The BrainFood Show

Latest Episodes:

The Truth About the 12 Days of Christmas Dec 14, 2025

Show notes

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at the rather humorous original name for the song Silver Bells.

Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at the truth about the origin of the song “The 12 Days of Christmas” and what’s the deal with the weird lyrics.

After that, we look at the truth about the origin of the Candy Cane and then a rather surprising fact about the song Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

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The Lord of Misrule and the First Book Banned in America Dec 12, 2025

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When one pictures the first British settlers coming to what would become the United States, it’s generally of a group of religiously oppressed, rigidly pious individuals, such as the famed now named “Pilgrims” separatist group in their black and white clothing and top hats featuring giant buckles- a group who the Native Americans saved by sharing food and teaching them how to farm certain things in the region in their first year in Massachusetts, all culminating in the first Thanksgiving in America. But, in truth, the clothing style often depicted in paintings of the Pilgrims bore little resemblance to what the Pilgrims actually seemed to wear. For example, we know from ship manifests that the Pilgrim’s garb was extremely colorful, and buckles were both expensive and not yet fully in fashion as they would become later in the 17th century when paintings of the Pilgrims started to be made, leading us all astray on what they typically wore. Further, while the Pilgrims did receive a measure of aid in the early going from the native americans in the region, they did not celebrate the first Thanksgiving in America and the event today the modern holiday is supposedly based on wasn’t even the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving day in America, Nor did they initially think to invite the Native Americans to the event in question, though a group of them, probably attracted by all the noisy games like shooting contests, did ultimately join the party. Even popular perception of what they supposedly ate during said event is less based in history and more mostly thanks to Sarah Josepha Hale, author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and one of the most influential women in American history who, through her highly circulated editorials laid out a partially mythical and romanticized version of the events most know today and popularized it. She also is a huge reason Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the U.S. in the first place from her decades long efforts to make it so. But we’re not here to discuss Sara Hale and her massive influence on United States culture that still echoes through today. Nor even the separatist group now called the Pilgrims per se, though William Bradford and his cohorts, along with the non-separatist Puritans later do come into play. No, today we are going to discuss someone who came over to the future United States around the same time as these groups and had a rather different view of the world than his puritanical compatriots. And presents yet another poignant example in several ways of the fact that how we view these early settlers in popular history is riddled with myths, misconceptions, and a whole lot of nuance thrown in. As ever, the devil is in the details, so let’s dive into it all, shall we? Author: Daven Hiskey

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Are Poinsettias Poisonous and the Truce Dec 10, 2025

Show notes

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at whether poinsettias are actually poisonous or not. Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at one of the more remarkable things ever to happen in modern warfare- a completely impromptu Christmas truce, in which both sides in WWI randomly got up out of their trenches up and down the line and threw a party together.

We follow that up with some interesting bonus facts including a rather bizarre requirement the British military had for their soldiers for about a half century, among other things.

On another note, if you could do us a huge favor and rate and review this show in whatever podcasting platform you’re using (including hopefully giving us some feedback related to the new format), we would be extremely grateful. Thanks!

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The Amazing Story Behind The Christmas Carol Dec 08, 2025

Show notes

⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we look at one of my favorite stories I’ve ever researched. But before that, we begin by looking at what could have been wrong with Tiny Tim that simply throwing money at the problem could have fixed given 19th century medicine.

Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at what Charles Dickens’ called his “Sledgehammer for the poor man’s child” and the backstory that led up to a six week stint furiously writing of one of his most famous works, as well as some interesting references within it that modern readers may have missed, but those in his time would have implicitly understood.

We follow that up with some interesting bonus facts related to the story at hand, including why it’s “Dead as a door nail” and not something like “dead as a coffin nail” as Dickens himself mused.

