Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchCarolina Reaper: How Ed Curry Bred the World's Hottest Pepper
Episode 11873
In November 2011 a national radio reporter ended up on the floor, hallucinating, after tasting a plant then known only as HP22B. This deep dive tells…
4 days, 6 hours ago
Ortolan Bunting: The Forbidden French Delicacy Eaten Under a Napkin
Episode 11872
Diners drape a white linen napkin over their heads and eat a whole songbird, bones and all, supposedly hiding the act from the eyes of God. This deep…
4 days, 6 hours ago
Earl Grey Tea: The Bergamot Scam Behind a Posh British Classic
Episode 11871
Earl Grey is the tea of drawing rooms, prime ministers, and starship captains, but this deep dive reveals it likely began as a 19th century dockside …
4 days, 6 hours ago
Dim Sum History: How Cantonese Tea Houses Invented Fusion Cuisine
Episode 11870
Long before kimchi tacos and sushi burritos, 19th century dim sum chefs in Guangdong were folding British Worcestershire sauce, Indian samosa structu…
4 days, 6 hours ago
Borscht History: From Fermented Hogweed to Space Food and UNESCO
Episode 11869
In March 1961 a Soviet spacecraft carried a dog, a mannequin, and a tube of freeze-dried borscht into orbit. This deep dive asks how a soup that star…
4 days, 6 hours ago
Auguste Escoffier: The Emperor of Chefs and the Savoy Egg Scandal
Episode 11868
Every modern restaurant kitchen runs on a system designed by a bullied 12 year old apprentice who wore built-up boots to reach the oven doors. This d…
4 days, 6 hours ago
Grapefruit: Forbidden Fruit, Atomic Breeding, and a Drug Danger
Episode 11867
The grapefruit looks like the most predictable item on the breakfast table, but its history is anything but mundane. This deep dive traces Citrus par…
4 days, 6 hours ago
Willa Cather: Frontier Truth-Teller Who Guarded Her Own Life
Episode 11866
Willa Cather is celebrated as the patron saint of the American pioneer novel, yet she lied about her birth year, burned her drafts and letters, and l…
5 days, 16 hours ago
Jules Verne: The Misunderstood Inventor of the Techno-Thriller
Episode 11865
When Apollo 11 headed home in 1969, Neil Armstrong used a television broadcast to honor a French author who had written a century earlier about a spa…
5 days, 16 hours ago
Ulysses by James Joyce: The Banned Book That Mapped the Mind
Episode 11864
A book about one ordinary day, a funeral, a cat, a gorgonzola sandwich, and a bar of lemon soap, was seized by the U.S. Post Office and burned in gov…
5 days, 16 hours ago