Speaker 1: Hell no, we can savor prediction of ihearted yo. I'm
Speaker 1: Any Reese.
Speaker 2: And I'm Lorn vogel Bum. And today we have an
Speaker 2: episode for you about giant tiger prawns.
Speaker 1: Yes, oh, you know we love these seafood episodes.
Speaker 2: Oh they're so cool. They're so weird. Sea creatures are
Speaker 2: so strange, and I love them so much. Oh, this
Speaker 2: is our first shrimp episode. We have been so remiss,
Speaker 2: but it's fine. It's finally here.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe it when you told me that, how
Speaker 1: have we never done?
Speaker 2: Oh, I mean we've done like lobsters and crawfish, which
Speaker 2: are not shrimp, but you know they're also little weird,
Speaker 2: leggy crustacean buddies.
Speaker 1: It's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did have shrimp as pets for a long time,
Speaker 2: and so maybe, you know, like both of us were like,
Speaker 2: maybe we shouldn't talk about something that Lauren literally keeps
Speaker 2: as a pet.
Speaker 1: On our food show. I will.
Speaker 2: I lost the aquarium during the move, but but I'm
Speaker 2: going to get it back up and running. It is
Speaker 2: like on the to do list. It's going to happen.
Speaker 1: I'm very excited for more updates about this. I was
Speaker 1: very invested in that aquarium.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and more shrimp are coming, so here, here
Speaker 2: we go. I just love them. They're so busy all
Speaker 2: the time, they're doing stuff. It's great. Anyway. Note at
Speaker 2: the top here, Yes, I said that the episode is
Speaker 2: about giant tiger prawn and then immediately started talking about shrimp.
Speaker 2: That is because the words shrimp and prawn are in
Speaker 2: fact synonyms. Some people have tried to make them have
Speaker 2: real definitions, but everybody else insists on being real chaotic
Speaker 2: about it. So here we are.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you put that note up there, because I
Speaker 1: really was trying to make sure I was getting everything correct,
Speaker 1: because a prawn, to me, feels so much bigger than
Speaker 1: a shrimp.
Speaker 2: See etymologically sure, Yeah, let's go with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like, people are really confused about how this has occurred
Speaker 2: because like, like some people are like, well, maybe it's
Speaker 2: because the word shrimp also means small. Yeah, and so
Speaker 2: for some people the word prawn means something bigger, but
Speaker 2: other people use them in kind of the opposite way.
Speaker 1: So we don't know.
Speaker 2: No, no, we don't know.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, it is a fascinating episode, complicated in many ways.
Speaker 2: The seafood industry typically is.
Speaker 1: Yes, that was an actual crack. You could hear a voice, Yes,
Speaker 1: but we have spoken about it before.
Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, right, we did do that lobster in that
Speaker 2: crawfish or crayfish episode if you if you prefer, they
Speaker 2: are perhaps the most biologically pertinent seafood episodes we've done. Also,
Speaker 2: definitely check out our big fish industry episode from the
Speaker 2: Oahu episodes for a kind of macro look at the
Speaker 2: complexities of fishing production.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, which we are going to get into a
Speaker 1: little bit. Oh yeah here, but I suppose that brings
Speaker 1: us to our question. Sure, Giant tiger prons what are they?
Speaker 2: Well, Giant tiger prowns are a type of crustacean that
Speaker 2: is a leggy animal that wears its skeleton on the
Speaker 2: outside of its body and typically lives in the water.
Speaker 2: Giant tiger prawns have long bodies, consisting of a carapace
Speaker 2: containing the head and like most of the internal organs,
Speaker 2: and then an abdomen containing a big, fleshy tail muscle.
