I’m a real fan of food podcasts. Whether it’s the academic-leaning Gravy podcast from the Southern Foodways Alliance or Dan Pashman’s entertaining and slightly nerdy Sporkful, listening to these 20- to 30-minute bites of food ephemera helps me pass the time while I’m running errands or walking laps at the YMCA.
I will completely selfishly admit that my favorite Southern food podcast comes courtesy of a good friend of mine out of Charleston named Stephanie Burt. Not only is she a fantastic food-and-drink writer, but her ability to get guests to open up and feel comfortable during her “kitchen talks” is what makes her podcast The Southern Fork so special.
Burt interviews a broad variety of players in Southern cuisine, ranging from fellow food writers to farmers to distillers to brewers to restaurateurs to chefs, and she manages to find new stories inside each of her subjects — that aren’t the same ones we read (and write) over and over again. Other than her home of Charleston, Nashville has provided more interview subjects than anywhere else during her more than 70 episodes that are currently available wherever you listen to podcasts.
I asked her if she could compile links to all of her Nashville episodes in one spot for your convenience in case you wanted to take The Southern Fork out for a spin. (Full disclosure, I appeared as an early guest back before she got all famous and stuff. You can tell that we don’t like each other and that we didn’t have any fun at all taping in Christian Spears’ office at Tennessee Brew Works /sarcasm)
So here are easy links to listen to some Nashville luminaries ruminate about the world of Southern food and drink:
Sarah Scarborough talks Firepot Chai:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-74
Margaret Furniss, owner of the newly opened Caviar & Bananas, explains that wacky name:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-68
Emmylou and Mod Squad get slightly nutty talking about dogs and vinaigrette:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-63
Andy & Charlie Nelson of Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery share the inside story of opening a distillery:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-61
Maneet Chauhan is interviewed in the passenger seat of Stephanie’s car in a parking garage during the Charleston Food & Wine Festival:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-57
Matt Bolus proves he has the best cackle in the biz:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-22
Karl Worley shares the Biscuit Love:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-19
Some hack goes on and on about beer and barbecue while locked in the office at a brewery where you can hear the staff either trying to work or partying outside the door:
thesouthernfork.com/episode-17
In return for bringing so much attention to our fair city, and because I am shameless in my desire for Stephanie to continue to grow her following as she shines spotlights on so many great subjects, if you have a mind to, would you please head over to Saveur’s website and nominate the Southern Fork (www.thesouthernfork.com) for best food podcast? That would be really cool, and it only takes a few seconds. Just click here. Thanks!
