This week, we’re ending our wheat series with yet another revolution. But this time, we’re not talking about a political revolution. We discuss the hottest fads in farming, the environmental impacts of fertilizer, and the negative impacts of an agricultural movement to end hunger. Finally, we talk about the superbugs that keep us up at night.
Tag: bread
Wheat Streets 7: Khleb and Punishment
This week, we’ve got yet another episode on bread and revolution. This time, we take our journey to Russia, where we discuss Romanov industrialization, the historical liberties in Anastasia, and how the women of Russia toppled an empire. Finally, Rasputin.
Wheat Streets 4: London Falling
It was only a matter of time. As we continue our stories on wheat, we return to a very familiar theme: bread and revolution. This time we’re continuing last week’s discussion and finally exploring how the peasants took out their anger on the millers. We discuss the medieval farming practices, the storming of the Tower of London, and the Lutheran Reformation. Finally, we revisit the Canterbury Tales.
Wheat Streets 3: Milling About
This week, we’ve got another addition to our bread series and things are getting personal. We talk about why everyone hated the millers, how peasants avoided eating bread, and how pubs became central to medieval English villages. Finally, we discuss Chaucer.
Wheat Streets 2: Roman around
This week, we continue our bread series, and this time, we go from Egypt to Rome. And with our entrance to Rome, we explore burdensome Roman economics, analyze Jesus’s bread and loaves, and revisit our old discussions of grain and revolution. We conclude our discussion just as Rome did – with the fall of the Roman empire.
Wheat Streets: The Bread Books, pt. 1
We’re starting a new staple series, and this time, we’re turning to Oprah’s favorite carb, bread. In this episode, we start at the very beginning and explore how a hard seed that broke people’s teeth became the central food for some of the oldest civilizations in the world. We discuss the how women probably invented agriculture, where the first sourdough starter was invented, and how a changing climate gave us civilization. Finally, we talk about underwater archaeology.
The French Breadvolution
This week we’re returning with a very delayed episode on bread. If last time was about the precursor to the French Revolution, this week, we’re in the thick of it as we watch Louis XIV repeat the mistakes he made a decade ago. This week, we revisit our discussions about grain markets, hit up the greatest hits of the first wave of the French Revolution and follow angry French women marching across Paris. Finally, we discuss Marie Antoinette.
Bread: The Song of Angry Men
This week, we start part 1 of our two part series on the French Revolution by talking about the precursor: the Flour War. We discuss the importance of grain prices, the origins of capitalism, and the complete mess that was known as the Ancien Régime. Finally, we discuss how taxes work in Massachusetts.
A special thanks to the Revolutions Podcast and Cynthia Bouton for providing the bulk of today’s source materials.