This is a wonderful podcast if you’d like food and history. You will learn much. It’s unfortunate that some rather uneducated people have come here to post negative comments because they are obsessed with Gaza and have succumbed to propaganda, they cannot handle even mention of Israel or anything Jewish. If you don’t like a subject, you can skip it without trashing the entire podcast because you can’t think straight.

Thankfully the creator of Hamburger America, George Motz, was interesting. Kudos to him. A lack of pre-interview preparation by the “culinary historian” host is obvious. Clearly she didn’t know much about the history of hamburger nor of Hamburger America. A historian should not have to be constantly corrected by the guest. A skillful interviewer she is not. As a first time listener and bit of a foodie, it’s a disservice to the guest and listener.

Loved this show, looked forward to new episodes. The content was good. (The host’s voice is snobby but it was charming somehow, like nerdy snobby.) Then they dropped the most recent Zionist episode (March 2024). Unfollowing. Huge disappointment.

Truly amazing how this podcast can be both so mediocre in quality AND on the side of genocidal powers in multiple simultaneous conflicts around the globe

I tried to listen because the topics sounded interesting but just had to stop at ten minutes. So poorly done-disappointed.

I listened to the episode with Cathy Erway about her recent book on Taiwan, because I was interested in hearing about her new book. However, I found the interviewer so unbearable that I could not finish the episode. The interviewer continually interrupted, made unrelated comments, and went off on tangents. It seemed like the interviewer hadn’t done the homework of reading the book or writing interesting questions in the interest of facilitating conversation.

A long general discussion with no descriptions of the actual food or individual dishes. I wanted to hear the history of how it came about what was originally served in a historical dim sum feast? These questions remain unanswered.instead you get broad explanations and don’t learn many hard facts. Ie. Dim Sum is like the English tea tradition? Rhubarb was used in ancient Chinese cuisine long before the English did. And something about sponge cake… that’s about all I learned here. Podcast needs more food and less fumbling rambling tangents. Next time, Delve deeper into the details of Dim Sum and why it tastes so good. Talk about dumplings etc…

Was incredibly painful to listen to. Interviewer stumbles and comes across as unsure, tired and flat.

I like this podcast. I can usually look past the political winks and nudges placed to assure the listener that no thought crimes are being committed— however at the beginning of the most recent episode the speaker mentioned “the atrocities the Russians are currently committing” and I just don’t know how a program that is so obviously focused on the touchy feely parts of our modern times could stand by such a blanket smear against a people as a whole. I support free speech obviously, and it this program believes that statement I can make my decision to listen based on that, but I wanted to make sure you felt that was a fair assessment of what is taking place…

Sometimes I listen to the whole episode and they never really talk about the topic. If the author being interviewed is so afraid of spoilers that they don’t even talk about the topic, what’s the point? That being said, I am interested in the concept. I just don’t want to listen to a long back and forth about how great some magazine is without ever getting to the topic of the article supposedly being discussed. Especially when the issue came out 3 years ago. This is a podcast, it’s different than radio.

I hope the show producers are listening and reading these comments. This is a good example of a show in which it’s not the guest who shines but the host tries to be the star. Very poor questions, a lot of fillers, sometimes she states a point to which the guest doesn’t know what to say. Given how interesting this topic is, she hardly ever gets many ahas for the listener.

She made nasty and hate comments. I expect more out of you.

I just listened to the Pimm’s Cup episode. The host was rambling, seemed to trail off, cut off the knowledgeable guest, went on random tangents that the guest hadn’t prepared for, and seemed to forget they hadn’t ever actually covered what is in a Pimm’s Cup. It seemed like she had never done an interview in her life and there was little to no editing. One of the worst podcast episodes I’ve listened to, the one star is for the poor guest who was clearly prepared and had interesting things to say.

I appreciate the thought that the author put into this book. However, I do take issue with her characterization of hummus having been appropriated by Israel, while allegedly ignoring its Arab roots. While the author would like to characterize all Israelis as coming from areas outside of the Levantine, in fact many Israelis come from other Arab countries, where they lived for centuries. Of course they brought the foods they ate with them, and along with the people who lived in Israel, continued to eat it. Did other Israelis eat it and make it and market it? Yes.Should credit be given? Yes. But please remember that Israelis are not one homogeneous group, and the foods they eat reflect both where they came from and where they are now.

I wish that the guests on the show more often reflected the heritage of the topic on which they are speaking. Take the Chinese episodes. Of the 6-7 I saw listed, only one of them was actually Chinese! I’m glad to see that recently there is an actual Palestinian person talking about Palestinian food. I look forward to listening to it!

He is correct. Mama’s Pizza is terrible, but they make the absolute best cheesesteak .25 miles outside of city limit. Grew up a mile away. EAT THE MAMAS STEAK! Every cut of steak is covered with the oohygooey cheese. Jim’s and Pat’s are fake. Jim’s on South is the worst. DelAnsando’s a very close second.

