Gastropod
Food with a side of science and history. Every other week, co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley serve up a brand new episode exploring the hidden history and surprising science behind a different food- or farming-related topic, from aquaculture to ancient feasts, from cutlery to chile peppers, and from microbes to Malbec. We interview experts, visit labs, fields, and archaeological digs, and generally have lots of fun while discovering new ways to think about and understand the world through food. Find us online at gastropod.com, follow us on Twitter @gastropodcast, and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/gastropodcast.
Why Are Kids Dipping Cookies in Ranch, Are Food Comas Real, and What's Inside the Mummy's Stomach?
Hacking Taste (encore)
The Curiously Strong Story of Mint
Dishwashing Debates: The Soapy Science Behind Everyone's Favorite Chore
V is for Vitamin (encore)
Bringing Salmon Home: The Story of the World's Largest Dam Removal Project
Potatoes in Space! (encore)
Absinthe: The World's Most Dangerous Drink?
From Trash to Treasure: Why's It So Hard to Save Restaurant Leftovers From the Dumpster?
Smashing Pumpkin Myths: What's Big, Orange, and Having an Identity Crisis?
Meet the Queen of Kiwi: The 96-Year-Old Woman Who Transformed America's Produce Aisle (ENCORE)
Deli is Short For Delicious—But Are Your Pastrami and Bologna Sandwiches Giving You Cancer?
What's the Buzz on Eating Bugs? Can Insects Really Save the World?
The Billion Dollar War Behind U.S. Rum (Planet Money)
The Interstitium (Radiolab)
Are Hush Puppies Racist? Is A2 Milk Really Healthier? And What's Up With Wedding Cake? Ask Gastropod!
Why Does Everyone Have Food Allergies These Days?
The Bagelization of America (encore)
The Birth of Cool: How Refrigeration Changed Everything
Omega 1-2-3 (encore)
Sugar's Dark Shadow
(Guest) Are Fast Food Jingles Pop Music?
Why Are Restaurants So Loud? Plus the Science Behind the Perfect Playlist
The Food Explorer (encore)
Meet the Most Famous American You’ve Never Heard Of: His Legacy is Excellent French Fries and Monsanto
All You Can Eat: The True Story Behind America's Most Popular Seafood
The World Is Your Oyster: How Our Favorite Shellfish Could Save Coastlines Worldwide
Eat This, Not That: The Surprising Science of Personalized Nutrition (encore)
Bam! How Did Cajun Flavor Take Over the World?
Anything's Pastable (Guest Episode)
Can You Patent a Pizza?
Super Fry: The Fight for the Golden Frite (encore)
Dining at the (Other) Top of the World: Hunger, Fruitcake, and the Race to Reach the South Pole
Dining at the Top of the World: Arctic Adaptation, Abundance, and...Ice Cream
Cork Dork: Inside the Weird World of Wine Appreciation (encore)
It's Tea Time: Pirates, Polyphenols, and a Proper Cuppa (encore)
The Case of the Confusing Bitter Beverages: Vermouth, Amaro, Aperitivos, and Other Botanical Schnapps
Rice, Rice Baby
Ask Gastropod: White Chocolate, Jimmies, Chile vs. Mustard Burns, and Asparagus Pee
Pumpkin Spice Hero: The Thrilling But Tragic True Story of Nutmeg
Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit
Raised and Glazed: Don’t Doubt the Doughnut
We'd Like to Teach The World to Slurp: The Weird and Wonderful Story of Ramen's Rise to Glory
First Foods: Learning to Eat (encore)
All Aboard the Tuna Rollercoaster! Join the King of Fish for a Wild Ride that Involves Ernest Hemingway and (of course) Jane Fonda
The Keto Paradox: Fad Diet *and* Life-Saving Medical Treatment
Secrets of Sourdough (encore)
Watch It Wiggle: The Jell-O Story (encore)
Where's the Beef? Lab-Grown Meat is Finally on the Menu
The Incredible Egg (encore)
Good Shit: How Humanure Could Save Agriculture—and the Planet
Gettin' Fizzy With It (Encore)
Who's Eating Who: Pineapples and You
You've Lost That Hungry Feeling
Fish & Chips: Uncovering the Forgotten Jewish and Belgian Origins of the Iconic British Dish
What Connects Bones, Bird Poop, and Toxic Green Slime? Hint: Without It, Half of Us Wouldn't Be Alive Today
All the Feels: How Texture Makes Taste
The Fruit that Could Save the World
Meet Taro, the Poke Bowl's Missing Secret Ingredient
Always Coca-Cola: Coca, Kola, and the *Real* Secret Formula
Here Comes Truffle
Museums and the Mafia: The Secret History of Citrus (encore)
The End of the Calorie (encore)
Champagne Wishes: The Tastes of Celebration
Caviar Dreams: The Tastes of Celebration
What Is Native American Cuisine? (Encore)
That Old Chestnut: A Nutty Tale, of Love, Loss, and Reconnection
Prescription Dinner: Can Meals Be Medicine?
