I love talking about food as culture — and like all parts of culture, food has trends that ebb and flow. We asked you to provide us with food trends you’ve noticed (and/or confuse you) — and then we asked the great Evan Kleiman (chef, cookbook author, and longtime host of KCRW’s Good Food) to come unwind them with us. Want to know what it takes for a dish to show up at every corporate catering event? Why every restaurant in the U.S. (still) has a brussels sprouts dish? How hot chicken got franchised? WE’VE GOT YOU. This episode is filled with delights (and will make you want to browse expensive tinned fish online).

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/

Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to ZocDoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today

Right now, get 15% off your first order by going to Blueland.com/CULTURE

Go to https://zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

This one’s a weird one! But it’s also going to elucidate a bunch of bewildering phrases that you might have noticed popping up in advertisements or in teens’ conversations. Adam Aleksic runs the incredibly popular TikTok/IG/YouTube account Etymology Nerd, where he breaks down how new phrases and memes travel across the internet. Today, we’re talking to him about the way these phrases also make their way into our spoken language — and how algorithms function as a new engine in language change. Like I said, it’s a weird one — but it’s also incredibly interesting.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Get 15% off your first purchase using code CULTURE at FastGrowingTrees.com

Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off, plus free shipping, on the Best sellers Trial Pack or the NEW plant-based trial pack

Get better sleep, hair and skin with Blissy and use CULTUREPOD to get an additional 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD

Take your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use promo code CULTURESTUDY for 10% off your first order!

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

There aren’t many contemporary celebrities with images layered enough that I could talk about them all day. But Gwyneth? She’s one of them. She’s it. She’s never pretended to be “just like us,” which is part of what makes her beguiling — and infuriating. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and sometimes what she’s doing is trying to get a bunch of people to talk about jade eggs you put in your vagina. She’s a master marketer of self, a promoter of charlatans, and impossible to ignore. And I’m so thrilled to have Amy Odell, author of the new, impeccably reported Gwyneth biography, here to discuss all your excellent questions.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics

Save 20% Off Honeylove by going to honeylove.com/CULTURE

Try Remi risk-free at shopremi.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE to get up to 50% off your nightguard at checkout

Head to Ollie.com/CULTURE, tell them all about your dog, and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your Welcome Kit when you subscribe today

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe

Over on the newsletter, our book concierge threads — when people ask for specific book recommendations, and readers then offer their suggestions — regularly top 1500 comments. We wanted to bring the same energy to the podcast, and Maris Kreizman, author of The Maris Review and I Want To Burn This Place Down, reads more (and more widely) than anyone else I know. I promise: you’ll leave this episode with a new pile of books you want to read immediately. (And honestly, that’s the Back to School Adult Energy I crave).

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Go to HelloFresh.com/CULTURESTUDY10FM to get 10 free meals + a free item for life

Get 35% off your entire order at LolaBlankets.com using code CULTURE at checkout

Get a great night’s sleep with a new mattress from Birch. Go to BirchLiving.com/CULTURE to get 27% off sitewide

Try OneSkin for 15% off using code CULTURE at oneskin.co

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

Texas Culture is at least a dozen cultures smashed into one enormous state — with a whopping 254 counties, four sprawling metro areas, 1255 miles of border with Mexico, the best breakfast item in the United States (fight me) and the best grocery store chain (fight me again). I needed a co-host who was up to the task — and, like all of our other regional-specific episodes, loves the place they’re from intensely… but is also willing to interrogate its mess. I needed longtime friend of the pod (and San Antonio native) Sam Sanders. In this ep, we go deep into so many corners of Texas Culture — and talk about what people who’ve never lived there just don’t *get.* It’s wonky and delightful, a perfect Culture Study combo.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Get 15% off your first order of Blueland cleaning products at Blueland.com/CULTURE

Head to Graza.co and use CULTURE to get 10% off of the TRIO which includes Sizzle, Frizzle and Drizzle, and get to cookin’ your next chef-quality meal!

Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use CULTURESTUDY at checkout

Try Beam’s best-selling Dream Powder— get up to 40% off at shopbeam.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE at checkout

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

I first read about Cara Meredith’s book on evangelical church camp over at Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s newsletter, and as soon as I saw “cry night” in the subtitle, I knew any conversation with her was gonna be a real one. Put differently, I knew she was ready to talk about what drew people to these camps — but also how they worked to deftly manipulate the young people who attended them. I went to church camp for a decade. I was a counselor for several years. I cried on cry night; I watched bad skits; I highlighted the crap out of my Youth Bible — and I adored it. But I also internalized a lot of contradictory and harmful messages, and felt weird about some of the ways we were counseling young kids.

