WEBVTT - Invention Classic: Chewing Gum 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.640 Hey, Welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamb and 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.760 I'm Joe McCormick, and today we're bringing you a classic 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.200 episode of Invention. Will we'll we'll push aside the uh, 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.760 the cordoning off of bubble tape, step through the line 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.960 and and investigate the world of chewing gum. That's right. 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.240 Where does it come from? What did we chew before 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.800 we had gum? How does gum, you know, influence our lives? 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:33.600 Those are some of the questions we're gonna explore in 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:38.640 this classic episode of Invention, which originally published July nineteen. 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:45.199 Let's dive right in. Welcome to Invention, a production of 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:51.280 I Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Invention. My name is 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:53.720 Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. Robert, I've got a 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.040 question for you about childhood. Did your elementary school have 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:02.360 draconian anti gum policies? Um, There was definitely and there 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.200 were definitely anti gum policies, and I and I agree 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.760 with him, And I mean, at the time, I don't 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:09.240 think I was a big gum cheer at the time, 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.720 so they didn't really impact me all that much. But 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.160 but but ultimately, like I don't like stepping in gum. 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.399 I don't like encountering gum stuck to the bottom of 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.200 deaths or inside deaths. So I never really had a 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.160 problem with it. I think maybe my confused. I mean, 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.440 I wasn't a huge gum cheer as a child, but 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.040 I do remember thinking about the gum rule. This just 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.720 doesn't make sense, it's not fair. It was one of 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.120 my first real, uh you know, thought processes of rebelling 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.840 against authority and the rules imposed by the man. Because 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.160 other rules were like, you know, don't hit people, don't 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.920 steal from people, like they all caused harm to someone, 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.240 and I was thinking, what harm does it do when 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.360 someone choose gum? Now I understand the adult perspective. It's 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.440 I think primarily because it's like gross, and because the 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.280 gum ends up somewhere. It shouldn't right. The gum ends 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.560 up somewhere, it should be Uh. There's also just especially 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.680 if it's bubble gum. I don't know. I still I'm 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:08.120 kind of anti bubble gum, Like there's not okay. It 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:09.840 can be fun to blow a bubble, I guess, but 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.320 it's just kind of weird. I don't know, And I've 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:17.520 I've taught before, and I don't specifically remember encountering gum chewers. 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.160 Maybe I did, but I think if if I didn't 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:23.480 find it annoying, I feel like I would find it annoying, 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:25.480 you know what I'm saying. It's like just looking out 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.000 there and there there's somebody chewing, and then it's probably 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.360 if if you've ever experienced any level of miss aphonia, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.280 like gum chewing can definitely set off miss aphonia, especially 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:36.520 if it's like gum smacking, you know where it's like 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.560 open mouth chewing of the gum. I am less annoyed 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.120 by memories of students chewing gum, which I don't really have. 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.360 I do remember students in my classes eating just eating 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.280 lunch and stuff, which I never knew if I should 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.639 make a big deal about that or not. It's just 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.040 one of those things that in retrospect I probably should 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.280 have forbidden but didn't. On the other hand, I do. 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:00.600 I chew a lot of gum today, Like if I'm 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:02.480 in the car, I will probably even if I don't 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.360 really need it, I'll generally grab a piece of sugar 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.799 free gum and and chew it a bit. And it's uh. 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.800 Sometimes it's not even like a breath freshening exercise. Uh. 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:15.760 Like this morning, I put one in my mouth on 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.720 the way into work, and I had looked just brush 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.119 my teeth, so there was no like real like freshness 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.880 issue at hand. It was just I just wanted the 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.360 sensation of chewing the gum. It's a good way of 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.520 getting the goat blood off of your teeth. Now that 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:31.480 being said, it is I think it's super handy to 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:33.200 be able to turn the gum if you know you 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:34.960 need a little something to freshen your breath up after 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:36.800 you've just set a meal out and you don't have 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:41.400 access to toothpaste and toothbrush. Um, it can be It 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.960 can also be be great while working. It's you know, 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:47.560 while you're studying, writing, etcetera. And then I've also I've 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.360 heard of other people like growing to depend on it 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.920 in certain tasks. Like here's one I've never quite understood, 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.920 but I have heard that some professional wrestlers not only 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.760 chew gum while wrestling, but depend on it. Like if 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.040 they are not chewing the gum, it like throws off 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.360 their their their rhythm or something choking hazard. Right, well, 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:12.080 one would think, right, I mean I as a as 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.640 a father, like I definitely if my son were running 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.000 around chewing gum, I would probably decide said to give 