April 11, 2025 • 24 mins
Eva and Maite wrap up the season by reflecting on some of the highlights of season two and on the importance of celebrating our stories and achievements through the lens of food.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
My name is Eva Longoria and I am My de
Gomezrajon and welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that
explores our past and present through food.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages from our culture.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
So make yourself at home, even y'all, this is our
last episode of season two. We've covered so much and
yet there's still much more.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
This is thirty.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
We spent all season exploring so many undertold stories from
our history.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I know, I love that we started in meso America
in season one and then we kind of dip her
toes over the Rio Grande.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I know, I know, it's funny, like we've covered so much,
and I just wanted to say that. I remember the
first time I heard you say that you were one
hundred percent Mexican and one hundred percent American. I don't
know where it was interview or something. I heard you
say it, and I was like, wait, what, yes, me too.
(01:07):
But it's cause it's almost like when you're you're you
grew up in the US and you're in Mexico, you're
not Mexican enough, or if you're in Mexico, you're two
dinga and it's like, well, who are you?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
It's this identity and then it's like, wait a minute,
that's my superpower.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
And so you know, instead of saying, oh, you're neither
this nor that, it's like, okay, what if I'm this
and that?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
But not like what if you're this and that and
that and that? Like, you know, we're Mexican American, but
as I've discovered in my ancestriies, I'm also from Spain,
and as you know, we explore this interwhining.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Of is that a word intertwining?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I'm in Paris, you guys, so it's wine o'clock.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
For me.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
This intertwining of cultures is not binary. It's actually straddling
the fact that we live in a global community, like
the fact that we have so much comino in our foods,
in Mexican food, but yet it's from Asia, hibiscus, it's
so Mexican, but it really isn't.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
It's from Africa?
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Right?
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Like what so I feel like I think food is
the best way into cultures, and then food is the
easiest way I think to understand the people of countries. Right,
Like you're like, oh, because then if you're talking about
the food of a country, you're talking about the people
of a country. And if you're talking about the people,
you're talking about their immigration, their displacements, refugees, colonization, conquest,
(02:38):
Spanish inquisition. Like, there's a reason why food has so
many influences all over the world.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
One hundred percent, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
If we just just take apart the plate of food
that we're eating, we understand that we are all connected,
we are all intertwined or interwined.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
But it's so powerful.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I think that's why people have responded to our podcast,
because they feel like they learn because we're history, but
also like I think that makes them feel not only
closer to our culture, but like two other cultures. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Absolutely absolutely. I have to say that one of the
most I learned a lot this season. Did you what
did you learn?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
What were your highlights?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Well, lots of highlights, But I have to say that
one highlight is that I realized that if I were
stuck in a deserted island, I would want you with me. Yeah,
cause yours to have these massive survival skills from your
growing up and throughund And I was thinking I have
zero sense of direction, Like people say go north.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I'm like, what is that?
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I have no idea, Like I sometimes have turned left,
I turn right.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
You probably have the most perfect.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
The best sense of direction. Of course, I know how
to find water anywhere in the world, so we wouldn't die.
I know how to sew, which means I could met
I could be medically useful. I'm sure. Yeah, I mean
if the apocalypse happened, you would want to be my
friend for sure.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, I'm gonna have I'm going to put you down
as an emergency contact.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Basically these skills alone. So that was a big highlight
for me. But there are there are so many. I mean,
what are some of your highlights mine?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I love I don't go now. I'm confusing season one
and season two. But you know, I loved our Halloween
episode about the Inquisition records, and also which we covered
in the last season, like the chocolate and where the
pointy hat comes from and a witch is brew Like
we covered that in season one, but then we expanded
(04:41):
it in our Halloween episode. I loved our crypto Jewish
episode two because I covered that in Searching for Mexico,
and so I'm glad we got to expand on that
and Arabic influence history and you know, French and like
all of these different influences that we've had in not
only Mexican food but American food.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, those were some really really good ones.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I also love when we kind of because we grew
up here in South Texas.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I'm in San Antonio, by the way, you're in Paris.
I'm in Santonio.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
We're most the side of the world glamorous.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
But this kind of straddling that hyphen right with our
female and macaroni and cheese, because we kind of grew
up with both of those things in bah Bah bah
God to barbecue. I just had some bacles on Sunday.
