The Sporkful

When you walk into a restaurant, you’re bombarded with signals that tell you what kind of place it is. But what happens when those signals bring certain people in, and keep others out? This is Part One of a special series on race, culture and food called, Who Is This Restaurant For? This week we'll explore the different messages sent in restaurants to try to understand how they're interpreted and what they tell us about larger questions of race and culture.

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

Ahead of the launch of a new series on race, culture and food called Who Is This Restaurant For? we’re repeating our series Other People’s Food, in case you missed part of it the first time around.

In Episode 5, Artist Ashok Kondabolu and comedian Michelle Buteau join us live on stage. They grew up in immigrant families, straddling food cultures and they have very different opinions on the line between assimilation and appropriation, but they agree on one thing: It's personal. (Repeat) 

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

Ahead of the launch of a new series on race, culture and food called Who Is This Restaurant For? we’re repeating our series Other People’s Food, in case you missed part of it the first time around.

In Episode 4 we hang with Rosie Perez. The actress says she's fed up with stereotypes of her and her food. And she tells the story of eating in Puerto Rico for the first time and thinking, "This is me." (Repeat) 

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

Ahead of the launch of a new series on race, culture and food called Who Is This Restaurant For? we’re repeating our series Other People’s Food, in case you missed part of it the first time around.

In Episode 3, we explore a famous civil rights protest involving food. Joe McNeil's order at a segregated lunch counter in 1960 changed the way Americans eat forever. We met him for lunch to discuss his historic protest -- and the finer points of apple pie. (Repeat) 

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

Ahead of the launch of a new series on race, culture and food called Who Is This Restaurant For? we’re repeating our series Other People’s Food, in case you missed part of it the first time around.

Why are we willing to pay more for Italian and Japanese food than Chinese and Mexican? As we find out in Episode 2, it has nothing to do with the ingredients. (Repeat) 

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

Ahead of a new series on race, culture, and food, we're repeating Other People's Food. What happens when people cook food from a culture that's not their own? Celebrity chef Rick Bayless opens up about the pros and cons of cultural exchange. (Repeat) 

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

When a high school student calls in to discuss the true meaning of salad, Dan and Serious Eats' Kenji Lopez-Alt find themselves on opposing sides of another debate.

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

Humorist and Cooking Channel host Mo Rocca gets deep on ravioli – from Chef Boyardee to his grandma's recipe to what he calls "the Kenny G of ravioli." Plus, Mo and Dan debate Latin grammar, and Mo tells us about a meal that almost killed him. (Repeat) 

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

A champion homebrewer schools us in the science of beer and tells us how she deals with guys who question whether she really knows her stuff. Plus the women behind the Bitch Beer blog help us pair beers with weather forecasts.

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.

The podcast host tells us how a mishap in a grocery store in Japan made him a tea drinker for life. And he shares his childhood memories of food in a rural Michigan cult. Live on stage from Chicago!

Please subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or the Podcasts app so you never miss an episode! Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram @TheSporkful and at Facebook.com/Sporkful.