In a matter of months, Kelli Nevarez went from first-grade music teacher to pitmaster of the Texas Monthly Top 50 barbecue joint La Vaca Barbecue. Reporter Eliza Rothstein shares the story of how Nevarez is reshaping the future of barbecue.

Craving more barbecue tips? Join our grilling expert, Morgan Bolling, as she takes a deep dive into smoke rings.

This podcast miniseries is an audio companion to a forthcoming book from America's Test Kitchen called When Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes from Every Corner of the American South. You can preorder the book where books are sold:

• IndieBound
• America's Test Kitchen Store
• Amazon

Special thanks to our intern Jonny Leonidas who helped make this series a success.

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Transporting a Southern tradition to the North might seem like a tall order, but Cook's Country grilling expert Morgan Bolling knows just how to do it with her annual whole hog roast. Producer Alex Curran-Cardarelli shares the history of whole-hog roasts and Morgan's own story of growth and resilience.

Try a taste of Morgan's home state with her recipe for North Carolina Barbecue Pork. 

This podcast miniseries is an audio companion to a forthcoming book from America's Test Kitchen called When Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes from Every Corner of the American South. You can preorder the book where books are sold:

• IndieBound
• America's Test Kitchen Store
• Amazon

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Where does the word "cocktail" come from? Who invented it? We explore these questions and the backstories of two drinks from America's early days as a nation: The Mint Julep and the Sazerac. (Special thanks to Joe Gitter and Yiorgos Tsivranidis for their voice acting in this episode.)

Try making our Mint Julep and Sazerac recipes at home!

Further Reading:

"A Brief History of Bitters" Smithsonian Magazine by Peter Smith

Difford's Guide for Discerning Drinkers

Drink & Learn

"The Ice King was a Tudor" Wall Street Journal by Eric Felten

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice - Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin

"NEW ORLEANS: A TIMELINE OF ECONOMIC HISTORY" Tulane University by Richard Campanella

The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum)

Travels of four years and a half in the United States of America by John Davis

Whenham Great Pond by John C. Phillips from The Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

"Who Is the Real Father of the Cocktail?" The Daily Beast by Philip Greene

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Few drinks have gone through the ringer the way Chartreuse has. Since the 1700s, a silent group of monks in the Southeast of France have produced and protected this elixir-turned-liqueur through evictions, natural disasters, and other trials and tribulations of history. Today, Chartreuse is a crucial ingredient that helped spur the modern craft cocktail movement. Proof's managing producer and self-professed "pro-sumer" of cocktails, Yumi Araki, digs into the history of the spirit that just wouldn't die. Take our Season 8 survey here.

For further reading on the history of Chartreuse: Chartreuse the Liqueur.

A note from our sponsors:

Listeners get 15% off of their first order at porterroad.com/proof.

Get high quality cured meats and charcuterie in stores and online at Veroni USA.

Use code ATK15 for 15% off on OXO.com.

Visit nakedwines.com/summerproof for $100 to spend on wine.

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The smell of certain foods imprint themselves in our brains and can transport us to different places and our past. One scent in particular--the smell of za'atar--brought two Palestinian women together through social media. Nadia Tommalieh and Lulu Abura instantly shared a bond over their love for the herb and the spice blend that reminds them of their homeland. Reporter Haley Gray reports. Take our Season 8 survey here.

Follow Nadia Tommalieh on Instagram here.

Follow Lulu Abura on Instagram here.

A note from our sponsors:

Get high quality cured meats and charcuterie in stores and online at Veroni USA.

Use code ATK15 for 15% off on OXO.com.

Visit nakedwines.com/summerproof for $100 to spend on wine.

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On a cold night in January 2017, five comedians gathered around a table in the back of a cramped restaurant in New York’s Greenwich Village called the Olive Tree Cafe. The comedian weren't scheduled to perform at the downstairs Comedy Cellar that night, but they had come to hang out at a place they called home: a family dinner around the most important table in American stand-up comedy. This restaurant--and the famous comedian's table--have long served as home base for comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, and Dave Chappelle--the five comedians who ended up performing at what would be remembered as the Billion Dollar Comedy Night. Reporter Stephen Calabria digs into the history of the Olive Tree Cafe and how it fuels some of America's most famous stand-up comedians.

A note from our sponsors:

Listeners get 15% off of their first order at porterroad.com/proof.

