Esculent

Each episode of this season has explored different facets of the mezcal-making industry — from its history, to how it’s tasted, served, and perceived by tourists in Oaxaca. In our final episode of the season, we explore the role of women in mezcal-making practices. Briefly translating our two prior epiosdes, we present to you the lived experiences of Paula Aquino Sánchez and Graciela Ángeles Carreño, two mezcaleras who have navigated an industry that’s predominantly male and shown us what it’s like to be masters of their craft. Join us as we wrap up this season in conversation with Paula and Graciela, whose voices have been translated and dubbed in an effort to make their stories accessible to our English-speaking audiences.  Voice for Paula Aquino Sánchez: Alyssa Pulido Voice for Graciela Ángeles Carreño: Frida López Bernal Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

En la segunda parte de nuestra serie de mezcaleras, Graciela Ángeles Carreño conversa con nosotros sobre la relación del mezcal con la tierra. Con su éxito, su demanda y su fama internacional creciente, ¿cómo ha la globalización del destilado transformado no solo la economía del agave sino también la vida cotidiana de los que lo producen? Este episodio invita a los oyentes a ver el mezcal más allá de la botella — para entender las tensiones, contradicciones y voces que rodean la tradición de la producción de mezcal como una forma de vida. Acompañados por Graciela Ángeles Carreño, mezcalillera de cuarta generación de Real Minero -- In our second part of the mezcalera series, Graciela Ángeles Carreño joins us in conversation about mezcal’s relationship to Earth. With its success, rise in demand, and growing popularity internationally, how has the globalization of this distilled drink transformed not only the agave economy but also the daily life of those who produce it? This episode invites listeners to see mezcal as something more than a bottle — to understand the tensions, contradictions and voices surrounding the tradition of mezcal-making as a way of life.  Featuring Graciela Ángeles Carreño, 4th generation mezcalillera of Real Minero Host: Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores & Fabiola Santiago Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes & Stace Baran Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

In our first part of our mezcalera series, we are joined by Paula Aquino Sánchez as she shares her background — how she first stepped into the world of mezcal production, the opposition and skepticism she faced as a woman in mezcal, and what uses mezcal had in her family. Her voice in this conversation allows us to see how her connection to mezcal is deeply rooted in family tradition and how her legacy will continue to be put into practice as it gets passed down through generations. Featuring Paula Aquino Sánchez, independent legacy mezcalera Host: Daniela Gutierrez-Flores & Fabiola Santiago Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

The enduring fascination with the “authentic” drives tourists to seek the artisanally-produced mezcal, especially in Oaxaca, where Daniela and Elizabeth find themselves in Esculent’s fourth episode of this season. Through their navigation of different topics like rising housing prices, Michelin star systems, and alcohol consumption during times of the pandemic, we take a look at the relationship both researchers have to tourism, raising the question: Is there such a thing as responsible, conscious tourism?  Featuring Asamblea de los Pueblos Indígenas del Istmo en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio, or APIIDTT, an organization representing community and agrarian authorities from Zapotec, Ikoots, Zoque, and Mixe communities in Oaxaca. Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes & Stace Baran Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

At Masala y Maíz in Mexico City, no bottle goes to waste once it’s been opened. Join us for Esculent’s third episode with special guest and Director of Beverage and Culture, Sergio del Castillo and co-chef Saqib Keval, as they describe the restaurant’s cocktail program and the ethics that goes into its creation. With knowledgeable descriptions and different processes that go into making each spirit on the menu, guests are invited to taste for themselves, encountering new flavors and ingredients to learn how they’re made, and how those intimate tastes grow in relation to spirits. Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes & Stace Baran Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

When mezcal evokes memories of mom’s kitchen or relatives spritzing the spirit to the earth, it becomes clear that smoke has never been adequate to describe a taste of mezcal. In Esculent’s next episode, we are joined by Mi Oaxaca’s founder, Fabiola Santiago, as we take a look at the different ways people encounter mezcal — either through tasting wheels, aromas, or the memories and relations we ascribe to the beverage. How can we fill in the gaps from tasting wheels that enforce Eurocentric aromas? Together, we think about how one can “taste” mezcal in ways that create relations, rather than orchestrate erasure.  Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Fabiola Santiago Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes & Stace Baran Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

