Podcasts

Malta Besieged & Black-market Intrigues A blind eye on crime

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Map of Turkish forces at the Great Siege of Malta 1565

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:09 — 26.8MB)

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Black and white photo of Maltese women washing clothes in the rubble of their houses in June 1942Malta, just off the coast of Sicily in the middle of the Mediterranean, has always been of enormous strategic importance. As a result it has been claimed, and fought over, by empire after empire. Each time it was vulnerable to a blockade of essential food supplies because the tiny island — Malta is only 27 kilometres long — cannot possibly feed itself. Despite this history, going into World War II neither the British colonial government nor the Maltese people were prepared for the inevitable blockade. When rationing was imposed, however, the authorities deliberately turned a blind eye to those who were finding ways to evade the restrictions of the black market. It made sense to do so, as I heard from Maltese historian Noel Buttigieg.

Notes

  1. Noel Buttigieg’s paper is Breadways and Black-Market Intrigues in 1942 Malta.
  2. Here is the transcript.
  3. The banner photograph shows part of the Turkish fleet and military at the start of the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. It was created by Giovanni Francesco Camocio as part of an effort to rouse European support against the Turks. Cover photograph shows Maltese women washing clothes in the ruins of their homes at the height of the blockade, 4 June 1942. ©IWM (GM 904)

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Podcasts

The Case for Folic Acid Fortification Finally, a benefit of Brexit?

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A plate of spinach salad because spinach leaves are high in folate

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:54 — 20.2MB)

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Cover artwork

Spina bifida is a neural tube defect that is one of the most common severe birth defects in the world. The main cause is a lack of folate vitamin in the diet, and in 1991, the UK’s Medical Research Council halted a trial of folic acid supplementation early because it was obvious that the supplement was preventing a large number of cases. At the time, the trial’s authors concluded: “public health measures should be taken to ensure that the diet of all women who may bear children contains an adequate amount of folic acid.”

The United States was relatively quick to act, mandating flour be fortified with folic acid in 1998, followed by around 80 countries worldwide. Countries with mandatory fortification have seen a drop in neural tube defects of between one third and one half. But not the European Union nor, until recently, the United Kingdom.

The European Union concedes: “There has been no real progress in preventing NTDs in Europe since folic acid supplementation was shown to be an effective preventive measure.”

Finally, the UK has put forward proposals to fortify white flour, but many doctors say they could do much more. Europe is still to act.

Notes

  1. The US Centers for Disease Control has an excellent series of pages on neural tube defects with links to a lot more research.
  2. The European Union also has a page on Folic Acid and Neural Tube Defects.
  3. Helena Bottemiller Evich recently did a great and personal write-up of prenatal vitamins in her newsletter, Food Fix.
  4. Mun-Keat Looi’s article Folic acid: The case to rethink the UK’s food fortification plans is behind a paywall.
  5. Here is the transcript.
  6. Spinach salad by Lucy Clink, photographed by me. Folic acid molecular model by Ben Mills.

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Podcasts

Anthony Mongiello, Inventor of the Stuffed Crust Pizza Blessed are the cheesemakers

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An image from the title page of US patent 4,661,361

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:12 — 24.1MB)

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Headshot of Anthony Mongiellow, a large man with a greying Van Dyke beard, wearing a black shirt emblazoned with his company name and logo.
Anthony Mongiello
A recent documentary tells the story of how a kid from Brooklyn invented the stuffed crust pizza, sued Pizza Hut for ripping him off, and lost. It is a fascinating story, and left me in no doubt about who actually invented the stuffed crust pizza: Anthony Mongiello, that kid from Brooklyn. But it was the incidental asides Anthony dropped in the documentary, along with a look at Formaggio Cheese, the company he built, that really made me want to talk to him about his family of cheese engineers and his own history as a cheese inventor.

Notes

  1. Take a look at Formaggio Cheese if you want to get a better idea of the “75 different Fresh Mozzarella products” they offer.
  2. Stolen Dough, the documentary, is available on a few streaming channels.
  3. There’s a report of the case that I certainly am not competent to judge on its merits. Still, even if Pizza Hut did not infringe on Anthony Mongiello’s legal rights, the company’s moral judgement leaves a lot to be desired.
  4. Would you like to see Italian mozarella di bufala DOP being made? Of course you would.
  5. Here is the transcript.

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Extra Matter

Formula Recall Boosts Breastfeeding Department of Silver Linings

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Graph showing changes in infant breastfeed over time, including the formula recall of February 2022

Yesterday’s graph from USDA is really interesting. It shows that the February 2022 recall of formula milk in the US, which compounded the supply chain difficulties of Covid, was associated with a striking increase in the number of infants fully and partially breastfed (and a drop in the number fully formula fed).

The survey covers only people enrolled in the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), so it isn’t comprehensive, but it represents a more vulnerable sector of society. It also shows that while formula offers the benefit of convenience, when push comes to shove many women are able to breastfeed more. Of course I would like to see a more detailed breakdown that factors in things like the need to be out working, but I find these results encouraging.

These findings also suggest a way out for mothers faced with what today’s Guardian said are “historically high” prices for formula in the UK.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found in November that the average price of infant formula had risen by 25% in the past two years and families could save more than £500 over the first year of a baby’s life by switching to cheaper powders.

They could save even more by breastfeeding more and for longer.

Syndicated to the mothership.

Podcasts

Prehistoric cooking pots Early farmers were also fishing

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Early Neolithic farmers in Switzerland, illustration by J. Näf

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:40 — 18.1MB)

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Harry Robson on board a boat with the sun near the horizon
Harry Robson
Six thousand years ago in northern Europe, the first Neolithic farmers were bumping up against Mesolithic people, who made a living hunting and fishing and gathering wild plants. Both groups of people made ceramic cooking vessels for their food, and those pots have now revealed that in many respects the diets of the two cultures were more alike than different. The hunter-gatherers were processing dairy foods, while the farmers were cooking fish and other aquatic resources.

That’s the conclusion of a massive study of more than 1000 pot fragments by 30 scientists. Harry Robson, one of the team leaders, explained the results and the light they shed onto the transition to farming.

Notes

  1. Harry K. Robson is in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. The paper we talked about is The impact of farming on prehistoric culinary practices throughout Northern Europe in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  2. Here is the transcript.
  3. Banner illustration shows early Neolithic farmers in Switzerland, by J. Näf, from this publication. Cover photograph of a pot from the Funnel Beaker culture in Denmark, made by the earliest farmers across the western Baltic, CC-BY-SA by Arnold Mikkelsen, The National Museum of Denmark.

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