What does it take to understand food historically? This episode takes a philosophical turn as Jeffrey Pilcher, Professor of Food History, joins the podcast to discuss what it means to study, write, and taste food history.

Jeffrey Pilcher is a Professor of History and Food Studies at the University of Toronto, Where he directs the Culinaria Research Centre. He is the author of several books, including Food in World History, 3d ed (2023) and Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food (2012), and the newly released Hopped Up: How Travel, Trade, and Taste Made Beer a Global Commodity (2024).

Viewing: Drunk History, Season 4, Episode 8, ‘Food’

Tasting: Stillwater Brewing’s Saké Style Saison Ale (special shout out to Wine on Piedmont for the suggestion!)

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Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann

This podcast is supported by the UC Davis Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, Thinking Food at the Intersections.

Corporate power is a relentless force in shaping how and what we eat. Join us this week with Professor Enrique C. Ochoa, author of the upcoming book México Between Feast and Famine: Food, Corporate Power, and Inequality, to discuss the role of corporations in constructing a thread of Mexico’s culinary history.

Enrique C. Ochoa is Professor of History and Latin American Studies at California State University, Los Angeles

Viewing: Disneyland’s Mission Tortilla Factory (2001-2011)

Tasting: Arbol de Fuego by Vinos Pijoan

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Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann

This podcast is supported by the UC Davis Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, Thinking Food at the Intersections.

Much of food history is a history of trade: how crops, plants, and tastes move around the world. Professor Andrés Reséndez discusses a trade route often overlooked in the 16th and 17th centuries, that of the Manila Galleons, one that can be overshadowed by the intellectually exhausted narrative of the Columbian Exchange. We also eat corn puffs. And an extra special reading by poet Rick Barot from his book, The Galleons.

Professor Andrés Reséndez is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis. Reséndez specializes in early European exploration and colonization of the Americas, the U.S-Mexico border region, and the early history of the Pacific, particularly the pioneering voyages of discovery and the biological exchanges across the largest ocean on Earth. He is the author of Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery (2021) and The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (2017)

Tasting: Golden Sweet Corn from Regent Foods

Reading: The Galleons, featuring poet Rick Barot

Stay up to date with Esculent on our Instagram

Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann

This podcast is supported by the UC Davis Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, Thinking Food at the Intersections.