Sebastian Maniscalco is one of the top-grossing comedians in America, beloved for his stories about the food-obsessed family he grew up in, and his constant irritation at just about everyone around him. And in 2021, he parlayed his love of food into a new Food Network show, Well Done. Sebastian talks with Dan about what it’s like going from a working-class upbringing — during which he torched hams to earn a little extra cash — to selling out Madison Square Garden many times over.

A 150-year-old blood feud over processed meat... When the New Jersey State Legislature tried to designate an Official State Sandwich, a fight broke out. Should it be pork roll, egg, and cheese — or Taylor ham, egg, and cheese? Thing is, pork roll and Taylor ham are the same food.

Food critic Brian Reinhart fell in love with spicy Mexican cuisine as a teenager in Texas, but over the years he started to notice that the jalapeños he’d buy in the grocery store were less and less hot. So he called up an expert who studies chili pepper genetics, and she shared a shocking revelation.

How to judge seltzers, plus the science of carbonation... Over the past decade, seltzer has exploded. Sales have doubled, and companies like Coke and Pepsi are buying up brands and creating their own sparkling waters. So in a crowded field, with a drink that doesn't have much flavor to begin with, how do you tell which one is best?

Are the vibes at a restaurant more important than the food? Would you rip a bagel and drag a piece through cream cheese, instead of slicing and spreading? Do you tip less when you get bad service? We get into these questions and a lot more in this edition of The Salad Spinner, our rapid fire roundtable discussion of food news and trends, live at SiriusXM headquarters in New York City!

Nigella Lawson is a domestic goddess of the highest order. She strikes the perfect balance between aspiration — a beautiful garden, perfect lighting — and accessibility — sheet pan dinners and a disdain for pretentiousness. Nigella reveals how her own cooking show persona comes from her discomfort in social situations, and shares the two condiments she always keeps in her purse.

José Cuervo was a real person, and he revolutionized the tequila industry in the early 1900s. He navigated bloody business rivalries, cozied up to a dictator, and survived the Mexican revolution thanks to a daring escape. After that, with his business in shambles, he had to figure out how to sell tequila in Prohibition-era America.

In 2007, Maangchi was 50 years old, a single mother of adult kids, and was addicted to online gaming. Her son suggested she post a cooking video to YouTube. Today she has 4 million subscribers and has taught fans all over the world how to cook traditional Korean food.

Hydrox cookies are known as a cheap knock-off of Oreos, to the point that Hydrox has become pop culture shorthand for “second best.” But did you know that Hydrox came first? And that these two cookies have a rivalry that goes back more than 100 years?

Actor and comedian Jason Mantzoukas is known for playing characters that are overzealous, exuberant, and more than a little wacky. But these characters are the exact opposite of how Jason felt growing up — like a “boy made of glass.” Jason has a life-threatening allergy to eggs, and that constant threat has forced him to live a life of vigilance.

Public discussions about eating disorders tend to focus on women, and in the past, so have our episodes on the subject. But millions of men also struggle with some form of disordered eating, though they’re far less likely to be diagnosed or to seek treatment. Today we hear stories from three men—in three different stages of life—who have complicated relationships with food.

A neuroscientist calls in to debate the geometry of pizza, and food science guru Kenji Lopez-Alt explains how woodworking can help us make a better bagel and cream cheese.

Roy Choi is a legend in LA. He was one of the first chefs to start cooking out of a food truck, and one of the first to mashup different cuisines in the way that’s become so popular. His Kogi korean beef taco truck was a sensation in LA when he debuted it in 2008 -- it later inspired the movie “Chef,” starring Jon Favreau.

Is there really a difference between cheap and expensive vodkas? In this collaboration with NPR's Planet Money, we go on a mission to learn how super premium vodka is made and marketed. Then we make our own, to see how it measures up.

Comedian Matteo Lane comes from a large Italian family, which gave him his passion for food and his sense of humor. A few years back he started posting cooking videos on social media, and now he’s published Your Pasta Sucks, a collection of recipes, stories, and jokes.

Author and podcast host Malcolm Gladwell immigrated to Canada when he was young, the child of an English father and Jamaican mother. He’s always felt like an outsider. He hated maple syrup, in a town that hosts the largest one-day maple syrup festival in the world.

Scott Wiener, founder of Scott’s Pizza Tours, has made a name for himself as one of the most knowledgeable and passionate pizza experts in America. (He has the Guinness Record for the world’s largest collection of pizza boxes -- nearly 2,000.) This week, Dan and his family join Scott on one of his famous Sunday tours, in which pizza pilgrims board a school bus not knowing what pizzerias Scott plans to take them to.

When Dan hit 40, he noticed his body wasn't feeling as good. So recently, he embarked on a journey to change his lifestyle. Today, you'll meet the three people who've inspired him. (This episode is a satire. Please enjoy it as such!)

Indie musician Michelle Zauner (leader of the band Japanese Breakfast) always had a complicated relationship with her mother, Chongmi. Michelle was born in Seoul and raised in Oregon, where she never felt like she was fully Korean or American. While it was sometimes hard for mother and daughter to understand each other, the thread that kept them together was their shared “Korean appetite,” as Michelle writes in her memoir, Crying in H Mart.

For two decades, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos has been one of the most popular snacks in America. In recent years its legend has grown, as word spread that they were invented by Richard Montañez, a Mexican-American janitor at Frito-Lay who went on to become a company executive. The story made Montañez something of a Latino icon, with two memoirs and a biopic based on his life. But when L.A. Times reporter Gustavo Arellano started looking into this feel-good story, he found a very different tale.