The 'Sader Digest

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North Shore beef has its three-way. The Merrimack Valley has its chicken sandwich. And Southeastern Massachusetts? It's got blade meat.

This week on The ’Sader Digest, we're heading to the South Shore and Southeastern Massachusetts to explore a regional favorite with deep Portuguese-American roots. We're talking slow-cooked, garlicky, seasoned pork piled onto a Portuguese roll and a sandwich that locals know and love, even if the rest of the world has never heard of it.

We'll dig into the Portuguese immigrant communities that helped shape the region's food culture, explore how traditional flavors evolved into something distinctly Massachusetts, and ask a bigger question: What does it actually mean for a food to be authentic? Because sometimes the best local foods aren't fancy, famous, or found on every menu. They're the ones that connect a community to its history, its people, and its home.

And if the name blade meat makes you think of Wesley Snipes instead of a sandwich, you're in the right place.

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I've got some news that might ruin your next fruit salad: strawberries aren't actually berries, but bananas and tomatoes are. Wait, what?! 🍓🍌

This week on The ’Sader Digest, we're getting to the bottom of one of life's most important questions: What the heck is a strawberry? We'll explore the botanical technicalities behind those little seeds on the outside, investigate where the word “strawberry” actually comes from, and discover how the big, juicy strawberries we know today are the result of agricultural history, crossbreeding, and human intervention.

But there's more to this fruit than a botanical identity crisis. From the evolution of modern strawberries to the trade-offs between flavor, size, and shelf life, we're asking what it really means for a food to be “natural.” And if all this science leaves you confused, don't worry. There's always strawberry shortcake.

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Forget politics. Forget sports. If you really want to start an argument in Massachusetts, just ask someone where to get the best North Shore beef.

This week on The ’Sader Digest, we're heading to Revere, Lynn, Salem, and beyond to dig into one of Massachusetts' most fiercely defended food traditions: the North Shore roast beef sandwich. From the legendary origin story at Kelly's Roast Beef to the Greek immigrant influence that helped shape local beef culture, we're exploring what makes this sandwich so much more than thinly sliced rare beef piled sky-high on an onion roll.

We'll break down the sacred three-way (James River BBQ sauce, mayo, and cheese, obviously), the shops that inspire passionate debates, and why this regional classic is about more than just what's on the roll. There's just one problem: your host has some controversial opinions about the three-way. The Beefers might want to sit this one out.

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What happens when you order a “chicken bob” and expect barbecue… only to get warm pulled chicken, iceberg lettuce, mayonnaise, and a soft roll? Welcome to the Merrimack Valley.

In this episode of The ’Sader Digest, Brad heads back to the Massachusetts food map—and very close to where he grew up—to explore one of the region’s most aggressively local sandwiches. The Chicken Bob (yes, Bob, not Barb.. because we all know Barb is pronounced [Bah-b]) is simple, mysterious, and somehow ridiculously good. We’ll talk about where it may have come from, why nobody seems to agree on exactly how it got its name, and why a sandwich with four basic ingredients has become a local legend in Lawrence, Methuen, and the surrounding Merrimack Valley.
And because no trip through the Merrimack Valley would be complete without it, Brad also takes a completely reasonable detour to complain about the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border.

The Chicken Bob never needed to conquer America. It just needed to belong to the people who grew up there. And honestly? That's what regional food is all about.

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This week on The ’Sader Digest, Brad sits down with dietetic intern Taylor Barber to talk about changing majors, finding your passion, and discovering that becoming a dietitian involves a whole lot more than telling people to eat less.

Taylor shares her journey from business major to exercise science to nutrition, talks about finding the right career path, and drops some advice for students who aren't quite sure what they want to do yet. Then things get appropriately nerdy with a nutrition hot take lightning round covering carbs, breakfast, protein, healthy fats, calorie balance—and Brad's very real case of “peanuts on the brain.”

Plus: the two debate whether protein really needs to be maxed out, give a shameless shoutout to the PAC's peanut butter sandwich, and attempt to make the Krebs cycle relevant to absolutely everything.

