Food Non-fiction

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Synopsis

Food Non-Fiction tells the incredible true stories behind food. Every week, we pick a food topic and delve deep into its history and fascinating facts. We look forward to taking you on this wild food journey, through history, and around the world.

Episodes

  • #14 When Paris Ate Their Zoo

    30/06/2015 Duration: 09min

    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 Ol

  • #13 China's Bone Chopsticks

    23/06/2015 Duration: 13min

    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 b

  • #12 A Baker's Dozen

    16/06/2015 Duration: 10min

    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

  • #11 Thomas Jefferson's Garden

    09/06/2015 Duration: 08min

    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 o

  • #10 All About Mangos

    02/06/2015 Duration: 07min

    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 re

  • #9 History of Food Trucks

    26/05/2015 Duration: 14min

    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 ins

  • #8 Soylent & Ambronite

    18/05/2015 Duration: 16min

    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

    10/05/2015 Duration: 22min

    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

    03/05/2015 Duration: 21min

    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 Depart

  • #5 Save the Salmon - Part 1

    24/04/2015 Duration: 08min

    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

    18/04/2015 Duration: 18min

    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

    09/04/2015 Duration: 16min

    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:

  • #2 Eating Insects - Part 2

    02/04/2015 Duration: 23min

    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

    25/03/2015 Duration: 09min

    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    

  • Promo Episode

    13/03/2015 Duration: 30s

    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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