This Way Up for Saturday 9 October 2010
Pet blood bank
We visit New Zealand's only pet blood bank in Manawatu where Neil and Sandy Marshall bleed cats, dogs and the odd alpaca!
Snail Trail
Keen gardener, grandmother and amateur scientist Ruth Brooks has just proved that snails have a homing instinct. Plus ecology professor Steve Wratten has tips for the home gardener on how to keep slugs and snails at bay.
Spicy stuff
Professor Paul Rozin has been examining what possesses so many people to eat hot, spicy foods.
Caviar: a global history
Caviar retails for about 20,000 NZ dollars a kilo and the real McCoy comes from the giant sturgeon found in the Caspian and Black seas. Food writer and historian Nichola Fletcher has just written its global history.
Food additives: thickeners
Guar, locust bean and xanthan gums are all food thickeners. Matt Golding joins us in the aisles to tell us what they are and how they work.