Slate Culture Feed8 Mai 2024

Decoder Ring - How the Jalapeño Lost Its Heat

The jalapeño is the workhorse of hot peppers. They’re sold fresh, canned, pickled, in hot sauces, salsas, smoked into chipotles, and they outsell all other hot peppers in the United States. These everyday chilies are a scientific and sociological marvel, and tell a complicated story about Mexican food and American palates.

In today’s episode, we meet Dallas-based food critic Brian Reinhart, who fell in love with spicy Mexican cuisine as a teenager. Recently, Brian started to notice that the jalapeños he’d buy in the grocery store were less and less hot. So he called up an expert: Dr. Stephanie Walker, who studies chili pepper genetics at New Mexico State University. She explains that the food industry has been breeding milder jalapeños for decades – a project led by “Dr. Pepper” himself, Benigno Villalon.

Finally, Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano puts the jalapeño in context, as part of an age-old cycle in Americans’ obsession with Mexican food: one more ingredient that’s been “discovered,” celebrated, then domesticated.

Brian Reinhart’s article about the jalapeño ran in D Magazine. Gustavo Arellano’s book is called Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America.

This episode was produced by Evan Chung, who produces the show with Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you haven’t yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.

If you’re a fan of the show, please sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring and all other Slate podcasts without any ads and have total access to Slate’s website. Your support is also crucial to our work. Go to Slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(3099)

ICYMI - We Need To Talk About Jimothy

In a matter of days, Jimothy the raccoon went from a neighborhood mascot to a viral sensation. But unlike the internet animals who came before him, Jimothy has no owners, and isn’t protected by a zoo....

29 Jul 31min

Decoder Ring - The Fight Over Sunlight

The sun has always been a hot topic. For centuries, we’ve flip-flopped over whether our health depends on soaking up its rays—or shielding ourselves from them. The current conventional wisdom is clear...

29 Jul 52min

Death, Sex & Money - How a Very Polite Danny McBride Creates Characters That Go Berserk

The man behind artful and goofy comedies like The Righteous Gemstones and Eastbound and Down talks about finding his people at an upstart public film program in North Carolina, crafting characters tha...

28 Jul 57min

ICYMI - Do Healthy Relationships To Chatbots Exist?

Is AI romance inevitable? And who are the people in these relationships? Bridget Todd, host of There Are No Girls On The Internet, joins us to talk about her new audiobook Love At First Prompt, where ...

25 Jul 35min

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - The Run This Town Edition

Jay-Z recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of his debut Reasonable Doubt with a three-night residency at Yankee Stadium featuring superstar guests like Pharrell, Nas, Alicia Keys and, of course, B...

25 Jul 39min

ICYMI - Coupled Up With The Internet

The app-ification of dating has made meeting people even more difficult. But no one ever talks about what comes after: when you are in a relationship with someone, and have brand new digital etiquette...

22 Jul 31min

Death, Sex & Money - The Sexy Soundtrack for the ‘New Black Middle Class’

In the mid-1970’s, a small college radio station created an evening program catering to a new socioeconomic group referred to as the “new Black middle class.” The show was called “The Quiet Storm” and...

21 Jul 56min

ICYMI - Everything Is Barstool

***GET TICKETS TO OUR LIVE SHOW HERE!!!!***An uncomfortable amount of the internet has been influenced by Barstool Sports. Many prominent online figures, particularly women, hail from the website, and...

18 Jul 36min