Podcasts by The Sporkful

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Rediscovering Nigeria By Becoming American from 2023-10-23T09:55

Back in 2018, we talked with chef and recipe developer Yewande Komolafe about her experience as an undocumented immigrant. She grew up in Nigeria, ...

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Can Bass Pro Shops Teach Grocery Stores Something? from 2023-10-16T09:55

We are back with the Salad Spinner! This is our rapid fire roundtable discussion of the latest food news, from significant to silly, surprising to strange. And in the Spinner this week are Listen

Natasha Leggero And Moshe Kasher Give Dan Marriage Advice from 2023-09-25T09:55

Husband-and-wife comedians and podcast hosts Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher often perform standup together. In their Ne...

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What “Couscousgate” Tells Us About French Food from 2023-09-18T09:55

Back in 2017, a far-right politician in France angered his supporters and caused a small scandal. The faux pas? Enjoying a plate of couscous. Couscous is one of the most popular dishes in France...

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A Chili Crisp Cookbook And An Ode To Shabbat from 2023-09-11T09:55

On today’s show, we’re featuring two new cookbooks that we’re excited about, and the stories of the authors behind them. James Park’s new cookbook Listen

A Garlic Dispute 20 Years In The Making from 2023-08-28T09:55

We asked for your food fights and hot takes, and you delivered! We hear about a 20-year dispute over a garlic aversion (with unsavory origins), get to the bottom of the best way to eat a pint of...

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A Forager's Life In Virginia from 2023-08-21T09:55

Foraged ingredients have become all the rage in high end restaurants, part of the move toward hyperlocal, farm-to-table ingredients. Of course, we humans have been foraging pretty much forever. ...

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Searching For The Pickle King from 2023-08-14T09:55

While the villages to the east and west have charming Main Streets, the small town of Greenlawn, sandwiched in between, has pickles. Dan stops by the annual Pickle Festival before diving into th...

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Tommy Pico’s Food History Wasn’t Lost. It Was Stolen. from 2023-07-31T09:55

A few years ago, Tommy Pico, a queer indigenous American poet, and lover of junk food, set out to learn how to cook. He wanted to get healthier, but also, he wanted a food culture to replace the...

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Why Barbie’s First Dreamhouse Didn’t Have A Kitchen from 2023-07-21T22:20

When the first Barbie Dreamhouse came out in 1962, it didn’t have a kitchen. Fast forward to today and there are a dozen chef Barbies. What does that say about Barbie, and about American food cu...

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Why Ice Is This Summer's Hottest Trend from 2023-07-17T09:55

Once known for its glacial pace, ice news today is breaking. In the wake of Starbucks’ recent announcement that they’re changing their ice, we’re devoting an entire episode to the drink chiller ...

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2 Chefs And A Lie: Name That Mustard Edition from 2023-07-10T09:55

It’s time for our annual game show, 2 Chefs And A Lie! The game is simple. Dan talks with three “chefs.” Two are real, and one is an actor with a made-up resume. He’s gotten no info on these peo...

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The Food-Obsessed Subculture Of The Appalachian Trail from 2023-06-26T09:55

How do you feed yourself on a hike that’s more than 2,200 miles long and takes six months to complete? Every summer, hundreds of people attempting to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, from Geor...

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Zarna Garg Had To Tell Jokes For Her Supper from 2023-06-19T09:55

The stand-up comedian Zarna Garg spent 16 years as a stay-at-home mom. Now she sells out shows across the country and has her Listen

Inside The World Of Food Smuggling from 2023-06-12T09:55

Remember that time you bought an apple in Canada or a piece of cheese in France and “forgot” to declare it when you crossed the border into the U.S.? That makes you a food smuggler. It can feel ...

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The Secret To Grace Church’s Lobster Rolls from 2023-05-29T09:55

In the 1980s, six women on an island off the coast of Massachusetts began selling lobster rolls as a church fundraiser. Today people travel by car, boat, and plane just to taste these hallowed s...

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Comic Jamie Loftus’s Hot Dog Summer from 2023-05-22T09:55

Comedian and podcaster Jamie Loftus set out on a cross-country road trip to try to figure out: Why do hot dogs have such a hold on American culture? And why does she continue to find them so dam...

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Is Protecting Abalone Also Destroying A Native Tradition? from 2023-05-15T09:55

When the California government stepped in to try and prevent abalone from going extinct, it also criminalized the food traditions of indigenous people in the region. In this episode from our fri...