Speaker 2: And this is the part that we humans are mostly
Speaker 2: interested in eating. Plus, it's got ten legs on the
Speaker 2: underside of their bodies to help them move around. And
Speaker 2: grab stuff. Their shell is firm but slightly flexible and
Speaker 2: a little bit translucent, sort of like our fingernails. It's
Speaker 2: in segments like armor, and can range in color from
Speaker 2: rusty brown to gray blue in color, with this characteristic
Speaker 2: striping in bands around their tail in contrasting black and white,
Speaker 2: hence the name tiger. Yeah, they're called giant because they're
Speaker 2: big for a shrimp. They can grow a little bit
Speaker 2: over a foot long and like a couple inches thick,
Speaker 2: that's about thirty by six centimeters or so, and they
Speaker 2: can weigh nearly a pound, like a little bit less
Speaker 2: than half a kilo. They can be cooked whole in
Speaker 2: their shells, maybe roasted, grilled, steamed, or boiled, after which
Speaker 2: they might be served cut open so that you can
Speaker 2: pick out the tail meat. You can also remove the
Speaker 2: carapaces and legs and just cook the tail portion, or
Speaker 2: even just the tail meat. When it's raw. The meat
Speaker 2: is slightly translucent white in color with a thin silvery
Speaker 2: gray skin, and when it's cooked it'll go opaque white
Speaker 2: with a bright orange pink skin. The tail meat is tender,
Speaker 2: chewy like sort of springy or bouncy kind of and
Speaker 2: savory sweet and a little rich and briny in flavor.
Speaker 2: They're tasty on their own and can be served with
Speaker 2: just a little bit of like lemon juice or butter
Speaker 2: and a sprinkle of herbs. But that sweet, rich flavor
Speaker 2: goes well with all kinds of sauces or in soups
Speaker 2: or stews. They're big, tasty shrimp. Eating. Eating good shrimp
Speaker 2: like these gives me the same feeling as laying out
Speaker 2: on warm sand or like on a hot stone surface
Speaker 2: at a spa. It's just the sense of like light fulfillment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good shrimp, good shrimp, right texture, right seasonings. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's just it makes you want to be by the water.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very sublime.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is. Well.
Speaker 2: The animals are also super cool before we eat.
Speaker 1: Them, okay.
Speaker 2: A taxonomical name Penius monodon giant tiger prawns are in
Speaker 2: native to the Indian Ocean and warm parts of the
Speaker 2: West Pacific, stretching from like Southeast Africa over across to
Speaker 2: Australia and then up through southern Japan. They live near
Speaker 2: coastlines at the ocean's floor, burrowing in the mud or sand,
Speaker 2: and they're mostly active at night. The female shrimp tend
Speaker 2: to be a little bit bigger than the males, and
Speaker 2: they live for about three years. In the wild, they'll
Speaker 2: head into like brackish river estuaries to mate and lay
Speaker 2: eggs in like calm lagoons or mangrove shelters. I read
Speaker 2: that they can lay over eight hundred thousand eggs in
Speaker 2: one go.
Speaker 1: WHOA.
Speaker 2: Most of those will not survive, but here we are.
Speaker 2: The eggs sink to the bottom and hatches larvae, which
Speaker 2: go through a few metamorphoses while floating around like plankton
Speaker 2: until they develop legs. Five pairs of short swimmerrats on
Speaker 2: the underside of their abdomen or tail to help them
Speaker 2: propel through the water, and then on the underside of
Speaker 2: their carapus or kind of head. They've got five pairs
Speaker 2: of more articulated walking legs, the front three of which
Speaker 2: end in these teen s pincers for grabbing and manipulating objects.