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:18.400 him the whole, like you're going to choke on that 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.719 if you if you run. But uh yeah, there's this 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.560 whole thing with with professional refers professional athletes. I mean, 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:29.960 it's obviously big League Chew's named for uh, you know, 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.000 for big for Major League Baseball players, who I guess 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.200 we're you know, generally chewing tobacco in the old days, 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.279 but but still chew gum. You'll still see professional athletes 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.160 chewing gum during their events. I think one thing that's 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.599 funny but big League chew is that it's the most 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.920 unnecessarily macho of candies. And yet if you look back 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.880 in history, there is often a very gendered component to 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.800 people's judgment of gum chewing behaviors in which gum chewing 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.760 is uh is, in many points and societies and history 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:07.760 associated with women and especially young women, and looked on judgmentally. 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.440 Uh So, I've got a little ditty from the British 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.800 Medical Journal in you want to hear some gum hate? Yeah, 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.760 let's hear it. Okay. The question has been raised whether 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.480 there is any reason for supposing that the practice of 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.760 gum chewing so prevalent in the United States, is on 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.520 the increase in this country. We have made some inquiries 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:34.400 and have ascertained that many young women, students, actresses, and 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.640 others appear to have acquired this disgusting habit and are 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:43.320 inveterate chewers. We have examined specimens of chewing gum obtained 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.640 from various fashionable sweet shops in London and find that, 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.080 as a rule, it consists of rubber flavored with aniseed 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.479 or peppermint or some o their aromatic substance. Now, I 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:55.919 catch more than a hint of misogyny and all of that, 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.719 especially singling out um students and actress actual system. It's 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:04.600 like like women in society, independent, young women that are 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:06.600 that have some level of independence are the ones that 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.599 are being singled out as being disgusting gum chewers. And 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.400 the gum itself, like you're talking about like peppermint flavored, Uh, 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.320 you know, rubber. I mean, what's that? It sounds pleasant? 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.520 Doesn't sound that disgusting with this disgusting habit. I've got 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:22.360 a response to this article from the British Medical Journal. 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.040 This response is in the North American Practitioner the next 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:31.240 year eight just a couple of selections from it. Our 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.599 English contemporaries are taking our people to task as well 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.200 they may, for the vile, as they term it, the 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.960 American habit of gum chewing. We submit no defense to 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.080 the charge and are only consoled by the fact that 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.080 the habit is less disgusting than that of tobacco chewing. 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.359 Our confreres have our profound sympathy in their efforts to 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.480 promote reform. At the same time, we prefer to see 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:58.240 jaw jumpers consigned to the minor bad rather than the 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.960 bad irremediable. We regret that this fat is classed as 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:06.520 an American industry. Nevertheless, the fact is too patent for denial, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.560 and there is no accounting for taste jaw jumpers. Never 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.239 heard that before, But I think I get what they're saying, 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:15.200 because did you know the kid when you were in 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.120 elementary school who didn't just chew gum but did the 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.840 like exaggerated a huge up and down movement of the 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:27.160 jaw that I guess I vaguely remember you know saying, 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.520 But I was sometimes I would think that that's part 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:31.720 of just having too much gum in your mouth or 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.440 deciding to refresh in a you know, like a completely 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.600 drained piece of gum with a second piece of gum, 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.200 which you know might have seen like a good idea 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:42.040 when you're a kid. One more follow up to the 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.600 b m J article. I was reading about this in 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.520 a book by Carrie Cgrave called Chewing Gum in America 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.640 eighteen fifty nineteen twenty uh. This books from so it 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:55.680 notes that this original British Medical Journal article was reprinted 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:58.360 in the Daily Mail shortly after appearing in the b MJ, 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.480 and the printing actually prompted an editorial response that included 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.160 an interview with this guy named Hubert Beaumont, who was 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.720 managing director of a retail shop called Fuller's which sold 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.320 chewing gum, and Beaumont was defensive. He insisted that the 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.560 British Medical Journal was wrong that chewing gum was not 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.440 made out of rubber, but out of sap that came 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.600 from a tree that grow in Mexico. Quote it is 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.680 a purely vegetable substance and perfectly harmless. And he also 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.840 defended gum chewing from the charge that it was disgusting, 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.520 basically saying, hey, people have been chewing stuff for a 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.520 long time exactly. So that's what we're gonna look at 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.480 for the rest of today's episode, the history and invention 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:43.160 of various forms of chewing gum. Look at the history 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.280 of this disgusting habit, the invention of several different versions 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.160 of gum across the years, and what are gums says 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.160 about us. I do want to say that another time 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:55.520 when I usually have to chew gum or I really 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.640 prefer to chew gum, is if I am you know, 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.040 flying or driving up into the mountains and the sort 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.600 of thing where you're gonna anxiety. Well, I mean we're 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.800 encountering pressure changes and uh, you know it's it's great 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.880 to can help relieve leave pressure in the in the ears. 