Let's get spicy as we start off the new year with a comparison of two popular spices that hail from opposite ends of the earth. 

• Top 100 Exotic Food Plants
• Bidis and Kreteks - CDC

It's the time of year to arbitrarily overindulge in sweets, so we take this opportunity to dive into a big bucket of sugar and try to come out with a winner between these two seasonally appropriate snacks.

• Are one or two dangerous? Methyl salicylate exposure in toddlers. - PubMed
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sugar Cookies - How Stuff Works
• We Don't Know the Origins of the Candy Cane, But They Almost Certainly Were Not Christian - Smithsonian Magazine

Finally two foods with histories too boring even for us - which of course means it's time for grandmother stories, and of course along the way we try to find out how, exactly, these might kill you. 

Flour power is the name of the game in this episode as we compare the most common type of flour in the world with this niche competitor.

• The Dark Side of Almond Use - The Atlantic
• Almond Origin and History - New World Encyclopedia

This episode we compare to savory main dishes that can have a wide range of different ingredients thrown in, ultimately coming to the realization that water ruins everything, but not before we delve into thickening controversies and the magical (?) properties of saffron. 

• The Real Story of Gumbo, Okra, and Filé - Serious Eats
• Gumbo: The Mysterious History - The Atlantic
• Paella - An Introduction to Spanish Paella - The Spruce

Staples? Yeah, we've got that. We go waaay back to talk about the histories of these three crops, discuss why that long history robs them of good medical stories, and figure out which you should lean towards come meal time. 

• Medicinal use of potato-derived products: a systematic review - PubMed
• The Natural History of Wheat - Encyclopedia.com
• The Natural History of Rice - Encyclopedia.com
• How the Potato Changed the World - Smithsonian Magazine

There's a takeout takeover as we dive deep on two surprisingly modern specialties that have found their way far from their homes.

• The Non-Thai Origins of Pad Thai - The Atlantic
• A Brief History of General Tso's Chicken - Smithsonian Magazine
• The Strange Tale of General Tso's Chicken - NPR

We finally tie the X-Files into a mundane food pairing, and along the way learn a little something about the nutritional value of two staple crops. 

• Each Crunchy Kernel Offers Taste of History - Chicago Tribune
• Prehistoric mashed potato dating back 10,900 years discovered in Utah - The Independent

European breakfast breads abound in this episode as we track the origins of these two delightful foods and search for any signs of health in the nutritional wasteland of pastries. 

• The History Of The Belgian Waffle, Which We've Apparently Been Eating All Wrong
• From Wafel Wafers to Belgian Breakfasts: A Brief History of Waffles - Mental Floss
• Crepes Suzette History and Recipe - What's Cooking America
• A History Of The Crepe, France's Delectable Staple - Epicure & Culture
• Leptin

Wherein one host locks another in an obelisk (somehow?) in the fight for the truth about how cookies are apparently the single most magical food ever made.

• Oatmeal Cookie Completeness - The Oregonian
• Sweet Morsels: A History of the Chocolate-Chip Cookie - The New Yorker
• Stroke-Curing Cookie Picture