Speaker 2: At the front of the carapus, they have two pairs
Speaker 2: of long antennae that they use to help feel what's
Speaker 2: going on around them, and weird little beady eyes on
Speaker 2: these short eyestalks. As they grow in size, they molt
Speaker 2: their shells and grow new ones. They are predator, and
Speaker 2: I understand they can be pretty aggressive towards other small crustaceans,
Speaker 2: which are their primary food source. But most of the
Speaker 2: giant tiger prowns that we eat come from farms, either
Speaker 2: outdoor ponds or indoor tanks, and uh yeah there, we
Speaker 2: eat them in whatever way you enjoy eating seafood. Shrimp
Speaker 2: are always interesting because, like they're kind of mild, but
Speaker 2: they've got those different flavor aspects that lend themselves to
Speaker 2: a lot of different dishes, Like that sweetness can play
Speaker 2: well with bright or tart flavors, that the richness can
Speaker 2: stand up to spicy flavors, the savory ness can play
Speaker 2: alongside like earthy or vegetable sort of flavors. Just a
Speaker 2: nice protein.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I have had a realization lately that I've
Speaker 1: always thought shrimp was like seafood light, Like if you
Speaker 1: are a little nervous about seafood.
Speaker 2: You don't, Yeah, if you don't really like fishy flavors,
Speaker 2: then shrimp might be a good good intro for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yes, But I've heard from a couple of friends they
Speaker 1: don't like shrimp, and I don't want to do with
Speaker 1: this information. I think it's a bad texture based on
Speaker 1: what they describe kind of that watery texture like ill
Speaker 1: cooked shrimp. I see, this is an experiment for me
Speaker 1: to work on later. What about the nutrition.
Speaker 2: Shrimp by themselves are pretty good for you, you know,
Speaker 2: good source of protein and micronutrients. They contain some good fats.
Speaker 2: They do contain dietary cholesterol, but the science jury is
Speaker 2: out about whether that really affects most people's blood cholesterol levels.
Speaker 2: If it's a thing that you're watching out for, watch
Speaker 2: out for that. Mind your shrimp portion sizes. If you're
Speaker 2: lucky enough to be able to afford to do so. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 2: well we do have some numbers for you. We do
Speaker 2: no monetary ones though, Okay. Shrimp in general are the
Speaker 2: most consumed seafood in the United States. Global production of
Speaker 2: giant tiger prowns in particular is around seven hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy thousand metric tons per year. Vietnam produces about thirty
Speaker 2: five percent of that, mostly on small pond farms, and
Speaker 2: they are the second most farm shrimp in the world,
Speaker 2: at only about eleven percent of total farm shrimp. They
Speaker 2: were the leading farmed species up until about twenty years
Speaker 2: ago when white leg shrimp, which can be raised at
Speaker 2: higher densities, surpassed them. White leg shrimp are now some
Speaker 2: eighty three percent of farm shrimp production.
Speaker 1: Dang, yeah, okay, okay, well we do have a history
Speaker 1: for you on this one.
Speaker 2: Oh my, heck, we do. We again, the seafood industry
Speaker 2: is very complex, so we will get into that, oh boy,
Speaker 2: will we as soon as we get back from a
Speaker 2: quick word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1: And we're back.
Speaker 2: Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1: Okay. So, giant tiger prawns are indigenous to the Philippines, Australia,
Speaker 1: and Southeast Asia. Oh we don't know how old the
Speaker 1: species is, but decapods, a varied category of crustaceans that
Speaker 1: includes shrimp, evolved four hundred and fifty million years ago
Speaker 1: and they're still researching this, by the way.
Speaker 2: Cool yeah, love it.
Speaker 1: Yep yeah, yep. So probably pretty old and generally speaking,
Speaker 1: humans with access to shrimp have been eating them since
Speaker 1: prehistoric times. Records indicate that the ancient Romans and Greeks
Speaker 1: had ready access to them and enjoyed them in a
Speaker 1: variety of ways. While the written record is sparse, historians
Speaker 1: believe that larger shrimp. Like giant tiger prawns, were eaten
Speaker 1: boiled similarly to lobster, or in soups. They may have
Speaker 1: also been roasted or used as an ingredient in patties
Speaker 1: like simply patties. For more than a century, at least,
Speaker 1: Indo Pacific coastal cities and towns in the areas where
Speaker 1: great tiger prowns spawn naturally have been farming them on
Speaker 1: a small scale. In the early days, they were cultivated
Speaker 1: with other species of shrimp, usually in ponds. The first
Speaker 1: known scientific description of the tiger prown was by J. C.