Get high quality cured meats and charcuterie in stores and online at Veroni USA.

Use code ATK15 for 15% off on OXO.com.

Visit nakedwines.com/summerproof for $100 to spend on wine.

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June Pinks. Candy Stripes. Leather Britches, and Fall Roses. These are the names of just a few apple varieties that have been lost to time. But one man, Tom Brown, is on a mission to find them—and especially one variety called the Junaluska—before it’s too late. Will Tom Brown succeed? Claire Donnelly reports.

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Pineapple cakes. Pork-wrapped pineapple. Pineapple bento boxes, and beef pineapple noodle soup. Reporter Kai McNamee started seeing the spiky fruit everywhere—at restaurants, at convenience stores and at bakeries—after China banned pineapple imports from Taiwan earlier this year. A pineapple-related hashtag also took social media by storm. So what was the #FreedomPineapple campaign all about? Kai investigates in this episode of Proof.

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Ethereal, contained, and rife with ingredients like cottage cheese, whipped cream, and fruit. The Jello salad was a mainstay of many American households throughout the 1950s and the '60s. They were a feast for the eyes, with mixed results about whether they were a feast for the stomach. Still, housewives made them, until a shift happened that upended the way women--and men--thought about cooking. In the season eight premiere of Proof, producer Karen Given tells us about the rise and fall of Jello and gelatin. It’s a story that begins in the Middle Ages, features handsome door-to-door gelatin salesmen on horseback, and goes all the way to Julia Child.

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This season, we're back with a new lineup, and a new host, Kevin Pang! We kick off the season with a story about gelatin and the heyday of Jell-O. We ride along an apple hunter’s journey in search of a lost apple variety. We look at the place--and the food--that’s nurtured some of the best comedians in America, and how a drink made by a silent group of monks has survived over centuries, against all odds. All that, and more on season 8 of Proof from America’s Test Kitchen.

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In the town of Yamanaka in Western Japan, wild boars are a threat to local farming. With the extinction of natural predators, the boars run rampant, leaving hunters like Sakura Yoshida to patrol the area. This pits boars against humans, but Sakura approaches the boars with veneration and a deep understanding of the ecosystem they both inhabit. In this episode of Proof, author Hannah Kirshner takes us along for a ride with Sakura and recounts the history of meat eating in Japan.

This episode draws on the "Year of the Boars" chapter in Hannah Kirshner's Water, Wood, and Wild Things.

For further reading about human-wildlife relations in Japan, read The Lost Wolves of Japan by Brett L. Walker and Waiting For Wolves in Japan by John Knight.

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Our five senses--sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell--can feel intrinsically linked to who we are. But when aspiring chef Molly Birnbaum lost her sense of smell in a traumatic accident, she resolved to get it back through smell training and learning how our olfactory systems are connected to the brain. In this episode of Proof, Editor-In-Chief of ATK Kids Molly Birnbaum, walks us through her journey, and talks to others who lost their sense of smell--from Covid-19 and other causes--along the way.

Read Molly's book, Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way.

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Hospitality and and serving others were at the heart of Damián Diaz and Othón Nolasco's bar consulting business in Los Angeles. When the pandemic hit, the duo noticed that undocumented workers, who serve as vital back of house staff at restaurants and bars, weren't eligible or able to get the help that they needed. The two decided to start a nonprofit organization and called it No Us Without You. In this episode of Proof, reporter Jean Trinh talks to two individuals who have been helped by No Us Without You and chronicles how Damián and Othón resolved to serve those who have served us for years.

A version of this story was originally reported in The Washington Post.

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This week, we kick off Proof's first-ever miniseries. Episode 1 explores how we got to our modern cocktail renaissance. Why were cocktails in the 90s and early 2000s shells of the well-crafted drinks we see today? It took a renegade group of bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts to resurrect drinks from the cocktail's heyday. Hosted by Cook's Country Editor-in-Chief Toni Tipton-Martin, and reported by Proof's managing producer, Yumi Araki.

Looking for a new cocktail shaker? We've tested over a dozen types to find the best options that will fit your home bar.

