In this paper, I will discuss three different podcasts and explain how they relate to each other and this class. In addition to the content of the podcast, I will examine their structure. This research will allow me to create a better podcast in the coming months. I chose:
The first podcast I will discuss is from Gravy. The podcast, entitled A City Built on Barbeque, tells the story of a North Carolina town with a population around 20,000. Lexington, North Carolina, along with many other cities, claims to be the Barbeque Capital of the World. The history of barbeque is deep in Lexington and they have their own way of doing it. The Lexington way is cooking a pork shoulder over coals made from a hardwood fire for about eight hours. This reminded me of what Laura Shapiro said in Something from the Oven where she explained that processed and prepared food came about because there was a perceived need to save women the time of cooking. As Shapiro pointed out, there was actually no correlation between the amount of time working women spent cooking versus the amount of quick processed meals they purchased (48). When renovating a municipal building in May 2015, the city came across some old barbeque pits. The city knew right away that they wanted to keep the pits, to restore the legacy of barbeque in Lexington. The pits were essentially long brick hallways, so the city decided to use the space as a primary pathway through their new office space. Many town residents respected this gesture as a way to keep the barbeque history of Lexington alive.
A City Built on Barbeque is just one episode in a series of 47 (and counting) podcasts examining the foods in the Southern United States. All the Gravy podcasts have a similar format, beginning with a 30 second introduction and then taking a short break for introducing their series. Gravy uses approximately sixty seconds in the middle of their podcasts for an advertisement and ends by introducing their next podcast. Sarah Delia, the host of this episode interviews almost ten people. The interviews take up approximately 75% of the air time and include conversations with several city officials, several local barbeque restaurant owners, and an author of a book about the history of barbeque in North Carolina. The interviews enhance the authenticity of the podcast and provide a more relatable vision of what barbeque really means to this small town. This podcast makes use of music in a few instances, mainly when making segues between segments.
The next podcast, Other People’s Food Pt. 3: The Order That Changed the World, is from The Sporkful podcast. The podcast explores the Greensboro Four, a group of college freshman who took a stand against racial injustice in North Carolina in 1960 by participating in a sit-in at Woolworth’s Diner. One of those men, Joseph McNeil, describes his experience in that diner. He was anxious to see how the people would react to his seemingly egregious act. At one point, a cop entered and started to brandish his club in a threatening manner. Later on, an elderly white woman approached the four. She said she was disappointed in them. Frank McCain responded with “Ma’am, why would you be disappointed in me? You don’t know me.” She said, “I’m disappointed in what you're doing, because it’s taken you so long.” The protests spread across the country and, in just five months, Woolworth’s and other restaurants and theaters were desegregated. McNeil’s recollection of the first time he sat down at the Woolworth counter is that the apple pie wasn’t very good, but the feeling of pride and freedom made it all worth it. I think McNeil was experiencing cultural capital at this instant. Cultural capital can be described as the one’s values, beliefs, and tastes varying based on where they are in the perceived hierarchy of class standing (Gross and Rosenberger, The Double binds of Getting Food among the Poor in Rural Oregon, 51).
This podcast was very informal. Other People’s Food Pt. 3: The Order That Changed the World was mainly a conversation between the host, Dan Pashman and Joseph McNeil, one of the four brave men to fight segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina. The podcast was about fifteen minutes long. However, with advertisements at the beginning and end, the informational section was only about ten minutes. In that time, McNeil and Pashman basically had a discussion about McNeil’s experiences in 1960 fighting the race barrier. This podcast was part of a series called “Other People’s Food,” which has five parts. Sporkful uses a slogan at the beginning of all of their podcasts to interest the listener. Sporkful doesn’t tend to use music during its podcasts, which is unusual, but doesn’t impact the overall quality of the production.
