Gastropod

Gastropod


Latest Episodes

Eat This, Not That: The Surprising Science of Personalized Nutrition (encore)
March 26, 2024

This episode, we've got the exclusive on the preliminary results of the world's largest personalized nutrition experiment. Genetic epidemiologist Tim Spector launched the study, called PREDICT, to answer a simple but important question: do we each respond

Bam! How Did Cajun Flavor Take Over the World?
March 19, 2024

If "Cajun-style" only makes you think of spicy chicken sandwiches and popcorn shrimp, you need to join us in the Big Easy this episode, to meet therealCajun flavor. Cajun cuisine and its close cousin, Creole, were born out of the unique landscape of the

Anything's Pastable (Guest Episode)
March 12, 2024

After Dans pasta shape, cascatelli, was launched, people everywhere were cooking with it and sending him photos of what they were making. As exciting as that was, he was disappointed that most folks were only making a handful of well-worn dishes with thi

Can You Patent a Pizza?
March 05, 2024

Close your eyes and imagine this: a world without stuffed crust pizza. We know!but that was the dismal state of the Italian flatbread scene before 1985, when Anthony Mongiello, aka The Big Cheese, came up with an innovation that loaded even more cheese o

Super Fry: The Fight for the Golden Frite (encore)
February 27, 2024

Shoestring, waffle, curly, or thick-cut: however you slice it, nearly everyone loves a deep-fried, golden brown piece of potato. But that's where the agreement ends and the battles begin. While Americans call their fries "French," Belgians claim that they

Dining at the (Other) Top of the World: Hunger, Fruitcake, and the Race to Reach the South Pole
February 20, 2024

In contrast to the abundance of the Arctic, in Antarctica, "once you leave the coast, you're basically heading to the moon." Jason Anthony, who spent several summers on the seventh continent, told us that in this desert of ice and stone (where the largest

Dining at the Top of the World: Arctic Adaptation, Abundance, and...Ice Cream
February 06, 2024

You may feel like it's cold where you live, but in the Arctic, the average temperature is well below freezing all year round. In winter, it's also pitch black for weeks on endnot an ideal environment for growing food. Still, for thousands of years, peopl

Cork Dork: Inside the Weird World of Wine Appreciation (encore)
January 23, 2024

Theres the faintest soupon of asparagus and just a flutter of Edam cheese, says Paul Giamatti in the movieSideways. Believe it or not, he's describing pinot noir, not quiche. The world of sommeliers, wine lists, and tasting notes is filled with this

It's Tea Time: Pirates, Polyphenols, and a Proper Cuppa (encore)
January 09, 2024

This week, Gastropod tells the story of two countries and their shared obsession with a plant:Camellia sinensis, otherwise known as the tea bush. The Chinese domesticated tea over thousands of years, but they lost their near monopoly on international tra

The Case of the Confusing Bitter Beverages: Vermouth, Amaro, Aperitivos, and Other Botanical Schnapps
December 19, 2023

When it comes to booze, its fun to be bitter: an Aperol spritz has been the drink of summer for about five years, vermouth and soda wasapparentlythe "hot girl" drink of 2023, and amaro is having "a major moment." Bitter botanical beverages are everywher