Gastropod

Whether you sip it with friends, chug it before hitting the dance floor, or take it as a post-work pick-me-up, there’s clearly nothing like a cocktail for bracing the spirit. In addition to its peculiar history as a medicinal tonic, plenty of hard science lies behind the perfect cocktail, from the relationship between taste perception and temperature to the all-important decision of whether to shake or stir.

What’s more, according to historian David Wondrich, mixology is “the first legitimate American culinary art”—and one that has since caught on around the world. Raise a glass, and listen in as we discover the cocktail’s historical origins, its etymological connection to a horse’s butt, and its rocky history, post-Prohibition. We also check out an original copy of the world’s first cocktail recipe book at New York City’s bartending mecca, Cocktail Kingdom; take a private cocktail science class with Jared Sadoian of The Hawthorne in Boston; and talk red-hot pokers with culinary scientist Dave Arnold. Cheers!

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Finally, Gastropod is tackling gastropods! In this episode, Cynthia visits one of America’s first and only snail farms.

Though Gastropod is, as regular listeners know, a podcast about the science and history of all things gastronomical, we do share a name with Gastropoda, the taxonomic class that includes slugs and snails. And, as it turns out, the history and science of heliciculture, or snail farming, is completely fascinating. Join Cynthia on a trip to rural Washington State to learn how to raise snails and whether fresh and vacuum-packed taste any less rubbery than canned. Plus, you’ll hear about the earliest evidence for human snail consumption, how the Romans fattened theirs up, and all about the bizarre world of snail sex.

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Why does grape candy taste so fake? What on earth is blue raspberry, anyway? And what is the difference between natural and artificial, at least when it comes to flavor?

Join us as we taste the rainbow on this episode of Gastropod, from artificial flavoring’s public debut at the 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition, to the vanilla-burping yeasts of the future. We’ll experiment with Skittles, discover how invented flavors first appeared in our daily diets, and visit a synthetic biology lab, all in our quest to understand what artificial flavor is, was, and might be. Along the way, we’ll learn what exactly goes into designing the perfect pineapple from one of America’s top flavorists, investigate beaver butts, and discover the taste of an extinct banana. Listen now!

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DNA: it’s the genetic information that makes plants and animals what we are. Most of the time when you hear about it in the context of food, it’s to do with breeding. But in this short episode, we bring you two DNA detective stories that show how genetic analysis can rewrite the history of agriculture and fight food fraud—at least some of the time.

Listen now to hear how preserved DNA from an underwater site off the coast of Britain is helping paint a picture of how hunter gatherers in Northern Europe might first have experienced the wonders of agriculture, by trading kernels of exotic, domesticated Near Eastern wheat over long distances. We’ll also explore DNA’s role in some controversial accusations of food fraud and introduce you to the mysterious publication that defines the official standards of identity for food ingredients. And, finally, we squeeze in a short trip to Dublin’s Science Gallery, to talk to chef Clare Anne O’Keefe about a dish that was entirely inspired by Gastropod!

EPISODE NOTES“Britain Imported Wheat 2,000 Years before Growing It”

Listen to Cynthia’s mini-podcast for Scientific American on the surprising results from DNA testing of an underwater archaeological site in the English Channel, as reported in the paper “Sedimentary DNA from a submerged site reveals wheat in the British Isles 8000 years ago,” published in the journal Science. In a blog post reviewing the findings, archaeobotanist Dorian Fuller speculates that these early grains “would have been symbolically charged as exotica much like spices in much later times.”“Waiter, I’ll have the Gastropod special!”

To accompany Nicky’s recent public event—a conversation with Ross Golden-Bannon at the Science Gallery, Dublin, called “A Plateful of Food Culture”—chef Clare Anne O’Keefe created a special dish to serve in the Science Gallery cafeteria, incorporating a variety of ideas and foods we’ve featured on Gastropod! She used potatoes, seaweed, and subnatural foods, and mixed history and science on the plate. Listen to our episode to hear Clare Anne describe the meal.

The Gastropod special, photographed by its creator, Chef Clare Anne O’Keefe.“How Not to Test a Dietary Supplement”

Check out Nicky’s piece for The New Yorker‘s Elements blog for more on the New York State Attorney General’s attempt to crack down on alleged dietary supplement fraud, the International Barcode of Life database, the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, and why this particular case of DNA detective work is likely to be an ongoing story…

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Cheese is the chameleon of the food world, as well as one of its greatest delights. Fresh and light or funky and earthy, creamy and melty or crystalline and crumbly—no other food offers such a variety of flavors and textures.

But cheese is not just a treat for the palate: its discovery changed the course of Western civilization, and, today, cheese rinds are helping scientists conduct cutting-edge research into microbial ecology. In this episode of Gastropod, we investigate cheese in all stinking glory, from ancient Mesopotamia to medieval France, from the origins of cheese factories and Velveeta to the growing artisanal cheese movement in the U.S. Along the way, we search for the answer to a surprisingly complex question: what is cheese? Join us as we bust cheese myths, solve cheese mysteries, and put together the ultimate cheese plate.