I do think the host comes off as one of the coastal elite, and have noticed when topics she’s not as passionate about (ie non-Euro topics) she tends to cut off the interviewees and not let them finish. The guests themselves are wonderful and what keeps me listening.

I really want to like this podcast as I listen to a variety of pods about food, splendid table, sporkful, and my favorite food history podcast - the anthrochef. I am disappointed in the quality of the interviews, production quality, and what many commenters are saying is a very Eurocentric perspective. You absolutely cannot have a good podcast without an engaged host, decent production, and a structured format. The sound quality of the phone calls is absolutely horrible, I wanted to listen to the Paris episode and could not deal with the background noise after about 3 minutes, and I usually like to give podcasts a good chance before I decide it’s not for me. Do better Heritage!!! Listen to the feedback!!! :(

This is a comforting reliable source that makes me feel happy and takes my mind off the state of the world. Love it!

I enjoy listening to this show sometimes, but I wish the host would allow the guests to speak without interruption. Ask the short leading questions, let them take it from there. This seems to happen especially when people who are minorities are guests. Because they are less likely to take back the floor in an aggressive way, the host ends up sounding like it’s about her. And her witticisms sound disingenuous after these power moves. That can be so triggering that I often end up stopping before the episode ends.

I absolutely love this podcast. I am a home cook and I listen while cooking and drinking tea or coffee. Linda is obviously so kind and curious, and I feel like I am spending time with an equally fascinated friend, “nerding out.” Warm and wonderful!

As an avid consumer of food media as well as an accomplished and widely traveled home cook, I have tried to like this show. The recent Bean episode is a good example. I’ve cooked beans from scratch all my life. I’ve lived, worked and traveled in Asia and Latin America, we are beans are part of nearly every meal in some form or another. The perspective given in the show was that “civilization” arose because of the benefits of farmed legumes in Mesopotamia. It seems like a bit of willful ignorance to fail to note that the ancient Inca, Maya, Mexica and Aztec cultures thrived around the same periods of time - and cultivated beans. Archaeological records also indicate that legumes were extensively farmed in what is now northern Korea and China. Perhaps legumes had some impact on the rise of those civilizations as well? Or the several varieties of beans and peas grown in sub-Saharan Africa? Or are they simply not included because they don’t bear on a Eurocentric identity? I know this sounds like nitpicking, but it reflects a larger pattern of Eurocentric bias in this show. Food history happened everywhere human beings ate. Either be more clear in your statements, for example, “Mediterranean and European cultural development benefited from Mesopotamian cultivation of legumes”, or touch on the other civilizations also. The time is over for non-European cultures to be relegated to the “ethnic aisle. “

Was looking forward to this culinary historian’s topics; sounded promising. Tried the Chinese street food too but couldn't listen further. Linda sounded like she just wants to rush through interview and point out talking points she found fascinating yet sounds disingenuous to the 2 guests on the Montgomery County episode. I can hear someone clicking on computer while the guest was talking too. She’d quickly say “mhmm” “all right” after the guests talk and move onto next topic. Sounds like she was just here to show off her knowledge instead of genuinely learn from her guests.

The guest talks too fast and runs his words together. Hard to digest.

There are a lot of fascinating topics brought up in this podcast. In the past few days I’ve really enjoyed some older episodes like Eat Your Words (about the linguistic and historical changes that some of our food names in English have undergone), the one about Mark Twain’s favorite American foods, and the one about the Libyan Jewish cuisine in Rome. I’ve learned fun and interesting facts and usually have my browser open to read further into some of the facts brought up. With that said, I have to agree with some other commenters in a few points. Some guests seem out of their element, particularly up and coming authors. I’m sure the book about beans, for example, was interesting—but the author doesn’t seem like she’s done any sort of podcast or public speaking. I’ve come across several other episodes like this as well. I’m not sure what the solution to this would be, but some episodes are hard to listen. It unfortunately also does tend to come off as very Western-centric. Especially in a place like New York, one would expect to find authors and cooks from all over the world, yet the guests are more often than not white Americans. As a white American who is fascinated by the Middle Eastern cultures, languages, and cuisines and has lived in Israel/Palestine and Jordan, I had been hoping to hear more from the people who actually grew up in that region and were steeped in the culture and cuisines—rather than other Westerners who are interested in these topics but only know about them by proxy. Add some diversity, not for diversity’s sake alone but to make the podcasts richer and deeper. I personally don’t mind Linda’s delivery—but it’s clear when she’s interested in a topic and when she’s bored. The latter point is something to consider working on, but I actually really like the episodes where she jokes with the guests and is actively engaged in the conversation. Overall I enjoy this podcast a lot, but I’d like to see more diversity in guests and fewer unprepared guests. Thank you for making this show!

Guest speaker is too nervous to give enough information. Maybe you should screen better.

