A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Culinary Time Machine Battle (ft. Max Miller)

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Today, Josh and Nicole are joined by Max Miller from Tasting History on YouTube to debate which place in time they'd travel back to just for the food. Who will have the best destination? Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@mythicalkitchen To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This. This. This. This. This. Is Mythical. To support sustainable food production, BHP is building one of the world's largest hot ash mines

in Canada, essential resources responsibly produced. It's happening now at BHP, a future resources company. Hey, Nicole. Hop in my time machine. Josh, this is a pre-owned Nissan Altima. My god, why are there so many empty cans on the floor? I'll turn this time machine around right now, I swear to God.

This is a Hot Dog is a Sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what? That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich.

I'm your host, Josh Ayer.. I'm your host Josh Ayer. And I'm your host Nicole Inayati. And today we have a very special guest who's been making waves with his passion for food history and storytelling. You might know him as the host of Tasting History, where he takes us on a delicious journey through time recreating historic recipes with a side of fascinating trivia. The one and only Max Miller max welcome to the show That is a good intro. Thank you so much

It sounds like you're a starlet on the rise He's been making waves All this stuff about the Nissan Altima that is based on reality I'll show you the car afterwards it is it is Brion 2017. It was a good year for Altima's and Just a terrifying amount of cans on the ground in there. Yeah, absolutely afterwards. It is, it is Brion's 2017. It was a good year for Altimas and just a terrifying amount of cans on the ground. Been there. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a direct reflection of my mental health at a given time. Didn't you clean it out? Here's the thing about cleaning Nicole is it then again gets dirty. Have you thought about not

throwing the cans in... Do you have a trash can in your garage? I have a trash can in my car. The cans just don't end up in it. No, no, you don't need the trash can in your car. You need a trash can in your garage so you can unload all the cans into the trash can in the garage. I'll tell you because this podcast is about the state of my car. So what happens is though the trash can in the garage is behind a heavy door and I have a backpack and a gym bag and generally groceries to carry up. You need a small. So then I have to double back. You're thinking of a dumpster, sweetheart I'm talking about a garbage can is a dumpster not a trash can Max It's a big one It's too big are the are the cans just like on the floor or have they risen to the point where someone in the passenger? They has to like put he has risen no cars I Have gotten to that point was bad and when we were filming in the car too,

and then, yeah, Trevor I think pivoted the camera down. But right now we're only at a single layer. Once you start lasagna-ing, that's the problem. Is there a raccoon in here? Literally. This isn't what we're talking about today. This is not what we're talking about today. We are talking about what time in history

you would travel back to just for the food if you had a time machine because This is inspired by Julia. She came up with this little party cold open where you just go out Julia is my lovely wife. That's right. I don't like to use the phrase my wife It's too bored out of you. No, it's possession. My life. Possession-y. But anyways She'll go to people at parties and just say if you had a time machine what era would you travel back to and you speak the language people don't know that you're a time traveler so they wouldn't just immediately like burn you at the stake. But I think it's a great way to get to know

people. Do either of you have any time that sticks out that you would want to travel to? I do. Yeah. I do. Mine? I do. Mine's a little, okay, I'm going to be honest, mine's honestly a little bit out there, but it's because it's not talked about enough, and there is research behind it, but I just, I'm curious. So I've always loved going to like music festivals and stuff, and people just got back from Coachella and I'm sad that I didn't get to go this year. But I've always-

It's very dusty. Yeah, it is. It's very dusty and sticky. I'm literally still coughing up dust. And like, the food scene at like Coachella right now was crazy. Like people were like having like $20 matchas. They were getting Poke bowls for like 40 bucks,

acai bowls, stuff like that. But I want to take it back to Woodstock. Oh! I want to go to the summer of love. Don't do the brown acid. But let me tell you, I... There's different colors of acid. Nevermind. Okay. Well, I always wanted's different colors of acid. Nevermind. Okay.

Um, well, I always wanted to go to Woodstock for some reason, and no one ever talks about the food at Woodstock because it was like thousands of people in like the Catskills in New York. And there was like so much love and good energy and music and Jimmy Hendrix was like playing his guitar backwards and doing all the like Star Spangled Banner and stuff, and I just want to know what they were eating. And people say that granola was actually popularized at Woodstock. Like people had no food to eat there.

They had hot dog stands and like a few other food stands, but they ended up actually burning the stands down cause there wasn't enough food and there wasn't enough warmth like within the tents. So they're like, F you guys, we're just going to take apart your stands. And just about that like free love within the tents, so they're like, F you guys, we're just gonna take apart your stands. Oh my God. And just about that free love, the 1969, the 1970s, and just having fun, and there was so much new food coming out.

Like, people were all about veganism, and things like tempeh and tofu and like Eastern foods that people have never heard of before were just making their way into the American zeitgeist. So I really wanted to go into that time where people were experimenting with health and wellness and kind of being at the precipice of this really, really cool time while also doing a bunch of illegal drugs. I gotta say, when I see pictures from Woodstock, health is not the word that comes to mind.

Well, health and wellness maybe not, but it was all about like freedom and like trying new things. And maybe you eat that weird bag of grains in that weird man with the beards tent. Like, I don't know, there's something about that. Kind of like, there were no rules and there was nothing holding you back during that time. When I now think of concert festivals and like music festivals,

there's so much holding you back now. Cause you know, everybody has their phone, everybody has their cameras everywhere. But at Wutsuk, it was just like, no phones really enjoying the moment. Yeah, you couldn't just get naked and slop around in the mud next to an open flame while eating granola. You couldn't do that. On good old days. Could you imagine? That to me is so much fun.

