Eat This Podcast
Using food to explore all manner of topics, from agriculture to zoology. In Eat This Podcast, Jeremy Cherfas tries to go beyond the obvious to see how the food we eat influences and is influenced by history, archaeology, trade, chemistry, economics, geography, evolution, religion -- you get the picture. We don't do recipes, except when we do, or restaurant reviews, ditto. We do offer an eclectic smorgasbord of tasty topics. Twice nominated for a James Beard Award.
Episodes
Local Agriculture at the Time of the First Thanksgiving
17th century Fritos, and lots more besides.
Radicchio Spreads Its Wings
Growers in the Pacific Northwest have been at the forefront of an explosion in the popularity and availability of radicchio. A new book tells the story.
The Truth About Picky Eaters
Picky eaters seem to be biologically determined, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are not born, they are made, with the best of intentions.
The World of Fermentation
Using microbes to ferment food is probably the oldest technique to make fresh food last longer, taste better and be better for us.
The Tomato in England
There have been all sorts of explanations for why tomatoes took so long to be accepted in England, most of them calling on superstition and stupidity. The truth is more down to earth.
More Sustainable School Meals
Sweden offers some lessons on meals better for the health of pupils and the planet
Hipster Baristas and Chinese Espresso
The hipster barista and the Chinese-owned bar both shed light on the changing nature of Italian coffee culture.
Collards: A Moroccan Mystery
Abderrahim Ouarghidi was born and raised in Morocco, but until the day he and his wife Bronwen Powell found them during fieldwork, he had never seen collard greens there.
Geopolitics, Food, and Agriculture
“Food has long served as an instrument of statecraft. Yet agricultural economics typically ... neglects security externalities.”
In Search of the Real Cheeses
A six-year journey to learn about, document and share artisanal cheese-making around the world.
Old Modern Olive Oil in Provence
Old-fashioned oils rely on up-to-date equipment and the skill of the miller
The unstoppable rise of extra virgin olive oil
Today, a bigger problem than fraud is transportation and storage.
The Food System Is Not Broken
“You are more likely to find the raw ingredients for a better future for the food system at the Waffle House than you are at your local farmers’ market.”
Food Notes from an American Prison
The freedom Italian prisoners enjoy around food came as a shock
Cooking in Maximum Security
This is a way also to say “I’m a subject” in a place that tries to transform me into an object. I’m a subject. As a subject, I want to eat what I want today.
Cash remains a most effective gift
Poor people need money and they know what to spend it on
A Berliner Speaks
In 2005, Luisa Weiss launched The Wednesday Chef, an early food blog. Today she has three books to her credit and continues to write about food.
A Fresh Look at Domestication
Selection had nothing to do with transforming grass into wheat, or any other aspect of domestication.
Revolutions are Born in Breadlines
Anti-communists sent food and medical assistance. Communist sympathisers sent tractors. And both countries had much to learn from the other.
The Spice Bag
The after-hours dish that conquered Ireland and the Irish everywhere.
Revisiting Historical Recipes
In the end we can never know what people in the past tasted in their food, but a new method aims to come closer.
The Miracle of Salt
A new book shares more information about salt and ways to use it than you can imagine
New Light on Neanderthal Diets
“You yourself like caribou meat, and what are these maggots but live caribou meat? They taste just the same as the meat and are refreshing to the mouth.”
Pellagra
“There was no treatment for pellagra, aside from an improved diet, and ... we can’t improve the peasants’ diet. That’s not our job. We’re doctors.”
Quinoa in the Po Valley
I didn’t realise, when I booked a brief holiday in the Po Delta, that I would be staying at the heart of the Italian quinoa supply chain
Eat This Gets Advice
Tara Schmidt, lead dietitian for the Mayo Clinic Diet, shares her thoughts on diet, diets and dietary advice
Puglia
In the past few decades Puglia has improved its food, wine and olive oil almost beyond recognition
The Paradox of Plenty
For much of the world, food has never been as abundant or as inexpensive as it is now, but at what cost?
Farming’s Overlords
Size and market concentration lock farmers onto a technological treadmill that does nobody any good, excpet for the giant corporations and their shareholders
Quinoa’s rise and fall
A new book looks beyond the hype to chronicle the effect of an unsustainable boom on the entire quinoa trade in Peru
Forbidden: Jews and the Pig
“The more that the pig comes to signify Jewish identity, the more it comes to signify Christian identity, and vice versa.”
Food facts are not the answer to fear of foods
“What kind of food system do we want for the future? What kind of questions should we be asking? Whose questions matter? What kind of questions matter and what kind of expertise is considered relevant to the question of what the future of food should be like?”
Food, folklore and St Brigid
“On the eve of a quarter day, the time is liminal, so there’s kind of a thinning of the space between the real world and the other world.”
Sensual, Salty, and a Little Bit Spicy
Gilda; how Rita Hayworth might have inspired the original anchovy-on-a-toothpick
Better Diets for All
“In a way, the multinational food industry is providing solutions for women.”
Bennett’s Law
What foods do poor people buy when they have a bit more money? What you might expect, but not as much of it as you might expect.
The Cost of a Healthy Diet
“Is it because of high prices? Is it because of low incomes? Or is it because ... you can’t see, taste, or smell the nutritional composition of food?”
