Food Non-Fiction

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is about the famous cereal mascot - Tony the Tiger. Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music: Apollo by SANTIAGOO

This is the incredible true story of Turnspit Dogs. The turnspit dog is an extinct breed of dog. This breed was used in kitchens to turn roasting spits back when roasting was done over an open fire, rather than in an oven. The earliest known reference to to this breed is in a book called "De Canibus Britannicis" by Dr. Caius. In this book, which was published in 1570, turnspit dogs were described as a kitchen service dog. Turnspit dogs were put into wooden wheels (that looked like giant hamster wheels), and made to run inside the wheel, which turned a chain, which turned the spit. Thank You to Our Interviewee: Ciara Farrell from The Kennel Club Thank You to this Looperman Artist for the Music: Melody by Slice0fCake

This episode explores the history of Halloween and the vague beginnings of trick or treating! Thank You To Our Interviewee: Professor Nick Rogers Thank You To Looperman Artists for the Music: Melody by Slice0fCake Father Grimlin - Temperament Strings by JulietStarling Dark Creepy Piano by Zaqsi

In this Food Non-Fiction podcast episode, we talk about the beginning of Cadbury. We go right back to a time before Cadbury even existed. Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music: happily ever after strings perfect for movie score by nbeats26 oboe 65 70 bpm by soleilxlune Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems For more information on the topic, we recommend this book: "Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers" by Deborah Cadbury

This is the story of the extremely popular and iconic Huy Fong Foods hot sauce - Sriracha. The company, Huy Fong Foods, is an American success story. The founder, David Tran, left Vietnam in 1979 and ended up in the U.S., along with many of his fellow refugees. He had been part of the Chinese minority in Vietnam, and because of his Chinese heritage, he had been pressured to leave after the Vietnam War. David Tran missed the taste of the hot sauces from Vietnam, and also needed to make money, so he started the company, Huy Fong Foods, in 1980 in California. The company was named after the freighter that he took to leave Vietnam. It was named "Huey Fong". Huy Fong Foods has never spent money on advertising, but it continues to grow year after year. They make Sriracha from fresh red Jalapeno peppers, which comes from Underwood Ranches - their sole supplier. The peppers are delivered within hours of harvesting. It's believed that the original Sriracha sauce was created by a woman named Thanom Chakkapak from a coastal town in Thailand called Si Racha. The original sauce is still being produced, and it is called "Sriraja Panich". It is sweeter and runnier than the Huy Fong Foods brand Sriracha that we know so well. Thank You to Our Interviewees: Griffin Hammond Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez Craig Underwood Thank You to Looperman Artists for the Music: relaxed chillout strings by rasputin1963 within reach piano by designedimpression DNB EXPLOSION Piano by frogdude34

