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 on the right shape for a dipper, using raw vegetables to dip, and the ethics of double dipping. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with help this week from Shantel Holder. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 that, as a teenager, LeVar bought steaks and lobsters that “fell off the back of a truck” and brought them home to his mom? Or that he’s very particular about his PB&J sandwiches? In this episode, LeVar dishes on Sir Patrick Stewart’s weird lunches on the Star Trek set and shares his favorite children's books about food. And as proof that he can make anything he reads sound amazing, LeVar favors us with dramatic readings of recipes. This episode originally aired on September 11, 2017 and November 30, 2020, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, with editing by Dan Charles and engineering help from Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Every other Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 brisket, kugel, smoked fish, and potato knishes. Now, Naama and the Jewish Food Society have a cookbook out, called The Jewish Holiday Table, which includes foods from Jews with roots in Spain, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Zimbabwe, and more. Ahead of Passover, Dan talks with Naama about what she ate growing up on a kibbutz, the culture shock of moving to New York, and her favorite Passover recipes from the book — including a Mexican rendition of gefilte fish. If you’d like to support humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza, there are many organizations providing aid, including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children. You can also support World Central Kitchen, a food aid organization that provides meals all over the world in crisis zones. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 talk with psychologist Christopher Rutt about picky eating in kids, and we ask: Is picky eating actually a problem? This episode originally aired on January 21, 2019, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Emma Morgenstern. It was edited by Gianna Palmer and mixed by John DeLore. The Sporkful team now includes Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Jared O’Connell, and Nora Ritchie. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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 trying to keep up — and that it’s really hard to do so. This episode originally aired on August 17, 2020, and October 17, 2017. It was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, and Dan Charles. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Every other Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

In the final episode of “Anything’s Pastable,” the recipes are done — but they’re all in Google Docs. Now Dan has to bring them together into an actual book, with a cohesive visual style. So he hires an art director who scours flea markets for just the right props to bring the book’s personality to life. Then Dan heads to the Bay Area for the photo shoot, which means cooking nearly every recipe from the book one last time. When he has to pick the most important photo of all — the cover — the pressure is on. Will his publisher, and his family, judge his book by it? Anything’s Pastable the cookbook is on sale tomorrow, March 19, but you can order it today (including signed copies), and see if Dan’s visiting a city near you on his tour of book signings and live podcast tapings with special guests! Follow Dan on Instagram to see photos and videos from the Anything’s Pastable journey. And if listening to this episode makes you want to go to Italy, now’s your chance! Dan has teamed up with Culinary Backstreets to create a tour that will take you to many of the same places, with many of the same people. Tour Rome with Katie Parla, take a cooking class in Lecce with Silvestro Silvestori, and eat pasta in Bari with Dan! The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with editing by Tracey Samuelson and Tomeka Weatherspoon. Original theme music by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

As Dan’s cookbook deadline approaches, recipe testing kicks into high gear — and he attempts to develop a few recipes on his own. But scorched pans and sauce spills lead to frayed nerves. Can he rediscover the creative spark that got him excited about this project in the first place? Preorder Dan’s cookbook today (including signed copies), and see if he’s visiting a city near you on his tour of book signings and live podcast tapings with special guests! Follow Dan on Instagram to see photos and videos from the Anything’s Pastable journey. And if listening to this episode makes you want to go to Italy, now’s your chance! Dan has teamed up with Culinary Backstreets to create a tour that will take you to many of the same places, with many of the same people. Tour Rome with Katie Parla, take a cooking class in Lecce with Silvestro Silvestori, and eat pasta in Bari with Dan! The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with editing by Tracey Samuelson and Tomeka Weatherspoon. Original theme music by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

In part two of “Anything’s Pastable,” Dan embarks on an epic trip across Italy in search of lesser-known pasta dishes — and to learn about the evolution of pasta more broadly. He starts in Rome, where food writer Katie Parla reveals a shocking truth about pasta. Then an Italian food historian challenges Dan’s thinking about carbonara. Finally, he heads south to meet a chef who was there when a regional specialty called spaghetti all’assassina (“assassin’s spaghetti”) was invented. All of this leads Dan to wonder: What does evolution look like in a food culture that’s so often depicted in sepia tones? And what’s his place in that process? Preorder Dan’s cookbook today (including signed copies), and see if he’s visiting a city near you on his tour of book signings and live podcast tapings with special guests! Follow Dan on Instagram to see photos and videos from the Anything’s Pastable journey. And if listening to this episode makes you want to go to Italy, now’s your chance! Dan has teamed up with Culinary Backstreets to create a tour that will take you to many of the same places, with many of the same people. Tour Rome with Katie Parla, take a cooking class in Lecce with Silvestro Silvestori, and eat pasta in Bari with Dan! The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with editing by Tracey Samuelson, Tomeka Weatherspoon, and Julia Russo. Special thanks to Katie Parla. Original theme music by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