Trouble in Paradise: Coconut War Waters and Coconut Oil Controversies
Does the Western Megadrought Mean the End of Cheap Cheese and Ice Cream?
Lunch Gets Schooled (encore)
What Do Aliens Eat? Food in Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Guest Episode: The Umami Mama by Unexplainable
Gut Feeling
Green Gold: Our Love Affair With Olive Oil (encore)
How Ketchup Got Thick
Delivery Wars
The Milk of Life
Poultry Power: The Fried Chicken Chronicles (encore)
Guest episode: Montréal by Not Lost
Reinventing the Eel
Monsanto or MonSatan? How—and Why—a St. Louis Startup Became a Hated Herbicide Giant
The Way the Cookie Crumbles
Black Gold: The Future of Food...We Throw Away
Gum's the Word: A Sticky Story
Déjà-Brew: How Coffee Got Bad, Then Worse, and, Finally, Good Again
Grounds for Revolution: the Stimulating Story of How Coffee Shaped the World
The Fortune Cookie Quest
Guest Episode: Graveyard Cookies and Dollhouse Crimes
Mango Mania: How the American Mango Lost its Flavor—and How it Might Just Get it Back (encore)
Guest Episode: Scents and Sensibility
Your Mystery Date
The Most Interesting Oil in the World
Are Plant- and Fungus-Based Meats Really Better than the Real Thing?
Guest Episode: The Doorbell by Nice Try!
Balls *and* Brains: The Science and History of Offal
Trick or Treat: Soul Cakes, Candy Corn, and Sugar Skulls Galore!
Buried Treasure: Weeds, Seeds, and Zombies
The Barrel That Could Save A Forest
Tofu for You: Meet the Cult Leader, the Spy, and the Pioneering Woman Chinese Doctor Who Brought Tofu to the West
The Great Gastropod Pudding Off (encore)
It's All Going to Pot: the Science and Economics of Edibles
Baked: How Pot Brownies and Pate de Fruits Fueled an Edible Cannabis Revolution
The Bottle vs. Tap Battle Finale: Alkaline H2O, Lead Pipes, and, Yes, Water Sommeliers
Bottled Vs. Tap: The Battle to Quench Our Thirst
Chocpocalypse Now! Quarantine and the Future of Food
Guest Episode: Immune Boosting, Is It a Bust? | Science Vs
Guest Episode: How Much Water Do You Actually Need a Day?
First Class Fare
Guest Episode: How To Save a Planet
You're Wrong About Prohibition
So Hot Right Now: Why We Love the Chile Pepper
Easy A: The SuperRad Story of Home Economics
Where There's Smoke, There's ... Whiskey, Fish, and Barbecue!
Phage Against the Machine
Guest Episode: Mission: ImPASTAble from The Sporkful
Why Thai?
Hot Tips
TV Dinners
The Brightest Bulb
Like Water in the Desert
The Magic Cube
The Big Apple Episode
The Hangover: Part Gastropod
Snack Attack!
This Spud's For You
Moo-Dunnit: How Beef Replaced Bison on the American Plains—and Plate
What the Shell? Cracking the Lobster's Mysteries
Guest Episode: Rocky Road with Science Diction
Shatter-Proof: How Glass Took Over the Kitchen—and Ended Child Labor
The Most Dangerous Fruit in America
Dig for Victory
Shared Plates: How Eating Together Makes Us Human
Pizza Pizza!
Eating the Wild: Bushmeat, Game, and the Fuzzy Line Between Them
Eating the Rainbow: Or, the Mystery of the Orange Oranges, the Red M&Ms, and the Blue Raspberry
A Tale To Warm The Cockles Of Your Heart
White vs. Wheat: The Food Fight of the Centuries
Licorice: A Dark and Salty Stranger
To Fight Climate Change, Bank on Soil
Move Over Gin, We’ve Got Tonic Fever
The United States of McDonald’s
Dinner Plate Invasion: Lionfish, Tiger Shrimp, and Feral Pigs, Oh My!
Meet the Queen of Kiwi: the 96-Year-Old Woman Who Transformed America’s Produce Aisle
Are Insect Guts the Secret to the Most Delicious Kimchi?
