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.

Arts
Food
Science
101
Guest episode: Montréal by Not Lost
47 min
102
Reinventing the Eel
43 min
103
Monsanto or MonSatan? How—and Why—a St. Louis S...
47 min
104
The Way the Cookie Crumbles
47 min
105
Black Gold: The Future of Food...We Throw Away
46 min
106
Gum's the Word: A Sticky Story
46 min
107
Déjà-Brew: How Coffee Got Bad, Then Worse, and,...
54 min
108
Grounds for Revolution: the Stimulating Story o...
47 min
109
The Fortune Cookie Quest
36 min
110
Guest Episode: Graveyard Cookies and Dollhouse ...
30 min
111
Mango Mania: How the American Mango Lost its Fl...
35 min
112
Guest Episode: Scents and Sensibility
39 min
113
Your Mystery Date
45 min
114
The Most Interesting Oil in the World
48 min
115
Are Plant- and Fungus-Based Meats Really Better...
50 min
116
Guest Episode: The Doorbell by Nice Try!
43 min
117
Balls *and* Brains: The Science and History of ...
45 min
118
Trick or Treat: Soul Cakes, Candy Corn, and Sug...
46 min
119
Buried Treasure: Weeds, Seeds, and Zombies
44 min
120
The Barrel That Could Save A Forest
45 min
121
Tofu for You: Meet the Cult Leader, the Spy, an...
45 min
122
The Great Gastropod Pudding Off (encore)
51 min
123
It's All Going to Pot: the Science and Economic...
56 min
124
Baked: How Pot Brownies and Pate de Fruits Fuel...
51 min
125
The Bottle vs. Tap Battle Finale: Alkaline H2O,...
As promised, it's time for the final splashdown in the battle of bottled vs. tap water. When we left off last episode, bottled water had staged a miraculous comeback thanks to Nike, yuppies, and Orson Welles. Today, it's America's favorite liquid refreshment: we buy more bottled water by volume than any other packaged beverage, even though you can get its less glamorous cousin, tap, delivered directly to your home for mere pennies. So, is bottled water somehow better than tap? Is it safer, or even just nicer tasting? This episode, we dive into the science behind the taste of water (spoiler: it has to do with spit) and explore the fine art of bottled water appreciation, before sharing the secret to making your own DIY Pellegrino. Meanwhile, we've all heard the water horror story unfolding in Flint, Michigan: should we be worried about lead or other chemicals in our tap water—or in the bottles on grocery store shelves? All that, plus our very own water taste test, as we declare the ultimate victor in this war of the waters.
43 min