258 episodes

An illuminating, conversational podcast about the surprising histories behind the foods we love. Did you know Mussolini tried to ban pasta in Italy? Or that Cajun food has proud Canadian ancestry? Guests are a mix of experts in their fields and professional funny people, so you'll probably learn something and maybe have a chuckle, too. Hosted by Katherine Spiers, former food editor at LA Weekly and current manager of the website How to Eat L.A.

Smart Mouth Katherine Spiers / TableCakes Productions

    • Arts
    • 4.8 • 223 Ratings

An illuminating, conversational podcast about the surprising histories behind the foods we love. Did you know Mussolini tried to ban pasta in Italy? Or that Cajun food has proud Canadian ancestry? Guests are a mix of experts in their fields and professional funny people, so you'll probably learn something and maybe have a chuckle, too. Hosted by Katherine Spiers, former food editor at LA Weekly and current manager of the website How to Eat L.A.

    Queer Food with John Birdsall

    Queer Food with John Birdsall

    Kitsch versus camp and the politics of quiche.
    The Man Who Ate Too Much 
    Related: 
    Mai tais with Allan Katz 
    Coconut shrimp with Julia Loken 
    Listen to Smart Mouth: iTunes • Google Podcasts • Pandora • Spotify • RadioPublic • TuneIn • Libsyn • Amazon Music
    Check out all our episodes so far here. If you like, pledge a buck or two on Patreon. If you'd rather make a one-time gift, I'm on Venmo and PayPal.
    Katherine TikTok
    Smart Mouth newsletter
    Smart Mouth IG
    Music: Quiche Lorraine - The B-52s 
    Sources: 
    John Birdsall 1,2 
    Gastronomica 
    Slate 
    Eater 
    Atlas Obscura 

    • 55 min
    Which Animals Have Taste? With Katie Goldin

    Which Animals Have Taste? With Katie Goldin

    Crows. You gotta hand it to them.
    Listen to Smart Mouth: iTunes • Google Podcasts • Pandora • Spotify • RadioPublic • TuneIn • Libsyn • Amazon Music
    Check out all our episodes so far here. If you like, pledge a buck or two on Patreon. If you'd rather make a one-time gift, I'm on Venmo and PayPal.
    Creature Feature 
    Secretly Incredibly Fascinating Podcast 
    Katherine TikTok
    Smart Mouth newsletter
    Smart Mouth IG
    Music: I Love My Dog - Cat Stevens 
    Sources:
    San Diego Zoo, 2 
    Mental Floss 
    ToughLittleBirds.com 
    Scientific American 
    The Condor 
    Science.com 
    Australian Broadcast Corporation 
    Nutrients 
    Carni Sostenibili 
    Science Direct 

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Salt the Chicken with Susan Jung

    Salt the Chicken with Susan Jung

    A dream job and many dream fried chicken recipes.
    Listen to Smart Mouth: iTunes • Google Podcasts • Pandora • Spotify • RadioPublic • TuneIn • Libsyn • Amazon Music
    Check out all our episodes so far here. If you like, pledge a buck or two on Patreon. If you'd rather make a one-time gift, I'm on Venmo and PayPal.
    Kung Pao & Beyond 
    Susan IG 
    Katherine TikTok
    Smart Mouth newsletter
    Smart Mouth IG
    Music: Salt - Ava Max 
    Sources:
    First We Feast 
    "Identification of the Yellow Skin Gene Reveals a Hybrid Origin of the Domestic Chicken"