It's a Taylor-made episode full of nutrition, career advice, food talk, and just enough peanut butter to get you thinking about lunch.

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The chocolate chip cookie feels like it has existed forever. Grandma made them. Your dining hall makes them. There’s a recipe on the back of the bag. They’re basically American edible furniture.

Except… the chocolate chip cookie is less than 100 years old.

In this episode of The ’Sader Digest, Brad heads to Whitman, Massachusetts, to uncover the story of Ruth Wakefield, the Toll House Inn, and the cookie that went from a restaurant experiment to a national obsession. And that famous story about Ruth accidentally throwing chocolate into cookie dough? Yeah… maybe not so much.

We’ll dig into the real story behind the cookie, how a trained food professional turned experimentation into an American classic, and how one cookbook, one chocolate company, and a very interesting $1 deal helped take the chocolate chip cookie from a little Massachusetts restaurant to kitchens around the country.

Because sometimes great food isn’t an accident. Sometimes somebody actually knows what they’re doing.

Also: oatmeal raisin gets what it deserves.

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Before it was a Fluffernutter, it was just a guy in Somerville selling marshmallow goo door to door.

This week on The ’Sader Digest, Brad digs into the very Massachusetts history of Marshmallow Fluff—from Archibald Query making marshmallow cream in his Somerville kitchen to a $500 recipe deal that helped turn it into a New England icon. Along the way, we get into radio shows, questionable branding decisions, the birth of the Fluffernutter, and why Somerville decided that marshmallow cream deserved an entire festival.

Plus: why Fluff isn't vegan, why you need two knives to make a proper Fluffernutter, and the much bigger question of what actually makes a food “Massachusetts food.”
Grab some white bread, peanut butter, and Fluff. This one is going to get sticky.

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What happens when students don't just talk about dining—but actually have a seat at the table?

In this episode of The 'Sader Digest, Brad sits down with Mia Simpson, a Holy Cross junior and member of the Dining Advisory Board, to talk about what it's really like to have a voice in the campus dining program.

Mia shares why she joined the Dining Advisory Board, what happens during the meetings, and how student feedback can lead to real changes across campus. From her suggestion to bring Poke Bowls to Crossroads to conversations about customization, food quality, local ingredients, and allergy-friendly options, Mia offers a student's perspective on what makes a dining program work.

Brad and Mia also go behind the scenes of the dining operation, discussing how student feedback is combined with data and culinary planning to make decisions. They look at everything from the popularity of Crossroads' new Poke Bowl concept to why some menu items don't perform as expected—and how those numbers can help shape what comes next.

The conversation also explores something many students may not realize: how much of the food served on campus is made in-house, how local Massachusetts products are incorporated into the menu, and the challenges of creating more options for students with food allergies and dietary restrictions.

Most importantly, Mia encourages students to do more than complain about dining. If there's something you love, something you don't like, or something you think could be better, speak up. The Dining Advisory Board is one place where that voice can be heard—and, as this episode shows, sometimes that voice can end up on the menu.

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Sweet. Crispy. Sticky. Completely misunderstood.

This week on The 'Sader Digest, Brad tells the incredible story of General Tso's chicken, a dish that's become synonymous with Chinese takeout despite having a history that's anything but straightforward.

Discover how one chef's journey from China to Taiwan and eventually New York transformed a banquet dish into an American icon. Along the way, Brad explores the myths behind General Tso himself, why the recipe changed so dramatically, and what this famous dish teaches us about immigration, culture, and the ever-changing definition of authenticity.

Because sometimes the best stories aren't hidden in a cookbook...

They're hiding in your takeout container.

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Fortune cookies feel ancient, traditional, and unmistakably Chinese—but their story is far more complicated. 

In this episode of The 'Sader Digest, Brad Shannon cracks open the surprising history of the fortune cookie: from Japanese tea gardens in California to immigration, World War II, internment camps, and the evolution of Chinese-American dining culture. Along the way, we explore lucky numbers, mass cookie production, cultural adaptation, and why food traditions are often built through migration, reinvention, and repetition. Turns out, the little cookie at the end of your meal has a much bigger story inside.