Baked soft or hard. Served salt encrusted or chocolate ensconced. Whether eaten as a common bar snack or an artisanally oversized roll the pretzel takes on countless contemporary forms. But what are we to make of this elusive baked goods' long and anecdote-ridden history?

Pretzel history is this week's topic on A Taste of the Past. Linda interviews Hans Röckenwagner, owner and founder of Restaurant Röckenwagner, James Beard Award winner, pretzel expert and more, about pretzels: where they came from, where they're made, how they came about, and much more.

This week on Eat Your Words, Cathy invites Allison Kave into the studio, founder of First Prize Pies, and author of First Prize Pies.

On today's episode of Cooking Issues, hosts Dave Arnold and Nastassia Lopez answer questions about the essential steps to preparing eggnog. Dave calls up chef Pierre Thiam to discuss Senegalese cuisine. Before the break, he answers a caller's question about cooking for pregnant women.

On this week's episode of Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold and Nastassia Lopez are joined in the studio by Piper Kristensen of Booker and Dax. Tune into this episode to Dave answer some questions about the oven spring when making bread at home, and different factors that determine quality of bread.

This week on Let's Eat In, our hostess Cathy Erway talks with Chase Emmons of Brooklyn Grange and Tim O'Neal of Borough Bees. Our guests have teamed up to start a 30 hive apiary at the new Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yards.

This week The Naturalist's own Carol Butler returns from a trip the Galapagos and brings back for Heritage Radio a wonderful 2-part program. On this first episode learn about the geology, formation, and history of these islands as first made famous by evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin.

This week on U Look Hungry the South Dakotan sister duo of Ellen and Melissa Elsen come into the studio and they've brought pie! The two are the bakers and owners of Gowanus's Four and Twenty Black Birds.

This week on Taste Matters, Mitchell Davis is joined by the proprietor of First Prize Pies, Allison Kave. Allison explains how she stumbled into the pie making business and how growing up in a food family helped push her in that direction.