Food History/Food Studies Podcasts: update III

Taste of the past (Heritage radio network)

A Taste of the Past is a podcast that explores culinary history and food culture. It is produced and hosted by Linda Pelaccio and is one of the longest running podcasts about food history. Strong emphasis on the U.S.A. and related cultures. That’s why it brings a wide range of topics with a nice mix of academic and pragmatic approaches.

The Secret Ingredient (K.U.T.org)

In each episode of The Secret Ingredient, hosts Rebecca McInroy, Raj Patel and Tom Philpott find a new way to think about the ways we eat everyday. They talk with the people whose life’s work has been to understand the complex systems of production, distribution, marketing and impact these foods have on our lives.  “We won’t tell you what to eat, but we will tell you why you’re eating it”. This podcast has a strong critical academic component and talks about topics like decolonization, the effect of the food industrial complex on climate change, food related racism, the green new deal for agriculture, social movements related to food and food production, nutritionism and many more ingredients that don’t taste like vanilla.

The Feast

The Feast is a podcast where meals make history. Hosted by medievalist and food historian, Laura Carlson. Each episode of The Feast takes you on a culinary journey to the past. Find out how food and drink has changed the course of history, from royal banquets to revolutionary lunch counters. Because food is just history on a plate. Dig in! This podcast doesn’t bring your everyday angles of approach to food history, so it’s beyond the fundamentals.

Savor (iHeartradio)

Savor digs into how people live and how they eat – and why. Hosts Anney Reese and Lauren Vogelbaum interview the culinary creators and consumers of the world, exploring the science, history, and culture of food and drink, all with a key question in mind: Why do we like what we like, and how can we find more of those things?

Gastropod

Gastropod looks at food through the lens of science and history. Hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley look at the hidden history and surprising science behind a different food and/or farming-related topic, from aquaculture to ancient feasts, from cutlery to chile peppers, and from microbes to Malbec. They interview experts, visit labs, fields, and archaeological digs, and generally have lots of fun while discovering new ways to understand the world through food.

History of food (antrochef)

What makes us human? Humans are just animals who know how to cook. This podcast is made by Holden Wilson. He’s a chef and an amateur history buff. This project combines his two greatest passions in life: cooking and history.  This is a study of the history of food and the humans who eat it, tracing the early origins of what we eat, cook, and how it shaped the destiny of our species.

Kookpodcast (podgront)

This is a Dutch/Groningse podcast produced by archaeologist and PhD-candidate Merit Hondelink where she – and usually a co-host – takes the listener ‘by the hand’ and prepares step by step an historic dish and in the meanwhile talks about the historic background. Too much emphasis on baking and (sweet)desserts, if you ask me.

The racist sandwich

Food x Race x Gender x Class: The Racist Sandwich podcast serves up a perspective that you don’t hear often: that both food and the ways we consume, create, and interpret it can be political. From discussions about racism in food photography to interviews with chefs of color about their experiences in the restaurant world, hosts Soleil Ho and Zahir Janmohamed hash out a diverse range of topics.

Gravy (Southern Foodways Alliance) 

Gravy is a journal and podcast duo of original narratives that are fresh, unexpected, and thought-provoking. The Southern Foodways Alliance documents, studies, and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. Especially for those who are interested in the revival of Southern food in the U.S.

Oxtales (Oxford symposium on food and cookery)

Delicious and in-depth stories about food, served fresh from the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery.

The Culinary Citizen

The Culinary Citizen is a podcast during which the hosts introduce you to a concept or theme connecting food and people around the world. With emphasis on international relations, culinary diplomacy, nation-branding, gastronationalism and conflict-resolution.

The Dirt

The Dirt is a podcast that brings stories from archaeology and anthropology straight to your ears. Every week, the hosts tackle one topic, ranging from Homo floresiensis to hoaxes to honey to handaxes, everything awe-inspiring, weird, wonderful, mysterious, and groundbreaking that the study of our shared human past has to offer, from all over the world. They’re here to edutain: you’ll laugh, you’ll go ewwwww, and above all you’ll learn something, no matter your experience with archaeology. Not only food related but very impressive, engaging and brought with clever humor.

New books in food (New books network)

The New Books Network is a consortium of author-interview podcast channels dedicated to raising the level of public discourse by introducing scholars and other serious writers to a wide public. This podcast is specifically about food related topics from all over the world with high academic standards.

Masters of social gastronomy

food + history + science = this is a great thing. When duty calls, Sarah Lohman of Four Pounds Flour and Jonathan Soma of the Brooklyn Brainery take on a curious food topic and break down the history, science, and stories behind it.

The fantastic history of food

Stories of the fun, and often ridiculous, history of food. FOOD means something different to each and every one of us, so many different cuisines and cultures all represented by one small word. It’s a part of each one of our lives, and it has been ever since the earliest man felt that familiar rumbling in his belly. This podcast aims to tell the most interesting stories about food from that time all the way till now.

