Bite
125 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★ - 220 ratingsBite is a podcast for people who think hard about their food. Join acclaimed food and farming blogger Tom Philpott, Mother Jones editors Kiera Butler and Maddie Oatman, and a tantalizing guest list of writers, farmers, scientists, and chefs as they uncover the surprising stories behind what ends up on your plate. We'll help you digest the food news du jour, explore the politics and science of what you eat and why—and deliver plenty of tasty tidbits along the way.
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Episodes
The Unbelievably Delicious and Complex Food of Palestine
August 21, 2020 04:00On this episode, we hear from chef and writer Sami Tamimi, author of the new cookbook Falastin that brings you right into the center of one of the globe’s most hotly contested territories, Isreali-occupied Palestine. Then: Tom Philpott is more than just a Bite host—he’s also the author of a new book! Tom tells us all about Perilous Bounty, in which he chronicles how industrial farming threatens our entire food system.
Sami Tamimi on the Delicious Complexity of Palestinian Food
August 21, 2020 04:00 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MBOn this episode, we hear from chef and writer Sami Tamimi, Yotam Ottolenghi’s partner and author of the new cookbook Falastin that brings you right into the center of one of the globe’s most hotly contested territories, Isreali-occupied Palestine. And, Tom Philpott is more than just a Bite host—he’s also the author of a new book! Tom tells us all about Perilous Bounty, in which he chronicles how industrial farming threatens our entire food system.
Elderberries Don’t Boost Your Immune System, and Other Coronavirus Myths Debunked
August 07, 2020 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MBOur inboxes have been filled to the brim with advice from people peddling vitamins, herbs, and diets—all claiming that the product that they were hawking would help supercharge the body’s defenses to ward off the coronavirus. Is there any truth to these pitches? Can certain foods—like elderberries, garlic, and zinc—really help strengthen your immune system? How about a good night’s sleep, or getting enough exercise? We take a hard look at these claims, with help from Timothy Caulfie...
Why We Need Black-Owned Food Media
July 24, 2020 04:01 - 56 minutes - 51.3 MB“When we don’t own our media, we will not own our messages,” says Stephen Satterfield, the founder of the food culture magazine Whetstone, and one of the only Black owners of a major food publication. Satterfield talks about the challenges of finding investors for new media projects. Then Kiano Moju, founder of the production studio Jikoni, reflects on her experiences with racism while making viral recipe videos and reveals her vision for her website where users can submit recipes f...
Chef Dominique Crenn on Eating as Activism—and the Secret to Phenomenal Sandwiches
July 10, 2020 04:01 - 33 minutes - 77.6 MBDominique Crenn famously nabbed her first cooking job, at the legendary San Francisco restaurant Stars, without ever having gone to culinary school. She went on to become the first female chef in North America to hold three Michelin stars for her restaurant Atelier Crenn, and she has a reputation as a vocal activist for environmental and social causes—from ditching meat on her menus to championing equality in the workplace. Her new memoir is called Rebel Chef: In Search of What Matt...
Swollen Hands, Rampant Contagion, No Sick Days: Processing Chicken During a Pandemic
June 26, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 34.9 MBMeatpacking plants across the United States have become coronavirus hotspots—and workers at chicken plants are particularly vulnerable. Caitlin Esch, a senior producer at Marketplace, digs into the history behind chicken production in America and talks about what she’s learned over nearly a year of investigative reporting into labor conditions at poultry plants in the South. This episode of Bite is a collaboration with The Uncertain Hour, an investigative podcast from Marketplace’s ...
White People Own 98 Percent of Rural Land. Young Farmers Are Asking for It Back.
June 12, 2020 07:00 - 25 minutes - 35 MBBlack families own just one percent of the country’s arable land. But that’s despite the fact US agriculture has deep roots in African traditions. Leah Penniman, author of the book Farming While Black, delves into the roots of our modern farming practices, and talks about a growing movement among young Black and indigenous farmers to reclaim lost land. Plus: A dispatch from Minneapolis, where a Jamaican restaurant has transformed into a protest supply hub.
