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Will tries to decide what to do with the podcast as he heads toward his 40th birthday, his kid's 3rd birthday, and the podcast's 5th birthday. 

Will tries to sort out the entangled subjects of writing and potatoes. He analyzes a clip of writer Steven Johnson talking with Kerri Miller about how potatoes were at the center of a turning point in writer Michael Pollan's career. Pollan greatly influenced Johnson and his book The Botany of Desire, which devotes a chapter to potatoes, changed not only the way we look at food in America, but also the way we see ourselves as food writers. Will draws on the new materialism of Karen Barad to help theorize methods of tracing entanglements practiced by many contemporary popular and academic writers.    

Will wrote a dissertation that looked at—among other food issues—the history of the burrito and Chipotle Mexican Grill's use of online media to persuade people to eat burritos. In another chapter, he also looked at something he called micro(be)politics. One of the things he found is that there's this idea going around right now that we are more like ecosystems than individuals. There are microbes covering everything around us and in us. We are way more microbe than human in terms of our cellular make up and our DNA. Our "selves" contain way more bacterial DNA than human DNA. Will is really interested in the way that this idea challenges our notion of what it means to be human. How might we behave differently if we understand ourselves as ecosystems rather than humans? How might we relate to one another and our ecologies? So naturally, he followed with great interest the headlines about Chipotle's problems with foodborne illness because it exists at this intersection of burritos, micro(be)politics, and rhetoric or persuasion. In this episode, Will looks at the connections between Chipotle, microbes, ethos, and social justice. 

Will returns after a bit of a hiatus to talk about the way we talk about barbecue. He does a rhetorical analysis of Christopher Kimball's conversation with pitmaster Aaron Franklin to uncover the nuances in expressions of expertise in a topic with a lot of ambiguity.   

Cooking is not always the hard part of cooking. Sometimes getting your mind right is the hardest part. Getting your space right can be the hardest part. Getting to a state of mind where you can see such work as a joy can be difficult. But if you have negotiated with those around you to be the cook or share the cooking responsibilities, getting into the right state of mind will go a long way toward joy and ease. Mise en place can help. 

Will takes another look at the concept of family dinners, makes crepes, and mourns the passing of his grandmother. 

Will looks back on the role that food played in diplomacy during President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China. 

Will reads deeply into the cereal box. 

Will is back after 6 months. He's thinking about food, culture, and technology.

Will goes down another rabbit hole filled with queso. This time, however, he emerges with four answers to the queso question. (How does one make queso without Velveeta?)

Will and family go out to “the cathedral of smoke,” Louie Mueller Barbecue. Will’s mom is a preacher and the trip gets him thinking about the intersections of barbecue and religion. It goes beyond metaphor. Have a listen. 

No Satiation gets named one of the top 10 food blogs in Austin by The Austin Chronicle (http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2014-01-03/top-10-austin-food-blogs/). Will has been up to his eyeballs in burrito research, but it is nothing compared to Bill Addison's Bay-area burrito quest some years back. Listen to some of Addison's criteria for a good burrito, then find out Will's pick for the best California-style burrito in town. 

Will talks with food writer, chef, and food historian MM Pack. Pack did what many people dream about: she quit her tech writing job and went to culinary school. As a trained writer and a trained chef, Pack has a unique perspective on the similarities of technical writing and cooking. 

Will talks about Michael Pollan, the genre, not the man. He examines "the dupe," a popular implied or imagined character in the genre that is Pollan.  

Will talks with Austin American-Statesman food writer Addie Broyles about how to keep food writing fresh, avoid burnout, and listen for the kairotic moment that reveals itself during the writing process.

The Texas Monthy list of 50 Best BBQ Joints in the World just came out. Cue conversations. Will talks with Dr. Frederick Coye Heard about barbecue commonplaces, traditions, and evolution.  

This one is heavy. The title for this episode comes from the last line of "Woman under Siege: Leningrad 1941-1942," by Darra Goldstein in the book From Betty Crocker to Feminist Food Studies: Critical Perspectives on Women and Food. The chapter is full of details about what happened during the German siege of Leningrad in World War II from September 8 1941 to January 27 1944. Specifically, it is about how women fed their families during the siege. Powerful stuff.

Will sits down with fellow podcaster Terry Grier of the podcast When In Austin (http://www.wheninaustin.net/). They talk about food, podcasting, and life in general. 

Will lets out a secret, tries to rally listeners for Austin Bakes for West (http://austinbakes.com/), and talks with Elizabeth Gunz of El Lago Foods. El Lago is in many ways the foundation upon which Central Texas Tex-Mex is built so listen up. (Full disclosure: they paid me in tortillas after the interview.)

It's more of a snack than a full episode. Have a listen to the folks behind Matt's El Rancho tell a few quick stories about this storied institution. That interview was conducted by Letisha Brown and Scott Pryor for the Foodways Texas oral history archives. Interviewed were Janie Martinez, Gloria Reyna, Cecilia Muela, Cathy Kreitz. You can find this clip and a transcript at http://foodwaystexas.com/oralhistory/matts-el-rancho/ Many thanks to Foodways Texas for the great work they are doing.