Gastropod

For tens of thousands of years, North America was bison country. Millions of these giant, shaggy animals—also known as buffalo—roamed from the far north to the Gulf and from the east coast to the west. They defined the land and its people: the animals provided food, clothing, and spiritual connection to the continent's Indigenous peoples—while their hooves, wallows, and dung patties shaped the prairie, providing essential habitat for plants, birds, amphibians, and more. But by the late 1800s, the bison had nearly been driven extinct. Today, cattle have largely taken their place, with huge human and ecological repercussions. But could we swap bison for beef in our burgers, and what would happen if we did? This week, we’ve got the story of how a bison-hunting taxidermist helped save the bison and kickstart their recovery, as well as current Indigenous efforts to bring bison back to tribal lands and tables—plus, the scoop on how you can join the movement, and eat bison to save bison! Join us on the range this episode, as we explore the tragic history and inspiring future of America's national mammal.

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Cow milk is out, and plant milk reigns supreme. At least, that's how it feels in the supermarket these days, where the refrigerated section is full of "milk" made from oats, almonds, peanuts, coconuts, soy, macadamia nuts, pistachios, and even peas, with new plants being milked seemingly every day. But this proliferation had us wondering: who invented all these plant milks, and are they better for us and the planet than the OG cow-based beverage?  To find out, we're exploring the surprisingly long history of plant-based milks—including why most civilizations preferred them over any animal's, why Henry Ford thought plant milk would replace dairy the way cars replaced horses, and how Vince Lombardi and some catchy ads made drinking cow's milk de rigeur, even for grown-ups. Plus: we've got the inside story of how Swedish underdog Oatly took the third wave coffee world by storm, plus a science-based breakdown of which of these new alt-milks you should be drinking for the maximum health and environmental benefits.

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Perhaps no other plant is as entwined with pain and pleasure as the chile pepper. But why does it burn—and why on earth do we crave that uncomfortable sensation? How did capsaicin's fungus-fighting, digestion-enhancing, and adrenaline-triggering powers convince early hunter gatherers in South America to fall in love with the chile's tiny berry ancestors, and then European colonists to spread chiles around the world? Plus, new insights into the rise of the “superhots,” chilehead competitions, and a murder-by-Carolina-Reaper attempt right here on team Gastropod. Who survived to tell the tale? Listen in to find out! (encore)

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If leafy greens and a little vinaigrette is salad, and chicken with mayo is salad, and vegetables in Jello-O are ALSO salad… What exactly is salad?! That's the big question we're tackling this episode—and it takes us down some unexpected rabbit holes. Listen in now to hear how ‘scientific housekeeping’ and good-old-fashioned sexism made salad into women’s food, and how this led to boiled cucumbers, lettuce-cup prisons, and the emergence of the Jell-O salad. Plus: the rise and fall of the great American salad bar (RIP), and why that plastic bag of mixed salad greens is the most high-tech item in your refrigerator. Lettuce might be in the news for all the wrong reasons right now, but that doesn't mean it can't be salad days for your ears!

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As anyone who’s spent time by a crackling campfire or a barbecue pit can attest, the scent of smoke is unmistakable—and surprisingly mysterious. Smoke clings to clothing but vanishes in the breeze. You see it, but you can’t hold it. It’s fantastic in whiskey and terrible in toast. So what exactly is smoke—and what does it do to our food and drinks? What’s the difference between cold and hot smoked salmon—and what's a red herring? Is Liquid Smoke made from real smoke? And how did barbecue— smoked meat, cooked low and slow—become a uniquely American tradition? Listen in to find out! (encore)

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Fan favorite Ask Gastropod is back, and we’re celebrating the season by solving a pair of trans-Atlantic mysteries! First up: if you have a purple candy in Europe, it’s nearly guaranteed to be flavored with a tart little berry called blackcurrant—while the same color candy in the US is almost always grape. One intrepid Gastropod listener wanted to know: why the difference? We’ve got the story of how a tree so important it was on early Americans coins inspired the botanical witch hunt that made a delicious fruit illegal this side of the pond—and how to try the fabulous flavor we're missing out on! Plus, lager and ale lovers around the world would be deeply confused by the warmly spiced soda that Americans call “root beer.” So where did this non-alcoholic beverage come from, what are these mysterious roots, and why is it called beer? It’s a tale of tea, teetotalers, and a ubiquitous ugly baby—and because we at Gastropod will put our stomachs on the line to get to the truth, we attempted to brew the original recipe to taste it for ourselves.

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For many Americans, bacon is an essential element of the perfect breakfast—not to mention a welcome addition to everything from cheeseburgers to doughnuts. But bacon hasn't always been beloved. Ancient Egyptians elites looked down on pork, Judaism and Islam banned it entirely, and in Shakespeare’s time, calling someone “bacon brains” was a serious insult. So how did we go from bacon shaming to today's full-on baconmania? We’re calling in the bacon experts to uncover how pigs domesticated themselves before becoming the key to world domination, what Sigmund Freud has to do with the ascendance of bacon and eggs as a breakfast staple, and why "bringing home the bacon" is the key to marital bliss. Listen in now for the salty story of humanity's on-again, off-again love affair with these streaky strips!

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Consider the lobster roll: tender chunks of lobster bathed in butter or mayo, sandwiched between two slices of a squishy bread roll… Have we caught your attention yet? Lobster is a summertime staple in New England, a fixture on casino and cruise ship buffets, and a steady partner for steak in the classic surf 'n' turf.

Today, the American lobster industry is the single most valuable fishery in the country—but it wasn’t always so. This episode, we're cracking the lobster's many mysteries, including how it went from prison fare to fancy food. There's also the question of what lobster eyes have to do with both the International Space Station and the belief in Intelligent Design, plus the rollicking tale of why it took scientists so long to locate the lobster penis—and what makes lobster sex so, well, steamy? Listen in now for the lobster lore you never knew you needed to know! (encore)

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In millions of homes, humans aren’t the only creatures sitting down to dinner. So what's on the menu for pets—and what impact does it have on their health, as well as the environment? This episode, we go back thousands of years to figure out what our first furry friends ate, how that's changed over the years, and why. Is serving your dog raw meat and bones more ancestrally appropriate? Can cats be vegetarian? What goes into that dry, brown, extruded industrial kibble? This episode, Gastropod is getting tails wagging with a look at the what our four-legged friends should really be eating to stay healthy and happy. You'll have to sit, stay, and listen to find out what the best options are, for our pets and the planet!

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For those who like its earthy flavor, the humble beet can do a lot for a salad or a soup. But could it help end slavery? In the 1800s, one woman believed it could—and she wasn't just any old woman. This episode, meet Lydia Maria Child, who wrote the first children's periodical magazine, the first New England historical novel, and one of America's first successful self-help books—all before she turned thirty, in an era where women were still considered property. This episode, we've got the fascinating story of why she bet big on beets, as well as how, more than a century later, Wolfgang Puck and Martha Stewart paired this much maligned vegetable with goat cheese to spark today's beet renaissance. Meanwhile, for the haters among us: is it possible to de-beet the beet, and get rid of that earthy flavor altogether? Listen in now as we meet the astonishing Lydia Maria Child, in the curious tale of the beet.

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