And just like the brown rice and veggies of it all. I just love so much. And now we've gone through this crazy speck... That was like the spectrum of health foods, but now we've gone to this crazy like, airwannism of fancy, like fancy fresh foods and all this stuff. I don't need that. I want my food to be crappy, dusty, dirty, messy, with a bunch of hippies. And I rest my case. I do feel like you're trying to cheat the system

to get a free legendary concert experience. You know what I mean? By saying you're all here for the food. It's research. They go hand in hand, I feel like. I feel like eating tempeh for the first time for American people was so interesting. Did they have tempeh at Woodstock? Have you done research? No, no, they had... It was like leading up to it, you know what I mean?

That was like a critical turning point in American food. Yeah, yeah. It was like leading up to that moment of like these, all these cool Eastern foods and all these wonderful unique ingredients that you've never seen before while doing a bunch of like LSD. It's cool. There's a really great, there's a really great book that chronicles like that era of cuisine called Chef's Drugs and Rock and Roll. And it kind of starts with like Alice Waters at Chez Panisse. Sure. And like the crazy dinners. That was actually one that was I was potentially thinking about was just going back to that like era of Chez Panisse.

This is gonna be so niche for everybody here. California cooking. California cuisine, but when like, Jeremiah Tower, if you guys know the name, Jeremiah Tower is one of the most influential chefs in American history. He took over as chef at Chez Panisse, but then he ended up leaving that

and starting a restaurant called Stars that was known as like the ultimate 80s party restaurant after that like era of like free love and experimenting with Eastern cuisine was over and then that translated into the kind of Wall Street era But I thought about like being in Jeremiah Towers kitchen at stars Well, you know Michael Douglas was just doing massive amounts of drugs Douglas the Douglas family do not come and sue us but does that sound appealing to you going to Woodstock for the food? No.

Come on! Come on! Woodstock, yes, but for the food. Because I think maybe they didn't have a lot of that stuff there. And we're relying more on the granola and burnt hot dogs. And a lot of people just forgoing food because they're on so many drugs and having problems with dehydration. I bet it wasn't as fun as I'm making it sound. Yeah, but now I do kind of want to do some research and find out like if there are any I Feel like it wasn't a generation of journalists like actually writing their thoughts down Lots of photos, but but maybe there are some things. Hey, yeah, we went and got high and ate cheese But maybe there are some things, hey, yeah, we went and got high and ate cheese.

The commodification of festivals and culture in that way, that was interesting. So the first time I went to Coachella was 2016 and I went for work as a food journalist. But I was sent there because there were so many of these restaurants, they started doing a $500 a person dinner in the middle

of a field called Outstanding in the Field. And so I got like a free ticket to go to that. And I went and I was, you know, I was with college friends, I was doing some substances. And I'm like at this weird fine dining dinner while like LCD sound system is on stage. And it was a super bizarre experience for me. And I was supposed to write about that. But instead what I did is I just took my phone and, you know, I was a little bit messed up, but I don't remember a lot of it, but I woke up with 57 interviews with random festival growers on my phone, and I wrote a piece called, What Did People Actually Eat at Coachella?

Because all of this stuff was coming out like, the 10 best bites! We have the truffled grilled cheese from whatever, and I interviewed people and they'd be like, um, I woke up and I ate 15 wheat thins covered in peanut butter And then I took Molly and shrooms And the peanut butter is good because it stops you from passing out Right and it was it was that it was like those probably more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's probably exactly But it's kind of like this fascinating, you know difference between like this commodification of food and all these journalists writing about all this fancy stuff and then what people are actually doing which is

Like yeah, I'm here to do drugs in public and I'm gonna eat enough to not pass out Did you see this year they had an omakase experience by Nobu at Coachella this year? It was so bizarre I was I was there five days ago. No, I didn't do the omakase thing But yeah, we went we got a $30 poke bowl. The rice was uncooked The salmon was warm because you're in the 110 degree desert Do you actually enjoy Coachella do you actually have a good time at this age at this age I was invited by by YouTube to go and I flat-out said

Absolutely, you should have gone we could have gone. You literally could not pay me enough to do this. There's nothing about it that seems interesting to me. I'm very grateful for YouTube offering me the chance to go to Coachella. No, I had a great time. It was super rough, a lot rougher than when I was like 24 when I went last. Yeah, sure. But for me, I love the, there were a couple bands especially down on the ballot that I was really excited about seeing. I played at like 11 no, literally

Yeah, I we missed that because we had we have jobs so we couldn't just go on a Friday That's um, but but but but no I was like for me We got in there as soon as the festival started at 1 because all the bands that I like played at 2 p.m And so, you know you start drinking it like one and you duck inside this tent and like Swedish punk band Viagra boys put on the most electric set you've ever seen DJ G Gola the techno DJ from Germany was there infected mushroom, you know them watch them play Bob Villain for Bob Dylan you heard of Bob Villain Not recently no great punk artists out of Britain and so for me getting to see all these artists I've been listening to for a while in one place was very cool

But once the night falls and it just becomes this crowd crush, it was like a little bit frightening. I don't know if I could do another Coachella. I don't know if I have it in me. Spring always gets me in the mood for fresh starts, cleaning out closets, planting something new. And this year I'm diving into a new language with Rosetta Stone. You know what that was, Nicole?

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Plus, there's no translation crutch. It trains you to think and speak in your new language from the start. Tomate es más pequeño y jitomate es más grande. Did you know that? I was literally Googling jitomate a few days ago, trying to find out what a jitomate is. And I learned that because I was in Mexico.