Speaker 7 (05:28):
They woo.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I mean have not Ato and Laredo.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
I didn't have them with Big Red No, I had
them with coke, but they were from the cheek about
goss is amazing. And now that I'm Santonio will probably
have some barbecue latter. But I love that, right, learning
yes about the inquisition records, but learning that the US
Border Patrol was invented to keep Chinese immigrants from crossing
(05:52):
the border, you know, in our China to Mexikali episode,
like just so much and then just some really really
fun ones like the hot dog episode and the popcorn
episode and just yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And the bees. We did Honey. I find honey so fascinating.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
You know me too.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
So actually, when we recorded that Honey episode, you asked
about the wax in the in the beehive, and then people,
my husband particularly, he was like, I was hanging on
every word in that episode. And then Eva asked you
what about the honey, what about the wax?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
And you were like, I don't know. He was like,
what do you mean you know?
Speaker 6 (06:28):
No, so.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Knows everything. It's like, yeah, I wanted to know.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
So of course, right after that, I'm just like, what
I want to learn down the wax rabbit hole?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
I went down a wax rabbit hole, so I think
that I want to talk about why.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
What did you find is that?
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Why?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
How do bees make wax?
Speaker 9 (06:53):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yes? What is it in their body that excreets this material?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
That makes the perfect honeycomb, right, this perfect hexagonal shape.
So these young worker bees, right, we learned that all
of these worker bees, they're female, but the young ones,
the ones that are between ten and twenty days old,
they have these special glands on their abdomen that produces
these teeny tiny flakes of wax, and then these glands
(07:22):
convert sugars from the honey into this waxy substance that
is secreted as these tiny little transparent scales from the glands.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
And then the.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Bees choose these wax flakes to soften them and make
them more mouldable, and they start attaching these little wax
plays to the hive structure, and then they naturally build
circular cells. But there's so many bees in the beehive
and they're working so close together that they heat from
their tiny little bodies starts softening the wax, and they
(07:57):
allow the wax to merge into these sagonal shapes. And
it's all due to the surface tension and this mechanical
you know, pressure, And so the hexagons are the best
shape to maximize space while using the least amount of
wax and ensuring that the hive is super strong and
(08:18):
can store the honey efficiently.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, it's a lot wild.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
So the shape is because it's the most efficient shape.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, because you could fit more hexagons.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
If there are a circle you have, you could stack it.
How do they know that? How do they know that?
It's just.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It's mother Nature, Mother Nature, mother Nature. Yeah, it's really
it's really brilliant.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
And just to produce one pound of wax, these consume
six to eight pounds of honey, and we talked about that,
it's like a tiny little drop of honey that they produce.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
So yeah, it's a brilliant, brilliant example of team.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
More natural engineering and teamwork. All right, everyone, we've got
so much more after the break, so stay with us.
So this season we focused a lot on the Rio Grande,
and I guess, depending on which side you're on, you know,
you're either fighting to get in or fighting to get out.
(09:22):
You're either the oppressor or the oppressed. And I feel
like we had some pretty interesting stories that stood out.
You found Sylvia Weber.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Actually, Arlene our amazingly brilliant producer, found Sylvia Weber and
she shared an article with me, and then of course
I went down this crazy rabbit hole. It's like, how
could I have not learned about Sylvia Weber in growing
up in Laredo, Right, I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It's crazy, it's crazy, but it's not in your history
book says something one hundred percent, yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So Sylvia Webber, she was a freedom fighter helping enslaved
Africans get to freedom in Mexico during the Civil War.
In the US, right, nobody knows about her. She's buried
in the Rio Grande Valley.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
She should have a monument, like.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
We should have all visited her when we were in school.
But she is really a prime example of what happens
when you erase history, or when you deliberately omit somebody
from history and there is record. I mean, we spoke
to Leslie Deutcher Trevigno and O. J. Trevigno, who were
(10:38):
He's a descendant of Sylvia Weber, and she was talking
about this, right, like do you when you deliberately omit history,
because there was a lot of record about her, a
lot of written record ripped torn. One of this Confederate
colonels was talking about how threatening she and her husband
John were, so there was written record, These records were
(11:00):
let's just you know, let's just not include this. And
so I found that story, that conversation with them and
with you just so fascinating and really mind blowing.
Speaker 7 (11:18):
The Webers were pretty well known.
Speaker 9 (11:22):
I mean, there's a town called Weberville outside of Travis,
Like it's in Travis County, sixteen miles south of Austin,
and they were well known to have helped people, and
that's actually in several different accounts, given they were Union sympathizers,
in fact, so much so that four during the Civil
(11:43):
War went out of his way to find them and
arrest them in the Rio Grande where they were living
in Texas at that time after they moved, and they
stuck in his cross so badly that they're actually mentioned
by name in his very long winded auto biography that
he wrote.
