To Ears With Love is a regular column about our favorite podcasts. Ever listen to a podcast, find it entrancing, only to binge listen to the whole thing and be left with nothing but silence or a Spotify playlist? FangirlNation is here to help with some suggestions.
Gastropod is one of the podcasts I listen to as soon as it comes out. It has three of my favorite topics all rolled into one: Food, science, and history, plus the goodness of a punny title. Hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley put out a new episode each week, interviewing a wide range of experts in their fields. So far, Gastropod guests have included scientists, authors, historians, farmers, nutritionists, and cooks. Graber and Twilley take listeners afield as well. For example, the pair has traveled to the Netherlands to visit a model gut, traveled to Tuscany while reporting on olive oil, and to Mexico to explore the definitions (and flavors) of tequila and mezcal.
The women are engaging hosts, clearly enthusiastic about their topic as well as knowledgeable. It is fun spending time with them twice a month, and I always learn something new. The range of research present in each topic is impressive; often, there are multiple interviews as well as clear indication of multiple background research beforehand. The sound quality on Gastropod is also good. It is easy to hear what is being said even as I go about doing all the daily things one does while listening to podcasts.
Gastropod episodes vary in length, but they tend to be in the forty-five minute range. The podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms. Follow the podcast on Twitter @Gastropodcast.