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wherever you get your podcasts. I think I'm just like old and grumpy because I don't even like going to the Hollywood bowl anymore because I'm slightly uncomfortable for several hours. I can't do a whole weekend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have like a lot of life left to live,

but where does it go from here? And I want to live, buddy. What's where's it? Where's it over here? Little dust and little move into a convalescent home when he's like 45 We just gotta do like Coachella light, you know We got to go to one that like has like a good seating area with the little steam like yeah streamers of water So you don't pass out. We used to have LA Coachella was called FYF it was great. I used to go to FYF every year. FYF was awesome you take the train there you're back home by 9. I used to go to FYF every single year and then they cancelled the Janet Jackson one and then they never did it again. Saw Mitsky there in 2015 is incredible. Me too! Oh my god I heard that!

Max if you were to travel to one point in history to eat the food, what would it be? I think I would go back to England, specifically Brighton. Okay. In, I think it's the 1820s. Interesting. There was this period of time at the Brighton Pavilion where the future King George IV, he was the regent at the time, was, he was there and he was like a party animal. He loved having these huge parties. He loved having huge feasts. He was, I mean, he was grossly overweight with gout and still just consuming massive amounts of food because

his chef at the time was Carim. Oh snap. Like one of the greatest French chefs of all time. He was working at the Brighton Palace and he would have hundreds and hundreds of people have these huge, huge feasts, but the whole palace has like four or five bedrooms. Ooh. Because didn't want people staying over. Makes sense.

I wouldn't want people staying over here. It's why Queen Victoria, who enjoyed it there, she ended up like not... she peaced out. This was later on obviously. Where is Brighton geographically? So it's just kind of like straight south of London, right on the water. It's a lovely sea town. Very big during this era, during the Georgian era. And the pavilion is really interesting because it does not fit in. It looks like it should be part Turkish, part Chinese, part English maybe. And then, and so it's like got these, you know, the turban domes, onion domes and stuff. But it's beautiful and ornate and really quite opulent

and the kitchens are phenomenal. But these meals, there are menus from the time and they'll have like 70 dishes that would all be trotted out for one dinner and every single one of them, they have pictures and every single one of them is more spectacular than the last regardless of how they taste Just looking at them. That's that's why I would want to go that

It's so funny looking back to basically any era older than like 150 years ago in the gap between what rich people Eat what poor people. Oh, yeah was so much wider than it is now listen. I'm all for people ate was so much wider than it is now. And listen, I'm all for democratization of like all things, however, bring back wild aristocratic cuisine because even now like the richest people in the world they're not eating that differently from us. You know what I mean? Like we have the ability, you can go to Coachella and go to the Nobu Omakase menu that's like not that much farther than what a salt might be eating you know what I mean you're doing it at Coachella after watching Gaga like that is really the stuff of dreams of just having an entire like literal brigade of French chefs just doing your bidding what were

like the dishes that you would be most excited to eat like the style of cuisine back then the most excited to eat or the most excited to see? Either or. Either or. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Either or. A lot of it was like how many grotesque but impressive things can we do with an animal

and its bones? So there is that, there is that. But I think like visually I love, they have all these amazing molds that are basically gelatin molds. Love a good aspect. But they weren't always aspect. They could be other things, you know, that were like molded into these amazing shapes.

There's one called a Macedoine, which is just like layer upon layer. It looks like a castle filled with fruit and gelatin. The thing is, I don't like gelatin. I don't actually want to eat those things, but I love looking at these things. Though there is something called a Flumerie, which I really do like. And it is made with gelatin, but it's also made with cream. So it tastes more like a creamy... Like a panna cotta almost. Yeah, like a panna cotta. It's exactly like panna cotta.

Whereas like just pure see-through gelatin... Not my jam. But I think that like, food-wise, what I would want to eat would be the pies. The savory pies, where it's like, we're going to put, I don't know, an entire capon chicken or something like that into this pastry along with a bunch of gravy and vegetables I mean, it's basically a really really fancy chicken pot pie. Yeah Capons are the most underrated Animal tea no one talks about capons anymore. No capon

It's a it's a neutered rooster that they fatten up over time and let it actually like grow to maturity. Yeah They're huge. I made capons. We got them for work cooking some historical dish, I'm sure. Or maybe it was Fancy Fest, I can't remember. We got them for work and we had like three leftover capons and I roasted them for Thanksgiving. Incredible. Great meat. They're really expensive though. That's why. I think I bought one, it was like 70 bucks. It's a lot of meat though. It is, but you could also buy like three chickens. You're so right. Yeah, you're so right. Also, tur are are way too cheap. We need to talk about the price of turkeys I'd rather eat a capon than a turkey any day. I feel like turkey prices have to be subsidized

I really like such an American food. I don't know that for a fact, but no it is I mean, I don't know about the subsidies, but yeah turkeys being like a native American bird And then yeah, you know the story of how like turkeys became known as turkeys? Do you know, have you done anything about this? I have and I can't remember. I forget what I've researched about a week after I've researched. Once I make the video, it's no good. The things that like really make an impression stick, you know?

