Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

Acknowledgments

This time around, I took a cue from the world of charitable giving. The categories below reflect the many levels of generosity and support that have made this book possible. If Gulp is interesting and fun, if it’s accurate, enlightening, or compelling, that is due in overwhelming proportion to the contributions of these excellent human beings.

For giving up entire afternoons with no compensation and no guarantee of pleasing portrayal, for walking me through archives, for twisting arms, opening doors, laying out welcome mats, I bow down to:

Andrea Bainbridge, American Medical Association Historical Health Fraud and Alternative Medicine Collection

Ed dePeters, University of California, Davis

Anna Dhody and Evi Numen, Mütter Museum

Michael Jones, Virginia Commonwealth University

Alexander Khoruts, Matt Hamilton, and Mike Sadowsky, University of Minnesota

Alan Kligerman, Kligerman Regional Digestive Disease Center

Sue Langstaff, Applied Sensory

Michael Levitt and Julie Furne, Minneapolis VA Medical Center

George “Nick” Nichopoulos, personal physician to the late Elvis Presley

Megan and Rick Prelinger, Prelinger Library

Nancy Rawson, Pat Moeller, Amy McCarthy, and Theresa Kleinsorge, AFB International

“Rodriguez,” Gene Parks, Ed Borla, and Paul Verke, Avenal State Prison and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Stephen Secor, University of Alabama

Erika Silletti, René de Wijk, Andries van der Bilt, and Ton van Vliet, Food Valley, the Netherlands

Richard Tracy, Lee Lemenager, and John Gray, University of Nevada, Reno

For enduring repeated phone calls and protracted e-mail pestering with no outward indication that the author had overstepped the bounds of casual inquiry and was perched on the brink of actionable nuisance, I salute:

Jianshe Chen

Phillip Clapham

Justin Crump

Evangelia Bellas

Thomas Lowry

David Metz

Jason Mihalopoulos

Gabriel Nirlungayuk

Adrianne Noe

Tom Rastrelli

Danielle Reed

Paul Rozin

Terrie Williams

Sera Young

For providing indispensable expertise on arcane topics, for sharing contacts, for inspiring and encouraging me and making me laugh, I thank:

Jaime Aranda-Michel

Dean Backer

Daniel Blackburn

Rabbi Zushe Blech

Laurie Bonneau

Andrea Chevalier

Patty Davis

Siobhan DeLancy

Erik “the Red” Denmark

Adam Drewnowski

Ben Eiseman

Holly Embree

Father Geoff Farrow

Richard Faulks

Steve Geiger

Roy Goodman

Farid Haddad

Susan Hogan

Al Hom

Tim Howard

Bruce Jayne

Mark Johnson

Mary Juno

Jason Karlawish

Ron Kean

Diane Kelly

Bruce Kraig

Christopher Lahr

Jennifer Long

Johan Lündstrom

Ray and Robert Madoff

The Notto

Kenneth Olson

Jon Prinz

Sarah Pullen

Gregor Reid

Janet Riley

Michael Sappol

Adam Savage

Markus Stieger

Jim Turner

Paul Wagner

Brian Wansink

Judge Colleen Weiland

William Whitehead

For standing by me all these years and all these books, for their warmth, talent, patience, and friendship, a pixel and paper embrace to:

Jill Bialosky, Erin Lovett and Louise Brockett, Bill Rusin and Jeannie Luciano, and Stephen King and Drake McFeely of W. W. Norton, plus Mary Babcock, eagle-eyed copyeditor extraordinaire

Stephanie Gold

Jeff Greenwald

Jay Mandel and Lauren Whitney, of William Morris Endeavor

Lisa Margonelli

Anne Pigué

Ed and the rest of the wonderful Rachles family