Foodie Pharmacology Podcast

Eating for Peak Fitness: Sports Nutrition with Dan Benardot

Everyone knows that what we eat impacts bodily performance – and for athletes, understanding the best formula for food and liquid intake can mean the difference between a winning performance or a loss. In this episode of Foodie Pharmacology, I speak with Dr. Dan Benardot, a sports nutrition expert who has counseled professional and Olympic athletes, as well as action movie actors. He leads us through the science of how the types of food and the timing of consumption impacts athletic performance.

#Sports #Nutrition #Athlete

Antibiotics in our Food? How it Happened with Maryn McKenna

The discovery of antibiotics hailed the dawn of a new era in medicine. Once fatal infections were suddenly treatable with the arrival of these magic bullet cures. This golden era is waning, however. Today, we face a rising crisis of antimicrobial resistance with more than 700,000 deaths per year across the globe due to now untreatable infections. The broad use of antibiotics in humans and agriculture has created the conditions for evolution of resistance among microbes. But, how did we get here? Why and when did antibiotics come to be so commonplace in agriculture? How did they come to be used as “growth promoters” in livestock rearing practices? In this episode, I speak with award winning author and journalist, Maryn McKenna, who has written extensively on the antibiotic resistance crisis. We take a deep dive into the history of how antibiotics became commonplace in agriculture and how this has impacted human health. 

#Antibiotics #Chicken #Agriculture

Ethan Frisch, Burlap & Barrel and the New Spice Trade

Many of us appreciate the role that terroir has on the unique flavor and aroma of our foods, whether your enjoying coffee, tea or even chocolate. Just like these commodity crops, other botanical ingredients can feature unique chemistries and flavors when grown and harvested in different environments. Moreover, the means of processing these ingredients and the travel time from farm to your kitchen cabinet really matter when it comes to the flavor of the final product. I speak with Ethan Frisch of Burlap and Barrel, who works to bring unique spices from around the world to the dinner table.

#Spices #Nutmeg #BlackPepper

To Eat Or Not To Eat? That's The Question.

How do we determine what is food and what is not food? Is our ability to recognize a food ingredient simply a learned behavior, or is it the result of evolutionary capacities to recognize signals from our environment? In this episode, I explore the concepts of sensory experiences with foods as they relate to chemical signals in the environment. I review some of the major classes of plant natural products that impact both the ways that we experience foods and the pharmacological effects that they illicit in the body. 

#Food #Pharmacognosy #Edible

Jamaican Root Tonics with Dr. Ina Vandebroek

The Caribbean is home to an amazing assortment of botanicals from merging cultures. In Jamaica, wild plants are used to make special fermented “root tonics” not only as an enjoyable beverage, but also to boost health. Some of these are even attributed with aphrodisiac properties for men and women. I speak with Dr. Ina Vandebroek—ethnobotanist and expert in wild Caribbean plants used as food and medicine. We discuss root tonics and other local delights like “bissy” and “cerassee”, which also play an important role in food and medicine in Jamaica. 

#Jamaica #Ethnobotany #Tonics

Ancient Medicine with Dr. Alain Touwaide

The history of medicine has long fascinated me. In the ancient Mediterranean, the lines between food and medicine were often blurred. Hippocrates, the “father of medicine,” is famously quoted as stating, “Let thy food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Interestingly, there are no actual records of this statement – but it clearly falls in line with the philosophy of medicine that emerged over a span of three hundred years when the Hippocratic Corpus, or series of manuscripts, were written. In this episode, I meet with Dr. Alain Touwaide – a leading scholar in the history of science and medicine in the ancient world – to find out more about how certain plants were integrated into medicine in the past. We cover 3,000 of fascinating history in this episode – so get ready to explore the foods and medicines that spanned the rise and fall of empires with us! 

#History #Medicine #Hippocrates

A Short Cut To Mushrooms with Daniel Butler

Mushroom forager Daniel Butler shares his tips on your favorite funky fungi. If you’ve ever gone on a forest hike on a wet day in autumn, it’s likely that you encountered many different species of mushrooms growing along the forest floor or on rotting logs. As you marveled at their myriad shapes, sizes and colors, you may have wondered – are these edible? Poisonous? In this episode, I met with with mushroom forager Daniel Butler in the Wales countryside to chat about this and more! From sustainable harvesting techniques to tips on how to learn more about the edible mushrooms found across the US and Europe, we cover some fascinating topics on the world of fungi. Whether you are a seasoned forager, or a novice curious to learn more, there is something for all to learn in this episode. 

#Mushrooms #Forage #WildFood

Just the Tonic with Kim Walker and Dr. Mark Nesbitt

The word “tonic” elicits thoughts of something bitter, beneficial to health, or perhaps even a favored cocktail base. When it comes to tonic water, the bitter tasting alkaloid “quinine” is the key ingredient – and it has a fascinating history. You may know that quinine was used in the battle against malaria – but did you know that the pairing of gin with tonic came long after years of consuming it with brandy, rum or wine? On this episode, I speak with Kim Walker and Dr. Mark Nesbitt – the authors of a new book on the topic of tonic, entitled Just the Tonic: a Natural History of Tonic Water. 

#Tonic #NaturalHistory #Cinchona

Share A Dram with Whisky Master Gordon Motion

Though its ingredients core are simple – barley, yeast and water – the final product that comes about after years of aging is incredibly unique. The distinctive flavor of Scotch whisky is influenced by the way it is malted, how the malt is dried, the distillation process, and lastly the aging process! The type of wood and its prior use in former casks – whether for sherry or bourbon – also influences the final flavor. Whisky is an amazing case study in how plant chemistry and extraction methods influence the chemical character of the final product! In this episode, I dive into the chemistry and flavor of one of my favorite spirits and speak with Gordon Motion, the master whisky maker for Highland Park. 

#Whisky #Scotland #Fermentation

Haggis & The New Scottish Cuisine with Chef Ben Reade

Have you ever considered how the biochemistry of taste influences our food choices? The food industry spends millions on scientific research in efforts of achieving the ultimate bliss points in our food experiences – from the perfect potato chip to the soda that has just the right amount of carbonation and sweetness. But, is this food “bliss” point achievable outside of the industrial food context? I definitely think so! On this episode, I chat with business owner and chef, Ben Reade, from the beautiful city of Edinburgh, Scotland. We discuss food pairings, traditional Scottish dishes, and the fascinating origins of Scotland’s most famous dish – Haggis! 

#Haggis #Scotland #Taste