Gastropod
Gastropod is the award-winning podcast that explores food topics through the lens of history and science. Led by enterprising hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, each episode uncovers the hidden stories and surprising science behind a different food or farming-related topic, from aquaculture to ancient feasts, cutlery to chile peppers, and microbes to malbec. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
In this excerpt from “Gastropod,” a look at the health effects of seed oils — and why some have latched onto untrue claims about its dangers.
How the “bowl food” staple traveled from the Andes to Peruvian haute cuisine to health-conscious menus across the U.S.
In Northern California, the Gensaw brothers — members of the Yurok tribe — host an outdoor salmon cookout to celebrate a huge ecological victory
Chef Jeremy Umansky is modernizing the Jewish deli, one sandwich at a time
Podcast co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley explore whether A2 milk actually provides relief for those who can’t consume dairy
Folding a ring of melty cheese into dough was a revolutionary practice that made Pizza Hut $300 million in a single year. But Anthony Mongiello, who claims to have created the idea, says he never got a slice of the financial pie.
Podcast co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley explore your spiciest food questions, from the complexities of capsaicin to whether white chocolate is a lie
The spicy and sordid histories behind the Big Apple and the infamous seasonal drink have one thing in common: nutmeg
Even during the worst of war, the ring-shaped confections offered a bite of joy and a much-needed morale boost to weary soldiers during World War I
Currently and formerly incarcerated people’s instant noodle recipes shed new light on the commissary staple
One of the biggest challenges for cultivated meat companies is keeping costs down
Long before they were the stars of tropical drinks or controversial pizzas, pineapples were the obsessively hoarded, perpetually pursued symbols of the elite
To fully understand the white-fleshed fish’s culinary possibilities, author and “seafood evangelist” Barton Seaver wants you to look to its past
French fries and stews, pies, puddings, and cakes: Is there anything this fruit can’t do?
Don’t let the threat of a scratchy throat scare you off from this deliciously starchy and versatile root veggie
Why Coca-Cola contracts with a chemical company to manufacture cocaine in New Jersey
How careful science, a growers’ passion, and one adorable truffle-hunting dog combine to run the largest truffle farm in the country
Any occasion is a good one to drink Champagne, but for those looking for the perfect holiday host, sommelier Lauren Friel has some tips
These tiny, briny, and oh-so-pricey fish eggs are seen as quintessentially Russian. But there was a time when New Jersey was the center of the caviar world.
A deadly fungus largely wiped out the American chestnut tree. But some farmers, scientists, and advocates are fighting to bring back the onetime culinary staple.
Meet the chef of Project Angel Food, which provides 2,500 meals a day to Los Angeles residents with serious illnesses
Sorry, but coconut oil is not a miracle fat
From full-on feasts in “Foundation” to intricate meaty platters in “Hannibal,” food stylist Janice Poon on how she tells stories that take place in fantastic worlds
Psychobiotics, the science that links food to mental health, seems like a new mode of thinking. But its history goes back centuries.
Author Michael Pollan on how coffee and tea awakened a new form of consciousness for Western civilization
Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and ketchup’s brief flirtation with vegetablehood
With her eponymous restaurant chain, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson imagined fried chicken as a path to Black success in the ’60s and ’70s
Amid an ongoing baby formula shortage, Gastropod looks back at how the “fathers of pediatrics” turned infant formula into a replacement for breastfeeding
How one farm in Maine is looking to change the way Americans buy and eat eel
The Massachusetts restaurant and chef Ruth Wakefield deserve some credit for America’s favorite cookie, but certainly not all of it
Composting is good for everything and everyone, but food waste continues to be a major problem
General Antonio López de Santa Anna came to Staten Island with hopes of creating a rubber substitute, but things didn’t go as planned
Beloved by Americans, coffee had to go through a lot of stages before becoming the industry it is today
The best part of waking up... is getting energized for a long day’s work
The history of the crispy, golden cookie isn’t entirely auspicious
Dates often get served up around the holidays, but the fruit’s religious significance is bigger than you might think
What’s in everything from Oreos to biodiesel, clear and odorless, and the excuse behind hundreds of years of colonialism and labor rights violations?
We’ve come a long way from John Harvey Kellogg’s “protose cutlets”
On this week’s Gastropod, the not-so-awful truth about offal
So how did we arrive at trick-or-treating?
