Don't Drink the Milk – The curious history of things

Join us as we hit the road again to uncover the weird and wonderful backstories of familiar things and how they made their way around the world. This season we're delving into sex positions, drug epidemics, reality TV, mowing the lawn and much more. How do these things connect us to disparate cultures and eras and what do their stories reveal about our world today? You're in for an adventure.

Why did North Macedonia splurge on statues? And what do the locals do with strong alcohol, apart from drink it? We revisit our journey to the Balkan nation to dig up some of the oddities and delicacies we encountered in the capital, which is home to a colorful, curious mix of influences old and new, communist and capitalist, Ottoman and Roman.

We're on a season break but we didn't want to leave you hanging. So this week we're bringing you more adventure, revelation and history – this time from the Passport podcast. In this episode, they head deep underground in Helsinki, to dig into the psyche of the happiest nation on Earth and its conflict-ridden past.

The bagel is in its rainbow era, but this beloved bread's journey goes way back. We're rounding off season one with a dense, doughy episode that's both scrumptious and surprising. We trace the humble bagel's roots to medieval Poland and follow its North American makeover (are you team New York or Montreal?). A snack for queens, laborers and trendsetters – here's the real story of the bagel.

We're on a short break, but of course, you still need a dose of quirky history – so here's another podcast we think you'll love. The Disappearing Spoon is a topsy-turvy, science-y history podcast hosted by science writer Sam Kean. This episode tells the mysterious story of Soviet scientists who starved to death while surrounded by food during the Nazi invasion of Russia in World War II.

Can we cure loneliness with diluted extracts of the Berlin Wall? Or COVID with diluted arsenic? This is the story of how a maverick medic from eastern Germany harnessed the placebo effect and exported it worldwide. A journey across two centuries and three continents, from doctors’ surgeries to supermarket shelves and right into government.

Who put the cheese in your stuffed-crust pizza? Or cows on a Caribbean island? And when more than half the world's population can't actually digest milk, is it really essential for a healthy diet? On a trip through time and taste – to dairy-obsessed Bulgaria, colonial Trinidad and Tobago and the 'Got Milk?' era – we explore humanity's millennia-long relationship with milk.

A brainstorming session takes an unexpected turn, leading us to the land of Jane Austen, Bridgerton and Victorian parlor games. But what's that got to do with Russian scandals, a 90s classic kids' movie and a bucket of milk? Join us for the first episode of Don't Drink the Milk to find out what's up with our quirky name.