The Secret Language of Food, from Pop-Tarts to Cheez Doodles

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

Milk Street Radio

Food, Arts

4.4 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2020

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Linguist Dan Jurafsky investigates the language of food, from the hidden meaning of adjectives on restaurant menus to the psychological attraction of brand names like Cheerios and Pop-Tarts. Plus, we hear how gospel star Mahalia Jackson became famous for her fried chicken franchise; J. Kenji López-Alt gives us tips on how to get young kids to eat adventurously; and we make crispy German Pork Schnitzel.

Get the recipe for German Pork Schnitzel: https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/german-pork-schnitzel

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Milks Street Listers. This is Chris Kimball, and I need a little bit of help. We're working on
0:04.6	a story about the foods people eat around the world when they experience the loss of loved ones.
0:09.8	So if there are dishes or food traditions that you would like to share, you can leave us a voicemail
0:15.4	at 617-249-3167 or send us a voicememmo at radio tips at 177milkstreet.com. One more time.
0:27.2	I'm Professor Nolphid's Patrick, and as a vet, I know you want the best care for your animal companion.
0:50.5	Pet insurance can help, but you need to choose wisely as not all policies are the same. Pet plan
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1:02.8	Get your pet the best veterinary care. Save 10% on new policies when you ensure at petplan.co.uk.
1:09.9	Teasoncies apply, fits or needer as an appointed representative of pet plan limited.
1:17.6	Hi, this is Christopher Kimball. Thanks for listening to Milks Street Radio. You can go to our
1:22.2	website, www.177milkstreet.com, to get our recipes, to stream our television show, or to get our latest
1:28.3	cookbooks. Here's this week's show.
1:35.9	This is most radio from Peter X. I'm your host, Christopher Kimball.
1:40.7	Today we're chatting with Dan Jerawski about the language of food. He analyzes restaurant menus
1:45.6	and the historical context behind modern English food names. Normally when we borrow foods, we do
1:52.6	borrow the word with them. That is the most common situation. When you start eating bok choy,
1:58.7	we use the word bok choy. We don't call it Chinese white flowering cabbage. There's something about
2:05.4	the name of a food. It's as if names get at some kind of inner primal essence. So ketchup is just
2:13.1	ketchup like how could you call it something else. Also coming up, we make crispy German pork schnitzel.
2:20.0	And Jay Kenji Lopez all talks to the relationship the young children develop with food.
2:24.5	The first help it's my interview with author songwriter professor Alice Randall about gospel
2:29.2	singer, Mejelia Jackson, and her fried chicken restaurants. Alice, welcome to Milks Street.
	...

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