I initially enjoyed this podcast, but over time it’s become clear that it’s not grounded in objective research. Some episodes feel more like infomercials than investigations—like the canola oil episode, which featured a canola oil producer for an inappropriately long segment (inappropriate because the show claims to be about the science/history of food). The show is worryingly loose with facts, prioritizing feel-good storytelling and entertainment over accuracy. It’s not just disappointing—it’s risky to listen passively, because so much of the information isn’t reliable.

Podcast content is typically good. Used to listen to most episodes. Then you opened the seed oil episode and let your politics show through after playing clips of RFK and Joe Rogan.

They cover lots of interesting topics and do great in depth research. They have encouraged me to try new foods and made me think about where the foods I love come from. I always learn something new for a great dinnertime conversation

You apologize for playing a Rogan clip? I’m done.

my favorite podcast to listen to while trying to sleep

Love the co-hosts and the writing. The mango episode should have won an award.

Your show is anything but vanilla but yet if it even if it was would it be a bad thing? With that opening I hope you take into consideration doing a vanilla episode! Thank you!

Gastropod is the perfect way to end my day when I can’t stop thinking and stressing and need an escape that captures my attention, entertains me, teaches me something while reflecting on history, and I always walk away with cool fun facts to share with others. It’s literally the perfect podcast for me. I listen on the daily, evening dog walk and/or in the sauna after my workouts. Time flies in the sauna when I would otherwise count the seconds if I were just listening to music or reading. A lot of times I’m still listening with EarPods when I get home and my husband is like ummm helloooo. I’m captivated. I think you get the gist. I can’t express the extent of my gratitude. You guys are highly knowledgeable/ facts-based and cool. Rare combo. Thank you for being you and hosting such a fricken cool pod.

This podcast has gone downhill as it has become more popular. Not impressed - I have unsubscribed.

Greatest podcast ever!!!!! I love it sooo much and it is so interesting!

I love to listen to this podcast with my parents and we all love it and I got to see them in Boston and they were so nice! And plus it’s really interesting and I learned a lot that o don’t know!

This is the first podcast I listened too by Gastropod. Maybe I’m biased being connected with the earth and all it’s natural beauty so this episode specifically filled me with curiosity, joy, and hope. I loved the way the host(s) broke down the story over the long term from its conception when the indigenous of the land were restricted from living there any longer. They followed up even after a solution was started to really show that the problems we’ve created are going to take particular and delicate handling for generations to undo damage and try and weave the essentials together needed for ecology to takeoff and thrive beyond what our human touch can be. Wonderful Podcast!

Not sure I can make it any longer

I learn something new every episode! It’s the only podcast I make time to listen to

Love the show, but I have to say I’m glad I don’t contribute money because the amount of encore shows you guys post is a little bit out of hand. You do one show per week and every 2 to 3 weeks is an encore show, why?

Good

Great podcast, very informative, just wish one of the hosts wouldn’t annunciate so much, it’s a bit difficult to listen to

We listen to this podcast while driving and are always amazed at what we learn. They dig deep and make every topic interesting and relevant. The research is in depth and not fluff. The interview experts are well chosen. I have recommended this to friends and they are equally impressed. Can’t wait to read Nicola’s book after listening to her podcast.

Love the topics, but part of a good podcast is that it’s pleasant to hear. Are they intellectualizing themselves out of normal, everyday talking? One example—words like city and sitting are spelled with “t”s, but we pronounce them like “d”s. The hosts do sharp “t”s and it sounds strange enough to be distracting. The tone and cadence feels off too.

If you wanted a good podcast, keep looking. Left wing complaints about political leaders from the 80’s? In a podcast about ketchup? Give me a break.

I’m sorry but the speaking style sounds affected and it distracts from the great topics and conversation.

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My wife and I could only get thru 3 podcasts (bagels, hush puppies and one other) before we had to drop it. The content was a bit weak. Lots of this is what we think without a lot of support. Normally, I’d try a few more cause I like the other topics and it wasn’t bad. But we couldn’t take the tone. Pretentious, smug and this constant giggle of one of the hosts. I think the two hosts are journalists, not comedians so stop trying so hard. Some, like the two on Hard Fork, pull it off but we just had to stop.

