Episode 28: Going Nuts for Pistachios
Suddenly, it feels like pistachios are everywhere. From Dubai chocolate to pistachio lattes, croissants, nut butters and more … For two years now, pistachio has appeared on several lists of upcoming food trends. How do these food and flavor trends start? How does a product — once mostly eaten by Middle Eastern Americans but stuck on the sidelines with everyone else — hit the mainstream? Do we plant more pistachios because they’ve become hugely popular? Or have they become hugely popular because we’re suddenly growing so many? On this episode, we hunt for the origins of a trend and try to tease out the implications of a food going viral.
Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
“A good pistachio, like a real pistachio, is creamy. It kind of coats your mouth in the best way, with a little bit of fat. It has a depth of flavor. Whereas the Whatever Is Being Grown in California by the Wonderful Company is like the *idea* of a pistachio.”
Episode guests:
Lena Derisavifard
Lena is the founder of Brooklyn-based BiBi Bakery, which reimagines Iranian flavors to create unique and *sometimes* addictive pastries.
Tom Philpott
Tom is a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. He is the author of “Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It,” and a former food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones and Grist.
Errol Schweizer
Errol has worked in retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and food policy for more than 25 years, including seven years as V.P. of Grocery for Whole Foods. He serves as a board member, advisor and mentor to more than 20 high-growth enterprises in natural products retail, CPG, cannabis, e-commerce and nonprofit sectors and hosts a podcast on food and labor called “The Checkout.”
FoodPrint resources:
Additional resources:
- Mother Jones article on the Resnicks: “Meet the California Couple Who Uses More Water Than Every Home in Los Angeles Combined”
- Mother Jones article on the reason they invented cheese-stuffed pizza crust: “The Real Reason Pizza Hut Just Rolled Out the Extra-Cheesy”
- NPR: Sour cherry, pistachio and masa: Here are the predicted food trends of 2025
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Top photo by losonsky/Adobe Stock.