A while back, I took up walking for health reasons. To help the time pass faster, I started looking for podcasts to listen to while walking, and ended up finding four food-related podcasts that I like. Yes, I know it's ironic and perhaps somewhat self-defeating to listen to and think about food while exercising to improve one's health, but I learn a lot from these podcasts and I think you might enjoy them, too.
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#1: America's Test Kitchen Radio with Christopher Kimball
This is the first food-related podcast I stumbled upon and started listening to. I've been a big fan of Cook's Illustrated magazine for years and the America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country television shows on PBS since they began, so subscribing to this podcast was a no-brainer.
As you may have heard, Christopher Kimball, one of the founders of the magazine and TV shows, had a falling out with the company's new management and left the company in November 2015. He's now starting a new venture called Milk Street Kitchen that will, not surprisingly, produce a food magazine, television show, books, and training courses.
Interestingly, while Kimball's involvement with the magazine and television shows has stopped, he continues to host the ATK Radio podcast, which consists of 2-3 new podcasts per month plus 1-2 re-runs. Each show is about 50 minutes long and consists of an in-depth interview by Kimball of a food-related author or expert; two listener phone-in segments where Kimball and Bridget Lancaster from the television shows answer listener questions; a taste test segment with Jack Bishop similar to those on the television shows; a short cooking segment with test kitchen chef Dan Souza; a short equipment recommendation segment with Lisa McManus from the television show; and another segment that varies from show to show, sometimes about wine tasting, sometimes about food trends.
If you watch the television shows religiously, you will notice some reuse of material in the podcasts, but there's a substantial amount of new material each week to make the podcast worth listening to. Kimball is quite a good interviewer on the show, hosting some very interesting and timely guests, and the phone-in Q&A segments have a lot of fun banter between Kimball and Lancaster that make them enjoyable.
I imagine Kimball will give up this podcast in the near future as Milk Street Kitchen takes flight. At least for now, the ATK Radio podcast continues to be one of my favorites...and we'll have to wait and see how or if it continues once Kimball leaves the stage.
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#2: KCRW's Good Food with Evan Kleiman
This podcast comes from KCRW, a public radio station based in Santa Monica, CA. Evan Kleiman is the friendly host, and she conducts several interviews each week with food-related authors and experts. She's got a great interview style, and given her background as a chef and deep knowledge of the restaurant business, she asks many pointed and insightful questions of her guests.
If you listen to Good Food and the ATK Radio podcast mentioned above, you will sometimes hear overlapping interview subjects over the course of a few weeks...Kimball interviews Author X about his new book one week, then Kleiman interviews the same author two weeks later, and vice versa. But it's OK, because each brings a somewhat different perspective to their interview.
In addition to Kleiman's interviews, the show sometimes includes segments presented by other food experts, and there are repeating weekly segments with LA Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold about the greater LA restaurant scene and a weekly report from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market.
You don't have to live in Southern California to enjoy this podcast. Even the segments on local restaurants and the farmer's market can be interesting and educational. Each show is about 58 minutes long, just about perfect to accompany your 60 minute walk!
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#3: The Sporkful with Dan Pashman
This podcast is hosted by Dan Pashman, author of Eat More Better: How To Make Every Bite More Delicious and host of You're Eating It Wrong on the Cooking Channel's website. It's produced by WNYC public radio in New York City.
Surprise, surprise...I learned about Pashman when he appeared on episodes of Kimball's and Kleiman's podcasts. He's an interesting character that's best known for the quirky topics explored in his book, reminiscent of Alton Brown, such as how to engineer a sandwich to prevent ingredient slippage or techniques for maximizing your enjoyment of all-you-can-eat buffets.
Pashman brings his inquisitive mind to the podcast in the subjects he features...in a recent episode, he visited a famous Brooklyn pizzeria to explore the science and psychology of waiting in long lines for food. Why are some food lines, like the one at Franklin BBQ, almost celebratory in nature, while others just annoy us? And does the food taste better because of the line or is it really just all about the experience?
All in all, it's a pretty interesting podcast and episodes are fairly short, usually 20-30 minutes long, so you can listen to two episodes during a 60 minute walk.
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#4: Special Sauce with Ed Levine
You probably already know about Serious Eats, one of the world's most popular food-related websites. Serious Eats founder and food writer Ed Levine hosts this weekly podcast in which he interviews someone from the food or restaurant world. Spending 45-55 minutes with just one guest allows Levine to do a deep-dive with each interviewee, and in a few instances interviews span across two episodes. Along the way, Levine often asks, "What is the Secret Sauce?" to their success as well as closing questions such as "What would be in your stranded-on-a-desert-island refrigerator?" and "What's the worst trend in food at the moment?"