Easily my favorite podcast. The hosts balance story telling, deep diving with subject matter experts, and humor to make a fun and informative podcast that I like so much I went back and listened to every episode after I found it.

“ You robots sound more human every day.”

actually due to the genetics composition, food tradition, environment exposures and all sorts of reasons, the most common food allergy in China is not peanut. Also, soy, tree nuts , sesames and wheat are far from the most commonly allergens in China. According to some latest studies, the statistics suggest the top allergens in China are shrimp, mango, shellfish, egg and fish. My brother is allergic to mango, luckily his allergic reaction is far from life threatening ones, which gives my parents a big relief.

First, I love your podcast!! Finally, someone is talking to the general public about loud restaurants!! Thank you so much for your educational and well researched episode on “Why Are Restaurants So Loud”. I’ve been complaining about this very thing for years, especially the loud music. This is the case with every restaurant I’ve visited in the metro Atlanta area in recent years. It’s unbearable! Thanks again for another great episode.

I used to listen to the pod a while back and I did like it, wasn’t a diehard fan but thought it was enjoyable! Then I started to notice more the one woman’s voice and the strange accent coming through at random inconsistent times. Don’t get me wrong idk if this is something she can even help, but I just can’t UNhear it anymore. I hadn’t listened in a while and then started the latest episode via switched on pop (which I love) and I had to stop listening bc it was driving me nuts. It starts to sound sort of uncanny valley AI or something. Idk not a bad pod but just so hard to listen to!

My husband and I listen to podcasts while eating dinner. We’re retired and don’t want to discuss stressful things while eating. We both really enjoy listening to Gastropod. We learn so much about food myths and facts in an enjoyable way. Highly recommend Gastropod.

The content of this podcast is so unique and interesting, but I have to give myself a break from it for long periods of time because of their annoying delivery. They are obviously reading scripts; thus, they sound unnatural and almost smug..in a well-intended, but often grating way. I wish they’d just converse in normal voices, particularly the one with the “British” accent. I know her story about living in England for a time, but the pronunciations are inconsistent and maybe intentionally obvious. I’ve only read one other review that had a problem with their voices, but their guests are so normal-sounding. I just wish they’d follow suit.

These two women, and one much more than the other, talk very weird. They pronounce words in a very unnatural way and are annoying to listen to. So, I guess I won’t listen to them. And, the topics are long-winded and boring anyway. Don’t waste your time.

Have been listening to/ supporting this podcast for years: completely impressed with the depth of the content. As a dietitian by training I always learn something more or deepen my knowledge on existing topics- food is at the center of everything so you come away with a lot of knowledge on the world and its history.

WHAT ON EARTH are you two playing at having a food & science podcast NEVER HAVING TRIED DIPPIN DOTS?! I love y’all, but that piece of info cut deep.

Good info. Good flow. I’d like it better if that one host didn’t speak like an AI

I just found this remarkable podcast! The depth and complexity of the research is impressive but the show doesn’t sound like a textbook. It is filled the fascinating and unexpected information delivered in an engaging and entertaining way. I’m binging this podcast!

Wish I had found it years ago! I have a lot of old episodes to catch up on :)

Great research on each topic. Love the quality, topics, length. Something is wrong with the voices for me. Yes it could be me. Like there’s a new tone or cadence trend that I’m not used to. But I find it grating and difficult to listen to. If you speed it up, it’s tolerable

The information is not bad but it’s too over produced and it sounds like the hosts are trying too hard while in the end sounding flat and boring. Makes it very hard to listen to.

I really wanted to like this podcast, as I love podcasts about food, stories diving into the history and cross-cultural aspects of things, and bonus of finding a podcast hosted by women. As luck would have it, the most recent episode when I came across the podcast was Rice, Rice Baby - surely something that would be interesting to me, a Chinese American woman. Unfortunately I was turned off within the first few seconds, where the episode intro used the “oriental riff” tune (you know what I’m talking about) in an otherwise cute ice-ice-baby parody. They then go on to imply that rice isn’t a very American grain/common food, indeed despite the fact that they go on to tell several stories about Asian American diaspora and rice, and also discuss the even longer history of rice and enslaved people in the US and how rice continues to be a part of Black American culture especially in the South. The small but still tasteless “went back where he came from - not Japan, but rice” joke also was just unnecessary. The people and stories featured really are interesting, but unfortunately I just found the presentation itself by the hosts to be a bit cringey.