Further Reading:

A Proper Drink by Robert Simonson

Difford's Guide for Discerning Drinkers

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice - Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin

Straight Up or On the Rocks - The Story of the American Cocktail by William Grimes

Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up - Ted Saucier

"The born-in-Detroit cocktail that has spawned countless variations," Washington Post by M. Carrie Allan

The New Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Think Like a Master Mixologist by Dale DeGroff

The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum)

Special thanks to the following recording studios:

Brooklyn Podcasting Studio

Signature Sound Studios

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Baloney is one of the most well-known--and divisive--meat products in the United States. Many synonymize it with "fake" or "synthetic," but there are some who defend the maligned meat to its core. What makes this iconic American food so controversial, and how did it fall from its former glory? In this episode of Proof, Reporter Rebecca Rosman travels to Bologna, Italy to trace the origins of the city's namesake meat, and talks to the people in the United States who are at the forefront of revitalizing the meat's reputation.

Take our show survey here: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6274752/Proof-Season-7-Survey

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Tortillas, tortilla chips, and tamales—these are all foods that are easy to enjoy but not as easy to make from scratch. There's a process called nixtamalization that occurs, which unlocks nutrients from corn and makes it ready to use in the foods we love. Nixtamalization is a crucial step, yet it's not well-known. It's a testament to the ingenuity of Indigenous science, which has been subject to erasure throughout history. In this episode of Proof, Navajo reporter Andi Murphy walks us through her journey of nixtamalizing blue corn, and embarks on an Indigenous information exchange with chefs, scholars, and poets in the process.

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For many of us, food and family are an intertwined bridge of our identity. We can trace so many things about ourselves and personalities to our family members and the meals we’ve shared. There are the dedicated feeders of the family, the thankful eaters, and the confusing neithers--they neither eat nor feed. Writer Ahmed Ali Akbar was a neither. At an early age, he didn’t eat or prepare much of his family’s Pakistani food. However, an unexpected meal changed his entire perspective. In this episode of Proof, Ahmed confronts his pickiness while solidifying an undeniable connection he shared with a beloved feeder.

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The Food Timeline has been a valuable resource for food professionals and laypeople alike. The website chronicles the origins of everything from emmer grain (which, dates back to 17,000 BC), to the modern-day cake pop. Most impressively, the Food Timeline was the creation of one single individual: Lynne Olver. In 2015, however, the future of the Food Timeline suddenly becomes uncertain. In this episode of Proof, we go back in Internet history to witness the Food Timeline's birth and learn about the amazing woman behind it.

Explore the Food Timeline for yourself here: http://foodtimeline.org/

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Canned foods are an essential part of our pantries. From pasta sauce, to pumpkin puree, to corn and beans, these ready-to-open options give cooking more ease. That is exactly what Nicolas Appert wanted when he invented the airtight art of food preservation. During the 19th century, this French chef identified ways to hold nature’s greatest gifts in bottles year-round. Yet, after this transformative discovery, Appert’s legacy is still unknown by the majority of the world. In this episode of Proof, we unpack the story of Appert’s non-perishable contributions to society.

Read Malcolm Summers' biography of Nicolas Appert here.

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Who was the man who helped revolutionize the way we eat? What does it mean to be an ambassador of a food culture and a pickiy eater at the same time? Why is a boar hunter in Japan conflicted? Tune in to find out on Season 7 of Proof beginning April 22.

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Dan Pashman is on a mission to make--and sell--a new pasta shape. Our friends at The Sporkful have a new five part series on Dan's journey (and in this episode, find out why he hates Spaghetti). You can find the rest of the series in The Sporkful feed wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Our friends a Transmitter Media have a body-positive and unapologetically food-positive show that is about breaking up with diet culture. Host Virgie Tovar talks to amazing ‘rebel eaters’ who will change the way you think about food and your body. Their second season just launched and features great conversations with guests like Francis Lam from The Splendid Table, as well as fascinating stories about why we eat what we eat. Listen now in your favorite podcast app or at rebeleatersclub.com

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Nichols Electronics has a monopoly on the ice cream truck music box market. When you hear the familiar sound of ice cream truck music ringing through your neighborhood, chances are extremely high that it’s coming from a box that Mark and Beth Nichols created. For decades, they’ve been in the business of evoking nostalgia and happy memories. Until recently, when it was revealed that one of the most popular songs on their boxes has a dark history. Today on Proof, we tell the story of how one small family business faced the biggest controversy to rock the ice cream truck industry.