Speaker 7 (12:02):
And so it is there. It's just been very intentionally
kind of washed over to make it go away, because
Texas has done a master job of rebranding itself in
terms of cowboys, trails, drives, rodeos, that kind of thing,
to erase its history that is so entrenched in slavery.
(12:25):
That's what this economy Texas was built on. That economy,
and Austin said Texas must be a slave country, and
so that was the very foundation of it. And the
Webers are there and they're mentioned. It's just, like I said,
been very overlooked intentionally, even so much so that descendants
(12:46):
weren't aware of their own ancestry. Sadly, as things keep
going the way they are, I think it might stay
that way if you know, the powers that be have
their way.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I'm a fifth generation descendant from Sylvia and John Webber
and also the secretary of the Weber Family Preservation Project.
Sylvia was brought into Texas through her enslaver and then
John also came down through Texas because he was a
(13:17):
big tobacco smuggler, right, so he kind of was working
his way south and that was just kind of part
of his route and what he was doing, and settled
into Texas, and then I believe we have documented it
somewhere around eighteen twenty nine. I think is somewhere where
we kind of estimate that John and Sylvia met and
(13:39):
kind of started their relationship and started having children, you know,
right around that time, you know a little bit after that,
while she was still enslaved, right, they had three children
while she was still enslaved by John Cryer. And this was,
like I said, between eighteen twenty nine and eighteen thirty
four than in eighteen thirty four. June eleventh, eighteen thirty
(14:03):
four is when they secured her freedom from John Cryer,
and that's where those were the freedom papers that Maria
found when she was working on her you know, doctor
thesis at the University of Texas, And I mean, that's
that was an amazing find because that has really helped
us find so much more and open the door for
(14:25):
us finding that information into where we are, you know today,
because there's kind of so much in there that you
can read, you know, in those papers. You know, the
the ask you know, for for her freedom and that
of her three children at the time were two other
children under the age of three, a male and a
(14:47):
female under the age of three was the ask. Now
inside of those papers, what they worked in was if
they did not pay in children or in life or life,
then they had their land up for collateral right. And
by that time they had already established their Weberville land,
(15:07):
which at that time was called Weber's Prairie. But they
had already established that land, and that was somewhere in
the three thousand and five thousand acres and where in
that range.
Speaker 8 (15:20):
So it was quite a bit of land that they
put up for collateral right. And that's kind of what
we knew for a little while. And then again Maria
through her work found papers where John Weber forfeited the
land to John Cryer as part of disagreement and fulfilling
(15:43):
these freedom papers. After that, you know, that's you know
again in eighteen thirty four, right then they were in
Weberville until eighteen fifty, which is when they signed over
those that land over to to Crier. They you know,
from eighteen thirty four eighteen fifty, they were in there.
(16:05):
They got a tutor, they were tutoring their children. They
ended up having another eight nine children. I think they
had thirteen until litt twelve survived to adulthood, so you know,
they had several children, you know, after that between eighteen
thirty four and eighteen fifty, and they got kicked out
of their own town because as more white settlers coming
(16:28):
in and realizing, you know, this is an interracial couple.
They are tutoring their children exactly right, and you know,
how dare they you know, even want to educate their children, right,
And so educating their children, the tutor started receiving death threats,
you know, I mean, it was just you know, not
(16:48):
good conditions. So they started making their way down to
the valley and settled in Donna, Texas in eighteen fifty three,
is where they settled and purchased I think again over
eight thousand acres of land and a big portion to
had and it was again right along the river banks
there in the real Grande Leslie has researched and the
(17:12):
doctor Hammock of research is that the knowledge that Sylvia
had and brought right from her time of being enslaved
and having to work with you know, flat bottom boats
and stuff like that, that was the education that she
used and the knowledge that she used you know, across
(17:33):
the river to help you know, free enslaved people.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And even like the Rancho Cooking episode when we had
Adan Medrano on the show, I found all of that
super interesting in the native roots in this area of
South Texas that I mean, I just really it just
really made me realize what a crap education I got
in elementary school in high school.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, we know, indigenous contributions have been largely erased from history,
much less astronomy, you know, much less cuisine, and so
you know, even when you think about Mexico and how
corn has survived as the major you know ingredient, and
you know they had corn gods and and when the
(18:20):
when the Spanish conquest came, you know, to try to
pull them away from this idolization of of corn and
the gods and that it's still alive today. Like yeah,
that's that was fascinating me. And that's like often erased
I think in US history.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
And even like and we didn't this is one of
the episodes that we wanted to record that we didn't
get to Amaranth and Quinua. It's like things like that
that they the colonizers tried to ban it. But it's
like it's a little seed. It's going to travel and
it's going to keep growing. It's like here we are.
