Food Non-Fiction

#73 Ignacio Nicknamed Nacho Oct 21, 2020

This Food Non-Fiction episode tells the incredible true story of nachos. This snack was created by and named after Ignacio Anaya who's nickname was Nacho.

#72 When Impossible Burgers Became Possible Apr 14, 2020

This Food Non-Fiction episode tells the incredible true story of meat alternatives. We talk about the early history of meat alternatives and then we talk to the Impossible Foods team to understand how this modern meat alternative was created.

#71 Pass the Tofurky May 20, 2019

This is an in-depth interview with the wonderful person who created Tofurky. Seth Tibbott founded Turtle Island Foods which is still a family owned company today.

#70 Craft Beer Beginnings Dec 24, 2018

This is the story of the beginnings of craft beer. We tell you how this "craft beer" concept emerged. In this episode, we interviewed John Holl - a beer expert and journalist, Renee DeLuca - the daughter of the craft beer pioneer Jack McAuliffe, and professor Michael Lewis who has taught brewing for decades.

#69 The Oreo Story Aug 24, 2018

This is the story of where Oreo came from, how it got its name, and who designed the cookie.

#68 Kombucha: The Tea of Immortality Jun 18, 2018

Kombucha has been referred to as the tea of immortality. So where did it come from and what are the actual health benefits? In this episode, we talk to the experts to learn about the history and the process of brewing kombucha.

#67 Nutella Since Napoleon Dec 31, 2017

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about the origins of Nutella - starting from when cocoa met hazelnut!

#66 The Monastery Breweries Nov 01, 2017

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk to one of the authors of Trappist Beer Travels. Caroline Wallace and her two co-authors visited the 11 Trappist monastery breweries, learning the stories and history behind each of these breweries.

Here is a link to the book website for Trappist Beer Travels

#65 And This Led to Corn Flakes Jul 31, 2017

Lots of people know the story of how cornflakes were created - this is the story of why.

Thank You To Our Interviewee:

Dr. Brian Wilson

Thank You To Looperman Artists:

Melody 126 Beats by Purge Ambellient by Danke Edm pluck for intro by capostipite Edm synth for verse by capostipite

#64 How Fondue Became Popular Jul 02, 2017

This is the origin story of fondue and how it became a popular dish.

Thank You To Our Interviewee:

Belinda Hulin

Thank You To Looperman Artists:

Poppy Acoustic (parts 1, 2, and 3) by BradoSanz Edm pluck_for_intro by capostipite EDM Trap Perc Melody by 7venth12

#63 Tony the Tiger May 22, 2017

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is about the famous cereal mascot - Tony the Tiger.

Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Apollo by SANTIAGOO

#62 - The Palace Kitchen Mar 06, 2017

In this Food Non-Fiction episode, we talk to Peter Brears about what it was like to work in King Henry VIII's kitchen.

Thank you to our interviewee:

Peter Brears - author of "Cooking & Dining in Tudor & Early Stuart England"

Thank you to Looperman artists:

Bright Absurdity - Hip-hop Piano by JulietStarling xxiii Sampled Medieval Italian Acoustic Guitar by Julietstarling Artisticstrings HD Part 1 by Jawadalblooshi Dusted Jazz Loop by LeuNatic Brass - 10 - 130 Bpm by SoleilxLune AV Melody Loop 4 by Angelicvibes

#61 - Turnspit Dogs Jan 29, 2017

This is the incredible true story of Turnspit Dogs.

The turnspit dog is an extinct breed of dog. This breed was used in kitchens to turn roasting spits back when roasting was done over an open fire, rather than in an oven. The earliest known reference to to this breed is in a book called "De Canibus Britannicis" by Dr. Caius. In this book, which was published in 1570, turnspit dogs were described as a kitchen service dog.

Turnspit dogs were put into wooden wheels (that looked like giant hamster wheels), and made to run inside the wheel, which turned a chain, which turned the spit.

Thank You to Our Interviewee:

Ciara Farrell from The Kennel Club

Thank You to this Looperman Artist for the Music:

Melody by Slice0fCake

#60 The Carrot Myth Dec 01, 2016

Did your parents ever tell you that carrots improve your night vision? Have you ever heard that this is a myth? So what is the real story?

Thank You to Our Interviewee:

Maya Hirschman from The Secrets of Radar Museum

Thank You to This Looperman Artist for the Music:

Piano Loop Will-Power 94 by designedimpression

Special Thanks to Public Service Broadcasting for the Music:

Visit their site!

#59 Trick Or Treat! Oct 31, 2016

This episode explores the history of Halloween and the vague beginnings of trick or treating!

Thank You To Our Interviewee:

Professor Nick Rogers

Thank You To Looperman Artists for the Music:

Melody by Slice0fCake Father Grimlin - Temperament Strings by JulietStarling Dark Creepy Piano by Zaqsi

#58 All Your Favorite Chocolates Oct 12, 2016

Inspired by the book, "Chocolate Wars", by Deborah Cadbury, today we're telling you the incredible true story of how how the biggest chocolate companies in the world fought for our tummies and tastebuds through innovation after innovation that eventually turned cocoa products from a drink, to an edible chocolate, to a milk chocolate powder, and finally, to our beloved milk chocolate bar.

In the 1860s/70s cadbury experimented with and successfully created the first mass-manufactured chocolate bar. Milk chocolate bars did not yet exist at this time, so it would have been a plain dark chocolate bar.

This was a big breakthrough. The fact that these bars could be mass-produced meant that they could be cheaper...more affordable, so more people could buy it and try it.

By the 1890s, everyone in Britain was buying cocoa products - it was no longer just an exotic treat for the rich. In the decade from 1890 to 1900, the amount of cocoa consumed in Britain was doubled.

Over in Switzerland, around the same time that Cadbury had managed to mass-produce their plain chocolate bar, Daniel Peter was working on making the world’s first milk chocolate powder.

We know that Daniel Peter happened to be neighbors with Henri Nestlé of Nestle fame. And according to one story, Daniel had a baby daughter, named Rose, who wouldn’t take breast milk. So he asked his neighbor Henri for help, because he had just started selling a powdered milk developed for babies.

So baby Rose was saved, because she could drink Nestlé’s powdered milk. At the same time her father, Daniel, got the idea to use the powdered milk to create a milk chocolate powder, which of course did not exist at the time. Although, people were already drinking cocoa powder with milk, so they would have been familiar with the flavor.

In 1875, Daniel su cceeded in making the world’s first milk chocolate powder - it was called “Chocolats au Lait Gala Peter”. It was a success.

He thought about making his drink into a chocolate bar...a milk chocolate bar. After years of working to create a milk chocolate bar, Daniel finally created one he could sell - he called it “Gala Peter”. The year was 1886.

Elsewhere in Switzerland, at around the same time, another important chocolate innovation was happening.

Rodolphe Lindt, of Lindt chocolate fame, created a much smoother chocolate after pressing the beans for longer than the norm. He experimented with different temperatures and timings to get as much cocoa butter folded into his mix as possible. This created a delicious melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. (Even today Lindt chocolates are known to be silky smooth.)

He invented a machine called “a conch” because it looked like a conch shell. Chocolate bars used to be hard and gritty, but now they could be softer and smoother.

So what we’re seeing at this time is more and more people getting into the business of cocoa, and working hard and innovating to get ahead.

Now, back in Britain, Cadbury’s innovations made them very successful. As Quakers, George and Richard Cadbury wanted to use their money to create an ideal place for their employees to work.

In 1878, they bought the idyllic land for their model factory that would be surrounded by nature. The factory was a manufacturing marvel. It was built to be one-storey tall, so that goods would not have to go up and down stairs.

And they built cottages and gardens around it with spaces to play sports or relax. They called the model Town Bournville, and Bournville would be the inspiration for model towns to come. Including, the town of Hershey, which we’ve done an episode on.

At around this time in the 1870s, young Milton Hershey was still in Philadelphia trying to make his candy shop successful.

In England at that time the Quaker-led chocolate companies dominated. The 3 Quaker companies, Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree were all powerhouses. But they were all being threatened by European competition. You can imagine it must have been hard to compete with Lindt’s smooth chocolate and Peter’s milk chocolate coming out of Switzerland. So the Quaker firms discussed pricing and advertising with one another, essentially working together not to destroy each other.

Cadbury had to figure out how to make a product that could compete with Swiss chocolate. After a trip to Switzerland and much experimentation, George Jr. created a chocolate bar you may have heard of - it was Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, and it launched way back in 1905. That means Dairy Milk has been around for over one hundred years.

The first world war really leveled out the chocolate playing field. The big British Quaker companies, including Cadbury, had to withdraw their best products.

The Swiss, including Nestle, were very impacted because their home market was small and they had relied on selling across Europe and abroad, but exporting became dangerous. The solution was to borrow a ton of money and invest in companies overseas.

In America, Hershey was not affected by the first world war. And soon after the war, another chocolate contender surfaced in America alongside Hershey. It was Mars, which used to be called the Mar-O-Bar Company.

