Direct naar content

How the Jalapeño Lost Its Heat

Food critic Brian Reinhart fell in love with spicy Mexican cuisine as a teenager in Texas, but over the years he started to notice that the jalapeños he’d buy in the grocery store were less and less hot. So he called up an expert who studies chili pepper genetics, and she shared a shocking revelation. In this episode from our friends at the Slate podcast Decoder Ring, host Willa Paskin tells the story, then talks with Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, who puts the jalapeño in the context of an age-old cycle in the American obsession with Mexican food.

Brian Reinhart’s article about the jalapeño ran in D Magazine. Gustavo Arellano’s book is called Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America

This episode was produced by Evan Chung.

Follow Decoder Ring wherever you listen to podcasts. 

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Kameel Stanley, Jared O'Connell, and Giulia Leo. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Datum:
Duur:

Meer afleveringen van The Sporkful

  • This Butcher Wants You To Eat Less Meat (Reheat)

    How the (part veggie) sausage gets made...Cara Nicoletti comes from a long line of butchers, but her grandfather didn’t want her to follow in his footsteps. It’s physical work, it requires long hours, the pay isn’t great, and the path...
  • How Jessica B. Harris Redefined American Food

    Over more than fifty years and 16 books, Dr. Jessica B. Harris has uncovered the ways that West African food, and African American people, have fundamentally shaped American cuisine. Her seminal 2011 book, High on the Hog, brought the...
  • The Hidden History of Regional Burgers (Reheat)

    Welcome to our summer cookout spectacular episode! We talk with renowned burger historian George Motz about the history of the hamburger, and about the wide range of regional burgers across the country, many of which are unknown outside...