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Meet The Banh Mi Innovators from 2023-04-24T09:55

Cookbook author Andrea Nguyen helped change the tone of Vietnamese cookbooks when she published her first in 2006. “They had these long, long ingredient lists that kind of exoticized the cuisine...

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Squishy Or Crunchy? Why Texture Matters from 2023-04-17T09:55

Crunchy, creamy, squishy, slimy… the list goes on. Texture might not be the first thing you think of when describing your favorite foods, but it plays a big role in the foods you love and the fo...

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Bill Nye, The FOOD Science Guy! from 2023-04-10T09:55

Bill Nye is a goofball nerd to the core, and he’s built a career on making science fun and accessible for everyone. So can Bill give Dan some satisfying answers to big, and small, food science q...

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For Ghetto Gastro, Food Is A Weapon from 2023-03-27T09:55

Hip hop records as placemats. A sneaker chandelier, reminiscent of shoes hanging on telephone lines. A bouillabaisse overflowing with seafood from the south of France. That was the scene at one ...

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The Brewer Rewriting The Story of Beer In Iran from 2023-03-20T09:55

Zahra Tabatabai’s parents grew up in an Iran that would be unrecognizable today. “The pictures I see of my family in Iran in the sixties and seventies, they're in bikinis at the beach, drinking ...

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Raina’s Disordered Eating, One Year Later from 2023-03-13T09:55

A year ago we spoke with a young woman we’re calling Raina, who felt she was on the verge of developing an eating disorder. For context and perspective, we spoke with comedian Margaret Cho, who'...

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The Last Big Mac In Iceland from 2023-02-27T10:55

When Alexandra Yingst plopped down at a bar in Reykjavik after a 10-hour drive through a blizzard, she saw something unexpected: a Big Mac, in seemingly perfect condition, under a glass dome. It...

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Alan And Arlene Alda Bonded Over A Fallen Rum Cake from 2023-02-13T10:55

"Flirting over food is really the best way to flirt," says actor Alan Alda, and he would know. He met his wife, Arlene, at a dinner party in college. A rum cake fell off the top of a refrigerato...

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Trailer: Welcome to The Sporkful from 2022-04-22T05:37:54.342415

This podcast isn’t for foodies, it’s for eaters. We have a ton of fun obsessing about food to learn more about culture, science, history, and most importantly—people. In every episode of The Spo...

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How To Read A Taco Like A Book from 2022-04-22T05:37:54.235875

Professor Steven Alvarez believes you can read a taco. Look at the meat, the spices, and the tortilla. Each ingredient has ...

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Michael Ian Black Is A Guy Who Eats Salads from 2022-04-22T05:37:54.180579

Why does eating alligator seem more manly than eating chicken? Is coffee more “masculine” than tea? This week, comedian Michael Ian Black talks with Dan about manliness, and how it relates to fo...

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Is Halal Pork Impossible? from 2022-04-22T05:37:54.172252

Many of us grew up with rules or customs around food. For Aymann Ismail, a practicing Muslim, that meant not eating pork. But as he got older, he became curious about why eating pork was a line ...

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How SPAM Became A Filipino Staple from 2022-04-22T05:37:54.164098

During World War II, wherever American troops were sent, they left the canned meat known as SPAM in their wake. When American GIs landed overseas, they often tossed cans of SPAM out of trucks to...

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Is Di Fara Pizza Worth The Wait? (Remembering Dom DeMarco) from 2022-04-18T04:55

Ever waited in a crazy long line for some famous pizza or doughnuts or barbecue? Was it worth it? This week Dan goes to Di Fara Pizza with Serious Eats founder Ed Levine. Di Fara is a leg...

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Duff Goldman Has Learned To Live With His Fear from 2022-04-11T04:55

When Food Network star Duff Goldman got into baking elaborate cakes, he was just trying to pay the bills while pursuing his real dream of rock stardom. So what happened? This week we talk with t...

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How ‘Frasier’ Got André Mack Obsessed With Wine from 2022-03-28T04:55

André Hueston Mack is one of America’s best known sommeliers. But for most of his career, he’s felt like an outsider. In the rarefied wine world, he likes to wear Air Jordans and a Mickey Mouse ...

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Are The Jell-O Heirs Cursed? from 2022-03-21T04:55

Allie Rowbottom’s great-great-great uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor in 1899 for $450, then sold it in the 1920s for $67 million — nearly a billion dollars in today’s money. L...