When studying the history of mezcal, why begin with the milky, lightly fermented beverage pulque? In Esculent’s new season, we are joined once again by Professor Daniela Gutiérrez Flores as we navigate the archives detailing the cultural significance of the maguey plant in Mesoamerica. From discussing pulque’s role in sacred ritual to examining the colonial context of mezcal–both from maguey– we begin to center the narrative on Indigenous practices and experiences. Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutierrez-Flores Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes & Stace Baran Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

This season welcomes co-host Daniela Gutiérrez Flores as we prepare to travel with Fabiola Santiago and the organization Mi Oaxaca -- we are honored to be thinking, sensing, and traveling with care over the next episodes, all about mezcal.  Host: Elizabeth McQueen & Daniela Gutiérrez Flores Partner: Mi Oaxaca Editors: Santiago Reyes & Stace Baran Production Intern: Alyssa Pulido Theme by Ronan Delisle This podcast is supported by the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center at Florida State University.

What does it mean to steward a living archive? Kyria Boundy-Mills, curator of the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, joins Esculent to discuss the care and preservation of thousands of yeast strains. The collection extends far beyond familiar fermenters like bread and beer yeasts, encompassing species drawn from insect ecologies, plants, soils, and unexpected environments. In this episode, we explore how yeasts become technologies of esculence, such as how isolating, storing, and characterizing microbial life supports food science research. Boundy-Mills’ work reveals the archival dimensions of microbial collections, and what infrastructure is utilized to maintain those archives. Tasting: J. Street Chocolate with Shared Cultures’ cacao-nib miso (featuring koji culture) Viewing: Closing scene of Wonka (2023) Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff Producer: Stace Baran Theme by: Ronan Delisle Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

What happens when the science of winemaking meets the emerging world of cultivated meat? Distinguished Professor David Block joins Esculent to discuss how engineering principles, chemistry, and scale shape technologies of taste. This episode also considers mouthfeel—how the tactile sensation of food and drink becomes central, or is becoming central, to the experience of the esculent in the food industry. Together, we reflect on how scaling, precision, and sensory expectations intersect in both traditional and experimental forms of food production. Tasting: TCHO “Napa Noir” dark chocolate with cacao nibs, aged in red wine barrels and infused with cabernet sauvignon sea salt from Clif Family Winery Viewing: Wonkavision, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff Producer: Stace Baran Theme by: Ronan Delisle Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

Microorganisms structure not only our foods but our bodies. Professor Maria Marco joins Esculent to discuss her research on bacteria, fermentation, probiotics, and the gustatory systems that support microbial life. While microbes often appear in consumer culture as wellness buzzwords, Professor Marco offers a another perspective on how microorganisms function as part of systems of eating. This episode examines how microbes participate in the making of the esculent, and the questions that linger on the edges of studying nonhuman participants in processes of eating. Tasting: Bouchard Probiotic Dark Belgian Chocolate (72%), infused with Bifidobacterium longum Viewing: The Fizzy-Lifting Drink, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff Producer: Stace Baran Theme by: Ronan Delisle Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

How do we understand taste as something measurable and communicable? Distinguished Professor Hildegarde Heymann joins Esculent to explore the field of sensory science, a discipline that transforms fleeting sensory impressions into data and descriptive language. From wine and spirits to chocolate and ice cream, Professor Heymann’s work has shaped how sensory researchers structure panels, train tasters, and translate perception into scientific method. In this episode, we take up the connection between sensory science and esculence: how the languages and systems used to evaluate flavor also participate in producing edibility itself.  Audio warning: this episodes audio was compromised in recording, listeners will notice some deviations in quality.  Tasting: A panel of Dandelion Chocolate bars Viewing: Violet Beauregarde’s three-course-dinner gum, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff Producer: Stace Baran Theme by: Ronan Delisle Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

What does it mean to taste in context? Professor Julien Delarue joins Esculent to discuss his research on immersive sensory environments and how surroundings—visual, auditory, spatial—shape our perception of flavor. From reproducing a Korean street market in the lab to considering atmosphere in sensory evaluation, Professor Delarue’s work asks us to reconsider context not as background but as a fundamental component of the sensory experience. Tasting: Dandelion Semuliki Forest 70% chocolate, processed in both San Francisco and Tokyo Viewing: “Pure Imagination”, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff Producer: Stace Baran Theme by: Ronan Delisle Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

