Sarah’s on summer break this week, so Beth sits down with chef, culinary historian, and seventh-grade history teacher Mica Chavez to trace how food actually built the world we live in — from the Columbian Exchange and the science behind corn, to slavery, immigration, and the industrial food system we’re stuck with today.
Topics discussed:
- The Columbian Exchange: how corn, chili, potatoes, and tomatoes reshaped diets on both sides of the Atlantic
- The science of nixtamalization — why New World corn didn’t wreck teeth the way Old World wheat did
- How chili peppers spread across the globe via birds
- The Irish potato famine’s surprising link to New Mexico settlement history
- Indigenous and Spanish foodways merging in the Southwest: acequias, sheep, and companion planting
- How mechanization and post-WWII food policy created the mass-produced, processed food system
- Precision farming, AI, and the tension between efficiency and sustainability
- What to cook this summer (hint: it’s pie)
Speaking of good food and good company — the Minneapolis live show after party has both! Get your tickets here.
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Pantsuit Politics is a podcast for real conversations that help us understand politics, democracy, and the news - while still treating each other like thoughtful human beings. We take a different approach to the news; our political analysis blends hard facts with important social and cultural undercurrents so you don’t miss the big picture. Over years of discussing everything from abortion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we established basic rules of engagement, which we describe in our books, Now What? How to Move Forward When We’re Divided (About Basically Everything) (2022) and I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation (2019). Listeners describe us as “America’s political therapists” and “our trusted, smarter friends who can help us make sense of the world.”
