We obsess about food to learn more about people. The Sporkful isn't for foodies, it's for eaters. Hosted by Dan Pashman, who's also the inventor of the new pasta shape cascatelli. James Beard and Webby Award winner for Best Food Podcast. A Stitcher Production.
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We like tomatoes, but roasted in this dish, I really liked them. That was the feedback from Rishika, the other kid you heard at the start of the show. Rishika overcame her dislike of tomatoes to eat them in the panzanella. Rishika, she hates so many foods. She has so many food preferences. And so it was an interesting test, especially with Rishika, to be like, can I get Rishika to like corn? The answer to that is yes. She did. Rishika said she really liked the corn when recipe testing even though she had a hard time eating it because she's lost so many of her baby teeth. And both kids did more than test recipes for the book. They're in a lot of the photos. Oftentimes, we would just put the dish in front of them and be like, do what you would do with this or, like, cook it how you would cook it. And we would end up with a a photo that we didn't expect. Like, for example, we put a bowl of ramen in front of Radhika. And she sort of struggled to use the chopsticks, but eventually kinda figured it out. And so in the book, you see this series of photos of her, like, figuring out how to use chopsticks and feed herself the noodles. They are the unofficial, like, mascots of the book. They not only tested I wanted I wanted people to know that this was coming from a brown narrator, and I feel like they they they sort of just became, like, perfect stand ins for my younger self. So Priya looked for recipes with her younger self in mind, recipes that felt exciting and grown up. That means the book includes udon with soft boiled egg, stewed fish, and an Egyptian koshari with spicy vinegary sauce called dakka. What I didn't wanna do was dumb down the flavors of the recipe. That was one thing I didn't touch. I wanted the recipes to feel clear, straightforward, but if they called for fish sauce, I wanted to keep the fish sauce in. If they called for chilies, I wanted to keep
What does it mean to have big dip energy, at least? Big dip energy is a magnetic quality that you possess Right. That draws people to you like chips to a bowl of dip. And the person who brought the dip probably has a big dip energy. And the other people, they're the chips. You can be a chip. A dip or a switch? You have big dip energy, Dan, and I think you've known that your whole life. This is the spork full. It's not for foodies. It's for eaters. I'm Dan Passion. Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people. And today, we're diving deep into dip. I don't know if you noticed, but I think dip is kinda having a moment. A new restaurant just opened in Atlanta that serves only dip. Salon.com declared that fondue is having a comeback, and Martin Short's character on only murders in the building is popularized dips in a whole new way. You know, this is all I eat tips for dinner. I bet I have not had a regular entree for years. Granted I've lost £14 in a significant amount of hair, but totally worth it. To top it all off, my friend, Elise Whitney, just published a new cookbook dedicated entirely to dip. It's called big dip energy, 88 parties in a bowl for snacking, dinner, dessert, and beyond. It's full of Elise's boundless enthusiasm for dips, puns, good times with friends, and kits. On the day of our interview, she came into the studio wearing custom earrings that looked like dipped chips. They're mismatched. One is a ruffled style chip with what I call cranch, which is my version of ranch. The other one is a tortilla chip with queso, and there's some rhinestones. I'm sure that we can get a picture somewhere Right. Into the content later. Well, they're phenomenal. Thank you. I can't claim to be on Elise's level of devotion to dip, but I am passionate about it And I have thought a lot about dip and dipping techniques over the years. So I wanted to ask a least away and on some of my biggest dip questions and challenges. And about how she transforms some of her favorite foods into dip
To the West Coast. In just 2 weeks, I'll be in the Bay Area for a live show in conversation with VibeCheck's Sam Sanders with special appearances by the Anything Possible photo team and recipe developer, Asha Lupi, aka the saucy spicetress. Then Seattle with Lindy West and LA with comedian Andy Richter. Get tickets and info at sporkful.com/tour. See you there. Now, back to LeVar Burton. As I said, he was in Star Trek The Next Generation, so asking him to read this passage was kind of a no brainer. This one's from the Star Trek cookbook. It's for Borg tricorder pie. Take 10 spent tricorders and crush them with a procteau hammer. Add half quart plasma oil. Stir. Mix in 1 pound of class 4 probe buckling, 1 minced nacelle discharge socket, and some finely chopped