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.599 You know, I'm doing large part because chewing it and 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:18.000 certainly feel your face the next time you're chewing. I mean, 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.560 it is a uh, it involves so many different muscles 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:22.800 of the head and face like it's a it's it's 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.679 a it's a major muscular activity. That's a really good 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:27.719 point about the pressure change. I did not go there. 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.720 I thought you were going to go to anxiety I 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:31.920 know you're you can get a little anxious on an airplane. 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.280 Oh no, well, there are other things. I prefer to 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.240 gum for that. But but I don't know that. There 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:38.959 are those who speak maybe we'll get into this a 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.360 little later that speak to the anxiety. Um. Uh, the 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.400 use of gum to at least mildly treat anxiety. Well, 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.600 I mean, I think about the behaviors of some animals 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.800 where symptoms of anxiety or anxiety like conditions in some 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:57.040 animals can manifest as chewing behaviors. Oh yeah, well, let's 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.679 let's talk about about chewing itself, because alto only, that's 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:05.559 the main activity at play here. So chewing is good, 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.240 chewing is necessary, It's okay, No, it's it's great. It's 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.040 grateful for the members of the animal kingdom that engage 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.000 in chewing, which of course includes us. It allows us 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.520 to take the first steps toward digestion. So you're breaking 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.320 your food down into smaller pieces and also increasing the 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.080 overall surface area of the food, and this will speed 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:29.319 up the effectiveness of digestion. And then chewing also releases flavors, 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.360 you know, often very pleasurable flavors. And uh, and this 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.200 is all part of the sensory perception of the material 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.080 that we're testing out and potentially eating. And that's easy 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.079 to forget, like why do we taste things. We taste 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.520 things to figure out to know what they are. You know, 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.520 this mix of taste and smell that's happening inside your 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.680 skull as you mash the lea for the stem or 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.720 maybe a bug or a piece of flesh. As you 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.720 be chew it up, as you masticate it um, You're 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.480 you're sensing it. You're getting a sense of what this 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.240 is and and ultimately this is supposed to play into 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.120 the decision whether or not to form it into a 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.199 bolus with your your tongue in the back of your 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.480 throat and send it down to the next step. Very 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.680 appetizing to think about while you're actually eating. Yes, I 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.640 hope everybody's eating while they or maybe you're at least 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.040 chewing gup. But there's also, in addition to just the 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.280 pure mashing with the teeth, there's a little bit of 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.280 sort of chemical treatment of the food as you're you're 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.319 chewing it up to right, Yeah, the act of chewing 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.440 produces saliva, which plays a key role in this first 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.360 phase of digestion and again the ultimate preparation of the 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:36.200 bolus that will pass onto the realms below and so final. 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.000 For these reasons, chewing is especially important to herbivores and omnivores. Right, 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.960 so if you want to like mash up tough fibrous 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.679 plant material with your teeth so you can get more 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.680 nutrients out of it. You notice there are some animals 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.600 that don't chew at all, and they tend to be carnivores. Yeah, 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.959 and I think I think about like snakes. So I 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.160 don't know if there may be some cases of snakes 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.200 doing something like chewing, but generally you know they're going 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:01.600 to be swallowing their prey mostly hall right. Yeah. Another 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.280 big example of course the sperm whale, you know which one, 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.760 just inhale. A lot of fish also fish also do 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:12.120 this as well, an inhalation of the entire organism. The 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.760 ending of anaconda wouldn't be quite the same if John 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.480 Voyd had been chewed up before being swallowed exactly. There 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.560 is cinematic payoff to that, for sure. Now, there have 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:26.680 been those who put you know, excessive emphasis on chewing. 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.120 For instance, I have to mention the work of Horace Fletcher. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:34.040 Who's he Oh he lived eighteen forty nine through nineteen nineteen, 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:38.560 and he was known as the Great Masticator for and 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.000 he was known as by this moniker because of his 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:46.160 teachings of a fletcherizing. So basically his idea was that 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:48.480 not only did you need to chew your food, because 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:50.319 we've all heard that, right, and you know we've we've 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.800 heard somebody say that to a child. Makes yeah, chew too, 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.680 your food to your food, don't just you know, swallowed. 