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About Gastropod
The quarantines that protect our food – from bees to chocolate
Why do 75 billion bees get stopped in the dusty California desert every spring, and why does every single cacao…
The surprising history of cockles – and why they’re disappearing
You might have heard of Molly Malone, selling cockles from a wheelbarrow in Dublin, or of Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary,…
Dig for Victory: Can community gardens help feed cities?
You’ve seen the news: vegetable seeds are selling out. All that quarantine ennui has combined with anxiety about the gaps on…
Practices and plants: How to put carbon back in our soils
Our glaciers are melting, our forests are on fire, our harvests are increasingly decimated by either floods and drought. We…
Shared plates: How eating together makes us human
We love eating dinner together with friends and extended family, and we miss it! But why does sharing a meal…
South American tree bark and a malaria drug – the story of tonic
Just a few decades ago, gin and tonics were considered rather stodgy and boring, the drink of suburbanites at the…
The United States of McDonalds – how it happened
McDonald’s is mind-boggling. According to Adam Chandler, author of the recent book, Drive-Thru Dreams, it sells roughly 75 burgers every second and…
Invasive species are causing havoc – should we eat them?
Across America, feral pigs are on the rampage, wrecking fields of crops, hunting local wildlife to extinction, and even attacking…
Queen of Kiwi: The woman who changed America’s fruit bowl
The produce section of most American supermarkets in the 1950s was minimal to a fault, with only a few dozen…
The science and secrets behind ‘Kimchi’
This side dish of spicy, bubbly, funky pickled vegetables is such a staple in Korea that no meal is considered…
Green gold: The mysteries of olive oil
Olive oil is not what you think it is. According to Tom Mueller, author of Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World…
Foods we’ve eaten to extinction – and how to stop it happening again
Mammoth, silphium, passenger pigeon, ansault pear – what do all these have in common? We’ve eaten them to extinction. The…
Meet saffron, the world’s most expensive spice
It’s the poshest spice of all, often worth its weight in gold. But saffron also has a hidden history as…
What’s CRISPR – and what’s it doing in our food?
You’ve probably heard the hype: CRISPR will revolutionise biotech, cure disease, resurrect extinct species, and even create new-and-(not-so)-improved humans. But what is CRISPR—and what’s it…
The Mafia’s lemon roots and other facts – Gastropod turns five
We launched Gastropod in September 2014, which means we’re turning five this month, and that’s approximately 100 in podcast years….
The saucy tale of how pasta came to be
It’s one of food’s most beautiful relationships: pasta and sauce. But which came first? We bring you the saucy —…