1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: These days, we all know that we shouldn't believe everything 7 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: we see on the Internet. Deep fakes and doctorate images 8 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: can look very real, which is why it's so important 9 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 1: to know which news sources are trustworthy and which should 10 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: be taken with a grain of salt. Back in the 11 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: mid twentieth century, though, things were a lot different. People 12 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: didn't always view the news with such skepticism, but maybe 13 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 1: they should have. You see on ape of nineteen fifty seven, 14 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: a BBC news program called Panorama featured a story that 15 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,399 Speaker 1: left its British viewers perplexed. The black and white broadcasts 16 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: began with a series of images from the Swiss countryside, 17 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: trees covered in blooming flowers, bees pollinating the buds, and 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: women admiring their gardens. As these idyllic frames flashed on screen, 19 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: a British journalist named Richard Dimbleby narrated. Richard was a 20 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: respected reporter known for his in depth coverage of World 21 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: War Two. His voice was serious as he discussed the 22 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 1: recent weather conditions in Switzerland. He said, and I quote 23 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: the past winter, one of the mildest in living memory, 24 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: has had its effect in other ways as well. Most 25 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:46,479 Speaker 1: important of all, it's resulted in an exceptionally heavy spaghetti crop. 26 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: As soon as he said those words, the broadcast cut 27 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: to video of a large flowery tree with hundreds of 28 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: spaghetti noodles hanging off its branches. Women in traditional Swiss 29 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: dresses harvested pasta from the trees. Meanwhile, Richard discussed the 30 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: differences between Italian and Swiss spaghetti production. According to him, 31 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: Italian spaghetti farms were much larger, while Swiss pasta cultivation 32 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: was a smaller, family affair. Of course, Richard explained the 33 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: temperate weather was helping the spaghetti trees thrive, but so 34 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: is something else. He said, quote Another reason why this 35 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: may be a bumper year lies in the virtual disappearance 36 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: of the spaghetti weavil, a tiny creature whose depredations have 37 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: caused much concern in the past. Now I don't think 38 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: I have to tell you that spaghetti weavils do not 39 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: exist and pasta does not grow on trees. But here's 40 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: the thing. Back in nineteen fifty seven, not all British 41 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: people knew that. At the time, spaghetti wasn't a common 42 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 1: dish in the UK. If people ate it at all, 43 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: they probably got it out of a can and they 44 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: didn't necessarily know how it was made. In the wake 45 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: of this bizarre broadcast, the British public was split into 46 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: two camps. Most people thought that they had just learned 47 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: something new and interest about spaghetti. Some gardeners even called 48 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: in asking where they might be able to get their 49 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: own spaghetti trees. However, a small minority those who knew 50 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: how pasta was actually made, were furious. The BBC received 51 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: a flood of calls from people demanding an explanation. Panorama 52 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: was supposed to be a serious factual program. Why on 53 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: Earth with someone like Richard Dimbleby purposely spread misinformation? It 54 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: turns out it was all one guy's idea, and that 55 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: guy was not Richard. It was a freelance cameraman named 56 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: Charles Dijeger. Charles wanted to create a prank segment for 57 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: April fool's Day. He pitched the idea to David Wheeler, 58 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: the producer of Panorama, and David thought that it sounded funny, 59 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: so he agreed to give the cameraman a meager production 60 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: budget of one hundred pounds. Charles found a good location 61 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: in the Swiss countryside, cooked a whole bunch of spaghetti 62 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: and hung the noodles off the tree's limbs. He even 63 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: hired actors to quote unquote harvest the crop. The whole 64 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: thing was staged as a joke. Unfortunately, the punchline didn't 65 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: really land for British audiences. Nevertheless, in a two thousand 66 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: and four interview, producer David Wheeler said that he didn't 67 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: regret pulling the prank on the public. He said, quote, 68 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: I think it was a good idea for people to 69 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: be aware they couldn't believe everything they saw on television, 70 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: and that they ought to adopt a slightly critical attitude 71 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: towards it. In this way, David was ahead of his time, 72 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: and his advice is even more important today. Whenever you 73 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: watch TV, read the news, or scroll through social media, 74 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 1: make sure to use your noodle, whether it's baked onto 75 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: a pizza, poured over a plate of nachos or sprinkled 76 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: on top of a salad. The culinary world just wouldn't 77 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: be the same without cheese. The practice of fermenting dairy 78 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: goes back thousands of years. It all probably began when 79 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: a herdsman