Yunnan is China's most diverse province, in biodiversity and culture/peoples - and Georgia Freedman learned about it from the tropical South to the mountains of the north - and east, and west. We talk about how she got to Yunnan in the first place, what it was like to find out more about local cooking - and so much more, not least about the chilli!

How did the chilli really spread in China? Brian Dott, associate professor of history at Whitman College, went deep into this topic for his book "The Chile Pepper in China. A Cultural Biography" - and we sat down together (virtually) to share notes, dive deep into its meanings and movements!

The book on Amazon (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2X3JiVl

Did you know that Zanthoxylum species (which include the Sichuan peppers) grow in the US Midwest - and would you believe that there are ones with potential for fine dining, used like the Japanese kinome? Is expensive wine the real reason fine dining does not do spicy foods?

This conversation was very focused and ranged far, at the same time. And it provided a different perspective, from a forager and chef trained in high culinary skill!

Paul Rozin is the psychologist of chile pepper lovers - there's no getting around his hypothesis of why we humans, uniquely among animals, develop a craving for the spiciness of hot chilli pepper: "benign masochism"!

Talking with Miranda Brown, professor of Chinese studies at University of Michigan, food historian, currently working on a book about the history of dairy in China... and regularly coming across the medical/culinary history of spices in China.

You can find here on Twitter @Dong_Muda, and her blog is at https://www.chinesefoodhistory.org/

The Himalayas seem like a major barrier, but lots of trade and cultural interaction took place across these mountains. Jeff Fuchs traveled on the Ancient Tea Horse Road with some of the last Himalayan muleteers... and chilli seems to have traveled along these trade routes. Thus, we got to talking...

Inaugural episode. In conversation with Matt Gross, writer, freelance digital editorial consultant, formerly Frugal Traveler.

Now producing "Hot Pursuit: How Chilies Set the World on Fire."

On Twitter @worldmattworld, Instagram @worldmatt

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heatstories, a project of ChiliCult and the World Chilli Alliance