Putting our own homemade vodka to the test... Dan’s friend Alex Goldmark insists that cheap vodka makes his face turn red; Dan doesn’t believe him, because Dan thinks all vodka is the same. We team up with NPR’s Planet Money, where Alex happens to be the senior supervising producer, to settle this debate once and for all. Along the way we visit a vodka distillery, learn about the origins of Grey Goose, and make our own vodka. Then these two guys walk into a bar, and try to cause an allergic reaction. //

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Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

It’s not for foodies, it’s for lovers… Could listening to The Sporkful be the fertile soil out of which true love grows? We put out the call for Sporkful listeners looking for love, and hundreds of you responded. This week, we listen in on two blind Zoom dates that resulted from our extremely unscientific matchmaking. Is The Sporkful enough of a spark to ignite a grease fire of passion for two eaters? Or will these dates turn as cold as take-out fries?//

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Cauliflower rice biryani anyone?… When Kumail Nanjiani was cast as a Marvel superhero, he decided to transform his body. Gone was the guy who played a schlubby coder on Silicon Valley — Kumail got jacked. To many of his fans, and to anyone who heard him wax poetic about his favorite foods on The Sporkful four years ago, this change was shocking. But has Kumail himself changed? This week he returns, now with his creative partner and wife Emily V. Gordon. They discuss the surprising ways their relationship to food has evolved since Kumail got ripped — and since the pandemic hit. Plus, they break down their quarantine take-out game, discuss the backlash to their eat cauliflower rice biryani, and unpack some of their body image issues.//

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Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

And why hunger in America became partisan… When Julián Castro sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, he made hunger one of his key campaign issues. The former HUD secretary and San Antonio mayor joins us to discuss food policy, the power and limitations of boycotts, and what he thinks will be different under President Biden. But first: Secretary Castro gets the true Sporkful treatment when he and Dan discuss his DIY iced tea sweetener, his favorite hot sauce, and the politics of sharing nachos.//

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Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

What foods do Sporkful listeners resolve to eat more of in the new year, and why? And what’s Dan’s New Year’s food resolution for 2021? All is revealed in this annual tradition. Plus we replay one of our favorite episodes of the year… Earlier this year (before Covid), Sotheby’s put a trove of Georgia O'Keeffe items up for sale. It included documents that were far less valuable than her paintings, but to us, much more exciting: O'Keeffe's box of grease-stained, handwritten recipes. Dan goes to see the recipes himself and talks with art experts to find out what the recipes say about the artist.//

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Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Do roses really smell like poo-poo-oo?... From tortilla chips to tree bark, from fancy cheese to toe cheese, there’s a world of smells all around us that tell us a lot about food, drink, and everything else. So says legendary food scientist Harold McGee in his new book, Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World’s Smells. Harold joins us to explain the connection between wet dog smell and fermented cabbage, and why we should have more “smell empathy” for others. Then we chat with Nik Sharma, whose new cookbook, The Flavor Equation, lays out the six components of flavor: aroma, sight, taste, emotion, sound, and mouthfeel. Why does tomato juice taste better on an airplane? Nik explains. Plus, Dan and Nik bond over their potato chip selection strategy.//

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A lot’s happened this year… After starting his own catering company and going to the Culinary Institute of America, Kwame Onwuachi enters the world of fine dining. Soon, investors want him to open his own restaurant. But when he does, things go wrong – fast. His comeback involves a secret restaurant, the show Black Mirror, and a white guy named Mufasa. (In honor of our 10th anniversary we’re re-releasing three all time favorite stories, as selected by listeners, each with a brand new update. This is Part 2 of our conversation with Kwame Onwuachi, and it includes the update at the end. Part 1 is in your feed right now.)//

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In honor of our 10th anniversary we’re re-releasing three all time favorite stories, as selected by listeners, each with a brand new update. This story is in two parts. Part 2 is in your feed now, with a special update… In 2019, Kwame Onwuachi became one of the fastest rising star chefs in America, and his DC restaurant Kith and Kin was widely considered one of the best in the country. But he went through countless twists and turns to get there. His story is so wild that he wrote a memoir, Notes From A Young Black Chef, that's now being made into a movie starring Lakeith Stanfield. Kwame shares the first half of that story live on stage, in conversation with Dan, at the Miracle Theatre in Washington, DC.//

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Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

The next chapter... In honor of our 10th anniversary we’re re-releasing three all time favorite stories, as selected by listeners, each with a brand new update at the end. In this episode we follow one woman's attempt to recover from an eating disorder over the course of a year. We hear what it’s like to wake up each morning and have to fight a battle not only with food, but more importantly, with yourself. We also hear from her husband and explore her decision, early in recovery, to become a baker.//

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Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.