Menu Mind Control
Of Ghost Foods and Culinary Extinction
Tiki Time!
What’s CRISPR Doing in our Food?
Happy Birthday to Us: Gastropod Turns Five
Celebrate Mexico’s True National Holiday with the Mysteries of Mole
Running on Fumes: Strawberry’s Dirty Secret
Omega 1-2-3
Meet Sharbat, the Ancestor of Sorbet, Syrup, Shrub, Sherbet, and Pretty Much Everything Else Cool
Super Fry: The Fight for the Golden Frite
Eat This, Not That: The Surprising Science of Personalized Nutrition
Guts and Glory
BONUS: Introducing Science Rules! with Bill Nye
The Great Gastropod Pudding Off
Potatoes in Space!
The Curry Chronicles
The Bagelization of America
Can Diet Stop Alzheimer’s?
Seeds of Immortality
Pick A Pawpaw: America’s Forgotten Fruit
Eating to Win: Gatorade, Muscle Milk, and… Chicken Nuggets?
The Secret History of the Slave Behind Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
Sweet and Low (Calorie): The Story of Artificial Sweeteners
Dirty Tricks and Data: The Great Soda Wars, Part 2
Souring on Sweet: The Great Soda Wars, Part 1
The Truth is in the Tooth: Braces, Cavities, and the Paleo Diet
Who Invented Mac and Cheese?
How the Carrot Became Orange, and Other Stories
The Incredible Egg
Espresso and Whisky: The Place of Time in Food
Why These Animals?
Mango Mania: How the American Mango Lost its Flavor—and How it Might Just Get it Back
Keeping it Fresh: Preservatives and The Poison Squad
Watch It Wiggle: The Jell-O Story
Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan
Hotbox: The Oven From Turnspit Dogs to Microwaves
Feed the World: How the U.S. Became the World’s Biggest Food Aid Donor—And Why That Might Not be Such a Great Thing
Ripe for Global Domination: The Story of the Avocado
Meet the Man Who Found, Finagled, and Ferried Home the Foods We Eat Today
Who Faked My Cheese?
Marching on our Stomachs: The Science and History of Feeding the Troops
Cooking the Books with Yotam and Nigella
Cutting the Mustard
Remembrance of Things Pasta: A Saucy Tale
We’ve Lost It: The Diet Episode
Meet Saffron, the World’s Most Expensive Spice
Secrets of Sourdough
Green Gold: Our Love Affair with Olive Oil
Women, Food, Power … and Books!
Crantastic: The Story of America’s Berry
Cannibalism: From Calories to Kuru
Eataly World and the Future of Food Shopping
What the Fluff is Marshmallow Creme?
Lunch Gets Schooled
Sour Grapes: The History and Science of Vinegar
The Birds and The Bugs
It’s Tea Time: Pirates, Polyphenols, and a Proper Cuppa
Peanuts: Peril and Promise
Fake Food
Here’s Why You Should Care About Southern Food
Better Believe It’s Butter
Meet Koji, Your New Favorite Fungus
V is for Vitamin
Hacking Taste
Cork Dork: Inside the Weird World of Wine Appreciation
To Eat or Not to Eat Meat
We Heart Chocolate
Inventing the Restaurant: From Bone Broth to Michelin
Gettin’ Fizzy With It
The Spice Curve: From Pepper to Sriracha with Sarah Lohman
The Buzz on Honey
What is Native American Cuisine?
Counting Fish
Seaweed Special
The Salt Wars
Kombucha Culture
Keeping Kosher: When Jewish Law Met Processed Food
Poultry Power: The Fried Chicken Chronicles
Outside the Box: The Story of Food Packaging
Who Invented the Cherry Tomato?
Everything Old is Brew Again
Museums and the Mafia: The Secret History of Citrus
Grand Theft Food
Caffeine: The World’s Most Popular Drug
The Maple Boom
First Foods: Learning to Eat
The Food of Love
The End of the Calorie
End-Of-Year Feast
The Mushroom Underground
Peak Booze
Mezcal: Everything but the Worm
The Good, The Bad, The Cilantro
The Bitter Truth
The United States of Chinese Food
The Whole Hog
The Scoop on Ice Cream
Crunch, Crackle, and Pop
Field Recordings
The Cocktail Hour
Gastropod on Gastropods
Savor Flavor
Say Cheese!
No Scrubs: Breeding a Better Bull
Breakfast of Champions
Kale of the Sea
Bite: Smoked Pigeon and Other Subnatural Delights
The Microbe Revolution
Dan Barber’s Quest for Flavor
