In 2002, Gwen Araujo, a 17-year-old transgender girl, was murdered in California for living openly as herself.
In this episode of True Crime Culinary, host Leah Llach tells Gwen’s story with care, personal reflection, and historical context — examining how everyday cruelty escalates, how violence is excused, and how one case helped change the law.
We follow Gwen’s life, the night of the attack, and the aftermath that led to the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act, which limited the use of the so-called “trans panic” defense in court.
Then, through the show’s culinary lens, we step back to examine the object at the center of the crime: a can of food.
Invented to preserve life — to feed armies, families, and people facing scarcity — the can represents humanity’s long struggle to protect what matters. This episode asks what it means when something designed to sustain becomes a weapon instead.
This is a story about memory, dignity, and the responsibility to see people as fully human — before harm is done.
📚 References & Further Reading
Wikipedia — Murder of Gwen Araujo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Gwen_Araujo
(Chronology, trial details, and legal outcomes)
ACLU of Northern California — Trans Panic Defense and Legal Reform
https://www.aclunc.org
The New York Times — Coverage of Gwen Araujo trial and aftermath
Smithsonian National Museum of American History — The History of Canning
https://americanhistory.si.edu/
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Food Preservation / Canning
https://www.britannica.com/topic/canning-food-processing
National WWII Museum — Canned Food and Military Rations
https://www.nationalww2museum.org
In November 1939, a lone German carpenter and clockmaker came within minutes of assassinating Adolf Hitler — inside a Munich beer hall.
In this episode of True Crime Culinary, we explore the Beer Hall Bombing, one of the closest and least-known assassination attempts of World War II history, and the everyday objects that filled the room where it nearly happened.
Beer halls weren’t just bars in early 20th-century Germany. They were political spaces — places where people gathered to eat, drink, listen, and belong. They were instrumental in the rise of Nazi ideology. And they were furnished with heavy stoneware beer steins, objects designed for comfort, ritual, and staying put.
We tell the story of Georg Elser, a working-class German who acted alone, building a bomb hidden inside a pillar of the Bürgerbräukeller beer hall — and missing Hitler by just thirteen minutes.
Then we step back to explore the deeper history:
why beer halls mattered so much to political power
how beer steins evolved from sanitary tools into cultural symbols
and how ordinary food spaces can quietly shape history
This episode looks at true crime through material culture — where food, objects, and violence intersect — and asks what it means when history unfolds in places meant to feel safe
References
German Resistance Memorial Center — Georg Elser: The Assassin Who Acted Alone
https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/research/biographies/biography/georg-elser/
(Authoritative historical archive on German resistance movements)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — Georg Elser
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/georg-elser
(Contextual biography and historical verification)
BBC History — The Man Who Nearly Killed Hitler
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50367544
(Accessible overview of the 1939 assassination attempt)
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Beer Hall Putsch & Bürgerbräukeller
https://www.britannica.com/event/Beer-Hall-Putsch
(Background on the beer hall’s political significance)
GermanSteins.com — History of German Beer Steins
https://www.germansteins.com/about-german-beer-steins/
(Overview of stein materials, lids, and cultural use)
Wikipedia — Beer Stein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_stein
(General reference; used for cross-checking dates and terminology)
A man dressed as Santa walks into a bank… and no one hits the alarm right away.
In this episode of True Crime Culinary, we start with a real holiday robbery and follow the trail all the way to a plate of cookies left out in the dark. Why does Santa work as a disguise? Why do we trust him so completely? And why, of all things, do we leave him cookies?
From medieval European Christmas baking and spice-laden survival cookies, to Scandinavian hospitality rituals, to the Great Depression origins of milk and cookies in the U.S., this episode explores how food became a symbol of trust — and how that trust can be exploited.
It turns out the cookies were never really for Santa.
They were practice.