Anchovies Part 2
”You know, anchovies are in our blood. My family’s been eating them for 500 years.” Er, no. Not really.
Anchovies Part I
To some, they’re stinky little fish in a tin can. To others, they’re a deep hit of umami delight that honour the work of women.
Crunch Time: Insects Are Not Going to Save Us
”Insect farming mostly adds an inefficient and expensive layer to the food system we already have.”
Olives Reborn in the Salento
The diease that has already killed 11 million olive trees in the south of Puglia might be a blessing in disguise
Avocado Anxiety: how to choose what to eat
Louise Gray’s new book dives deep into the trade-offs that accompany every food choice we make, where nothing is as simple as it seems.
Palatable is not Potable
Why are some people tap-water hesitant and what do we expect water to taste like anyway?
Women Butchers
“I thought, okay, I’m eating meat, but am I supposed to be eating meat? Would I ever kill an animal myself? Would I ever butcher an animal?”
Leftovers Through History
Throughout history, people repurposed food leftovers and surplus and animal byproducts, challenging the modern perception of them as waste.
What is Chametz?
In the end, the meaning of chametz rests on history and tradition, and new traditions are possible.
Passover and Easter Revisited
God’s original instructions for Passover did not include one of the crucial items on the Seder plate.
Malta Besieged & Black-market Intrigues
Ordinarily, evading food rationing in times of war is considered a crime. There are times when it must be accepted as a necessity.
The Case for Folic Acid Fortification
The European Union has failed to implement one of the most effective public health interventions, one that the United Kingdom is now able to contemplate.
Anthony Mongiello, Inventor of the Stuffed Crust Pizza
Pizza Hut says it invented the stuffed crust pizza. A judge agreed. But Anthony Mongiello has US patent 4,661,361, no matter what the law says.
Prehistoric cooking pots
In many respects the diets of farmers and hunter-gatherers were more alike than different
The Invention of Baby Food
Commercial baby food was perhaps the original industrial food product, with all that that entails
Black Stoneflower: A unique Indian spice
A lichen, which has no taste of its own, contributes hugely to the flavour of many Indian dishes
A New Story for Maize Domestication
A close look at more than 1000 varieties of maize solves a mystery about how the crop evolved from its wild relatives.
Honey and Adulteration
Why is honey the world’s third most-adulterated food? Because adulteration delivers profits.
Fat, Sugar, Salt
Before he uncovered "Nutrition Science's Most Preposterous Result," David Johns had already dug into reports on salt and sugar.
Jewish Food in Rome
The Jewish Community of Rome arrived before the Christian Era and has never left. Its cuisine was created by hardship and ingenuity.
Small Dairy
If you’re lucky enough to live in the right place, you may be able to experience real, fresh, whole milk.
Food Riots in England
When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose ... except your life
Milk is not a Superfood
The first celebrity doctor's fad diet is still going strong today, 300 years later, and it has a lot to answer for.
Pomegranates & Artichokes
“It is about migrations: of ingredients, of recipes, of stories — but most importantly of the people who make them.”
Why Did the Artist Cross the Chicken?
Accumulating the genetic diversity of birds around the world in a population of truly cosmopolitan chickens
Feeding the People in Wartime Britain
Once upon a time, government made it possible for people to get a good meal at a reasonable price.
What is Wrong with Biofortification
Yields are generally lower than those of unfortified varieties and there’s little evidence it works. Biofortification is a waste of land and money.
Making Mr Song’s Cheese
The standard story is that ethnic Chinese don’t eat cheese or drink milk because they are lactose intolerant. They do, but it’s complicated
What Price Chicken Wings?
A chicken has two wings, two legs, two breasts; how does the market cope when all people want is wings?
Patrik Johansson, the Butter Viking
Patrik Johansson blends ancient knowledge and modern science to craft exquisite butter: hand-made, intensely flavourful and scarce.
Food Security in Egypt
The price of subsidised bread in Egypt has not changed in decades, though the bread shrunk. That remains a huge challenge to security, for the government and the people.
Fully Tested Tuna
One tin of tuna may contain 10 times more mercury than another, and there’s no way to tell them apart.
Biodiversity at Liberty
How farmers in Belgium and the south of France are taking advantage of new a EU regulation to become more sustainable
Feed Your Baby Like a Fascist
Mussolini made the trains run on time, but that doesn’t work for hungry infants
Some thoughts on markets and such
Speculators can actually drive prices higher, which was news to me
A Restaurant’s Reckoning
“The corollary to white innocence is white passivity, the feeling that what one’s ancestors did was so messed up that it couldn’t possibly make a difference where one eats a barbecue sandwich.”
How to be a good host and a good guest
Asking for a doctor’s note when your guest says they are allergic or intolerant is not an option
Feeding children well
There’s a huge difference between neophobia and picky eating, just as there is between food and nutrition. How best to undertake the tricky business of helping children to eat well.
In search of tomato gold
Organic growers and breeders in Europe are preparing to take advantage of their new freedom to sow biodiversity
Mothers and Milk
How can the simple and vital connection between mother and baby possibly be considered shameful?
Fad diets
The average American starts in on a fad diet four times a year. A quarter give up after two weeks. What are they hoping for?
Empire and grain
The ability to tax wheat moving through choke points gives empires their power, even today.
Grain and finance
Wheat was money, when a store was no more than a store of goods to be exchanged for wheat.