Special Sauce is a solid podcast, maybe lacking variety in each episode, but still a very good listen.
--
#1: America's Test Kitchen Radio with Christopher Kimball
This is the first food-related podcast I stumbled upon and started listening to. I've been a big fan of Cook's Illustrated magazine for years and the America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country television shows on PBS since they began, so subscribing to this podcast was a no-brainer.
As you may have heard, Christopher Kimball, one of the founders of the magazine and TV shows, had a falling out with the company's new management and left the company in November 2015. He's now starting a new venture called Milk Street Kitchen that will, not surprisingly, produce a food magazine, television show, books, and training courses.
Interestingly, while Kimball's involvement with the magazine and television shows has stopped, he continues to host the ATK Radio podcast, which consists of 2-3 new podcasts per month plus 1-2 re-runs. Each show is about 50 minutes long and consists of an in-depth interview by Kimball of a food-related author or expert; two listener phone-in segments where Kimball and Bridget Lancaster from the television shows answer listener questions; a taste test segment with Jack Bishop similar to those on the television shows; a short cooking segment with test kitchen chef Dan Souza; a short equipment recommendation segment with Lisa McManus from the television show; and another segment that varies from show to show, sometimes about wine tasting, sometimes about food trends.
If you watch the television shows religiously, you will notice some reuse of material in the podcasts, but there's a substantial amount of new material each week to make the podcast worth listening to. Kimball is quite a good interviewer on the show, hosting some very interesting and timely guests, and the phone-in Q&A segments have a lot of fun banter between Kimball and Lancaster that make them enjoyable.
I imagine Kimball will give up this podcast in the near future as Milk Street Kitchen takes flight. At least for now, the ATK Radio podcast continues to be one of my favorites...and we'll have to wait and see how or if it continues once Kimball leaves the stage.
--
#2: KCRW's Good Food with Evan Kleiman
This podcast comes from KCRW, a public radio station based in Santa Monica, CA. Evan Kleiman is the friendly host, and she conducts several interviews each week with food-related authors and experts. She's got a great interview style, and given her background as a chef and deep knowledge of the restaurant business, she asks many pointed and insightful questions of her guests.
If you listen to Good Food and the ATK Radio podcast mentioned above, you will sometimes hear overlapping interview subjects over the course of a few weeks...Kimball interviews Author X about his new book one week, then Kleiman interviews the same author two weeks later, and vice versa. But it's OK, because each brings a somewhat different perspective to their interview.
In addition to Kleiman's interviews, the show sometimes includes segments presented by other food experts, and there are repeating weekly segments with LA Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold about the greater LA restaurant scene and a weekly report from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market.
You don't have to live in Southern California to enjoy this podcast. Even the segments on local restaurants and the farmer's market can be interesting and educational. Each show is about 58 minutes long, just about perfect to accompany your 60 minute walk!
--
#3: The Sporkful with Dan Pashman
This podcast is hosted by Dan Pashman, author of Eat More Better: How To Make Every Bite More Delicious and host of You're Eating It Wrong on the Cooking Channel's website. It's produced by WNYC public radio in New York City.
Surprise, surprise...I learned about Pashman when he appeared on episodes of Kimball's and Kleiman's podcasts. He's an interesting character that's best known for the quirky topics explored in his book, reminiscent of Alton Brown, such as how to engineer a sandwich to prevent ingredient slippage or techniques for maximizing your enjoyment of all-you-can-eat buffets.
Pashman brings his inquisitive mind to the podcast in the subjects he features...in a recent episode, he visited a famous Brooklyn pizzeria to explore the science and psychology of waiting in long lines for food. Why are some food lines, like the one at Franklin BBQ, almost celebratory in nature, while others just annoy us? And does the food taste better because of the line or is it really just all about the experience?
All in all, it's a pretty interesting podcast and episodes are fairly short, usually 20-30 minutes long, so you can listen to two episodes during a 60 minute walk.
--
#4: Special Sauce with Ed Levine
You probably already know about Serious Eats, one of the world's most popular food-related websites. Serious Eats founder and food writer Ed Levine hosts this weekly podcast in which he interviews someone from the food or restaurant world. Spending 45-55 minutes with just one guest allows Levine to do a deep-dive with each interviewee, and in a few instances interviews span across two episodes. Along the way, Levine often asks, "What is the Secret Sauce?" to their success as well as closing questions such as "What would be in your stranded-on-a-desert-island refrigerator?" and "What's the worst trend in food at the moment?"
Special Sauce is a solid podcast, maybe lacking variety in each episode, but still a very good listen.