The countline that was created was the Milky Way which launched in 1924 and made Frank Mars’s Mar-O-Bar Company a success. Frank Mars and his son Forrest Mars built a new factory and went on to launch Snickers and 3 Musketeers bars. In 1933, the father and son had a fight over how to run the business.

After WWI, cadbury had to worry about competition from foreign companies like Nestle again. They had become more efficient after experiencing war-time rationing, and they knew they needed to use their efficiency to make and sell products more cheaply.

They also knew that they needed to make fewer types of chocolate and focus on mass producing key products.

Soon after WWI they launched Flake (1920), Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bar (1926) which I love, and the original cream-filled chocolate egg (1923) which would eventually become today’s iconic Cadbury Creme Egg (1963).

Like Cadbury, the other chocolate companies rolled out fantastic new chocolate bars in the post-WW1 period. In the 1930s Forrest Mars came out with Maltesers. Then Rowntree came out with tons of innovations like - Chocolate Crisp (which was eventually named Kit Kat), and also Aero, and Smarties.

Eventually, Cadbury went public

And then Cadbury was taken over by Kraft, which I just learned is now called Mondelez International

Thank You to Our Interviewee:

Deborah Cadbury

Thank You to Looperman Artists:

Guitars Unlimited - Reaching Home 1 by MINOR2GO Melody 126 Beats by Purge

#57 What Came First - the Cadbury or the Egg Sep 01, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about the beginning of Cadbury. We go right back to a time before Cadbury even existed.

Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music:

happily ever after strings perfect for movie score by nbeats26 oboe 65 70 bpm by soleilxlune Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems

For more information on the topic, we recommend this book:

"Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers" by Deborah Cadbury

#56 Waffle Frolic Aug 10, 2016

This Food Non-Fiction episode is about waffles! We talk about the beginning of waffles and the rise of waffles.

Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Guitars Unlimited - Reaching Home 1 by MINOR2GO

Guitars Unlimited - Reaching Home 2 by MINOR2GO

happily ever after strings perfect for movie score by nbeats26

#55 The Sriracha Story Jul 26, 2016

This is the story of the extremely popular and iconic Huy Fong Foods hot sauce - Sriracha. The company, Huy Fong Foods, is an American success story. The founder, David Tran, left Vietnam in 1979 and ended up in the U.S., along with many of his fellow refugees. He had been part of the Chinese minority in Vietnam, and because of his Chinese heritage, he had been pressured to leave after the Vietnam War.

David Tran missed the taste of the hot sauces from Vietnam, and also needed to make money, so he started the company, Huy Fong Foods, in 1980 in California. The company was named after the freighter that he took to leave Vietnam. It was named "Huey Fong". Huy Fong Foods has never spent money on advertising, but it continues to grow year after year. They make Sriracha from fresh red Jalapeno peppers, which comes from Underwood Ranches - their sole supplier. The peppers are delivered within hours of harvesting.

It's believed that the original Sriracha sauce was created by a woman named Thanom Chakkapak from a coastal town in Thailand called Si Racha. The original sauce is still being produced, and it is called "Sriraja Panich". It is sweeter and runnier than the Huy Fong Foods brand Sriracha that we know so well.

Thank You to Our Interviewees:

Griffin Hammond

Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez

Craig Underwood

Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music:

relaxed chillout strings by rasputin1963

within reach piano by designedimpression

DNB EXPLOSION Piano by frogdude34

BONUS Ep - Interview with Kyleena Jul 15, 2016

Hey Food Buffs - This one is a bonus episode. Fakhri has a pizza place she loves - it's called Secret Stash - and she collected an interview with the owner, Kyleena Falzone.

Thank You To Our Interviewee:

Kyleena Falzone of Secret Stash

#54 Vending Machines - Past to Present Jun 23, 2016

This episode is about vending machines. The first reference to a vending machine is from the 1st century AD in Egypt. The reference is in a book called “Pneumatika”, written by Hero of Alexandria. In it, there is a detailed description and a picture of a device, which dispensed water when you put in a five-drachma coin.

This was invented for dispensing equal amounts of sacrificial water at Egyptian temples. This was a source of money for the Egyptian temples, and it also made sure everyone got the same amount of holy water.

Here is how it worked: Imagine a teeter totter. When a coin was dropped into the holy water dispenser, it fell on one end of the teeter totter, causing the other end to lift up, also opening a little exit which let the holy water out. As the teeter totter moved down on the side with the coin, the coin eventually fell off. Once the coin fell, the teeter totter reset and the water exit closed.

Unfortunately, one of these devices has never been found, so we don’t know if this was just a design concept or if it was actually used. In fact, we’re not even sure who invented it.

It’s possible that the author of the book, Hero of Alexandria, invented it. It’s also possible that one of his predecessors, Ctesibius, invented it.

After that, it wasn’t until the 1600s that more vending machines were introduced to the world. Around 1615, you could get tobacco from coin operated devices in English taverns and inns.

Here’s how the tobacco device worked: When you put your coin in, it pressed a trigger that popped open the lid.

These were very crude vending machines. After each use, you had to manually close it again. And you also had to watch to make sure people didn’t take everything in the box, because when the lid was open, you could just take all the tobacco.

The next version of vending machines also appeared in England. Richard Carlile was a publisher and a bookseller who believed in freedom of the press. He had been arrested for selling political texts, so in 1822 he created a book vending machine, hoping to avoid more legal charges that way - because it would be the machine selling the books, not him. Anyhow, the courts did not agree with that logic, and he was still held responsible for selling the books.

Moving on to 1857, we get the first patent for a fully automatic vending machine. It was called “A Self Acting Machine for the Delivery of Postage and Receipt Stamps”. That didn’t take off either.

Finally, in England, 1883, we get a more successful vending machine. That year, Percival Everitt got his patent for a vending machine which dispensed postcards. With that vending machine, people could finally buy postcards when shops were closed.

In 1888, the Adams Gum Company installed vending machines on the platforms of rail stations in New York. These vending machines were designed to sell Tutti-Frutti gum, and inspired the creation of more vending machines that sold small snacks like candy and peanuts.

Gum was a great product to sell because it was cheap, it lasted a long time, and they came with no health concerns. Gum can also take a good amount of abuse. You can drop it without it breaking it, and it doesn’t melt when it gets hot out - the way chocolate bars do - so quality control was not an issue.

In 1911, many of the big players in the vending machine business started to merge together to become the Autosales Gum and Chocolate Company. This company combined the major players in the chewing gum business, together holding 250 names and brands, and the major players in the vending machine making business, together controlling many patents and wide distribution.

The idea behind the Autosales Gum and Chocolate Company was that their vending machines would sell small versions of the goods they wanted people to buy over the counter. The vending machines were a way to market the goods.

But vending machines still had a long way to go before becoming the $43 billion industry it is today. The vending machine industry has been plagued with bad behaviour since the start.

People abuse the machines. People hit vending machines when they don’t get their purchased item, they plug the coin slots with random objects for fun, drunk people pour beer into the coin slot, and people also use other objects to mimic coins - these mimics are called “slugs”.

Slugs were a really big problem, especially in the early 1900s when vending machines were not great at identifying fake coins. In the 1940s vending machines improved their system for checking for slugs. Coins went through multiple tests before they were accepted by the machines. First, the vending machines would test the size of the coin. Then they tested for iron and steel with a magnet - if the coin was magnetic, it would be returned. Then the coin was tested for the proper weight. Then the coin was tested with metallurgy to check for the right composition (for example foreign currency was sometimes used and this test would uncover that). Real coins passed these 4 tests within a fraction of a second.

Vending machines really took off in the post-WWII period. They were a convenient way to feed the workers in the factories. Factories also earned commission from vending machine sales.

Over time, the technology became more sophisticated. Today, machines are great at detecting fake money, operators can monitor the machines remotely, sensors and machine-learning reduce the energy usage by turning off things like the lighting when there are no customers, and machines can take credit cards.

The next step for the vending machine industry is to make vending machines a destination, rather than a last resort. Touch screen video displays and other interactive features are being added that are making vending machines much more fun.

Thank you to our Interviewees:

Tim Sanford - Editor-in-Chief of Vending Times

Dr. Michael Kasavana - National Automatic Merchandising Association Endowed Professor

Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music:

happily ever after strings perfect for movie score by nbeats26

Whats Goin Down by rasputin1963

Strings Universal - RIP Old Friend by MINOR2GO

Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems

#53 How Jell-O Became Popular Jun 09, 2016

This episode tells the story of Jell-O from when it was first introduced in 1897. Because gelatin desserts like Jell-O used to be a food that only wealthy families could afford to eat, (it took a long time to prepare) people were unfamiliar with the product and it was hard to sell. It took some great marketing to get this product off the ground.

Special Thanks to Interviewee:

Lynne Belluscio and the Jell-O Gallery Museum

Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music:

relaxed chillout strings by rasputin1963

happily ever after strings perfect for movie score by nbeats26

#52 The Price of Vanilla May 20, 2016

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is about vanilla! We explain the causes behind the rise and fall of the price of vanilla. It is a product that has very erratic cycles of prices skyrocketing then crashing, skyrocketing then crashing. The supply never seems to match the demands. We discuss a possible solution to this - fair trade.