Speaker 1: Fabricus in seventeen ninety eight, is also the one that
Speaker 1: proposed the scientific name and then jumping way ahead. In
Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties, there were several breakthroughs and advances in
Speaker 1: shrimp farming at large.
Speaker 2: Yeah, basically like getting shrimp larvae to survive in captivity
Speaker 2: was a bit tricky. Research started in Japan, but then
Speaker 2: moved to places like Tahiti, China, and Taiwan in the
Speaker 2: nineteen sixties due to climate conditions being more favorable. Through
Speaker 2: the sixties and into the seventies, there were advancements in
Speaker 2: intensive farming, increasing yields and decreasing costs with shrimp farming.
Speaker 2: Early on in this the main shrimp species being worked
Speaker 2: with was the giant tiger prawn because they're relatively adaptable.
Speaker 1: Yes, so research on breeding of the giant tiger prawn
Speaker 1: and on the flavor compounds that make them so tasty
Speaker 1: really got underway in the nineteen seventies. From nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: eight to nineteen ninety one, the tiger prown was one
Speaker 1: of six species of peniad shrimp sent to Hawaii for
Speaker 1: research purposes, and thanks in part to this research, commercial
Speaker 1: farms started opening in Thailand nineteen seventy two, and they
Speaker 1: soon dominated the global market for farm raised tiger prawns,
Speaker 1: and commercial production really took off soon after that. During
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and eighties, global production of the tiger
Speaker 1: prawn suppressed any other species of shrimp. A lot of
Speaker 1: this was accomplished through technological innovations and farming in places
Speaker 1: outside of the shrimp's natural range where the conditions were suitable,
Speaker 1: like West Africa and the Caribbean. However, this had unintended consequences,
Speaker 1: and many of those places around potentially introducing an invasive
Speaker 1: species after some of the shrimp escaped from farms or
Speaker 1: labs that they were being kept in Colombia, Venezuela, West Africa,
Speaker 1: the Caribbean, Brazil, and the US all have similar stories
Speaker 1: about tiger prawn shrimp escaping into the wild and in
Speaker 1: some cases establishing a population. The ramifications are still being
Speaker 1: studied in these places. For instance, tiger prowns were most
Speaker 1: likely introduced to the US by accident after some escaped
Speaker 1: in South Carolina in nineteen eighty eight. Only about three
Speaker 1: hundred of the original two thousand were recovered, although another
Speaker 1: source put it at much higher. They said it was
Speaker 1: like a thousand were recovered, but I both places said
Speaker 1: three hundred. Yeah. And it wasn't until two thousand and
Speaker 1: six that someone reported catching a tiger prown outside of
Speaker 1: this initial recovery along the coast of the US, and
Speaker 1: then a handful followed after that in states like Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama,
Speaker 1: and North Carolina. Over the years, other tiger prawns have
Speaker 1: escaped from American labs during things like hurricanes. Reported sightings
Speaker 1: of these shrimp have increased since two thousand and six,
Speaker 1: with a particular spike beginning in twenty eleven. They are
Speaker 1: now found in bodies of water from Texas to North
Speaker 1: Carolina in the US, but most experts don't think they
Speaker 1: have established a population. However, others do and think that
Speaker 1: we need to be trying to pin down how big
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it can be a problem because they prey on
Speaker 2: native crustacean species and they can also carry diseases that
Speaker 2: can spread to to native species. So if you do
Speaker 2: fish around the Gulf of Mexico or along the east
Speaker 2: coast of the US, and you do giant tiger prons,
Speaker 2: it is scientifically recommended that you do not throw them back.
Speaker 2: Like environmental researchers want you to eat them, yes, yes,
Speaker 2: and report them, report them and then eat them. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 2: or in whatever order you need to work that out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Right.