Nutrition history from parts unknown

Food, Health and Wellness History. With a wide range of particular topics on nutritional history.

Eat my globe

A podcast by host, Simon Majumdar, about an ingredient, a dish, a theme, a person or a nation and the fascinating story of how they became part of the world that we often take for granted. Usually the episodes are about the history of one ingredient or food-product which makes this podcast unique.

AntroDish

Why Food, culture & Identity? AnthroDish is a podcast about the connections between food, culture, and identity using an anthropological lens. Each week a new guest joins the host Anthropologist Sarah Duignan to discuss a food-related topic that relates to their expertise and experience. The goal of this podcast is to explore the many ways in which food relates to our cultures (and subcultures) as well as our personal or family identities. Sarah wants to dig deep and explore how food cultures are maintaining age-old traditions, how new undercurrents in food cultures emerge, and how foodways influence our world broadly but also how they occupy space in everyday lives. Strong emphasis on Anthropology, less on history. But this doesn’t exclude each other.

Food non-fiction

Hosts Lillian Lang and Fakhri Shafai tell the incredible true stories behind the food we eat.

Food: A Cultural culinary history

In Food: A Cultural Culinary History, History professor Ken Albala puts this extraordinary subject on the table, taking you on an journey into the human relationship to food. With this course, you’ll travel the world discovering fascinating food lore and culture of all regions and eras—as an eye-opening lesson in history as well as a unique window on what we eat today. Ken Albala is one of the foremost researchers on food history in the world. So this is an excellent way to get yourself acquainted with the food history basics.

Point of origin (iHeartradio)

This is a podcast about the world of food, literally. This podcast travels to different countries exploring culture through food, examining its past and present, and what it teaches us about who we are and how we came to be. Join host Stephen Satterfield as he connects with those most immersed in defining and preserving global foodways. Along the way we’re drinking natural wine in Australia, sipping tea — Taiwanese Oolong and Sri Lankan Ceylon — and eating frejon, a Nigerian staple with Brazilian origins. The power of food is that it has a story to tell. Point of Origin is a podcast that enthusiastically uplifts the voices of women and people of color. They believe that this diversity isn’t just noteworthy but part of what makes our work essential and distinguished. When the gatekeepers are diverse, so too are the stories, its tellers and their experiences.

Pass the Chipotle

Producer and host Rocio Carvajal, food history writer, cook and author, takes you to discover the edible treasures of Mexico’s gastronomic traditions with stories and interviews with cooks, authors and entrepreneurs. It will change the way you think about Mexican food, cooking and eating guaranteed!

Follow the crumbs

In Follow the Crumbs, the hosts talk about the history of food and the food of history. They got the idea for the podcast during a post-sushi car ride when they talked about how biryani ended up in Qatar. Since then, they’ve  been trying to find interesting stories about food over time. Join them as they unpack the complex relationships between food, history, and everything in between.

Mijn vader is een afhaalchinees.

In this three-part series ‘Mijn vader is een afhaalchinees’, journalist Felicia Alberding go’s on the hunt for stories behind the greatest dutch culinary hits. A podcast that takes a closer look at food as the lubricator in society. Is our stomach more tolerant than our mind?

Dr Scoff and the prof.

Food studies/food history podcast where an Associate Professor of History and a Dr of Marketing discuss food from the past. Gastronomy and humour. Your one-stop-shop for discussion of food policy, food history, cookery and mirth.

Hungry books

Hungry books is a podcast that explores the best books ever written on the subject of food, from history, anthropology, sociology, economics, biography, journals and politics and each episode presents a book that will change your life.

Regula Culinaria

In this podcast, Regula Ysewijn, talks about culinairy traditions, there heritage, evolution and impact on life. She is bluiding upon her writingsubjects and with this pod she has the freedom to give a broader scope of culinairy history.
A bite of history

We all love food, we all need food, but have you ever wondered how food helped people get where they are today? A Bite of History takes a look at all the ways food has shaped history, with a sprinkling of ironic humor for good measure.

A history of Coffee

A History of Coffee is the story of how a tiny psychoactive seed changed the world and shapes our lives today.
Across six episodes, documentary maker James Harper and professional historian Jonathan Morris narrate how humans race coffee across oceans to keep up with demand for this addictive drink. Coffee creates enormous fortunes for some, and misery for others. Sometimes the environment benefits, but more often it is plundered.

The tea history podcast

Join host Laszlo Montgomery for a guided tour of the history of the world’s most popular beverage

Cocktails & Capitalism

Cocktails & Capitalism is a podcast that pairs crafted beverages with stories distilled from our capitalist hellscape. We highlight shameless profiteers, destructive industries, and anticapitalists working to create a better world. The topics we explore can be dark and depressing, so buckle up and grab a drink!