bio neural gel pack casing. Bake for 3 hours in a destabilized HypoShield convex warp container and serve on a bed of transporter room console siding. My mouth's watering. Yes. As as well it should be. In Star Trek, LeVar starred alongside sir Patrick Stewart as lieutenant commander Geordi La Forge. Geordie was blind, but he gained the ability to see thanks to a metal band over his eyes that ran from ear to ear. It was called a visor. When I put the visor on, I lost about 80% of my vision, and which was ironic because I was playing a blind man who could see more than everybody else. Right. So I couldn't see my feet, which made navigating a challenge. And I had to learn how to how to walk around without that reference of knowing where my feet were because Jordy was the chief engineer. So it was really important to me that he moved with alacrity and confidence. And so I couldn't be halting in in my step or stride at all. So
To a lot of folks. Nama sent her a whole conference around it. I just I mean, like, to put this in terms of other cuisines, I imagine this would be kinda like creating a whole conference around Limburger cheese or ludefisk or durian. As these events grew, Naamah realized food was a way for her to connect with the Jewish community without going to synagogue. In 2012, she hosted one event that stands out over all the others. I feel that the event that was most satisfying for me or most powerful was the Kube project. And it was an Iraqi Jewish comfort food concept. It gave me an opportunity to see firsthand the reaction of people that are coming in the door. And the first thing they said was like, what do you mean Iraqi Jewish? What do you mean? Jewish, Arabs? Like, how can it be? And and what would you say if people when people said that? I would say, yes. There was a very extensive Jewish community in Iraq, and here we are here celebrating this community's food. I think that, you know, to this day, many people, when they think about Jewish people, they think about Eastern European representation. But 50% of the Jewish people who live in Israel today are from the Middle East and North Africa. Nama is referring to Israeli Jews who are Sephardic or Mizrahi, who trace their origins to Spain, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. Through these food events, Nama was raising awareness about the diversity of the Jewish experience. And after a few years, this led her to a big moment. In 2017, she founded the Jewish Food Society. Our mission is very simple. We work to preserve and celebrate and
Which is I think more intensive a kindred spiritness than people might realize. If you're not a picky eater, you don't realize how important it would be to be with a fellow picky eater. This is the spork full. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman. Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people. I've already kicked off my Sporkful Live Anything's Possible tour. Thank you so much to everyone who's come out. It's been great to meet so many of you in person. Next up, we got DC tomorrow night, April 2nd with Patty Hinnich. Can't wait for that. Then Philly at whyyy with Kehlani Palmisano. And I was gonna say Boston, but the Boston show is already sold out. And the tickets for these other shows are going fast. San Francisco, Seattle, LA. Get your tickets now at sporkful.com/tour. And of course, you can still order my cookbook, Anything's Possible. It's out now wherever books are sold. I did especially love the review from Library Journal. They said if Willy Wonka and Alton Brown collaborated on the pasta cookbook, the end result might be something like this, revolutionary in all the right ways. So that was very nice. Thank you, Library Journal. And of course, if you wanna know more about the making of this book, go back and check out our special series about the making of Anything's Possible right here on the Sporkful. It's Up Now. Alright. Let's get you to today's show. Lara and Beth are the twin sisters you heard at the beginning. As you were listening to them and the story of their parents, what did you think of them? Is there some part of you that judged them, maybe just a little? Did you feel sorry for them? Or were you like, yes. Finally, this forklift is featuring people just like me. Well, get ready because today we're exploring what it's like to go through life as a picky eater. And we'll ask, why do picky eaters face so much judgment? Lara and Beth are fraternal twins, not identical, which is important to note here as we tell their story. The truth is that research on picky eating is still pretty limited, And the area that's especially unknown is the role of DNA in determining our eating preferences. It's safe to say it's some combination of nature and nurture. But how much of it is each one, and how do the 2 interact? We really don't know. These days, Laura and Beth live in different cities. When they were kids, the dinner menu at home in the Chicago suburb
