Though rice might not feature in a hit 1990s Vanilla Ice rap, this grain tops the charts in other ways: it's the staple food for more than half the global population, and it's grown by more farmers than any other crop on Earth, from Japan to West Africa to Italy's Po River valley. Rice is so central that it's been used as currency, embedded itself in languag ... Show More
Nov 18
From Fountain of Youth to Fruit on the Bottom: How Yoghurt Finally Made it Big in America
Yoghurt is the most diverse section of the dairy case: from Icelandic skyr to creamy Australian, and fruity French Yoplait to full-fat Greek. With something to suit every palate, plus a dose of microbes to support healthy digestion, yoghurt is a staple food in the US, hero of a m ... Show More
50m 45s
Nov 4
Yes, You Really Can Make Food From Thin Air—And We Tried It
Every second of every day, plants on earth do something miraculous: they take the carbon dioxide from air and turn it into food. With very few exceptions, everything we eat starts out that way. But what if we wanted to cut out the middlemen, re-wild all those fields full of wheat ... Show More
48m 19s
Oct 21
Pizza Pizza!
At last, an episode on pizza! But that raises a tricky question: what exactly is pizza? As it turns out, the original pizzas from eighteenth-century Naples looked nothing like a standard slice—they were more like a focaccia, topped with oil, herbs, anchovies, or whatever else was ... Show More
46m 10s
Mar 2023
Perennial Rice: Plant Once, Harvest Again And Again
Rice is arguably the world's most important staple crop. About half of the global population depends on it for sustenance. But, like other staples such as wheat and corn, rice is cultivated annually. That means replanting the fields year after year, at huge cost to both the farme ... Show More
12m 30s
Jun 2022
The Rights of Rice and Future of Nature
<p>The Ojibwe name for wild rice is Manoomin, which translates to “the good berry.” The scientific name is <i>Zizania palustris</i>. It’s the only grain indigenous to North America, and while it might be called rice, it’s actually not closely related to brown or white rice at all ... Show More
44m 31s
Apr 2010
090 ND What's the Healthiest Type of Rice?
<p>The more rice you eat, the more benefit you'll get from eating brown rice, at least most of the time. If you're looking for a more nutritious kind of rice, you might want to consider adding wild rice to the mix once in a while.</p><p>Nutrition Diva is hosted by Monica Reinagel ... Show More
5m 15s
Jun 2021
Presenting: Gastropod
Over the past century, we've transformed the arid lands of the American west into year-round, well-irrigated agricultural powerhouses. Today, fruits, nuts, and nearly all of our leafy greens are grown in the desert, using water diverted, stored, and supplied at taxpayer expense. ... Show More
57m 40s