Speaker 2: Another problem that arose during this time was when farmers
Speaker 2: started finding a top limit on intensive shrimp farming. The
Speaker 2: first big production crash came around nineteen eighty seven to
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty nine and Taiwan they were farming giant tiger
Speaker 2: prons and during this two year period they lost eighty
Speaker 2: percent of their yield due to stress and pollution and
Speaker 2: ensuing diseases. In the shrimp populations there, And this next
Speaker 2: note isn't necessarily about giant tiger prons, but I had
Speaker 2: to include it. And they were by far still the
Speaker 2: most farm shrimp when this occurred, so it's probably not
Speaker 2: not about them, okay. The Japanese Emperor Hirohito passed away
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty nine, posthumously, becoming known as Emperor Shoa,
Speaker 2: and his death was a big deal and there were
Speaker 2: like a couple months of mourning and ceremony leading up
Speaker 2: to the funeral, and it's thought that it caused a
Speaker 2: farm shrimp market crash. Prices of shrimp that farmers could
Speaker 2: get for their wares fell by almost fifty percent that year.
Speaker 2: The theory is that so Japan was the largest market
Speaker 2: for shrimp at that time, partially because shrimp are associated
Speaker 2: with celebration in a lot of segments of Japanese culture
Speaker 2: and the country was in mourning, so they stopped buying shrimp,
Speaker 2: and this unfortunately coincided with an oversupply of shrimp in general.
Speaker 2: So yeah, he Ahito's death caused a shrimp market crash.
Speaker 2: Don't worry it bounce back.
Speaker 1: It did, but wow, a lot of thing to put
Speaker 1: on your obituary. All right, so yes. Meanwhile, doing all
Speaker 1: of this, tiger prawn saw a pretty big boost in
Speaker 1: popularity in the US and elsewhere in the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 1: They were featured on bar and restaurant menus, in part
Speaker 1: because the increased awareness to food chefs that hadn't been
Speaker 1: exposed to it before, and in part because of the
Speaker 1: rise of fusion restaurants. This was just We've talked about
Speaker 1: this a lot before, but that time period was a
Speaker 1: We're getting cable TV food shows, we see all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, so people were getting like, hello, I
Speaker 1: want to try this thing. That being said, things weren't
Speaker 1: all looking up with concerns around over fishing made worse
Speaker 1: by disease and pollution, lowering projected population growth because there
Speaker 1: was this like graph that was saying, oh shrimp for days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got to be going up forever. And then
Speaker 2: it was like, oh, that's not how systems work in nature.
Speaker 1: That's just not correct.
Speaker 2: Nope.
Speaker 1: Yes, in two thousand and four, a tiger prawn farm
Speaker 1: was set up in Florida, but it never took off.
Speaker 1: And yeah, there is a lot of ongoing research about
Speaker 1: the impact of this invasive species of shrimp in the
Speaker 1: US to the environment and native species. Researchers are also
Speaker 1: looking into where they may be coming from, which is
Speaker 1: actually really interesting to me because it's like, is it currents?
Speaker 1: Is it? Yeah? What is it? Like?
Speaker 2: How do you track shrimp? Like even footlong shrimp are
Speaker 2: still you know, in comparison to the oceans.
Speaker 1: So yes, it's really interesting and the numbers are tricky
Speaker 1: to get to since a lot of it depends on
Speaker 1: people reporting a sighting or a catch. So again, if
Speaker 1: you see one. Research has already been done about the
Speaker 1: population that has established itself in Colombian waters after attempts
Speaker 1: at controlled aquaculture failed. Research is also being done on
Speaker 1: over fishing, responsible shrimp farming practices and the impact on
Speaker 1: people who live in areas where tiger prawns are a
Speaker 1: big part of the economy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as with any segment of the fishing industry, responsible
Speaker 2: and sustainable aquaculture and fishing practices for a giant tiger
Speaker 2: prown are concern and are also real complicated, like even
Speaker 2: when buyers, when consumers are educated about why sustainability is important,
Speaker 2: finding sustainable practices takes a lot of work and the
Speaker 2: tools that we have to do so aren't really meant
Speaker 2: for like the small farms that most of the world's
Speaker 2: supply of giant tiger prowns are raised on, researchers and
Speaker 2: organizations are working on it. For example, the Monterey Bay
Speaker 2: Aquarium is currently helping Vietnamese farmers receive assessment and improve
Speaker 2: their production methods if necessary. I get the idea that,
Speaker 2: as with the Certified Organic label on American produce, small
Speaker 2: farms might be doing everything sustainably but just not have
Speaker 2: the resources to get certified. But a bunch of groups
Speaker 2: are working with the farmers on this, so that's cool.
