Episode 329: Tamales

Imagine Mexico without tacos or tamales. Imagine Mexican intellectuals trying to eliminate corn from the country where it was born. History professor Jeffrey Pilcher, author of Que Vivan Los Tamales: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity, joins us this week for a look at a national identity crisis.

The Sterns tuck into a weird-but-delicious chow mein sandwich at Evelyn's Drive-In in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Seattle's famed Herbfarm chef Jerry Traunfeld returns to the show to talk the next herb in the spotlight: shiso. His recipe for Shiso Crab Cocktail is from his latest book, The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor.

Gourmet magazine's John Willoughby reports on the best place in the world for a protein high: the meat palaces of Argentina. His article appears in the May 2006 issue of Gourmet. When famed restaurateur Mario Batali took his chefs to Italy for five days of non-stop eating and research, dining morphed into hard work. Bob Sloan, author of The Tailgating Cookbook: Recipes for the Big Game reads an excerpt from the article "Mario's Excellent Adventure: 5 Days in Bologna, 62 Courses" which appeared in the April 2006 issue of Gourmet.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• April 22, 2006 (originally aired)

• February 10, 2007 (rebroadcast)