A Science-Loving Chef's Guide to Eating Safely Right Now
May 29, 2020 07:00 - 24 minutes - 33.1 MBWhether you’re in lockdown or beginning to ease your way back into public life—you still need to eat every day. And the questions are still swirling: Are groceries safe? Should I reheat food when I bring it home? Does my delivery meal pose a risk? There’s no better expert on evidence-based advice about all things food than chef and writer J. Kenji López-Alt. He has all the answers you’re craving on this week’s episode of Bite.
How Does Your Pandemic Garden Grow?
May 15, 2020 07:00 - 22 minutes - 30.7 MBQuarantine has prompted a burst of gardening activity around the country; some people have even likened it to the 1940s Victory Garden movement. In a third-floor apartment in Queens, two roommates have figured out how to grow a whole host of vegetables without a backyard. Then we talk to Doria Robinson, executive director of Urban Tilth in Richmond, California, to try and understand what it will take to make disaster gardens last beyond times of crisis.
Should Restaurants Be Saved?
May 01, 2020 07:00 - 31 minutes - 42.8 MBRestaurants run on social contact and razor-thin profit margins. So COVID-19 stopped them cold, and brought them to the brink of financial ruin. In today's episode, Tom Colicchio—owner of Manhattan restaurant empire Crafted Hospitality and judge on Top Chef—makes the case that the government's stimulus efforts are a recipe for mass restaurant extinction, and calls for a program targeted directly at saving independent eateries. Then Nigerian-born, New Orleans-based chef and activist ...
Recipe for Escape
April 17, 2020 07:00 - 31 minutes - 42.8 MBWhether you are working mandatory overtime shifts, feeling stuck inside a third-floor apartment, or full-time parenting on top of working at home—chances are, you’re craving to break free. So today, we bring you two stories about escape. First, kava is a traditional drink from the South Pacific that recently made its way to trendy Manhattan bars. And some experts say it can release you from anxiety. Then: Think you’re feeling cooped up? Try being a chicken. Novelist Deb Olin Unferth...
The Food Workers Who Brave Coronavirus to Feed Us
April 03, 2020 07:00 - 26 minutes - 35.7 MBSupermarket cashiers, meal delivery folks, fast-food cooks, and farmworkers—all help keep society together. While that’s always been true, the COVID-19 crisis has put them in the spotlight. On this episode, we talk to food workers who are putting their lives on the line to feed the nation. You’ll hear about how their work has changed in big and small ways, from a Door Dasher’s elaborate cleaning routine to a small farm’s struggle to keep up with the surging demand for CSA boxes. ...
Your Best Dinner Option Is Hiding in Your Pantry
March 20, 2020 07:00 - 30 minutes - 41.8 MBGet ready to master your pantry, no matter what you've stockpiled. Tamar Adler, author of the book An Everlasting Meal, has tons of tips for home cooking with economy and grace: What to prioritize on your grocery list, how to stretch ingredients across meals and make use of your scraps, and how to keep your sanity while cooking with kids. Plus: The founder of Rancho Gordo talks about how the coronavirus has made everyone desperate for beans, and Tamar offers some tasty recipes that ...
Many Restaurants May Never Re-Open After Coronavirus
March 19, 2020 01:00 - 22 minutes - 30.3 MBToday we bring you a bonus episode from our sister show, The Mother Jones Podcast. The coronavirus pandemic is devastating the hospitality industry. Millions of Americans are in lockdown. Events are being cancelled. The day before the release of this podcast episode, New York City's restaurants and bars have been forced to stop sit-down service. In the midst of a crisis, the worst thing that could happen to the restaurant industry has happened. This week, we talked to restaurant own...
103 – The Golden Arches’ Long Shadow on Black America
March 06, 2020 08:00 - 27 minutes - 37.9 MB“Getting people to trust fast-food is a process,” says Marcia Chatelain, author of the new book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. For many Black communities, that process started at a precise moment in history: The resulting chaos following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination created the perfect opening for McDonald’s to step in and promise progress in the form of Black-owned businesses. But the resulting relationship has been complex; fast-food has been a source of ...