Seafood at the Seaside examines the eating habits of the Northeastern United States. Brooke Dojny explains the various ways to get seafood in Maine in the summer months, ranging from roadside crab shacks to lobster pounds. Joe Carlin talks about the history of clams and why they came about as a food source. Carlin said, “No one really knows how this humble food –this mollusk that lives in the mud –has become such an icon and symbol of New England summer culture.” Originally, clams played a large role in Native American trading. However, there are no documented recipes with clams in the United States until 1841. Seaside resorts were the first ones to offer clam bakes, probably in the middle of the 19th century. Sandy Oliver explains that, to have a clam bake, you must check the tide levels and gather many pieces of driftwood. Clam bakes are done by heating rocks with a hot fire for 2-3 hours. Then the fire is removed, and you place seaweed on top of the hot rocks. After the seaweed, you place your clams and mussels and corn. Then comes another layer of seaweed, your lobster, and more seaweed. After about an hour of steaming, the food is ready to eat.
The host of Seafood at the Seaside is Anne Bramley, and she interviews three people in this podcast from Eat Feed. Each interview offers a different perspective on the clam business in New England. The podcast started with the host introducing the subject while music played in the background. After about one minute of introduction, the interviews began. I thought this podcast made great use of the people they interviewed and the time they had to convey their information to the listener. Between each interview, Eat Feed played a thirty second clip from a seaside song.
The design of each of the podcasts was very similar. Each podcast had a mixture of interviews and monologues by the host. The interviews enhanced the quality of the podcast, providing a wealth of information for the listener. All of the podcasts used music as a link between segments, but the amount and type of music varied amongst the three. For example, Seafood at the Seaside had music with words and songs that the listener might recognize, while the other two podcasts used music that the listener was unlikely to know. Both methods were effective in easing the listener’s mind into the next topic. A City Built on Barbeque and Other People’s Food Pt.3 both took time for advertisements during the podcast, while Seafood at the Seaside did not.
The podcasts all discussed a different aspect of food in the United States, but they each had many parallels with our class. The Gravy Podcast and the Eat Feed Podcast, in particular, both described ways that people in the United States are doing things the old fashioned way. Today’s food is much less healthy than before processed foods, due to the use of food additives. Thus, it was refreshing to see that some people in the United States are reverting to old habits when preparing meals and avoiding processed foods. The Sporkful Podcast relays ideas of the social and cultural impacts of food. I think in our class, we often tend to view today’s food in a negative light, but these podcasts show that food can have very important and positive social and historical impacts on people in the United States.
- A City Built on Barbeque (Gravy Ep. 15)
- Other People’s Food Pt. 3: The Order That Changed the World (Sporkful)
- Seafood at the Seaside (Eat Feed)
The first podcast I will discuss is from Gravy. The podcast, entitled A City Built on Barbeque, tells the story of a North Carolina town with a population around 20,000. Lexington, North Carolina, along with many other cities, claims to be the Barbeque Capital of the World. The history of barbeque is deep in Lexington and they have their own way of doing it. The Lexington way is cooking a pork shoulder over coals made from a hardwood fire for about eight hours. This reminded me of what Laura Shapiro said in Something from the Oven where she explained that processed and prepared food came about because there was a perceived need to save women the time of cooking. As Shapiro pointed out, there was actually no correlation between the amount of time working women spent cooking versus the amount of quick processed meals they purchased (48). When renovating a municipal building in May 2015, the city came across some old barbeque pits. The city knew right away that they wanted to keep the pits, to restore the legacy of barbeque in Lexington. The pits were essentially long brick hallways, so the city decided to use the space as a primary pathway through their new office space. Many town residents respected this gesture as a way to keep the barbeque history of Lexington alive.
A City Built on Barbeque is just one episode in a series of 47 (and counting) podcasts examining the foods in the Southern United States. All the Gravy podcasts have a similar format, beginning with a 30 second introduction and then taking a short break for introducing their series. Gravy uses approximately sixty seconds in the middle of their podcasts for an advertisement and ends by introducing their next podcast. Sarah Delia, the host of this episode interviews almost ten people. The interviews take up approximately 75% of the air time and include conversations with several city officials, several local barbeque restaurant owners, and an author of a book about the history of barbeque in North Carolina. The interviews enhance the authenticity of the podcast and provide a more relatable vision of what barbeque really means to this small town. This podcast makes use of music in a few instances, mainly when making segues between segments.
The next podcast, Other People’s Food Pt. 3: The Order That Changed the World, is from The Sporkful podcast. The podcast explores the Greensboro Four, a group of college freshman who took a stand against racial injustice in North Carolina in 1960 by participating in a sit-in at Woolworth’s Diner. One of those men, Joseph McNeil, describes his experience in that diner. He was anxious to see how the people would react to his seemingly egregious act. At one point, a cop entered and started to brandish his club in a threatening manner. Later on, an elderly white woman approached the four. She said she was disappointed in them. Frank McCain responded with “Ma’am, why would you be disappointed in me? You don’t know me.” She said, “I’m disappointed in what you're doing, because it’s taken you so long.” The protests spread across the country and, in just five months, Woolworth’s and other restaurants and theaters were desegregated. McNeil’s recollection of the first time he sat down at the Woolworth counter is that the apple pie wasn’t very good, but the feeling of pride and freedom made it all worth it. I think McNeil was experiencing cultural capital at this instant. Cultural capital can be described as the one’s values, beliefs, and tastes varying based on where they are in the perceived hierarchy of class standing (Gross and Rosenberger, The Double binds of Getting Food among the Poor in Rural Oregon, 51).
This podcast was very informal. Other People’s Food Pt. 3: The Order That Changed the World was mainly a conversation between the host, Dan Pashman and Joseph McNeil, one of the four brave men to fight segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina. The podcast was about fifteen minutes long. However, with advertisements at the beginning and end, the informational section was only about ten minutes. In that time, McNeil and Pashman basically had a discussion about McNeil’s experiences in 1960 fighting the race barrier. This podcast was part of a series called “Other People’s Food,” which has five parts. Sporkful uses a slogan at the beginning of all of their podcasts to interest the listener. Sporkful doesn’t tend to use music during its podcasts, which is unusual, but doesn’t impact the overall quality of the production.
Seafood at the Seaside examines the eating habits of the Northeastern United States. Brooke Dojny explains the various ways to get seafood in Maine in the summer months, ranging from roadside crab shacks to lobster pounds. Joe Carlin talks about the history of clams and why they came about as a food source. Carlin said, “No one really knows how this humble food –this mollusk that lives in the mud –has become such an icon and symbol of New England summer culture.” Originally, clams played a large role in Native American trading. However, there are no documented recipes with clams in the United States until 1841. Seaside resorts were the first ones to offer clam bakes, probably in the middle of the 19th century. Sandy Oliver explains that, to have a clam bake, you must check the tide levels and gather many pieces of driftwood. Clam bakes are done by heating rocks with a hot fire for 2-3 hours. Then the fire is removed, and you place seaweed on top of the hot rocks. After the seaweed, you place your clams and mussels and corn. Then comes another layer of seaweed, your lobster, and more seaweed. After about an hour of steaming, the food is ready to eat.
The host of Seafood at the Seaside is Anne Bramley, and she interviews three people in this podcast from Eat Feed. Each interview offers a different perspective on the clam business in New England. The podcast started with the host introducing the subject while music played in the background. After about one minute of introduction, the interviews began. I thought this podcast made great use of the people they interviewed and the time they had to convey their information to the listener. Between each interview, Eat Feed played a thirty second clip from a seaside song.
The design of each of the podcasts was very similar. Each podcast had a mixture of interviews and monologues by the host. The interviews enhanced the quality of the podcast, providing a wealth of information for the listener. All of the podcasts used music as a link between segments, but the amount and type of music varied amongst the three. For example, Seafood at the Seaside had music with words and songs that the listener might recognize, while the other two podcasts used music that the listener was unlikely to know. Both methods were effective in easing the listener’s mind into the next topic. A City Built on Barbeque and Other People’s Food Pt.3 both took time for advertisements during the podcast, while Seafood at the Seaside did not.
The podcasts all discussed a different aspect of food in the United States, but they each had many parallels with our class. The Gravy Podcast and the Eat Feed Podcast, in particular, both described ways that people in the United States are doing things the old fashioned way. Today’s food is much less healthy than before processed foods, due to the use of food additives. Thus, it was refreshing to see that some people in the United States are reverting to old habits when preparing meals and avoiding processed foods. The Sporkful Podcast relays ideas of the social and cultural impacts of food. I think in our class, we often tend to view today’s food in a negative light, but these podcasts show that food can have very important and positive social and historical impacts on people in the United States.