One Up The Annals
https://linktr.ee/oneuptheannals
Welcome to One Up the Annals
Hosted by Rab Greeson.
Join me as I do a cinematic narration of my creative nonfiction.
This isn’t a typical talk into a mic and interview people. Come hear a unique take on topics I find interesting, episodes are produced with music and sfx.
This show digs into the moments, obsessions, and mischief that shaped our world… not the textbook versions, but the human ones. The “how did we get here?” moments that connect past to present.
Each episode blends,
Cinematic storytelling
Cultural commentary with teeth
A little humor (the classy kind, mostly)
A unique approach and perspective
Whether it’s artists spiraling into brilliance, rulers courting disaster, or icons wrestling with the thin line between genius and madness, the Annals bring it all to life with heart, style, and a dash of irreverence.
If you love history, storytelling, or simply seeing humanity at its most human, you’re in the right place.
Where shame becomes legend… and the past finally gets the podcast it deserves.
Goodnight.
One Up The Annals
Mini Ep- Truffles: The Great Fungus Scam
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
https://linktr.ee/oneuptheannals
Let’s gooooo
Truffles started as dirt-covered fungi hunted by pigs… and somehow became one of the most expensive foods on Earth. In this short Annals episode, we dig into how a lumpy underground mushroom turned into a luxury flex, why the rich made it fancy, and the strange science behind why it smells like attraction. From mud to Michelin, this is the story of the world’s most expensive fungus.
I’m your host Rab Greeson and now it’s in the Annals!
Goodnight
Humanity is a scam. We took a lumpy subterranean fungus that looks like a literal kidney stone and decided it's a luxury. If it's covered in dirt, found by a pig and costs $4,000 a pound, the rich will eat it. Welcome to the Annals, where we find out why you're paying a month's rent for mushroom shavings. Truffles weren't always refined. For centuries, they were just dirt potatoes for peasants and forest animals. The ancient Greeks thought they were made by lightning hitting the mud, which is medieval speak for we have no idea why this smells like a locker room, but let's eat it anyway. No one in 300 BC was paying gold for a fungus a pig could find faster. Then came 1700s francs. The royals realized that because truffles are hard to find, they could use them to bully the poor. They started using dogs to find them by the 1800s, and now it wasn't just a mushroom. It was the diamond of the kitchen. Because nothing says I have too much money, like hiring a specialized dog to sniff out your dinner. The rich didn't just eat them, they performed them. It's one of the only foods that requires a theatrical production. A guy in a white coat and gloves shaves three microns of fungus onto your eggs and charges you $80. Tells you a backstory that makes you think two peasants died in the making of this. It's 10% flavor, 90% flex. And if you can't see the dirt on it, did you even really spend the money? Why so expensive? Because you can't just farm them, they're biological divas. They only grow on specific tree roots, in specific mud, when the moon is in the right phase of go away. You literally need a labradoodle to find your appetizers. It's the only supply chain held together by a dog's nose in pure luck. And here's the kicker. Truffles smell like pheromones, specifically the kind that attracts pigs. So when you're paying $200 for that earthy aroma, you're basically paying to smell a very attractive hog. It's the most expensive musk in history. From the mud to the pig to the billionaire's plate, you aren't paying for the taste, you're paying for the struggle. Stay hungry, stay skeptical, and maybe pick a mushroom that gives you enlightenment instead of a receipt. And now it's in the annals. Good night.