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Step away from the French fries—and even from that bag of pre-washed mixed greens lurking in the crisper drawer. It’s time to reconsider the potato and up your salad game.

In this episode, Cynthia and Nicky talk to science writer Ferris Jabr about the chestnut-flavored, gemstone-hued potatoes he discovered in Peru, as well as the plant breeders working to expand American potato choices beyond the Russet Burbank and Yukon Gold. Plus we meet wild gardener Stephen Barstow, whose gorgeous megasalads include 537 different plants, to talk about ancient Norwegian rooftop onion gardens and the weedy origins of borscht. If you thought you knew your veggies, think again—and listen in!

A farmer holds up a potato in Peru. Photograph by Cynthia Graber.Episode NotesFerris Jabr’s “Reinventing the Potato”

Lots of different kinds of potatoes and tubers for sale at a market in Peru. Photograph by Cynthia Graber.

Ferris Jabr is a freelance science journalist based in New York City. This article, written with the support of the UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food & Farming Journalism Fellowship, introduces readers to an alien universe of potatoes with pink flesh and dark blue skin, curved like croissants or knobbly like a pine cone—potatoes that taste like buttercream and caramelized beets, and that turn out to be pretty good for you, too. Read it and drool.

Ferris Jabr’s purchases from the Mistura food festival, chopped and ready to be cooked. Photograph by Ferris Jabr.

Potato varieties grown by Shelly Jansky, potato breeder and flavor expert at the University of Wisconsin. Photograph by Ferris Jabr.Stephen Barstow’s Around the World in 80 Plants

Multi-species salad, via Stephen Barstow.

This is a gardener’s guide to the stories behind Barstow’s favorite edible perennials, from rock samphire, a cliff-dwelling leafy green used to make the most popular pickle in Shakespeare’s London, to the unexpected deliciousness of the invasive Japanese knotweed. Recipes included!

Multi-species salad, via Stephen Barstow.Hampton Creek

Our sponsor for this episode is Hampton Creek, a technology company that is pioneering the food space. You can find their (very tasty, egg-free) products at your local Whole Foods, Target, or Walmart. For more on their project to build the world’s largest database of plant compounds, check out this Fast Company story, “Google Maps’ Former Lead Data Scientist Is Now Building The World’s Largest Plant Library,” from August 2014.

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In 1900, the average dairy cow in America produced 424 gallons of milk each year. By 2000, that figure had more than quadrupled, to 2,116 gallons. In this episode of Gastropod, we explore the incredible science that transformed the American cow into a milk machine—but we also uncover the disturbing history of prejudice and animal cruelty that accompanied it.

Along the way, we’ll introduce you to the insane logic of the Lifetime Cheese Merit algorithm and the surreal bull trials of the 1920s. This is the untold story behind that most wholesome and quotidian of beverages: milk. Prepare to be horrified and amazed in equal measure.

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Have you ever wondered how to avoid sandwich sogginess, what scented soap to pair with your restaurant order, and whether airplane food can be made to taste of anything at all? Dan Pashman has, and his new book, Eat More Better, is filled with deeply researched, science-based hacks to improve your everyday eating. Pashman, host of The Sporkful, shares his pro tips and dream lunchbox design in conversation with Cynthia and Nicky: listen, learn, and win a copy of his book for yourself.

Episode NotesThe Sporkful

Dan Pashman shares fresh eating-related tips and tricks each week on his podcast, The Sporkful, which you can listen to online here and on iTunes here.Eat More Better

Using science, humor, and extensive research, Pashman’s new book tackles a series of eating-related questions that may never have crossed your mind but whose answers may well upgrade your next meal.

Vertical Grilled Cheese Sandwich Plating diagram by Alex Eben Meyer, courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

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Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. Or is it? In this episode of Gastropod, we explore the science and history behind the most intentionally designed, the most industrialized, and the most argued about meal of all.

Armed with a healthy dose of caffeine chronopharmacology, we embark on a global breakfast tour that exposes the worldwide dominance of Nutella, as well as the toddler kimchi acclimatization process. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., we trace the American breakfast’s evolution from a humble mash-up of leftover dinner foods to its eighteenth-century explosion into a feast of meats, griddle cakes, eel, and pie—followed swiftly by a national case of indigestion and a granola-fueled backlash. Breakfast has been a battleground ever since: in this episode, we not only explain why, but also serve up the best breakfast contemporary science can provide.

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Call off the search for the new kale: we’ve found it, and it’s called kelp! In this episode of Gastropod, we explore the science behind the new wave of seaweed farms springing up off the New England coast, and discover seaweed’s starring role in the peopling of the Americas.

The story of seaweed will take us from a medicine hut in southern Chile to a high-tech seaweed nursery in Stamford, Connecticut, and from biofuels to beer, as we discover the surprising history and bright future of marine vegetables. Along the way, we uncover the role kelp can play in supporting U.S. fishermen, cleaning up coastal waters, and even helping make salmon farms more sustainable.

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