What does it mean to study taste, edibility, and food systems through the scientific method? In our season introduction, co-hosts Professor Charlotte Biltekoff (American Studies & Food Science and Technology, UC Davis) and Professor Elizabeth McQueen (College of Fine Arts, FSU) set the stage for a season centered on food scientists — their methods, their imaginaries, and technological and microscopic infrastructures that construct another thread of the esculent. Together, they reflect on the convergence of cultural inquiry and scientific practice, the recent history of sensory analysis, and how these approaches craft a dominant imaginary, but imagined nonetheless, of taste.  Tasting: Hershey’s Plant-Based Chocolate Bar Viewing: The Everlasting Gobstopper, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Host: Professor Elizabeth McQueen & Professor Charlotte Biltekoff Producer: Stace Baran Theme by: Ronan Delisle Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Biltekoff and the Darrell Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

Esculent is an idea - and one that can be applied, theorized, even rehearsed. This week we self-reflect on the aims of the podcast with host Dr. Elizabeth McQueen and editor Stacey Baran.  Tasting: Strength tea from Harbor Herbalist Viewing: Esculent outtakes Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Bitekoff and the Darrel Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

What happens when art invites us to taste through touch, smell, or atmosphere? Professors Hsuan Hsu and Sal Nicolazzo join the podcast to discuss the interdisciplinary work of artist Candice Lin, whose material and multisensory practice challenges colonial ideas of consumption, and esculence in the present. Together, they consider how smell, tactility, and duration expand the sensory boundaries of art and literature, through smelly close-reading. Tasting: An iteration of Alison Knowles “Make a Salad” (1962-) Viewing: Season 1, Drops of God (Apple TV, 2023) Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Bitekoff and the Darrel Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

Our second live episode, culinary artist Nia Lee joins Esculent following the debut of her performance installation, THE ARCHIVE IS THE BIRTHSEED OF OUR DREAMS at the Manetti Shrem Museum. We discuss a tasting of a miracle berry, or Synsepalum dulcificum with audience reflections on sweetness as a means to understand Lee’s concept of Black Food Futurism. Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Bitekoff and the Darrel Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

If culinary art is already an “art,” then what does it mean to have an art practice that uses food? Culinary artist Heidi Ross joins us to begin our season on Artists to share more about her somatic practice, relationship to the culinary world, and sonic explorations.  Tasting: An iteration of Alison Knowles “Make a Salad” (1962-) by Elizabeth McQueen Reading of: The Futurist Cookbook by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1932) Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Bitekoff and the Darrel Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

Season 5, Artists is finally here. We launch into conversations with artists whose medium is food, matter, and other things esculent.  Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Bitekoff and the Darrel Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

Thousands of television episodes leave a mark – not only on digital archives of our food media-saturated world – but on the host, the performer, as well. In the final episode of our second season with chefs, we speak with Chef Martin Yan, the host of Yan Can Cook. We discuss Chef Yan’s decades of work wth PBS, the importance of culinary education, not only entertainment, and the development of his archive with UC Davis Library. We are joined by Food & Wine Curator Audrey Russek, and just barely scratch the surface on all the mediums, stories, and impacts that Chef Martin Yan has made throughout his career, including his time as a UC Davis student. Tasting: Wolfskill Reserve Olive Oil from UC Davis Olive Center Viewing: Yan Can Cook: Winter Melon, Steamed Sea Bass, and Black Bean Chicken, aired on PBS in the 1980s Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann This podcast is supported by the UC Davis Library and the Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, Thinking Food at the Intersections.

Can we tell the story of a chef from 1490? Join podcast regular Professor Daniela Gutiérrez Flores as we attempt to recreate a recipe from Mestre Robert, a 15th-century chef and the author of Libre del Coch, the first printed cookbook. Join our reenactment where we speculate salt use, concern over squash cooking, and a huge sensory disagreement over rose water. Tasting & Viewing: Menjar Blanc de Carabasses by Mestre Robert in Libre del Coch 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.

Well-baked bread is an art in and of itself, but in this episode, we look at a few representational mediums of yeasty dough: poetry, photography, and animation, as forms that give new light to a thousand-year-old practice. Baker Jim Franks discusses his new book of poetry, Existential Bread (Drag City, 2025), and one of my favorite animations of food ever, evoking faint memories for both of us, just like a whiff of a good loaf. Jim Franks’ book is out now, with a cover designed by podcast favourite Jordan Rundle of Dazer! Tasting: Minh Phan’s Jujube Blossom Shrub Viewing: ‘Portraits of Women with Their Weight in Dough’ by Santina Amato (2019- ) and the 1947 Animated Short, Mickey and the Beanstalk 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.

