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Ever wish you could spend the day immersed in the fantasy worlds from your book, show, or game? Meet the characters, travel the land - or if you’re like most of us at Proof - eat the food? From the Legend of Zelda to Dungeons and Dragons, reporter Sarah Vitak talks to the fan cookbook authors who are transforming pixelated foods into irl dishes you can serve on your plate. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Leafcutter ants have been a traditional Colombian food for millennia, long predating Spanish colonization. But the ants, eaten by Colombians since the indigenous Guane peoples inhabited the area of Santander, are now in peril. What does the future hold for this ancient food source? Reporter Camilo Garzón reports. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As one of the most commonly consumed berries in the world, strawberries are a beloved household snack. But this soft, sweet fruit has a rocky history. From immigration to incarceration, Japanese Americans are integral to the California Strawberry origin story. Through three generations of Japanese strawberry farmers, reporter Hannah Kirshner brings us a story of ingenuity and resilience. To learn more about Japanese Americans and Strawberry farming, read: A Taste for Strawberries, by Manabi Hirasaki with Naomi Hirahara Strawberry Days, by David Neiwert For more about Japanese American history, check out: Japanese American National Museum Densho.org Nature Behind Barbed Wire, by Connie Y. Chiang See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This season, we’re bringing you food stories from all over--from South America to the South Side of Chicago. We travel to Colombia to find out why leaf cutter ants–a common snack in the country–are disappearing. We drive around Chicago in search for one of the city's most famous culinary exports (and no, it's not deep-dish pizza or hot dogs). And we ask: Why does a Dungeons and Dragons recipe book have almost as many positive reviews as America’s Test Kitchen’s best-selling title? All that, and so much more on Season 11 of Proof from America’s Test Kitchen. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we're bringing you a collection of some of our favorite Proof episodes. Our friends at Hark Audio curated this list so you can relive or be introduced to some of the best moments from our feed. Hark editors pick and choose these compelling podcast moments and transform them into one-of-a-kind playlists--kind of like creating a special mixtape of all of your interests in podcast form. Download the Hark app and check out our host Kevin Pang's Harklist on the origins of fast food chains. You can also check out the Forbidden and Dangerous Foods, Cocktail Histories, or Little Known New York Food History Harklists. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Here’s a special preview of Not Lost, a new podcast about finding yourself in places you’ve never been from our friends at Pushkin Industries! Host Brendan Francis Newnam takes us around the world, learning about new places by getting invited to a stranger’s house for dinner. From Montréal to Mexico City, Brendan and his guests drink, dance, and eat, learning as much about themselves as the places they visit. In this preview, Brendan and his friend Danielle Hendersen head to the Big Easy and discover that it’s anything but. Carousel bars, gospel choirs, voodoo readings, and a visit to a slavery memorial plunge the duo into conversations about the good life with local luminaries like jazz-great Kermit Ruffins, voodoo priestess Madame Cinnamon, and a chef who dreams about gumbo. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For the season finale, we're bringing you three short stories on the theme: One person's trash is another person's treasure. Reporter Stephen Calabria digs into the story of a famous half-eaten piece of toast, ATK assistant editor Eden Faithful goes dumpster diving, and reporter Eliza Rothstein traces the life cycle of a pastry that turns into a spirit. Proof will be back for Season 11 late July, and in the meantime, we'll post other exciting content in our feed! You can view what items Christie's auctioned off from Sue Houghton's Beatles collection here. And if you’re curious about what Misadventure's vodka tastes like, head to misadventure.com and use the code PROOF2022 for 15% off vodka bottles. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Baskets of bok choy, galangal, collard greens, epazote. We often take these United Nations of produce for granted, but it’s the deliberate work of farmers cultivating heritage seeds that ignites the growing diversity of fruits, grains, and vegetables. In this episode, reporter Jean Trinh chronicles the lives of three farmers who have made it their mission to plant seeds that sow a sense of home, cultural preservation, and belonging. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The McDonald’s vegan cheese slice. Botanical flavors for your next latte. A patent to cure meats with...celery juice. Many of the next it-food innovations are engineered by a company you’ve probably never heard of but touches almost food product you know: The Kerry Group. Reporter John Ringer goes behind the scenes at this food factory and lab, as he traces the history of Kerry’s humble roots as an Irish dairy cooperative to a worldwide ingredients company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Black Americans have deep historical connections and ownership over vegan and plant-based cuisines. But after the Great Migration, many left farms and the Jim Crow South to cities where urbanization and the advent of fast food changed the landscape of accessibility to fresh foods. In this episode of Proof, writer Gabrielle Lawrence-Cormier reconnects with their family's pre-Great Migration gardening traditions and reclaims their plant-based culinary roots. