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 267: Tea Time
Episode 266: Persia: Cuisines without Borders
Episode 265: A Little Bit Irish
Episode 264: Pho: History in a Bowl
Episode 263: African American History Through the Lens of Food NMAAHC
Episode 262: Handwritten Recipes and Marginalia
Episode 261: What's a Wok? The Evolution of Chinese Food in America
Episode 260: History and Origin of Coconuts and Their Use in Cooking
Episode 259: Celebrations of Winter Solstice
Episode 258: What Menus Tell Us
Episode 257: All About Butter
Episode 256: As American as...Black Pepper? Surprising Flavors of American Cuisine
Episode 255: A Culinary Journey: Historic Food Traditions
Episode 254: The Myth of the Italian Mamma
Episode 253: China: 3000 Years of Flavor
Episode 252: American Cake
Episode 251: What's In a Name: A Spirits History
Episode 250:Ten Restaurants that Changed America
Episode 249: Food and Memories
Episode 248: Stroopwafels – How the Dutch Gave Us Our Cookies
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