102 – You've Never Met Anyone Like This Bee Hunter
February 21, 2020 19:25 - 17 minutes - 24.1 MBThe new documentary Honeyland is getting rave reviews. Set in North Macedonia, it seems at first to be about the process of hunting for wild bees. And bees do fill the film—flitting in and out of the frame, stinging neighbors, and turning the harsh landscape into molten gold. But the real focus of the film is on a captivating woman named Hatizde. Maddie talks to the Honeyland filmmakers Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov about their remarkable experience following this highly unu...
You've Never Met Anyone Like This Bee Hunter
February 21, 2020 19:25The new documentary Honeyland is getting rave reviews. Set in North Macedonia, it seems at first to be about the process of hunting for wild bees. And bees do fill the film—flitting in and out of the frame, stinging neighbors, and turning the harsh landscape into molten gold. But the real focus of the film is on a captivating woman named Hatije. Maddie talks to theHoneyland filmmakers about their remarkable experience following this highly unusual protagonist.
101 – Michael Pollan on the Iowa Farmers Who Will Sway the Election
February 03, 2020 08:00 - 32 minutes - 44.3 MBThere's a new power broker in national politics, but it's not a politician. Art Cullen, editor of the tiny Iowa newspaper the Storm Lake Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for his op-eds on Big Ag meddling in local communities. Now, presidential candidates make sure to visit him while on the campaign trail. Ahead of the Iowa caucus, Cullen talks to legendary food writer Michael Pollan about rural economics, climate change, and the presidential election. This interview comes to us...
100 – Who Are the Millennial Farmers?
January 24, 2020 08:58 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBBite’s special 100th episode is all about young farmers. You’ll hear from all kinds of folks—from a fourth generation Japanese American fruit grower in California to a “party farmer” in Brooklyn—about what’s keeping them up at night, and what’s giving them hope. Plus, Leah Penniman, farmer and author of the book Farming While Black, weighs in on how young farmers are fighting the legacy of racism in American agriculture, and Bite listeners chime in with stories of the farmers in the...
Who Are the Millennial Farmers?
January 24, 2020 08:58Bite’s special 100th episode is all about young farmers. You’ll hear from all kinds of folks—from a fourth generation Japanese American fruit grower in California to a “party farmer” in Brooklyn—about what’s keeping them up at night, and what’s giving them hope. Plus, Leah Penniman, farmer and author of the book Farming While Black, weighs in on how young farmers are fighting the legacy of racism in American agriculture, and Bite listeners chime in with stories of the farmers in the...
Chicken, Waffles, and Smashing the Patriarchy
January 10, 2020 08:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBChef Tanya Holland is the owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen, a soul food restaurant in Oakland. She has written cookbooks, appeared on Top Chef, and recently became the first black chef to run a restaurant in San Francisco’s foodie epicenter, the Ferry Building. Tanya talks to Tom about breaking into a white-male-dominated industry and preserving food culture amid the rising tide of tech cafeterias.
The Bizarre Fad Diet Taking the Far Right by Storm
December 27, 2019 08:00 - 25 minutes - 35 MBLately, Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist known for his arch-conservative politics and views on masculinity, has been talking up the virtues of carnivorism. He’s not the only extreme right winger who has an unusual relationship with meat. In today’s episode, we talk to Kelly Weill, a Daily Beast reporter who wrote about the rise of the all-meat diet in the conservative fringe. Then, University of Colorado PhD student Alexis de Coning talks about her investigation into the d...
99 – This Lab Makes Real Meat—But Not From Animals. Will You Eat It?
December 13, 2019 08:00 - 31 minutes - 43.1 MBOn the last episode of Eating in Climate Chaos, we explore the brave new world of lab-grown meat. First, we visit a startup called Finless Foods that’s making actual fish—without killing any actual fish. Then, we talk to Ben Wurgaft, author of the new book Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food, about some of the thorny philosophical questions swirling around this food of the future.
98 – The Leftovers
November 28, 2019 08:00 - 17 minutes - 24.6 MBSilicon Valley's tech companies are all competing for talent, and offering employees perks like free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And all those free meals create a lot of leftovers. One organization aims to redirect that food away from the landfill and into the mouths of people in need. Ride along with Mother Jones' Marisa Endicott and Les Tso, a driver for Food Runners, as he rescues uneaten grub and delivers it to the far corners of the city. Then, two New Mexico farmers have a d...
