What happens when humanity takes its most basic need - food - beyond Earth’s atmosphere? From John Glenn’s applesauce tubes to the first lettuce grown aboard the International Space Station, the story of fresh produce in space is one of science, innovation, and survival.

In this episode, John and Patrick are joined by Vickie Kloeris, former NASA Food Scientist and manager of the Space Food Systems Laboratory, to explore the fascinating evolution of eating in orbit. How did scientists first overcome the fear that astronauts might not even be able to swallow in zero gravity? Why is fresh produce so rare on space missions? And how did international cooperation - and culinary compromise - shape mealtimes aboard the ISS?

From the psychological power of comfort food to the groundbreaking Veggie experiment that saw astronauts harvest their own lettuce, this is the extraordinary story of how fresh produce became part of life among the stars. And as we look toward Mars, could farming on other worlds become the next great agricultural revolution?

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Order Vickie Kloeris' book: Space Bites: Reflections of a NASA Food Scientist

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What is the legacy of Japanese American farmers in shaping California’s agricultural landscape? How did a community once barred from owning land become pioneers in strawberry and vegetable farming? And how did families like the Tanakas endure displacement, incarceration, and prejudice to rebuild—and ultimately thrive?

John and Patrick are joined by special guest Glenn Tanaka, whose family has been farming in California for generations. Together, they trace the journey of Japanese Americans who transformed the agricultural landscape of the West Coast — from small tenant plots to thriving family enterprises — and the immense challenges they faced along the way.

How did these farmers turn discrimination into determination? What became of their farms during internment? And how has Glen Tanaka and his family continued this legacy through innovation, education, and agritourism today?

In this episode, John and Patrick explore the remarkable story of Japanese American farmers — a story of endurance, identity, and the deep cultural roots that continue to nourish American agriculture.

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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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Join John and Patrick for a special bonus episode recorded live from Anaheim, California, at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce & Floral Show!

Surrounded by the sights, sounds, and scents of the world’s freshest innovations, they sit down with four bright Cornell University students to hear their impressions of the show - and to ask a question close to their hearts: who are their favorite figures and moments in fresh produce history?

From Van Gogh’s humble potato paintings to the landmark establishment of USDA organic standards, a Supreme Court showdown over the tomato, and the revolutionary invention of freeze-drying foods - these students reveal their favorite moments in produce history and why they still matter today.

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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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What do garlic, blackberries, cucumbers, eggplants, mushrooms, and pumpkins have in common? More than you might think. Across history and folklore, fruits and vegetables have not only nourished humanity but terrified it - linked with madness, curses, demons, vampires, and even the Devil himself. From garlic garlands that warded off the undead, to blackberries spoiled by Satan’s spit, to Japanese river demons with a fondness for cucumbers, and the pumpkin lanterns that still haunt our porches every Halloween - produce has carried meanings far darker than the dinner table.

Join John and Patrick as they explore the eerie world of cursed crops and sinister superstitions: a journey from medieval England to haunted Japanese rivers, from Bedouin tales of madness-inducing eggplants to the psychedelic mushrooms of Siberian shamans. This is the story of fruits and vegetables not as symbols of life and vitality, but as omens of death, disease, and the supernatural…

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From myth and legend to cider-fuelled revolutions, from Johnny Appleseed’s frontier orchards to the Victorians’ quest for the perfect pippin, the story of the apple has been anything but ordinary. In the final part of this five-part series, John and Patrick follow the fruit onto the world stage - when refrigeration, global shipping, and empire transformed it into an international commodity. From Tasmania’s “Apple Isle” and Cecil Rhodes’s Cape orchards, to Japan’s remarkable embrace of the fruit that would one day give us the Fuji, the apple became both a tool of empire and a symbol of modernization.

But world war would shake that story, stripping Britain of its imported fruit and forcing farmers to dig for victory. The apple rallied in service of king and country - only to face a peacetime collapse that saw Britain’s orchards vanish in the shadow of supermarket shelves and European imports. Yet the apple endures, still shaping landscapes, economies, and everyday diets around the globe.

Join John and Patrick as they conclude the saga of the world’s most storied fruit - a tale of empire, war, decline, and resilience - that leaves us with the apple we know today.

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From the barefoot wanderings of Johnny Appleseed to the fiery kick of applejack on Civil War battlefields, the apple’s story in America takes a dramatic turn in this fourth episode of our series.

John and Patrick trace how John Chapman’s seed-planting helped shape frontier life, fueled the nation’s cider culture, and - ironically - set the stage for America’s drinking frontier. But the apple’s journey doesn’t stop there.

Across the Atlantic, the fruit was taking root in Victorian Britain, where royal tastebuds, scientific curiosity, and household culture transformed it into a symbol of both domesticity and national pride. Yet under the gloss of toffee apples and orchard competitions lurked darker tales of poisonings, poverty, and fierce competition with American imports.

Join John and Patrick as they uncover how the apple became at once a folk hero’s legacy, a soldier’s solace, and the centerpiece of Victorian life - setting the stage for its leap into the modern global age.

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John and Patrick journey into the seventeenth century, when cider wasn’t just a drink - it was a matter of national survival. From John Evelyn’s bold call for apple orchards to secure England’s navy and replace French wine, to the early experiments that nearly made England the home of “apple champagne,” the apple takes centre stage in politics, science, and patriotism.

But apples weren’t only about orchards and fizz. This was also the age when John Milton transformed them into the forbidden fruit of Eden, when physicians and quacks alike prescribed them as medicine and beauty aids, and when settlers carried them across the Atlantic to the New World. There, apples and cider became woven into the fabric of colonial life - fueling households, politics, and survival itself.

From Restoration England to early America, discover how the apple evolved into both symbol and staple, preparing the stage for one of history’s most legendary figures: Johnny Appleseed.

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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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Apples are one of those rare fruits that you can actually recognize by name. Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji… the list seems endless.

But have you ever wondered where these names came from?

Is there an actual 'granny' behind the Granny Smith?

Was the Red Delicious truly the most delicious of all red apples?

And what about Bramley - does that name come from a person, a place, or perhaps an aristocratic family?

In this month's livestream, John and Patrick dig into a few apple varieties and explore the fascinating history behind their names.

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From the kitchens of medieval Europe to the orchards of Anglo-Saxon England, the apple became far more than just a fruit. It was medicine, it was myth, it was ritual.

In part two of our apple series, John and Patrick explore how crab apples were pressed into sharp, sour verjuice to season everything from pigs’ feet to plague remedies, how Anglo-Saxon charms and midwinter wassailing blended Christianity with ancient fertility rites, and how monks carried apple cuttings—and their spiritual symbolism—across the continent.

From the orchard-cemeteries of St. Gall to the fruit catalogues of Charlemagne, apples became embedded in the medieval imagination. And just as they took root in law codes, legends, and royal gardens, they also crept into the realm of story—appearing in myths of archers, kings, and poisoned fruit.

Join John and Patrick as they uncover how the humble apple became a cornerstone of medieval life, belief, and lore…

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Where did the apple come from, and how did it go from a sour, berry-sized wild fruit to the sweet, plump star of our fruit bowls today? Was it really bears (and their sweet tooth) that shaped its destiny? How did the mountains of Kazakhstan become the apple’s Garden of Eden, and what role did nomads, traders, and even the poets of Ancient Greece play in transforming it from wild crab to cultivated treasure? And why has this fruit, more than almost any other, become so entangled in our myths, our laws, and our imaginations?

Join John and Patrick as they peel back the first layer of the apple’s astonishing story—from its tangled roots in Central Asia to its golden glow in the myths of Greece—in the opening episode of this epic five-part series.

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