    • 36 min
    Tyromancy with Jennifer Billock

    Tyromancy with Jennifer Billock

    There's no end of ways to tell the future. But most importantly: with cheese.
    Listen to Smart Mouth: iTunes • Google Podcasts • Pandora • Spotify • RadioPublic • TuneIn • Libsyn • Amazon Music
    Check out all our episodes so far here. If you like, pledge a buck or two on Patreon. If you'd rather make a one-time gift, I'm on Venmo and PayPal.
    Kitchen Witch 
    Jennifer IG 
    Kitchen Witch IG 
    Katherine TikTok
    Smart Mouth newsletter
    Smart Mouth IG
    Music: Big Cheese - Nirvana 
    Sources:
    Eater 
    The Awl 
    PBS 
    Modern Language Notes 
    The Modern Language Review 
    Isis 
    Omancy Fancy 
    History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718
    "Select Cases of Conscience Touching Witches and Witchcraft"
    Witch Hunts in Europe and America: An Encyclopedia …
    Marks of an Absolute Witch: Evidentiary Dilemmas in Early Modern England,  Rhetoric, Science, & Magic in Seventeenth-Century England

    • 40 min
    Replay: Eggnog with Drew Mackie

    Replay: Eggnog with Drew Mackie

    Do you enjoy eggnog without alcohol? Plus, peach schnapps trauma, a detour through Television Without Pity, and Her Majesty's Milk Punch.
     

    Music: Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses
     

    Check out all our episodes so far here. If you like, pledge a buck or two on Patreon. If you'd rather make a one-time gift, I'm on Venmo and PayPal on the TableCakes accounts.
     

    Want food stories from around the world? Subscribe to the Smart Mouth newsletter here.

    Drew on IG  • Drew on Twitter
     

    Follow Smart Mouth: Newsletter • Instagram • Facebook • Katherine on Twitter
     

    Listen to Smart Mouth:  iTunes • Google Podcasts • Spotify • RadioPublic • TuneIn • Libsyn 

    Related Episodes:

    Christmas Cookies with Kim-Joy
    Maraschino Cherries with Courtney Nichols
    Sources

    FDA
    Farmer's Almanac
    A-Z of Food and Drink
    Oxford Companion to Food
    Eater
    Punch
    Time
    Washington Post
    Food Timeline
    Fred Opie

    • 37 min
    Replay: Christmas Cookies with Kim-Joy

    Replay: Christmas Cookies with Kim-Joy

    The GBBO star on reassuring baking, the invention of Christmas bribery, and the uniquely American "cookies and milk" combo.
    Transcript for this episode is here.
    You can listen to Smart Mouth on iTunes, on Stitcher, on Spotify. Check out all our episodes so far here. If you like, pledge a buck or two on Patreon. If you'd rather make a one-time gift, I'm on Venmo and PayPal on the TableCakes accounts.
    Music: Christmas Dreaming by Harry Connick Jr
    Want food stories from around the world? Subscribe to the Smart Mouth newsletter here.
    Kim Twitter
    Kim IG
    Christmas with Kim-Joy
    Smart Mouth newsletter
    Smart Mouth IG
    Katherine Twitter
    Sources:
    History.com
    Martha Stewart
    NPR
    Christian Science Monitor
    Iceland.com
    Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert
    Listen on:
    iTunes
    Google Podcasts
    Spotify
    RadioPublic
    TuneIn
    Libsyn RSS

    • 39 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
223 Ratings

223 Ratings

~Ashley ,

A delicious way to enjoy history!

Thank you for all of these thoughtful and impeccably researched episodes!

Nick McNulty ,

A great food podcast

Smart Mouth has been a wonderful look into the history of food and the future of recipes. Interviews are quick witted and the historical details are top notch (particularly the episde about Toll House cookies). If you live in the LA area, Katherine is a great follow to let you know the best places to eat each weekend. As the show has progressed, however, it has slowly started to morph into "here's why your favorite food is actually problematic/racist." In the recent episode about hotdogs, it only took three minutes to digress into a discussion about how much they hate the police.

Over the Loon ,

Nerdy and awesome

Loving this podcast. The host, Katherine, is funny and passionate. I never thought I would care about highly specific morsels of food history but here we are. It’s also very much not just about food, though. This show has a POV and a personality and I have laughed out loud several times. Recommend!

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