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Gastronomics: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Alex Mayyasi
Gastronomics is about the business of food. In each episode, Planet Money author Alex Mayyasi talks to chefs, economists, and people with insights and stories about how economics shapes the modern menu. Meet a trend forecaster who tracks thousands of menus to know exactly when restaurants should start serving yuzu lemonade or ube pancakes. Discover how Best Restaurant lists get made. And learn why billionaires like Bill Gates buy lots and lots of farmland.
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- 5 days ago49 min
The Woman Who Secretly Built a Gelatin Empire
When Rose Knox's husband died in 1908, she did something totally unexpected for that day and age: She took over his business. Secretly. And eventually became the progenitor of Martha Stewart—and the most important businesswomen of her era. Show Notes Rose Knox: How One Woman Mixed Kitchen and Boardroom to Remold an American Business by Rachel Greenfield, Cornell University Press https://cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501790027/rose-knox/ Dainty desserts for dainty people : Knox gelatine by Charles K. Knox Co (1915) https://archive.org/details/daintydessertsfo00charrich/page/n1/mode/2up
- 2 weeks ago46 min
Status-Symbol Beef, Reservation Wars, and the Rise of Chicken Thighs
How a weak yen made Japanese beef the new truffle. Plus the fall and rise of chicken thighs and a food fight between credit card companies that's making it impossible to get dinner reservations. With guest Adam Chandler of the WSJ. Show Notes Adam Chandler's WSJ articles are available at https://www.wsj.com/news/author/adam-chandler "What the Rise of Chicken Thighs Says About America," Adam Chandler, WSJ, March 19, 2026 https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food-cooking/chicken-thighs-popularity-rise-27b5b355 "Reservation Apps Have Made Getting Into a Restaurant a Nightmare," Adam Chandler and Heather Haddon, WSJ, August 8, 2026 https://www.wsj.com/business/restaurant-reservation-apps-30a29e6b "How Wagyu, Japan's Prized Beef, Took Over America," Adam Chandler, WSJ, August 22, 2206 https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food-cooking/how-wagyu-japans-prized-beef-took-over-america-20546680 "Japan's Beef With a Weak Yen: The Best Wagyu Is Just for the Tourists," Miho Inada, WSJ, May 18, 2024 https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/japans-beef-with-a-weak-yen-the-best-wagyu-is-just-for-the-tourists-42be2a7b "'Wagyu' Used to Guarantee Quality Beef. What Are You Paying for Today?" Tejal Rao, NYT, April 21, 2026 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/dining/wagyu-beef.html "Caviar 'Bumps' Are All the Rage," Alyson Krueger, NYT, June 7, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/style/caviar-bump.html Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom by Adam Chandler https://www.adamchandler.com/drive-thru-dreams "Mass Psychosis in Food Science: Americans happily ate monosodium glutamate for decades, but one (fake?) letter sparked mass hysteria and the bogus MSG scare was born." Sam Kean, The Disappearing Spoon, November 7, 2023 https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/disappearing-pod/mass-psychosis-in-food-science/ Heather Haddon's WSJ articles https://www.wsj.com/news/author/heather-haddon
- Sep 30, 202643 min
Asparagus, the War on Drugs, and Cheap Flights to Machu Picchu
Peru gets a lot more tourism from North America and Europe than you might expect for a country so far away. The hidden reason why? Asparagus. And the War on Drugs. Show Notes "Going on Vacation to Peru? Thank Asparagus," Jonathan English, June 22, 2206 https://infrastory.substack.com/p/going-on-vacation-to-peru-thank-asparagus "How the War on Drugs got us... blueberries," Erika Beras and Keith Romer, Planet Money https://www.npr.org/2025/04/04/1242780124/blueberries-asparagus-cocaine-foreign-aid-usaid-war-on-drugs-peru-free-trade "Airline premium cabins: Profitability at the front of the plane," Jake Hart and Ryan Mann, McKinsey, June 1, 2026 https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel/our-insights/Airline-premium-cabins-profitability-at-the-front-of-the-plane?hsid=353d6648-1afa-4fe0-a948-2b566d3637a3
- Sep 17, 202654 min
Can Private Equity Scale (Good) Bagels?
Private equity firms and venture capitalists are investing millions in new bagel shops. Can they bring great bagels to towns and cities across the country? Or are bagels the next investment bubble? Show Notes "Grip, Rip, Dip, Repeat. Grip, Rip, Dip, Repeat," Liz Dunn, New York Magazine https://www.grubstreet.com/article/popup-bagels-national-franchising.html "Inside the Venture-Backed Bagel Boom," Liz Dunn, Consumed https://consumed.substack.com/p/inside-the-venture-backed-bagel-boom Correction: The Love Island star with a PopUp Bagels schmear was Jen Terry. I don't think she ever cried on Love Island, though. "The Forgotten History of New York's Bagel Famines," Natasha Frost, Gastro Obscura, February 9, 2018 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/bagel-union-strikes-new-york-city "Grip, Rip, and Scale," Gad Gallon, Gad's Newsletter, April 20, 2026 https://gadallon.substack.com/p/grip-rip-and-scale For more on Marriott Hotels and core competencies, see The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It, David Weil https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674975446 "Bagels Are a Bubble Now," Milena Pagán, Latent Heat, May 13, 2026 https://milenapagan.substack.com/p/they-want-the-same-food-in-every Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation, Byrne Hobart and Tobias Huber https://www.stripe.press/boom
- Sep 2, 202659 min
Was the Price of Eggs a Conspiracy?
