Chewing Gum

In today's episode, Katie has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... Chewing Gum! Uh huh, that's right, chewing gum. All these years you've been popping a little piece of who-knows-what in your mouth and chowing down for hours at a time, knowing little to nothing about what it is you're munching on. So we're gonna tell you! Although humans have a very long history of yanking bits off of trees and chewing them, the fairy tale that is modern chewing gum starts with a sticky substance called chicle from the sapodilla tree in South America. And we have the Aztec, the Maya, and an exiled Mexican president to thank for it. Gum has taken some interesting twists throughout history, but we are happy to hear that good old-fashioned chicle is making a comeback. We expected this to be an easy, laid back topic, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Pop in a piece of Glee Gum and listen!

 

Highlights include: 

- A mile-long billboard made of 117 signs... for gum!

- A nauseating description of modern gum-making

- Wanna stop crying when you cut onions? Chew gum!

 

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Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy