Food Episodes

Kitchen gadgets, food allergies, dinner party etiquette, hospitality, beans, and why cooking is really about people.

Why do people in Los Angeles spend half their lives in cars? Is the Valley actually part of LA? And what does it mean that one of America's most disaster-prone cities keeps rebuilding itself? Dan, Michael, and guest Saanchi Shah explore the culture, contradictions, and enduring weirdness of Los Angeles.

Dan and Michael welcome genetic counselor and professional vegetarian Saanchi Shah to explore why humans attach so much identity to food — from paleo diet mythologies to prepper gardening obsessions to the gym bro who thinks raw meat makes you a better person. Also: a stolen 18-karat gold toilet, fixing public restrooms, and whether one can literally become pizza.

Why does one lobster shack have a two-hour line while the identical one across the street sits empty? In this People Stuff special episode, anthropologists Dan Souleles and Michael Scroggins break down why food culture today isn’t about taste—it’s about being seen. From Red’s Eats in Maine to Magnolia Bakery and Instagram-famous bagel shops, they unpack conspicuous consumption in the age of social media, where attention is the real currency.

Dan and Michael dive deep into the art of refusal — from saying “no” to conversations, to food, to entire worldviews. They tackle listener questions on political red-pilling, vaccine hesitancy, and culinary snobbery, blending real anthropology with absurd humor and social critique. Along the way, you’ll hear about podcast epistemology, purity and danger, and why your boyfriend’s palate might just be a symptom of American decline. This week’s “What Fresh Hell” features the ethics of scanning baseball card boxes with CT machines (yes, that’s a real thing), and “Fixing Shit” takes on the college admissions racket. Join the People Stuff crew for a thoughtful, irreverent, and deeply human take on what happens when people just refuse.