The Sporkful

In this episode of the Sporkful, a former Shea Stadium food vendor tells Dan about the worst gig in the ballpark. Plus a North Carolina peanut man tells us how they get the salt inside the shell, and Mike Pesca from The Gist tells us how much free advertising Cracker Jack got from being included in "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". This episode originally aired on July 29, 2018, and was produced by...

We’re back with our annual game show Two Chefs And A Lie! Here’s how it works. Dan talks with three “chefs.” Two of them are real chefs, one is an imposter. Dan can ask each of them just five questions, and then has to guess who the liar is. And you can play along too! Dan lost the first two games, but he won last year. Can he start a streak? Can he, and can you, spot the fake chef? The Sporkful p...

Recently, a friend of restaurant critic Tim Hayward called him a glutton. This week, our friends at the Life and Art from FT Weekend podcast dig into that label with Tim — and he explains why he embraces the label. Then, Life and Art host Lilah Raptopoulos speaks with food and drink editor Harriet Fitch Little about dinner parties. What’s the perfect vibe — and the perfect soundtrack? How can you...

After months of searching, we finally meet Ted Ngoy, aka "the Donut King", and learn what happened to him. He's returned to the Cambodian community seeking redemption. But will he find it? (This is part two of a two-part series; scroll back in your feed for part one.) This episode originally aired on April 30, 2018, and was produced by Anne Saini and Dan Pashman, with editing by Peter Clowney. The...

After escaping Cambodia's Killing Fields, Ted Ngoy built a donut empire in California. Then he lost it all, and disappeared. This week we're searching for the Donut King and his legacy. (This is part one of a two-part series. The second part comes out on Friday.) Additional info: Chad Phuong's Cambodian-Texas Battambong BBQ (Southern California) Dary and Sreyrot Chan's gourmet donut shop Sweet Ret...

Everything Molly Baz puts out — from her best-selling cookbooks Cook This Book and More Is More , to her Instagram pics and YouTube videos, to her wine brand — seems so perfectly cool and stylish, so carefully considered, so intentional. But also, so authentically HER. How does she do that? Well, as she tells Dan when he visits her at her home in Los Angeles, a lot of it has to do with her “innate...

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 Boycott was a pancake recipe, written on the back of an envelope — which included the addition of peanut butter to the batter. On this week's episode, we visit Adrienne Cannon, a specialist in African-America...

For years, chef Yia Vang operated his restaurant Union Hmong Kitchen in a trailer outside of a brewery in Minneapolis. Last year, he finally opened his first brick-and-mortar restaurant, and it already feels like a neighborhood institution — especially in the region of the U.S. with the largest community of Hmong refugees from southeast Asia. Over a meal of whole grilled branzino, Hmong sausage, p...

In the second half of our Best of the Book Tour series, we’re answering your questions! We’ll tackle the most frequently asked questions Dan got on the tour, and the ones he never saw coming. Plus we’ll hear from other folks who worked on Anything’s Pastable about the recipes that were cut from the book, and the ones that created the most conflict between Dan and his collaborators. Finally, Dan an...

The comic, actor, writer, and podcast host, best known as Conan O’Brien’s late night TV sidekick, tells us why he chose a really nice refrigerator over a sports car. And he traces his issues with weight back to a childhood ice cream outing with his grandmother.  This episode originally aired on July 29, 2019 and January 31, 2017, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Ngofeen Mputubwele....

For six weeks this spring, Dan hit the road for the biggest tour in Sporkful history, all in celebration of his cookbook Anything’s Pastable . He traveled to ten cities and spoke with a stacked line-up of chefs, comedians, and journalists in front of live audiences. In this first of two episodes we’re releasing of the best moments from the tour, Claire Saffitz, Sam Sanders, Lindy West, Joanne Lee...

"Natural flavors” show up on ingredient lists for all kinds of foods. But what does that mean exactly? We get a peek into the secretive science of flavoring when we talk with Marie Wright of ADM, who’s created more than 1,000 flavors in her 30+ years as a flavor chemist. She explains how natural flavors are made, why lemon flavor doesn’t contain lemon juice, and why flavoring plant-based burgers i...

Comedian and Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. is known for his thoughtful and pointed takes on race. He joins us to discuss McRib conspiracy theories, the dangers of touring the South as a black comic, and the advantages of bad service and Confederate flags. Plus Roy talks about what he learned about food from his father over the course of their conflicted relationship. This episode originall...

