Veteran radio producers The Kitchen Sisters are back with a new installment of their series Hidden Kitchens -- the food, folklore and culture that creates community around the table. The series includes eight segments, airing each Tuesday in May and June on Morning Edition, beginning May 6.
Story Descriptions
Tuesday, May 6: The Pizza Connection
Hidden Kitchens begins with a visit to farms in Sicily, where small farmers have taken over confiscated Mafia lands. Mob influence in Sicily is still heavy, and Mafia ties have threatened the new olive groves. But many small merchants are also standing up to the Mob, refusing to pay protection money at their ice cream and deli stands.
Tuesday, May 13: The Turnspit Dog: The Rise and Fall of the Vernepator Cur
Learn the story of England's "Turnspit Dogs" -- small dogs bred to run in wheels, turning the gears for roasts on a spit.
Tuesday, May 20: Russia, Part 1: Communal Kitchens
Hear the stories of cooking in communal Soviet kitchens in Stalin's era.
Tuesday, May 27: Russia, Part 2: Dissident Kitchens
Hear how Soviet dissidents created their literature, music and political protests in their newly-privatized kitchens under leader Nikita Khrushchev.
Tuesday, June 3: Coachella: The Romance and Sex Life of the Date
Meet the horticulturalist who brought dates to the U.S. in California at the end of the 19th century.
Tuesday, June 10: France: Atomic Wine
Look at the presence of atomic isotopes in wine bottled after the 1940s, and how nuclear scientists are fighting "counterfeit" wine.
Tuesday, June 17: Auntie Beryl's Aboriginal Cooking Academy
In Australia explore the world of "bush tucker" -- food that has grown wild in the outback for centuries, was traditionally harvested by Aboriginals, and is now on the rise.
Tuesday, June 24: The Tequila Chamber of Commerce
Travel to Tequila, Mexico to look into complicated, compelling world of Tequila -- a story of climate change, mono-crop culture, celebrity, and reverse migration.