Food Podcasts: The Apple of My Eye
Podcasts are a popular form of media that repurpose talk radio into an episodic, online experience. Due to their wide appeal and easy access, a simple online search can lead one to thousands of podcasts covering countless niche topics, including the delicious (but sometimes horrifying) world of food. When I began this deeper look into food-related podcasts, I browsed several different podcast archives for episodes that carried a similar, and, of course, enticing theme. I eventually settled on three podcasts: Gastropod, Eat Feed, and Gravy. Each has its own charm, style, and focus, but I selected episodes from each that discuss the same crunchy, nutritious food: apples.
The first podcast I listened to, Gastropod, is produced and hosted by two women, Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley. Their episode “Forgotten Fruits and the Future of Food” actually begins with a completely different idea than the simple apple. A few years prior to the eipsode’s air date, co-host Nicola was on a week-long diet consisting of soylent. Soylent is actually more like the absence of food: it’s a drink that provides basic sustenance to those who feel the time they spend buying, preparing, and eating food could be better spent elsewhere. Nicola wasn’t a huge fan of soylent, as she loves food and the time she spends on it. After discussing soylent, the hosts move onto apples, mentioning numerous books about the fruit that listeners may find interest in. One book they talk about is a giant list of tens of thousands of apple species, complete with illustrations; most of the species in the book aren’t even grown for consumption anymore. The hosts expand on this, too, saying prohibition led to a decrease in the consumption of cider and, thus, apples. They also express personal distaste for popular apple brands like Red Delicious.
The major appeal of Gastropod is the friendly tone set by Cynthia and Nicola. Besides some bubbly intro and outro music, the podcast is basically a conversation between the two women. What editing is applied to the podcast is so smooth and natural that it blends right into the conversational tone. The hosts even invite listeners to participate in the show, enhancing this friendly atmosphere. They begin every episode with a chipper, “welcome back,” and sometimes refer to listeners as if they’re in the room: “I think we’re making our listeners hungry…” Nicola comments at the end of this episode. Then, Cynthia and Nicola encourage listeners to send in photographs of good-looking apples. This literally incorporates the listeners into the narrative and allows them to keep thinking about and returning to Gastropod in the future.
The first podcast I listened to, Gastropod, is produced and hosted by two women, Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley. Their episode “Forgotten Fruits and the Future of Food” actually begins with a completely different idea than the simple apple. A few years prior to the eipsode’s air date, co-host Nicola was on a week-long diet consisting of soylent. Soylent is actually more like the absence of food: it’s a drink that provides basic sustenance to those who feel the time they spend buying, preparing, and eating food could be better spent elsewhere. Nicola wasn’t a huge fan of soylent, as she loves food and the time she spends on it. After discussing soylent, the hosts move onto apples, mentioning numerous books about the fruit that listeners may find interest in. One book they talk about is a giant list of tens of thousands of apple species, complete with illustrations; most of the species in the book aren’t even grown for consumption anymore. The hosts expand on this, too, saying prohibition led to a decrease in the consumption of cider and, thus, apples. They also express personal distaste for popular apple brands like Red Delicious.
The major appeal of Gastropod is the friendly tone set by Cynthia and Nicola. Besides some bubbly intro and outro music, the podcast is basically a conversation between the two women. What editing is applied to the podcast is so smooth and natural that it blends right into the conversational tone. The hosts even invite listeners to participate in the show, enhancing this friendly atmosphere. They begin every episode with a chipper, “welcome back,” and sometimes refer to listeners as if they’re in the room: “I think we’re making our listeners hungry…” Nicola comments at the end of this episode. Then, Cynthia and Nicola encourage listeners to send in photographs of good-looking apples. This literally incorporates the listeners into the narrative and allows them to keep thinking about and returning to Gastropod in the future.