After Dan’s pasta shape, cascatelli, went viral, people everywhere were cooking with it and sending him photos of what they were making. As exciting as that was, he was disappointed that most folks were only making a handful of well-worn dishes with this new shape. So Dan decided to write a cookbook to show the world that there’s so much more you can and should be putting on all your pasta shapes, cascatelli and beyond! There’s only one problem: he’s never written a recipe in his life. In this four-part series, Dan shares the inside story of creating his first cookbook, Anything’s Pastable — from the highs and lows of recipe testing, to a research trip across Italy, to the agonizing decisions over the design of the cover. By the end, you'll never look at a cookbook the same way again. Preorder Dan’s cookbook today (including signed copies), and see if he’s visiting a city near you on his tour of book signings and live podcast tapings with special guests. And follow Dan on Instagram to see photos and videos from the Anything’s Pastable journey! This is Episode 1 of Anything’s Pastable, and Episode 2 is available in your feed right now! The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with editing by Tracey Samuelson, Tomeka Weatherspoon, and Julia Russo. Original theme music by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Gary Gulman did so many food bits early in his stand-up career that he joked he was "a strictly food-based comic." But as his comedy started to evolve in new directions, the role of food in his act changed, too. Instead of observational humor, Gary now uses food in a more personal way — from talking about ice cream as a window into his clinical depression, to skewering income inequality through a discussion of Pop-Tarts. Gary joins Dan to discuss his personal and professional evolution over the past 30 years, through a survey of his three decades of food jokes. Plus Gary shares an entirely new joke about the word “spork.” The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Violence, death threats, and bagels, oh my! In this final episode of Deep Dish season one, Sohla and Ham explore the origins of bagels, and the tough-as-nails Eastern Europe immigrants who created a thriving bagel business in New York. When the mafia tried to muscle its way into the bagel business, the bagel bakers fought back — but in the process, they failed to see a bigger threat. Sohla tells the story, and she learns the secrets of hand-rolling bagels from an expert at Shelsky's Brooklyn Bagels. Make sure you listen all the way to the end to hear Sohla and Ham’s bagel taste test! And check out some behind the scenes photos from this episode on Sohla and Ham’s Instagrams. Deep Dish is a production of The Sporkful. The team includes Sohla El-Waylly, Ham El-Waylly, Andres O’Hara, Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with additional editing by Josh Richmond and Tomeka Weatherspoon. Original theme music by Casey Holford. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com

One table in New York's Adda Indian Canteen is underperforming the others. And in a business with razor-thin margins, that's a real problem. In this special collaboration with Sally Helm and NPR's Planet Money, we enlist the help of a tape measure-wielding professor to try to turn the loser table into a winner. It turns out that how a restaurant treats its real estate might be more important than how it cooks its food — at least when it comes to how much customers spend. This episode originally aired on February 24, 2020, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Sally Helm, Emma Morgenstern, Harry Huggins, and Anne Saini, along with Darian Woods, Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, Alex Goldmark, Bryant Urstadt, and Isaac Rodrigues of Planet Money. It was edited by Tracey Samuelson and mixed by Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Jared O’Connell, and Nora Ritchie. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Stanley cups are all the rage, but did you know they’ve been around for decades? So what happened to make them go viral? We chat about that and much more, including the internet’s love affair with Josh wines, competitive hot pepper eating, and a food-based test of true love, in this edition of the Salad Spinner. This week’s rapid-fire roundtable discussion of the latest food news features the TV host, chef, and restaurateur Vivian Howard, and Amanda Mull, a staff writer at The Atlantic. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Tacos al pastor are an iconic Mexico City dish — but a relatively new addition to Mexican cuisine. And they only came to be with influences from halfway around the world. Ham and Sohla share the surprising story of al pastor’s origins, then Ham visits Taquería Ramírez, one of the most talked about taco spots in Brooklyn, to learn their unique method. Make sure you listen all the way to the end of the episode to hear Ham cook up tacos al pastor with a twist! You can find that recipe on Ham’s Instagram. Deep Dish is a production of The Sporkful. The team includes Sohla El-Waylly, Ham El-Waylly, Andres O’Hara, Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with additional editing by Josh Richmond and Tomeka Weatherspoon. Original theme music by Casey Holford. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells has been called the most feared food writer in America. He can make or break a restaurant with the power of one of his reviews. When he goes out, he does so in secret, making reservations under fake names because he doesn't want restaurants to know that he's coming. This week Pete takes Dan on an undercover mission to a New York restaurant. Then they talk about the nuts and bolts of Pete’s life as a critic. He eats out five nights a week, meaning he has plenty of bad meals — so how does he decide which places warrant bad reviews? And how does he account for the fact that different people have different tastes? This episode originally aired on May 13, 2019, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Ngofeen Mputubwele, and Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Jared O'Connell, and Nora Ritchie. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