Special Thanks to Our Interviewees:

Felix Buccellato of Custom Essence

Richard J. Brownell

We highly recommend this book about vanilla:

"Vanilla Orchids: Natural History and Cultivation" by Ken Cameron

Thank You to Truekey for the Music, as well as Looperman Artists:

Memories Acoustic 1 by BradoSanz

chillwave bass and synth by Djpuzzle

Going Up by LarsM

#51 The Original Chocolate Chip Recipe May 11, 2016

This episode is about the creation of the original chocolate chip cookie recipe by Ruth Wakefield in 1938. Ruth, along with her husband, was the owner of the famous Toll House Inn.

As promised in the episode, here are 2 links to the original chocolate chip cookie recipe:

Easier to read!

With pictures!

Thank you to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Apollo by SANTIAGOO Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems Whats Goin Down by rasputin1963

#50 Hershey, Pennsylvania Apr 25, 2016

We talk to the Hershey community archivist, Pam Whitenack and her colleagues about what it is really like to live in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Hershey is a model community that was built by Milton Hershey - the founder of The Hershey Company. It was built as a place for The Hershey Company employees to live. Unlike other factory towns, it was built with care and love, with great transportation, entertainment, and aesthetics.

Special Thanks to Our Interviewees:

Pam Whitenack and Anthony Haubert of the Hershey Community Archives

Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Poppy Acoustic by BradoSanz Poppy Acoustic 2 by BradoSanz Poppy Acoustic 3 by BradoSanz Poppy Acoustic 4 by BradoSanz Bright Absurdity Hip-hop Piano by JulietStarling 1950s Rock-N-Roll Piano Riff by rasputin1963 Going Up by LarsM Nights Strings HD by jawadalblooshi FX - 34 - 80 Bpm by SoleilxLune

#49 Temple Grandin and The Slaughterhouse Revolution Apr 13, 2016

This is a very special Food Non-Fiction podcast episode. We had the immense pleasure of interviewing one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the Heroes category of 2010. Her name is Temple Grandin. She is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University. In North America, over half the cattle are handled in the humane systems designed by Dr. Grandin.

Thank You to Our Esteemed Guests:

Temple Grandin

Christopher Monger

Mark Deesing

Special Thanks to:

David Porter and Rachel Winks of Cabi.org for all your help.

Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Memories Acoustic 1 by BradoSanz

Ambellient by Danke

Primitive Piano by Danke

Nasty Patterns 4 by flsouto

Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems

Whats Goin Down by rasputin1963

Concert Cello - Heaven by kickklee

Piano Quality Cajsa by MINOR2GO

SynCato by DesignedImpression

Credit to Rosalie Winard for the photos of Temple Grandin

#48 The Poison Squad Apr 07, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell the incredible true story of The Poison Squad.

Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music:

SynCato by DesignedImpression 1950s Rock N Roll Piano Riff by rasputin1963 Food non-fiction 1 & 2 Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems

Special thanks to the musician, truekey, for writing music for Food Non-Fiction: Soundcloud Twitter: @truekeymusic

#47 The Life of Heinz Mar 26, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell the incredible true story of Henry John Heinz - the founder of the H.J. Heinz Company and the maker of everybody's favorite ketchup.

Special Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Liar Piano - 1 of 5 Sounds by RicoBeatz Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems Bright Absurdity - Hip-hop Piano by JulietStarling Liar Guitar FLEX - 4 of 5 Sounds by RicoBeatz Piano Quality - Love Confession 2 by MINOR2GO Piano Quality - Love Confession 1 by MINOR2GO

If you'd like to know more about this topic, we strongly recommend the book "H.J. Heinz: A Biography" by Quentin R. Skrabec - we relied heavily on this source for this episode.

#46 Ketchup Before Tomatoes Mar 18, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell the incredible true story of ketchup.

Thank you to this Looperman Artist for the Music:

1950s Rock N Roll Piano Riff by rasputin1963

Special thanks to the musician, truekey, for writing music for Food Non-Fiction:

Soundcloud

Twitter: @truekeymusic

#45 Tupperware Parties Mar 10, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction episode, we tell the incredible true story of the Tupperware Party. Every few seconds, someone somewhere in the world is hosting a Tupperware Party. In a world where everything is sold online, Tupperware sells their product through Tupperware Parties. If you haven't attended a Tupperware party, it's unlikely that you own actual Tupperware brand Tupperware. That's right - Tupperware is a brand. It's one of those brands, like Frisbee and Kleenex, with a name that has become synonymous with the product.

If Tupperware Parties didn't exist, it's possible that tupperware would not exist. And without tupperware, we might still be covering our dishes in shower caps. When tupperware first hit the market, it was a huge dud. Even with tons of marketing, the inventor, Earl Tupper, could not increase sales. However, while no one was buying tupperware from stores, people were buying tupperware from independent sales people hosting parties, utilizing the "party plan" sales method. This is because back when people were not familiar with tupperware, it had to be demonstrated for people to recognize what a great product it was.

Brownie Wise was a superstar at selling tupperware through Tupperware Parties. Earl Tupper hired her to create a sales force and she created a huge and loyal network of salespeople.

Special Thanks To Our Interviewee:

Caroline Schoofs

Thank You To Looperman Artists for the Music:

Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems

Bright Absurdity - Hip-hop Piano by JulietStarling

#44 California Roll Creators Feb 25, 2016

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode investigates the question - who created the California Roll?

Thank You to Our Interviewees:

Hidekazu Tojo

Trevor Corson

David Kamp

Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Drum Loop Republic by attackyak

Japanese Vibes Rhodes Only by raphael29

edm pluck for intro by capostipite

Dusted Jazz Loop by LeuNatic

Poppy Acoustic 2 by BradoSanz

Poppy Acoustic 3 by BradoSanz

#43 Packing Food For A Hobbit Feb 17, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction episode, we go nerdy and cover a paper titled "Simply Walking into Mordor: How Much Lembas Would the Fellowship Have Needed?" by Skye Rosetti and Krisho Manaharan.

The paper calculates how many pieces of lembas (elvish waybread) the Fellowship of the Ring would have had to pack for the journey from Rivendell to Mordor.

Special Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music:

Concert Cello - Heaven by kickklee Apollo by SANTIAGOO Amazing Strings by BakoBone

#42 Noodles For The Hungry Feb 11, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell the rollercoaster story of the birth of instant noodles. On March 5, 1910, Momofuku Ando was born in Taiwan and raised by his grandparents. This was during the 50 years of Japanese rule that started after Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895.

He was a natural entrepreneur and started a clothing business when he was only 22. With his success, he moved to Japan the next year and expanded his clothing company while still attending university.

But during WWII, he lost everything when Osaka was firebombed by American forces. It was a tragedy that informed his world-view. He saw the hungry all around him. In a 1988 interview, he said, “the world is peaceful only when everyone has enough to eat. Everything starts with food.”

With his strong respect for food, he made his first attempt at entering the food industry by producing salt and nutritional products but it was too competitive. Instead, he worked as chair of a credit union until it went bankrupt in 1957.

He was 47 that year, and had once again lost his livelihood. But Ando was not one to give up. He saw every failure as muscle added to his body. He thought once more about food and remembered a day when he had seen people waiting in a long line for a bowl of noodles.

He thought that it would be wonderful if the hungry could have a bowl of warm noodles whenever they needed it. So, he began searching for a way to make instant noodles.

To prepare, he built a shed in his backyard that was to be his makeshift lab for creating instant noodles. He bought a used noodle making machine, a chinese wok, some flour and cooking oil.

He set his criteria right from the start. His noodles had to be tasty, nonperishable and ready in less than 3 minutes. He knew he had to figure out two things to create instant noodles - first, he had to find a way to remove all moisture from the noodles, in order to make them nonperishable. Second, he had to find a way to revive the noodles by putting the moisture back in.

He worked for a year in his backyard shed until he finally got the creative insight that he needed. This happened while he watched his wife making vegetable tempura. Ando once said that, “Perspiration might lead to inspiration, but only if you set clear goals”. He set clear goals, he worked hard, and he got the inspiration he needed. When Ando watched that tempura batter enter the frying oil, he recognized two important things. One was that the oil pushed the water out of the batter. Two was that water exiting the batter created little pores in the it. So dipping noodles in hot oil would remove all the water from the noodles, making the noodles nonperishable AND create pores in the noodles, so that water could re-enter the them and moisten them up again. The year was 1958 and Ando had created the world's first instant noodles.

Unfortunately, when Ando approached wholesalers, they told him it was too expensive for consumers, because at the time, it cost 6 times as much as a serving of fresh noodles. So, undaunted, he took matters into his own hands and organized tastings around the city

The tastings were successful and within a year, he had a factory and was producing 100,000 packs of instant noodles a day.