Like right now, everything is the Papal Conclave of 1549 and I know nothing else. Alright people. Oh god, I gotta watch Conclave of 1549 and I know nothing else. Alright people. Oh god I gotta watch Conclave. But it had something to do with like, the birds were stuck in a port city, and people, it was a port city in Turkey, and people saw the birds and named them turkeys, but they weren't even American turkeys,

they were like Ethiopian guinea fowls. And then people were like, hey you messed up this thing. And so it's this weird like mistake on a mistake on a mistake that ended up with them being called turkeys and they were literally just like an ancient Aztec bird that people used to kill and eat. I can actually tie that to the papal conclave of 1549. Nice! Because the cook at that conclave was Bartolomeo Scappi who wrote this massive, he was like the first celebrity chef in Europe. Sick. And he made this huge book

of all of the recipes and it includes the first written recipe in Europe for or anywhere for Turkey. No way. Which was a brand new brand new bird. He actually he also had like American style pumpkins and and a lot of other ingredients that were brand new. Wow. That is genuinely like when you talk about what history, what historical area you'd want to go back to, I think one of the things I'm really attracted to is the idea of newness. Anytime there's like an excitement around something, right? Sure. I think is really cool.

It's like Woodstock, you know, excitement about granola or whatever. you know, excitement about granola or whatever. But to me, like the most exciting time in at least like the modern history of food was the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Oh, the World's Fair. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition Hear Me Out. So like every time you hear about the hamburger, the hot dog, the waffle cone, ice tea, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There's always some sort of link back to the 1904 World's Fair, and all of those foods like claim to have been

invented there and all of the claims have been absolutely debunked. But also the fact that there are these very specific stories. So there's the hot dog myth that Antoine Voigtvanger was just serving Frankfurter style sausages with white gloves inexplicably to all his customers and then his white gloves ran

out and he went oh god I have to find bread to put it in and then there was a conveniently oblong bun maker next to this man and he said does anyone have more white gloves? No, but I have this. Literally and like none of it makes any sense. Ditto with an ice cream vendor. They just copied the hot dog myth. There was an ice cream vendor that ran out of cups and

there was a Syrian waffle vendor, Ernest Homby, who was next to him and just went, I can make an ice cream vessel and the waffle cone was invented. Syrian named Ernest. Same thing with a guy named old Dave Davis claims to have invented the hamburger there. A man named Richard Bleschenden, claims he invented iced tea, despite there were accounts of it going back 50 years. But the fact that like the 1904 World's Fair was such a massive thing,

there were 19 million visitors, took up 1200 acres, had 1500 unique buildings constructed, and it was centered by 11 massive palaces. 62 countries and 42 states had their own buildings there. Wow. And there were all of these restaurants serving different foods because this was such a turning point in American history as well. This is when America was coming out of the Civil War before World War I.

It had just gotten sort of into the neo-colonialization movement. So like, you know, we'd kind of just annex the Philippines from Spain at this time. And so there was this big idea that like, America is now a world player and we need to show it in St. Louis, America's fourth largest city at the time. And so they put so much effort into this.

There was something called the Grand Tyrolean Restaurant that seated 3,000 people and had replicas of the Alps there. There was something called the Palace of Agriculture where there were two acres of space devoted to all the cereals, tubers, coffee, tea, meat, eggs, spices, beer, whiskey, and the official guidebook promised everything else used as food or drink by mankind.

So it was this way for America to try and show the entire world that this is who we are as a country We're an agricultural nation. We are a nation of culture and cuisine and also they There were some upsetting parts of the World's Fair. Oh, yeah So yeah a lot of babies died, but we don't have to get into that Okay, so

There's all the foods. You can try the first hot dog. But yeah, yeah, there was like a lot of scientific sort of expositions. And one of them was baby incubators had just been invented. The problem is they used real babies in the exhibit. Oh no! And they didn't hire any doctors to watch over them. And so there's a lot of really upsetting things to the 1904 World's Fair,

but also a lot of very, very exciting things. And that's why I'd want to be there. I said I wouldn't talk about the dead babies. There you go, talk about it again. I would love to visit a World's Fair, either that one or the one in Chicago. 1893, yeah. Yeah, or, and that's where a lot of foods

came out of that as well. I think that's why everyone felt emboldened in 1904 to just start lying Yeah, I knew all of the 1893 well, and I don't even know that like the foods were necessarily invented, but that is where they got Popularized yeah, yeah because it was like yes, I invented the this cereal and now I'm going to put this And I had no way to tell people about it now I can because there was no tick-tock you have to go to World's Fair And I had no way to tell people about it. But now I can. Because there was no TikTok. You have to go to a World's Fair. When was the most recent World's Fair? Was it 1904?

I know, I think it was like 64 in New York. There might have been one after that, but that's the last one that I know of. And that was a really cool one because, so you can still go and see a lot of the buildings in Queens from where it when it happened, but Walt Disney offered to Build all of these different companies their showcases. Oh interesting and he said and I'll do it for free Oh, you have to pay for the for the materials, but I'll do it for free Wow, but then I get it when the oh like the IP of it

the physical things oh so things that came out of that were things like the IP of it. The physical things. Oh, so things that came out of that were things like the the Tiki Tiki Tiki room. Oh, wow. The It's a small world. I believe that was Kodak or something. That was the Autopia. That was I believe General Motors. And so he built them for those and then took them and put them in Disneyland Oh, that's crazy. It was a brilliant business. Crazy man. Really is I just went to Epcot for the first time like two weeks ago I want to go to Epcot and I I love these like proto utopian visions of the future Especially as it relates to food, you know, and Epcot is just like chock full of all that

I wish I could go to Epcot. When you learn what Epcot was meant to be, it breaks your heart of what it is. I actually really enjoy Epcot now, but it was meant to be, it was a prototype for a communal city that would be self-sustaining. Yeah. And that was his dream, was to actually have this be a thing.

But then he died, and the people left in charge of the was to actually have this be a thing, but then he died and The people left in charge of the company were like well, let's build it but instead Let's do the showcase of the world showcase instead We're gonna charge Josh like $15 a drink and he's gonna drink it all 11 countries It's like the same name Epcot, but was, was it the something prototype community of tomorrow? That's what it- Experimental prototype community of tomorrow. And then like what it ended up being is just so different. Like I said, I enjoy it.