It's this sort of the perfect metaphor for that, right
for that the land does it lie? You know, it's
(18:58):
it's this is where we are and this is where
we're going to be forever. And so again always going
back to the food because this is where we see
our roots. And also just this adaptation with this movement
of people. It's like, oh yeah, you know, food adapts
to ingredients that are available. And I find that that
(19:19):
is really interesting too, because it's constantly evolving, just like
we are, right, We're moving around and foods are evolving
and foods are changing, and I just.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
To feel to me it's exciting to dig it back
up because this deliberate erasure, this deliberate omission of history,
you know, defunding schools or moving words from federal government websites,
changing the Gulf of Mexico's name, like this deliberate omission.
It just diminishes people and cultures. And I just feel
(19:54):
like there's a lot of consequences, like what happens with erasure,
you know, the alimal happens. You know, it's portrayed this
as this heroic stand against oppression, but in reality was
really motivated by texas desire to preserve slavery. And there's
just this huge rebranding of history that's happening in real
(20:14):
time right now, and it's scary. It's so scary, and
so I'm glad we are history adjacent, you know, by
talking about food and we can bring up all of
these issues. We had some great episodes that were pretty
politically you know, the colonized diet. We had street vendors
and what's happening to them. There were so many things
(20:35):
that are that are really politically adjacent that we hit
this season that I was really proud to explore and
to bring to light.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Me too, me too.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I'm glad you use the word proud, because that's how
I feel about the work that we've done. It's like, oh, yeah,
we're telling these stories, you know, we're and always from
the lens of food, right because just this eratio that
is happening right now. You know, it's so important to
keep these stories alive, right because you know, these historical
narratives can be suppressed, you know, for political agenda. Right,
(21:03):
Some groups yes to erase or alter history to promote
their own ideologies. And this is really really dangerous because
it leads to the silencing of voices and the denial experiences.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
It also distorts the overall understanding of the past, right,
Like we're like, oh, Indians were savages. You're like, no,
they weren't. Now they weren't.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
They're humans.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
They were protecting their tribes, they were protecting their land.
And that's why, like when you talk to somebody ignorant,
you're like, no, baybe, you don't have the full story.
That did not happen or did not happen that way.
And I think that's a problem today, is like we
don't know where to find the truth because media news websites,
we're all in our little lebbles, and we're just going
to get keep getting fed our point of view, right,
(21:47):
the algorithm is going to give you more things that
validate your side. And so very little people are trying
to learn from the past, and very little people are
trying to find both sides of an argument. They're really
just invested in being validated, their side being validated, their
point of view being validated. And so I just think
(22:09):
it what we're doing I'm proud of because we can share,
we can have this shared identity and this shared purpose,
and we are allowing people to connect with this, with
this collective past that we're all interwined. You're all intertwined.
(22:31):
That is a wrap of season two, Hungry for History.
There are so many stories out there that we are
you know, I feel like we're just scratching the surface.
Mike and I always call each other like what about this?
What about that? What about this? So we want to
end the show by giving our listeners the last word
of this season, Mitha. Do you want to share some
of the messages that we received?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yes, I wanted to share some recent reviews.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
My Farmer's Market basket said, such fun I love the
rapport and conversation between the two hosts, and I love
what I learn and how I learn it. This may
be my favorite food podcast, food based podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I love that we do have good rapport.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
We do, and we also cooke this season, I freeven
forgot about that. We cooked and we ate the season
and we started off the season making cogtails. And then
Brandy's two cents said, loving the education, Thank you ladies
for providing education on topics from the history of eggs
to the history of enslaved Africans. So refreshing to hear
(23:32):
unbiased information these days, and you warm my heart and
expand my knowledge at the same time.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Never stop.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Oh well, look, if I could get Mita to eat eggs,
I forget MYEA to eat eggs. We have accomplished something,
my friends. Well, thank you everybody for listening. Thank you
so much for joining us on this journey for season.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Two, Thank you all so much, and thank you Eva.