Speaker 2: And as always, as a consumer, resources like the Monterey
Speaker 2: Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch can help you identify certified, sustainable
Speaker 2: and best choice seafood options. When buying any packaged seafood product,
Speaker 2: you can look for labels on the packaging like ASC Certified,
Speaker 2: Farmed Responsibly or BAP certified. Those are going to indicate
Speaker 2: products that have come from farms that have certification from
Speaker 2: the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or the Best Aquaculture Practices Program, respectively.
Speaker 2: So it's it's complicated, and it's a headache, and sometimes
Speaker 2: you just really want to eat shrimp, but you know
Speaker 2: it's it's it's worth, it's worth feeling good about the
Speaker 2: thing if you have the time and resources to do so.
Speaker 1: Yes, this was definitely an episode where I was like,
Speaker 1: I really want to eat this, but now I've got
Speaker 1: a yeah, try to be responsible. But now that we've
Speaker 1: done the research, I'm like, okay, so I really need
Speaker 1: to listen to some of these things. I did find
Speaker 1: a restaurant that I trust that has.
Speaker 2: The Oh that's great. Yeah, I see, And that's that's
Speaker 2: a terrific thing. Like when you know food professionals who
Speaker 2: are in the industry and who work with sourcing, who
Speaker 2: who work with sources for these kind of things. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I have done have done the legwork for you. Yes,
Speaker 2: the thank you, the decapod legwork. Yeah, that's a little
Speaker 2: legs busy like the dance. Oh A one note that
Speaker 2: I should have chimed in with. I didn't think I
Speaker 2: was going to get to follow you up on it,
Speaker 2: but you mentioned the flavors of these shrimp, and I did.
Speaker 2: I didn't write it down, but I did find a
Speaker 2: note about how most of the sweet flavors in shrimp
Speaker 2: actually come from different amino acids and so what you
Speaker 2: feed them perhaps obviously has a big impact on that
Speaker 2: and getting like the right type of proteins to them
Speaker 2: so that their bodies can use those building blocks to
Speaker 2: make their flesh tasty.
Speaker 1: It was very interesting to read scientific papers about the
Speaker 1: taste of shrimp and reading for certain taste. I assume
Speaker 1: that's kind of what you do when you describe how
Speaker 1: food taste during our what is it sectually?
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, except they've got they've got very
Speaker 2: expensive equipment to help them figure it out.
Speaker 1: So yes, yes, well this is the first of I'm
Speaker 1: sure many shrimp episodes. Oh I hope so oh mean too.
Speaker 1: We do love the seafood ones, even though they usually
Speaker 1: do have a depressing yeah depressing note, But they're so interesting.
Speaker 2: They are they really are what what amazing? What amazing
Speaker 2: critters so tasty and butter.
Speaker 1: Hmmm mm hmmmmm. Well, okay, that is what we have
Speaker 1: to say about the giant tiger prawn for now.
Speaker 2: It is uh and we would love to hear from
Speaker 2: you if y'all have any recipes or personalized knowledge about
Speaker 2: any of this, we would of course love to hear it.
Speaker 2: We do already have some listener mail for you though,
Speaker 2: and we are going to get into that as soon
Speaker 2: as we get back from one more quick break forward
Speaker 2: from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1: Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're back with
Speaker 1: Tiger Shrip.