I am a lifelong liberal and this intro is DISGUSTING. I grew up in the most white area there was and we had McDonalds everywhere for us “white” folk. Talk about racist. No one knows who you are. You can’t even read the intros well. Boring. Yikes...

I thought I was going to learn about culinary history but instead I just heard a couple of people talking about nonsense for about 30 minutes before I gave up. Very very disappointed by the miss guidance in the title. Albeit I only heard the 30 minutes of one episode which means that I have really no base to judge but it was long enough for me to know that I will never be hearing this podcast again.

I wish the interviewer would stop cutting in when the authors are talking it is very annoying .

I love hearing the author interviews. The in-depth historical detail is fascinating. I listened to the whole podcast from start to finish!

I came upon A Taste of the Past by accident and have never looked back!! I learn something ( many things!!) every episode of this podcast! It’s my favorite one! From Sugar to salt to peanuts and seeds to cookbooks and women’s rights...all kinds of tidbits and history! I’m thankful that this podcasts opens my eyes to so many things about the history of food!

I love this topic so much but I just can’t listen to the host fumble and stammer through the material. There were a few episodes that I pushed through because the guest was great. Please, someone revamp this podcast format.

This hasn't updated since mid March; is the podcast finished putting out new shows?

Unique approach to a cooking podcast...combining history and cooking. The host is charming and asks questions to the guests that you’d ask. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for foodies who want to understand more. The style is very laidback and enjoyable to listen to. History and interesting stories and FOOOD

Why do so many of the ethnic cuisine deep dives involve white “experts” on a particular subject rather then native practitioners? (Eg Chinese street food). They speak English and don’t need outsiders to bring the light. Linda loves to hear herself speak.

Great podcast that blends food and history. I love to listen while baking. Linda has on great guests and while her off-the-cuff banter can be awkward at times, she does her research on the guest's subject and asks great questions, making each episode fly by enjoyably with a lot of info and clear joy of the subject.

I wanted so much to love this but it is incredibly badly edited. The team needs to take the temperature on where podcasts are currently at and update their format and approach. The phone interviews are awkward and the sound quality is terrible. They let guests fumble on, basically saying nothing and the host also stumbles around a lot. Subject matter is amazing, wish I could stand listening to it. Cringe.

The sound quality of this podcast is very inconsistent and the interviewer doesn’t seem very experienced despite apparently having hosted the podcast for years. But the guests are wonderful and interesting and I always learn something. Plus, with a lot of episodes, this has become my go-to podcast for getting to sleep

This podcast has so many interesting guests, but many of the conversations don’t get very far past a shallow overview of the book.

I've gone back through the archives and have listened to every episode, resulting in my learning so much about foods of the world! Linda is an excellent interviewer - curious and knowledgable and enthusiastic about food. My favorite episode was the foods of Iran - I probably listened to it three times since I rewound it so many times to listen to the dish descriptions. Cheers!

I thoroughly enjoy listening to Linda interview her guests on a wide range of topics. The sprinkling of history throughout each episode is delightful! The breadth of food history covered ensures I am always learning and there is always something I want to listen to next. I Love listening and learning to this podcast!

Many very very interesting topics - it took me a little while to appreciate Linda Pelaccio, but I sure do now. Really recommended as cultural history

The review of A-Z Southern is just too excruciating. The host continually says things like "Now, MOST people consider this type of food to be inedible, but nooooot the Southerners!" and her guest is left to gracefully deflect her not-remotely-veiled insults to his work and his heritage by reminding her than most southern culinary traditions are borrowed from all parts of the world. Pretty classless. If she can't be professional about a huge swath of the country, how can I expect anything more from the rest of the podcast. No thanks.

Love this podcast. Feel like I can always relax into listening, and trust Linda’s expertise to take me along on an interesting and informative journey. Love love love it.

Some episodes are fascinating and then some are boring or annoying or have poor production values like BG noise or static. The interviewer,Linda has a few quirks, umming and sounding bored with answers that she could get control over. There is music played during the break that varies in each episode, and it would be nice to know what it is.

The host is a really mediocre interviewer.

So much talk, so little information. Leave in all the ahhh's and pauses and speak in generalities. Leave out any hard facts about the topic covered and you have this podcast.

Granted, I manage to shed those pounds because A Taste of the Past is my regular workout companion at the gym. Each new episode (and the hundreds of older episodes, too!) provides a mellow balance to an otherwise intense 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. Often the guests inspire me to redouble my own food explorations -- which, of course, brings me back to the gym, and to another episode. It's a virtuous circle of the best sort.

The topics are interesting, but often the quality of the guest's audio is so poor that it's too difficult to understand. The host is the major problem with this podcast. She is SO pompous and elitist, and dismissive of anything that isn't up to her standard. "I just won't buy an olive oil that's under $12." Well, good for you. She also can't seem to get her thoughts out without insufferable amounts of uh-ing and tangential comments. Many times I have yelled at my phone, "Spit out what you're trying to say, lady!" Take some communication classes.