So come on.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Hungary for History is a hyphen Media production in partnership
with Iheart's Michaeltura podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
My name is Eva Longoria and I am My de
Gomezrajon and welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that
explores our past and present through food.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages from our culture.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
So make yourself at home, even y'all, this is our
last episode of season two. We've covered so much and
yet there's still much more.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
This is thirty.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
We spent all season exploring so many undertold stories from
our history.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I know, I love that we started in meso America
in season one and then we kind of dip her
toes over the Rio Grande.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I know, I know, it's funny, like we've covered so much,
and I just wanted to say that. I remember the
first time I heard you say that you were one
hundred percent Mexican and one hundred percent American. I don't
know where it was interview or something. I heard you
say it, and I was like, wait, what, yes, me too.
(01:07):
But it's cause it's almost like when you're you're you
grew up in the US and you're in Mexico, you're
not Mexican enough, or if you're in Mexico, you're two
dinga and it's like, well, who are you?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
It's this identity and then it's like, wait a minute,
that's my superpower.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
And so you know, instead of saying, oh, you're neither
this nor that, it's like, okay, what if I'm this
and that?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
But not like what if you're this and that and
that and that? Like, you know, we're Mexican American, but
as I've discovered in my ancestriies, I'm also from Spain,
and as you know, we explore this interwhining.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Of is that a word intertwining?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I'm in Paris, you guys, so it's wine o'clock.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
For me.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
This intertwining of cultures is not binary. It's actually straddling
the fact that we live in a global community, like
the fact that we have so much comino in our foods,
in Mexican food, but yet it's from Asia, hibiscus, it's
so Mexican, but it really isn't.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
It's from Africa?
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Right?
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Like what so I feel like I think food is
the best way into cultures, and then food is the
easiest way I think to understand the people of countries. Right,
Like you're like, oh, because then if you're talking about
the food of a country, you're talking about the people
of a country. And if you're talking about the people,
you're talking about their immigration, their displacements, refugees, colonization, conquest,
(02:38):
Spanish inquisition. Like, there's a reason why food has so
many influences all over the world.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
One hundred percent, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
If we just just take apart the plate of food
that we're eating, we understand that we are all connected,
we are all intertwined or interwined.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
But it's so powerful.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I think that's why people have responded to our podcast,
because they feel like they learn because we're history, but
also like I think that makes them feel not only
closer to our culture, but like two other cultures. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Absolutely absolutely. I have to say that one of the
most I learned a lot this season. Did you what
did you learn?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
What were your highlights?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Well, lots of highlights, But I have to say that
one highlight is that I realized that if I were
stuck in a deserted island, I would want you with me. Yeah,
cause yours to have these massive survival skills from your
growing up and throughund And I was thinking I have
zero sense of direction, Like people say go north.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I'm like, what is that?
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I have no idea, Like I sometimes have turned left,
I turn right.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
You probably have the most perfect.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
The best sense of direction. Of course, I know how
to find water anywhere in the world, so we wouldn't die.
I know how to sew, which means I could met
I could be medically useful. I'm sure. Yeah, I mean
if the apocalypse happened, you would want to be my
friend for sure.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, I'm gonna have I'm going to put you down
as an emergency contact.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Basically these skills alone. So that was a big highlight
for me. But there are there are so many. I mean,
what are some of your highlights mine?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I love I don't go now. I'm confusing season one
and season two. But you know, I loved our Halloween
episode about the Inquisition records, and also which we covered
in the last season, like the chocolate and where the
pointy hat comes from and a witch is brew Like
we covered that in season one, but then we expanded
(04:41):
it in our Halloween episode. I loved our crypto Jewish
episode two because I covered that in Searching for Mexico,
and so I'm glad we got to expand on that
and Arabic influence history and you know, French and like
all of these different influences that we've had in not
only Mexican food but American food.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, those were some really really good ones.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I also love when we kind of because we grew
up here in South Texas.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I'm in San Antonio, by the way, you're in Paris.
I'm in Santonio.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
We're most the side of the world glamorous.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
But this kind of straddling that hyphen right with our
female and macaroni and cheese, because we kind of grew
up with both of those things in bah Bah bah
God to barbecue. I just had some bacles on Sunday.
