Each episode of this season has explored different facets of the mezcal-making industry — from its history, to how it’s tasted, served, and perceived by tourists in Oaxaca. In our final episode of the season, we explore the role of women in mezcal-making practices. Briefly translating our two prior epiosdes, we present to you the lived experiences of Paula Aquino Sánchez and Graciela Ángeles Carreño, two mezcaleras who have navigated an industry that’s predominantly male and shown us what it’s like to be masters of their craft. Join us as we wrap up this season in conversation with Paula and Graciela, whose voices have been translated and dubbed in an effort to make their stories accessible to our English-speaking audiences. 

Voice for Paula Aquino Sánchez: Alyssa Pulido

Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

En la segunda parte de nuestra serie de mezcaleras, Graciela Ángeles Carreño conversa con nosotros sobre la relación del mezcal con la tierra. Con su éxito, su demanda y su fama internacional creciente, ¿cómo ha la globalización del destilado transformado no solo la economía del agave sino también la vida cotidiana de los que lo producen? Este episodio invita a los oyentes a ver el mezcal más allá de la botella — para entender las tensiones, contradicciones y voces que rodean la tradición de la producción de mezcal como una forma de vida.

Acompañados por Graciela Ángeles Carreño, mezcalillera de cuarta generación de Real Minero

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In our second part of the mezcalera series, Graciela Ángeles Carreño joins us in conversation about mezcal’s relationship to Earth. With its success, rise in demand, and growing popularity internationally, how has the globalization of this distilled drink transformed not only the agave economy but also the daily life of those who produce it? This episode invites listeners to see mezcal as something more than a bottle — to understand the tensions, contradictions and voices surrounding the tradition of mezcal-making as a way of life. 

Featuring Graciela Ángeles Carreño, 4th generation mezcalillera of Real Minero

Host: Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores & Fabiola Santiago

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

In our first part of our mezcalera series, we are joined by Paula Aquino Sánchez as she shares her background — how she first stepped into the world of mezcal production, the opposition and skepticism she faced as a woman in mezcal, and what uses mezcal had in her family. Her voice in this conversation allows us to see how her connection to mezcal is deeply rooted in family tradition and how her legacy will continue to be put into practice as it gets passed down through generations.

Featuring Paula Aquino Sánchez, independent legacy mezcalera

Host: Daniela Gutierrez-Flores & Fabiola Santiago

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

The enduring fascination with the “authentic” drives tourists to seek the artisanally-produced mezcal, especially in Oaxaca, where Daniela and Elizabeth find themselves in Esculent’s fourth episode of this season. Through their navigation of different topics like rising housing prices, Michelin star systems, and alcohol consumption during times of the pandemic, we take a look at the relationship both researchers have to tourism, raising the question: Is there such a thing as responsible, conscious tourism? 

Featuring Asamblea de los Pueblos Indígenas del Istmo en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio, or APIIDTT, an organization representing community and agrarian authorities from Zapotec, Ikoots, Zoque, and Mixe communities in Oaxaca.

Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

At Masala y Maíz in Mexico City, no bottle goes to waste once it’s been opened. Join us for Esculent’s third episode with special guest and Director of Beverage and Culture, Sergio del Castillo and co-chef Saqib Keval, as they describe the restaurant’s cocktail program and the ethics that goes into its creation. With knowledgeable descriptions and different processes that go into making each spirit on the menu, guests are invited to taste for themselves, encountering new flavors and ingredients to learn how they’re made, and how those intimate tastes grow in relation to spirits.

Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

When mezcal evokes memories of mom’s kitchen or relatives spritzing the spirit to the earth, it becomes clear that smoke has never been adequate to describe a taste of mezcal. In Esculent’s next episode, we are joined by Mi Oaxaca’s founder, Fabiola Santiago, as we take a look at the different ways people encounter mezcal — either through tasting wheels, aromas, or the memories and relations we ascribe to the beverage. How can we fill in the gaps from tasting wheels that enforce Eurocentric aromas? Together, we think about how one can “taste” mezcal in ways that create relations, rather than orchestrate erasure. 

Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Fabiola Santiago

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

When studying the history of mezcal, why begin with the milky, lightly fermented beverage pulque? In Esculent’s new season, we are joined once again by Professor Daniela Gutiérrez Flores as we navigate the archives detailing the cultural significance of the maguey plant in Mesoamerica. From discussing pulque’s role in sacred ritual to examining the colonial context of mezcal–both from maguey– we begin to center the narrative on Indigenous practices and experiences.

Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

This season welcomes co-host Daniela Gutiérrez Flores as we prepare to travel with Fabiola Santiago and the organization Mi Oaxaca -- we are honored to be thinking, sensing, and traveling with care over the next episodes, all about mezcal. 

Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutiérrez Flores

This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

What does it mean to steward a living archive? Kyria Boundy-Mills, curator of the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, joins Esculent to discuss the care and preservation of thousands of yeast strains. The collection extends far beyond familiar fermenters like bread and beer yeasts, encompassing species drawn from insect ecologies, plants, soils, and unexpected environments.

In this episode, we explore how yeasts become technologies of esculence, such as how isolating, storing, and characterizing microbial life supports food science research. Boundy-Mills’ work reveals the archival dimensions of microbial collections, and what infrastructure is utilized to maintain those archives.

Tasting: J. Street Chocolate with Shared Cultures’ cacao-nib miso (featuring koji culture)

Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff

Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

What happens when the science of winemaking meets the emerging world of cultivated meat? Distinguished Professor David Block joins Esculent to discuss how engineering principles, chemistry, and scale shape technologies of taste. This episode also considers mouthfeel—how the tactile sensation of food and drink becomes central, or is becoming central, to the experience of the esculent in the food industry. Together, we reflect on how scaling, precision, and sensory expectations intersect in both traditional and experimental forms of food production.

Tasting: TCHO “Napa Noir” dark chocolate with cacao nibs, aged in red wine barrels and infused with cabernet sauvignon sea salt from Clif Family Winery

Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff

Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.