I first smelled the freshly nixtamalized masa from Emmanuel Galvan of Bolita at the Gilman Wine Block, where the tender, vegetal umami scent carried above the crowds right into my nose. This episode, we focus on technological and labor challenges of nixtamalization in the present, specifically right in Berkeley – complicating the many ways nixtamalization makes corn esculent. Tasting: Tessier Wine’s Pinot Noir Viewing: “Memory,” the dish with tortillas from The Menu (2022) 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.

We are back with a dive into the archive featuring Chef Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s restaurant in San Francisco - featuring historic menus and historic buildings, and how this influences canonical Chinese American recipes like Peking Duck. We kick off Season 4: Chefs Pt. 2 with our literary inquiries into the work of Chefs, and how words, archives, and texts make the esculent. Tasting: A whiff of UC Davis Special Collections Viewing: Yan Can Cook: Winter Melon, Steamed Sea Bass, and Black Bean Chicken, aired on PBS in the 1980s 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.

Season 4, Chefs is here: we revisit the dynamic role of the chef in popular culture through culinary literatures, from 15th-century cookbooks to PBS television series.  Tasting: A Russell Stover head of an Easter Bunny (context provided, sort of). 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.

Can baking brownies save the planet? I’m a little embarrassed I even wrote this question out, but this rhetoric exemplifies the argument of our esteemed guest’s new book: The Problem with Solutions: Why Silicon Valley Can't Hack the Future of Food (UC Press, 2024). For our final episode of this season, we are joined by Julie Guthman, Distinguished Professor of Community Studies Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We discuss my favorite food film, shifts in university pedagogy, and how to conceive of doing good while maintaining critical thinking. Tasting: Renewal Mill Brownie Mix Viewing: Bong Joon-Ho’s Okja (2017) 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. Season 3 is supported by Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores.

Authenticity. An idea that has plagued many conversations on food. This week, we are joined by Professor Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado, the Jarvis Thurston and Mona van Duyn Professor in Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis. We interrogate the role of authenticity in constructing Mexican national identity through another culinary idea: that of the taco. We discuss the taco’s malleable history across regions, including Taco Bell. Stay tuned for Professor Sánchez Prado’s upcoming book on the taco and modernity! Tasting: Taco de machado con huevo by special guest Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores Viewing: Viral Tiktok: White People Taco Night by Keith Habersberger and the Try Guys and MC Luka’s Lupita’s Taco Shop 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. Season 3 is supported by Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores.

How are processed and natural contested categories - rather than objective definitions- of food? These questions are at the center of Professor Charlotte Biltekoff’s new book, Real Food, Real Facts: Processed Food and the Politics of Knowledge. Joined by a special guest, Dan Polsby of Best Friends Wine, to introduce our tasting and complicate “real” wine, we discuss food science, industry, and the Food Inc. documentaries. Tasting: Sfera Bianco, 250mL can  Viewing: Trailers for Food Inc. (2006) and Food Inc. 2 (2024)  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. Season 3 is supported by Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores.

We start off our third season featuring a conversation with Fabiola Santiago of Mi Oaxaca, exploring how indigenous knowledge is linked with mezcal and the colonial exploitation that occurs within Oaxaca today. From Mexico’s tourism board to the role of service and hospitality workers in disseminating knowledge around mezcal, this season, we are all about the big ideas that shape the esculent. Viewing: Mexico Tourism Board’s 2014 campaign for Oaxaca, “Live it to Believe it” Tasting: Kalawashaq Wine Cellars from Camins 2 Dreams 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. Season 3 is supported by Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores.

Back again. This season hosts four thinkers, shaping and questioning the ideas that make food esculent.  Reading: Excerpt from Professor Kyla Wazana Tompkins' new book, Deviant Matter (NYU Press, 2024) Tasting: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant: 2023 Coteaux du Loir Rouge “Cuvée du Rosier” 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. Season 3 is supported by Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores.