I always enjoye the episodes. Making my way through the back catalog.

I started listening a couple of years ago and cannot wait for each episode to drop. Listening is fascinating in every way, and really makes you think about the food we eat today in a different light. Thank you guys for all the hard work!

Love your podcast, always learn something new. Note on the Banda Islands, went there 7 years ago. I don’t know when the author went there, but for me it was easy to get there, nothing traumatic about traveling there, but maybe because I didn’t go during monsoon season. I took the boat from Ambon but there is also a plane. I also took a small boat to Run and it was easy to get to. My trip to the Banda Islands was one of the best travel experiences of my life. Watch the documentary Ring of Fire for more context. I would definitely recommend visiting there for a once in a lifetime experience

I love this podcast. I’m a night time listener and like to hear things that are interesting but not disturbing. Since becoming a Gastropod listener I can hold forth on the mating habits of eels and the origin story of Coca Cola much longer than anyone wants to hear about it. Srsly, I like food a lot and enjoy learning all these food-adjacent stories, and you can’t beat Nicola Twilley and Cynthia Graber for on-mike charisma.

Many times the podcast hosts will bring up how little they ate of something or they make comments about how full they get off little food and say things like we have never tried so many blah blah blahs before. Or I only ate a nibble because we had so much food all day but loved it. No one cares. No. One. Cares. It just feels like listening to two boomers with an eating disorder because they low key try to one up each other by discussing who has the most restrictive diet and addressing food like they are embarrassed to eat it and think we want to hear them defensively talk about their personal portion sizes and it takes away from the story. Stop. We don’t subtly need to know if you ate the whole loaf of bread or not and it’s 2023 where the younger generations don’t want you passing your food trauma down to us and we for sure don’t want to hear about it in a food podcast that’s supposed to be based out of science. If you didn’t have side conversations like the above I would give the podcast 5 stars.

The strange histories behind some of our most common food products keep me coming back to this podcast! Very engaging hosts as well. A winner!

Subject matter very interesting and professionally produced but the singsong host sometimes drives me crazy. I tell friends who can’t stand her that sometimes she doesn’t get much airtime, especially when there are interviews. Maybe get another host or give her some training. No way she talks like that IRL.

I just started listening and now i am hooked!

Very interesting; however, based on this episode, I am an anomaly in that I have been able to follow keto for 5 mos while eating vegetables, consuming healthy fats (olive oil, avocado oil) and experiencing none of the food cravings that caused me to fall off the wagon on other diets. I’m closing in on age 60 and have lost over 40 lbs. I’m not on Keto for rapidity of weight loss, but to stop suffering from the food cravings that have derailed me from weight loss attempts most of my life. Eating keto/low carb at restaurants has not been difficult- there are many options! I plan to continue in this vein until I get to a healthy weight; however, if my blood tests or other exams should ever begin to show negative effects, I’ll make all necessary adjustments. So far, the good outweighs the bad, and I’ve never been happier or more hopeful.

I am a keto skeptic, but I value logic more than any diet. The episode on keto was nothing but a hit piece, pure and simple. There was not much in the way of science. Instead, we mostly got logical fallacies like ad hominem attacks on Dr Atkkns (not sure what his personal life has to do with the merits of keto), argument by association (make fun of the martini diet because why?), and so much “some people say” that the insurrectionist in chief would be proud. And exaggerating the diet to the point of caricature again avoids the issue. The “eating animals is bad for the environment” is the closest you got to science, but it again has nothing to do with whether keto works or is healthy. The social difficulties? That may have been the low point. Just get a burger without the bun. I mostly liked your podcast, but (when this pitiful imitation of information is added to that weird accent that mostly sounds American but occasionally jars listeners with an unexpected British deviation), I quit.

Smart, interesting and always informative! Thanks for all the work that goes into each podcast!