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.

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of The Sporkful ad-free. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

Listen in PodNod RSS feed Show website

312 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes312

Newest first

Breaking The Ramadan Fast In A Cab At 50 MPH (Reheat)
Dan fills a taxi full of food and takes it to JFK Airport at sundown to break the Ramadan fast with Muslim cab drivers. What could go wrong? Plus a Texan talks about embracing her Muslim roots after 9/11 and fasting on Ramadan for the first time when she was in her thirties.
March 13 · 28 min
Asma Khan Says Women Shouldn't Cook For Free
The London restaurant Darjeeling Express is the place to go for an outstanding mutton kebab, and for celebrity sightings. But the chef behind this hotspot has no formal culinary training. Asma Khan started her cooking career hosting secret supper clubs in her apartment, when her husband was traveling for work.
March 9 · 32 min
Danny Trejo, From Lockup to Donut Shop (Reheat)
Danny Trejo is a Hollywood legend. He's been in nearly 400 films, often playing the kinds of characters you wouldn't want meet in a dark alley. When he was in his seventies, his career took a turn: The L.A. native became a successful restaurateur.
March 6 · 31 min
When ICE Came, This Minnesota Restaurant Stepped Up
El Burrito Mercado has been a bedrock of West Side community in St. Paul for nearly 50 years. It’s changed a lot over that time, evolving from a small grocery store into a restaurant, deli, bakery, and so much more. Now, it’s had to change again, as thousands of federal immigration agents have descended on this Twin Cities neighborhood over the past few months.
March 2 · 37 min
How To Read A Taco (Reheat)
Professor Steven Alvarez believes you can read a taco. Look at the meat, the spices, and the tortilla. Each ingredient has a story that unlocks something about Mexican and American history and culture.
February 27 · 32 min
Catching The Codfather
For decades, Carlos Rafael owned the biggest fleet of boats in the most valuable fishing port in America: New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was so powerful in the fishing industry there, he became known as The Codfather. That is, until an IRS sting brought it all crashing down.
February 23 · 59 min
Till Pork Do Us Part (Reheat)
Dan and his wife Janie are both white and Jewish, both raised in the New York area. In many ways it's an easy fit. But not so much with food, because Janie grew up kosher and Dan didn't.
February 20 · 27 min
Is Halal Pork… Possible?
The writer Aymann Ismail, a practicing Muslim, grew up not eating pork. But as he got older, he became curious about why eating pork was a line that even less observant Muslims wouldn’t cross.
February 16 · 36 min
Lunchtime With The Simpsons (Reheat)
Dan’s dreams come true when he visits The Simpsons writers’ room to talk about the role food plays on the show and behind the scenes. Turns out the writers are just as obsessed with food as all of the show’s food jokes suggest. Plus, Simpsons creator Matt Groening explains how new technologies have changed the show’s food jokes over time.
February 13 · 36 min
Sporkful Dating Game: Suitcase Full Of Cheese Edition
This week, The Sporkful plays matchmaker! We put out the call for Sporkful listeners looking for love, and many of you responded. We used our proprietary algorithm (i.e. a producer looking at a spreadsheet) to set up and record two blind dates — one in New York and one in Chicago.
February 9 · 34 min
How Prison Ramen Saved My Life (Reheat)
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 cheesy tacos, and got to know him over that shared meal. From there, Goose learned all kinds of prison cooking tips, including how to use razor blades to boil water and the recipe for a coffee drink called a “Cadillac.”
February 6 · 26 min
The Great Super Bowl Snack Debate
Michael Ian Black and Tom Cavanagh are great comedic actors and friends who love to analyze snacks in extreme detail on their podcast, Mike and Tom Eat Snacks. In this special crossover episode ahead of the Super Bowl, Dan tells Mike and Tom about the time his overly ambitious Super Bowl snack idea went very wrong. They also get into a fiery debate about chicken wings and put different shapes of tortilla chips to a taste test.
February 2 · 38 min
2 Chefs And A Lie: Canadian Prime Minister Edition (Reheat)
Dan gives up the hosting chair and becomes a contestant in our most popular (and only) Sporkful game show, 2 Chefs And A Lie! The game is simple. Dan talks with three “chefs.”
January 30 · 30 min
Tom Papa Quit Vegetarianism After One Visit To An Italian Deli
Veteran comic Tom Papa’s love of food began as a kid, when his dad recruited him for over-the-top food challenges — including eating a massive steak that won Tom a t-shirt. As an adult he became obsessed with bread baking after his daughter gave him a sourdough starter for Christmas. Tom explains how baking bread is like comedy, and what his fridge says about his current stage of life.
January 26 · 32 min
Elle Simone Scott Brought More Compassion To The Kitchen (Reheat)
Elle Simone Scott recently died of ovarian cancer at the age of 49. This week's Reheat is our conversation with Elle from 2021.
January 23 · 30 min
At 90, Jacques Pépin Is Still Teaching And Learning
Jacques Pépin just turned 90, and he’s 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, then gave that up to cook at Howard Johnson’s, making food for the masses.
January 19 · 29 min
Is It OK To Eat All Your Popcorn Before The Movie Starts? (Reheat)
The Sporkful Family Food Court is back in session. A husband and wife debate when to eat movie popcorn, and a mother and daughter argue over whether eating salad dressing makes you an adult.
January 16 · 24 min
Is It Wrong To Eat Popcorn At The Movies?
French podcaster Samia Basille loves going to the movies. And she enjoys popcorn. But she doesn't think the two should ever be combined.
January 12 · 32 min
Katie's Year In Recovery (Reheat)
We follow one woman's attempt to recover from an eating disorder and hear what it’s like to wake up each morning and have to fight a battle not only with food, but more importantly, with yourself. It's a rare look inside one person’s struggle. We also hear from her husband and explore her decision, early in recovery, to become a baker.
January 9 · 48 min
Why Are Root Beer Floats Special? Because Science!
Should you rinse ice before you pour a carbonated drink over it? What’s the best way to store fresh bread? And is there a reason to drink room temp water between bites of ice cream?
January 5 · 35 min

The Sporkful

Breaking The Ramadan Fast In A Cab At 50 MPH (Reheat)

Asma Khan Says Women Shouldn't Cook For Free

Danny Trejo, From Lockup to Donut Shop (Reheat)

When ICE Came, This Minnesota Restaurant Stepped Up

How To Read A Taco (Reheat)

Catching The Codfather

Till Pork Do Us Part (Reheat)

Is Halal Pork… Possible?

Lunchtime With The Simpsons (Reheat)

Sporkful Dating Game: Suitcase Full Of Cheese Edition

How Prison Ramen Saved My Life (Reheat)

The Great Super Bowl Snack Debate

2 Chefs And A Lie: Canadian Prime Minister Edition (Reheat)

Tom Papa Quit Vegetarianism After One Visit To An Italian Deli

Elle Simone Scott Brought More Compassion To The Kitchen (Reheat)

At 90, Jacques Pépin Is Still Teaching And Learning

Is It OK To Eat All Your Popcorn Before The Movie Starts? (Reheat)

Is It Wrong To Eat Popcorn At The Movies?

Katie's Year In Recovery (Reheat)

Why Are Root Beer Floats Special? Because Science!