Productive Plants, Pacific trades with Professor Andrés Reséndez

Much of food history is a history of trade: how crops, plants, and tastes move around the world. Professor Andrés Reséndez discusses a trade route often overlooked in the 16th and 17th centuries, that of the Manila Galleons, one that can be overshadowed by the intellectually exhausted narrative of the Columbian Exchange. We also eat corn puffs. And an extra special reading by poet Rick Barot from his book, The Galleons.

Professor Andrés Reséndez is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis. Reséndez specializes in early European exploration and colonization of the Americas, the U.S-Mexico border region, and the early history of the Pacific, particularly the pioneering voyages of discovery and the biological exchanges across the largest ocean on Earth. He is the author of Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery (2021) and The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (2017)

Tasting: Golden Sweet Corn from Regent Foods

Reading: The Galleons, featuring poet Rick Barot

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Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann

This podcast is supported by the UC Davis Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, Thinking Food at the Intersections.