July 19, 2021
This week I meet with Prof. Jonathan Silvertown, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist with a research interests in plant population biology. We chat about the evolution of our foods, exploring how the domestication of plants and animals has shaped our modern dinner plates. His book, Dinner with Darwin, explores how everything we eat has an evolutionary history. You can also follow him on Twitter: @JWSilvertown
#evolution #domestication #crops
July 12, 2021
This week on the show, I chat with David Hamilton about his latest book Where the Wild Things Grow: A Foragers Guide to the Landscape. David is an expert forager and offers lots of great tips on easy things to forage along with some very tasty recipes! Who knew that magnolia flowers could make a delicious pickle for salad toppings? Or how about a wild mushroom calzone? My mouth is watering just thinking about some of these! Tune in to learn more and check out his website: https://www.davehamilton.co.uk/ . Follow David on Twitter and Instagram: @davewildish
#Forage #WildFood #Recipes
July 6, 2021
This week, we’re talking about one of my favorite subjects: foraging! Our guest is Professor Phillip Stark, the founder of Berkeley Open Source Food and Wild/Feral Food Week and a professor of statistics at UC Berkley. Philip is passionate about urban foraging, including studying the safety, nutrition, and availability of wild foods in urban ecosystems and their value for ecosystem services and nutrition security. Bonus: we also share some of our favorite recipes for wild ingredients, including some delicious homemade wild plant liqueurs!
#forage #weeds #sustainability
June 28, 2021
When global conglomerate Bayer AG paid $63 billion in 2018 to buy Monsanto Company, the deal was seen as a boost to Bayer’s wealth and power. But only two years later, Bayer was forced to agree to pay $11 billion to settle the claims of more than 100,000 cancer victims who alleged their suffering was caused by the use of Monsanto’s flagship herbicide, Roundup. That settlement may never have happened without Lee Johnson, whose story is told in investigative journalist Carey’s Gillam’s new book “The Monsanto Papers: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice.” Tune in to this episode of Foodie Pharmacology to learn about the human toll of glyphosate-based weed killers. Follow Carey on Twitter @careygillam and find more information on this book and others at http://www.careygillam.com
#Roundup #Cancer #WeedKiller
June 21, 2021
You may not love your fat, but your body certainly does. This week, we explore the secret world of fat, discussing its complex biology, how it resists loss, and what can be done to remove stubborn fat. I chat with Dr. Sylvia Tara, a biochemist with a business background, about her new book on this subject! You can access more information about her book and her course at her website, https://www.thesecretlifeoffat.com/
#Fat #Diet #WeightLoss
June 14, 2021
This week, we ask some big questions about the origins of our food and how it connects people from across the globe. I speak with Dr. Colin Khoury, a crop diversity researcher who has spent more than 20 years trying to understand the state of diversity in the global food system. Colin shares how collaborative work brings together multidisciplinary expertise to inform conservation strategies for crops and their wild relatives, develop conservation indicators for international agreements, and support evidence-based decision making toward more sustainable food systems. Learn more about his work by reading his scientific papers and follow him on Twitter at @ColinKhoury
#Crops #Biodiversity #FoodSystems
June 7, 2021
This week, we explore one of the most important botanical families for food crops and medicine! Ever heard of nicotine or atropine? These tropane alkaloids from the Solanaceae family are just a few examples of pharmacologically active compounds from this group. I speak with Dr. Sandra Knapp, a world renown expert in the taxonomy of the Solanaceae, about tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, chili peppers and more! Want to learn more about this family? Check out the Solanaceae Source. Access the Broken Planet exhibit at the Natural History Museum London.
#tomato #potato #CropWildRelatives
June 1, 2021
What lessons can we learn about human behavior from the plant kingdom? I chat with Dr. Beronda Montgomery, a writer, professor, and science communicator. Her research focuses on how organisms (primarily plants) maintain a sense of self, where they are, and what behaviors they should pursue to support their success. Dr. Montgomery is author of a new book Lessons from Plants. Learn more about her work at her website at berondamontgomery.com or follow her on Twitter: @BerondaM and @PlantLessons or Instagram: @Beronda_M and @PlantLessons
#Plants #Botany #garden
May 24, 2021
This stimulant ingredient has captured the imaginations (and taste buds) of humans over the centuries! You may be surprised at all of the steps that it takes to transform cacao seeds from the chocolate tree into the chocolate bars and beverages we love. This week, I speak with Dr. Nat Bletter about the history and chemistry of chocolate. He also gives us a unique walk through all of the steps to processing chocolate—including some fascinating insights on the fermentation and tempering stages. Learn more about Nat’s work with chocolate or order some tasty bars to sample at Madre Chocolate (@madrechocolate on Instagram and Facebook). You can also check out is YouTube channel or follow him on Instagram and Facebook at @NattyByNature808 for more for more info on ethnobotany and gardening.
#chocolate #cacao #ethnobotany
May 17, 2021
Did you know that in some cultures, humans are believed to transform into forest animals as a part of the hunting tradition? Or that the elderly may transform into the fierce jaguar in the last phases of life? This week, I speak with Dr. Glenn Shepherd about topics ranging from medicinal plants and poetry, to the life cycle and different cosmologies that shape the ways that humans perceive the processes of aging and death. We also explore how certain psychoactive plants and fungal endophytes (including ergot alkaloids cultivated in sedges!) are used by Indigenous groups in medicine. Learn more about Glenn’s work in the Amazon on his blog Notes from the Ethnoground, and follow him on Twitter @TweetTropiques or on Facebook and Instagram @ethnoground_photography
#ethnobotany #Amazonas #psychoactive