After the pandemic, eggs were the poster child for inflation. Experts said egg prices were high because of avian flu. But then, this summer, the Department of Justice charged Big Egg with an honest to God conspiracy. Show Notes This episode is sponsored by LMNT. Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT's most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/gastro Note: The egg companies in their settlement with the Department of Justice agreed to pay $3.3 million in fines and donate 53 million eggs (rather than "a few million [eggs]"). Also, Boris Yeltsin was impressed by the selection of pudding pops, not push pops. "Justice Department Requires Egg Producers to End Coordinated Benchmark Manipulation that Artificially Inflated Prices Across the Country," June 30, 2026 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-egg-producers-end-coordinated-benchmark-manipulation Kraft Foods Global, Inc. et al v. United Egg Producers https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/illinois/ilndce/1:2011cv08808/263305/713/ "Justice Department Sues Agri Stats for Operating Extensive Information Exchanges Among Meat Processors," Office of Public Affairs, September 28, 2023 https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-agri-stats-operating-extensive-information-exchanges-among-meat "Four Executives and Company Charged with Price Fixing in Ongoing Investigation into Broiler Chicken Industry," Office of Public Affairs, July 29, 2021 https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/four-executives-and-company-charged-price-fixing-ongoing-investigation-broiler-chicken "Kings Over the Necessaries of Life": Monopolization and the Elimination of Competition in America's Agriculture System, Basel Musharbash & Farm Action https://farmaction.us/kings-over-the-necessaries-of-life-monopolization-and-the-elimination-of-competition-in-americas-agriculture-system/ "To Defy the United States, Fidel Castro Built the World's Greatest Ice Cream Parlor," Alex Mayyasi, November 8, 2019 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ice-cream-in-havana "Hatching a Conspiracy: A BIG Investigation into Egg Prices," Basel Musharbash, March 7, 2025 https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/hatching-a-conspiracy-a-big-investigation "Fowl Play: How Chicken Genetics Barons Created the Egg Crisis," Basel Musharbash, March 23, 2025 https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/fowl-play-how-chicken-genetics-barons "The Egg That Cannot Be Priced," Footnote Capital, August 25, 2026 https://footnotecapital.substack.com/p/the-egg-that-cannot-be-priced
- Aug 25, 202644 min
How to Run Your Dream Restaurant Like a Business
Great cooking is an art, and people make pilgrimages to restaurants that make us feel a certain way. But a restaurant is also a business. A notoriously hard business. So how do chefs and restaurateurs create these special experiences without going broke? I talk with Louis Lin and Jolyn Chen about opening their dream restaurant: Xiao Ye in Portland, Oregon. Show Notes "After Becoming Housemates, Romance Entered the Picture," Alix Wall, NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/18/fashion/weddings/after-becoming-housemates-romance-entered-the-picture.html "Only the Bad Die Young: Restaurant Mortality in the Western US," Tian Luo and Philip B. Stark https://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.8603 You can find Xiao Ye on Instagram at @xiaoyepdx or visit their website at www.xiaoyepdx.com
- Jul 29, 202633 min
Why a China Scholar Started a Tea Business
The state of tea in the United States is something of a national embarrassment. Josh Freedman started a tea business so more Americans can try and buy great teas from China and Taiwan. And to better understand China's economy and unique form of 'capitalism with communist characteristics.' Show Notes The Beijing tea market we discuss is called Maliandao. You can find Josh's Taiwan Travelogue teas at https://phtea.substack.com/ or follow him on Instagram at @phtea_time.
- Jul 9, 202641 min
How top chefs unknowingly do R&D for Applebee's
Imagine for a moment that you are a head chef. Not at The French Laundry or Alinea. Not at a local diner or greasy spoon. No. You're the head chef at a big chain like Applebee's or Cheesecake Factory. And it's your job to oversee a menu that will be used at hundreds of locations. Or thousands. Your menu needs to satisfy customers in the suburbs and appeal to diners who live in foodie cities. It needs to have classics and comfort food, but also fun, new dishes and drinks that reflect new tastes and trends. So how do you decide what to add—and when? My guest today is Lizzy Freier. Lizzy is a trend forecaster who leads the menu research team at Technomic. And for more than 15 years, she's helped national restaurant chains answer questions like these. In other words … Lizzy predicts the future. The future popularity of yuzu and imitation meat and hot sauces that are sweet and spicy, or "swicy." Show Notes "An expected end-of-year federal ban puts hemp businesses in jeopardy" by Molly Ashford, All Things Considered https://www.npr.org/2026/02/18/nx-s1-5668495/an-expected-end-of-year-federal-ban-puts-hemp-businesses-in-jeopardy "What the Hell Happened to Wendy's?" by Adam Chandler, Slate https://slate.com/life/2026/04/wendys-near-me-location-closures-menu.html
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About Gastronomics
Gastronomics is about the business of food. In each episode, Planet Money author Alex Mayyasi talks to chefs, economists, and people with insights and stories about how economics shapes the modern menu. Meet a trend forecaster who tracks thousands of menus to know exactly when restaurants should start serving yuzu lemonade or ube pancakes. Discover how Best Restaurant lists get made. And learn why billionaires like Bill Gates buy lots and lots of farmland.
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