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The Incredible Flame Thrower Packing Insect Dec 06, 2025

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Nature abounds with weird and wonderful defence mechanisms, evolved over millions of years to protect their owners from predators and allow them to live - and breed - another day. Some organisms like crabs, turtles, and armadillos, are clad in tough suits of armour; while others, like rosebushes and acacia trees, porcupines and hedgehogs, and lion and stonefish, ward off attackers with an array of sharp - and sometimes venomous - spines. Other defences are more active, like the clouds of ink released by squid and octopus, the stinky musk sprayed by skunks, or the sticky, choking mucus secreted by hagfish. But all these formidable defences pale next to those of a small, humble-looking insect. Armed with the biological equivalent of a rocket engine, when threatened these creatures unleash a burst of caustic, boiling-hot steam from their abdomens, blinding, wounding, or at least convincing would-be attackers to think twice. It is an ability so extreme and unlikely that it is often cited by creationists as evidence against the theory of evolution. But how does this tiny insect flamethrower work, and how did it actually come to be? Let’s find out as we dive into the fascinating world of the Bombardier Beetle. Author: Gilles Messier Editor: Daven Hiskey Host: Simon Whistler

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Fires of Industry, Witchcraft, and the First Spark of the Revolution Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

When thinking about the various elements that went into the United States declaring Independence, we tend to think of things like the Stamp Act, The Boston Massacre, and the Tea tax that led to the Boston Tea Party, but these were things that were more in the vein of “this is the last straw” and all a symptom of the real problem. As the colonies started to grow and prosper, Parliament across the pond in the homeland both began wanting to take advantage of this in generating revenues for Britain, as well as to try to suppress some of this in other areas where the British American colonies were now threatening the parent nation’s own industries- a remarkable feat for settlements so relatively new on the world stage. This brings us to the story of today- John Winthrop Jr. and the first known operational iron works in America, The Braintree Furnace, which spawned an industry that within a century saw the colonies supplying 1/7th of the world’s supply of iron and iron based product, surpassing Britain’s own production. This all led to Britain passing one of the early acts that helped spark the revolution, the Iron Act of 1750 intended to severely suppress American iron manufacturing. Now, if the name John Winthrop sounds familiar, it’s perhaps because of the more famous John Winthrop today, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, governor, and one of the most influential men in the early colonization of the region. But his son, John Winthrop Jr, while less remembered today was arguably just as influential in not only helping to establish the Connecticut colony, but more important helping the colonies go from fledgling groups scraping by, to leveraging the region's natural resources and encouraging highly skilled scientists and workers to come to America, all helping to put the colonies on the world stage of industry. As we’ll get into in the Bonus Facts later, he also tirelessly worked to make sure no accused witch in Connecticut would ever be executed, and ultimately put an end to witchcraft trials in that colony. Author: Daven Hiskey Host: Daven Hiskey

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Denazification and the Unsolved High Tech Murder That Reshaped Post-Cold War Europe Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

On the morning of November 30, 1989, a trio black Mercedes-Benz sedans pulled away from a house in the quiet Frankfurt suburb of Bad Homburg vor Der Höhe and turned down a shady, tree-lined lane called Seedamweg [“zay-dam-vehg”]. They had taken this route many times before, and it seemed like just any other morning. Slowing down to pass a school crossing, the drivers may have spotted a man in a jogging outfit standing behind some bushes, adjusting his walkman and headphones. Or they may have noticed a child’s bicycle chained to one of the white bollards separating the street from the sidewalk, a small package strapped to its rear rack. Nothing out of the ordinary. But at 8:34 AM, just as the lead car began turning onto Kaiser Friedrich Promenade, the early morning quiet was shattered by a powerful explosion. The blast engulfed the middle car in the convoy, launching it 25 metres across the road. When police arrived on the scene and pulled open the charred smoking vehicle, they found its passenger, 59-year-old Alfred Herrhausen, dead in the back seat. Herrhausen was no random victim. As the head of the Deutsches Bank, the largest bank in Europe, he was one of the most powerful and influential men in West Germany - and a prime target for political violence. Indeed, as police searched the crime scene, they soon found the bomb’s detonator hidden behind some bushes. And beneath this they found a piece of paper in a protective plastic cover, on which was printed an ominous symbol: a red five-pointed star overlaid with a Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun. It was the logo of the Red Army Faction or RAF, a notorious left-wing guerrilla group which had terrorized West Germany for nearly three decades. Coming just three weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the assassination of Alfred Herrhausen marked the culmination of a unique period of political tensions in German history, one that would soon give way to new tensions as the long-divided country attempted to unify. Yet despite the high profile of the victim and the RAF claiming full responsibility, the actual perpetrators of this act have never been caught, and thirty five years later questions continue to surround just who killed Alfred Herrhausen - and why. This is the story of the mysterious and surprisingly sophisticated assassination of Germany’s top banker.