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Live: Kenji López-Alt No Longer Calls His Recipes “The Best” from 2022-03-14T23:24:13

After two years of recording interviews from his basement, Dan is taking The Sporkful back on the road! Chef, YouTuber, and cookbook author J. Kenji López-Alt joins Dan on stage at Listen

Trailer: Welcome to The Sporkful from 2022-03-07T11:12:49.562677

This podcast isn’t for foodies, it’s for eaters. We have a ton of fun obsessing about food to learn more about culture, science, history, and most importantly—people. In every episode of The Spo...

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Are Shallots Bull$#!t? from 2022-02-28T05:55

Do you actually need to heat the oil in the pan before adding onions? Are fresh vegetables always better than frozen? And what’s so special about a shallot? You have lots of burning questions ab...

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Trailer: Welcome to The Sporkful from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.382946

This podcast isn’t for foodies, it’s for eaters. We have a ton of fun obsessing about food to learn more about culture, science, history, and most importantly—people. In every episode of The Sporkf...

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When White People Say Plantation from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.381673

The word "plantation" pops up a lot in the food world – Plantation Mint Tea, Plantation Chicken, Plantation Rum. But it's not a culinary term. It doesn't indicate certain spices or cooking methods....

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Update: Inside The Turmoil At Bon Appétit from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.378565

When the spotlight goes away… In the wake of allegations about systemic racism at Bon Appétit, people of color there were hopeful things would change. Nearly two months later, are they changing? Ho...

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Mission: ImPASTAble 1 | Spaghetti Sucks from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.376443

Spaghetti doesn’t hold sauce. Angel hair goes from zero to mush. Wagon wheels are gimmicks. These are just a few of Dan’s many frustrations with classic pasta shapes. Three years ago he set out to ...

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Mission: ImPASTAble 2 | Slanting The Floors from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.375486

Dan seeks inspiration for the design of his new pasta shape, a process that includes an epic pasta tasting and a chat with an architect who points him to a very radical concept. But after a meeting...

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Mission: ImPASTAble 3 | What Would Juan Guzmán Do? from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.374342

Dan dusts himself off and goes on the hunt for a pasta company to partner with. Plus, he edges closer to a design for his shape. But the real challenge is convincing pasta industry insiders to take...

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How Dr. Jessica B. Harris Redefined American Food from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.370679

Over the course of fifty years and a dozen books, Dr. Jessica B. Harris has uncovered the ways that West African food, and African American people, have fundamentally shaped American cuisine. In 20...

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Why Actors Never Actually Eat In Movies from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.369767

Does Ratatouille accurately portray restaurant critics? What’s the lamest food trope in cinema? And what’s Dan’s favorite eating scene from The Godfather? We’re talking food in movies this week, wi...

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Being Thin Isn't A Virtue, Says Lindy West from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.365908

Lindy West is a leading voice of the fat acceptance movement, a position that's earned her a lot of devoted fans — and a lot of enemies. Dan sits down with Lindy, author of the best seller Shrill: ...

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Hot Chicken Is Hot, But Who's Benefiting? from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.353558

In the last 15 years, Nashville hot chicken has become a hot trend. But for decades before that, hot chicken was well known among Nashville’s Black community. For generations, you could only get it...

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Patti LaBelle Says She Cooks Better Than She Sings from 2022-02-22T03:27:47.349413

Patti LaBelle is not just a music icon, she’s also a food icon. She’s written best-selling cookbooks, hosted a food TV show, and even cooked for Elton John, The Rolling Stones, and Prince. Back in ...

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Mission: ImPASTAble 8 | The Pursuit Of Viscoelasticity from 2022-02-15T13:00

When cascatelli first went viral, Dan heard from dozens of listeners who wanted to try it, but couldn’t because they were gluten-free. Well, challenge accepted: Dan sets out to make a version of...

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Cooking With Brain Injury — And Finding Humor In It from 2022-02-02T06:15:31.352320

How does a traumatic brain injury affect the way you cook and eat? Filmmaker Cheryl Green, who has a brain injury, satirizes her own experiences in the kitchen in a short video called “Cooking With...

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Hacking McDonald’s Broken Ice Cream Machines from 2022-02-02T06:15:31.343945

McDonald’s ice cream machines break down so often that it's a meme. Enter Jeremy O’Sullivan and Melissa Nelson, two entrepreneurs who thought they'd hacked a solution — until McDonald’s told its fr...

