Fasting from food is a controversial, dangerous, and yet utterly normal human practice. Christine Baumgarthuber discusses our fascination with restrictive eating in cultural history from her new book, Why Fast? If fasting offers few health benefits, why do people fast? Why have we always fasted? Does fasting speak to something deep and immutable within us? Why are our bodies so well adapted to intermittent fasting? And, what might this ancient, ascetic ritual offer us today?
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Episode 307: Treasures of Medieval Egyptian Cooking
Episode 306: The Virginia Housewife: Cooking Mary Randolph
Episode 305: Some Like it Hot--Jamaican Jerk History
Episode 304: The Embattled History of Milk
Episode 303: 1920's Food Radio with "Aunt Sammy"
Episode 302: Magic Bean: History of Soy in America
Episode 301: Power of the Press: History of Restaurant Reviewing
Episode 300: Food of the Islamic World
Episode 299: Halal Food: a History
Episode 298: Something Fishy: Garum, Liquamen and Muria – What’s in a Name?
Episode 297: 150th Anniversary of the Feminist Lunch that Broke Boundaries
Episode 296: The Greedy Queen: Dining in the Time of Victoria
Episode 295: Hot on the Trail: Tracing Peppers of the Americas
Episode 294: Raising Cane
Episode 293: What Makes a Cookbook a Classic?
Episode 292: History and Evolution of the American Restaurant Chef
Episode 291: Hidden Cooks in the White House
Episode 290: The History and Evolution of Noodles
Episode 289: Tasting Ancient Rome: Recreating Ancient Recipes and What Archaeology Tells Us
Episode 288: David Shields, The Seed Sleuth, Repatriating Heirloom Crops
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