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When you see “not from concentrate” on a carton of OJ, you might assume it’s healthier than other brands. But actually, that’s a relic of a decades-long juice brand battle and deceptive marketing that sold customers the promise of a "balanced breakfast." In fact, the behemoths behind orange juice popularity have constantly shape-shifted and reinvented themselves in order to bring our favorite breakfast juice to the proverbial table. In this episode of Proof, we chronicle Minute Maid and Tropicana’s decades-long tête-à-tête, that firmly solidified orange juice as a permanent fixture of the American diet. 

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Even before the Stone Age, our ancestors were thinking about what happens when we combine one flavor with another, both in the primordial kitchen and behind the prehistoric bar. Fast-forward to today, and the carefully crafted cocktail is all around us. But what if we told you it wasn’t always this way?

Welcome to Proof's first-ever miniseries: 100 Proof: The Journey of the American Cocktail. Over six episodes, we’ll look at the rise and fall--and subsequent resurgence--of the American cocktail, and contemplate what forces led to our modern cocktail renaissance. We'll also share some recipes along the way. Hosted by Cook's Country Editor-In-Chief Toni Tipton-Martin, and reported by Proof's managing producer, Yumi Araki.

Episode 1 drops May 23.

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The color blue doesn’t really occur naturally in food. Think about it: when was the last time you ate something blue? Maybe a piece of candy or an ice pop that was “blue raspberry” flavored. Food marketing teams have steered their companies away from blue labels and blue colored foods (except in a few cases), often citing studies on the psychology of color and perception of taste. But one popular study might not be all it’s cracked up to be. This week we teamed up with Slate’s Decoder Ring podcast to dig deeper and find out why blue isn’t a common color on our plates.

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Our friends at This Old House have a new podcast "Ask This Old House". The show features home enthusiasts around the country, who ask questions about the toughest projects in their homes.

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When Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee and her family moved to America from Korea in the 1980s, they were immersed in a whole new world. New schools, friends, jobs, and new food. None was more remarkable than the salad bar at Sizzler, with its small yellow cubed pieces of cheese and Thousand Island dressing. In this memoir, Cecilia and her siblings recall their first few years in the US, and how food shaped their family’s pursuit of the American Dream.

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Hervé Garnier owns a small vineyard in the tiny French town of Beaumont making wine from hybrid Franco-American grape varieties. But this fruity, floral, rich red wine he makes… is illegal. According to outdated French and EU law, the wine made from these hybrid vines is dangerous, that it induces madness. But they also claim the wine just doesn’t taste good enough to be sanctioned as “French Wine.” Hervé calls these excuses absurdités. For decades, he has fought the restrictions to no avail. So, what is French Wine? And who gets to say?

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Modern personal injury lawsuits are now considered frivolous, at best. But 66 years before the infamous spilled McDonald’s coffee, May Donoghue drank a ginger beer in Paisley, Scotland and changed personal injury law forever. May, a humble shopkeeper, discovered a snail in her drink and decided to sue. No such lawsuit had ever been won before. She was slandered in the press, and criticized in court, but to the surprise of many, she won. In Proof’s first ever docu-drama episode, we explore the unspoken trust between consumer and seller through a dramatized retelling of May Donoghue’s story.

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Illegal wine, food color psychology, a snail in a soda, and an immigrant family's food story. We're back with more of the food stories you love. Tune in for Season 6 of Proof beginning December 3.

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Our friends at GBH and Antiques Roadshow have a new podcast called Detours, where you'll get some insider info on objects you've never seen before, and why. We're excited to share their first episode with you: The Hardest Fact I Ever Checked.

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The Trader Joe's subreddit is a place for friendly conversation and helpful tips for how to use Trader Joe's products. But what happened when a villain caused trouble in the online community?

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Becky Krystal of The Washington Post joins Bridget to talk about what Thanksgiving has looked like in the past during times of crises like the World Wars, economic disasters, and more.

Read Becky's article The Washington Post.

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Our friends at Food52 have a great new podcast about the uncut gems of their weekly "Genius Recipes" column and video series. Bridget talks with host Kristen Miglore before playing an episode of the show.

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Can saliva change the way our food tastes? Does it affect our cooking? In our Season 16 finale, reporter Jacklyn Kim digs into the unexpected ingredient that we end up adding to every meal.

Proof will be back later in May with a 6-part miniseries on the history of cocktails! 

Until then, stimulate your taste buds and break out the cast iron with the Test Kitchen recipe for Cast Iron Margherita Pizza. 

Get a 14-day free trial for an America’s Test Kitchen digital subscription here.