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Is A Hot Dog A Sandwich? from 2022-02-02T06:15:31.339485

Just as summer is really starting to heat up, so is the classic debate: Is a hot dog a sandwich? We revisit one of The Sporkful’s most popular episodes — one that has come to define Dan’s career (a...

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What Does A Communist Revolution Taste Like? from 2022-01-31T05:55

In the 1930s, after a disastrous famine killed millions of Soviet citizens, Josef Stalin made an abrupt turn in his approach to food. He ditched the idea that his countrymen could live on bread ...

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Jacques Pépin Is Still Teaching — And Learning from 2022-01-24T05:55

Jacques Pépin has spent his career defying expectations. By 1958, at the age of 23, he had cooked for three French presidents. But he left that life to work at a high-end restaurant in New York,...

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Margaret Cho Has Always Been ‘Hollywood Obese’ from 2022-01-17T05:55

Comedian Margaret Cho has struggled with eating disorders for most of her life. When she was starting out in comedy, she used alcohol and drugs to mask her hunger, and later resorted to other me...

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Should You Put Ice In Your Milk? from 2022-01-10T05:55

Should you eat fast food on vacation, or should every meal be at a special local place? Is soup bar food? Does ice belong in milk? Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings join Dan to answer your question...

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New Year’s Food Resolutions 2022 from 2021-12-20T05:55

What foods do Sporkful listeners resolve to eat more of in the new year, and why? And what’s Dan’s New Year’s food resolution for 2022? All is revealed in our annual year-end spectacular. Plus w...

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Sebastian Maniscalco’s First Stage Was The Dinner Table from 2021-12-13T05:55

Sebastian Maniscalco is one of the top-grossing comedians in America, beloved for his stories about the food-obsessed family he grew up in, and his constant irritation at just about everyone aro...

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Can We Go Viral On TikTok? from 2021-11-29T05:55

TikTok is the wild west of the food media world. It’s less professionalized than Instagram and YouTube, and it holds the promise of virality from the very first time you post. So we wondered: Wh...

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Will The Library Of Congress Cooking Club Rise Again? from 2021-11-22T05:55

The Library of Congress is the biggest library in the world. It has 500,000 food books alone. A library with that many books has a lot of librarians, with expertise in just about every region, c...

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A Hip Hop Track Inspired Bryant Terry To Go Vegan from 2021-11-15T05:55

“So often when we talk about veganism, we don't imagine Black people,” says Bryant Terry, the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, chef, and educator. But Bryant sees veganism as deeply ro...

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Pati Jinich Can Read Your Fridge Like A Tarot Card from 2021-10-25T04:59

Pati Jinich has always had to move between worlds — as a Jew growing up in Mexico, and as a Mexican immigrant to the US, where she first worked as a policy analyst. “It wasn’t until I switched to c...

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Hunting For The Elusive Pawpaw from 2021-10-18T04:59

A few months back, we got an email that set us off on an adventure. It came from Sara Bir, an author and recipe developer who’s obsessed with pawpaws, the largest fruit native to North America. “Pa...

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Stanley Tucci Always Has A Martini Kit On Set from 2021-10-11T04:59

Stanley Tucci nearly broke the internet last year when he made a Negroni on Instagram. But long before that, the award-winning actor built his career around his love of food. He created the iconic ...

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For “Top Chef’s” Joe Flamm, Spaghetti Is The Beatles Of Pasta from 2021-09-30T22:59

Chef Joe Flamm grew up in a big Italian family, where there was always sauce bubbling on the stove. The rule of the house was: if you walked in the kitchen, you stirred the sauce. Since then Joe ha...

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Padma Lakshmi Just Wants To Eat Her Samosa In Peace from 2021-09-27T04:59

Since we first had Padma Lakshmi on The Sporkful in 2016, a lot has changed — in the world, and for her. She’s become a vocal activist, speaking out on immigration and women’s rights, and sharing m...

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Who Invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? from 2021-09-20T15:25

For two decades, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos has been one of the most popular snacks in America. In recent years its legend has grown, as word spread that they were invented by Richard Montañez, a Mexican-...

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Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski On Emotional Eating And Impostor Syndrome from 2021-09-13T04:59

Antoni Porowski wasn’t the obvious choice to be the food expert on Queer Eye — he’s not a chef and he has no formal culinary training. When the show debuted in 2018, many people asked, “Can this gu...

