I love food. It doesn’t matter if it’s cooking, eating, or learning about food. I cannot get enough. Last year while procrastinating I stumbled upon this gem of a podcast: Gastropod.

Now I know it sounds like this podcast would be about snails and slugs, as the title may suggest. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead it’s a podcast devoted to food, and although some people enjoy eating things like snails, I do not. The title is a delightful combination of gastronomy and podcast.

Gastropod examines food through the lens of science and history. I was hooked from the very first episode “The Golden Spoon”. This episode is devoted entirely to all things flatware, more specifically the spoon. This episode walks you through the history of flatware and the different ways the shape and composition of metals affect the taste of the food we eat. I have never wanted a golden spoon, nor thought that I needed one, but after listening to this episode I feel like I need to re-evaluate my entire life. This episode won the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award for Culinary Audio Series in 2015.

Episodes cover a diverse range of topics, from interviews with chefs like Dan Barber (who was featured on season 1 of Chef’s Table), living on Soylent, the Night of the Radishes, cheese and cheese scientists, wine, and yes, they do talk about gastropods.

This podcast is hosted by journalists Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley. They have a fantastic relationship and go to great lengths to bring listeners a food filled audio experience. Even if it means living on Soylent for a week. Gastropod is released on a bi-weekly basis, and luckily for you there are two years of episodes to catch up on. If, like me, you’re stuck waiting for new episodes you can also check out Twilley’s blog Edible Geography.

Make sure you have a snack handy before you listen to this podcast, it’s guaranteed to make your tummy rumble. Gastropod can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, and SoundCloud. For more information on their episodes you can check out their website gastropod.com.

Republished from The Quill print edition, Volume 107, Issue 26, March 21, 2017.