Crime + Investigation — Criminals Who Were Dressed as Father Christmas
https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/articles/9-criminals-who-were-dressed-father-christmas
Food Republic — Why We Leave Cookies for Santa
https://www.foodrepublic.com/1445587/why-leave-cookies-for-santa-christmas-history/
Tasting Table — The Feast-Inspired Tradition Behind Cookies for Santa
https://www.tastingtable.com/1445843/feast-inspired-tradition-leaving-cookies-santa/
Smithsonian Magazine — The History of the Peanut (context on food rituals & trade; useful comparative reading)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-peanut-180974623/
Wikipedia — Gingerbread
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingerbread
Wikipedia — Pfeffernüsse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfeffern%C3%BCsse
Wikipedia — Sju sorters kakor (Swedish Christmas cookie tradition)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sju_sorters_kakor
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian — Maple Sugaring Traditions
https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/infrastructure-gold/maple-sugaring
Library of Congress — American Holiday Food Traditions
https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/holiday-traditions/
Candy canes feel harmless — festive, nostalgic, impossible to take seriously. But this episode asks a simple question: why do we trust sweet, familiar objects so easily?
We start with a real-world reminder that even a cane can hide danger, then trace the history of sugar itself — from chewed sugarcane in Southeast Asia to hand-pulled sugar sticks in medieval Europe. By the 1600s, refined sugar had become a global luxury, produced almost entirely through enslaved labor on Caribbean and Brazilian plantations. Those early sugar sticks — the ancestors of candy canes — were symbols of wealth built on violence and exhaustion.
As sugar became more refined, it also became more abstract. Stripped of its origins, shaped into sticks, bent into hooks, and flavored with peppermint, sugar slowly transformed into something decorative, innocent-seeming, and easy to forget.
Candy canes didn’t just sweeten the holidays — they polished history smooth.
History of candy canes & sugar sticks
History.com — Who Invented Candy Canes?
https://www.history.com/articles/candy-canes-invented-germany
Sugar’s role in slavery & global trade
Smithsonian Magazine — The Bitter Truth About Sugar
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/bitter-truth-about-sugar-180953268/
Sugarcane origins & early use
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sugarcane
https://www.britannica.com/plant/sugarcane
Sugar, refinement, and colonial economies
National Museum of American History — Sugar and the Atlantic World
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/sugar
Modern reflections on sugar labor exploitation
The Guardian — How Sugar Fuels Exploitation Today
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/07/sugar-slavery-modern-exploitation
Candy cane evolution in American culture
Smithsonian National Museum of American History — The History of the Candy Cane
https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/candy-cane-history
In this episode of True Crime Culinary, we unwrap the chilling story of Christiana Edmunds — the Victorian poisoner who slipped strychnine into chocolate creams — and trace chocolate’s own extraordinary journey across continents and centuries.
We go way back: to the Indigenous origins of cacao in Central and South America, where chocolate was medicine, ritual, ceremony, and even currency. Then we follow cacao across the Atlantic, into colonial systems powered by enslaved labor, and into the hands of European confectioners.
By the 19th century, Swiss innovators — Daniel Peter, Henri Nestlé, Rodolphe Lindt, Philippe Suchard, and Jean Tobler — transformed chocolate entirely. Milk chocolate, conching, mass production, global export: these breakthroughs turned chocolate from a sacred drink into an everyday treat.
Their success made chocolate beloved.
That love made it trusted.
And that trust is exactly what Christiana Edmunds exploited.
Join us for a story that blends crime, colonization, culinary innovation, and the surprisingly dark history behind something we all think of as sweet.