Gastronomica

The Gastronomica podcast is where the academic field of food studies meets a public appetite for gastronomy and the culinary arts. Tune in to hear interviews with authors whose articles or books have recently been featured in the journal (published by University of California Press since 2001), as we showcase diverse voices in the food world, tackle complex questions about cooking, cuisine, culinary traditions, food justice and equity. Each episode is hosted by a member of the journal’s Editorial Collective, representing food scholars, perspectives, and disciplines from around the world.

The world food system with Dr. Haroon Akram-Lodhi

The world food system is designed to enable you to understand how our food system, with its unparallelled affluence and immense deprivation, came to be, unpacking the key factors shaping contemporary production, distribution, access to and consumption of food, both here and elsewhere. After all, if we want the world to become a better place it seems that a good place to start would be on our plates.

Climate cuisine

Climate Cuisine is a podcast that explores how sustainable crops are used in similar climate zones around the world. In the hands of different cultures, a single ingredient can take on many wondrous forms. Staple crops are seldomly confined to time or place, and thrive where they can— if climatic conditions allow. Climate Cuisine profiles how sustainable, soil-building crops that share the same biome are grown, prepared, and eaten around the world. As the world faces alarming upward shifts in base temperature, climate-centric conversations about crops become increasingly important to the resiliency and survival of our food systems.

Spirit plate

The Spirit Plate podcast is an honoring of all the Indigenous communities across Turtle Island (also known as North America) who are working to preserve and revitalize their ancestral foodways. Within the growing Indigenous food movement lies an incredible story of reclamation and intertribal solidarity; powerful yet untold examples of Native peoples resisting and thriving. Spirit Plate is a space for Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island to tell our own history and shape the narrative of our communities—especially as it relates to land and our relationships to food. Through interviews with seedkeepers, chefs, farmers and community members, this podcast will share what food justice and sovereignty looks like for Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island.

Setting the table

Hosted by Deb Freeman, Setting the Table is a podcast that explores the stories and histories of African American cuisine and foodways. From Sunday barbeques to the spirits in your cocktails, African Americans have created the foundation of modern American cuisine, yet African American food is one of the least explored food genres. Setting the Table illuminates the ways that African Americans have shaped how this country eats and drinks by exploring the historical events that have influenced the formation of Black foodways in America while also drawing a direct line to the people who are moving the Black culinary narrative forward.

Fruit love letters

Fruit Love Letters is a curious dive into the Anthropocene through fruit-colored glasses. Host Jessamine Starr may not be a botanist, historian, farmer or an expert on fruit, but as a chef in Atlanta she’s simply had a lifetime love affair with it. So, she began penning love letters to fruit. This podcast pairs those letters with her desires to learn more. From the miraculous survival adventure of the avocado, to the nurturing personality of a fig, we’ll traverse the world of fruit through emotional meanderings and expanding a hunger for more information. Through discussions with farmers, scientists, chefs and enthusiasts, Fruit Love Letters proves that there is so much we didn’t know about fruit, from the blueberries you sprinkle on your cereal or that seemingly mundane apple snack, both in historical fact and mystique.

Bad table manners

Bad Table Manners pushes the boundaries of food storytelling in South Asia. Despite a universal love of delicious food, South Asian communities’ narratives and food practices maintain social hierarchies, caste inequalities, and racial and gender discrimination. In spanning both “high” and “low” food cultures, this podcast deconstructs monolithic notions of South Asian or “Indian” food by diving into micro contexts of households, restaurants, neighborhoods, streets and communities. It also reveals how hyper-regional and local culinary expressions are shaped by global gastronomic histories and trends.
The nectar corridor
The Nectar Corridor explores the incredible world of mezcal, the most emblematic and diverse spirit of Mexico. Oaxaca-based host Niki Nakazawa takes us on an intimate journey through agave (known as maguey) fields, distilleries and the history of mezcal with the folks who live and breathe the spirit. Learn about the extraordinary diversity of magueys and their roles in the ecosystem, experience fermentation and distillation of mezcal with producers in Oaxaca, and hear from conservationists, mezcal commercializers, farmers and historians about the past, present and future of mezcal.
Whetstone audio dispatch
Whetstone Audio Dispatch is a series of remarkable one-off episodes about global foodways exploring community, climate, activism and politics brought to you by journalists and reporters from around the world. Think of it as a storytelling popup, a one-pot feast serving up fresh ideas and best-in-class reportage about current events, food sovereignty, seed keeping, food origins, ancestral recipes and culinary anthropology. Hosted by Whetstone founder Stephen Satterfield.
Eat this Podcast
Talking about anything around food. Using food to explore all manner of topics, from agriculture to zoology. In Eat This Podcast, Jeremy Cherfas tries to go beyond the obvious to see how the food we eat influences and is influenced by history, archaeology, trade, chemistry, economics, geography, evolution, religion — you get the picture. We don’t do recipes, except when we do, or restaurant reviews, ditto. We do offer an eclectic smorgasbord of tasty topics. Twice nominated for a James Beard Award.

To obtain on your favorite podcast platform!;)