Mary Roach's Cheap and Lazy Rice Bowl with Seaweed and Burdock

The Washington Post calls Mary Roach "America's funniest science writer" and the fact that she's the author of six NYT bestselling books (including Stiff, Gulp, and her latest, Fuzz), pretty much confirms it. I fell in love with her voice recently when I picked up Gulp on a whim -- the book is disgusting, hilarious, and fascinating -- so imagine my delight when she agreed to come on my Lunch Therapy. In today's session, Mary talks about her "reckless" adventures, including the time she became somebody's "pee buddy" to study bashful bladders, the time she accidentally chatted up a Yakuza in Tokyo, eating fetal duck bills at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, and bungee jumping (which she says is way safer than skiing). We also cover rebelling against her traditional family, cursing at the dinner table, whether or not her mother farted (spoiler alert: she didn't), how her palate expanded when she moved to San Francisco, and what, exactly, a narwhal tastes like. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amateurgourmet.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Om Podcasten

Food writer Adam Roberts (The Amateur Gourmet, Secrets of the Best Chefs) has a knack for analyzing people's lunches. Now in its fourth season, Lunch Therapy showcases the lunches of a wide variety of guests: chefs (Fergus Henderson, Marco Canora), actors (Ryan O'Connell, Karan Soni), writers (Mary Roach, Steven Rowley), musicians (Ed Droste), comedians (Kate Berlant, Chelsea Peretti), and family (Adam's mom). Join in as Adam asks the most innocent yet provocative question in the business: "What did you have for lunch?"