Right from the very first packs of instant noodles, Ando had planned to go international. He knew he was going to sell his product in the west. That’s why the very first flavor of instant noodles was flavored like Chicken Noodle Soup.

Not soy sauce flavored, but chicken noodle soup flavored, because Ando knew that people in the west might find soy sauce flavoring too foreign.

He famously said “Let them eat it with forks!" showing that he wanted to spread his product to the west and was going to accommodate western norms.

In 1966, Ando traveled to Los Angeles to promote his product. According to an article by Karen Leibowitz, he saw the supermarket executives he was meeting with reuse their styrofoam coffee cups to hold instant noodles.

At this point, he already knew that making portable bowls was the next step to improving the convenience of instant noodles, and now he knew that the bowls should actually be shaped like cups!

Cups would be the trendy new way to eat noodles. Bowls were outdated. Cups you could carry around with one hand without soup spilling!

Ando chose young adults as his target market. In order to reach his target market, he again used tasting events. This time he set up tasting events in Ginza, the fashion district in Japan. It was a successful tactic and cup noodles took off.

Ando’s cup noodles were brilliantly designed. Because manufacturing equipment at the time lacked the finesse to evenly wedge the noodles into the cups, he had the machines put the cups over the noodles instead.

We should also note that the noodles went in the mid portion of the cups, so they did not sit at the bottom. Having noodles in the mid portion of the cups made them more structurally sound, a great asset for shipping. As well, the noodles had room to expand on both sides when hot water was poured in.

Ando’s innovations took off. By 1973, Nissin had opened its first factory in the US. Today, Nissin continues to innovate. Ando had wanted his product to feed the masses - he never intended his noodles to be considered cheap, unsubstantial food. So these days, his company is working on adding nutrients to the centre layer of their noodles.

Nissin has created a line of healthier noodles called Raoh that are not fried. These noodles consist of 3 layers of different textures to mimic fresh noodles - the outer layers are silky and the inner layer is chewy. They’ve achieved these different textures by changing the levels of gliadin and glutenin that combine to form the gluten in the noodles. The chewy center layer is where they are working on adding nutrients.

Special Thanks to Looperman Artists for the music!

Ambellient by Danke Piano Quality Cajsa by MINOR2GO Piano Quality Make A Wish 2 by MINOR2GO Poppy Acoustic 2 by BradoSanz Poppy Acoustic 4 by BradoSanz

#41 How An Accountant Created Bubble Gum Feb 04, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell you how the accountant, Walter Diemer, ended up creating the world's first commercially available bubble gum. Walter worked for the Frank H. Fleer Corporation founded by Frank H. Fleer who had invented the world's first (not commercially available) bubble gum. After Frank died, his son in law, Gilbert Mustin, eventually took over the company. There are few sources on how Walter became involved with making bubble gum, but according to a book titled, "It Happened In Philadelphia", Mustin had set up a lab for working on a gum base. This lab happened to be near Walter's office. Walter helped watch over a gum concoction one day and became fascinated with the idea of making a successful bubble gum. He played around with recipes and eventually created Dubble Bubble.

Thank you to Looperman artists for the music:

edm pluck for intro by capostipite Drum Loop Republic by attackyak Japanese Vibes Rhodes Only by raphael29

Thank you to Bob Conway for the interview

Website

#40 The Surprising Inventor of the Spork Jan 28, 2016

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about the spork.

Thank you to the Looperman artist BradoSanz for the music!

We used these wonderful songs:

Poppy Acoustic 1

Poppy Acoustic 2

Poppy Acoustic 3

Poppy Acoustic 4

#39 How to Spot A Food Trend Jan 21, 2016

This is the first Food Non-Fiction episode of 2016, so we are going to talk about food trends. This episode will cover how to spot food trends, how to track food trends and what food trends we can expect in 2016.

Using the New York Times' Chronicle tool, writer Neil Irwin came up with the Fried Calamari Index to track food trends by looking at the frequency at which the NYT mentioned various foods.

Culinary trendologist, Christine Couvelier, forecasts food trends by going to food shows around the world, talking to chefs, visiting grocery stores/gourmet retail stores, and looking at food magazines.

Christine says that food trends start at industry food shows around the world where food companies show their new food ideas. Some ideas are adopted in restaurant menus and the successful flavours then become available in specialty stores and magazines. From there, certain foods make it to grocery stores, thus becoming widespread and easily available to the average consumer. This is the path that balsamic vinegar has taken and this item is now commonplace in kitchens.

In 2016, we can expect to see the flavour combination of sweet and heat. We can also expect new flavours of hummus, as well as vegetable yogurts. Continuing on from 2015, vegetables will be more and more central to dishes. Rather than simply being the healthy option or a garnish, vegetables will be used in enticing new ways - grilled, charred, roasted and smoked.

2016 has been deemed the International Year of Pulses by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, so we'll be encouraged to use pulses like chick peas, beans and lentils.

Thank you to our fascinating interviewees:

Christine Couvelier of the Culinary Concierge

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois of the University of Guelph

Special thanks to the musician, truekey, for writing music for Food Non-Fiction:

Soundcloud

Twitter: @truekeymusic

#38 Can Man Dan Dec 16, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast is all about Can Man Dan. This is the story of how Dan Johnstone became Can Man Dan.

Thank you to the following artists for the music in this episode:

Paul Otten "Joy to the World" cover - Website | SoundCloud

Shaun Friedman "Deck the Halls" cover - Website | SoundCloud

Thank you to our Interviewees:

Dan Johnstone

Evan Cherot

Wood Buffalo Food Bank

Edmonton's Food Bank

#37 So Called Doomsday Vault Dec 09, 2015

1300 km past the Arctic Circle, nestled in the permafrost, amongst inhabitants like polar bears and reindeer, lies the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

In the media, it’s better known as the “Doomsday Vault”. The vault contains backup copies of our world’s seeds...it protects the genetic diversity of our crops in case of large-scale disasters.

The location was chosen in 1983 by the Nordic gene bank. Originally, they had used an old coal mine to store containers of seeds. The coal mines were so big that they had the idea to include the seeds from many other gene banks in this secure storage. But at the time, the project couldn’t get the international or financial support that it needed and it was put on hold.

In 2004 when The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was taken into force then the project was started again. The facility was opened in 2008.

Thank You To Our Interviewees:

Evjen Grethe Helene - Senior Advisor at Ministry of Agriculture and Food

Ahmed Amri - Head of the genetic resources unit at the International Centre for Agricultural Research for Dry Areas (ICARDA)

Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music:

2015 Holiday Movies Mashup ActionCue2 String Arp by supertex

Classic Choir 02 by Cbeatz

Summit Full Lead Remake 2 by Optimus1200

#36 Who Created Rice Krispies Treats? Dec 03, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about the creation of the Rice Krispies Treats. In 1928, Kellogg’s introduced the Rice Krispies cereal to the public. In the same year, the company hired a recent home economics graduate of Iowa State University - her name was Mildred Day. Her job was to test recipes for Kellogg’s and she also travelled around the country conducting cooking schools for the company’s customers.

Kellogg’s recipe testers were asked to develop recipes using Kellogg’s cereals. So Mildred Day and her friend Malitta Jensen put their heads together to create something delicious.

They created what we now know as Rice Krispies Treats or Rice Krispies Squares, but back then they called it “marshmallow squares”.

By the way, they didn’t create the recipe from thin air, it’s likely they tweaked the recipe using either the Puffed Wheat Squares recipe in the 1938 cookbook, It’s Fun to Cook, or they may have used an older recipe from 1916 which was a recipe for something called Puffed Rice Brittle.

Either way, the molasses and vinegar were removed from the original recipe and Campfire Marshmallows were added. One source said that Mildred Day chose to replace molasses with marshmallows because marshmallows are less sticky.

You should also note that Mildred Day and Malitta Jensen were part of the Campfire Girls organization.

The Campfire Girls sold boxes of Campfire Marshmallows back then, much like how Girl Scouts sell Girl Scout Cookies. So perhaps that inspired the use of marshmallows in the recipe.

Soon after the marshmallow squares recipe was created, the Campfire Girls organization needed to raise some money to support their summer camp and activity programs. So, Kellog’s, being a company with a reputation for helping out in the community, lent a hand.

It was a good opportunity for them to test out their new marshmallow squares on the public after all. They set up a temporary kitchen to produce batches of marshmallow squares for the Campfire Girls to sell as part of a fundraiser.

Mildred Day worked in the temporary kitchen for two intensive weeks, every day from 6:30AM to 10PM. She was a dedicated Campfire Girls Troop leader and her scouts were able to sell hundreds of Rice Krispies Treats in Michigan during that summer in 1939.

Kellogg's executives noted how much families loved the marshmallow squares. Kids loved them because of the taste and parents loved them because of the price. Remember, this was 1939 - the back-end of the Great Depression and the front-end of the second world war, so price was important.

So, Kellogg's trademarked the Rice Krispies Treats name in 1940 and added the recipe to the back of the Rice Krispies cereal boxes in 1941.

In 1995, Kellogg's started making the packaged version of the treats for grocery stores.

