The trauma and triumph of carob: How hippie food changed the way we eat

Carob. Some see it as a heroic stand-in for chocolate. Others, like one Twitter wag, see it as "chalky nonsense." Whatever your thoughts, it's a food that evokes a strong response.

Author Jonathan Kauffman explores the spread of carob and its wholesome ilk in a new book called "Hippie Foods: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat."

Kauffman sat down with Bill Radke to talk about longhairs, Silver Spring, and the hippie foods they love and hate. (Kauffman is on the side of the carob opposition; Radke has a dark horse affinity for wheat germ.)