The Sporkful

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 summer treats. This week, one of those people is Dan. He travels to Martha’s Vineyard to uncover Grace Church's secret recipe. Plus, Daniel Gritzer from Serious Eats breaks down the science of why frozen lobster might be better than fresh.On Saturday, June 3, Dan will be moderating a panel at a food festival on Martha’s Vineyard called Martha’s Vineyard Flavors. It’s a weekend of talks, demonstrations, and delicious meals. You can buy tickets to part of the event or the whole thing here.This episode originally aired on June 17, 2019, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Ngofeen Mputubwele, with editing by Peter Clowney. The Sporkful production team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Jared O'Connell, and Nora Ritchie.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 damn delicious? Over the course of her Hot Dog Summer, she tried all kinds of regional American dogs, from a bacon-wrapped Sonoran dog in Tucson, to a bologna-wrapped dog in Baltimore, to one that involved SpaghettiOs. She also visited the famed Nathan’s 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, where she learned there was a darker story behind the celebrated ritual. The trip changed the way she thought about hot dogs — but also how she felt about America and herself. Jamie’s new book is Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 friends at the podcast Copper and Heat, we look into the history of this now luxury ingredient — a tale that involves San Francisco bohemians, Japanese fishermen, and a Pomo-Paiute woman who has risked jail time and fines in order to keep these food traditions alive.The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

This week we're exploring the musical history of jelly, from the Harlem Renaissance to Beyoncé and beyond. Along the way, we hear the story of a famous moment in internet history, explore depictions of Black women in music, and learn how jelly became an affirmation for LGBTQIA+ identity. And then, for our grand finale, we write an original song about JELLY!This episode originally aired on August 12, 2019, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Ngofeen Mputubwele, with editing by Peter Clowney. Original music by the Reverend John DeLore and Allison Leyton-Brown. The Sporkful production team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Jared O'Connell, and Nora Ritchie.Info and tickets available here for Dan’s appearance at Martha’s Vineyard Flavors.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

ChatGPT can use artificial intelligence to generate high school essays, emails, cover letters, and a lot more. But can it write an episode of The Sporkful? Eater senior reporter Bettina Makalintal joins us to discuss, and to tell us what happened when she asked ChatGPT to write a “stinky lunchbox immigrant memoir.” Do the results reveal something about the way immigrants and food are represented in media today? And what does all this mean for creativity in food and beyond?Bettina’s story for Eater is called “Great! AI Can Generate All the Diaspora Food Writing Tropes.”The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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,” Andrea tells Dan. “But we're here in America. Why can't we talk about Vietnamese food in America?” Several cookbooks later, Andrea has continued to demystify Asian cooking without dumbing it down. Over lunch at Sidestreet Pho in Alameda, California, Andrea talks with Dan about her approach to writing recipes, including for her new vegetable-centric cookbook Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea. They also meet Hanh Nguyen, owner of Sidestreet Pho and daughter of some of the first Vietnamese restaurant owners in the U.S.To enter to win a copy of Ever-Green Vietnamese, subscribe to our newsletter by May 8. Open to US/Canada only.Info and tickets available here for Dan’s appearance at Martha’s Vineyard Flavors.The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, A

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 foods you hate. And it’s not just an individual preference; culture can help determine whether you love crunchy or squishy foods. On today’s show, we’re bringing you an episode from our friends at Gastropod that dives into the world of food texture and the scientists who study it.The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 questions? Like what’s the deal with the five second rule? And how should we think about GMOs? Then, Bill and Corey S. Powell, his co-host on the podcast Science Rules!, chat with listeners to explain the science of salting pasta water, and what the deal is with lab-grown meat. This episode originally aired on July 22, 2019, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Ngofeen Mputubwele. The Sporkful production team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

How do you eat ice cream on a first date? When should you start meal prepping when you’re in a new relationship? What’s the perfect tailgating food? Sam Sanders, Saeed Jones, and Zach Stafford, the hosts of the podcast Vibe Check, join us to chat about food issues and obsessions in their lives. And they help us settle some listener food disputes about repeat recipes, and Chipotle bowls. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 of the high-end events put on by Ghetto Gastro, a Bronx-based culinary collective. Jon Gray, Lester Walker, and Pierre Serrao formed Ghetto Gastro a decade ago, with a mission to present Bronx culture as high culture. Their first cookbook, Black Power Kitchen, co-written with Osayi Endolyn, is “part cookbook, part manifesto. Created with big Bronx energy.” Dan takes a tour of the Bronx with Ghetto Gastro’s founders, hitting up some of the spots that make the borough so special: Kingston Tropical Bakery, Feroza’s Roti Shop, and Green Garden Juice Bar and Health Food Store.The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Johanna Mayer, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 beer,” she says. Now, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women are legally required to wear hijabs and alcohol is banned. A few years ago, Zahra became interested in the long history of beer brewing in Iran — a tradition that included her own grandfather. She began brewing her own beer, experimenting with traditional Iranian ingredients like sumac, black lime, and barberries. Now she’s using her company, Back Home Beer, to change the narrative about Iranian people and culture. And one day, she hopes to bring her beer to Iran without fear. Nowruz Mobarak!The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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's struggled with eating disorders much of her life. This week, we get an update on how Raina is doing one year later.This episode originally aired on January 9, 2017, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Shoshana Gold, with editing help from Dan Charles. The Sporkful production team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