In 1964 Rocky Aoki, a Japanese immigrant, created hibachi restaurants in America when he opened his first Benihana. Rocky later said that he based his concept on the idea that "Americans enjoy eating in exotic surroundings, but are deeply mistrustful of exotic foods.” The restaurant took off, but Rocky's legacy is complicated. In this week's show we hear from people who knew Rocky, and we talk with a hibachi chef who's one of the more daring performers you'll find. We also hear from a former hibachi chef who says he was pushed to act "more Japanese" — and how that affected the way he thought about himself. And we answer the question of why certain cuisines are seen as “perpetually foreign” with the help of Professor Robert Ku. This episode originally aired on March 11, 2019. It was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Ngofeen Mputubwele, Gianna Palmer, Jared O’Connell, and Harry Wood. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Today on Deep Dish, Sohla and Ham explore the history of Korea through the story of a rice cake. Tteokbokki (Korean rice cakes) are as popular in Korea as hot dogs are in the U.S. Ji Hye Kim, the chef and owner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan, fell in love with tteokbokki as a kid in South Korea. When she moved to Michigan, her attempt to recreate a taste of home led her to tteokbokki’s surprising history as a delicacy of the royal court. Hear how Ji Hye reclaimed this beloved dish, and make sure you listen all the way to the end of the episode to hear Sohla cook up tteokbokki with a twist. You can find that recipe on Sohla’s Instagram. Deep Dish is a production of The Sporkful. The team includes Sohla El-Waylly, Ham El-Waylly, Andres O’Hara, Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with additional editing by Kameel Stanley and Josh Richmond. Original theme music by Casey Holford. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Introducing Deep Dish, a new podcast from The Sporkful hosted by Sohla and Ham El-Waylly! Sohla and Ham are chefs, recipe developers, YouTube stars — and they’re married. In each episode, Sohla and Ham uncover the surprising story behind a dish, then go back to their kitchen to see what they’re inspired to cook up. All episodes of Deep Dish will run here in The Sporkful feed. In this first episode, Sohla and Ham dive into the story of Delta tamales. When Detective Charles Sledge answered a call about a fatal car crash on a highway in Mississippi, he had no idea it would set him on a path to becoming the Tamale King, helping to preserve a type of tamale unique to the Mississippi Delta. Listen all the way to the end to hear Ham create a recipe inspired by Delta tamales, which you can find on Instagram. Deep Dish is a production of The Sporkful. The team includes Sohla El-Waylly, Ham El-Waylly, Andres O’Hara, Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with additional editing on this episode by Kameel Stanley and Josh Richmond. Original theme music by Casey Holford. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Over the past few years there has been an explosion in new products in grocery stores, from barbecue sauces to nut butters to seltzers. Big brands have dominated the shelves for decades, but small startups have elbowed their way in thanks to a surprising strategy, which reveals something about how supermarkets actually make money. Dan goes to a grocery store with John Stanton, a professor at St. Joseph’s University, to see this battle for shelf space in action. Then he talks with Steven Vigilante of the beverage brand Olipop about how the little guys are fighting against the established brands. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell, with editing this week by Kameel Stanley. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Ben Abbott wants to pair his meals with drinks, but as a Mormon, he doesn't drink alcohol. So Dan journeys to Galco’s Soda Pop Stop, an offbeat soda shop in Los Angeles, to find Ben some beverages. Plus, linguist John McWhorter explains why some people say soda, coke, or pop. This episode originally aired on January 21, 2015, and again on March 25, 2019. It was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Ngofeen Mputubwele, Gianna Palmer, and Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Every other Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why. Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.