Gastropod Why Are Kids Dipping Cookies in Ranch, Are Food Comas Real, and What's Inside the Mummy's Stomach?
10 snips
Dec 17, 2024 Nikolai Kokushkin, a life sciences professor at NYU studying memory in sea slugs, and Abby Reisner, author of "Ranch," dive into the delightful oddities of food culture. They uncover the astonishing history of ranch dressing, birthed by a plumber turned culinary star, and discuss why kids are obsessed with pairing it with everything. The duo also explains the science behind food comas, linking them to sluggish sea slugs and revealing how our holiday feasts might just be wearing us out!
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Kiwi Obsession
- A teenage listener, Ayelet, loved the Gastropod episode "The Queen of Kiwis".
- She listened to it repeatedly after her tonsillectomy.
Ötzi's Last Meal
- Ötzi's stomach contents were analyzed to reveal his diet and circumstances surrounding his death.
- Scientists had to defrost Ötzi, Europe's oldest mummy, to take samples.
A Balanced, Yet Toxic, Diet
- Ötzi's last meal included ibex, red deer, einkorn wheat, and bracken fern.
- The bracken fern, surprisingly, is toxic, raising questions about its intentional consumption.