We spoke with Malitta Jensen's grandson, Jay Hewlett about his grandmother. She was a determined and successful businesswoman and a loving grandmother.

Special Thanks to Our Guest:

Jay Hewlett

Thank you to Looperman Musicians:

What’s Goin Down by rasputin1963 Visuality by danke 140 BPM Acoustic Guitar by ferryterry

#35 The Business of Casino Food Nov 26, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell the story of how Las Vegas became a destination market for gambling, how the nature of destination markets created competition amongst the many casinos, how casino food amenities were used as a competitive tool, and how casino restaurants have changed over time from buffet to gourmet.

In October of 1929, the stock market crashed. October 29th was the worst day of this crash. It was named “Black Tuesday”. On Black Tuesday, over 16 million shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Billions of dollars were lost and the economy was on a downward spiral into the Great Depression of the 1930’s. So, in 1931, Phil Tobin, a 29 year old freshman member of the legislative assembly introduced a bill to legalize gambling in Nevada. He wasn’t a gambler himself, in fact, he was a cowboy, but he knew that legalizing gambling would bring the state of Nevada some much-needed revenue. The revenue would come from gaming taxes.

At this time, in 1931, the Hoover Dam was scheduled for construction. It was built between 1931 and 1936. This meant that thousands of workers would be coming to Nevada. And these would be federal workers, so it was likely that a lof of the illegal casinos would be shut down. So instead, of having the casinos shut down when the workers came, legalizing casinos would bring in a ton of tax revenues.

Phil Tobin’s bill made financial sense. So, on March 19 of 1931, the Governor signed Assembly Bill 98 into law.

Assembly Bill 98 legalized the following games:

Faro Monte Roulette Keno Fan-Tan Twenty-One Blackjack Seven-and-a-half Big Injun Craps Klondyke Stud Poker Draw Poker Slots

The bill is also known as the “Wide Open Gambling Bill”.

After World War II, there were strict gambling laws in most states, so Nevada really became the center of gambling in the U.S. - especially, of course, in the Las Vegas strip - which is, by-the-way, located south of the actual city of Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas strip was, and still is, a destination market. People travel there specifically to experience the gambling and entertainment. Destination markets offer a lot of the same thing. For example, you go to Hawaii to surf so there are a lot of surfing schools and they need to compete.

Same thing with going to Las Vegas to gamble - there are so many places you can gamble that these places need to compete for your dollars. So casinos, over time,

have offered more and more amenities.

Casino resorts started popping up in the 1940’s. You could go to a casino resort, and not only gamble, but have your hotel, live shows and food, all in one place. Casino restaurants were designed to bring people to the casinos. The strategy back in the middle of the 20th century was to offer cheap food, sometimes even free food. The logic was that if you could offer great price value for food at your casino, then people might choose to come to your casino, rather than go to a standalone restaurant or another casino.

So casino restaurants used to operate as what is called “loss leaders” - casino restaurants would lose a little money, but then gain that money back and more when customers played the gambling games.

There are 2 ways that having a restaurant at a casino can increase revenue. One - is that the restaurant draws in more players Two - is that it gets each player to spend more while they’re at the casino.

The Vegas strip is the ULTIMATE gambling destination, but the relationship between casino restaurants and gambling spending is different in Vegas. Certainly, your average Vegas casino restaurant is not operating at a loss anymore. This shift in Las Vegas from the days of cheap casino buffets, designed for the convenience of gambling clients, to high end, big profit restaurants has been gradual.

Thank you to our interview guests:

Dr. Sarah Tanford

Dr. David G. Schwartz

Thanks to the Looperman Artist for the Music:

Chillwave bass and synth by djpuzzle

#34 How Bacon Became Breakfast Nov 19, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we reveal how bacon became a breakfast food. In 1925, the Beech-Nut Packing Company asked Edward Bernays to help increase bacon sales. Why did they ask Edward Bernays? Because Bernays was a master of influencing public opinions. His campaigns increased smoking amongst women, the use of disposable Dixie cups instead of washable glass cups, and more. Back then, breakfasts were very light meals. For example, a breakfast could be a cup of orange juice, some coffee and a roll. So Bernays asked his physician whether a heavier breakfast would be better for the body, given the logic that the body needs to replenish energy lost during sleep. After his physician concurred with the idea, Bernays asked the physician to write to 5000 other doctors to get their opinion. Bernays then published the findings in magazines and articles, concluding that bacon and eggs would make a great healthy breakfast. He succeeded in increasing bacon sales.

References:

The American Table

Baltimore Post-Examiner

Bloomberg Business

Burpy

Daily Dawdle

Music Thanks to Looperman Artists:

Big Room Lead by djpuzzle EDM Trap 808 by 7venth12 pop drums acoustic drumset 1 by martingunnarson progressive house melodic synth for intro by capostipite Lookin For This by FLmoney

#33 Ice Cream Sundae Fight Song Nov 12, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we look into the origins of the ice cream sundae. About a dozen towns claim to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae, but there are 3 main contenders that are always mentioned. By chronological order, we share the stories from 1. Two Rivers, Wisconsin in 1881, 2. Evanston, Illinois in 1890 and 3. Ithaca, New York in 1892.

In Two Rivers, the ice cream sundae was created when a man named George Hallauer asked for chocolate syrup on top of his ice cream. The Berners' Soda Fountain owner, Edward C. Berners, obliged.

In Evanston Illinois, the passing of the Blue Law prevented people from consuming soda water, because it was considered too frivolous. That meant that people also couldn't buy ice cream sodas, which were already invented. So one inventive pharmacist. Mr. Garwood, who had a thriving business in ice cream sodas, removed the soda water from the ice cream treat, calling it a "Sunday soda". The name was later shortened and the spelling was changed to be more respectable of the lord's day. So it became known as the "sundae".

In Ithaca, New York, the first sundae was created at Platt & Colt Pharmacy. The pharmacy's co-owner, Chester Platt, often got together with the pastor, John M. Scott, from the Unitarian Church after services. One day, when the two were together, he served up ice cream with cherry sauce and they loved it so much that they named it Cherry Sunday after the flavor and the day of the week.

We present the evidence for each and you can decide which story you want to believe.

Sundae Fight Song lyrics: In Two Rivers, in Winsconsin, History was made. And our pride in that first sundae, it will never fade. Made right here by old Ed Berners Eighteen eighty-one Now we celebrate that sundae And have lots of fun Others try to claim the sundae started in their towns But the story of our sundae turns their smiles to frowns Evanston and Ithaca, They are among the worst, but confronted with our facts, Concede that Ed was first. Topped with chocolate, or with cherries and with lots of nuts Try to claim our sundae and we’ll kick you in your butts! On Two Rivers! On Wisconsin. It’s with pride we burst as we shout out to the whole world Ed was first!

Two Rivers, Puh-leeze lyrics: Two Rivers, why live in denial, The story you compile, won't play. Your sign maker, a truth faker, without sundae proof your claim's melting away. Ed Berners off to fool the world. There's such a lot of fools you see. Though sometimes the truth may offend- still you can pretend, my sweet Wisconsin friend, Two Rivers-puh-leeze.

Special thanks to: Ithaca recording artists, "Rock Beats Paper" Arrangement: Robert Dietz Engineering: James Cannon/Panic Room Studios

Music Thanks to Looperman Artist:

1950s Rock N Roll Piano Riff by rasputin1963

Special Thanks to our Interviewees:

Eden Juron Pearlman - Executive Director of the Evanston Historical Center in Evanston Illinois

Bruce Stoff - Director of Ithaca/Tompkins Convention & Visitors Bureau

Gregory Buckley - Two Rivers City Manager

Ron LaQuaglia - Owner of Glenburn Soda Fountain and Confectionery

References:

Book: A Month of Sundaes by Michael Turback

Visit Ithaca

What's Cooking America

#32 Eaten to Extinction: The Passenger Pigeon Nov 05, 2015

This is the incredible true story of passenger pigeons. There used to be an estimated 3-5 billion passenger pigeons. People killed them for food, then sold the surplus to local markets. With the advancements of technology, people were able to sell their surplus to regional then national markets. Improvements in telegraph technology allowed hunters to communicate where the birds were, and the spread of railroads allowed transportation of huge numbers of passenger pigeons to far away markets.

There was a time when you could buy a passenger pigeon for pennies a piece. There were thousands of hunters that just hunted passenger pigeons all year round. Eventually, the passenger pigeons started dying out, but instead of hunting less to allow the birds to rebuild their numbers, hunters would grab passenger pigeon chicks as soon as they hatched and then mash them together into make a paste.

In 1914, Martha, the last passenger pigeon in the world died at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Special Thanks to Joel Greenberg for the fascinating interview!