References:
“Christiana Edmunds.” Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiana_Edmunds
“Death by Chocolate: The Brighton Poisoner.” Brighton Museums.
https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/discovery/history-stories/death-by-chocolate/
Women’s History Network — “The Case of the Chocolate Cream Killer: The Poisonous Passion of Christiana Edmunds.”
https://womenshistorynetwork.org/the-case-of-the-chocolate-cream-killer-the-poisonous-passion-of-christiana-edmunds/
“The Chocolate Cream Poisoner, 1871.” Crimes Through Time.
https://crimesthroughtime.co.uk/the-chocolate-cream-poisoner-1871/
“A Lady Poisons – The Case of Christiana Edmunds.” History Women Brighton.
https://historywomenbrighton.com/2015/03/10/a-lady-poisons-the-case-of-christiana-edmunds/
Historian Andrew — “Christiana Edmunds: The Chocolate Cream Killer.”
https://historianandrew.medium.com/christina-edmunds-the-chocolate-cream-killer-568b117a61e0
“History of Chocolate.” Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chocolate
“History of Chocolate: Cocoa Beans & Xocolatl.” History.com.
https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-chocolate
Fauchon Paris — “The History of Chocolate: Where Does It Come From?”
https://www.fauchon.com/en/blogs/news/history-chocolate-origins
“Chocolate and Switzerland: A Story That Goes Way Back.” House of Switzerland (2023).
https://houseofswitzerland.org/swissstories/history/chocolate-and-switzerland-story-goes-way-back
“Swiss Chocolate.” Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_chocolate
“The Sweet History of Chocolate.” History.com.
(Covers Lindt, Nestlé, and industrialization context.)
https://www.history.com/news/the-sweet-history-of-chocolate
In this hilarious and surprisingly fascinating episode of True Crime Culinary, host Leah dives into the real-life story of a liquor-store break-in unlike anything you’ve heard before — featuring a very drunk raccoon, a bathroom floor, and a trail of shattered whiskey bottles that left employees wondering if they’d walked onto the set of The Hangover: Woodland Edition.
From that chaotic crime scene, we follow the pawprints into a deeper look at the history of prison alcohol, better known as pruno, hooch, or jailhouse wine. Leah breaks down how prison-made alcohol works, why inmates started making it centuries ago, the surprisingly creative ingredients (including fruit, bread, candy, ketchup, and rice), and the science behind illegal fermentation.
You’ll learn about:
• the viral story of the drunk Virginia raccoon
• why pruno became notorious in modern prisons
• the evolution of prison alcohol from the 1700s to today
• how inmates innovate with limited food supplies
• the real dangers of jailhouse fermentation (including botulism!)
• the strange-but-true world of candy wine, rice wine, buck, and “toilet wine”
This episode blends wild animal antics, true crime storytelling, and food history in a way only True Crime Culinary can. If you like funny crime stories, weird food facts, or quirky prison history, this is the episode for you.
References
What really happened at the first Thanksgiving — and why do we center a turkey that wasn’t even on the table? In this episode, we peel back 400 years of myth, marketing, and cultural reinvention to explore the deeper story behind America’s most symbol-heavy holiday.
We start with the Indigenous history that actually shaped the 1621 harvest gathering — the Wampanoag people, their agricultural expertise, and the political context that shaped their alliance with the English settlers. We look at what was really served (spoiler: likely waterfowl, venison, corn, and shellfish — not turkey), and how early colonial accounts transformed into the imagery we know today.
Then, we trace how Thanksgiving shifted from a modest harvest event to a national holiday — thanks in part to Sarah Josepha Hale’s decades-long campaign — and how 19th-century advertising and 20th-century media turned the turkey into a cultural icon through cookbooks, women’s magazines, corporate food marketing, and later, TV and internet-driven “picture-perfect” holiday expectations.
Finally, we bring the story into the present day, examining how Thanksgiving looks for families experiencing food insecurity. Millions of Americans rely on community dinners, food banks, church programs, and mutual aid networks to share a meal. We explore why the holiday’s themes of gratitude, survival, and collective care resonate differently — and often more deeply — for underserved communities.
This episode blends history, cultural analysis, humor, and heart — reminding us that two things can be true: Thanksgiving is messy and mythologized and it’s a meaningful moment of connection for many. The point was never perfection — it was survival, sharing, and being together.
