{"podcast":{"title":"Gastropod","slug":"gastropod-946737","podcast_index_feed_id":946737,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/VMP6255701211","website_url":"https://gastropod.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/97d6d85e-e320-11eb-be6b-3ff4d7cb8782/image/3af290d77dd48789f45dcd5a93483cd1.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley","episode_count":292,"summary":"Food with a side of science and history. Every other week, co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley serve up a brand new episode exploring the hidden history and surprising science behind a different food- 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 think about and understand the world through food. Find us online at gastropod.com, follow us on Twitter @gastropodcast, and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/gastropodcast.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T08:18:35.860140+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/gastropod-946737"},"episode":{"title":"Bringing Home the Bacon: From Shakespeare to the Baconator","slug":"bringing-home-the-bacon-from-shakespeare-to-the-baconator","published_at":"2026-06-23T15:59:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/gastropod-946737/bringing-home-the-bacon-from-shakespeare-to-the-baconator","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/gastropod-946737","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP5608011855.mp3","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/VMP5608011855.mp3","summary":"For many Americans, bacon is an essential element of the perfect breakfast—not to mention a welcome addition to everything from cheeseburgers to doughnuts. But bacon hasn't always been beloved. Ancient Egyptians elites looked down on pork, Judaism and Islam banned it entirely, and in Shakespeare’s time, calling someone “bacon brains” was a serious insult. So how did we go from bacon shaming to today's full-on baconmania? We’re calling in the bacon experts to uncover how pigs domesticated themselves before becoming the key to world domination, what Sigmund Freud has to do with the ascendance of bacon and eggs as a breakfast staple, and why \"bringing home the bacon\" is the key to marital bliss. Listen in now for the salty story of humanity's on-again, off-again love affair with these streaky strips! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"For many Americans, bacon is an essential element of the perfect breakfast—not to mention a welcome addition to everything from cheeseburgers to doughnuts…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2890,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/gastropod-946737/episodes/bringing-home-the-bacon-from-shakespeare-to-the-baconator/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/gastropod-946737/bringing-home-the-bacon-from-shakespeare-to-the-baconator.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}