Who Really Was James Beard?
The Sporkful4 Marras 2024

Who Really Was James Beard?

Before the James Beard Awards, there was the man himself. Beard was the first celebrity chef of the TV era, preaching home cooking and fresh, local food even as frozen TV dinners gained popularity. But he also had to navigate the complexities of being a closeted gay man in a time when the kitchen was considered a place for women. Dan talks with food writer John Birdsall, author of the Beard biography The Man Who Ate Too Much, which traces Beard’s life from his start at queer cocktail parties in 1930s New York, to his winks to the queer audience as he became more famous. Eventually he needed to change his public persona into a professorial bachelor, too obsessed with food to have time for a wife. As we hear, even today, James Beard remains one of the most misunderstood people in the food world.

John has a new book coming out this spring called What Is Queer Food? How We Served a Revolution — you can pre-order it now.

This episode originally aired on October 12, 2020, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, and Tomeka Weatherspoon. It was edited by Tracey Samuelson and mixed by Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Nora Ritchie, Jared O'Connell, and Giulia Leo. Publishing by Shantel Holder and transcription by Emily Nguyen.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(278)

Nadiya Hussain, From “Great British Bake Off” To Elbows Out (Reheat)

Nadiya Hussain, From “Great British Bake Off” To Elbows Out (Reheat)

When Nadiya Hussain competed on The Great British Bake Off in 2015, it seemed like all of Britain — from self-proclaimed #Nadiyators to the prime minister — was rooting for her. Since then, she’s host...

17 Loka 202533min

Why Would You Put A Recipe On Your Gravestone?

Why Would You Put A Recipe On Your Gravestone?

Rosie Grant was already obsessed with cemeteries when she came across her first gravestone recipe. The headstone was carved into the shape of an open cookbook with a cookie recipe on it. Rosie made th...

13 Loka 202530min

Can I Wipe My Oily Hands On My Legs? (Reheat)

Can I Wipe My Oily Hands On My Legs? (Reheat)

We open the phone lines to settle your most contentious food disputes this week. Eliza wants to wipe her oily hands on her bare legs — is her boyfriend Connor right to object? Then, Natalie thinks she...

10 Loka 202535min

What's In Taylor Swift's Signature Cocktail?

What's In Taylor Swift's Signature Cocktail?

Are chicken tenders having a renaissance? Are lit candles in restaurants worth the risk of a few people’s hair catching on fire? And when Taylor Swift designs a signature cocktail…what’s in it? We cov...

6 Loka 202547min

How Ketchup Got Its Name (Reheat)

How Ketchup Got Its Name (Reheat)

Ketchup started as a far different product from what’s on the shelves today. A lot of its evolution can be traced to an early government agency and a group there called “The Poison Squad” that tested ...

3 Loka 202537min

What Can McDonald’s Tell Us About Black America?

What Can McDonald’s Tell Us About Black America?

Growing up as a Black kid in Chicago, Dr. Marcia Chatelain says she learned more about Black history from McDonald’s than from her fancy prep school. Now, she’s a professor of Africana studies at the ...

29 Syys 202534min

Celebrating Shabbat At Wendy’s (Reheat)

Celebrating Shabbat At Wendy’s (Reheat)

Shabbat — the Jewish Sabbath – begins every Friday at sundown with a meal. But in all the years that Jews have been having Shabbat dinner, there’s no record in the rabbinic texts of it happening at th...

26 Syys 202526min

What’s A Jewish Tavern And House Of Learning?

What’s A Jewish Tavern And House Of Learning?

Josh Foer and Rabbi Charlie Schwartz set out to create a new kind of Jewish space, one that would be welcoming, thought-provoking, delicious, and even cool. The result is Lehrhaus — a Jewish tavern an...

22 Syys 202533min

Suosittua kategoriassa Vapaa-aika

nikotellen
antin-matka
sita
the-harlin-show
ihan-oikeesti
unicast
rss-nikotellen
eturivi
rss-naapurissa
mutsiputki
tahtitehdas
kaikkea-hyvaa
himocast
oral-sex
everypodi
terkuin-jenna
mysteeripodcast
rss-viihde-media
junnut-pelissa
moottoripodi-2