Fun food podcasts to listen to during lockdown

There’s more to food than just a recipe. This week’s list of Podcasts features a few that break down the emotions, cultural influences and fun facts behind your favourite tidbits

The Real Food Podcast

No compilation of food podcasts in this country would be complete without a mention of this one, by the seminal food writer and journalist Vikram Doctor. He serves up a wide array of topics: papads in different Indian communities, our country’s tryst with the Marie biscuit (old-school marketing gimmicks always make for interesting stories), bread-baking (bread, not roti or flatbread) traditions and more. Some episodes look at current trends; others are a walk down memory lane; all of them boast a conversational style with a clear effort in building an ambience, and plenty of information.

Episode length: 10 to 15 minutes

Available on: iTunes and audible.in

The Fantastic History of Food

Food history, like the history of anything else, is peppered with eccentric people and bizarre facts. Nick Charlie Key’s podcast focusses on those, and those alone. His latest episode, for instance, came out on July 1 and was titled ‘The Swedish King Who Tried To Kill A Prisoner With Coffee’. Others have dealt with “the man who ate everything” and cacao’s connection with a botanist-pirate. Saying anything more about it would be risking spoilers, but you will not regret lending this one your ear.

Episode length: 15 minutes (on an average)

Available on: foodhistorypodcast.com and Stitcher app

The Storied Recipe

Did you know paratha is called roti canai in Singapore? It is a quintessential part of many family meals there, but Becky Hadeed’s episode about it reveals much more about Singapore itself. Each episode of The Storied Recipe features one recipe brought in by a guest, and that recipe becomes the key ingredient in an overarching story of the guest’s life, childhood and cultural identity. It is a sentimental, personal look at dishes around the world, from a US-based mother who misses the masala chai of her childhood home in Bombay, to an Iranian-born Australian’s wartime childhood and recipe for lamb and lentil kafta.

Episode length: 55 minutes (on an average)

Available on: thestoriedrecipe.com and Stitcher app

Food, We Need To Talk

How we eat has a lot to do with how we think and how we perceive ourselves. Juna Gjata and Dr Eddie Philips break it all down in this podcast, and also get experts to weigh in on topics like how, for instance, fat shaming actually dissuades people from working out more. For the amount of psychological and medical inputs involved, the episodes are surprisingly chatty and light.

Episode length: 20-30 minutes

Available on:Stitcher app

We would love to know how you are keeping busy at home. Tell us what you are listening to, at metro@thehindu.co.in.