97 – 5 Presidential Candidates Dish on the Future of Food
November 15, 2019 08:00 - 34 minutes - 47.2 MBHow would each of the presidential hopefuls change your experience at the grocery store and in the kitchen? On this episode of Bite's special series Eating in Climate Chaos, you’ll hear straight from the mouths of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Kamala Harris on their food and climate plans—from supporting farmers and small business owners to protecting people in rural towns and cities from contaminated air and water. Mother Jones climate reporter ...
96 – Beef Got Us Into This Mess. But Can It Also Help Reverse Global Warming?
November 01, 2019 07:00 - 32 minutes - 44 MBRancher Loren Poncia counts roughly 500 Angus beef cattle, 350 sheep, and 19 hogs among his brood at his scenic Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales, California. And there’s something else he’s farming—something that has the potential to revolutionize agriculture as we know it. Visit Loren on his ranch, and then hear from scientists Rattan Lal, Drawdown Project executive director Jonathan Foley, and restaurant owners Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz to learn about how farmers and rancher...
95 – In Vino Veritas
October 18, 2019 07:00 - 31 minutes - 42.8 MBWine growers in Napa can no longer rely on the consistent fog and cool nights that brought the region global fame. Mother Jones politics reporter Kara Voght takes a break from covering the Hill and travels to Napa to learn about how vintners are coping—and why wine matters in the conversation about climate change. And Tom Philpott travels to Iowa to witness the wreckage from this year's flooding and to drink beer with a very spirited rye farmer.
94 – “All the Delicious Foods Are Dying”
October 04, 2019 07:00 - 36 minutes - 50.1 MBIn the inaugural episode of Bite’s special series, “Eating in Climate Chaos,” we explore the foods climate change will hit first. Journalist Amanda Little has some warnings about the tastiest delicacies—from cherries to coffee. Delicious foods aren’t the only thing we need to worry about: We hear from a scientist who’s studying how increasing carbon dioxide levels are making plants less nutritious. But it’s not all bad news! We visit a farm in California to learn about how a tiny li...
Trailer - Eating in Climate Chaos
September 30, 2019 10:00 - 1 minute - 1.77 MBGet ready for a special series from Bite, "Eating in Climate Chaos," out on October 4.
92 – There Is Such Thing as a Free (School) Lunch
September 20, 2019 07:00 - 31 minutes - 43 MBSchool’s back in session, and every day, 30 million kids head to the cafeteria to chow down. On this episode of Bite, Tom returns to the lunchroom at his elementary school alma mater and finds that the grey mystery meat he remembers has been replaced by tasty, fresh offerings that are free to every student. And he catches up with Jennifer Gaddis, author of the book The Labor of Lunch, who explains the economic forces that figure into school food, from “lunch shaming” to fair wages f...
91 – Your Next Designer Apple Product Is Crunchy and Sweet
September 06, 2019 06:00 - 17 minutes - 24.6 MBGone are the days where the Red Delicious, Gala, and Fuji reigned supreme. These days, growers are on the hunt for "value-added apples." People are pouring millions of dollars into the launch of one such variety, the Cosmic Crisp, which debuts later this fall. Seattle-based journalist Brooke Jarvis, who penned the story "The Launch" in the latest issue of "California Sunday Magazine," is here to untangle what this launch means for the produce industry at large—and to reveal how the ...
90 – The Real Problem With Chipotle Burritos
August 23, 2019 06:00 - 17 minutes - 23.9 MBWriter and Mexican culture aficionado Gustavo Arellano explains how the burrito giant Chipotle is endangering regional—and delicious—Mexican-American dishes. Lucky for us, he has some ideas for how we can bring them back.
89 – The Gangster Gardener and the Drunken Botanist
August 09, 2019 05:00 - 26 minutes - 36.5 MBWriter and botanist Amy Stewart, author of “The Drunken Botanist,” shares fascinating facts about plants—from the deadly (she once had a poisonous plants garden) to the delicious (she’s since replaced it with a cocktail garden, and has some tasty recipes). And Ron Finley explains what it means to be a “gangster gardener.”