References:

Book: “A Feathered River Across the Sky” by Joel Greenberg

Thank you to Looperman for the Music:

Night Strings HD by jawadalblooshi Sad Acoustic by EpicRecord Wood Chimes by danke Poppy Acoustic 3 by EpicRecord

#31 Halloween Candy Horror Oct 28, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we find out the truth behind Halloween candy poisonings. Our guest, Dr. Joel Best, is the world's leading expert on Halloween sadism (Halloween sadism is the term that describes poisoning Halloween candy). He became interested in the topic when he was in graduate school and spending his term reading about deviant behaviours. What he noticed was that criminals always have a motive. He didn't believe that strangers would poison candy because what would be the motive behind that? In fact, there has been no cases of random acts of Halloween candy poisoning in all the years that Dr. Best has been scouring the news for data (1958 onwards). The real danger is sending kids out into the dark with costumes that could limit visibility or cause them to trip.

Dr. Joel Best notes that "an urban legend is harder to kill than a werewolf" because people continue to believe that Halloween candy gets poisoned each year, even though the overwhelming evidence says otherwise.

Special Thanks to our guest, Dr. Joel Best.

Music is thanks to Looperman artists:

Bass Like Skrillex by TOSHYO Cutie Pie Anxious Rhodes by JulietStarling Nice Orchestral Beat HD by jawadalblooshi Ambellient by Danke Lookin For This by FLmoney

#30 Birth of Betty Crocker Oct 22, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode reveals the creation of Betty Crocker. In 1921, the Washburn-Crosby (now General Mills), created a non-existent employee named "Betty Crocker" who was "chief of correspondence". All customer inquiries about domestic matters were responded to immediately in personal letters signed by Betty Crocker. People loved her. Betty's replies were always prompt and informative. She not only taught people cooking and cleaning techniques, but she also guided women in how to keep happy relationships. Eventually, Betty Crocker's voice was heard on the radio. Washburn-Crosby Company bought a failing radio station and renamed it WCCO. Betty Crocker hosted a cooking radio show that has graduated over a million students.

References:

Article: "Home Cooking: Betty Crocker and Womanhood in Early Twentieth-Century America"

MN90: WCCO - How Betty Crocker Became a Good Neighbor

MN90: The Invention of Betty Crocker

Article: The Radio Made Betty (by Sarah Murray)

Book: Finding Betty Crocker (by Susan Marks)

#29 Sailing with Scurvy and Lemons Oct 15, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about scurvy and its Vitamin C cure. Although the cure for scurvy was discovered a long time ago, changes in the understanding of science, medicine and the human body, caused people time turn away from the tried and true cure of fresh fruits and vegetables time and time again.

We discuss the various events that brought the fresh produce cure in and out of favor.

Thanks to Looperman artists for the music:

Nerves Drums Part 1 & 2 by Lodderup

Nerves Part 1 & 2 by Lodderup

Never Again by Jawadalblooshi

Thought of You by Jawadalblooshi

Sad Piano by Danke

References:

Mental Floss

Jason Allen Mayberry

About.com

Article: Advancements, challenges, and prospects in the paleopathology of scurvy: Current perspectives on vitamin C deficiency in human skeletal remains

Article: Lind, Scott, Amundsen and scurvy (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine)

Article: Scott and Scurvy (Canadian Medical Association Journal)

Article: Scurvy: Historical Review and Current Diagnostic Approach

Article: Scurvy in the Antarctic (The Lancet Vol 300, Issue 7787)

Article: Sailor's scurvy before and after James Lind - a reassessment

Article: Scurvy: Forgotten but definitely not gone

Article: Scurvy on sea and land: political economy and natural history, c. 1780 - c. 1850

Article: Scurvy: Past, present and future (European Journal of Internal Medicine)

#28 Space Food Part 2 - Chris Hadfield, Dr. Louisa Preston, Chris Patil Oct 08, 2015

In this podcast episode of Food Non-Fiction, we continue our discussion of Space Food from part 1. This episode features Dr. Louisa Preston, an astrobiologist who discusses with us how realistic the book/movie The Martian was in depicting the growth of potatoes on Mars. We also talk to Chris Patil who is part of the Mars One mission that is hoping to send human colonists to Mars. Finally, we finish our interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield who reveals his favourite space food.

Thanks to our guests Chris Hadfield, Dr. Louisa Preston and Chris Patil for the insightful interviews.

Thanks to Looperman artists for the music:

140BPM Acoustic Guitar by ferryterry HiGuitar by EpicRecord Going up by LarsM

#27 Space Food with Chris Hadfield and Andy Weir Oct 05, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we begin our interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield (concluded in part 2 of the space episode). We also speak to Andy Weir, author of The Martian (film adaptation out in theatres Oct. 2, starring Matt Damon). We ask Chris Hadfield what breakfast lunch and dinner are like in space and we ask Andy Weir about how he came up with the idea for his book.

#26 The First Luau Oct 01, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is the story of the first ever luau. Hawaii's second king, Kamehameha II was only around 22 years old when his father died and he took the throne. With influence from his stepmother and birthmother, as well as changing beliefs sparked by Western contact, Kamehameha dined at the women's table during a feast in 1819. This was previously forbidden by kapu rules, but the king's act symbolized the end of the strict kapu system. The Hawaiian word for "feast" used to be "aha 'aina" but that word changed to "luau" after the feast of 1819 - the first Hawaiian feast where men and women dined together. Exactly when the word "luau" replaced "aha 'aina" is uncertain. Although some sources say the word "luau" was first used in 1856 in the Pacific Commercial Advisor newspaper, it was likely used before then.

Special thanks to Chico for the interview!

References:

A Companion to the Anthropology of American Indians (Edited by Thomas Biolsi)

The Hawaiian Luau (Food, Culture & Society: An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research)

The Hawaiian "kapu" Abolition of 1819 (American Ethnologist Vol. 1 No. 1)

Kamehameha II: Liholiho and the Impact of Change (Julie Stewart Williams and Suelyn Ching Tune)

The Overthrow of the Kapu System In Hawaii (Stephenie Seto Levin)

Music from Looperman: Thanks!

Wiki Tiki by Ravi

#25 Some More Marshmallows! Sep 24, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about marshmallows! Marshmallows used to be made with marshmallow plants (Althaea Officinalis). When marshmallows were made with marshmallow plant sap, they had some medicinal properties. They were used like lozenges, to soothe sore throats. We also talk about the first printed S'mores recipe in the 1927 Girl Scouts handbook.

References:

Guild of Food Writers

How Stuff Works

Madehow.com

Smithsonian.com

Campfire Marshmallows

Boyer Candies

Book: Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs

#24 Ancient Egyptian Honey Sep 16, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell you about ancient Egyptian honey. Did you know that honey that archaeologists have uncovered from tombs that are thousands of years old remain edible? We tell you all about beekeeping from ancient Egypt.

References:

Book: The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting

Book: Letters from the Hive: An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind

Music from Looperman thank you to:

40A

Jensmuse

#23 BONUS! BBQ Boat with Friends Sep 10, 2015

This is a Food Non-Fiction bonus episode! Lillian the host went on a BBQ boat with her friends today and recorded the experience to share.

Thanks to Joe, the owner of Joe's BBQ Boat for the interview

#22 Meat Becomes Fruit Flies Sep 09, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is about fruit flies. They seem to appear out of nowhere. In fact, people used to believe that small organisms like flies could be spontaneously generated from other matter, whether living or nonliving. This was called "the doctrine of spontaneous generation" or "Aristotelian abiogenesis". The concept of spontaneous generation was popular from Aristotle’s time (somewhere between 384-322 BCE) to the 1600’s. In 1668, Italian physician, Francesco Redi, conducted an experiment to disprove the doctrine of spontaneous generation. He put meat in jars, covered one jar with gauze (so that only air could get in) and left the other one open. If spontaneous generation was possible, then flies would have grown in either condition, but no maggots were seen in the covered jar.

References:

Mother Nature Network The Bug Squad Book: Lords of the Fly: Drosophila Genetics and the Experimental Life Article: Achilles and the Maggots Article: Francesco Redi's Description of the Spontaneous Generation of Gall Flies Music From Looperman artists:

jensmuse minor2go blakafer

#21 BONUS! Gigantopithecus and Bamboo Sep 08, 2015

In this bonus Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about giant apes and bamboo. In a National Geographic article, we read that perhaps giant apes competed with giant pandas for bamboo. To learn more about this, we spoke to the gigantopithecus (giant ape) expert, Dr. Russel Ciochon. In an enlightening interview, the professor informed us that there is no evidence of competition between gigantopithecus and giant pandas and that gigantopithecus is more likely to have become extinct because they were large animals and could not adapt during more extreme climate change.

Researchers know what gigantopithecus ate because of phytolith ("phyto" meaning plant and "lith" meaning stone) found in gigantopithecus teeth. Our knowledge of phytolith shapes let us recognize the phytolith as coming from bamboo and durian.

Special Thanks: to Professor Russell Ciochon

References: National Geographic article

#20 Pandas Only Eat Bamboo? Sep 02, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is all about pandas and bamboo. We tackle the question - why do giant pandas only eat bamboo? The 2015 answer is that no one really knows. We also spoke to panda experts from the Toronto Zoo and Zoo Atlanta. We find out what they feed the giant pandas, when, why and how.