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Many of us have family recipes that have been passed down for generations. For reporter Anh Gray, it's her late mother's piping hot bowl of beef pho. But what do we do when we need to amend these recipes? Is something lost when we make substitutions, or can we iterate and build upon that which is sacred? Anh dives in. Thanks to our sponsor, Naked Lunch. It's a new podcast hosted by Phil Rosenthal of Netflix's Somebody Feed Phil, and music journalist David Wild. Listen and subscribe to Naked Lunch wherever you get your podcasts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Who were some of the first people ever to make wine? Images of ancient people of the Caucasus or France might come to mind. But what if we told you that wine was being made in ancient Japan, around the same time--or even earlier--than it was in the Caucuses? And even before sake was being made in Japan? Reporter Hannah Kirshner investigates. You can read Hannah's article on the history of winemaking in Japan for Food & Wine, and her latest book is Water, Wood, and Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town. Eric C. Rath’s latest book is Oishii: The History of Sushi. Edward Slingerland’s is Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Bear Grass, North Carolina, where moonshine, tobacco, and bootlegging were once king. Today, a storied dish called chicken mull is a staple of the town's identity and for years, Bear Grass held an annual chicken mull-making contest to see who made the best mull. What happens though, when this humble dish almost tears the small, close-knit community apart? Reporter Allison Salerno reports. Interested in making chicken mull? Find our Cook's Country recipe here. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Black walnuts are probably nature's toughest nut to crack. But one man--television producer and newbie farmer Mike Trinklein--is determined to prove that it's a crop worth farming for. In this episode of Proof, Mike walks us through the history and benefits of these nuts, and shares his own scheme to get rich...slow off the land. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Proof from America's Test Kitchen returns Thursday, April 21st! We kick off Season 10 by traveling to the midwest in search of a tough-to-crack crop. We ask: Who has the right to tweak a national dish? We also try to solve the mystery of The Beatles' George Harrison's piece of toast. All that, and much more on the new season of Proof! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Muhidin Libah was living in Syracuse, New York when he received a call from a Somali Bantu community in Maine. They wanted his help setting up a non-profit organization that would run a farm aimed to serve the growing Somali Bantu émigré community in the Pine Tree State. As Muhidin answered the call, he wondered whether they should stick to setting the organization up with a strictly for-us-by-us mentality, or whether they needed allies in a place that had shown hostility to his people. What does it mean to set up a farm--for and by a minority community--in a predominantly white region? Reporter Ashia Aubourg digs in. This story is based on Ashia's story in Cuisine Noir. Visit the Somali Bantu Community Association of Maine's website to find out more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it look like when you uproot yourself from a familiar culinary place to an unknown city? The Moth performer and writer Aaron Pang dives in with this audio diary that chronicles his move from San Francisco to Iowa City. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One day in 2012, Proof host Kevin Pang received an email from his father, urging Kevin to watch a video on YouTube that he'd just sent. Reluctantly, Kevin opened it to discover that somehow, his retired father had created a YouTube cooking channel that had nearly a million views. This would kick off a series of events that would forever change Kevin's relationship with his father. This week's episode is a story about family, what happens when immigrants move to a new country, and how Kevin's dad became an unlikely YouTube star. (This story is based on Kevin Pang's article in the New York Times Magazine.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Around the world and throughout history, we’ve celebrated the departed with rituals that involve food. Pharaohs were buried with feasts. We pour out drinks in honor of fallen friends and family. But the precision and thought that Zoroastrian priest Marziban Hathiram puts into preparing meals for the departed is in a league of its own. Author Varud Gupta takes us through the intricacies of the stum death ritual in Gujarat, India, and walks us through what foods are--and aren’t--appropriate for the afterlife. Read more of Varud's journey in his book, Bagwaan Ke Pakwaan: Food of the Gods. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Charlotte Gill was anguished by the way the lobsters at her lobster pound died a slow death in vats of boiling water. ‘There must be another way,’ she thought. ‘How about getting them high?’ In this episode of Proof, science reporter Sarah Vitak tracks Gill’s quest, invokes David Foster Wallace, and considers the lobster. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.