CrowdScience

Why are spices delicious?


Listen Later

CrowdScience listener Kristine from Wisconsin in the USA wants to know why herbs and spices taste so good to so many of us. She’s intrigued to know if there's evidence that herbs and spices can keep us healthy.

Anand Jagatia visits the historic naval city of Portsmouth in the UK, where exotic spices from around the world were first brought in from the East Asia more than 600 years ago.

He’s on a journey to find out why many of us think spices are delicious. But are there also nutritional benefits to seasoning our food with them? Anand asks what science or studies are there to show that eating herbs and spices can be beneficial for our health?

Presenter: Anand Jagatia

Producer: Joanna Hall
Assistant Producer: Jonathan Harris
Editor: Richard Collings
Studio Technicians: Bob Nettles & Steve Greenwood

Contributors:

Prof. Lindell Bromham, evolutionary biologist, Australian National University

Dr. Kanchan Koya, Molecular Biologist and founder of the Spice Spice Baby website
Dr. Beronda L. Montgomery, plant biologist and Dean at Grinnell College, Iowa, USA
Dr. Lorenzo Stafford an olfactory researcher, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, UK

(Photo: A couple stand at a spice shop. Credit: Thomas Barwick / Getty Images)

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

CrowdScienceBy BBC World Service

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

424 ratings


More shows like CrowdScience

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,426 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,803 Listeners

The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists Podcast

600 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,657 Listeners

Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

412 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,751 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,074 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

342 Listeners

More or Less: Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

More or Less: Behind the Stats

898 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

966 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

2,080 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,042 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

726 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

239 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

355 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

399 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

754 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

763 Listeners

People Fixing the World by BBC World Service

People Fixing the World

245 Listeners

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle by BBC World Service

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

4,195 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

700 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,962 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

105 Listeners