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Bridget speaks with Dr. Danielle Reed from the Monell Chemical Senses Center about the genetics of taste perception. To learn more about the Monell Center’s research, visit monell.org.

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Ashley Lecker, Author of the Serial Killer Cookbook, joins Bridget to talk about Famous Death Row Meals. Warning: this episode may not be suitable for children. You can purchase Ashley's book here: https://ulyssespress.com/books/the-serial-killer-cookbook/

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In this special episode of Proof, Bridget Lancaster talks with America’s Test Kitchen Executive Editor Elle Simone Scott about Elle’s new podcast, The Walk-In. Then, food historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris steps into The Walk-In with Elle. 

Food historian, author, and educator Dr. Jessica B. Harris gives Elle advice only an Auntie can. They talk about growing up as an only child, the magic of HBCUs, and how the pandemic has changed Dr. Harris' perspective.

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A new branch of crime has emerged in central California under cover of mass almond groves: the theft of beehives. Why? Because they’re really valuable. The American honey economy has crashed, leading beekeepers to find other sources of income for their bees. The burgeoning US Almond industry was just the key. But it's a dangerous gig for the bees, making their hive rental fees steep and a perfect target for organized crime. 

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After Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination in 1968, Civil Rights leaders, fast food corporations, and the Nixon administration began an unlikely collaboration: to promote “Black Capitalism” in the fast food industry. The idea was this: promoting Black franchise business ownership in Black neighborhoods could improve the quality of Black life in America. Brady Keys was the king of Nixon’s Black capitalism. He received upwards of 9 million dollars in federal money to develop his fast food franchise, All-Pro Chicken, and collaborated with KFC and Burger King in ground-breaking franchise deals. Keys’ story is a case study of Black business ownership in the ‘60s, when the path to Civil Rights was paved with profits.

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Historian/Fast-food Detective Marcia Chatelain is our guide as we explore the cases of American fast food franchises that once were, until they vanished without a trace. The Mid-century was the height of fast-food franchising: McDonalds, KFC, White Castle. But what about the chains that didn’t survive? From pyramid schemes and copycats to acquisitions and fish wars, we explore the culprits in the cases of the disappearing franchise.

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Dr. Yamei Kin was orphaned by her parents at a young age, and adopted by missionaries. She became one of the first Chinese women to receive a medical degree. In the 1910s, the USDA hired Dr. Kin to research high-protein foods in light of World War I shortages. But she was never able to position tofu as a respectable ingredient in the American diet. Why wasn’t the West ready for Tofu?

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A collaboration with Business Insider’s Brought To You By. In this three-part story, we tell the history of the Biscuit Wars of the early 1900s. Then, we learn of one woman’s relationship with Oreos as an expression of rebellion to her Jewish roots’ Kosher rules. Lastly, we also uncover the real story behind Mr. Oreo, the man who somehow got credit for inventing the current Oreo cream filling. 

Read Marjorie Ingall's essay about the Oreo

Stella Parks, BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts

Read from Business Insider: How the Oreo cookie went from unknown knock-off to the world's most popular cookie, as a result of a sibling rivalry between baker brothers

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In John Birdsall’s 2014 article, "America, Your Food is so Gay," he describes a particularly indulgent cheese burger as "unflinchingly queer." For reporter Chad Chenail, this sparked a journey of self-discovery through queer theory, all in an attempt to answer the question: What is the Queerest food?

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Queer food, beehive theft, Nixon-sponsored fast food, and searching for Mr. Oreo. We're back with more of the food stories you love. Tune in for Season 5 of Proof beginning August 20.

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In 1951, the Explorer's Club hosted an extravagant banquet that had 250,000-year-old woolly mammoth on the menu. The dinner raised eyebrows back then as it does now. What does it mean to seek out "exotic" foods? Why do we do it? And was it really wooly mammoth that was on the menu? Reporter Doug Mack digs in.

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According to cocktail expert Dan Zucarello, the basic Daiquiri might be the queen of all cocktails. Learn these cocktail fundamentals, and your summer will be filled with delicious drinks.

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Some new wines and spirits are being created in the lab, not the cask. Using flavor technology, companies are able to replicate artisan wines and spirits at a fraction of the price. But, is there art in that too?

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Creating a sourdough starter can be difficult during a pandemic. Sourdough Guru, Andrew Janjigian is here to help.

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