Speaker 2: I get the pounds and then all the little leggy's
Speaker 2: going yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of action happening that you listeners
Speaker 1: couldn't see, but I think it was communicated. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right. Valerie wrote, I recently listened to your episode
Speaker 1: about the Horn and Hardart Automat. I have eaten there.
Speaker 1: I grew up in NYC, and one of the last
Speaker 1: lingering automat restaurants was still there when I was a
Speaker 1: little kid. In the episode, you called it H and H,
Speaker 1: but in my experience, nobody ever called it that, possibly
Speaker 1: because there was a legendary NYC bagel shop called H
Speaker 1: and H and having two H and h's would have
Speaker 1: been confusing. In my recollection, people always called it the Automat.
Speaker 1: I remember eating there two or three times with my
Speaker 1: mom in the early nineteen seventies or maybe the very
Speaker 1: late sixties, when we were out shopping at a giant
Speaker 1: department store and needed a quick meal alas. I remember
Speaker 1: always being given a dry and incredibly bland tuna sandwich
Speaker 1: on white bread. Hopefully that was just chosen for me
Speaker 1: as kid food and the grown ups had better options.
Speaker 1: Now I feel old, but also glad to have experienced
Speaker 1: a peace of history.
Speaker 2: Oh it's so cool that you got to go. I
Speaker 2: mean cool, Sorry that you had a bad sandwich like
Speaker 2: three times, but.
Speaker 1: I think they're so aesthetically pleasing. Yeah, like every picture
Speaker 1: I've seen of them, I would have been like, even
Speaker 1: if the sandwich was bad, I think I would have
Speaker 1: been like, you would have had a good time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is cool. Yeah, they are beautiful. Ah, there's just
Speaker 1: something fun too about vending. Yeah. Yeah, it almost feels
Speaker 1: kind of arcadey. Yeah right, totally. Oh heck, oh they're
Speaker 1: totally right about that H and H thing.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah no, that would not stand.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: And also the fact that people just called it the
Speaker 2: automat is. I mean perhaps that should have been obvious
Speaker 2: to everyone. Yeah, like yeah, yeah, guess yeah. Christine wrote
Speaker 2: you wanted to know about Krispy Kreme. So here is
Speaker 2: a brief tale about Krispy Kreme in Australia and the
Speaker 2: sad fate of Dunkin Donuts in Australia and how neither
Speaker 2: have won the donut war down under. Dunkin Donuts arrived
Speaker 2: in Australia first in the late nineteen eighties. I honestly
Speaker 2: don't recall if I ever tried them, and I can't
Speaker 2: now because they closed their last shop in the early
Speaker 2: two thousands. Apparently there was quite a fanfare at first.
Speaker 2: People tried them for a while for the novelty, than
Speaker 2: they just died. Krispy Kreme got started up here around
Speaker 2: twenty ten and are still going. While they have some
Speaker 2: shops in Kiosks, most of their sales are via supermarkets,
Speaker 2: which I think is why there's still a presence here. Again,
Speaker 2: when they launched there was a bit of a novelty.
Speaker 2: Then most people tended to pass them over in favor
Speaker 2: of local alternatives. See Contrary to what you might read
Speaker 2: on the Internet, Australians actually love donuts. Our love affair
Speaker 2: with donuts is long. We just like different donuts. The
Speaker 2: base donut is far less sweet. Iced donuts with sprinkles
Speaker 2: are popular, icing through to a frosting th aglaze, as
Speaker 2: are cream and jam filled donuts. But the undisputed King
Speaker 2: of Donuts. Here is the plain cinnamon sugar topped donut.
Speaker 2: Australian recipes for these go back to the mid nineteenth century.
