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For a nomenclature nerd, the turkey is wonderful. Why would a bird from America be named after a country on the edge of Asia?

As people in North America prepare to give thanks and devour unimaginable quantities of food, we go to the heart of the matter. Why are turkeys called turkeys? In next week’s show, more about the American contribution to poultry culture.

These days, every little town and village in Italy has its sagra or festa, a weekend, or longer, in celebration of a particular local food. Although they have a whiff of tradition about them, most of these are relatively recent inventions, designed to attract tourists as much as honour the food and cement community relationships. […]

In the 1930s the Italian fascists decided that floats laden with giant grapes would be the vehicle to drive forward Italian nationalism. Hear how in next week’s Eat This Podcast.

My compadre Luigi hangs out on social media, where he came across “fermented taro leaves made into a patty“. He plunged in and researched anishi, so I don’t have to. For much more about taro and other edible aroids, why not listen to the podcast with Karin Vaneker?

Kazakhstan stretches across Central Asia from the Caspian Sea in the east to China in the west. The country is famous for many things – it is the largest landlocked country in the world, says Wikipedia – but among food and plant people it is most important as the home of the apple. The name […]

Ben Reade recently got back from a trip to Kazakhstan, in search of the original wild apples. Last time we spoke, he was sharing bog butter. This time, bears, and how they may have helped to domesticate those apples. The whole show will be published next week.

I mentioned changes. The background machinery to make them work is now in place, so I thought I’d explain what I’ve done here and why.

It is so easy to forget that very few people know anything about plant breeding and how vital it is to having enough to eat. The time it takes, and the resources it needs — financial, genetic, human — are just not something most people know about. No wonder, then, that many people don’t quite […]

I’ve been making a few changes around here to offer a little more. Unfortunately I ran out of time over the weekend so there may be some untidiness for a little while, especially in the iTunes feed, but I hope to have it all cleaned up quickly, with a proper explanation of what’s going on.