Speaker 7 (05:28):
They woo.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I mean have not Ato and Laredo.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
I didn't have them with Big Red No, I had
them with coke, but they were from the cheek about
goss is amazing. And now that I'm Santonio will probably
have some barbecue latter. But I love that, right, learning
yes about the inquisition records, but learning that the US
Border Patrol was invented to keep Chinese immigrants from crossing
(05:52):
the border, you know, in our China to Mexikali episode,
like just so much and then just some really really
fun ones like the hot dog episode and the popcorn
episode and just yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And the bees. We did Honey. I find honey so fascinating.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
You know me too.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
So actually, when we recorded that Honey episode, you asked
about the wax in the in the beehive, and then people,
my husband particularly, he was like, I was hanging on
every word in that episode. And then Eva asked you
what about the honey, what about the wax?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
And you were like, I don't know. He was like,
what do you mean you know?
Speaker 6 (06:28):
No, so.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Knows everything. It's like, yeah, I wanted to know.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
So of course, right after that, I'm just like, what
I want to learn down the wax rabbit hole?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
I went down a wax rabbit hole, so I think
that I want to talk about why.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
What did you find is that?
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Why?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
How do bees make wax?
Speaker 9 (06:53):
Right?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yes? What is it in their body that excreets this material?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
That makes the perfect honeycomb, right, this perfect hexagonal shape.
So these young worker bees, right, we learned that all
of these worker bees, they're female, but the young ones,
the ones that are between ten and twenty days old,
they have these special glands on their abdomen that produces
these teeny tiny flakes of wax, and then these glands
(07:22):
convert sugars from the honey into this waxy substance that
is secreted as these tiny little transparent scales from the glands.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
And then the.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Bees choose these wax flakes to soften them and make
them more mouldable, and they start attaching these little wax
plays to the hive structure, and then they naturally build
circular cells. But there's so many bees in the beehive
and they're working so close together that they heat from
their tiny little bodies starts softening the wax, and they
(07:57):
allow the wax to merge into these sagonal shapes. And
it's all due to the surface tension and this mechanical
you know, pressure, And so the hexagons are the best
shape to maximize space while using the least amount of
wax and ensuring that the hive is super strong and
(08:18):
can store the honey efficiently.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, it's a lot wild.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
So the shape is because it's the most efficient shape.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, because you could fit more hexagons.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
If there are a circle you have, you could stack it.
How do they know that? How do they know that?
It's just.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It's mother Nature, Mother Nature, mother Nature. Yeah, it's really
it's really brilliant.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
And just to produce one pound of wax, these consume
six to eight pounds of honey, and we talked about that,
it's like a tiny little drop of honey that they produce.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
So yeah, it's a brilliant, brilliant example of team.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
More natural engineering and teamwork. All right, everyone, we've got
so much more after the break, so stay with us.
So this season we focused a lot on the Rio Grande,
and I guess, depending on which side you're on, you know,
you're either fighting to get in or fighting to get out.
(09:22):
You're either the oppressor or the oppressed. And I feel
like we had some pretty interesting stories that stood out.
You found Sylvia Weber.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Actually, Arlene our amazingly brilliant producer, found Sylvia Weber and
she shared an article with me, and then of course
I went down this crazy rabbit hole. It's like, how
could I have not learned about Sylvia Weber in growing
up in Laredo, Right, I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It's crazy, it's crazy, but it's not in your history
book says something one hundred percent, yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So Sylvia Webber, she was a freedom fighter helping enslaved
Africans get to freedom in Mexico during the Civil War.
In the US, right, nobody knows about her. She's buried
in the Rio Grande Valley.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
She should have a monument, like.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
We should have all visited her when we were in school.
But she is really a prime example of what happens
when you erase history, or when you deliberately omit somebody
from history and there is record. I mean, we spoke
to Leslie Deutcher Trevigno and O. J. Trevigno, who were
(10:38):
He's a descendant of Sylvia Weber, and she was talking
about this, right, like do you when you deliberately omit history,
because there was a lot of record about her, a
lot of written record ripped torn. One of this Confederate
colonels was talking about how threatening she and her husband
John were, so there was written record, These records were
(11:00):
let's just you know, let's just not include this. And
so I found that story, that conversation with them and
with you just so fascinating and really mind blowing.
Speaker 7 (11:18):
The Webers were pretty well known.
Speaker 9 (11:22):
I mean, there's a town called Weberville outside of Travis,
Like it's in Travis County, sixteen miles south of Austin,
and they were well known to have helped people, and
that's actually in several different accounts, given they were Union sympathizers,
in fact, so much so that four during the Civil
(11:43):
War went out of his way to find them and
arrest them in the Rio Grande where they were living
in Texas at that time after they moved, and they
stuck in his cross so badly that they're actually mentioned
by name in his very long winded auto biography that
he wrote.
