The season for holiday baking is upon us, and before you spice up your cookies and pies, you’ll probably want to know: is most of the cinnamon on grocery store shelves actually fake? That’s one question we’re investigating this week on behalf of you, dear listeners, in the latest installment of our popular Ask Gastropod series! This episode, we've got the scoop on what's real when it comes to cinnamon—because your buns deserve the truth. We're also putting our detective hats on to figure out where in the world kefir comes from, in an epic tale that involves mummies, a prince, and a potential kidnapping. Finally, if you look at almost any label, from jam to ice cream to soda to sausage, you'll find one shared ingredient: citric acid. What on Earth is this additive doing in everything, how is its spread connected to a technology that has saved millions of lives—and is it safe to eat? Listen in for a festive feast of listener curiosity, and keep your awesome questions coming our way!

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Today, 'vanilla' often means boring, and yet the edible seedpod of this Central American orchid is one of the most expensive spices in the world, not to mention one of the most popular flavors globally. So how did this coveted bean get such a ho-hum reputation? Listen in this episode as Gastropod travels to vanilla's homeland in the highlands of Veracruz, Mexico, to investigate. It's a tale of botanical piracy, beaver butts, and ice-cream barges, in which an ingenious enslaved tween and the product of pulp paper waste combine to transform vanilla from a complex and sophisticated elite treat into the single-note synonym for dull. Plus, we meet the thrilling alternative vanillas we're all missing out on, and serve up the recipe for a vanilla tasting party that's guaranteed to make you fall back in love with the world's favorite flavor. You'll never see vanilla as plain again!

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Yoghurt is the most diverse section of the dairy case: from Icelandic skyr to creamy Australian, and fruity French Yoplait to full-fat Greek. With something to suit every palate, plus a dose of microbes to support healthy digestion, yoghurt is a staple food in the US, hero of a million smoothies, berry bowls, and snack breaks every day. Which is why it's pretty weird that, until about 50 years ago, most Americans had no idea what it was. This episode, we've got the story of the microbial miracle (and ants?) that gave us yoghurt, as well as the secret connection between those heat-loving bacteria and the evolution of lactose tolerance. Plus, for most of history, yoghurt was wildly popular in large parts of the world—the Middle East, the Balkans, Caucasus, much of Asia, and the Indian subcontinent—and totally unknown elsewhere. Even the promise that yoghurt would cure old age, made by a Nobel prize-winning scientist, couldn't persuade Americans to eat it. So how did yoghurt finally capture the hearts of Americans? Listen in now for the little-known story of our curious relationship with this creamy concoction.

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Every second of every day, plants on earth do something miraculous: they take the carbon dioxide from air and turn it into food. With very few exceptions, everything we eat starts out that way. But what if we wanted to cut out the middlemen, re-wild all those fields full of wheat and corn, and manufacture dinner directly from the atmosphere ourselves? Scientists began dreaming of turning air into food back into the 1800s, but it's only recently that dream has become a reality—with results that, depending on where you live, you can already taste for yourself. In this episode, we’re exploring the history and science that made this particular sci-fi future real: from a space-age vodka and military-grade yogurt-like substance to surprisingly delicious gas-based butter and bonbons. Join us this episode as we explore the weird science and fascinating history behind this futuristic food, and discover how it might help us save this planet *and* survive on new ones.

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At last, an episode on pizza! But that raises a tricky question: what exactly is pizza? As it turns out, the original pizzas from eighteenth-century Naples looked nothing like a standard slice—they were more like a focaccia, topped with oil, herbs, anchovies, or whatever else was on hand. Even after these first pizzas met the tomato, the dish was a local peculiarity—most Italians thought pizza was gross and weird until just a few decades ago. So how did we get from Neapolitan subsistence snack to today's delivery staple? Listen in this episode as we travel with historian Carol Helstosky, author of Pizza: A Global History, and Francisco Migoya, head chef at Modernist Cuisine, from Italy to New York to Brazil and beyond, to tell the story of how pizza conquered the world. All that, plus the tough questions: is Chicago deep dish really pizza? How about bananas on top? What about (gasp) a donut pizza? (encore episode)