This episode is about vending machines. The first reference to a vending machine is from the 1st century AD in Egypt. The reference is in a book called "Pneumatika", written by Hero of Alexandria. In it, there is a detailed description and a picture of a device, which dispensed water when you put in a five-drachma coin. This was invented for dispensing equal amounts of sacrificial water at Egyptian temples. This was a source of money for the Egyptian temples, and it also made sure everyone got the same amount of holy water. Here is how it worked: Imagine a teeter totter. When a coin was dropped into the holy water dispenser, it fell on one end of the teeter totter, causing the other end to lift up, also opening a little exit which let the holy water out. As the teeter totter moved down on the side with the coin, the coin eventually fell off. Once the coin fell, the teeter totter reset and the water exit closed. Unfortunately, one of these devices has never been found, so we don't know if this was just a design concept or if it was actually used. In fact, we're not even sure who invented it. It's possible that the author of the book, Hero of Alexandria, invented it. It's also possible that one of his predecessors, Ctesibius, invented it. After that, it wasn't until the 1600s that more vending machines were introduced to the world. Around 1615, you could get tobacco from coin operated devices in English taverns and inns. Here's how the tobacco device worked: When you put your coin in, it pressed a trigger that popped open the lid. These were very crude vending machines. After each use, you had to manually close it again. And you also had to watch to make sure people didn't take everything in the box, because when the lid was open, you could just take all the tobacco. The next version of vending machines also appeared in England. Richard Carlile was a publisher and a bookseller who believed in freedom of the press. He had been arrested for selling political texts, so in 1822 he created a book vending machine, hoping to avoid more legal charges that way - because it would be the machine selling the books, not him. Anyhow, the courts did not agree with that logic, and he was still held responsible for selling the books. Moving on to 1857, we get the first patent for a fully automatic vending machine. It was called "A Self Acting Machine for the Delivery of Postage and Receipt Stamps". That didn't take off either. Finally, in England, 1883, we get a more successful vending machine. That year, Percival Everitt got his patent for a vending machine which dispensed postcards. With that vending machine, people could finally buy postcards when shops were closed. In 1888, the Adams Gum Company installed vending machines on the platforms of rail stations in New York. These vending machines were designed to sell Tutti-Frutti gum, and inspired the creation of more vending machines that sold small snacks like candy and peanuts. Gum was a great product to sell because it was cheap, it lasted a long time, and they came with no health concerns. Gum can also take a good amount of abuse. You can drop it without it breaking it, and it doesn't melt when it gets hot out - the way chocolate bars do - so quality control was not an issue. In 1911, many of the big players in the vending machine business started to merge together to become the Autosales Gum and Chocolate Company. This company combined the major players in the chewing gum business, together holding 250 names and brands, and the major players in the vending machine making business, together controlling many patents and wide distribution. The idea behind the Autosales Gum and Chocolate Company was that their vending machines would sell small versions of the goods they wanted people to buy over the counter. The vending machines were a way to market the goods. But vending machines still had a long way to go before becoming the $43 billion industry it is today. The vending machine industry has been plagued with bad behaviour since the start. People abuse the machines. People hit vending machines when they don't get their purchased item, they plug the coin slots with random objects for fun, drunk people pour beer into the coin slot, and people also use other objects to mimic coins - these mimics are called "slugs". Slugs were a really big problem, especially in the early 1900s when vending machines were not great at identifying fake coins. In the 1940s vending machines improved their system for checking for slugs. Coins went through multiple tests before they were accepted by the machines. First, the vending machines would test the size of the coin. Then they tested for iron and steel with a magnet - if the coin was magnetic, it would be returned. Then the coin was tested for the proper weight. Then the coin was tested with metallurgy to check for the right composition (for example foreign currency was sometimes used and this test would uncover that). Real coins passed these 4 tests within a fraction of a second. Vending machines really took off in the post-WWII period. They were a convenient way to feed the workers in the factories. Factories also earned commission from vending machine sales. Over time, the technology became more sophisticated. Today, machines are great at detecting fake money, operators can monitor the machines remotely, sensors and machine-learning reduce the energy usage by turning off things like the lighting when there are no customers, and machines can take credit cards. The next step for the vending machine industry is to make vending machines a destination, rather than a last resort. Touch screen video displays and other interactive features are being added that are making vending machines much more fun. Thank you to our Interviewees: Tim Sanford - Editor-in-Chief of Vending Times Dr. Michael Kasavana - National Automatic Merchandising Association Endowed Professor Thanks to Looperman Artists for the Music: happily ever after strings perfect for movie score by nbeats26 Whats Goin Down by rasputin1963 Strings Universal - RIP Old Friend by MINOR2GO Funky Guitar by Neems 1 by Neems

This Food Non-Fiction podcast episode is about vanilla! We explain the causes behind the rise and fall of the price of vanilla. It is a product that has very erratic cycles of prices skyrocketing then crashing, skyrocketing then crashing. The supply never seems to match the demands. We discuss a possible solution to this - fair trade. Special Thanks to Our Interviewees: Felix Buccellato of Custom Essence Richard J. Brownell We highly recommend this book about vanilla: "Vanilla Orchids: Natural History and Cultivation" by Ken Cameron Thank You to Truekey for the Music, as well as Looperman Artists: Memories Acoustic 1 by BradoSanz chillwave bass and synth by Djpuzzle Going Up by LarsM