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.000 But he was he would he would have argued that 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:00.640 you need to chew your food to the point of 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.199 liquefication in order to properly digest it and just count 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:08.439 your choose, etcetera. And uh he he had some nice 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.120 slogans for this, like this was his big issue, and 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:18.080 one of them was nature will castigate those who don't mastigate. Um. Wait, 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:20.920 so this is this is the first smoothie king, Well 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.680 before you had blenders. This guy is doing an organic 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.280 smoothie revolution. Yeah, he would have loved a vitam x 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.840 you know. But but he was also you know, arguing 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.160 that that chewing, you know, it's releasing the saliva and 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.120 you need a certain amount of saliva to be produced. 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:36.480 So he was all all part of it had to 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.520 do with this with the idea of like all the 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.880 things that chewing is actually doing and some of these things, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.719 you know, saliva is important. Is it's so important that 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.880 you need to chew your drinks like that, because that 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.080 was something you are like, if you're you're you're having 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.760 a you're drinking something, you need to chew your drink 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.840 as well, just to make sure the saliva is being produced. 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:58.200 But a lot of a lot of people were, you know, 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.320 we're sucked in by this this line of thinking, including 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.320 Dr John Harvey Kellogg. That's not a surprise. Yeah, he 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:09.200 was an adherent, though Kellogg eventually abandoned fletcherizing because he 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:11.959 realized that that wh he decided that fiber was more 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.120 important and that fletcherizing might get in the way of 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.800 taking in that necessary fiber. Well stopped clock rule. I mean, 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.200 John Harvey Kellogg was mostly a crank. But fiber is 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.880 very important, important to have a lot in your diet. 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.880 But also wasn't John Harvey Kellogg an advocate of like 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.080 boring foods. Didn't he suggest like you need to eat 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.360 foods that aren't going to like excite the libido and stuff. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.760 He had a lot of ideas, some of which, uh no, 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.720 some of them were definitely um, you know, quackery like fletcherizing. Um. Yeah, 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.800 he also got into abstinence being an essential part of 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.440 his his his his plan for a better life. But 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.760 then you know, also we got cereal, some cereals out 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:01.280 of the mix. Yeah. So so yeah, chewing is important, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.240 but not fletcherizing level of important. As we said already, 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.720 mastication entails a whole host of facial merchant muscles, so 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.440 a certain amount of energy goes into the act. And 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.680 if you just look around at our fellow humans, yes, 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.560 you'll see a lot of gum chewing, but you'll also 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.080 probably notice a lot of other things whin wind up 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:22.240 being chewed by humans. Things like tobacco for sure, but 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:28.600 also various herbal chooes, pencils, pins, toothpicks. Oh, don't chew toothpicks, folks. 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:30.800 I'm not saying do it. I'm just saying, you see 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.280 it happened. No, I know we're not recommending any of these, 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:37.120 but especially don't chew toothpicks. Um. You'll see people chewing 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:42.480 uh pacifiers. Sometimes adults will two pass fires that light up. Uh. 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.840 And then also night you never heard that, Well, you 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.240 see some people like it's like a raver. I don't 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.400 know if it's still done, but I used to one 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.360 would see it. And then uh, then I myself, I 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.640 use a night guard at night, and sometimes I think 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.320 of that as chewing, Like basically I'm putting a chew 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.720 toy in my mouth and chewing it all night. But 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.200 I do have to drive home that this is actually 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.760 bruxi is um, which is excessive teeth grinding or jaw clenching, 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.480 and it's unrelated to eating. Likewise, there are various chewing 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.480 disorders and animals as well that shouldn't necessarily be confused 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:22.280 for examples of normal eating or anything resembling recreational chewing. 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.440 And I was wondering about this though, so so, yeah, 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.800 if if we see humans chewing things in many cases 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.640 seemingly purely for the act of chewing, Like you're chewing 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.080 on the end of that pin, why you're not gaining 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.480 any nutreents from that pin? You just much you want 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.960 something to chew. Uh, And I wonder, sorry, I just 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.840 don't know. I thought about ice chewing, ice chewing, ice 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.720 chewing freaks me out. I know millions of you out 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.240 there probably do it, but it's just please don't do 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.000 it around me. It gives me the creepy Well, there's 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.120 there's But my point is there's a lot of stuff 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.720 we chew and why, And so I was wondering about this, 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.800 and I wonder if, to a certain extent this is 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.080 because this is like stemming back to a time in 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.000 our prehistory in which we were always gathering edible materials. 