Speaker 2: They're a popular option with coffee up, particularly to eat
Speaker 2: on the go. Most bakeries and cafes have cinnamon donuts
Speaker 2: and a few different iced ones for sale. And then
Speaker 2: there's Donut King. Donut King started in Sydney in nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty one and by the end of the decade had
Speaker 2: started to expand nationally. Around the same time, Dunkin Donuts
Speaker 2: tried to establish themselves. Ask just about any Australian and
Speaker 2: aside from some gourmet, very local options, Donut King's cinnamon
Speaker 2: donut is considered the best. They still make the basic
Speaker 2: mix in each store and the donut cooker is going
Speaker 2: all day. You literally couldn't get them fresher. They also
Speaker 2: make dinosaur donuts and Donut King also has good coffee.
Speaker 2: I've yet to meet an American cafe coffee that can
Speaker 2: compete with Australian cafe coffee. Taking a second on that
Speaker 2: one harsh words going back to Christine, but faced with
Speaker 2: the choice between a really really sweet, rather stiff and
Speaker 2: possibly slightly stale crispy cream donut or a super fresh,
Speaker 2: soft and pillowy donut with a crispy cinnamon sugar topping.
Speaker 2: Which one are you gonna pick? Ps. You used to
Speaker 2: be able to get triceratops and t rex donuts from
Speaker 2: Donut King. Sadly they look more like lizards now, though
Speaker 2: I suppose you could call them a diplodocus at a
Speaker 2: stretch and no paciocephalosaurus.
Speaker 1: Well, congrats on the pronunciation, Lauren.
Speaker 2: I'm never sure if it's diplodocus or diplodocus.
Speaker 1: So, but here, the fact that you have opinions and
Speaker 1: two different options is amazing. I love this. I also
Speaker 1: love donut opinions. I think this is fantastic. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that old Dunkin Donuts tried their best Krispy Kreme.
Speaker 2: Barely hanging on by a nail. Yeah, But Donut King,
Speaker 2: yeah the King.
Speaker 1: I think I had Donut King when I was in Australia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, that was when I was in my
Speaker 1: big donut fhase, so I feel like I must have yeah,
Speaker 1: and I love cinnamon. Sure, So I mean that does
Speaker 1: sound lovely. That sounds like a like a nice like
Speaker 1: just just you know not again not too sweet. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Dinosaur Donuts also Dinosaur donuts what I mean, I mean
Speaker 1: the coffee. That's funny. I don't know enough about Krispy
Speaker 1: Kreme or Dunkin Donuts coffee to really make a statement
Speaker 1: on that one.
Speaker 2: I Americans do just have. We we have very strong
Speaker 2: opinions about our coffee.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I don't.
Speaker 2: I feel like most of the time at a like
Speaker 2: a kind of fast food cafe like that, you're gonna
Speaker 2: get kind of burnt coffee. But but I feel like
Speaker 2: I have a good emotion about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sometimes if you know what you're getting, sometimes you're like,
Speaker 1: it's burnt coffee.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it tastes like the inside of a diesel engine,
Speaker 2: and that's what you're going for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, That's what I need right now. That's okay.
Speaker 1: But I do love this. Yeah. Yeah, please everyone keep
Speaker 1: sending in international donuts. Yeah, oh oh absolutely. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: it is. It is very just I just realized.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like like I rolled right through the dinosaur name pronunciations,
Speaker 2: but the coffee comment stopped me cold right, Yeah, very
Speaker 2: very on brand of me.
Speaker 1: Yes, it is. It is. People take their coffee serious.
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Lauren is.
Speaker 1: One of them. Yes, well, thanks to both of these
Speaker 1: listeners to writing in. If you would like to write in,
Speaker 1: you can. You can email us at hello atsavorpod dot com.
Speaker 2: We're also on social media. You can find us on
Speaker 2: Instagram and Blue Sky. Yes, those are the two where
Speaker 2: we've landed at savor Pod and we do hope to
Speaker 2: hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio. For more
Speaker 2: podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 2: But thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagan and
Speaker 2: Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
Speaker 2: that lots more good things are coming your way