Gastropod
by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley
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.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
9/6/2014
Email Addresses
1 available
Phone Numbers
0 available
Recent Episodes
April 22, 2025
Do We Really Have Beer to Thank for the First Writing and Cities?
Humanity's love affair with beer goes *way* back: 5,000 years ago, the civilization that arose in Mesopotamia invented writing, and one of the very first things they wrote about was... beer! But where was beer itself invented? This episode, we've got the story of beer's origins, the debate over whether humanity domesticated grains for brewing or for baking, and why beer was so essential to the smooth functioning of the world's first cities and states. But the story of how we know this—how we can decipher millennia-old drinking songs written in a forgotten language and alphabet, analyze pottery to reconstruct the ingredients list for ancient brews, and even figure out that, for maximum authenticity, we need to drink the resulting beverage through a hollow reed—well, that's perhaps even more fascinating! This week, archaeologist Tate Paulette is our guide as we meet the goddess of beer, sneak a peek at the letters of beer-brewing wives left behind by merchant husbands, and enjoy a time-traveling tasting of an ancient ale, produced with the help of cutting-edge science. Fill your glass and listen in—and don't forget your straw! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
April 8, 2025
Seed Oil Scare: The Curious Case of Canola
If you've been hearing that canola is a killer, you're not alone. It's one of the so-called "hateful eight" seed oils: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says it's among the most deadly things you can eat, and Joe Rogan agrees. But is it true? This episode, we get to the bottom of the debate over the plant formerly (and still, in some places) known as rapeseed. Why does it have such an unfortunate name, and how did it transform into canola, at least in North America? Is it really engine oil? Does it actually contain a poisonous solvent? And why on earth are Brits buying up a fancy cold-pressed version by the gallon, as the new, home-grown olive oil? Are they roasting their potatoes with an inflammation- and disease-causing disaster? Listen in for the forgotten history and slippery science of this much discussed, little understood oil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
March 25, 2025
Nutrition Advice Decoded: What Foods Are Actually Good For Us, What Should We Avoid, and Why Is It All SO Confusing?
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
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