My Favorite Podcast - Gastropod!

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My dear friend Emily has always loved podcasts. She is always working on a craft, building a robot, or programming a computer; while these activities are undoubtedly fun, they can be a little quiet. To replace the silence with something interesting, she chooses a podcast. I'm pretty sure she listens to podcasts about space and new technological developments - I swear, Emily is going to become a crazy awesome aerospace engineer. One day, when I asked her for an audio book recommendation, she gave me podcast recommendations instead. Which were all great, but they were all about engineering... and I'm not that into tech. I agree that 3-D printers and drones are fascinating, but they aren't exactly my thing. I prefer (as you've probably gathered by now) cooking, exercising, and learning more about the human body. So I decided, per Emily's advice, to explore new territory, in the deepest, darkest, least-used corner of my phone - otherwise known as the podcast app.

Guess what I found? A podcast I have decided is absolutely phenomenal. Mind you, I'm no connoisseur. But Gastropod caught my attention immediately.

According to its website, Gastropod is a podcast that "looks at food through the lens of science and history." Food, science, and history?!? Are you kidding me? Those are some of my favorite things! So I tried it out and listened to my first episode, "It's Tea Time: Pirates, Polyphenols, and a Proper Cuppa." While Gastropod has been around since September of 2014, I became a fan more recently. In 2017, to be precise. And let me tell you - I am hooked! Not only are the hosts, Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, incredibly engaging and wonderful to listen to, but the information is astonishing! As a huge tea fan, I thought I knew quite a bit about my drink of choice. How wrong I was. I didn't even know that pirates had a role in the history of tea. In my defense... did you? 😄

Moreover, Nicola and Cynthia feature incredible experts and include generous portions of fascinating interviews into each and every one of their episodes. As an avid home cook, it's a real treat to learn about the past and science of the food I'm eating. The co-hosts also visit places around the world, from commercial tea plants in Britain to food science and research firms. No, Gastropod is by no means a Primal podcast. In fact, they have a diet episode, in which they denounce the Paleo diet for cutting out a major food group. But Gastropod also provides information about where your food comes from, and how cooking has evolved. To me, information about what you're putting in your body is incredibly valuable. Not only is it entertaining to listen to this podcast, but it is also revealing and factual. 

One problem I have with Gastropod is that there are quite a few ads. However, I understand that Graber and Twilley are low on funds for the podcast; not only do they include several advertisements for companies like Bob's Red Mill and Hello Fresh, but they also ask (on multiple occasions) for donations. I suppose you have to earn money somehow! As for the ads - they could be worse. I do appreciate that the majority of them are at least relevant to Gastropod. 

Some of my very favorite episodes on Gastropod include "We've Lost It: The Diet Episode" (which I mostly don't agree with, but who's different perspective is captivating), "Ripe for Global Domination: The Story of the Avocado" (just wait 'till you learn where the Spanish word aguacate came from!), and "We Heart Chocolate" (Mmm). At the moment, I happen to be listening to "Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan." My only complaint so far? There are so many ads about brassieres. Oh well. I've heard worse. And a sponsor is a sponsor. 

Without further adieu - I suggest that you check out Gastropod today! I'm sure you'll enjoy it, and I can almost guarantee that you'll learn something new!

Did you know that the symbol for the 14th Month of the Mayan calendar is an avocado?
- Maya

Image from the Gastropod website, Photo by Rachel Park on Unsplash, 
Photo by PaweÅ‚ CzerwiÅ„ski on Unsplash, Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash 

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