That's so interesting. Love doing that drink around the world, but it's like this was not what it was supposed to be. Well, Sugar Ray performed there when I was there. So if it had been an actual self-sustaining community, then I don't think I would have gotten to see Mark McGrath while like drinking a I think I drank a Brunello di Montalcino from the Italy section on a 104 degree day in Orlando Florida it was boiling. Sounds sticky. I'll only go in January or February. No I'm not joking. God forbid Max is slightly uncomfortable from the heat.

All about comfort. He's gonna get the vapors. You would fit in the Victorian era, just a dandy fainting every day. I think we should do another World's Fair. I think the people want it, the people crave it. You know what? I think it brings countries together. I think it does. I think it's time for us to reinstate it.

Us three. I think so. I think it does. I think it's time for us to reinstate it. They're three I think so I I'm just laughing thinking of all of the insanity in the 1904 World's Fair so much of it was Anytime there's like an Olympics or any massive international then it's always like some form of propaganda Depending on how you view the term propaganda, right? But this was very much like America trying to assert its superiority Yeah, and like there were a couple pretty upsetting expositions one was just Geronimo He was just a 75 year old man and and they had Geronimo basically being there being like yep The white man conquered me do you want to buy an autographed hat and like that was actually just an exhibition that was there

We all got to work And so I feel like I don't know what that looks like in a modern World's Fair Scenario, you know what I mean? AIs and holograms. Wow. Also, there's still that, like you said with the Olympics, there is still that aspect of nationalism and everything. But then I got to see Gojira play the opening ceremony of the Olympics and that was sick.

Do you remember that? You know what I'm talking about? The metal band that had the decapitated Marie Antoinette? Oh, in France? Yeah. So that was cool in France to do. You were there? No, on TV. I was watching TV, and I was like, oh my god, this is one of my favorite metal bands. You have one of those?

What? A TV? Yeah, I got a TV. If I can offer one more alternate historical period, that I think we would all really enjoy going on this adventure William damp here. Oh, yeah, I don't know who that is William damp here Yeah max is out max is out Is he a pirate he was a privateer a privateer a pirate with sanctioned papers

But he was the first person to describe to a European audience Chopsticks, barbecue, and guacamole. Yeah And he also took extremely detailed notes and journaled about all his favorite animals to eat and he had just like Hundreds and hundreds of notes on like armadillo kind of ass and his favorite animal of all was the flamingo armadillo kind of ass and his favorite animal of all was the flamingo. Yum. Flamingo. And I would love to eat flamingo. Max will bring some back.

We'll dry it in the jerky and bring it back to your beautiful palatial estate. Flamingo, I believe he also really enjoyed Galapagos Tordes. No! Are they still around? There's gotta be a cult. There are. You're not allowed to eat them anymore. Yeah, fair point.

Well, thanks, cancel culture. Spring is finally here, and that means more time for adventures, fresh air, and doing what you love, not spending hours in the kitchen. That's why I love Factor. They're fresh, ready to eat meals, just take two minutes to heat up, so I can fuel up fast and get back to my day. I just had the truffle butter filet mignon and it

was, oh my gosh, incredible. It tasted like something from a restaurant but without any of that tedious work, I especially loved the potato league mash. And with 45 menu options, I can mix it up every week, whether I'm going for protein plus, keto, or calorie smart meals. I've been super busy juggling family, work, and a really active social life. So using a service like Factor has really made life a bit less complicated for me. Especially when I'm running around putting out fires all day at work, literally and figuratively. Factor isn't just for dinner.

They've got delicious breakfasts, quick lunches, and even snacks and desserts, all made with quality ingredients and no hassle. It's easier to savor more this spring. Factor Meals pack in the flavor with none of the fuss. Get started at factormeals.com slash hotdog50off and use code hotdog50off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code hotdog50off at factor meals dot com slash hotdog 50 off for 50% off plus free shipping. Alright y'all now it's time for a segment where me Nicole and

Max put our food trivia knowledge to the test. It's time for a very own trivia segment called, yummy in my tummy got some trivia for you. Robot Meggy has three questions prepared. Nicole and Max, you and I will wait until the question is complete and then we will answer. If wrong, the other person gets the chance to steal and earn the point. Let's hear that first question. Which movie permanently changed movie marketing tie-ins with a landmark product placement deal for Reese's Pieces peanut butter candies. Ding it!

Give it to Max. E.T. the extraterrestrial. The correct answer is E.T. I did not know- The extraterrestrial. The extraterrestrial. I did the E.T. ride at Universal in Orlando. What did you say your name was?

Oh, I said my normal name. Are you supposed to lie? Where is your whimsy? I don't know. You have to say something funny. Like butt ass or something? You can say like butt face or like something. Thank you butt ass for saving our planet. Yeah!

But it was such a nice time because the animatronics and all the set building, it's like all of these virtual simulator Fast and Furious rides building, it's like all of these virtual simulator, Fast and Furious rides where you're just like on a bus. Yeah, oh my God, it makes you nauseous. I love the E.T. ride. They used to have the E.T. right here. I know, I loved it. I killed it.

You killed it. Well, never seen the movie. Oh, it's good. It's good. The U.S. military contracted with a sweets manufacturing company to produce witch candy for World War II troop rations? ding

What is a Hershey bar? The correct answer is tootsie roll I'm sorry really for World War II. I didn't know that what the tootsie rolls pre-date World War II, right? I don't know But Tootsie Rolls pre-date World War II, right? I don't know. I'm pretty sure they do. Hmm. Robot Nike, back to the lab, Robot Nike.

