Gastropod

Jan 27th 2020

The United States of McDonald's

Episode Notes

McDonald's is mind-boggling. According to Adam Chandler, author of the recent book, Drive-Thru Dreams, it sells roughly 75 burgers every second and serves 68 million people every day—equivalent to 1 percent of the entire world's population. "The golden arches are thought to be, according to an independent survey, more recognizable as a symbol than the Christian cross is around the world," Chandler told us.

This episode, we tell the story of McDonald's—but more importantly, we explore what it has to say about who we are. To do that, we're also joined by historian Marcia Chatelain, author of the new book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, who helps us unpack the troubled but fascinating relationship between McDonald's and African Americans.

Why did taxpayers end up funding the spread of McDonald's into the inner city "food deserts" it now dominates? Who invented the hamburger and how did it become America's national cuisine? From a bustling barbecue stand in San Bernardino to Ray Kroc's location-scouting airplane rides, and from the McNugget to the McJob, this episode we figure out how McDonald's became so ubiquitous, and what that means for America.

Guests

Marcia Chatelain is associate professor of history and African-American studies at Georgetown University, and author of the new book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.

Adam Chandler is a journalist based in New York, and author of Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom.

About

Gastropod looks at food through the lens of science and history. Co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley serve up a brand new episode every two weeks. Each episode, we look at the hidden history and surprising science behind a different food and/or farming-related topic, from aquaculture to ancient feasts, from cutlery to chile peppers, and from microbes to Malbec.

We interview experts, visit labs, fields, and archaeological digs, and generally have lots of fun while discovering new ways to understand the world through food. We think these stories are fascinating, and we hope you will too.

The biologists and natural historians among you might be wondering why we chose to name our podcast after a class of molluscs. The short answer is that we didn’t. Friend, filmmaker, and legendary naming guru Dan Polsby suggested the name during a hike, and we liked the way it combined pod(casting) and gastro(nomy) in one snappy word. (You should have heard some of our other ideas.) As it turns out, our snail namesakes have eating habits after our own hearts: extremely diverse in methodology and omnivorous in content. Most use a radula, which is a “rasping tongue that basically resembles a miniature bucket-wheel excavator,” though some “feed suctorially,” and “they include grazers, browsers, suspension feeders, scavengers, detritivores, and carnivores.” In short, gastropods rule!

two snails crawling on green grass with big brown shells.

The hosts

Cynthia and Nicola met in 2013, as members of the inaugural group of UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellows, overseen by Michael Pollan and Malia Wollan. A year later, they decided to join forces to bring you Gastropod. Here’s a bit more about them.

Cynthia Graber

host Cynthia Graber woman with long red hair with leaves in the background.

Cynthia Graber is an award-winning radio producer and print reporter who’s covered science, technology, food, agriculture, and any other stories that catch her fancy for more than 15 years. She’s reported on ancient farming techniques in Peru’s Andean mountains, a scientist uncovering the secrets of regenerating limbs, and a goat with million-dollar blood.

Her work has been featured in magazines and radio shows including Fast Company, BBC Future, Slate, the Boston Globe, Studio 360, PRI’s The World, Living on Earth, and many others, and she’s a regular contributor to the podcast Scientific American’s 60-Second Science.

She was a 2012-2013 Knight Fellow at MIT, and her radio and print awards include those from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the international Institute of Physics. And her favorite breakfast includes greens—particularly baby bok choy—cooked with a bit of soy and fish sauce.

Nicola Twilley

Nicola Twilley headshot, woman with short brown hair and yellow shirt.

Nicola Twilley is a regular contributor to The New Yorker. She is at work on two books: one about refrigeration and the other about quarantine. In her spare time, she makes smog meringues.

She recently published an article that was the cover story for Wired. It was titled Algae Caviar, Anyone? What We'll Eat on the Journey to Mars. It is all about the food we will still eat and take with us as we begin to travel in space.

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