The second podcast I listened to—and at this point, I must admit I was actively eating an apple—is called Eat Feed. This podcast, unlike Gastropod, is voiced only by one woman, Anne Bramley. This episode, entitled “Four Ways of Looking at an Apple,” is longer than the Gastropod episode and focuses completely on apples. Anne first describes, rather romantically, her personal love of apples and all their related products, including cider. She interviews a couple of “apple experts” (that being, authors of books about apples) over the phone. One interview is with author Erica Janet, who answers Anne’s questions about the history of apples; they go as far back as where apples began growing in the first place and how they spread to other countries. Anne and Erica also mention prohibition’s lasting effects on American cider drinking and the lack of variety in apple species grown today, specifically naming Red Delicious once again. They even discuss apples as symbols, like their place in the biblical Garden of Eden as a forbidden fruit. Anne doesn’t just perform one-on-one interviews during the podcast, however. She also includes some clips of the East of England Apples and Orchards Project, which she attended. There, one can take an apple to a professional botanist who will identify its species.
Listening to Eat Feed was strange for me because it was, design-wise, unlike any podcast I’ve heard before. Anne is the only host, and much of the podcast is set up like a straight-forward phone interview with a guest. This gives the podcast more of a journalistic feel than a conversational feel. There are some familiar features, though. The episode begins with an almost fantasy-esque instrumental, over which Anne says “welcome back” to the listeners and introduces the podcast and herself. The intro music is given a longer time in the spotlight, playing uninterrupted until Anne begins the actual show. She immediately jumps into the topic before giving an overview of the episode. After that, there is no music until the end, when the same song plays as a signal that the episode is over.
Listening to Eat Feed was strange for me because it was, design-wise, unlike any podcast I’ve heard before. Anne is the only host, and much of the podcast is set up like a straight-forward phone interview with a guest. This gives the podcast more of a journalistic feel than a conversational feel. There are some familiar features, though. The episode begins with an almost fantasy-esque instrumental, over which Anne says “welcome back” to the listeners and introduces the podcast and herself. The intro music is given a longer time in the spotlight, playing uninterrupted until Anne begins the actual show. She immediately jumps into the topic before giving an overview of the episode. After that, there is no music until the end, when the same song plays as a signal that the episode is over.
The final apple-related podcast I listened to is called “An Apple Quest,” released by Gravy. (Was I sick of apples by this point? Never.) Gravy is all about food in the South of the United States, and this episode is no different. It follows the journey of two apple lovers, Pete and Eliza, who want to start their own apple orchards and are on the search for the perfect apple. This podcast is presented much like a story, with host Tina Antolini doing very little speaking; interviews, sound bytes, and story narration take up most of the episode. Listeners follow Pete and Eliza across the South as they locate their favorite wild apple, which they’ve named “Fetty Wap” (after the rapper of the same name). Pete turns Fetty Wap into a bitter cider, which they taste for the first time right on the show. Pete and Eliza both plant Fetty Wap seeds in hope of growing whole orchards of the apple. Gravy also dedicates time to the history of apples, especially as it relates to the South. Pete and Eliza bemoan the lack of apple diversity today, and Pete even compares a stand of Red Delicious apples to a morgue. This is why he and Eliza are chasing after wild apples for their own orchards. The podcast also discusses the United States’ reliance on foreign apples due to prohibition’s prolonged effects on cider and apples today, covering much of the same history mentioned by Gastropod and Eat Feed.
Out of all the podcasts I listened to, Gravy is the most heavily edited, which made it very engaging. Host Tina Antolini’s welcoming voice begins the episode, talking about the topic before the show has been introduced; there’s even a clip of a guest speaking. Eventually, music fades in behind the voices and the show’s name and host are introduced. The rest of the podcast is delivered much like a story. When Pete and Eliza climb an apple tree and cut down branches, listeners can hear the crunching sounds, birds chirping, and branches falling. There is also a great deal of music that fades in and out during the episode, usually relating to the topic that is being discussed. When Fetty Wap is mentioned, the rapper’s most popular song begins to play in the background. Even the advertisements in Gravy have their own signifying music, and are read in a conversational tone by Tina herself. Each topic transition is smooth and natural. Recordings from guests are often dropped into the episode with no introduction, then explained and introduced after the message is delivered. At the end of the podcast, Tina describes what the next episode of Gravy will be about over more music, inviting listeners to tune in again and hear about another fascinating food topic.