Author: Gilles Messier

Editor: Daven Hiskey

Host: Simon Whistler

Producer: Samuel Avila

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How Do Spy Agencies Actually Recruit Spies in Real Life? Nov 30, 2025

Show notes

Agencies like the CIA and MI6 are tasked with collecting and processing data deemed potentially vital to their respective counties’ national interests, and then, in an ideal world, making sure those who need to know this information to inform their decisions and plans know it. In order to do this, they need people on the ground, so to speak. So how do these agencies actually recruit those who work for them both domestically and in more clandestine roles abroad?

Author: Daven Hiskey

Host: Simon Whistler

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The Kids Who Led the Resistance Movements Against the Nazis Nov 28, 2025

Show notes

History books often remember underground political groups like the Communist party or the Social Democrats, espionage groups like the Red Orchestra, or militaries from America and Britain as the primary resistance against Nazi forces. But you may be surprised to learn that, in fact, the most vocal and visible resistance came from young people, mainly teens and those in their early 20s, with the four largest and most prominent of these youths being The White Rose, the Edelweiss Pirates, the Swing Youth, and the Zazous. So let’s dive into their respective rather inspiring stories, shall we?

To begin with, The White Rose: “We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!" These are just a few of the powerful words published and distributed throughout Germany by a group of students at the University of Munich in an effort to incite their fellow countrymen to rebel against Nazi forces throughout 1942 and 1943.

As for notable figures in this group, perhaps the most famous of all were siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl. So what inspired them to rebel in this way?

Authors: Arnaldo Teodorani and Daven Hiskey

Host: Simon Whistler

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How Did People in Medieval Times Actually Siege a Castle in Reality Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

Modern entertainment such as movies, fictional books, and TV shows aren’t exactly known for accurately depicting how things may or may not go or have gone in the real life scenarios that they depict. From injecting substances directly into your heart a-la Pulp Fiction or The Rock, to Yarr’ing pirates, let’s just say there’s a lot they get wrong. On the former, ya, don’t poke a hole in your heart. That’s not helpful to, you know, not dying. See our video on the subject before you start arguing in the comments. And on the latter, one actor set the standard there for pirate speak in the 1950s and everyone has just sort of run with it as if it had a basis in reality for how pirates talked instead of just something he came up with for various reasons.

Moving on to Medieval times, don’t even get us started on things like medieval chastity belts or the supposed ideal of the Chivalrous Knight protecting damsels in distress… Far more likely the knights were the ones causing the damsels to be in distress in reality and said damsels would have traded their left butt cheeks for a device like a chastity belt for some level of protection, as we have covered in excruciatingly facepalming detail before. But we’re not here to talk about the fact that real life knights were mostly- and we cannot stress this enough- just massive dicks to women and like, honestly, almost everyone, even each other. No, we’re here today to talk about what they and their cohorts actually got up to on the battlefield when deciding to siege a castle as a means to conquer, rape, and pillage for fun and profit.

Author: Daven Hiskey

Host: Simon Whistler

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