“Hmm…Maybe she emailed the wrong person.” I thought to myself.

I was staring at a direct message I received on my Instagram account and couldn’t help but think that it was possibly a mistake. The message came from Katherine Spiers (food editor for LA Weekly) asking if I would like to be on her food history podcast, Smart Mouth. I met Katherine earlier this year during a dinner at a Mexican restaurant. On that night, I was a bit in awe at how she talked about food in such an astute way over margaritas and tortilla chips. To now read her message asking if I wanted to talk about the history food left me stumped for a few seconds.

“Does she know I flunked out of tenth grade history and had to take it over in summer school? Should I tell her? No, keep that to yourself Danielle. No one needs to know that.”

Instead of revealing my secret, I eagerly agreed to join her podcast. I was familiar with Smart Mouth after she told me about it over the dinner at our initial meeting. A simple subscription to the podcast on iTunes led me to obsessively listen to Katherine and her engineer Michelle Lanz “talk to their favorite people about their favorite food”. It’s a humble statement, however after scrolling through the title of episodes in the podcast, Katherine doesn’t just interview just anyone and Michelle doesn’t enhance the audio on just any voice. The Smart Mouth podcast holds interviews from some of the most revered, popular, and respected names in the culinary industry. Subscribe and listen week after week and you’ll hear conversations from many major names in the food and restaurant world. Marcus Samuelsson talked about beef kitfo. Anthony Bourdain discussed all things related to whisky. Mario Batali tackled fish & chips. Danny Trejo broke down prison food. Bon Appetit wine editor Marissa A. Ross cracked jokes while gushing over schnitzel and many more. That’s merely five of the over 30+ episodes on the Smart Mouth podcast and then she asked me to be a part that group of individuals.

Hence my initial thought that maybe she emailed the wrong person.

When she responded confirming that she meant to message me in fact, I was excited to be interviewed. It didn’t take long for me to choose my favorite dish that I wanted to talk about: jerk chicken.

After syncing our schedules, the day to record arrived. I sat on Katherine’s couch with Michelle in front of me and Katherine’s pup Matilda resting closely by her feet. With little radio experience, Katherine and Michelle made the recording process feel seamless and fun. It was simple: all we did was talk about food. While I may not have known the exact history of jerk chicken or seasoning to Jamaica, I was glad that I could bring my personal experience with the food to the conversation. Katherine on the other hand offered a bit more insight in some of the facts as she does with all of her guests. What made the podcast exciting was seeing the places where the dialogue went. A casual conversation about jerk chicken weaved into moments where we discussed the differences between blogging and journalism, Jamaican beef patties, an alcoholic Laura Ingalls Wilder, bad accents, tithing for Jesus, and so much more.

Listening to the episode and reflecting on the time I had with Katherine, Michelle, and Matilda, I’m glad that I got to be a part of the podcast. Hopefully the few minutes on air with her will get more people (yourself included) to fall in love with Smart Mouth and then grab jerk chicken and a few other Jamaican dishes wherever you are.

To listen to my episode, click below! Then make sure to subscribe to Smart Mouth and review it and rate it with 5-stars!

Follow Them.
Smart Mouth Podcast: Website, iTunes, Soundcloud, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Katherine Spiers: Instagram and Twitter.
Michelle Lanz: Instagram and Twitter.