The Sporkful

Last year we got an email from a young woman named Eleanor Sigel that said: “I’m training for the Taco Bell 50k. With ten Taco Bell stops in thirty miles, it should be a fun run, so I thought I'd invite you to join me.” While Dan had absolutely no interest in running 31 miles, eating that much Taco Bell, or combining the two endeavors into one, we decided to follow Eleanor as she took on the challenge. How do you train for this race?

Transcribed - Published: 1 June 2026

Nicole Taylor went through a phase where she rejected the soul food she grew up with. She called it all "slave food." Truth is, we all make judgments about what food is for which people, whether or not we realize it.

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2026

Matt Shearer, aka Reporter Matt, has made a name for himself with his social media stories about some of the quirkier denizens of Massachusetts. One of his most famous is about the massive public outcry over the closure of both locations of Dunkin’ in Stow, MA -- which led to a surprising development.

Transcribed - Published: 25 May 2026

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?

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 15 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 11 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2026

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!

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 1 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 April 2026

Is a buttered roll a sandwich? What about a hot dog? Is it still brunch if it’s 2pm?

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2026

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?

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 17 April 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 13 April 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2026

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?

Transcribed - Published: 6 April 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 30 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2026

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

Transcribed - Published: 23 March 2026

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?

Transcribed - Published: 20 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 16 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 2 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 23 February 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 16 February 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 February 2026

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.”

Transcribed - Published: 6 February 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 2 February 2026

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.”

Transcribed - Published: 30 January 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 26 January 2026

Elle Simone Scott recently died of ovarian cancer at the age of 49. This week's Reheat is our conversation with Elle from 2021.

Transcribed - Published: 23 January 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 19 January 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 16 January 2026

French podcaster Samia Basille loves going to the movies. And she enjoys popcorn. But she doesn't think the two should ever be combined.

Transcribed - Published: 12 January 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 January 2026

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?

Transcribed - Published: 5 January 2026

It’s Elkhart, Indiana, 2001. Two inches of Heather Coleman's turkey club disappear from her office fridge. The thief is nowhere to be found. And Heather’s life will never be the same. In this tribute to the hit podcast Serial, we investigate the shocking true story of an office fridge food theft.

Transcribed - Published: 2 January 2026

Stanley Tucci nearly broke the internet in 2021 when he made a Negroni on Instagram. But long before that, the award-winning actor built his career around his love of food. He created the iconic food film Big Night, he’s written best-selling cookbooks, and now he eats his way through Italy on the show Tucci In Italy.

Transcribed - Published: 29 December 2025

“So often when we talk about veganism, we don't imagine Black people,” says Bryant Terry, the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, chef, and educator. But Bryant sees veganism as deeply rooted in Black communities and traditions. And, he points out, veganism is growing faster among Black Americans than among any other group.

Transcribed - Published: 26 December 2025

What foods do Sporkful listeners resolve to eat more of in the new year, and why? And what’s Dan’s New Year’s food resolution for 2026? All is revealed in our annual year-end spectacular.

Transcribed - Published: 22 December 2025

This episode is chock full of strategies for making your way in one of the world's most barren food wastelands. We cover both the airport and airplane, short domestic flights and long haul international flights, snacks, entrees, and more. We'll tell you how to mix your cocktail, how to use your pretzels to improve your other food, how to get served first, and how to end up with enough beverages to get you to your destination.

Transcribed - Published: 19 December 2025

From a moisturizer made of beef fat, to bartenders hating on Gen Z, to tariffs, a lot happened this year. (How do you get away with stealing 100,000 eggs and a truckload of Guy Fieri’s tequila?) We cover the biggest and strangest food stories of 2025 in our Salad Spinner Year in Review!

Transcribed - Published: 15 December 2025

Patti LaBelle is not just a music icon, she’s also a food icon. She’s written best-selling cookbooks, hosted a food TV show, and even cooked for Elton John, The Rolling Stones, and Prince. She talks with Dan about touring the segregated South in the ‘60s, the viral video that made her sweet potato pie a Walmart sensation, and the one recipe in her cookbook that’s perfect for women going through menopause.

Transcribed - Published: 12 December 2025