National Post (National Edition)
THE MAN WITH THE IRON STOMACH
SERIES HOST IS SAMPLING A MENU OF OLD FOODS — STUFF WE WOULDN'T DARE EAT
Eating History
Wednesdays, History
Josh Macuga was excited about his gig as someone who eats decades-old food, but frankly the job has left a bad taste in his mouth. Take that bag of 1970s Fritos, which he downed while filming the docuseries Eating History.
“It was like an old, burnt crayon and it sat on my palate for about a week,” says Macuga. “It was brutal.”
Also epically gross was the Reggie! chocolate bar, named for baseball player Reggie Jackson and discontinued in 1982. Same with the box of Cracker Jack from the 1930s — barf city.
“One of the continuing themes throughout the show is how terribly peanuts age,” Macuga says, laughing.
“I never threw up, but there were a couple of days where I was a little queasy going home, for sure. But I have an iron stomach, so I'm lucky.”
Airing Wednesdays on the History channel, Eating History follows collector Macuga and vintage food expert Old Smokey as they hunt down the oldest, most nostalgic and shocking goods they can find.
Remember New Coke from 1985? They tried it. Pepsi AM, too.
“New Coke still tasted terrible. It tasted just as bad as it did when they released it and the world went insane with pitchforks and torches charging after the CocaCola Company,” the Pittsburgh native says.
“I think we all associate food with certain times in our lives, or holidays, or specific meals we've had with different people, or maybe snack foods or drinks we had growing up. If you wonder where they came from, we'll tell you that story and we'll actually try it. It's a really unique experience.”
Not every food was the equivalent of the green-faced emoji, though. A can of first-generation Pringles from the early 1970s tasted fantastic, says Macuga — although it might help that Pringles were his favourite snack as a kid.
Growing up, Macuga was surrounded by collectors. His dad accumulated things like Jim Beam bottles, and his uncle had a big collection of vintage tins, soda bottles and the like. Macuga got many choice items from them as gifts, although he distinctly remembers acquiring his own food-related treasure early on.
“When I was nine years old, the Penguins won their first Stanley Cup and I still have that Penguins Wheaties box from the 1990s. I tried it a few months ago when I went back home ... I was usually the one, much to my parent's chagrin, who jumped into eating food. I was always the garbage disposal.”
Unfortunately for Macuga, who also hosts the pop culture-based podcast The Afternoons with Josh, Ken, and Amanda, some foods in Eating History were off limits — like a 1940s-era can of grasshoppers.
“There's a medic and toxicologist on set, and they'll be the first ones to say, `Do not eat that Josh, please don't eat that,'” he says. “There are certain items you just can't eat because you will die of botulism. It's the most powerful biotoxin that we have on the planet, and it'll paralyze you just by tasting one little thing on the tip of your tongue. We had to be very careful, and that was the adventure of the show.”