Widely available in nature, berries are of such significance to Northern and Eastern Europeans and have become essential foods across the world. Berries are more than what you think they are; bananas are berries for example! In today's discussion with Heather Arndt Anderson we learn about the historical use of berries, our attempts to make artificial versions, and what might happen to berries in the future.

Heather Arndt Anderson published Berries: A Global History with Reaktion Books in 2018. You can find out more about her at her Instagram page and at Superabundant.

This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠, an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

Vanilla has become a slightly more expensive condiment in our lives, but for a long time it was simply impossible to grow outside of its native Mexico. In this episode we explore the history of Vanilla, how it was propagated, and its use in various foods. We look at the connection to slavery and its artificial version vanillin.

We are joined by Rosa Abreu-Runkel who, in 2020, published Vanilla: A Global History with Reaktion Books.

To find out more about Rosa's work check out her profile on the New York City College of Technology (City Tech) website.

This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠, an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.

Are children naturally picky eaters? Are there really some foods that we shouldn't feed them and are we damaging their mental health by pushing too hard? These questions and more form the topic of today's discussion as we explore the truth of picky eaters (particularly children) in America in the 20th and 21st centuries, based on research stretching back to the 19th century.

We are joined by Helen Veit, who has just published Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History. You can find the book on Macmillan publishers and other booksellers. To find out more about Helen's work check out her website helenveit.com.

This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Bloomsbury Food Library⁠⁠, an essential resource for students, researchers, and scholars studying food, offering the widest-ranging existing collection of food studies content.