Nicola Twilley

2 weeks ago | thepodcastplayground.com | Cynthia Graber |Nicola Twilley

GastropodFeasting With Montezuma: Food and Farming in a Floating CityFive centuries ago, before Spanish conquistadors arrived, what’s now Mexico City was the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan—and it took the European invaders’ breath away.

1 month ago | thepodcastplayground.com | Cynthia Graber |Nicola Twilley

GastropodBananageddon! Say Goodbye to *the* Banana, and Hello to the Weird and Wonderful World of Bananas, PluralYes, it’s true: the banana we know and love is going the way of the dodo bird. An incurable strain of the fungal Panama disease known as TR4 is currently wiping out tens of thousands of acres of banana plantations, from Malaysia to Australia and Mozambique to El Salvador. But what’s bananas is that this has all happened before! Is history doomed to repeat itself?

1 month ago | thepodcastplayground.com | Cynthia Graber |Nicola Twilley

GastropodGoing Bananas: How a Tropical Treat Became the World's Favorite FruitIn 1870, a strange fruit arrived on the docks in New Jersey, starting an industry that would change the world. That fruit was a banana, and, although it was a staple food in tropical regions, most Americans had never tried one. Today, a century and a half later, even the most depressing gas station, corner store, or hotel breakfast buffet in the land has bananas on offer.

2 months ago | thepodcastplayground.com | Cynthia Graber |Nicola Twilley

GastropodDo We Really Have Beer to Thank for the First Writing and Cities? Humanity’s love affair with beer goes *way* back: 5,000 years ago, the civilization that arose in Mesopotamia invented writing, and one of the very first things they wrote about was… beer! But where was beer itself invented?

2 months ago | thepodcastplayground.com | Cynthia Graber |Nicola Twilley

GastropodSeed Oil Scare: The Curious Case of CanolaIf you’ve been hearing that canola is a killer, you’re not alone. It’s one of the so-called “hateful eight” seed oils: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says it’s among the most deadly things you can eat, and Joe Rogan agrees. But is it true? This episode, we get to the bottom of the debate over the plant formerly (and still, in some places) known as rapeseed.