The Sporkful

Bibliographic Information:

• Title: The Sporkful
• Episode: Mission ImPASTAble 1- Spaghetti Sucks, March 1, 2021
• Host: Dan Pashman
• Producer: Emma Morgenstern
• Editor: Tracey Samuelson
• Platform: Stitcher
• Dates: 2010 to present

Genre: Cooking/Comedy

Format: Podcast

Rating/Interest Level: Teen through adult

Awards/Honors:  James Beard Award, Webby Award, and Saveur Award for Best Food Podcast (Sporkful, 2021).

Summary: The Sporkful is a podcast created and hosted by Dan Pashman. He started the podcast in 2010 after being laid off from six radio jobs in eight years. The tag line of The Sporkful is “It’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters” (The Sporkful, 2021). The Sporkful talks about food in a manner that non-foodies would talk about it with their friends. They discuss many food topics from serious to silly, such as what toppings to put on hot dogs, is it ok to eat pizza with a knife and fork, and the best way to layer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The most recent episode was about the history and biology of lobsters. The Sporkful uses humor to discuss different aspects of food, including science, history, race, culture, and economics. The Sporkful has been on the air for over 10 years and produced 555 episodes. (The Sporkful 2021). Some past guests on the podcast include Weird Al, Guy Fieri, Alton Brown, Amy Sedaris, Jim Gaffigan, Hasan Minhaj, Margaret Cho, Padma Lakshmi, Marc Maron, Rosie Perez, Rachel Maddow and more (Linked In, 2021).

Five recent episodes of the show were dedicated to Pashman’s quest to design and produce the perfect pasta. He is not a fan of spaghetti and finds faults in many other pasta shapes. He succeeded in inventing cascatelli, which according to Pashman, has three qualities that make a perfect pasta- forkablility (how easy is it to get it on your fork and keep it there), sauceability (how well the sauce adheres to the pasta), and toothsinkability (how satisfying is it to sink your teeth into). (CBS This Morning, 2021).

Host Background: Dan Pashman is the host and creator of The Sporkful. He is also the creator and host of Cooking Channel’s You’re Eating It Wrong and a contributor to NPR and Milk Street Radio. Pashman has hosted live tapings of the podcast to sold out crowds. He has been featured on Radiolab, WTF with Marc Maron, The Today Show, Morning Edition, Guy’s Grocery Games, Planet Money, It’s Been A Minute With Sam Sanders, and Beat Bobby Flay. Pashman received his B.A. from Tufts University in 1999. He lives outside of New York City with his wife and two daughters (WNYC, 2021).

Reaction/Interest: The Sporkful has recieved mostly 4 and 5 star reviews on Chartable.com (2021). Viewers describe it as entertaining, smart, thoughtful, curious, diverse, inspiring and educational. I could not find any teen reviews.

Critical Evaluation: The Sporkful is funny, entertaining, and interesting. It is fast moving, and the host is charming. The episodes that I listened to have a lot of laughter. Pashman really seems to enjoy what he is talking about. He talks about food like a “regular” person, not a foodie or food snob. It comes down to “do you like the food or not”. Pashman’s view on food is refreshing. Some of the topics are hilarious and relatable. The podcast has received many 4- and 5-star reviews on different websites, has won various awards for best food podcast. Teens, adults, and families who enjoy cooking and talking about food will like this podcast.

Speed-Round Talk: Does the perfect pasta exist? What’s wrong with spaghetti? And is it ever ok to put pineapple on pizza? Listen to The Sporkful and find out the answers to these food questions, and more. Guaranteed to make you LOL!

Creative Use for a Library Program: Since Dan Pashman, the host and creator of The Sporkful, created cascatelli, the library could host a cooking program where the teens make different recipes using this new pasta. There have been recipes posted on FaceBook that they could try. Dan Pashman grew up in the town where my library is located, so we could try to have him Skype or Zoom and speak to the kids during the cooking class.

Potential Challenge Issues and Defense: I do not foresee any challenges or issues for this podcast.

Reason for Inclusion: I included The Sporkful because it came up on many Google searches of “best podcasts for teens.” I had read about cascatelli pasta on FaceBook and was curious to listen to the podcast. I found it to be laugh out loud funny and interesting. The episodes are short and the topics are diverse. I will definitely listen to this again. Teens who are into food and cooking will enjoy this podcast.

References:

Chartable. (2021). The Sporkful reviews. Retrieved from https://chartable.com/podcasts/the-sporkful/reviews

CBS This Morning. (2021, March 27). Man creates new pasta shape made to hold sauce. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTskUfIihXU&ab_channel=CBSThisMorningCBSThisMorning

LinkedIn. (2021). Dan Pashman. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-pashman-b0258b8

WNYC. (2021). Dan Pashman. Retrieved from https://www.wnyc.org/people/dan-pashman/

The Sporkful. (2021). About. Retrieved from https://www.sporkful.com/about/