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Do sugar taxes work? View from the USA (part 1)
Public health researchers agree: The evidence is clear that people consume way too much sugar, that sugar contributes to weight…
Guts and glory: The science of eating
What does it mean when your stomach rumbles? How do our bodies extract nutrients and vitamins from food? Does what…
Pudding Off: The history and science of the British pud
Four bakers, one evening, and one challenge: Who can steam the best spotted dick? On this week’s action-packed episode, Tom Gilliford, Selasi…
Pick a pawpaw: America’s forgotten fruit
In 1916, agricultural experts voted the pawpaw the American fruit most likely to succeed, ahead of blueberries and cranberries. But…
Potatoes on Mars: What could we farm in space?
Today, a half century after Neil Armstrong took one small step onto the surface of the Moon, there are still…
Can what you eat stop Alzheimers?
Every three seconds, someone in the world develops Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a devastating disease: Millions of people, as well as…
The slave who taught Jack Daniels to make whiskey
Back in 1866, Jack Daniel’s became the first registered distillery in the United States; today, it’s the top-selling American whiskey…
How seeds sowed the path for civilisation
When seeds first evolved, hundreds of millions of years ago, they not only revolutionised the plant world, but they also…
Curry chronicles – from nowhere but eaten everywhere
Curry is, supposedly, Indian. But there is no such word in any of the country’s many official languages—and no Indian…
Tooth truth: Braces, cavities, and the Paleo Diet
Brush, floss, and forget: chances are, you only think about your teeth when they cause you trouble. But teeth have…
How the carrot became orange, and other stories
Thousands of years ago, in what’s now Afghanistan, people unearthed the tangled, gnarled roots of Queen Anne’s Lace — a…
The history of ‘eating to win’
Ancient Greek Olympians swore by beans to give them a competitive edge. Japanese sumo wrestlers rely on a protein-rich soup…
Sweet and low calories: The story of artificial sweeteners
For decades, ads for treats sweetened with substances like Sweet’N Low, NutraSweet, and Splenda have promised what seems like a…
Sourdough secrets – where did it come from?
Today, you can find a huge variety of breads on supermarket shelves, only a few of which are called “sourdough.”…