada bonanza, and visit Madagascar to tell the heart-warming tale of how a bacon-flavored bug is helping feed villagers, while saving an adorable primate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When you buy a bottle of rum in the United States, by law nearly all the federal taxes on that rum must be sent to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It's an unusual system that Congress designed decades ago to help fund these two U.S. territories. In 2021 alone, these rum tax payments added up to more than $700 million. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands split the money according to how much rum each territory produces. And the territories produce a lot of it — especially Puerto Rico, which single handedly supplies the majority of the rum that Americans drink. But in 2008, the U.S. Virgin Islands pulled off a coup. It convinced one of the largest rum brands in the world, Captain Morgan, to abandon Puerto Rico and to shift its operations to the tiny island of St. Croix. This was the beginning of the Rum Wars. Listen in to the story of how this war turned the two territories into bitter rivals—and put hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer money in the pockets of big liquor companies. (Guest episode) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Guest episode: In this episode we introduce you to a part of our bodies that was invisible to Western scientists until about five years ago; it’s called "the interstitium," a vast network of fluid channels inside the tissues around our organs that scientists have just begun to see, name, and understand. Along the way we look at how new technologies rub up against long-standing beliefs, and how millions of scientists and doctors failed to see what was right in front (and inside!) of their noses. We also find out how mapping the anatomy of this hidden infrastructure may help solve one of the fundamental mysteries of cancer, and perhaps provide a bridge between ancient and modern medicine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
You asked, and we’re answering—again! Ask Gastropod returns to answer some of our listeners’ most pressing culinary queries: how did elaborate, expensive cakes become the standard dessert for weddings? Did the deep fried cornmeal blobs known as “hush puppies” get their name from Confederate soldiers or racist stories from the plantation-era South? And could a trendy "new" variety of milk (that's actually ancient) allow the dairy-intolerant to snarf down cheese and ice cream without digestive consequences? This episode, we’re diving deep on the science, dispelling some myths, and correcting the historical record with the help of a team of experts. Listen in now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It's not your imagination, food allergies are really on the rise. One recent study found that severe allergic reactions to food have increased by more than 300 percent over the past decade. And they don't just affect Americans or kids—they're on the rise in adults around the world. Even pets are getting food allergies. So what's going on? Why would your body decide that food—something that's actually essential to keeping you alive—needs to be attacked like a dangerous invader? And why would we evolve a defense mechanism that can end up killing us? This episode, we've got the history and the latest scientist on food allergies: what they are, what causes them, how they're different from food intolerance and sensitivity, and what we can do about them. Join us on a wild journey from ancient Pharoahs to the future of medicine, via jellyfish, Calvin Coolidge, and "rose fever," as we figure this all out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today, it’s a breakfast staple, but, as recently as 1960, The New York Times had to define it for readers—as “an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis.” That’s right, this episode is all about the bagel, that shiny, ring-shaped, surprisingly dense bread that makes the perfect platform for cream cheese and lox. Where did it come from? Can you get a decent bagel outside New York City? And what does it have in common with the folding ping-pong table? Come get your hot, fresh bagel science and history here! (encore edition) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
For as long as we’ve been making Gastropod, co-host Nicky has also been working on another project: writing a book all about refrigeration. Well, time to pop the champagne you’ve had stashed in the icebox, because that book comes out June 25—and we’re giving Gastropod listeners an exclusive preview! This episode, Cynthia and Nicky talk about how a high school dropout's get-rich-quick scheme, some deadly explosions, and lots and lots of beer brought us the humming boxes of cold now ubiquitous in the modern kitchen—and how the proliferation of this portable, on-demand winter has transformed our food (not always for the better) while heating up our planet. It's almost impossible to imagine living without a fridge, but Nicky’s book totally changed the way we look at preserving food. Is there a better way? Listen to find out, and for the rest of the story, be sure to pre-order Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Based on all the hype, you'd be forgiven for believing that the fish oils known as omega-3s are the solution to every problem. Heart disease, dementia, depression, even obesity—the list of ailments that experts claim a daily dose of omega-3 can help prevent seems endless. And with more than ten percent of Americans taking a capsule of fish oil daily, omega-3s are one of the most profitable supplements in the world, too. Listen in this episode, as author Paul Greenberg and scientist JoAnn Manson help us figure out what these supposedly miracle molecules are, and what consuming them is doing to our bodies—and to our oceans. (Encore presentation) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Your pantry's sweetest ingredient has an extremely bitter history. The sap-producing grass known as sugarcane has been grown and enjoyed by humans for at least 10,000 years, but it was only relatively recently that it went from a luxury to an everyday ingredient—a change that also triggered genocide, slavery, and the invention of modern racism. In this episode, how the Crusades got Europeans addicted to the sweet stuff, and how that appetite deforested southern Europe and kicked off the trade in enslaved Africans, before decimating indigenous populations in the New World and codifying racism into law. It's a dark story that involves Christopher Columbus' mistress, the early human rights advocate whose campaign to save indigenous people encouraged the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, and a trip to southern Louisiana, where we met Black sugarcane farmers to explore sugar's troubling legacy there. No sugar coating here: join us for the fascinating and horrifying history of this household staple. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
From our friends at Switched on Pop: Where were you when you learned that the McDonald's jingle "I'm lovin' it" was originally part of a full-fledged pop song by Justin Timberlake and Pharrell that flopped on the charts but found staying power as a slogan? For us, it was recording our live episode about sponsored content in pop back in March 2024, and we have not been the same since. Shaken by this revelation, we found ourselves asking, "What else don't we know about fast food jingles?" Turns out, it's a lot. From Taco Bell to Popeye's to Chili's, the music of fast food represent some of the most familiar melodies in society, across state lines and generations. But the stories behind those songs, and the way that fast food production and pop music production often move in parallel, was something we never saw coming. Since we are music experts but amateur foodies, we invited the brilliant hosts of Gastropod, Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, to help serve up the history of fast food and its changing role in culture. Tune in and pig out with us as we listen and debate the artistic and ethical implications of the sounds of fast food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When you go out for a meal, it’s not just what's on your plate that matters, it's what's in your eardrums, too. From dining rooms so loud you have to shout to be heard, to playlists that sound like a generic Millennial Spotify account, it's not surprising that sound is the single most complained about aspect of restaurants. This episode, Gastropod explores the science behind the sonic experience of eating. Are restaurants really getting louder, and, if so, why? What does it take to create the perfect acoustic environment for dining? Can restaurateurs design their playlists to make customers order more or eat faster? Listen in now for the secrets to culinary acoustic bliss! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
You've probably never heard of David Fairchild. But if you've savored kale, mango, peaches, dates, grapes, a Meyer lemon, or a glass of craft beer lately, you've tasted the fruits of his globe-trotting travels in search of the world's best crops—and his struggles to get them back home to the United States. This episode, we talk to Daniel Stone, author of The Food Explorer, a new book all about Fairchild's adventures. Listen in now for tales of pirates and biopiracy, eccentric patrons and painful betrayals, as well as the successes and failures that shaped not only the way we eat, but America's place in the world. ENCORE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
