The Best Food Podcasts to Savor

Food provides much more than sustenance: It's a source of comfort, evokes powerful memories, and brings us together. A central focus of holidays like Thanksgiving, food can carry symbolic meaning in rituals and customs, too (as with the Spanish New Year's Eve tradition of eating 12 green grapes at midnight). In many ways, food is culture. What we eat and who we eat it with has everything to do with our individual backgrounds and tastes—and how foods are procured, created, and sold speaks to larger socio-economic realities. There's an endless array of cuisine-related subjects to obsess over, and these food podcasts offer an equally diverse roster of voices, formats, and topics.

From shows that provide fascinating lessons on food science and history, such as Gastropod, to the ones that offer a seat at the table with famous chefs like David Chang and Samin Nosrat, there's a pick for every palate. Love going to the supermarket? Check out Groceries. Want to hear what's in your favorite comedy podcast guest's fridge? Give Green Eggs and Dan a listen. And in a time when most of us are making food at home more than ever, why not whip up dinner while listening to an expert share their best cooking tips? Here are 12 of the best food podcasts of 2020, available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream—let us know if we overlooked your favorite.