The celebrity chef is not a modern concept, as we discuss with Paul Freedman, Professor of History at Yale. Joined by podcast regular Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores, we discuss early modern history, how food comes in and out of fashion, and what artistry might indicate in food history. And the conclusion of Season 2: Historians! Professor Freedman specializes in medieval social history, the history of Catalonia, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and the history of cuisine.  His latest books are The Splendor and Opulence of the Past: Studying the Middle Ages in Enlightenment Catalonia (Cornell University Press, 2023) and (co-authored with Marc Aronson) Bite by Bite: American History through Feasts, Food, and Side Dishes (Simon & Schuster, 2024).  Viewing: Mark Bittman visits El Bulli in 2006, NY Times Tasting: Chateau Thivin Cote De Brouilly Half Bottle, 2022 from Wine on Piedmont 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.

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!) 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.

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 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.

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.

Is meat modern? We explore this question and more with a historical dive into human relations with animals across the Atlantic from 1492 (yes, that 1492). Professor Marcy Norton (University of Pennsylvania) brings insights from her new book, The Tame and the Wild (Harvard University Press, 2024) We discuss colonialism, Western concepts of esculent, and pre-colonial Indigenous life with animals in the Americas.  Tasting: Impossible Meat Viewing: Shina Nova’s TikTok page Professor Marcy Norton (Ph.D. Berkeley) is a historian of the early modern Atlantic World, with a focus on Latin America and Spain. Along with The Tame and the Wild, publications include Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World (Cornell University Press, 2008), and “Subaltern Technologies and Early Modernity in the Atlantic World” (Colonial Latin America Review, 2017).  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.

Welcome to Season 2: Historians! Dr. Shantel George visits Esculent from the University of Glasgow to discuss the history of the Kola nut, West African spirituality in food history, and community in research.  Tasting: Coca-cola Viewing: Series finale of Mad Men, Season 7, Episode 14 (AMC) Read more about Dr. George’s research and publications 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

We are back! Season 2: Historians, is here. Join us for six episodes exploring food history: from research methods to turning points in the history of chefs to influential commodities and more.  Read more about Dr. Amr Shahat's research. 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.

A belated season trailer - we're still getting the hang of it. Listen to find out why season one begins with chefs, and get a hint at what is coming up in 2025! Cooking with Beer on Emeril Live, Food Network (Season 1, Episode 13, 2002) Chef's Table, Netflix (Season 1, Episode 1, 2015) Stay up to date with Esculent on 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.

Our first live podcast welcomes Chefs Norma LIstman and Saqib Keval. Join us as we taste their historically complex dish of fermented peanuts, the first dish served at their restaurant, Masala y Maiz. Our conversation covers their commitments to radical transparency and rethinking the restaurant model, as well as the limits of representation in a capitalist system, including in their most recent appearance on Netflix's Chef's Table. This one is extra long, and extra good. Check out Masala y Maiz and stay up to date on their Instagram. Stay up to date with Esculent on 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.

What does esculent mean? Why is it the title of this podcast? And what is the seminar that is funding this project? Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores joins Elizabeth McQueen to unpack the word, and why thinking about the esculent might be useful in approaches to food justice, especially in humanities research. This episode is also a preview for the in-person research colloquium, Reimagining the Past through Food Justice, at UC Davis, December 6-7, 2024. Tasting: Handheld Pies, Davis Rebop Episode: Oakland Community School Huey P. Newton Interview Cooking Against the Grain Library Exhibit (Online version) Stay up to date with Esculent on Instagram Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann

A pinch of this and a pinch of that captures my conversation with Chef and Artist Minh Phan. We discuss her methods of fermentation all the way to rethinking efficiency in her anti-colonialist mindset.  Tasting: Los Angeles River Wine Company, Palomino, 2022 Spam Jingle thanks to Janine Sun Rogers Follow Minh Phan on Instagram LA Times Article: This Michelin-starred chef wants to feed people. So she closed her restaurants Stay up to date with Esculent on Instagram Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann

Our inaugural episode features a tasting and conversation with Chef Martin Draluck of the Black Pot Supper Club, with a tasting of the inaugural whiskey from Uncle Nearest, the first black-owned whiskey distillery in the U.S.. It honors Nathan 'Nearest' Green, a formative distiller enslaved to Dan Call. Join us as our host Elizabeth McQueen talks with Chef Martin Draluck about the hearth in early American cooking techniques, performing for the camera in Netflix's High on the Hog, and what it means to reconstruct enslaved culinary histories. Tasting: Uncle Nearest 1856 High on the Hog, Season 1 Episode 3: Our Founding Fathers Black Pot Supper Club Follow Martin's Instagram Stay up to date on Esculent's podcast 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.