88 – New Coke Didn’t Fail. It Was Murdered.
July 26, 2019 10:00 - 31 minutes - 43.2 MBIn 1985, Coca-Cola debuted New Coke. It was the company’s effort to remake itself, in the face of competition from other soda companies and lagging sales. But things didn’t really go as planned. Mother Jones senior reporter Tim Murphy pulls back the curtain on what really happened during the bungled launch of New Coke in the 1980s—and how this fascinating piece of history has resonance today. Then some of our reporters do a blind taste-test to see if they can distinguish New Coke fr...
87 – The Dirt on Truffles
July 12, 2019 07:00 - 25 minutes - 35.6 MBTruffles are one of the most sought-after foods in the world. People use specially trained animals to sniff out this delectable fungus on tree roots, and a pound of white truffles can sell for thousands of dollars. But there’s a dark side to this delicacy. We talk to journalist Ryan Jacobs about his new book, The Truffle Underground. And he’s got all the dirt: theft, fraud, poisoned dogs, and even murder.
86 – Meet the Farmers Saving Your Food From Climate Chaos
June 28, 2019 07:00 - 23 minutes - 31.7 MBGrowing food in America has always been unforgiving. But this year took it to a whole new level: Storm surges and bomb-cyclones wreaked havoc on the Midwest's planting season. Tom traveled to Iowa and Illinois to get the view from the ground, and discovered how farmers are fighting back.
85 – A Syrian Refugee Cures Homesickness With Hummus
June 14, 2019 07:00 - 15 minutes - 21.9 MBIn 2018, reporter Shane Bauer traveled to Syria to unpack America’s involvement in its bitter conflict. Hear an excerpt of a special Mother Jones Podcast series following in his footsteps. Then you’ll meet a Syrian refugee chef who couldn’t return to his homeland—but found a way to get a taste of it from New York.
84 – The Problem With Home-Cooked Meals
May 31, 2019 07:00 - 31 minutes - 42.9 MBWhat’s not to love about a meal prepared from scratch at home? Well, a few things actually, according to Joslyn Brenton, co-author of the new book Pressure Cooker: Why Homecooking Won’t Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It. Brenton and her co-authors embedded with nine women to find out what it takes to feed a family today. They found that the expectation to return to the kitchen to solve the food system’s woes places an undue burden on busy parents. Tom talks to Brenton t...
83 – Nobody Puts Vegetables in the Corner
May 17, 2019 07:00 - 18 minutes - 25.6 MBIf you’ve ever had trouble figuring out what to do with a bunch of vegetables, this episode is for you. Just in time for summer grilling season, Maddie talks to Abra Berens, author of the new cookbook Ruffage: a Practical Guide to Vegetables. Abra dishes on the link between how plants grow and how they taste, what to do about bland, squishy zucchini, and how to make summer veggies the centerpiece at your next barbecue.
82 – Passover in Prison
May 03, 2019 07:00 - 12 minutes - 17.5 MBLloyd Payne, 29, has been incarcerated since he was 14. In previous prisons, "we got made fun of for being Jewish, and for eating a certain way and practicing a certain life," he said. Now that he’s at California’s San Quentin State Prison, he can attend an annual Passover gathering with the Jewish community behind bars. We sent a reporter to this Seder to see what it was like.
81 – High Steaks
April 19, 2019 07:00 - 28 minutes - 39 MBThe American taste for beef is on the rise again. Oxford University scientist Marco Springmann discusses the impact of a hamburger-heavy diet on the planet, and what it would take to make a dent in our food-related emissions. Then we look closer at the promises of grass-fed beef. And then, we asked you, our listeners, why you became vegetarians. Some of your answers were pretty standard—and some were totally wacky.
