Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

99% Invisible’s Chris Berube shares margarine’s secret history—from Supreme Court battles to Eleanor Roosevelt’s advertising campaign—and why in some states you could only buy margarine that was dyed pink or black. Plus, we learn about snacks from around the world with Unsnackable’s Folu Akinkuotu; Dan Pashman tells us what there is to love about canned foods; and we make Brazilian-Style Pizza.

Get the recipe for Brazilian-Style Pizza Carbonara here.

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Food writer Tim Hayward shares the juicy history of the steak. We take a peek inside the secret beefsteak societies of England and New York, learn a classic Argentinian salting method, and try a steak from a 25 year-old-cow in Spain. Plus, Kenji López-Alt goes on a quest for the perfect teriyaki; Sara Moulton and Chris take your cooking calls; and we prepare a Sunflower Hummus from Georgia. (Originally aired October 10, 2025.)

Get this week’s recipe for Sunflower Hummus here.

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In this special episode, we’re releasing an extended cut of our interview with Alexis Nikole Nelson. She tells us about the foraged ingredients you won’t find at your grocery store (like mugwort and magnolia flowers!) and the dishes she creates with them. Plus, Alexis reveals her favorite spot in New York City for foraging maitake mushrooms.

Photo credit: JB Douglas

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Alexis Nikole Nelson, known on TikTok as the Black Forager, has been foraging wild ingredients as long as she can remember. In her new book, "Happy Snacking, Don’t Die!", she shares what she cooks with them—including pickled onion grass and mushroom sour candy—and reveals a run-of-the-mill weed that might help flavor Dr. Pepper. Plus, we visit Arianna Pasquini to find out what Romans actually cook for dinner; then we head to Oktoberfest to learn the sport of Steinholding.

Photo credit: JB Douglas

Listen to Milk Street Radio on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

For this week's bonus, we're going back into the archives with our good friends Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette from the radio show A Way With Words. In our first-ever episode together from 2019, they discuss why some restaurant servers ask “Will you be wanting anything else?" They also explain phrases that seemingly don’t make a lot of sense, such as “in a pickle.” Plus, master spice blender Lior Lev Sercarz teaches us how to transform a meal; we learn the step-by-step rules to perfect curry; and Adam Gopnik ponders climate change and the future of wine.

Listen to Milk Street Radio on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify