Eating History

Welcome to Episode 2 of Eating History’s sandwich season! This week, Stephen and Adrienne track the sandwich as it escapes 18th-century England and begins its journey across the globe. From a brief military ceasefire in France to a bustling railway station in Japan, discover how the sandwich traveled not as a rigid recipe, but as a flexible culinary category that adapted perfectly to every culture it encountered.

In this episode, we explore:

The 1802 French Crossover: Why France borrowed the English word "sandwich" during a brief pause in the Napoleonic Wars

Silver Sandwich Cases: Eliza Leslie’s 1837 American cookbook that proved early sandwiches were polite, domestic luxuries, not brown-bag lunches

The Convict Restaurateur: How Stephen Bax, an English convict exiled to Australia in 1813, helped establish the sandwich category in Sydney

Nose-Tingling Mustard: The colonial food writings and sharp condiment philosophies of British Army officer "Wyvern" in India

The Japanese Railway Sandwich: How international trade introduced Western ham to Japan, seamlessly merging the sandwich with the country's existing bento transit-food culture

Welcome to the official kickoff of Eating History Season 2! This week, Adrienne and Stephen tackle one of the most famous origin stories in the culinary world: Did John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, really invent his namesake meal to keep his hands clean during an all-night gambling bender? Join the hosts as they explore how an ancient, practical way of eating evolved into a distinct cultural category, and why one 18th-century English aristocrat still gets all the credit.

In this episode, we explore:

The legendary myth of the gambling Earl and why the story has survived for over 250 years

A 14,500-year-old archaeological discovery in Jordan that proves bread predates agriculture itself

How ancient cultures around the world utilized bread as a plate, spoon, and wrapper

Why the ancient "Hillel sandwich" and the Asian bao were brilliant culinary solutions, but not intentional "sandwiches"

The "iPhone Analogy": How John Montagu didn't invent the meal, but helped create the cultural category that sparked endless culinary innovation

Welcome back to a brand new season of Eating History! After tracking the evolution of pizza across the globe, Adrienne and Stephen return to tackle an entirely new culinary mystery: What exactly is a sandwich? Join them as they explore how "food inside bread" evolved from a prehistoric practice into a powerful cultural category, and why we are all still furiously debating the hot dog.

In this episode, we explore:

The Sandwich Meter: How we put different “sandwiches” into categories

The Definition Dilemma: Why traditional rules (like "two pieces of bread") accidentally turn burritos and po' boys into existential crises

The Sandwich Shop Test: What our gut reactions reveal about our hidden culinary expectations

The Hot Dog Divide: How the history of the American packed lunch separated everyday routine sandwiches from leisure foods like the hot dog

Season 2 Sneak Peek: A tease for next week's investigation into whether the Earl of Sandwich actually invented anything.

Welcome to the grand finale of Pizza Bites! After an entire season devoted to the evolution of the slice, Adrienne and Stephen tackle the biggest question of them all: When exactly did pizza stop being an Italian import and become an undeniable American staple? By narrowing down the historical timeline between World War II and the rise of fast-food chains, they pinpoint the exact day pizza officially conquered American pop culture.

In this episode, we explore:

Why returning WWII soldiers sparked the fire, but didn't immediately make the dish mainstream

The incredible six-year window (1947–1953) where the press went from explaining what a pizza was to declaring it a threat to the hot dog and hamburger

Why the founding of Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas in 1958 was a symptom of the pizza boom, rather than the cause

August 10, 1953: The release of The Caddy and why the debut of "That's Amore" by Dean Martin is the perfect marker for pizza's American takeover

Welcome to the newest slice of Pizza Bites! This week, Adrienne and Stephen take a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s to explore the cultural phenomenon of Pizza Hut. What started as a humble $600 investment grew into a $2.7 billion empire that defined the modern experiential dining era. Discover how a brand that once represented the futuristic cutting edge of pop culture is now successfully betting on the comforting power of the past.

In this episode, we explore:

The 1958 origins of Pizza Hut and the delayed arrival of its iconic red roof

The brilliant 1984 launch of the BOOK IT! reading program that turned Personal Pan Pizzas into kid currency

How red plastic cups, Tiffany-style lamps, and Pac-Man machines transformed dining out into pure entertainment

The irony of PizzaNet, the chain's pioneering 1994 attempt at internet ordering

The surprising success of "Pizza Hut Classic," a retro-revival movement doubling dine-in sales by recreating the 1980s experience