Hershey bars definitely existed before that, but they did work with Hershey to produce the de-ration chocolate bar, which was meant to taste worse than the actual Hershey bar because the problem was it was supposed to be like your emergency ration. This is the last thing that will because it would last forever. I see, I see. But the first ones they tasted so good that the soldiers would eat that first. Oh no. And then everything left for emergencies.

Silly soldiers. Put some sawdust in it. So they literally made it less palatable. That's so funny. Oh man, wartime. And they never changed it back. Oh no. I'm just kidding Hershey. Give you a hard time. Oh man, wartime piece. And they never changed it back. Oh no.

I'm just kidding, Urshie. Give you a hard time. By the 1700s, infirmaries and apothecaries began prescribing what type of oil as a cure-all for a wide array of conditions, rheumatism, rickets, joint pains, colds, and to help heal wounds. Ding? I'm going to say castor oil. The correct answer is castor oil. The correct answer is cod liver oil. Ah, cod liver oil. That's what I was gonna say.

Well... Is that the same as fish oil? Specifically the fish cod. Yeah, no! Like from its liver. No, you know whatever you get, like fish oil... fish oil thing? Yeah, yeah. That's cod liver.

Oh, is it? I don't know, I'm asking you guys. I don't know. Every time I have fish oil like tablets. It probably is. It says, some say fish oil, some say cod liver oil. Have you heard of something called ulichon, or ulichon oil?

Never. Or ulichon grease? Never. Somebody asked me the question, they were like, if people render pork fat into lard and beef fat into tallow, chicken fat into schmaltz, do people ever render fish fat into a usable fat? And I had no idea, and so I started doing some research.

And apparently in indigenous communities, specifically in British Columbia area, there was a massive trade of something called ulichangri. So they would take a bunch of needlefish, these small, oily fish, and they would just put them in this giant vat they would pour boiling water on it and then evaporate the water and strain off the grease and it was like a massive trade thing and I heard some people talking about it and they were like why don't we eat that today they're like oh taste awful

spoils really quickly but also if you're living in the cold and that's part of your like you know diet but diet. Right. Does it. But yeah, not a big market for fish grease these days. All right, Nicole and Max, we've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the universe. It's time for a segment we call... Opinions are like casseroles! ["Opinions Are Like Casserole"]

We're firing in all cylinders, aren't we, Nicole? How so? Everyone's got one and they smell like onions. Terrible. I'll never get over that. Who approved that? You did? Yeah, I literally remember in a pitch meeting, I just blurted out opinions like casseroles

and it stuck five years later. Here we are. Here we are. How many episodes? Couple hundred? I don't know, like maybe 200? Yappalot. Hell yeah dude. We've been speaking to each other for 254 episodes?

God. This has to stop. Ugh. Alright, let's get to that first opinion. Hey guys, this is Elena, I'm from Arlington, Texas. Go Rangers! Woo! But I've recently been living in San Diego with my friend that's from North County.

There you go, Padres. We've been having this conversation time and time again. But what are the main differences between Tex-Mex and Baja Mexican food? See, I think Tex-Mex is spicier and a little more cheesy, but she thinks that Baja Mexican food is just like more seafood based Anyway, please help us out. What's the main differences and which one do you like more? All right? Love everything the mythical kitchen does. Bye Bye, it's cute. I have any feelings about this. I mean, I think seafood is a big It's it is a big difference, but I also think that the cheese that they tend to use is a big difference

That's right Tex-mex I feel uses American style like cheddar cheese, right? Whereas Baja uses like cotija and stuff like that I Feel like Baja style relies more on actual Mexican ingredients whereas Tex-mex relies more on more Americanized ingredients And it's interesting when you're talking about this because relies more on more Americanized ingredients. And it's interesting when you're talking about this because what is America and what is Mexico was very different when a lot of these foods were even invented popular.

It's all Mexico. It's all Mexico. Surprise, it's all Mexico. So like I grew up like partly in North County San Diego and like Oceanside. If I had a guess as to why the cuisines are different, because they are, they're both Norteño, so there's a lot of wheat grown in both parts,

so a lot more flour tortillas used there than if you went to like the Yucatan, right? But there is like this distinct difference where I feel like Tex-Mex food is known as being a lot heavier, right? It's a lot of like carne gisata, a lot of stews, heavy like combination plate style food covered in shredded yellow cheese.

And I'm wondering if that's because the communities there created their own Tejano identities a lot more than say Southern California, where I feel like there is more cultural diffusion and there's like a faster rate of immigration and immigration. So I was talking to a Mexican food writer who made the claim that LA actually has the most diverse Mexican food seen in the entire world. Oh wow. They're like there are more regions of Mexico represented in LA than in Mexico City. Oh no way.

