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Exploring culture through food. Each week Jonathan Green serves up a new dish or ingredient, uncovering the rich layer of stories, traditions, and innovations behind it. From the origins and cultural significance to the science and economics of food, we explore how what we eat shapes and is shaped by our world. From humble street food to gourmet delicacies, discover the fascinating narratives that make every bite a story worth telling.
634 Episodes
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Whether it is Nigella, Stephanie or Yotam on your shelf, there is a good chance that you and I are cooking from the same book. The two best-selling books in Australia in 2024 were both cookbooks — and they were both written by Nagi Maehashi, the founder of the website RecipeTin Eats. Her two books — Dinner and Tonight — have together sold one million copies worldwide. So, what is it about the floury, greasy pages of a cookbook that unite us and shape our conceptions of food?
The books of childhood take us on adventures far from our own backyard, where we often encounter culinary delights that arouse memory and spark imagination. But if there's a common thread that runs through much of children's literature, it's that the paths to our deepest desires are stalked by danger. We explore the deep symbolism behind our favourite foodie fantasies in children's books.
Salad is at the core of Hetty Lui McKinnon's culinary being. For many, salad is something at the margins of our food lives — an adornment, if not something to be avoided. What might that attitude deprive us of? Since launching her career in Sydney as a cook and the author of the bestseller Community, Hetty has since moved to the United States and is now a regular contributor to the New York Times. Her new book is called Linger.
How much money and effort do you invest in your coffee habit? Australian coffee drinkers today have a limitless variety of options available. From the type of bean and where it's grown, to how the bean is roasted and the coffee extracted, every taste can be catered for. So, if you're content with a stock-standard caffè latte, are you missing something?
Interest rates and inflation may be easing, but the hospitality industry is still doing it tough. Profit margins are slim and hospitality businesses face a higher rate of failure than any other sector. And yet, household spending at cafes and restaurants is generally up — so what is happening? We ask an industry stalwart and meet newcomers trying innovative business models.
What does the word masala mean to you? Masala generally refers to a blend of spices, but according to cook Sarina Kamini, masala is also about shape, weight, texture and feeling. 'It's a whole different way of experiencing food.' We join Sarina in the kitchen for a masala masterclass, exploring how changing our relationship with spice can change so much more than just flavour.
Cook and author Ixta Belfrage is a firm believer in the expressive potential of fusion cooking. Her cooking is rooted in a childhood in Italy and familial connections to Mexico and Brazil. After developing her craft at Yotam Ottolenghi's restaurant NOPI and the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, Ixta's first solo cookbook, Mezcla, embraced the flavours of Mexico and Italy. Her new book, Fusão is inspired by the food of Brazil.
1With so many dietary options on the menu, one can wonder whether the choices available relate to a genuine health concern or the latest fad. Perhaps the most visible and complex dietary options relate to gluten. For some, gluten-free living is a choice, while for others, gluten can do serious harm to their bodies. With health experts and a hungry coeliac, we separate fact from fiction — including whether gluten-free flour can ever truly replicate your favourite bakes.
While some might rely on a sachet of quick oats for their daily porridge fix, there are oat aficionados who will happily steam, roll, cut or grind their own. There's a world of flavour and texture to explore, and for the most accomplished out there, Scotland hosts an annual World Porridge Making Championship — The Golden Spurtle.
Eating can be a simple pleasure, but for some it's a struggle. Food aversions manifest in many ways, from simple picky eating to outright disgust. Very few of us don't have at least one or two foods that we avoid. Sometimes it's about taste or texture, other times it's attached to a bad memory, such as a bout of food poisoning. Whatever the cause, is it possible to shift our aversions?
Digging for truffles is like digging for buried treasure: a good haul can earn you a pretty penny and the activity can attract a rogues' gallery of characters keen to keep the booty for themselves. Rather than relying on competitive (and sometimes dangerous) foraging, Australia is a world-leader in truffle farming. But growing these fickle fungi is a years-long endeavour, and harvesting them requires the assistance of a four-legged friend.
Who doesn't love a passionfruit sponge, jam roly-poly or nice fluffy scone? Many of these classic recipes have been shared via community cookbooks, compiled by community groups and sold to raise funds for different causes and organisations. These books can become time capsules, revealing much about the social and political fabric of a community at a particular point in time.
Cyclists at the Tour de France consume unfathomable amounts of food as they compete in the nearly 3,500-kilometre race over 21 days. Consistent eating can make the difference between securing the yellow jersey or suffering an early exit. But as they wend their way around France, can cyclists enjoy the regional cuisine? Or does the local fare remain tantalisingly out of reach?
Everyone's a critic, but there's an art to the well-considered, expert restaurant review. Besha Rodell is an award-winning writer and the chief restaurant critic for The Age. She's written for The New York Times, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and many others. Now she's written a memoir, Hunger Like a Thirst, which is about her life, her love of food and how good criticism can become an integral part of a city's culinary life.
In episode two of our series on food in space, we're travelling beyond the exosphere to discover how we might feed ourselves during voyages into deep space and how that technology could change what we eat here on Earth. We learn about new farming techniques optimised for hostile environments, the Australian plants hitching a ride to the Moon in 2026, and a protein source that can be manufactured 'from thin air.'
Space: The final gastronomic frontier. For the brave souls who venture far above the world, when they get peckish, can they rely on more than a floating tin can of food? The first meal in space was beef and liver paste squeezed from a tube, but what do we find in the space kitchen of today? Food in space is our next culinary adventure.
What's on the menu this week? For many Australians, food is an adventure with limitless potential. A lamb roast on Sunday, a meat pie at the football, and perhaps a toastie with warrigal greens, kimchi and burrata at the local café. Our palate embraces everything from meat-and-three-veg simplicity to unique flavour combinations incorporating foods from all corners of the globe. How did we get here?
What would a birthday or a wedding be without cake? Celebration cakes are a signifier of occasion, sometimes requiring superhuman effort to bake and decorate. We explore the surprisingly recent history of the celebration cake, uncovering the role of the British royal family, The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book, and our evolving relationship with time itself.
You say tomato, I say… bleurgh. How is it that we can have such different experiences of the same foods? Taste and flavour: What are they and how do they work? We meet some of the top flavour scientists working today, including the researcher who discovered that there are 'supertasters' among us.
What characterises Australian food? We're a nation adept at making first-rate versions of food drawn from all corners of the globe, but our palates are less familiar with the foods of our own backyard. For millennia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have cultivated and enjoyed uniquely Australian foods. So, why are these ingredients still so hard to find on supermarket shelves?
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the speculative individual is very WOKE. Interesting and sad...
This by far one of the best podcasts around👍
The second half is a repeat of the first half!