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Overshadowed by all the anti-immigrant rhetoric afflicting our country today are wonderful stories of non-human immigration, such as the ones about how certain foods made their way from the New World to the Old World. Take potatoes and tomatoes, for example. They’re staples of Irish and Italian cuisine, respectively, but neither was native to those countries—both originated in the Americas. Mark and Joe tell the story of how these two hardy pioneers with humble roots in Mesoamerica came to dominate European cuisine. Like that of modern-day human migrants, their road to acceptance was a bumpy one full of fear, suspicion, and misinformation with some tasty twists and turns along the way. (Recorded October 3, 2025.)

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Based on recent proclamations from the MAGA government and the zealotry that some of its partisans have for the American flag, you’d never guess that flag worship was really not a thing in the United States for a very long time. Most Americans in the first half of the 19th century had little to no knowledge of the Stars and Stripes; that is, until the Civil War changed everything. Joe and Mark discuss Old Glory’s journey from military banner to object of near-religious veneration and how that history informs the flag-related controversies we see today.

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You may have noticed that there are a lot of very old people clinging to positions of authority, from our current president (79 years old) to our former president (82 when he left office) to other leaders in politics, business, and culture. Why won’t these folks leave the stage and let their younger colleagues step into power? Is this state of affairs good or bad for our society? Mark and Joe trace the history of gerontocracy, its role in feeding the alienation of younger generations, and what we might do to mitigate its deleterious effects. (Recorded August 29, 2025.)