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If you’ve heard of metabolism, you’ve probably heard endless tips and tricks to boost it, from working out to drinking green tea. The idea is that a slow metabolism leads to weight gain, and speeding it up makes it easier to shed pounds. But what if we told you that metabolic rate doesn't really have anything to do with why so many of us in the developed world are heavy? This episode, nutrition scientist Kevin Hall and science journalist Julia Belluz join us to debunk metabolic myths, starting with what actually happened behind the scenes on the reality TV show The Biggest Loser. Can you really mess up your metabolism by gaining and losing weight, or reset it with morning tonics and exercise? Are those of us who weigh more than we want cursed with a slow metabolism, while those of us who seem to be able to eat whatever we want without gaining weight are just lucky to have a speedy one? And what do World War I explosives and Froot Loops have to do with figuring this all out? Listen in this episode, as we debunk some metabolism myths!

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This week on Gastropod, a feast of fruits! Specifically, feijoa and durian—and, if you haven’t heard of either, you’re not alone. Unlike the ubiquitous strawberry or banana, durian and feijoa are only popular in a handful of countries and almost unknown in the US, and we wanted to know why—especially because the people who love them really love them. For New Zealanders, like journalist Kate Evans, feijoa is *the* taste of home, even though it's almost forgotten in its original homeland, in Brazil and Uruguay. Meanwhile, the smell of the durian is so intense and distinctive—Julia Child likened it to “dead babies mixed with strawberries and Camembert”—that it's famously banned from public transportation in Singapore. But for durian lovers, like the cancer expert who decoded the fruit's genome, it inspires something close to obsession. Join us this episode for a weird fruit adventure, as we discover why the durian and feijoa inspire such strong feelings, and why they never made it big in the US.

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Whether or not it's Tuesday, tacos pretty much always hit the spot—and not just in their homeland in Mexico. These days, the taco can be found all over the world, although it's acquired some strange new fillings along the way, from French fries to canned corn. It's hard to imagine something so universal having to be invented—but, in fact, the taco as we know it only emerged in the 1800s. In this episode, Gastropod talks taco with the experts, peering through the salsa-smudged veil of history to answer such questions as: What do Cornish miners and their lunchtime pasties have to do with the taco? Did Glen Bell, of Taco Bell fame, actually invent the hard-shell version? Is a burrito also a taco? And how can a seemingly simple snack harbor so many mysteries? Grab a napkin, because things are going to get messy—and delicious—as we dive deep into the taco-verse to find out!

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The tomato is Gastropod’s favorite flavor of summer, and we’re not alone: today, it’s the most popular vegetable on the planet, despite the fact that it's technically a fruit. But, until a couple of hundred years ago, the tomato wasn't really anyone's favorite. In South America, where the tomato originates, no one even bothered to domesticate it; in Mexico, the Aztecs seem to have preferred tomatillos; Renaissance Europeans thought this member of the nightshade family was practically poisonous; and, until the 1830s, most Americans considered them an “acquired taste.” Even in Italy, where the culinary mainstays of pizza and pasta now depend on red sauce, it took centuries to catch on. So why was the tomato so unloved—and how did it end up converting the haters on its rise to glory? Listen in this episode for the story of how Italian block parties, snake oil pills, and the state of Florida played in a role in the tomato’s journey to global domination—as well as the epic tale of one man’s quest to make the industrial tomato taste great again.

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It's the epitome of summertime: there’s nothing like a cold, juicy slice of red watermelon on a swelteringly hot day. But, once upon a time, watermelons were neither red nor sweet—the wild watermelon has white flesh and a bitter taste. This episode, we scour Egyptian tombs, decaying DNA, and ancient literature in search of watermelon's origins. The quest for tasty watermelon continues into modern times, with the rediscovery of a lost (and legendarily sweet) varietal in South Carolina—and the Nigerian musical secret that might help you pick a ripe one. But the fruit's history has often been the opposite of sweet: watermelons have featured in some of the most ubiquitous anti-Black imagery in U.S. history. So how did the watermelon become the most dangerous—and racist—fruit in America? (encore)

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