Just vanilla
The Food Chain
BBC
4.7 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2024
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dull? Boring? Plain?
Vanilla is a byword for something which is ordinary or standard.
In this programme Ruth Alexander finds the story of the popular spice is anything but normal.
Originating in Mexico it’s travelled the globe and taken over, and is now one of the most valuable commodities available.
It’s gone from being highly sought after and the height of luxury – even serving as an aphrodisiac for Mesoamericans and a European monarch - to ubiquitous and considered “regular”.
Despite its reputation there is still a lot to appreciate about this complex flavour, and fans in one ice cream parlour are keen to make sure it isn’t overlooked.
Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producers: Nina Pullman and Hannah Bewley
(Image: A vanilla bean and flower. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm no longer ravenous. I'll no longer eat until I fall asleep. The Hunger Game, |
| 0:05.9 | a new five-part series exploring the meteoric rise of weight loss drugs. It's been an incredible |
| 0:10.7 | story with these drugs. The uptake, the amount of product that's been sold, the amounts of money |
| 0:15.1 | is cost. What the drugs do, how they work, and the knock-on effects of their widespread use. |
| 0:20.5 | We'll be sitting here in three years' time going, oh, it caused problems that we're now going to have to fix. |
| 0:26.2 | The Hunger Game with me, Professor Gilesio. |
| 0:29.1 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:37.1 | What's the most boring flavour you can think of? |
| 0:40.6 | Vanilla? |
| 0:41.7 | Vanilla cake, vanilla. Banana bread. |
| 0:46.1 | Vanilla, anything. |
| 0:48.3 | It is ordinary, bland and plain. |
| 0:52.4 | Think again. |
| 0:53.4 | It's almost indescribable pure vanilla. |
| 0:56.1 | It's unlike anything else. |
| 0:57.6 | In this episode of the food chain from the BBC World Service with me Ruth Alexander, |
| 1:02.8 | we're learning to appreciate vanilla. |
| 1:05.6 | I've had people come up to me to say they couldn't believe that that's what vanilla tasted like. |
| 1:10.6 | We're discovering the surprising story of this complex spice, how it went from |
| 1:15.6 | forest floor to the plates of kings and queens to, well, it's everywhere. |
| 1:21.5 | In medicine, in soap, and air fresheners, in cosmetics, in perfume. |
| 1:26.4 | And we'll find out why this arguably overused and underrated flavor is still one of the |
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