Food critics to discuss podcasting about the science and history of food

Writers Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley will present a talk titled “Food for the Ears: Podcasting About the Science and History of Our Meals” as part of the “Chewing the Fat” speaker series. Graber and Twilley will discuss their experience launching “Gastropod,” a podcast that analyzes food through scientific and historical lenses, on Monday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. in Rm. 109 of Rosenfeld Hall, 109 Grove St. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism and the Yale Program in the History of Science & Medicine.

Graber is a radio producer and food and agriculture writer whose work has been featured in Slate, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, and other publications. She is a regular contributor to Scientific American’s “60-Second Science” podcast. She was the recipient of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2012, as well as awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Twilley is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and author of the blog “Edible Geography.” Her work has also been published in The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine. She was a research fellow at the Center for Art and Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art from 2011 to 2013. She is currently working on a book about refrigeration.

Graber and Twilley began “Gastropod” in 2014 after working together as University of California- Berkeley 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellows. “Gastropod” discusses the history and science behind food and agriculture. The podcast has received the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award and the Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established by Nelson Poynter, who received his master’s degree in 1927 from Yale. The fellowship brings to campus distinguished reporters, editors and others who have made important contributions to the media. Among recent Poynter fellows are Kathryn Hamilton, Jim Sciutto, and Chris Arnold.