#19 How To Run A Blind Restaurant Aug 27, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, Lillian visits Dark Table in Vancouver and Fakhri visits O'Noir in Montreal. We speak to the founder of Canada's 3 dark dining restaurants and find out how to run a restaurant in pitch black. We also had a guest, Jaycelyn Brown, keyboardist from the Juno award winning band, Said the Whale. She dined with us and this episode has been a blast!

#18 Deep Fried Desserts Aug 06, 2015

This is a mini episode from Food Non-Fiction. Because Lillian is getting ready for her Master's defence! This episode is a brief look at deep fried desserts. We talk about doughnuts, deep fried ice cream and even deep fried coke!

References

Smithsonian

About.com

#17 Designing the Milk Carton Jul 29, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode talks about milk cartons. We speak to patent attorney, Matt Buchanan, about the inventor of the milk carton and his patent, which was granted in 1915 in Toledo, Ohio. We then talk to Dr. Joel Best, author of "Threatened Children: Rhetoric and Concern about Child-Victims", about the history of missing children milk carton campaigns.

Special Thanks to Guests: Matt Buchanan (partner at Buchanan Nipper) Dr. Joel Best (University of Delaware Professor of sociology and criminal justice)

References: Patent Blog Dairy Antiques Website Google Patent 1157462A Google Patent 1123628A

#16 Popcorn from the Beginning Jul 15, 2015

In this podcast episode of Food Non-Fiction, we are talking about popcorn! Popcorn is made out of any variety of corn that can be popped. Corn was selectively bred from a wild grass called Teosinte, which was a very tough plant. So right from the beginning of the cultivation of corn, people were making popcorn, because corn kernels were a lot harder and popping it was one of the easiest ways to eat it. Corn spread over Central and South America because it was traded. One of the civilizations that ate popcorn was the Aztecs. They even had a word for the sound of kernels popping - "totopoca". During the Depression, popcorn was one of the few foods that actually rose in sales. This is because it became considered an affordable luxury. So vendors sold popcorn outside of theatres. Eventually, theatres started charging vendors to sell either right outside their doors or even inside the lobby. And then by around 1938, theatres started having popcorn machines inside.

References:

#15 Sumo Wrestler Stew Jul 07, 2015

In this podcast episode of Food Non-Fiction, we speak with world champion sumo wrestler, Byamba. He is 6'1'' and 350lb but he has gotten his body fat percentage down to 11%. Sumo wrestlers may look fat, but they have more fat free mass (this includes the weight of internal organs and skeletal muscle) than body builders. This means that underneath the external fat is a wall of dense muscle. We talk about chankonabe, otherwise known as sumo stew. This is the sumo wrestler's staple food. It is a healthy stew that is filled with meat and vegetable.

Special Thanks to Byamba and his manager Andrew for the fascinating interview!

References:

Byamba website

Impressive match video

Music by:

Hearbeat

#14 When Paris Ate Their Zoo Jun 30, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell the insane but true story of when Parisians ate zoo animals to survive the 1870-1871 Siege of Paris. We transport you back in time to those five months when Prussian soldiers surrounded Paris to starve the city into surrendering. The five months started in September, 1870. As the months went by, people went from eating cows, pigs and sheep to eating horses. Then they resorted to eating street rats, as well as their own pet dogs and cats. Finally, in December, the zoo put its animals up for sale and the rich bought the meat for exotic meals. The 2 elephants, Castor and Pollux were sold together for 27,000 francs. In one of the most fascinating historical meals, chef Choron created an epic Christmas dinner made of zoo animals. All this was paired with the finest wines. The very rich managed to feast in the midst of starvation.

References:

Engines of Our Ingenuity

Defeated Flesh: Welfare, Warfare and the Making of Modern France by Bertrand Taithe

Chronicles of Old Paris: Exploring the Historic City of Light by John Baxter

Historynet.com Translated Memoir of Balloon Pilot

The Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 2

#13 China's Bone Chopsticks Jun 23, 2015

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we tell the origin story of chopsticks. During a 1993-1995 excavation of Neolithic ruins in North China, archaeologists found sticks made of bone. They believe that these bone sticks are the first versions of chopsticks. Previous bone sticks were considered to be hairpins but these bone sticks were placed close to the hands, alongside other things used by the hands, such as pots and tools, whereas previous bone sticks were more polished and placed near the head at burial sites.

The first chopsticks may have only been used to cooking, but eventually it became the norm to use them to eat as well. This isn't surprising given some context. North China was dry and cold, so people ate foods that were both juicy and hot - foods like stews. They likely ate their stews while the food was still piping hot, so the time between cooking and eating was minimal. Chopsticks were used to stir the food while cooking and then people could have simply used those same chopsticks to just begin eating right away. The chopsticks norm would have been spread, because North China happened to be the political and cultural centre of China at the time.

Spoons actually came before chopsticks, but as the popular foods changed from millet porridge to the foods of dim sum (eg. dumplings), spoons became less important.

How to hold chopsticks (quoted from the book "Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History")

“First, chopsticks users generally believe that the most effective and elegant way to hold the sticks is to place the lower one at the base of the thumb and secure this position by resting it between the ring and middle fingers in order to keep the stick stationary. Then the upper stick is to be held like a pencil, using the index and middle fingers for movement and the thumb for stabilization. In conveying food, the two sticks are worked together to grasp the food for transportation and delivery.

References:

The book "Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History" by Professor Q. Edward Wang

Special thanks to Professor Wang for granting us an interview!

#12 A Baker's Dozen Jun 16, 2015

In this podcast episode of Food Non-Fiction, we talk about the baker's dozen. When someone says "a baker's dozen" they mean 13. But why is it 13 when a dozen is actually 12? The history of "a baker's dozen" goes back to medieval England. In 1266, King Henry III revived an old statute called the "Assize of Bread and Ale", which set the price of bread in relation to the price of wheat. To make sure that even the poorest of citizens could buy bread (because it was a staple food), bread was priced at a quarter penny, a half penny or a penny. In years when wheat prices went up, the loaves got smaller, but you could still always buy bread for a quarter penny. The Worshipful Company of Bakers was the name of the baker's guild - one of the oldest guild in England. They were given the power to enforce the Assize of Bread and Ale and would punish bakers that sold underweight bread. In order to make sure they wouldn't be punished for selling underweight bread, bakers gave customers extra bread. Extra slices were called "inbreads" and extra loaves were called "vantage loaves".

References:

The Worshipful Company of Bakers Phrase Origins Bakers in the Middle Ages Wonderopolis

#11 Thomas Jefferson's Garden Jun 09, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is about the founding foodie, Thomas Jefferson. More specifically, we talk about his gardens at Monticello. Jefferson collected crops from all over the known world in his time. He planted a huge variety of fruits and vegetables and helped to spread the seeds. The south-facing design of the Monticello gardens allowed him to plant crops from cold to tropical climates as the location captured a lot of sunlight and tempered the cold winters. Jefferson enjoyed salads and even grew sesame seeds so that he could make salad dressing oil out of them. The Monticello gardens are indeed amazing, but they would not have existed without the work of slaves. In this episode we talk about 2 people who were kept as slaves and worked at Monticello. The first is James Hemings and the second is Edith Fossett - both were trained as French chefs and cooked amazing meals.

References:

Monticello.org Thomas Jefferson's ice cream recipe (typed out) Thomas Jefferson's ice cream recipe (handwritten original)

#10 All About Mangos Jun 02, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is all about mangos! This is our first listener requested episode so thank you Spencer! Looking at fossils, we can trace the appearance of the first mangos to around 30 million years ago in Northeast India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Looking at old Hindu writings found in Southeast Asia and India, we can trace mango cultivation (for domestic use) back to 4000 B.C.E. so that’s 6,000 years ago. Buddhist monks were amongst the first to cultivate the fruit and it is said that Buddha himself often meditated under the shade of a mango tree. Looking at historical records, we can see how the fruit spread. Mangos were spread over the world by traveling with people. They needed to travel with humans because their seeds are so big that they can’t be dispersed by animals eating them and pooping out or otherwise discarding the seeds further away / and the seeds definitely can’t travel by blowing in the wind.

Nutrition One mango is around 135 calories and will hold most of your daily recommended vitamin C as well as almost a third of your daily recommended Vitamin A. Actually the vitamin content changes depending on ripeness - when the mango is less ripe/more green, its vitamin C content is at its highest and when it is more ripe, its Vitamin A content is at its highest. Mangos contain over 20 different vitamins and minerals and are a great source of fiber.

Health Benefits Mangos nutrients support a healthy immune function, normal blood pressure, good vision and strong bones. There are studies that also claim added protection from certain cancers as well as stroke.

Cooking Their natural tenderizing properties make mangos a great ingredient to marinate meat in.

Storage Refrigerate mangos when they’re perfectly ripe. If you haven’t cut them, they’ll stay good for around five days. If you’ve peeled and chopped them, keep them in the freezer in an airtight container. They can last about 6 months like that.

