The egg is an extraordinary thing. In the pantheon of miraculous food chemistry, it takes on a range of essential roles. From helping cakes and soufflés to rise, to bringing disparate ingredients and flavours into a unified whole. They can also take on a starring role, whether fried, scrambled or poached. Eggs frequently appear in art, literature, design, and philosophy, too, and they are at the heart of the age-old paradox: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

This episode was originally broadcast on May 10, 2025.

Many of us imagine that an athlete's diet consists of sports supplements providing carefully calibrated doses of carbohydrates, protein and electrolytes, but for ancient Olympians, a diet of cheese or figs was seemingly enough. In truth, whole foods are still the most important part of an athlete's diet today, as we discover on our culinary tour of the sporting world.

This episode was originally broadcast on May 17, 2025.

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.

This episode was originally broadcast on September 20, 2025.

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. 

This episode was originally broadcast on August 9, 2025.

Our Christmas food traditions are richly varied, with history behind every dish. While some mainstays of the Christmas spread have endured for hundreds of years, other icons of the feast are far more recent additions. Tracing the history of Christmas eating tells a story of changing foodways across Australia and the world.

Perhaps the skill that best serves a professional chef is knowing how to make a great meal with what's at hand. Stocking a pantry and fridge with dependable and adaptable ingredients is at the heart of two new cookbooks: The latest from Alison Roman, Something from Nothing, and Masterchef-winner Nat Thaipun's debut, Thai: Anywhere and Everywhere.

We all have a shelf in our fridge or pantry of neglected condiments that we're unsure of what to do with — or whether we even like them. In this episode, help is at hand. Claire Dinhut, aka Condiment Claire, is a solutions-oriented flavour fiend, and in her quest for new taste sensations, she is not afraid to think outside the box.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that we all eat. Whether we’re considering the menus of last week or last century, food helps us to understand ourselves, our neighbours — and even our most treasured literary characters. When we read the novels of Jane Austen with an eye for the culinary, what might we discover?

The sound accompanying your mealtimes could be affecting the flavour of your food. Several scientific studies have shown a link between what we hear and what we taste. Sound can even influence what we choose to eat. If you find that hard to believe, grab a snack and have a listen — we have an experiment you can try at home.

A home garden typically conjures a sense of comfort and of self-sufficiency, but what if that garden were in Palestine? The celebrated Palestinian-British chef and author Sami Tamimi has written a new book, Boustany, inspired by the food of home. It champions the food of all our homes — the food we can grow in a garden or forage nearby — but also the food of his homeland, which is becoming disconnected from its rich culinary culture under the shadow of war.