And they're like because you have so many people that are moving to Los Angeles who maybe had to flee their homes or maybe just emigrated out for more opportunity. And he's like if you go to Mexico City there's a lot of their own biases where maybe a Oaxacan person goes there tries to open Oaxacan restaurant and they're to open a Oaxacan restaurant And they're like we don't want that crap here Whereas you can go to LA and find your community right that has that and so I'm thinking that maybe Southern, California Has like a faster immigration emigration pattern and there's maybe more like Tejano families They've lived there for a while that have created sort of its own unique food style

But that's that's just my guess. For me, I don't know, my mind immediately went to Mediterranean food versus like mainland Turkish food. I don't know why I had that side by side comparison. I think it's like the freshness of like you said, like it's ingredient based. It's a lot of fresh veggies, a lot of fresh proteins, things that are more fresh. And then whenever you go to like more mainland,'s more like heavier more heavy-duty foods lots of things that like you eat in the morning and it satiates you all the way until nighttime so that was my kind of one-to-one

comparison of Tex-Mex versus Baja versus Turkish food and Mediterranean food yeah like a lot of my favorite food is like Baja Californian food like Sinaloan style like Mariscos is like one of my favorite things you go to San Diego like TJ oyster bars one of my favorite restaurants of all time They have a lot of like cool Sinaloan specialties Mariscos Hermon is a great food truck doing fish tacos and so yeah Also water like ports just have more cultural diffusion Sure, yeah, it's more diverse food stuff. That's interesting though. I've never really thought about that and I love both That's a thing. It'd be hard one will make me nap

Right, but but I love both. I agree as long as I can have a cold beer with either. I'm in same. I'm in Hi guys, I love the pod I am listening to the Taco Bell versus Del Taco episode and the little bit of trivia at the end where one of the questions was about German chocolate cake and where does it come from. Oh, I remember this. I actually think it's a really interesting history. So German chocolate cake came about because a housewife wrote in a recipe to her local

newspaper for German's chocolate cake because German's chocolate was a specific kind of baking chocolate and the recipe got really really popular everybody loved it eventually they dropped the apostrophe s and it just became German chocolate cake so that's a really interesting origin story in my opinion just a food history and then my specific maybe controversial opinion is that tomato and peanut butter goes really well together. One of my favorite snacks is a really good, seedy whole wheat bread, like with sunflower

seeds is the best, with a good smear of peanut butter and two slices of really ripe summer tomatoes with salt and pepper on top. It is the best. Again, love the pod. Thank you guys so much. That sounds like one of those, you know whenever like a new food product is invented they hire just a massive amount of like, especially back in the day like women's magazine writers to be like write us a three ingredient recipe. This new fangle with with Miracle Whip with you know stuff like that. That sounds

like one of the OG peanut butter recipes. Yeah. You know? That said, I think peanut butter can do no wrong. I love peanut butter so much. Yes. That I'm like, have I had it with? So the thing is, I have had it with tomatoes and it was not good, but it was not in that style. It was a recipe from, I wanna say the teens,

the 19 teens, for a peanut butter and tomato soup that was sold, served at schools around America. It was not delicious. That sounds good to me. Yeah, you'd think. Because there is a type of soup from West Africa that is that, and it tastes good. Mafé, yeah. It does not taste good. And I think it simply has to do with ratios sure yeah You know so yeah also like hundreds and hundreds of years of food culture and being developed You know what I mean, so my aunt is actually Senegalese

And I grew up eating like she just called it peanut sauce or mafe all the time and to me It is like one if anybody has any weird peanut butter Opinions I'm like you gotta try this West Africans do so good one of the best foods in the world Oh good. Oh, she makes her own like habanero hot sauce like preserved mustard oil the way the like oil sits on top of it It's like tinge red from the tomato paste So sexy, um, I would eat the peanut butter sunflower bread tomato sandwich. I really would, but what I would do is I would add some like heavy like malted salt and then some crushed red pepper on it. And I think I would absolutely love it.

See, I don't like tomato on my sandwiches. So that's my thing. No, because they tend to be, they add too much moisture to the sandwich. I'm here for the wet. And I'm like, yeah, see, I don't like that. Sometimes I need it. Sometimes like, I have a BLT once a year. Like I need the tomato to be the most delicious, gorgeous, juicy, wet tomato of all time.

Sometimes I have like a mayonnaise and tomato sandwich, like a fresh summer tomato. So good. Yeah, mayonnaise, tomato,, like a fresh summer tomato. So good. Yeah, mayonnaise, tomato, salt and pepper is maybe the best sandwich ever. And it's gotta be Duke's mayonnaise. And on white bread. And on white bread, yeah, yeah.

Not like Wonder Bread. Not Wonder Bread, though. No, but not toasted. But like a middle of the road. Country, yeah. Country loaf. Not like an artisanal sourdough that's gonna be too hard. No, no, a country loaf. Nice country loaf.

Country loaf. German chocolate cake. Do you know anything about the history of German chocolate cake? This is so cool. No, but it kinda reminds me of Ruth's Chris. Do, nice country love. Country love. German chocolate cake. Do you know anything about the history of German chocolate cake? This is so cool. No, but it kind of reminds me of Ruth's Chris. Do you know? No. I know nothing about this.

So I used to work for Ruth's Chris, steakhouse in college. Oh, no way. And we had to learn the history, and it was originally, it was from New Orleans, and it was called Chris's Steakhouse. Okay. And then Ruth Fortell bought it, and she was like, well now this is Ruth's

Chris's steakhouse. And eventually people were like, too many apostrophes. Yeah. Let's get rid of one. I think they got rid of the wrong one because Ruth's Chris's steakhouse makes no sense. Sounds weird. Ruth Chris's steakhouse would make it sound like her name was Ruth Chris, but at least it rolls off the tongue a little bit there. But I get the dropping of the apostrophe S with German's chocolate cake. That's just like, German chocolate cake. It feels like a loss for the German chocolate company,

though, you know what I mean? It is, but whatever. Are they around anymore? So clearly they needed the advertising. Are Ruth's Chris' around anymore? Oh, there's one down the street. Is there? Yeah, they actually just redid one out.

I like never explore Burbank. They're definitely bleeding cash though. They're definitely one of those companies that you're gonna hear about where they're like, well, they have $450 million in corporate debts. I just read a headline about that with the Jack in the Box today. I don't know, they charge like $80 for a filet mignon now.