Selection - Check firmness. Push against the mango’s skin and look for something in between squishy and hard. - You should also be able to smell its fruity aroma on the stem end.

Useful References

Mango Food Nutrition Fruits Production Statistics History and Production

Please subscribe! Visit our site www.foodnonfiction.com.

#9 History of Food Trucks May 26, 2015

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode tells the history of food trucks. The forerunners to food trucks are the chuckwagons of the cowboy cattle drives and the pushcarts of busy cities. Chuckwagons were invented by Charles Goodnight in 1866 to feed cowboys during long cattle drives that sometimes lasted for months. Chuckwagon cooks were called "cookies" and they would wake up bright and early to stoke a fire with firewood from the chuckwagon and prepare food with surfaces and supplies provided by the chuckwagon. Pushcarts have been around for ages and have a fascinating history of clashes with law enforcement. Since the 1600's New York has passed several laws to try and manage pushcart vendors and the current food truck laws are reminiscent of the pushcart laws. The food truck laws in New York haven't been changed since 1965 and the NYC Food Truck Association is pushing for changes to make the laws more modern. We interviewed 2 food truck owners in Durham - Saltbox Seafood Joint and Tootie. They gave us on insight on the business of food trucks.

Chuckwagon Cooking Recipes:

Chuckwagon recipes blog page

Legends of America recipes

Chronicle of the Old West recipes

American Chuckwagon cooking

Interviewees:

Saltbox Seafood Joint (Facebook Page)

Tootie

References:

NYC Food Truck Association

NYC Food Truck Regulations

Food Truck Startup 101 (in Toronto)

Food Truck Startup Infographic (for Toronto)

Cattle Drives after Civil War

Encyclopedia - cattle drives

Pushcart/Street Vendor History

Street Vendor History

New York Times - The Food Cart Business Stinks

Book: Street Foods

Book: Start Your Own Food Truck Business

#8 Soylent & Ambronite May 18, 2015

This podcast episode takes a look at the trending food alternatives - Soylent and Ambronite. These 2 liquid meal replacements were both created in 2013, one in the US and the other in Finland. Soylent is a sort of futuristic food - its formula is open source - and the aim is to be as cheap and efficient as possible. Ambronite also aims to be as efficient as possible but its ingredients don't compromise quality for price.

References:

William the Conqueror's Diet Rob Rhinhart's blog Meghan Telpner's Soylent Criticism Soylent's Ingredients

#7 The World's Greatest Food Fight May 10, 2015

This episode starts with the true story of Ryan Shilling and the huge food fight in his UK school, Jarrow, in the town of Jarrow. We then piece together the history of food fights, starting with the creation of the pie-in-face gag from the Vaudeville era to the first pieing scenes in silent films to our modern day idea of food fights in schools. Next, we tell you about the world's greatest food fight - La Tomatina in Bunol, Spain. We interviewed Rafael Perez, the organizer of the event.

Special thanks to our interviewees:

Thank you Ryan Shilling! Thank you Rafael Perez!

Promised Links:

3 Stooges Pie Fight Telegraph article on the Colombian La Tomatina La Tomatina-esque events in the US

Other References Used: La Tomatina Colorado Tomato War The Salt Blog history of food fights Evolution of Pieing Web Urbanist list of food fights

Contact us at: feedback@foodnonfiction.com

Visit Our Site: www.foodnonfiction.com

#6 Save the Salmon - Part 2 May 03, 2015

In "Save the Salmon Part 2" we explain why environmentalists talk about the drastic loss in salmon populations even though salmon seems to be abundant in grocery stores and sushi restaurants. We talk about the differences between wild and farmed salmon. This episode also discusses the pros and cons in the debate on using farmed salmon as a way to provide salmon to the masses and alleviate the fishing of wild salmon. Should you be buying farmed or wild salmon? Which one are you getting at restaurants? How do you know what the best choice in salmon is? We cover all this in this super informative and thought-provoking episode.

Special thanks to the amazing musician, Jetty Rae, for letting us use her music. Click here to visit her webpage.

More special thanks to our incredible interviewees:

Laurel Marcus of Fish Friendly Farming Dana Stolzman of the Salmonid Restoration Federation Kari Burr of the Fishery Foundation of California Scott Greacen of Friends of the Eel River Ron Reed of the Karuk Tribe and the Department of Natural Resources

How to Choose Sustainable Salmon:

Sea Choice Seafood Watch

Other Resources used include:

David Suzuki's page on salmon farming Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 NPR Salt blog article

#5 Save the Salmon - Part 1 Apr 24, 2015

This episode is a timely look at California's drought and how it has affected salmon runs. Specifically, we look at the Chinook salmon, also called the King salmon. These salmon can grow to be the size of a small person - up to 58 inches (4.8 feet) in length and up to 129 pounds. You don't find them in regular sushi places, because they're a more high-end species of salmon. They have the highest fat content of any salmon and that makes them delicious!

Special thanks to our guest, Kari Burr, a biologist from the Fishery Foundation of California.

#4 Benjamin Franklin the Foodie Apr 18, 2015

This episode covers Benjamin Franklin’s love of food. Benjamin Franklin was a very conscientious eater. At around the age of 16, he became a vegetarian for ethical and frugal reasons, but began eating meat again soon after, while traveling by ship from Boston to New York. He popularised Parmesan cheese in America and introduced soybeans, tofu, and rhubarb to the colonies.

Milk Punch Recipe (recipe written by Benjamin Franklin himself) Benton Brothers Fine Cheese (cheese experts/shop in Vancouver, BC) Special thanks to Brent Bellerive, General Manager at Benton Brothers, for letting us interview him! Benjamin Franklin Book of Recipes Tori Avey Thomas Tryon quotes International Vegetarian Union

#3 Michelin Stars Restaurant Rating System Apr 09, 2015

Intro 0:00

John lying to his Mom 0:17

Undercover Restaurant Reviewers 0:29

Michelin Guide Restaurant Reviewers 1:31

How the Michelin Guide began 2:14

Current use of the Michelin Guide 3:52

Michelin stars and symbols 4:10

Bib Gourmand 5:18

Mystery of the process 5:41

Anonymous Michelin Server 5:49

Preparing for a Michelin Reviewer 5:59

Characteristics of a Michelin Reviewer 6:12

Controversies around Michelin Guide 6:55

Pascal Remy "The Inspector Spills the Beans" 7:01

Bias for French Cuisine 8:04

Lax standards for Japanese restaurants 8:39

Secretive nature of the inspectors 8:58

New Yorker interview with Inspector M. 9:25

Inspector background requirements 9:56

Michelin Guide Social Media Attempts 10:32

Famously Anonymous 10:43

Twitter 11:20

Michelin Guide Locations 11:52

Honor of the Michelin Star 12:18

Chefs that do not want the Michelin Star 12:37

Anonymous Michelin Server 12:49

Excitement of being reviewed 12:49

Backslide in interest 13:08

Pressure of expectations 13:33

Star stats 14:29

Digital Age vs. Guide books 15:04

Anonymous Michelin Server: Zagat vs. Michelin 15:15

Michelin Guide earnings and losses 15:29

Future of Michelin Guide to 15:48

Final words- contact us at feedback@foodnonfiction.com 16:00

www.foodnonfiction.com

Other References Used:

Financial Times New Yorker "Death of a Chef" About.com The Telegraph Wiki

#2 Eating Insects - Part 2 Apr 02, 2015

Intro 0:00

Recap of last episode 0:12

The ick factor 0:49

Six Foods story 1:27

Chirps 1:46

Harvard Innovation Lab pitch competition with mealworm tacos 3:12

Cricket flour 4:30

Massachusetts Innovation Nights 6:20

Ofbug (Kathryn Redford) 9:46

What to feed insects 12:20

Partnering with UBC’s Entomology & Toxicology Lab 13:10

Canadian law on insects as food 14:24

How Kathryn farms insects 15:20

David George Gordon (The Bug Chef) 17:43

What factors affect how an insect tastes 18:59

Backyard insects & pesticides 21:02

Final words - contact us at feedback@foodnonfiction.com 22:42

www.foodnonfiction.com

#1 Eating Insects - Part 1 Mar 25, 2015

Intro 0:00

Eating insects as a hot topic 00:26

Edible Insects - Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security 00:48

Time Magazine names insects one of the top food trends of 2015 1:40

FDA allows insect fragments in food 2:19

Theories on why we don't eat insects 3:02

BBC Documentary "Can Eating Insects Save the World" 5:13

Founders of Six Foods 6:07

Insect nutrition 7:06

The Bug Chef explains ECI 8:02

Contact us at feedback@foodnonfiction.com 9:33

www.foodnonfiction.com

Awaiting Itunes approval of our podcast! Mar 13, 2015

Promo Episode Mar 13, 2015

Hello from Food Non-Fiction. This episode introduces the hosts of this podcast, Lillian Yang and Fakhri Shafai. Through this podcast, we will take you on a food journey through history and around the world. We can't wait to entertain you with stories about food - its creators, its venues, its composition and more - using interviews, storytelling and discussion.

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