Speaker 7 (12:02):
And so it is there. It's just been very intentionally
kind of washed over to make it go away, because
Texas has done a master job of rebranding itself in
terms of cowboys, trails, drives, rodeos, that kind of thing,
to erase its history that is so entrenched in slavery.
(12:25):
That's what this economy Texas was built on. That economy,
and Austin said Texas must be a slave country, and
so that was the very foundation of it. And the
Webers are there and they're mentioned. It's just, like I said,
been very overlooked intentionally, even so much so that descendants
(12:46):
weren't aware of their own ancestry. Sadly, as things keep
going the way they are, I think it might stay
that way if you know, the powers that be have
their way.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I'm a fifth generation descendant from Sylvia and John Webber
and also the secretary of the Weber Family Preservation Project.
Sylvia was brought into Texas through her enslaver and then
John also came down through Texas because he was a
(13:17):
big tobacco smuggler, right, so he kind of was working
his way south and that was just kind of part
of his route and what he was doing, and settled
into Texas, and then I believe we have documented it
somewhere around eighteen twenty nine. I think is somewhere where
we kind of estimate that John and Sylvia met and
(13:39):
kind of started their relationship and started having children, you know,
right around that time, you know a little bit after that,
while she was still enslaved, right, they had three children
while she was still enslaved by John Cryer. And this was,
like I said, between eighteen twenty nine and eighteen thirty
four than in eighteen thirty four. June eleventh, eighteen thirty
(14:03):
four is when they secured her freedom from John Cryer,
and that's where those were the freedom papers that Maria
found when she was working on her you know, doctor
thesis at the University of Texas, And I mean, that's
that was an amazing find because that has really helped
us find so much more and open the door for
(14:25):
us finding that information into where we are, you know today,
because there's kind of so much in there that you
can read, you know, in those papers. You know, the
the ask you know, for for her freedom and that
of her three children at the time were two other
children under the age of three, a male and a
(14:47):
female under the age of three was the ask. Now
inside of those papers, what they worked in was if
they did not pay in children or in life or life,
then they had their land up for collateral right. And
by that time they had already established their Weberville land,
(15:07):
which at that time was called Weber's Prairie. But they
had already established that land, and that was somewhere in
the three thousand and five thousand acres and where in
that range.
Speaker 8 (15:20):
So it was quite a bit of land that they
put up for collateral right. And that's kind of what
we knew for a little while. And then again Maria
through her work found papers where John Weber forfeited the
land to John Cryer as part of disagreement and fulfilling
(15:43):
these freedom papers. After that, you know, that's you know
again in eighteen thirty four, right then they were in
Weberville until eighteen fifty, which is when they signed over
those that land over to to Crier. They you know,
from eighteen thirty four eighteen fifty, they were in there.
(16:05):
They got a tutor, they were tutoring their children. They
ended up having another eight nine children. I think they
had thirteen until litt twelve survived to adulthood, so you know,
they had several children, you know, after that between eighteen
thirty four and eighteen fifty, and they got kicked out
of their own town because as more white settlers coming
(16:28):
in and realizing, you know, this is an interracial couple.
They are tutoring their children exactly right, and you know,
how dare they you know, even want to educate their children, right,
And so educating their children, the tutor started receiving death threats,
you know, I mean, it was just you know, not
(16:48):
good conditions. So they started making their way down to
the valley and settled in Donna, Texas in eighteen fifty three,
is where they settled and purchased I think again over
eight thousand acres of land and a big portion to
had and it was again right along the river banks
there in the real Grande Leslie has researched and the
(17:12):
doctor Hammock of research is that the knowledge that Sylvia
had and brought right from her time of being enslaved
and having to work with you know, flat bottom boats
and stuff like that, that was the education that she
used and the knowledge that she used you know, across
(17:33):
the river to help you know, free enslaved people.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
And even like the Rancho Cooking episode when we had
Adan Medrano on the show, I found all of that
super interesting in the native roots in this area of
South Texas that I mean, I just really it just
really made me realize what a crap education I got
in elementary school in high school.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Well, we know, indigenous contributions have been largely erased from history,
much less astronomy, you know, much less cuisine, and so
you know, even when you think about Mexico and how
corn has survived as the major you know ingredient, and
you know they had corn gods and and when the
(18:20):
when the Spanish conquest came, you know, to try to
pull them away from this idolization of of corn and
the gods and that it's still alive today. Like yeah,
that's that was fascinating me. And that's like often erased
I think in US history.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
And even like and we didn't this is one of
the episodes that we wanted to record that we didn't
get to Amaranth and Quinua. It's like things like that
that they the colonizers tried to ban it. But it's
like it's a little seed. It's going to travel and
it's going to keep growing. It's like here we are.
