Gum's the Word: A Sticky Story

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Arts, Science, History, Food

4.7 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s sticky, it’s breath-freshening, and, according to the FDA, it’s technically food—this episode, we’re chewing on the science and history of gum! As it turns out, humans have been harvesting rubbery things to chew just for the chomp of it for thousands of years. But why? We're joined by anthropologists, archaeologists, gum scientists, and etiquette experts on our journey from the ancient birch tar-chewers of Scandinavia to the invention of modern-day, many-flavored bubblegum. How did an exiled Mexican president, a desperate Staten Island inventor, and a soap-selling runaway help gum go from something the Aztecs thought was only fit for children, the elderly, and prostitutes to a multi-billion dollar industry? Why did one country decide to ban gum altogether? And, with its popularity waning, is the gum-chewing bubble about to burst? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, it's horrible. How should I put it out?
0:08.0	I can't get enough of it out of my mouth.
0:10.0	I have a little bit stuck in my teeth.
0:12.0	Okay, it's dry. It's crunchy, and it tastes like I don't even know.
0:16.0	It tastes like really bad in sense.
0:18.0	Yeah. Yeah.
0:22.0	Listen folks, it is not all fun and games here at GastroBaud,
0:26.0	which is what you're listening to, by the way.
0:28.0	I'm Nicola Twilly. And I'm Cynthia Graber.
0:30.0	And like Nikki said, this is GastroBaud, the podcast that looks at food
0:34.0	through the lens of science and history.
0:36.0	Sometimes, you know, we stretch our definition of what food is to things you just chew on.
0:40.0	Point of order, Cynthia. Chewing gum is food, at least according to the federal food and drug administration, aka the FDA.
0:48.0	Great, so it really is a perfect fit food it is.
0:50.0	But, you know, not food you swallow.
0:52.0	Although, will it kill you if you do?
0:54.0	That is an easy answer you will not die from swallowing chewing gum.
0:58.0	But other questions about gum are little stickier.
1:00.0	Like, what do a Mexican president, the battle of the Alamo and Staten Island, have to do with the invention of modern chewing gum?
1:08.0	We've got that story alongside many more topics that you can really sink your teeth into,
1:14.0	such as what on earth did people chew before the advent of juicy fruit?
1:18.0	And even more basic, what the hell is gum?
	...

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