References:
Smithsonian Magazine — The Thanksgiving Myth and What We Should Be Teaching Kids
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/thanksgiving-myth-and-what-we-should-be-teaching-kids-180973655/
Wampanoag Tribe Official Site — Wampanoag History
https://wampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/wampanoag-history
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) — Overview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony)
PBS — The Surprisingly Short History of the Thanksgiving Turkey
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-surprising-origin-of-thanksgiving-foods-0giltj/
History.com — Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?
https://www.history.com/videos/history-of-thanksgiving
National Archives — The Woman Who Helped Make Thanksgiving a Holiday
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2015/fall/hale
Britannica — Sarah Josepha Hale and the Creation of Thanksgiving
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sarah-Josepha-Hale
Feeding America — Hunger & Holiday Season Reports
https://www.feedingamerica.org/
NPR / KOMO News — Many Families Can’t Afford a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner
https://komonews.com/news/local/thanksgiving-dinner-costs-dip-but-local-families-still-face-strain-from-rising-expenses-holiday-shopping-tacoma-turkey
USDA — Food Insecurity Data
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/
What do you do when your late-night poutine order shows up… with a handful of Viagra at the bottom of the bag?
In this episode, we unpack one of the strangest food-adjacent crimes in Canadian history — a 2015 drug ring run out of an ordinary Québec poutine shop, where delivery drivers quietly offered cannabis, magic mushrooms, and pharmaceuticals alongside fries, gravy, and cheese curds.
But the story doesn’t start with the drug bust. To understand why this crime became an instant legend, we trace the tale back centuries — to the Indigenous nations along the St. Lawrence River, the arrival of the French in the 1500s, and the birth of a new identity that still defines Québec today.
We explore:
how French settlers became “Québécois,”
why Québec still sees itself as a nation within a nation,
how Indigenous history shaped the region long before colonization,
and how one messy comfort dish became a cultural symbol.
Then we settle the biggest question of all:
Where did poutine really come from?
Hear the three famous origin stories — Warwick’s “damn mess,” Drummondville’s first menu listing, and Victoriaville’s DIY fries-and-curds ritual — and how gravy eventually joined the party.
It’s crime, colonization, cuisine, and comfort food — all wrapped into one warm, chaotic bowl.
Primary Keywordspoutine historyQuébec historyQuébec culturepoutine origin storiespoutine crimefood crimesCanadian true crimeCanadian history podcastIndigenous history CanadaNew France historyDrug ring poutine storyWarwick Québec poutineDrummondville poutineVictoriaville poutine originsFrench colonization Canadapoutine documentary podcastcomfort food history podcast
(You can add all of these to Spotify/Apple show notes or hide them below a “More” fold.)
Eater Montréal summary of the 2015 case:
https://montreal.eater.com/2015/3/27/8300031/quebec-police-bust-restaurant-delivery-drug-ring
Overview of New France:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/new-france
Battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759):
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/plains-of-abraham
Québec identity, culture, and history:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quebec
Indigenous peoples of the St. Lawrence region:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indigenous-peoples
CBC history of poutine:
https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/a-cheesy-history-of-poutine
Warwick origin story / Fernand Lachance:
https://www.lesproducteursdelaitduquebec.qc.ca/en/blog/history-poutine/
Drummondville claim / Jean-Paul Roy:
https://www.lapresse.ca/vivre/cuisine/201904/19/01-5222567-jean-paul-roy-pere-de-la-poutine.php
Victoriaville DIY roots (VICE article):
https://www.vice.com/en/article/8q89aa/who-really-invented-poutine
What do backyard mole hunters, fat squirrels, and Thanksgiving sweet potatoes have in common? Marshmallows.
In this delightfully bizarre episode of True Crime Culinary, host Leah Llach uncovers a real-life backyard “mole war” sparked by an internet myth — and somehow connects it to the sweet, squishy history of marshmallows.