The Copenhagen restaurant Noma has consistently topped lists of best restaurants in the world. People fly in from all over the globe to pay $500 per person for the hyperlocal tasting menus dreamed up by chef/owner Rene Redzepi. But a couple months ago, Redzepi announced the restaurant will close next year because it had become unsustainable, “financially and emotionally.” The announcement came as many high end chefs have spoken out about how hard the business has become, and others have shined a light on the industry’s use of unpaid interns. So is it possible to run a high end restaurant that turns a profit and treats people fairly? And is there a point in trying – or should these places just disappear? Adam Platt, former restaurant critic for New York Magazine, and Vivian Howard, owner of the restaurant Chef & the Farmer in North Carolina, weigh in on the challenges for fine dining and the labor practices in high-end kitchens. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'

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 turns out that Big Mac tells us a lot about Iceland’s economy and national identity. Our friends at the Atlas Obscura podcast explore the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places — and this week they’re bringing us two of their best food stories. You’ll hear about Iceland’s last Big Mac, and the world’s oldest edible ham, located in Smithfield, Virginia. (The fact that it’s 120 years old might not even be the weirdest thing about it.)Special thanks to the Atlas Obscura team. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

"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 refrigerator, and Arlene and Alan were the only ones to grab a fork and eat it off the floor. More than sixty years later, they’re still married. Their secret? Good communication. Alan and Arlene advise Dan on how to communicate with his own family about food, why a dinner party is about so much more than the meal, and why short memories help build long relationships. This episode originally aired on July 2, 2018, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Aviva DeKornfeld, and Rob McGinley Myers. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

When the French chef Jean-Robert de Cavel died in December, hundreds of chefs wore their white coats to his memorial service in downtown Cincinnati. It was a testament to how many people Jean-Robert had inspired in the thirty years he lived in the city. So how did this fancy French chef end up in Cincinnati — and why did he stay? We hear about Jean-Robert’s unlikely love affair with his adopted city, and we talk with food writer Keith Pandolfi about how the chef’s legacy has inspired Cincy’s food scene to reclaim its local pride. Then Dan and Keith come up with a new Super Bowl food craze just for Cincinnati.The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell. The first half of this episode originally aired on November 5, 2018, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Aviva DeKornfeld, with editing by Gianna Palmer and mixing by Dan Dzula.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 cascatelli without gluten, a project that’s now nearly a year in the making. Along the way, he learns about the science of starch with an Italian pasta researcher; he cold messages pasta execs on LinkedIn; and he meets a kindred spirit pasta maker who tries to make his gluten-free dreams come true. If you thought regular ruffles were a challenge, just wait until you try to make them gluten-free.Buy Banza cascatelli made from chickpeas here! The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Johanna Mayer, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell, with help this week from Mary Diduch, Gianna Palmer, and Nora Ritchie.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Mandy Naglich is an award-winning home brewer who also writes and teaches about beer. Now she wants to become a Master Cicerone — basically the beer equivalent of a master sommelier. There are only 19 in the world, and just three are women. If Mandy wants to be number 20, she’ll need to pass a grueling two-day exam that includes identifying beers by taste and smell, pairing beers with food, and fixing a broken draft line. Dan selflessly offers himself up as Mandy’s beer-tasting study buddy, and we get a glimpse of the depth of her knowledge. But will it be enough for her to become a Master Cicerone?To sign up for one of Mandy Naglich's virtual beer workshops, go to BeersWithMandy.com. //Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL).Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

We’re back with the latest on Cascatelli, the new pasta shape that Dan invented. Now that the chaos around Cascatelli’s launch has died down, Dan has to make some big decisions about what to do next — with help from his cousin Carrie and die maker Chris Maldari. Then while Sfoglini upgrades their factory and tries to get the pasta into stores and restaurants, Dan explores other opportunities. Can he land the kind of deal he’s hoping for? Plus: Dan puts his mom to work developing recipes for Cascatelli.Order your limited edition cascatelli gift box now at Sfoglini.com! And use The Fresh Market’s store locator to find cascatelli in a store near you. //Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL).Transcript available at  www.sporkful.com.

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 options for the future of cascatelli. For help, he turns to die maker Chris Maldari, and Cara Nicoletti and Ariel Hauptman from Seemore Meats & Veggies. For more information on cascatelli ordering and shipping, check out these FAQs from Sfoglini. // Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL). Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.