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Episodes

Absinthe: The World’s Most Dangerous Drink?

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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 said to lead to 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!

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From Trash to Treasure: Why’s It So Hard to Save Restaurant Leftovers From the Dumpster?

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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' worth of still edible food is tossed every year here in the US, and more than 85 percent of it ends up in landfill. Meanwhile, more than 1 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 meeting 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!

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Smashing Pumpkin Myths: What’s Big, Orange, and Having an Identity Crisis?

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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.

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Deli is Short For Delicious—But Are Your Pastrami and Bologna Sandwiches Giving You Cancer?

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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 deep dive 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.

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What’s the Buzz on Eating Bugs? Can Insects Really Save the World?

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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.

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Are Hush Puppies Racist? Is A2 Milk Really Healthier? And What’s Up With Wedding Cake? Ask Gastropod!

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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!

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Why Does Everyone Have Food Allergies These Days?

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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 pharaohs to the future of medicine, via jellyfish, Calvin Coolidge, and "rose fever," as we figure this all out.

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The Birth of Cool: How Refrigeration Changed Everything

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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!

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Sugar’s Dark Shadow

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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.

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Why Are Restaurants So Loud? Plus the Science Behind the Perfect Playlist

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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!

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