From ancient Egyptian medicine to French confectioners and early 20th-century marketing magic, this story traces how a swamp plant called Althaea officinalis became the modern marshmallow — and how one 1917 ad campaign made it a Thanksgiving staple.
Featuring “tactical marshmallow insertion failures,” conspiracy theories about squirrels, and a healthy dose of food history, this episode blends comedy, culture, and culinary storytelling in the sweetest possible way.
Highlights:
A three-month mole “battle” gone hilariously wrong
The ancient Egyptian origins of marshmallows
The French reinvention that made them a delicacy
References
“Killing Moles with Marshmallows” — Moles.org
“The History of Marshmallows” — Wikipedia
“How Marshmallows Went from Medicine to Candy” — ThoughtCo
“The Story of Campfire Marshmallows” — Campfire Marshmallows
“How Marshmallows Took Over Thanksgiving” — The Kitchn
“The Woman Who Put Marshmallows on Sweet Potatoes” — Saveur
“A Sweet Thanksgiving Tradition” — Smithsonian Magazine
“How Convenience Foods Took Over the 1950s Table” — Quartz
A murder mystery solved by… a sweet potato? In 2011, a bizarre clue at a Massachusetts crime scene went cold for over a decade — until DNA in 2023 cracked the case. We trace the sweet potato’s journey from Indigenous fields to Southern kitchens, exploring sweet potato pie, its pumpkin cousin, and even forgotten carrot pie along the way. Flavor, history, and true crime collide in the strangest ways.
Sources & Further Reading
ABC News — “Sweet potato helps solve Massachusetts cold case murder”
Oxygen True Crime — “DNA on sweet potato silencer links man to Cape Cod cold case”
Newsweek — “Devarus Hampton and the sweet-potato smoking gun”
KPBS — “The Great Pie Debate: Pumpkin vs. Sweet Potato”
Smithsonian Magazine — “A Brief History of Sweet Potatoes and Their Cultural Roots”
Encyclopedia of Food and Culture — “Sweet Potato” entry (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003)
A knock at the door. A bowl of candy. And one Halloween night in 1957 that turned deadly. In this episode, we unwrap the story of Peter and Betty Fabiano, the so-called “Trick-or-Treat Murder”, and trace how the sugary ritual behind it evolved from ancient offerings to candy corn.
Sources include:
Los Angeles Times archives (1957–1958)
True Crime Edition, “The Trick-or-Treat Murder”
Medium / @CrimeBeatChronicles, “Halloween Homicide: The Story of Peter and Betty Fabiano”
Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford University Press, 2002
Santino, Jack. Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life. University of Tennessee Press, 1994
Smithsonian Magazine, “How Trick-or-Treating Became a Halloween Tradition” (2021)
History.com Editors, “Trick-or-Treating: How Halloween’s Sweet Tradition Evolved” (updated 2023)
National Museum of Scotland, “Souling, Guising, and the Origins of Trick or Treat”
One man hiding from police in a California corn maze accidentally leads us down a different path—into the 9,000-year story of corn itself. Featuring Indigenous perspectives, culinary history, and a side of humor, this episode uncovers how one ancient grain shaped our plates, our past, and one very strange police report.
Sources include:
Ancient DNA Continues To Rewrite Corn’s 9,000-Year Society-Shaping History from the Smithsonian
Historical Indigenous Food Preparation Using Produce of the Three Sisters Intercropping System
When Aron Ralston was trapped by a boulder in Utah’s Bluejohn Canyon, two burritos became his last link to life. This episode dives into his 127-hour fight for survival—and the fascinating history of the burrito, from Mesoamerica to modern-day.
Sources include:
A prune cake. A smile. A string of poisoned husbands. Meet Nannie Doss — the “Giggling Granny” whose deadly dessert shocked America. In this episode of True Crime Culinary, Leah Llach unpacks the sweet, sinister story of love, arsenic, and domestic deception.
Sources include an article from all that’s interesting, an analysis from the YouTube show Observe, and our friend Wikipedia.