This story appears in our weekly Food newsletter. Sign up here.
After writing a rants and raves list for 2017 in which I complained about not being able to find a good food podcast, readers sent suggestions.
Believe me, I’ve listened to a ton, with Bon Appétit Foodcast the only one I listen to with any regularity. Some other favorites (including now-defunct shows) are— Burnt Toast by Food52, Evolutionaries from Heritage Radio Network and Munchies under the Vice umbrella. I have strong feelings about other big brand name podcasts, but I won’t disparage them in public.
Readers suggested the archives of Mike & Tom Eat Snacks, Serious Eat’s Special Sauce with Ed Levine and Southern Foodways Alliance’s Gravy.
But there are also new local programs to try. The Line, a just-opened hotel in Adams Morgan, recently launched Full Service Radio with a slew of food and drink programs, featuring Dolcezza’s Robb Duncan and Violetta Edleman, the James Beard award-winning chef Spike Gjerde of Baltimore’s Woodberry Kitchen and longtime radio hosts Nycci and David Nellis. (Nycci also runs The List Are You On It?)
For more suggestions, I reached out to local food writers for their favorites (many replied they don’t listen to podcasts or don’t have a food one to recommend). The two podcasts with the biggest fan base, from this small pool, are Gravy and The Splendid Table.
“When it comes to food podcasts, I’m old school. I love The Splendid Table, which enters a new era this year as Francis Lam takes over from beloved founder Lynne Rossetto Kasper,” says Nevin Martell, the dining editor of DC Modern Luxury.
Freelance writer and frequent Northern Virginia Magazine contributor Whitney Pipkin agrees: “The Splendid Table, hands down. I consume most of my food media with my eyes, but I got to have dinner with Lynne Rossetto Kasper for a story on the show a couple years ago, so they have my heart. She just retired, but Francis Lam is spot on in her wake.”
“True confession—the only food podcasts I listen to now are The Splendid Table and Gravy,” says David Hagedorn, the dining columnist for Arlington Magazine and Bethesda Magazine. “Francis Lam had big shoes to fill with Lynne Rossetto Kasper leaving Splendid Table and he’s easing into them admirably.”
Gravy’s podcasts, says Hagedorn, “really delve into the soul of our Southern foodways and, since I’m from Alabama, they really speak to me.” Hagedorn pointed one out, “Hostesses of the Movement,” “about the ladies of the Civil Rights movement who opened their homes to its strategists as safe places and fed them home-cooked meals.”
Other Gravy fans include Jessica Strelitz, a freelancer who writes Northern Virginia Magazine’s Sips of the Season column. The podcast is produced by the Southern Foodways Alliance, and she says, that organization “does great work for preserving our nation’s richest food culture. It’s also dedicated to highlighting diverse voices in food, which is lacking in many other aspects of food media.”
Susan Able, Edible DC’s publisher and editor-in-chief, says Gravy is the podcast she listens to the most. “I love back stories about the food culture of the South—there is a lot of respect for history and how traditions are continued or adapted for our modern ways, and that is really relevant to covering food in general.”
Able also recognizes two radio stations: Heritage Radio Network, where she gets a “hip take on what is happening [from] a food radio station that broadcasts out of a shipping container at Roberta’s Pizza in Brooklyn.” And, there’s Full Service Radio’s Lunch Agenda, where Kirsten Bourne, formerly of Capital Area Food Bank, will cover food policy. Says Able, “her first show is about the D.C.’s ‘food desserts’ and the activism that has kicked off in Anacostia where residents have few options to shop for healthy food.”
Here are a few more:
“Lately I’ve been listening to Drinky Fun Time, where wine and spirits writer Dan Dunn and British journalist Emma Patterson interview celebrities—everyone from chef Carla Hall to Kiefer Sutherland—about their favorite drinks, food, bar culture and more. The pace is quick and I almost always learn something new about whatever spirit they’re featuring. I also like that the hosts bring different things to the table; Dunn’s reserve of drinks knowledge is deep and Patterson’s background leads to great interviews.” -Rebecca Cooper, restaurant and retail reporter, Washington Business Journal
“I really like Radio Cherry Bombe. It’s very female empowering and gives voice to a lot of bloggers who I otherwise only know on the screen. In particular I loved the one where they spoke with the folks of Roads and Kingdoms.” -Holley Simmons, food writer
“[Dan] Pashman does it all with The Sporkful: He debunks myths (see the podcast on MSG), has fun (see the episode on Star Wars food!) and even breaks down barriers between cultures (listen to the two-part series on a sandwich shop in Aleppo, Syria, and whether it has survived the civil war). -Tim Carman, food writer and the $20 Diner, The Washington Post
“I love Spilled Milk, and last year’s Tokyo one is one of my faves. The hosts have a geeky/awkward rapport that works.” -Tierney Plumb, associate editor, Eater DC
“I like KCRW’s Good Food, though not being in LA means a lot of it is irrelevant for me. I have picked up a couple of cookbooks thanks to interviews that Evan [Kleiman] has done with authors.” -Domenica Marchetti, cookbook author
“Add Passion and Stir—a fab combo of food and philanthropy.” -Nycci Nellis, co-host , Industry Night with Foodie And The Beast (new from Full Service Radio)