“Tell me about your mama’s kitchen.” That’s how Michele Norris, former host of NPR’s All Things Considered , starts conversations with the likes of Michelle Obama and Matthew Broderick on her podcast Your Mama’s Kitchen . So naturally, Dan turns the tables and asks Michele about her own mama’s kitchen — and how those earliest food memories shape us. Then Michele and Dan take a call from a woman wh...

Actor Claudia Jessie is just as nonconformist as Eloise, her character on the hit Netflix show Bridgerton . She lived on a houseboat for three years, doesn’t have social media, and opposes multi-tasking. She likes living at a slower pace — and she has the same attitude when it comes to food. Claudia chats with Dan about chip butties, “shelf sweeping” (think: Chopped ), and why she sort of wishes s...

How do parents who adopt kids from other countries use food to connect their children to their birthplace? And what happens when those kids grow up and feel like it wasn't enough?  This episode originally aired on July 31, 2017. It was produced by Dan Pashman and Anne Saini, and edited by Dan Charles, with additional editing by Rebecca Carroll, Nicole Chung, and Peter Clowney. The Sporkful team no...

Sotheby’s is about to put a trove of Georgia O'Keeffe items up for sale. While the auction will include paintings likely to go for millions of dollars, we're interested in something less valuable, but to us, way more exciting — O'Keeffe's box of grease-stained, handwritten recipes . This week Dan goes to see the recipes himself and talks with art experts, O’Keeffe scholars, and a woman who cooked...

Music producer and artist benny blanco has credits on 29 number one songs, working with stars such as Katy Perry, SZA, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Halsey, and more. But he’s long been as obsessed with food as he is with music. Now, benny’s releasing Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends . It’s not just a collection of recipes, it’s also a manual for throwing a great party -- a topic that benny takes very...

The food-obsessed comic discusses eating with his five children, navigating birthday parties and buffets, his dad's steaks, and when it's OK to lie to your kids. Plus he explains why he's the Jean-Claude Van Damme of eating on television. This episode originally aired on July 4, 2016, and July 20, 2015. It was produced by Dan Pashman and Anne Saini, with editing help from Shoshana Gold. Special th...

Cookbook author Priya Krishna was a world traveler as a kid. Because of her mom’s job in the airline industry, Priya was able to go to China, Egypt, France, and more, chronicling all of the new foods she tried on her travels in her journal. Now, as an adult, she’s turning her childhood travelogs into the cookbook she wishes she had growing up — Priya’s Kitchen Adventures . She tells Dan why she th...

Dips are having a moment — from a dips-only restaurant in Atlanta to Martin Short playing a character who only eats dips . But TV host and Cosmo columnist Alyse Whitney was a self-described Dip Queen long before they got hot, and she proves it in her new cookbook, Big Dip Energy: 88 Parties in a Bowl for Snacking, Dinner, Dessert, and Beyond . She joins Dan in the studio to share her royal decrees...

You may think you know LeVar Burton. After starring in the seminal 1977 mini-series Roots , he hosted Reading Rainbow and starred alongside Sir Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation . These days he hosts the podcasts LeVar Burton Reads , in which he reads his favorite short fiction, and Sound Detectives , for kids who want to explore the magic and mystery of sound. But did you know tha...

Naama Shefi remembers visiting her husband’s grandmother for the first time, and being astonished by the stories tucked into each dish on the dinner table. That moment led her to start the Jewish Food Society , an organization that preserves and celebrates the diversity of Jewish food from around the world, which as Naama is quick to point out, goes far beyond Eastern European classics like briske...

Laura and Beth Winters are fraternal twins who come from a family of proud picky eaters. But after high school, Laura left home for college and started exploring new foods, while Beth stayed close to home and continued to eat the same way she did growing up. What does their story tell us about nature vs. nurture, and the kinds of judgments we make about picky eating? Then later in the show, we tal...

You probably know Guy Fieri from his TV shows: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives , and Guy's Grocery Games . Or maybe you remember Pete Wells's epically scathing review of Guy's restaurant in New York City. But what you don’t know: The real Guy Fieri wants to open an all-organic restaurant. The real Guy Fieri hates that iconic bowling shirt with the flames. The real Guy Fieri feels like he’s always tryi...