The Sporkful

Dan Pashman

3x James Beard Award winner. Named one of TIME's 100 Best Podcasts Of All Time. We obsess about food to learn more about people. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters. Hosted by Dan Pashman, inventor of the viral pasta shape cascatelli.

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312 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes312

Newest first

How A Community Garden For Hospitality Workers Came To Life
Is mulch really necessary in the garden? How should you keep pests away from your strawberries? What’s the best way to keep your tomatoes from toppling over?
May 22 · 26 min
Which Restaurant Serves The Best Free Bread In America?
Caity Weaver is a journalist who lives for a food quest. Her latest adventure has her crisscrossing the country in search of the best free restaurant bread in America. Now, after polling hundreds of people and traveling 13,000 miles, she’s convinced she’s found it.
May 18 · 34 min
Are The Jell-O Heirs Cursed? (Reheat)
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. Lately, Allie’s been obsessed with how all that Jell-O money shaped America, and her own family. It’s funded generations of Rowbottom women, including Allie, but it’s also been a shadow they can't escape.
May 15 · 34 min
This Afghan Restaurant In Houston Tastes Like Home
Over the past few years, Houston has taken in more Afghan refugees than any other American city. When refugees arrive, Omer Yousafzai is there to welcome them. He owns The Afghan Village restaurant, which has become a community hub and gathering place for Afghans and non-Afghans alike.
May 11 · 41 min
Mo Rocca Likes Big Ravioli, And He Cannot Lie (Reheat)
Humorist, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, and former Cooking Channel host Mo Rocca joins Dan to talk about his grandma, debate whether square or round ravioli is better, and tell us which variety is the Kenny G of ravioli.
May 8 · 26 min
When In A Relationship Can You Double Dip Without Asking?
Do you need to ask your partner if you can double dip? How guilty should you feel about not eating leftovers? We’re taking your calls and helping you settle your food disputes!
May 4 · 48 min
Can Natasha Leggero And Moshe Kasher Save Dan's Marriage? (Reheat)
First up in this Reheat double-header: The comedian and podcast host Phoebe Robinson tells us how to navigate a big meal in tight jeans, who should pay on a first date, and what it’s like to go out to eat when you’re in an interracial relationship. Next: Husband-and-wife comedians Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher often perform standup together. In their Netflix special they offer couples relationship advice, and the occasional roast.
May 1 · 50 min
Eva Longoria Is A Huge Food Nerd
Eva Longoria is a household name for her work as a TV star, director, and producer. But when she sits down with Dan, she reveals another side of her personality: She’s a huge food nerd. She explores this side in her new CNN show, Searching for France, and on her podcast Hungry for History.
April 27 · 40 min
What Makes A Sandwich A Sandwich? (Reheat)
Is a buttered roll a sandwich? What about a hot dog? Is it still brunch if it’s 2pm?
April 24 · 28 min
A Rare Look Inside Food At Disney World
Years ago, when Dan was at Disney World with his family, he saw a gumbo recipe on the wall in the queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Since then, he’s wondered: Is the recipe real? Where did it come from?
April 20 · 38 min
The REAL Sausage King Of Chicago (Reheat)
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, about Chef Curtis Duffy. Chef Curtis joins us to discuss his journey to the top, and to reveal his favorite candy.
April 17 · 29 min
The Mysterious Case Of Alpha Gal
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 porterhouse steak, and nearly died. This week we join forces with our friends at Radiolab to tell the story of how Amy's mysterious allergy was identified by scientists.
April 13 · 40 min
Live: Kenji López-Alt No Longer Calls His Recipes “The Best” (Reheat)
Chef, YouTuber, and cookbook author J. Kenji López-Alt joins Dan on stage at Swedish American Hall in San Francisco to celebrate the release of Kenji's new book, The Wok: Recipes and Techniques. It wouldn't be a Kenji interview without some science, so we delve into what's happening, thermodynamically, when you cook with a wok. But we also go deep on how Kenji became the internet cooking science guru that he is today – and how his feelings about that role have changed in recent years.
April 10 · 42 min
Live: Kenji Lopez-Alt And Judy Gold Debate The State Of The Bagel
Should bagels ever be toasted? Why does the restaurant industry have so many scandals? And what could possibly possess someone to feed their baby a straight-up stick of butter?
April 6 · 40 min
A Passover & Easter Doubleheader (Reheat)
We ponder the question that Jews have been pondering since they crossed the desert: Can matzoh be salvaged? We also discuss techniques for dipping your egg into salt water, and trivia that will make the Earl of Sandwich tremble in his grave. Plus, in preparation for Easter Sunday, we debate whether spiral cut ham represents one of humanity's greatest achievements or its impending downfall.
April 3 · 35 min
The Seafood Proxy Battle Between China And Japan
Last year, in the midst of a political spat between China and Japan, China enacted a ban on importing Japanese seafood and warned Chinese citizens that visiting Japan was unsafe. But the impact of these policies hasn’t been quite what China intended.
March 30 · 34 min
Beer Serving Techniques (Reheat)
How much foam is too much? Bottles or cans? Pint glasses or tulip glasses? Plus we discuss beer-filled guitars and absurd beer packaging gimmicks.
March 27 · 21 min
What Happened When China Legalized Restaurants
In the 1980s and ‘90s, China went through a massive economic transformation. New government policies allowed everyday people to open their own businesses and accumulate wealth
March 23 · 37 min
Padma Lakshmi Was An Ice Cream Mule (Reheat)
Is Padma Lakshmi a model-turned-TV-star who's grown accustomed to the finer things? Or a down-to-earth mom who reuses takeout containers for her leftovers? Is she warm and hospitable, the kind of person who's excited to share her food with you? Or is she frank and snarky, the kind of person who compares her favorite dish to old bong water?
March 20 · 28 min
No Somali Artifacts Were Harmed In The Making Of This Cookbook
Somali cuisine is a mixture of many traditions, from meat prepared according to nomadic customs, to a spice mix made possible by medieval Indian Ocean trade routes. There are even pasta dishes, owing to Italian colonization until 1960 – and you’ll often find a banana served on the side. Ifrah F. Ahmed has made it her mission to document and preserve the food of Somalia in her new cookbook, Soomaaliya: Food, Memory and Migration.
March 16 · 34 min

The Sporkful

How A Community Garden For Hospitality Workers Came To Life

Which Restaurant Serves The Best Free Bread In America?

Are The Jell-O Heirs Cursed? (Reheat)

This Afghan Restaurant In Houston Tastes Like Home

Mo Rocca Likes Big Ravioli, And He Cannot Lie (Reheat)

When In A Relationship Can You Double Dip Without Asking?

Can Natasha Leggero And Moshe Kasher Save Dan's Marriage? (Reheat)

Eva Longoria Is A Huge Food Nerd

What Makes A Sandwich A Sandwich? (Reheat)

A Rare Look Inside Food At Disney World

The REAL Sausage King Of Chicago (Reheat)

The Mysterious Case Of Alpha Gal

Live: Kenji López-Alt No Longer Calls His Recipes “The Best” (Reheat)

Live: Kenji Lopez-Alt And Judy Gold Debate The State Of The Bagel

A Passover & Easter Doubleheader (Reheat)

The Seafood Proxy Battle Between China And Japan

Beer Serving Techniques (Reheat)

What Happened When China Legalized Restaurants

Padma Lakshmi Was An Ice Cream Mule (Reheat)

No Somali Artifacts Were Harmed In The Making Of This Cookbook