It's this sort of the perfect metaphor for that, right
for that the land does it lie? You know, it's
(18:58):
it's this is where we are and this is where
we're going to be forever. And so again always going
back to the food because this is where we see
our roots. And also just this adaptation with this movement
of people. It's like, oh yeah, you know, food adapts
to ingredients that are available. And I find that that
(19:19):
is really interesting too, because it's constantly evolving, just like
we are, right, We're moving around and foods are evolving
and foods are changing, and I just.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
To feel to me it's exciting to dig it back
up because this deliberate erasure, this deliberate omission of history,
you know, defunding schools or moving words from federal government websites,
changing the Gulf of Mexico's name, like this deliberate omission.
It just diminishes people and cultures. And I just feel
(19:54):
like there's a lot of consequences, like what happens with erasure,
you know, the alimal happens. You know, it's portrayed this
as this heroic stand against oppression, but in reality was
really motivated by texas desire to preserve slavery. And there's
just this huge rebranding of history that's happening in real
(20:14):
time right now, and it's scary. It's so scary, and
so I'm glad we are history adjacent, you know, by
talking about food and we can bring up all of
these issues. We had some great episodes that were pretty
politically you know, the colonized diet. We had street vendors
and what's happening to them. There were so many things
(20:35):
that are that are really politically adjacent that we hit
this season that I was really proud to explore and
to bring to light.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Me too, me too.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I'm glad you use the word proud, because that's how
I feel about the work that we've done. It's like, oh, yeah,
we're telling these stories, you know, we're and always from
the lens of food, right because just this eratio that
is happening right now. You know, it's so important to
keep these stories alive, right because you know, these historical
narratives can be suppressed, you know, for political agenda. Right,
(21:03):
Some groups yes to erase or alter history to promote
their own ideologies. And this is really really dangerous because
it leads to the silencing of voices and the denial experiences.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
It also distorts the overall understanding of the past, right,
Like we're like, oh, Indians were savages. You're like, no,
they weren't. Now they weren't.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
They're humans.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
They were protecting their tribes, they were protecting their land.
And that's why, like when you talk to somebody ignorant,
you're like, no, baybe, you don't have the full story.
That did not happen or did not happen that way.
And I think that's a problem today, is like we
don't know where to find the truth because media news websites,
we're all in our little lebbles, and we're just going
to get keep getting fed our point of view, right,
(21:47):
the algorithm is going to give you more things that
validate your side. And so very little people are trying
to learn from the past, and very little people are
trying to find both sides of an argument. They're really
just invested in being validated, their side being validated, their
point of view being validated. And so I just think
(22:09):
it what we're doing I'm proud of because we can share,
we can have this shared identity and this shared purpose,
and we are allowing people to connect with this, with
this collective past that we're all interwined. You're all intertwined.
(22:31):
That is a wrap of season two, Hungry for History.
There are so many stories out there that we are
you know, I feel like we're just scratching the surface.
Mike and I always call each other like what about this?
What about that? What about this? So we want to
end the show by giving our listeners the last word
of this season, Mitha. Do you want to share some
of the messages that we received?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yes, I wanted to share some recent reviews.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
My Farmer's Market basket said, such fun I love the
rapport and conversation between the two hosts, and I love
what I learn and how I learn it. This may
be my favorite food podcast, food based podcast.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I love that we do have good rapport.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
We do, and we also cooke this season, I freeven
forgot about that. We cooked and we ate the season
and we started off the season making cogtails. And then
Brandy's two cents said, loving the education, Thank you ladies
for providing education on topics from the history of eggs
to the history of enslaved Africans. So refreshing to hear
(23:32):
unbiased information these days, and you warm my heart and
expand my knowledge at the same time.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Never stop.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Oh well, look, if I could get Mita to eat eggs,
I forget MYEA to eat eggs. We have accomplished something,
my friends. Well, thank you everybody for listening. Thank you
so much for joining us on this journey for season.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Two, Thank you all so much, and thank you Eva.
So come on.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Hungary for History is a hyphen Media production in partnership
with Iheart's Michaeltura podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
MAITE GOMEZ-REJÓN
Eva Longoria
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