Every Bite

You're starving, it's been a long day, and you just want something hot and ready to eat, right now. Turns out, that craving is nothing new. Two thousand years ago, Romans were lining up at stone counters in the streets of Pompeii for exactly the same thing — though what was on the menu might surprise you. From ancient Rome to the hawker stalls of Singapore to a pie cart on the Parramatta River, we trace fast food's deep history across empires and oceans, long before the first drive-thru.
Guests:
Steven Ellis, Roman archaeologist, University of Cincinnati, author of The Roman Retail Revolution
Aidan Wong, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Singapore Management University
Jan O'Connell, food writer, author of A Timeline of Australian Food: From Mutton to MasterChef, creator of the Australian Food Timeline
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at everybite@abc.net.au
This episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

On the day her family fled Afghanistan, Durkhanai Ayubi's grandfather shook walnuts from his tree as a blessing for the journey. The family settled in Adelaide, where they have run the Afghan restaurant Parwana since 2009. It recently received a Bib Gourmand in South Australia's first Michelin Guide. In her recent memoir, She Who Tastes Knows, Durkhanai explores how food carries memory and connects us to each other's cultures. Far from the war-torn images we know from the news, she describes Afghanistan as a land of fertile valleys, ancient seeds and pomegranates so big you need two hands to hold them. Durkhanai speaks with Jonathan Green.
Guest: 
Durkhanai Ayubi, author of She Who Tastes Knows: A Memoir of Food, Exile and Awakening. Her family runs the Michelin-recognised Parwana Afghan Kitchen in Adelaide
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at everybite@abc.net.au
This episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Hundreds of millions of people lived behind the Iron Curtain, in the Soviet Union and in allied countries such as Bulgaria. The state controlled many facets of daily life, including food. The rich and varied cuisines of a vast territory were recast in the state's mould, prioritising efficiency, uniformity and nutrition over tradition. So which culinary traditions endured, and how? Did some cuisines thrive or find new expression during these years? And how has this era changed what we eat today?
Guests: 
Darra Goldstein, food writer, retired professor of Russian at Williams College, author of The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food
Ella Mittas, chef, food writer, author of Ela! Ela! To Italy, Georgia, Bulgaria and Home
Dessislava Dimitrova, ethnobotanist and founder of Slow Food Bulgaria
Ekaterina Terzieva, founder of the culinary tour company SlowTours.bg
Farhod Baltabaev, chef and owner of Shish Authentic Uzbek Cuisine in Mareeba
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at everybite@abc.net.au
This episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Ask someone to name their top three vegetables and chances are the potato will make the cut. But why? On its own, a spud tastes of surprisingly little. And while it's now one of the world's most important food crops, outside its native South America the potato was once eyed with suspicion, and in parts of France it was even banned. Prompted by The Science Show's Belinda Smith, a self-confessed potato superfan, we ask a food scientist, a historian and a farmer how the potato became a perennial favourite — mashed, roasted or fried — and whether it deserves its place on our plates.
Guests: 
Belinda Smith, co-host of The Science Show
Russell Keast, professor of food and sensory science at Deakin University
Barbara Santich, food historian and emerita professor at Adelaide University
Garry Kadwell, farmer, Kadwell & Co Gourmet Potatoes
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at everybite@abc.net.au
This episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Why does so much supermarket veg taste of not much at all? Over the past century, vegetables have been bred for yield, shelf life and good looks, and flavour has often been the casualty. The range of plants we eat has narrowed too. Of the thousands of plant species humans have cultivated for food, about 200 now dominate. That loss of biodiversity is about more than taste; it also affects our food security. So can we breed flavour — and resilience — back into our vegetables?
Guests:
Dan Barber, Michelin-starred chef and owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, author of The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food
Ali Francis, food journalist and author of The Curious Lives of Vegetables
Get in touch:
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at everybite@abc.net.au
This episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.