The ideas covered in these three podcasts are so intertwined, not only with each other, but with our class topics, that it’s almost difficult not to connect them while listening. Every single podcast delved into the history of apples, even if that wasn’t the specific focus of the episode itself. Each podcast mentioned prohibition and its effects on cider and apples in the United States, and the reactions of the hosts and guests on every show were similar in nature: there was a general disappointment over prohibition limiting how we enjoy apples today. Funnily enough, every single podcast also brought up Red Delicious apples, and not a single one had any nice comments on the popular supermarket fruit. This relates heavily to the ideas we’ve discussed in class regarding how large corporations treat food. In the Ted Talk “The Global Food Waste Scandal,” Tristram Stuart draws attention to the appalling amount of food wasted in Western countries, including the fact that most food waste can be attributed to the disposal of foods deemed “too ugly” to put on store shelves. The trend in apple production is just a specific example of how corporations handle almost all food. There’s little consideration for the best quality product; instead, importance is placed on what product looks “prettiest” for consumption, keeps well for transportation and sitting on store shelves, and costs the least amount of money to produce.
Finally, it’s not just the ideas in these podcasts that carry over from one to the other, but the formats as well. Each show has its own distinct style, but a common theme throughout was the conversational, friendly atmosphere. Two out of three shows said “welcome back” at the beginning as opposed to simply introducing the show. All of the hosts sounded as if they were carrying an ad-libbed conversation (or monologue), even if the show was actually scripted. It’s this type of design choice—this welcoming, informal, fun type of way to engage listeners—that make podcasts so popular as a form of media today. When one can turn to a colorful, flashing screen for mindless entertainment, it’s the smart, thoughtful content; unintimidating, fun tone; and clever editing choices that bring listeners back to podcasts like Gastropod, Eat Feed, and Gravy.
Out of all the podcasts I listened to, Gravy is the most heavily edited, which made it very engaging. Host Tina Antolini’s welcoming voice begins the episode, talking about the topic before the show has been introduced; there’s even a clip of a guest speaking. Eventually, music fades in behind the voices and the show’s name and host are introduced. The rest of the podcast is delivered much like a story. When Pete and Eliza climb an apple tree and cut down branches, listeners can hear the crunching sounds, birds chirping, and branches falling. There is also a great deal of music that fades in and out during the episode, usually relating to the topic that is being discussed. When Fetty Wap is mentioned, the rapper’s most popular song begins to play in the background. Even the advertisements in Gravy have their own signifying music, and are read in a conversational tone by Tina herself. Each topic transition is smooth and natural. Recordings from guests are often dropped into the episode with no introduction, then explained and introduced after the message is delivered. At the end of the podcast, Tina describes what the next episode of Gravy will be about over more music, inviting listeners to tune in again and hear about another fascinating food topic.
The ideas covered in these three podcasts are so intertwined, not only with each other, but with our class topics, that it’s almost difficult not to connect them while listening. Every single podcast delved into the history of apples, even if that wasn’t the specific focus of the episode itself. Each podcast mentioned prohibition and its effects on cider and apples in the United States, and the reactions of the hosts and guests on every show were similar in nature: there was a general disappointment over prohibition limiting how we enjoy apples today. Funnily enough, every single podcast also brought up Red Delicious apples, and not a single one had any nice comments on the popular supermarket fruit. This relates heavily to the ideas we’ve discussed in class regarding how large corporations treat food. In the Ted Talk “The Global Food Waste Scandal,” Tristram Stuart draws attention to the appalling amount of food wasted in Western countries, including the fact that most food waste can be attributed to the disposal of foods deemed “too ugly” to put on store shelves. The trend in apple production is just a specific example of how corporations handle almost all food. There’s little consideration for the best quality product; instead, importance is placed on what product looks “prettiest” for consumption, keeps well for transportation and sitting on store shelves, and costs the least amount of money to produce.
Finally, it’s not just the ideas in these podcasts that carry over from one to the other, but the formats as well. Each show has its own distinct style, but a common theme throughout was the conversational, friendly atmosphere. Two out of three shows said “welcome back” at the beginning as opposed to simply introducing the show. All of the hosts sounded as if they were carrying an ad-libbed conversation (or monologue), even if the show was actually scripted. It’s this type of design choice—this welcoming, informal, fun type of way to engage listeners—that make podcasts so popular as a form of media today. When one can turn to a colorful, flashing screen for mindless entertainment, it’s the smart, thoughtful content; unintimidating, fun tone; and clever editing choices that bring listeners back to podcasts like Gastropod, Eat Feed, and Gravy.