Really? It's nuts. There used to be one in Beverly Hills, I remember, but that's the only Ruth's Chris. I've ever seen in real life How many are there are you googling it? Yeah, I just searched Ruth Ruth's Chris bankrupt and turns out they're not but they just seem like they're the next one to go bankrupt You know what? I mean, maybe they're thriving and I honestly don't know if they're gonna get rid of forever 21 Ruth's Chris take us

It just depends does does private equity buy them? And if so, then they will go out of business because that's what private equity does. They did it to Toys R Us. They've just done it to Joanne's. But Fabrics. Oh, not Joanne's. Yeah, I know.

I went to the blowout sale. I'm so sad. I was sad too. I go to Joanne Fabrics all the time. I love Joanne Fabrics. I love to craft. Oh no, Ruth's Chris is owned by Darden. Yeah, that's going to be Darden. So Darden. Yeah, that's gonna be tough.

Darden is like, they owned, at some point they've given them up now, but they owned like Olive Garden and Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse. And they're like. All had problems. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so they've given those up, but Ruth's Chris might be the thing that they're really holding onto.

Well, interesting. Private Equity saved McConnell's ice cream. Oh. Nice. It's like the one story that like private equities like we did one good thing It's like it's like we don't look over here PowerPoint presentation it's already that in like in like the GMO circles It's like the whole the papaya thing in Hawaii where they're like Hawaii wouldn't have the pies if not for GMOs And then it's just like what's mom?

We got room for one more Jamie one more yeah, the clue that is not German is the coconut Could have fooled me. Hey Josh Nicole. My name is Josh. I'm from Florida. I was wondering why is it that When these foods are brought to America Japanese or Japanese cuisine is kind of treated as a very fancy like high-end thing where going to a ramen store or going to a sushi place is always a very kind of an expensive affair. But Chinese food is very cheap, very affordable, bought in bulk, and it's kind of just like basically fast food. I'm wondering if you have any input as far as the food history

of these two disparate Asian cuisines and why they fill two much different cultural niches in America. Thanks. Bye. You have feelings. I have a lot of feelings, but this is a very, very, very deep topic. It's very complicated. Yes Yeah, well first so he mentioned sushi. I'm right there. That's the reason it's it's expensive sushi is expensive because fish is just more expensive than Pork and the expensive ramen thing is very very new that's new and that I think has to do more with marketing and a lot of the

Chinese first of all, it is just generally has more history in America. There was a larger population and there was a lot more racism. They both had a lot of racism. But the Chinese had a lot of racism specifically about their food and the cleanliness and everything that I just think

never really went away in yeah there was a much bigger earlier wave of Chinese immigration and then there was a kind of second wave of post world to post world war two Japanese immigration into America and also at this time there's this weird period in American history in the 70s and 80s of like Japanophilia but also Japanophobia. Sure. Yeah. Where we were so worried. Remember, weird segue, talking to Terry Cruz who grew up in Flint where he was like if you drove a Japanese car on the street we'd firebomb it. Yeah. Right? Because like they were so afraid of Japanese like industrial capacity and then there became all these like weird

this weird myth-making about Japanese culture and oh it's all about respect and the Artisan and its precision and all this and so that like built the myth up in the food as well Sure, you hear people talk all about you know, you watch Giro dreams of sushi and it's like for every Giro in Japan There's also a 7-eleven selling like, you know, deep-fried cheese filled, you know fish cakes Yeah So I think we've had this weird myth making and a majority of the sushi restaurants in LA for at least a long time We're owned by Korean families Yes

Because they knew that people had this idea that they'd spend a lot more money on Japanese food and that's sushi But it's also chicken teriyaki is gonna be more expensive than yeah, you know getting The Chinese equivalent roughly and so like Korean families like well nobody really knows what Korean food is So we're gonna just sell sushi to white people at an insane premium And so there's this weird like kind of model minority myth Stratification of Asian cultures that I don't think is explicit for a lot of people But then when you really break it down and like see the economics of it Yeah, it's one of the most fascinating food talks to me

And I wish I was more educated on it We can do a whole episode on if if you want. You can come back and talk about it. You want to do that? I think it's not just Japanese and Chinese. I think it's, you know, French food. The ingredients are not necessarily more expensive or anything than German food, Italian food, but it's always costs two or three times as much. Top us, don't get me started on top us. You can eat for an hour, spend $200 and still be hungry. True, no true.

I had ramen yesterday that tasted like hot Cheetos. That's all I have to say. I literally went to a restaurant, sat down, and had ramen that had literal red, like it was literal hot Cheeto dust on top of it and I was like all right this is where we are now. It was good. The chef had seen that on one of those like competition things. He probably saw it on our show. Yeah and he was like that looks good. The audience liked it. All right well that's our time Max thank you so much for joining us and it's an

absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me. Where can the people find you Max? Tasting history on YouTube is probably the best place tasting history.com Thank you so much for joining us, it's an absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me. Where can the people find you, Max? Tasting History on YouTube is probably the best place. Tasting History dot com website. Find them at a nice shaded bar by a beach. Yes, anywhere where the sun is not. Just any beach. Any. Thank you all for listening to A Hot Dog is a Sandwich.

We've got audio only episodes every Wednesday and a video version here on YouTube every Sunday. If you want to be featured on Opinions or like Castrols, hit us up at 833-DOG-POD-1. The number again is 833-DOG-POD-1. Max, have you called the number? No. Call 833-DOG-POD-1. You should. I'm going to.

For more Mythical Kitchen, check out our other videos. We launch new episodes every week. See y'all next time. Bye.