Climate Cuisine

Sweet potato has a larger growing range than the common potato and can thrive from sea level up to nearly 9,800 feet. In the final episode of this season of Climate Cuisine, we’ll talk with a researcher at the International Potato Center in Peru about the incredible root, and a sustainability teacher in Costa Rica who has figured out how to grow everything she and her family consume.

Climate Cuisine is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about Climate Cuisine here.

Find show notes here.

Malabar spinach is a leafy green in the tropics that grows all year round, and its vibrant purple seeds can even be used for hair dye. In this episode, we’ll talk with a Texan woman who dyed her daughter’s hair purple with the seeds, a plant researcher in Washington D.C. describing it is a great alternative food source, and a rooftop gardener in Taipei using it as a spinach substitute.

Climate Cuisine is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about Climate Cuisine here.

Find show notes here.

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world; some varieties can grow up to three feet daily. Considered invasive in some parts of the United States, it is embraced in Latin America and Asia for its use in architecture, fashion and food. In this episode, we’ll chat with Hans Friederich, the former director of the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization; Momoko Nakamura, a food educator and storyteller in Japan; Kevindra Soemantri, a food journalist in Indonesia; and Hui Ting Tsai, a bamboo weaver in Taiwan.

Climate Cuisine is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about Climate Cuisine here.

Find show notes here.

One of the staple pulses in Indian cuisine, the pigeon pea is much more than just a tasty ingredient in daal. It doubles as a natural fertilizer and can take nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil. In this episode, we’ll talk with Aeles, an indigenous chef in Taiwan, about the ways her tribe cooks the pea; Vikram Doctor, a food journalist in India on how it’s used in Indian cuisine; and Koreen Brennan, a permaculture instructor based in Florida, on why it’s such a great plant to have in tropical gardens.

Climate Cuisine is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about Climate Cuisine here.

Find show notes here.

The breadfruit tree can live up to 100 years and produce more than 2,000 pounds of fruit each season. It’s been a staple in the tropics for generations and can be made into chips, waffles, and porridge. This episode will dive into how it’s eaten in Puerto Rico and Hawai’i. Plus, a bit about its dark history in the slave trade. We’re talking about Mike McLaughlin from the Trees That Feed Foundation, Mike Opgenorth from the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawai’i, Juliane Braun, who wrote a paper about breadfruit’s role as an 18th-century superfood, and Von Diaz, a cookbook author and esteemed food writer.

Climate Cuisine is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about Climate Cuisine here.

Find show notes here.

Meet culantro—cilantro’s tropical counterpart. It tastes like a more pungent cilantro, and in the right conditions, it grows all year round. This episode touches on how limited our repetoire of herbs are and the possiblities that come when we expand our selection beyond what's just avaliable at the grocery store. We’ll talk to food blogger Reina Gascon-Lopez on how culantro is used in Puerto Rican cuisine and award-winning cookbook author Andrea Nguyen on how she uses it in Vietnamese cooking.

Climate Cuisine is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about Climate Cuisine here.

Find show notes here.

There are more than 1,000 different types of bananas in the world. So why do we only have one type of banana in the grocery store? This episode is an exploration into the rich diversity of bananas and plantains — and why North American grocery stores only sell one type. We talk with biologist Rob Dunn, who wrote a book about this topic, Von Diaz, an esteemed food writer and cookbook author, Meenakshi J., a freelance journalist who wrote an article about sacred bananas, Vidya Balachander, the South Asia editor at Whetstone, and Vanessa Mota, a food blogger behind My Dominican Kitchen, for more.

Climate Cuisine is part of Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about Climate Cuisine here.

Find show notes here.