Portugal: Spices, Empire, and the Pepper That Built Lisbon

Ivory Coast: Blood Chocolate

Why does the country that grows 45 percent of the world's cocoa receive between five and seven percent of the value of the chocolate bar it becomes? How did a single crop fund two civil wars simultaneously — with the government and the rebels taxing the same beans to buy weapons to fight each other? And what does the concept of Ivoirité — invented to exclude a presidential rival — have to do with the farms that feed the global chocolate industry? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Côte d'Ivoire and cocoa — the Ivorian Miracle, the blood chocolate report, and the smallholder farmers at the end of the longest supply chain in food... ---------- In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! * Share this episode with your friends * Give a 5-star rating * Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

Uruguay: The Basque Vine

Why did a Basque immigrant fleeing the Carlist Wars plant a vine from the Pyrenees on the banks of the Uruguay River in 1870 — and how did that single decision produce what may now be the healthiest red wine grape in the world? How does a pre-phylloxera cutting, preserved in Uruguayan soil while the original European stock was wiped out, become a living archive of a grape that no longer exists in its original form in France? And what does it mean that Uruguay didn't pick Tannat — Tannat picked Uruguay? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Uruguay and the Basque vine — the Carlist Wars, the old vines, the cardiology research, and the smallest nation ever to win the World Cup... ---------- In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh. The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here [https://www.jkfresh.com/]! ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! 1. Share this episode with your friends 2. Give a 5-star rating 3. Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

England: 5,245 Acts of Parliament

Why did Parliament pass 5,245 individual Acts to enclose 6.8 million acres of English common land — and why does almost nobody in England know it happened? Who were the people who lost the right of pannage, turbary, and estovers, and what does it mean that the hedged fields every English person loves as the quintessential English countryside are the direct product of the legislation that destroyed the English peasantry? And how do the Enclosure Acts, Kett's Rebellion, the Swing Riots, and the Premier League turn out to be the same story told two centuries apart? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of England and the commons — the open fields, the Parliamentary robbery, and the hedge that made the view beautiful by ending a way of life... ---------- In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! * Share this episode with your friends * Give a 5-star rating * Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

Switzerland: The Cherry and the Still

How does a fruit with a two-day shelf life become one of Switzerland's great protected exports? Why does the finest kirsch come not from Germany's Black Forest but from a small lake-side canton in Central Switzerland? And why does a splash of cherry brandy hold a bowl of molten cheese together at every Swiss dinner table? Join John and Patrick as they trace the story of kirsch — from wild cherries in the forests of Central Europe, through the Chriesimärt of Zug and the founding of Etter in 1870, to the almond note hidden in every glass and the layered indulgence of the Zuger Kirschtorte. Along the way: distillation, terroir, blossoming orchards on the slopes above Lake Zug, and the tale of a spirit that turns a single Alpine spring into something that can travel the world in a bottle. ---------- In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh. The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here [https://www.jkfresh.com/]! ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! 1. Share this episode with your friends 2. Give a 5-star rating 3. Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

Algeria: The Wine That Made France French

Why was Algeria, a predominantly Muslim country in North Africa, the largest exporter of wine in the world — and why has almost nobody heard of it? How did the phylloxera catastrophe that destroyed French vineyards quietly turn colonial Algeria into the hidden engine of French wine, with Algerian reds shipped in unmarked barrels to be blended into Bordeaux and Burgundy without anyone asking where they came from? And what does it mean that the appellation system which defines French wine as we know it today was partly invented to keep Algerian wine out? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Algeria and the vine — the stolen land, the abandoned cellars, Albert Camus's impossible dilemma, and the 400,000 hectares that disappeared overnight in 1962... ---------- In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! * Share this episode with your friends * Give a 5-star rating * Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]