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The Salt Wars
Salt is a magical substance. It reduces bitterness, enhances sweetness, boosts flavor, and preserves perishable foods. Without it, we would die: the …
9 years, 7 months ago
Kombucha Culture
If you haven’t tasted kombucha yet, you probably will soon. The sour-sweet, fizzy, fermented tea is becoming ubiquitous in trendy cafes, workplaces, …
9 years, 7 months ago
Keeping Kosher: When Jewish Law Met Processed Food
Roughly two percent of Americans are Jewish, and only a small fraction of them keep kosher. Yet between a third and a half of all packaged food in an…
9 years, 7 months ago
Poultry Power: The Fried Chicken Chronicles
Juicy, crispy, crunchy…fried chicken is undoubtedly delicious. But it’s also complicated, in ways that go far deeper than the science behind that per…
9 years, 8 months ago
Outside the Box: The Story of Food Packaging
The invention of food packaging is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. It may seem hard to imagine today, but the first clay pots made the great…
9 years, 8 months ago
Who Invented the Cherry Tomato?
In the 1960s, cherry tomatoes were nearly impossible to find in the grocery store. By the 1990s, it was hard to get a salad without them. Somehow, wi…
9 years, 9 months ago
Everything Old is Brew Again
Pull up a bar stool and prepare to open both your mind and your palate: it’s time to meet beer before it settled down into the fizzy brown brew we kn…
9 years, 9 months ago
Museums and the Mafia: The Secret History of Citrus
A slice of lime in your cocktail, a lunchbox clementine, or a glass of OJ at breakfast: citrus is so common today that most of us have at least one l…
9 years, 11 months ago
Grand Theft Food
It’s easy to assume that burglars and thieves are always after conventional valuables: cash, jewels, or high-end electronics. But some of the most me…
9 years, 11 months ago
Caffeine: The World’s Most Popular Drug
A tablespoon of it will kill you, but most of us feel like death without it: we’re talking about caffeine this episode. Inspired by a listener questi…
10 years ago