noticed some milky'd been carrying had separated into 80 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: kurds and whey, And in the many years since, cheesemaking 81 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: has become a skill that humanity has refined, giving us 82 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 1: grocery store aisles full of every variety you can imagine. However, 83 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen forties, the United States military found 84 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: itself in a bit of a predicament. America had just 85 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,360 Speaker 1: entered World War Two, and feeding the nation's troops proved 86 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: to be a challenge. The biggest problem was that fresh 87 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,159 Speaker 1: food was expensive to ship and it went bad quickly. Ideally, 88 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: rations would be relatively cheap and would remain safe to 89 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 1: eat for years. Now. When it came to calorie dense, 90 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: shelf stable foods, one item stood out, processed cheese product. 91 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: Think about Valveda, invented in nineteen eighteen. It's not cheese 92 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: so much as it is cheese adjacent, but it was 93 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: inexpensive and it stored well, and that's what the military 94 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: neededment N officials contacted Kraft, the company that owned Velveta. 95 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: They purchased twenty five million cans of cheese like product, 96 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: along with five hundred thousand pounds of cheese flavored spread. 97 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: These foods became staples of US military rations. But still 98 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: the government wasn't completely satisfied. These products were long lasting 99 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: and cheap tobai for sure, but they were also heavy, 100 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: and that meant that they still cost quite a bit 101 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: to ship to troops around the world, and they were 102 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: cumbersome for soldiers to carry around. Now, the obvious answer 103 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: was to dehydrate the cheese. Removing the water from foods 104 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: makes them exponentially lighter. However, at the time, the only 105 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: way to dehydrate food was to expose it to prolonged 106 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 1: high temperatures. This worked for cheese, but it also melted 107 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: out all the fat, reducing the calorie dense food to 108 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: a pile of dust with very few nutrients. The military 109 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: needed a way to take the water out of cheese 110 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: while still keeping the fat. In nineteen forty three, they 111 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: found the perfect man for the job. His name was 112 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: Georgie Saunders, and he worked as a dairy scientist for 113 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: the United States Department of Agriculture. George set to work 114 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: testing out new methods of dairy dehydration. After lots of 115 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: trial and error, he found something that worked, splitting the 116 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: drying process into two distinct steps. Instead of just blasting 117 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: the cheese with high heat right off the bat, he 118 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: started with low temperatures, which trapped in the fat and proteins. 119 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: After that, the cheese was broken up into smaller pieces 120 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: and dehydrated at a high heat. This resulted in a 121 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: cheese powder that was ultra light but still nutrient dense. 122 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: George packed these into round disks that were perfect for 123 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: storage and shipping, and he called these cheesecakes, not to 124 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: be confused with the dessert. Now. I know this might 125 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: not sound particularly exciting, but the military wanted to get 126 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: people pumped up about cheese powder. In nineteen forty three, 127 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: they released a war bond advertisement in which a shirtless 128 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: soldier fed his comrade a puck of dehydrated cheese. Suddenly, 129 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: dairy dust was all the ray. Fast forward two years 130 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: to nineteen forty five, when World War II came to 131 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: an end. After all this work to create the perfect rations, 132 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: the US military faced another weird problem. They had mountains 133 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: upon mountains of dehydrated cheese powder and no soldiers to 134 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: feed it to. Once again, the government officials contacted Craft. 135 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: This time, instead of buying cheese, they offered to sell 136 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,679 Speaker 1: theirs at an extremely discounted price. Basically, they were willing 137 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: to take a huge loss just to get all of 138 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: this dairy powder off of their hands, and for Kraft 139 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: it was a no brainer. They took the military's leftovers 140 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: and used them to create a brand new snack. The 141 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: first bags hit grocery store shelves in nineteen forty eight, 142 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: and they were an instant hit, bringing in millions of 143 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: dollars of revenue each year. Today, they're the second most 144 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: popular salty snack in America. So what did Craft create 145 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,839 Speaker 1: with that government cheese powder? The iconic snack that leaves 146 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: your fingers coated in orange colored dust Cheetos. I hope 147 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,839 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 148 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 149 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 150 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 151 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: stuff works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 152 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and 153 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore 154 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:35,319 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.