80 – Helen Oyeyemi's Delightfully Sinister Gingerbread
April 05, 2019 07:00 - 19 minutes - 26.7 MBHelen Oyeyemi's novel “Gingerbread” is a smart, fantastical story about three generations of women who share a recipe. The tea cake is at times delicious—and at times sinister. Oyeyemi tells us that she was drawn to "the mix of safety and danger all combined in one seemingly innocuous foodstuff." Later in the show, the Bite hosts get baking tips from an in-house expert.
79 – The Words This Food Critic Will Never Use
March 22, 2019 07:00 - 22 minutes - 31.2 MBSan Francisco Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho won’t use the word “ethnic” in her restaurant reviews: “The assumption that it doesn’t apply equally to people and cuisines associated with Europe or white America gives me such a headache,” she writes. Ho and guest Victoria Bouloubasis are part of a crowing crop of restaurant reviewers who are rethinking food criticism, and increasingly dealing with the bigger societal issues diners and food workers confront, from racism to labor to ide...
78 – How Slavery's Brutal Legacy Lingers in American Cooking
March 08, 2019 08:00 - 31 minutes - 43.8 MBArchaeologist and historian Kelley Fanto Deetz talks to Tom about her deep dive into the world of enslaved cooks on antebellum Virginia's plush plantations—and she makes the case that the first celebrity chef was a slave. Plus: Maddie interviews Jonathan Townsend, a colonial reenactor, about his popular cooking channel and the early American recipes he endorses. And we hear a dispatch from Jordan Gass-Poore, who attended a Prohibition-themed event in New York City.
77 – "Bao" Director Domee Shi Gives a Sweet Dumpling a Dark Twist
February 22, 2019 08:00 - 24 minutes - 34.3 MBDomee Shi, director of Pixar's Oscar-nominated short film "Bao," was afraid that people "would be too upset" by the shocking turn in her fantastical tale about a cute, little Chinese dumpling. But it ended up being her secret ingredient. Plus: How food plays an essential role in the year's best films.
76 – What It Feels Like to Be Big in America
February 08, 2019 08:00Tommy Tomlinson is the author of “The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America.” He talks to Mother Jones reporter Edwin Rios about his Southern upbringing and his tortured relationship with fast-food. He also reveals how former NFL quarterback Jared Lorenzen inspired him to tell his own story, and he reveals what people get wrong about obesity and losing weight.
76 – What It Feels Like to Be Big in America
February 08, 2019 08:00 - 25 minutes - 35 MBTommy Tomlinson is the author of “The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America.” He talks to Mother Jones reporter Edwin Rios about his Southern upbringing and his tortured relationship with fast-food. He also reveals how former NFL quarterback Jared Lorenzen inspired him to tell his own story, and he reveals what people get wrong about obesity and losing weight.
75 – Cooking Chicken With Beto O’Rourke
January 25, 2019 08:00 - 25 minutes - 34.9 MBYou can now hang out with Beto O'Rourke in his kitchen or chat with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while she makes mac’n’cheese in her InstantPot: Politicians are using social media to livestream their everyday moments. Mother Jones senior reporter Tim Murphy dissects this phenomenon—and talks about what it means for politics today. We also pay a visit to the #ChefsForFeds relief kitchen, which doled out free meals to furloughed federal workers during the shutdown.
74 – The Cult of the Chili Pepper
January 11, 2019 08:00 - 25 minutes - 34.6 MBWe all know that burning sensation particular to eating chili peppers. But who knew the tiny fruit did so much more than make our mouths sweat? Stuart Walton, author of the new book “The Devil’s Dinner,” reveals the life-altering power of capsaicin, the active compound in chilis. Then Nopalito Chef Gonzalo Guzman shares his tips and tricks for taming dried chili peppers.
39 – Songs That Make Food Taste Better
December 28, 2018 08:00 - 23 minutes - 32.7 MBWhiskey ballads, tamale ditties, odes to cornbread: So many beloved musicians make food their central subject at some point. Former OC Weekly Editor Gustavo Arellano tells us about the evolution of corridos and rancheras, Mexican songs that are often dedicated to favorite foods or life in the fields. “Kind of like gangster rap,” Arellano explains, “corridos would tell you the stories of repressed communities". Then Jenny Luna tries whiskey that has been aged to the tune of Michael J...