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.
Dec 04, 2023•26 min
Eat This Podcast
Using food to explore all manner of topics, from agriculture to zoology. Eat This Podcast 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.
Episodes
Honey and Adulteration
Why is honey the world’s third most-adulterated food? Because adulteration delivers profits.
Nov 13, 2023•23 min
Fat, Sugar, Salt
Before he uncovered "Nutrition Science's Most Preposterous Result," David Johns had already dug into reports on salt and sugar.
Oct 30, 2023•27 min
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.
Oct 16, 2023•29 min
Small Dairy
If you’re lucky enough to live in the right place, you may be able to experience real, fresh, whole milk.
Oct 02, 2023•22 min
Food Riots in England
When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose ... except your life
Sep 18, 2023•31 min
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.
Sep 04, 2023•38 min
Pomegranates & Artichokes
“It is about migrations: of ingredients, of recipes, of stories — but most importantly of the people who make them.”
Jun 05, 2023•32 min
Why Did the Artist Cross the Chicken?
Accumulating the genetic diversity of birds around the world in a population of truly cosmopolitan chickens
May 22, 2023•28 min
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.
May 08, 2023•25 min
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.
Apr 24, 2023•24 min
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
Apr 10, 2023•26 min
What Price Chicken Wings?
A chicken has two wings, two legs, two breasts; how does the market cope when all people want is wings?
Mar 27, 2023•22 min
Patrik Johansson, the Butter Viking
Patrik Johansson blends ancient knowledge and modern science to craft exquisite butter: hand-made, intensely flavourful and scarce.
Mar 13, 2023•23 min
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.
Feb 06, 2023•29 min
Fully Tested Tuna
One tin of tuna may contain 10 times more mercury than another, and there’s no way to tell them apart.
Jan 23, 2023•20 min
Biodiversity at Liberty
How farmers in Belgium and the south of France are taking advantage of new a EU regulation to become more sustainable
Jan 09, 2023•25 min
Feed Your Baby Like a Fascist
Mussolini made the trains run on time, but that doesn’t work for hungry infants
Dec 24, 2022•16 min
Some thoughts on markets and such
Speculators can actually drive prices higher, which was news to me
Dec 12, 2022•24 min
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.”
Nov 28, 2022•35 min
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
Nov 14, 2022•24 min
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.
Oct 31, 2022•25 min
In search of tomato gold
Organic growers and breeders in Europe are preparing to take advantage of their new freedom to sow biodiversity
Oct 17, 2022•20 min
Mothers and Milk
How can the simple and vital connection between mother and baby possibly be considered shameful?
Oct 03, 2022•33 min
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?
Sep 20, 2022•27 min
Empire and grain
The ability to tax wheat moving through choke points gives empires their power, even today.
Jul 04, 2022•32 min
Grain and finance
Wheat was money, when a store was no more than a store of goods to be exchanged for wheat.
Jun 27, 2022•29 min
Grain and transport
Moving wheat from where it grows to where it is eaten shaped the world
Jun 20, 2022•30 min
Persephone’s secret
Why did the participants in the Eleusinian Mysteries leave no trace of what it was about?
Jun 13, 2022•8 min
Peanuts, Senegal and Slavery
France abolished slavery in 1815 but the practice continued long after that in its west African enclaves
May 16, 2022•19 min
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