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.080 You know, we were hunter gatherers, and as we gathered, 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.760 perhaps we were eating a little bit as we went, 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.600 we were tasting, chewing things to see what they were, 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.480 or you know, certainly if we recognize what they were 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:21.359 and knew that they had, say like a mild stimulant 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.439 to them, perhaps we need to do to chew on 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.800 that to keep going. But we probably also a lot 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.720 of high fiber potential foods. Yeah, yeah, you kind of like, 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:31.919 you know, you would need to be chewing all the time, right. 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.600 I was also I recently learned on a mushroom and 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:40.359 herb foraging tour via a licensed turbalist that an experience 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.080 forger can chew, taste, and spit a variety of substances, 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.200 so not necessarily chewing, uh, you know, not chewing to eat, 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.920 but chewing to sort of taste and help identify a 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:54.280 particular substance, even a mushroom um, because if you're if 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:56.879 something a lot, if you if you chew it and 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:58.600 spit it, you know, you can get a sense of it. 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:01.720 Is it a bitter or is putrid? Whatever the taste 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.000 happens to be, and that would aid and experienced individual 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:08.440 in identifying that substance. Well, so I've got a question. 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:13.240 Do bears chew gum? I mean, what are there are 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:18.359 there examples of gum style recreational chewing in the animal 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.719 world outside of humans? Well? Um, I looked around for 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:26.560 examples of recreational chewing in animals and there wasn't a 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:28.760 lot to report. Most of it seems to be in 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.440 the aid of food selection and consumption, or to do 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.040 to some manner of malady or the effects of being 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.880 kept in an enclosure. I thought to my own cat, 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:38.840 and occasionally, you know, my cattle do this thing where 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:41.520 she takes the food in her mouth, chew it, let's 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.119 it drop out, and then maybe she'll eat it. But 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:48.920 I think that's ultimately part of her tasting the substance 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.399 and then deciding whether to eat it. Now, I do 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.040 think that there there seemed to be some behaviors in 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.879 dogs and perhaps other carnivores that seem to me to 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.440 be non feeding for chians, of chewing where they'll chew 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.880 on a you know, bone or a stick or something. Yeah, um, 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:06.479 And I wonder if that has to do with like 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.000 dental health or something about the teeth what you do 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.160 there is there's an element of dental health and some animals, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.200 probably the best example being that of you know, to 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:19.600 a certain extent, uh, you know, birds and dogs chewing 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.520 on different items obviously, like a for a like a cat. 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:25.959 And you often see feathers brought up as an example 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.359 of something they would kind of chew on roughly, you know, 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:30.479 as it was a way of helping to keep their 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.400 teeth clean. Dogs are going to chew on bones obviously, 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.680 But then hamsters, for example, it's an animal that needs 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.359 to chew in order to keep its ever growing teeth healthy. 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.199 It's like sharpening your knives. Yeah, yeah, I guess if 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.800 your knives kept growing, if your knives kept growing out 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:50.400 of your skull exactly. But dogs, though you you encourage 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:52.240 me to look into this little bit more because I'm 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:54.400 not a dog owner, but you're a dog owner. Does 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:56.880 your dog like to chew on things in the house. Yes, 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.320 he's not as big a chewer as some dogs are, 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:01.919 And I would make a strong distinction, I guess, between 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:05.439 things that are in some way kind of a food 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:10.120 or food analogy, like something that is flavored or something, uh, 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.520 you know, raw hide or something like that, versus just 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:17.080 chewing on like chew toys, which which Charlie didn't do 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.720 very much, but some dogs do a lot of. Yeah. 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:21.520 I was reading a little bit a bit about this, 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.320 so on one have a level like food chew toys 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.360 that are made out of some sort of edible material, 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.960 Like they'll break those down. Like I was surprised that 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.280 that's basically eating. Yeah, I was surprised as a non 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.240 dog owner. Like one day I brought this like edible 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.680 chew toy over to a friend's house and I was like, Oh, 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:40.320 this will be great this The dog will love this 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.720 for weeks and weeks. And the dog proceeded to just 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:46.400 just break it into pieces and eat the whole thing, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.880 and I was I was impressed. A big nasty bloody 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:56.800 wet muzzle when it's done. But but there's this whole 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:59.240 issue of course dogs chewing things they're not supposed to 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.960 chew is actually shoes and I found, um, I found 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.200 an article in Live Science so where they were talking 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.600 to Calling Tennant, a chairman of the UK Canine and 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:14.919 Feline Behavior Association, and uh. They pointed out that okay, 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:17.800 so yes, dogs chew things, uh, but a lot of 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:20.280 times they're chewing things in order to sense them. And 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.919 it comes down to not only the not really the 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.840 taste necessary, but the smell potential of a dog. They 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.240 said that when a when a dog choose on something, 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:31.959