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The Rice Cooker That Changed Jake Cohen’s Life from 2021-08-30T18:00

Jake Cohen didn’t care much about Jewish food when he went to culinary school and worked in high end restaurants. But when he met his future husband, Jake was introduced to the Middle Eastern Jewis...

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The Bucatini Dialogues: A Debate About Pasta Shapes from 2021-08-23T04:59

“Literally all pasta shapes are wonderful except bucatini. Bucatini can go get effed.” Francis Lam’s strongly-worded tweet inspired Dan to organize a live event in 2018, where he, Francis (host of ...

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The Mystery Of Alpha Gal from 2021-08-16T04:59

For the first 40 years of her life, Amy Pearl was a card-carrying member of the meat club; she literally had a credit card from the famous Brooklyn steakhouse Peter Luger. Then one day she ate a po...

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"Nailed It!" Host Nicole Byer Thinks It’s Weird To Make Sandwiches from 2021-07-26T04:59

What kinds of NSFW chocolates does comedian and Nailed It host Nicole Byer mold for her cohost Jacques Torres when the cameras aren’t rolling? She tells us, plus she talks with Dan about the parall...

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Nadiya Hussain, From “Great British Bake Off” To Elbows Out from 2021-07-19T04:59

When Nadiya Hussain competed on The Great British Bake Off in 2015, it seemed like all of Britain — from self-proclaimed #Nadiyators to the prime minister — was rooting for her. Since then, she’s h...

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How Did Staying Hydrated Become A Thing? from 2021-07-12T04:59

To say that hydration is an invention is only a slight exaggeration. Water bottles have become a crucial accessory — a status symbol. How did that happen? This week we bring you an episode from our...

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Should You Break Up With Your Gas Stove? from 2021-06-28T18:30

Which kind of stove do you like better: gas or electric? This debate, and the ad campaigns that have fueled it, have been raging for over a century. While more people in the U.S. today have electri...

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Can I Wipe My Oily Hands On My Legs? from 2021-06-21T04:59

We open the phone lines to settle your most contentious food disputes this week. Eliza wants to wipe her oily hands on her bare legs — is her boyfriend Connor right to object? Then, Natalie thinks ...

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What McDonald’s Can Tell Us About Black America from 2021-06-14T04:59

Growing up as a Black kid in Chicago, Dr. Marcia Chatelain says she learned more about Black history from McDonald’s than from her fancy prep school. Now, as a professor of history and African Amer...

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How Prison Ramen Saved My Life from 2021-05-31T04:59

When Gustavo “Goose” Alvarez was 18, he was sent to prison for the first time. When he arrived, the other incarcerated men wanted to know if they could trust him — so they handed him a plate of che...

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Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio Wants To Focus On The Food from 2021-05-24T04:59

Tom Colicchio bristles at the idea of a “celebrity chef.” He’s also the lead judge on Top Chef, one of the most iconic cooking competition shows of all time. This week we ask Tom: What role should ...

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Ayesha Curry On The Importance Of Saying No from 2021-05-17T04:59

At 32, Ayesha Curry has built a food empire. She’s written cookbooks, hosted food TV shows, released a cookware line, and opened restaurants. Her cookbooks are influenced by her Jamaican heritage, ...

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Reconsider The Lobster from 2021-05-10T04:59

In colonial times, lobster was routinely served to prisoners. It was called “the cockroach of the sea.” So what changed? On today’s show, we’re bringing you an episode from our friends at Gastropod...

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Mission: ImPASTAble 6 (Update) | The Future of Cascatelli from 2021-04-26T15:31

The first run of cascatelli sold out almost immediately. In the weeks that followed, the pasta basically went viral. In this update, you’ll hear how Dan and his family reacted. Then, Dan weighs his...

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How “Crying In H Mart” Helped Michelle Zauner Grieve Her Mother from 2021-04-19T04:59

The indie musician Michelle Zauner (who records under the name Japanese Breakfast) always had a complicated relationship with her mother, Chongmi. Michelle was born in Seoul and raised in Oregon, w...

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In Search Of Rosa Parks' Pancakes from 2021-04-12T04:59

In 2016, the Library of Congress posted Rosa Parks' personal documents online for the first time. Buried under postcards from Martin Luther King and lists of volunteers for the Montgomery Bus Boyco...