Cara and I process all of that in this episode — and also answer a bunch of your complicated questions. And as always with these episodes, we’re working hard to make the episode accessible to people outside of the culture (or who find it weird, which, real talk, it is) while also going deep into the weeds. I’m so eager for your thoughts.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Blissy is offering 60-nights risk-free PLUS an additional 30% off when you shop at Blissy.com/CULTUREPOD

Save 20% Off Honeylove at honeylove.com/CULTURE

Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to ZocDoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

When your family is from a place with a distinctive, often-mockable accent, and you don’t have that accent but can (and do) readily fall into it as soon as you get around anyone who does their vowels like a Minnesotan, you learn to love accents. And then, as soon as you take any class (or read any text) in the anthropology/sociology/cultural analysis realm, you start thinking about accents as signifiers: of place, of race, of social status, of education, of insider/outsider status… the meanings feel endless.

I’m SO thrilled to have Dr. Nicole Holliday on this week’s episode to go deep and nerdy on all of your very complicated (or, sometimes, deceptively simple) questions about accents — most of them American, but we’ve got a few Canadian questions in there, too. And I can pretty much guarantee: you’re going to absolutely devour this episode. It’s the platonic ideal of a Culture Study ep, and I can’t wait to discuss it.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Zbiotics Sugar-to-Fiber: Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. ZBiotics has a 100% money-back guarantee, so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason they will refund your money, no questions asked.

Article: Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit ARTICLE.COM/culture and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus free shipping on the best sellers trial pack or the new plant-based trial pack

Head to Ollie.com/CULTURE, tell them all about your dog, and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your Welcome Kit when you subscribe today

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe

When I first heard about Hannah Zeavin’s new book, Mother Media: Hot and Cool Parenting in the Twentieth Century, I knew it Culture Study material. Historicizing the intersection between tech and motherhood (and how surveillance affects mothers and changes parenting norms which leads to more surveillance)… that’s some Culture Study s**t. I’m thrilled that Hannah Zeavin — whose work so compellingly crosses the lines of media history and history of psychology — agreed to come on the pod (and that she was such a dynamic and engaging co-host).

If you’re skeeved out by breastfeeding discourse, if you’ve ever been a childcare provider (for your own children or others’) and resent the threat of cameras, if you feel so deeply ambivalent about the nanny cam… this episode will take you to places that make all of this surveillance “make sense” (which is very different from making it feel better). I can’t wait for your thoughts on this one.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Get great sleep on a new Birch mattress. Go to BirchLiving.com/Culture for 27% off sitewide

Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to: https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTURE.

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

This is an audience of people who love books — and people who have thoughts about the culture around books. Book clubs, BookTok, the popularization of book genres, special editions, the way other people talk about us reading — there’s endless fodder for discussion and analysis. I’m thrilled to have Alyssa Morris, one of the sharpest observers of contemporary book culture, back on the pod to answer all of your questions about very of-this-moment trends (and give some very good advice on how to keep your book club thriving). This one’s a juicy one (and yes I do talk mild s**t about Reese’s Book Club!!!)

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Add Graza Olive Oil to your summertime patio party arsenal. Visit https://graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use promo code CULTURE today for 10% off of the TRIO!

Go to https://zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.

Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com

Montana’s unofficial tagline is “the last best place” — which should tell you something about the way the state thinks about itself. It’s a political frankenstein, incredibly beautiful, increasingly filled with tourists, and a twelve-hour drive from one corner of the state to the other. Oh, and just over a million people total live there. Including Chris La Tray, who’s just finishing his tenure as Montana Poet Laureate, and one of my favorite thinkers on what makes Montana so easy to fall in love with — but not always a very easy place to live.

In this episode, we talk about our favorite, most contradictory, and most hostile parts of Montana culture, from exorbitant housing prices to what it’s like to live in a place that falls in love with its own area code. If your vision of Montana culture comes from Yellowstone, this is a great corrective… that will also make you want a huckleberry milkshake.

Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!

Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/culture to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today

Blissy is offering 60 nights risk-free PLUS an additional 30% off when you shop at Blissy.com/CULTUREPOD

Get 40% off Beam’s best-selling Dream Powder at shopbeam.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE at checkout

Switch your cleaning products to Blueland and get 15% off your first order by going to Blueland.com/culture

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com

To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com