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Mission: ImPASTAble | Quick Update from 2021-03-29T20:38

It's been a week and a half since Dan's new pasta shape went on sale. The response has been way beyond what we expected. Listen in for a quick update from Dan.

And for those of you who hav...

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Mission: ImPASTAble 5 | A Shape Is Born from 2021-03-18T20:59

After months of revisions, Dan thinks he’s got his shape. But he’s been working on this for so long, he’s not sure he knows what’s good anymore. So he brings in an all-star panel of taste testers, ...

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Mission: ImPASTAble 4 | Where The Ruffles Meet The Road from 2021-03-15T04:59

The first test batch of Dan’s pasta rolls off the presses, but problems crop up almost immediately. In order to save his shape, Dan has to make some big decisions that come with a high price tag. T...

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Mission: ImPASTAble Trailer from 2021-02-25T05:59

For the last three years, Dan has been on a quest to invent a new pasta shape, actually get it made, and actually sell it. And things have not gone as planned. Starting this Monday, March 1, we’re ...

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Are All Vodkas The Same? from 2021-02-22T05:59

Putting our own homemade vodka to the test... Dan’s friend Alex Goldmark insists that cheap vodka makes his face turn red; Dan doesn’t believe him, because Dan thinks all vodka is the same. We team...

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The Sporkful Dating Game! from 2021-02-15T05:59

It’s not for foodies, it’s for lovers… Could listening to The Sporkful be the fertile soil out of which true love grows? We put out the call for Sporkful listeners looking for love, and hundreds of...

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Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon Eat Differently Now from 2021-02-08T05:59

Cauliflower rice biryani anyone?… When Kumail Nanjiani was cast as a Marvel superhero, he decided to transform his body. Gone was the guy who played a schlubby coder on Silicon Valley — Kumail got ...

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Celebrating Other People’s Holidays from 2021-02-01T05:59

Plus, a surprising new update… Do you drink a Guinness on St. Patrick's Day, even though you're not Irish? Do you eat chips and salsa on Cinco de Mayo, even though you're not Mexican? Here at Spork...

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Men Have Eating Disorders, Too. Why Don’t They Seek Help? from 2021-01-25T05:59

Three personal stories about an overlooked problem…Public discussions about eating disorders tend to focus on women, and in the past, so have our episodes on the subject. But millions of men also s...

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Julián Castro On Nachos And Government from 2021-01-18T05:59

And why hunger in America became partisan… When Julián Castro sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, he made hunger one of his key campaign issues. The former HUD secretary and San...

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Free Ice Cream For Science! from 2021-01-11T05:59

The laws of gastrophysics at work… How do background music, the shape of a spoon, and your DNA affect your taste? These are just a few of the questions that psychologist Charles Spence looks at in ...

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This Food Stylist Is Bringing More Compassion To The Kitchen from 2021-01-04T05:59

And the importance of representation in food photography… Elle Simone Scott once said that a food stylist’s job is to tell the story of the food — and in her work on shows for Bravo, Food Network, ...

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New Year’s Food Resolutions 2021 from 2020-12-21T05:59

What foods do Sporkful listeners resolve to eat more of in the new year, and why? And what’s Dan’s New Year’s food resolution for 2021? All is revealed in this annual tradition. Plus we replay one ...

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The Fruitcake That Wouldn't Die from 2020-12-14T05:59

Our gift recommendations…Fruitcake has long been the butt of jokes, an inedible brick that people receive around Christmas, don’t eat, then regift the next year. But it’s also been a beloved baked ...

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Two Books For The Food Science Nerd In Your Life from 2020-12-07T05:59

Do roses really smell like poo-poo-oo?... From tortilla chips to tree bark, from fancy cheese to toe cheese, there’s a world of smells all around us that tell us a lot about food, drink, and everyt...

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LeVar Burton Even Reads Recipes Dramatically from 2020-11-30T05:59

Plus, dishing on Patrick Stewart’s weird lunches… You may think you know LeVar Burton. After starring in the seminal 1977 mini-series "Roots," he hosted "Reading Rainbow" and starred alongside Sir ...

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A Writer Who Finds His Characters Through Their Food from 2020-11-23T05:59

Bryan Washington on how meals can fill silence… In Bryan Washington’s acclaimed debut novel, Memorial, Benson and Mike, a couple living in Houston, are going through a rocky patch in their relation...

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Hitting The Texas Taco Trail With José Ralat from 2020-11-16T05:59

Why Tex-Mex is just as legit as Mexican food…José Ralat’s job at Texas Monthly magazine is so unique that when he got it last year, it made national news. One headline read: “The Job You Wish You H...

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Can Jelly Donuts Be Fixed? from 2020-11-09T05:59

Listeners call in with food issues… The perimeter of a jelly donut is devoid of fruity goodness, while the epicenter is a blob of jelly mess, says listener Larry in New York. Dan thinks he has the ...

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Samin Nosrat And Hrishikesh Hirway Are Just Here For The Cookies from 2020-11-02T05:59

Is the ideal cookie chewy, crispy, or crunchy?... Earlier this year, “Salt Fat Acid Heat” author Samin Nosrat and “Song Exploder” podcast host Hrishikesh Hirway teamed up to create “Home Cooking,” ...

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Spicy Doritos And How Foods Become American from 2020-10-26T05:59

And why some make the transition faster than others….Over the years on The Sporkful, Dan has explored an idea that’s changed the way he understands food in the U.S.: You can track an immigrant grou...

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The Great Office Coffee Election from 2020-10-19T06:59

Remember when bad office coffee was our biggest problem?... “The time has come for us to change the coffee brand that we offer and we want your input!” The email came from Myiesha Gordon in the HR ...

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Who Was James Beard? from 2020-10-12T06:59

To be a star, he couldn’t be himself… Before the James Beard Awards and the James Beard Foundation, there was the man himself. Beard was the first celebrity chef of the TV era, preaching home cooki...

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The Enslaved Man Who Taught Jack Daniel To Make Whiskey from 2020-10-05T06:59

And one woman’s quest to share his story... In 2016, Jack Daniel’s announced the company would make changes to its official history. They planned to honor Nathan “Nearest” Green, the formerly ensla...

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10 YEARS #4 | Notes From A Young Black Chef Pt 1 from 2020-09-25T04:59

In honor of our 10th anniversary we’re re-releasing three all time favorite stories, as selected by listeners, each with a brand new update. This story is in two parts. Part 2 is in your feed now, ...

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10 YEARS #3 | Katie’s Year In Recovery (Update) from 2020-09-23T04:59

The next chapter... In honor of our 10th anniversary we’re re-releasing three all time favorite stories, as selected by listeners, each with a brand new update at the end. In this episode we follow...

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10 YEARS #2 | Aleppo Sandwich Pt 2 (Update) from 2020-09-21T05:59

Three years later... A famous sandwich shop in Aleppo, Syria, played a key role in changing Shadi Martini’s life forever. Today on The Sporkful we hear the rest of Shadi’s story, and conclude our q...

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David Chang Wishes He Was Normal from 2020-09-14T06:59

Anger, depression, and massive success… For David Chang, every restaurant he opens feels like life or death. That mentality is a major reason why he’s one of the biggest figures in the restaurant w...

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“The World Eats Here": Stories From The Queens Night Market from 2020-09-07T06:59

This was supposed to be the Queens Night Market’s big summer... When the open-air market debuted in 2015, the crowds were massive. Founder John Wang selected food vendors who represented more than ...

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How Ketchup Got Its Name from 2020-08-24T06:59

And the science of rocky road’s success… Ketchup started as a far different product from what’s on the shelves today. A lot of its evolution can be traced to an early government agency and a group ...

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Guy Fieri Hates That Flame Shirt from 2020-08-17T06:59

What you don’t know about the celebrity chef… Guy Fieri is a legend on Food Network, known for his shows Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Guy's Grocery Games. But he was a successful restaurateur ev...

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The Hidden History of Regional Burgers from 2020-08-10T06:59

And a debate about potato salad… Welcome to our summer cookout spectacular! We talk with renowned burger historian George Motz about the history of the hamburger, and about the wide range of region...

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A Reckoning At Bon Appetit from 2020-06-13T22:36

A beloved brand with a toxic workplace... The videos shot in the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen are among the most popular food videos on YouTube, beloved for their depiction of a workplace that feels co...

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The REAL Sausage King of Chicago (Live from Chicago Pt. 1) from 2015-08-03T04:00

Live on stage from Chicago! Hot Doug explains why he turned down millions and closed his famous sausage shop. Plus, filmmaker and food writer Kevin Pang talks about his documentary, For Grace, abou...

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