Every Bite

Cooking and eating are often characterised as communal activities. To some, the idea of cooking or eating alone conjures images of loneliness, isolation — perhaps even wasted time. Whether you've chosen a solitary life, are yet to settle down, or find yourself living alone in later life, our guests today insist that cooking for oneself can be a powerful act of self-care.Guests: Kate Legge, journalist, novelist and author of Delicious: Stories of Cooking, Love and FriendshipSigne Johansen, cook, writer, author of Solo: The Joy of Cooking for OneEric Kim, food columnist and recipe developer at the New York Times, author of Korean American: Food that Tastes like HomeGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at everybite@abc.net.auThis episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Do you remember the healthy food pyramid? In the 1980s and 90s, the diagram was used to show which foods to eat most and which to eat least. It was replaced in Australia and the United States by a plate in the 2010s, but now — spurred by RFK Jr and the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement — the pyramid is back. Sort of: it's now upside down. For the first time, the guidelines acknowledge the harm caused by ultra-processed foods. So why are some dietitians critical of the new pyramid? And what can Australians expect from our own updated guidelines, due later this year?

While tasselled lanterns, weaving dragons, dancing lions and firecrackers are a familiar spectacle in Chinatowns right across Australia during Lunar New Year, the season is celebrated by more than just the Chinese community. In this episode, we explore the roots of Chinese New Year festivities in Australia, give the stove god some time off for Tết, Vietnamese New Year, and become older and wiser with a bowl of tteokguk, an essential dish during Seollal, Korean New Year.

A chant heard at Sydney's first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was "out of the bars, into the streets!" But bars were not the community's only gathering places: Even revolutionaries have to eat. We don't hear much about queer restaurants and cafes, but often they pre-date the famous nightspots that are now synonymous with queer pride.

Doctors and scientists around the world are increasingly alarmed by the impact that industrial processing is having on the food we eat and by what that food does to our bodies. Ultra-processed foods may last longer and taste good, but our guests explain, many are designed for overindulgence, and they are linked to health problems like obesity and an increased risk of some cancers.This episode was originally broadcast on March 22, 2025.

Many of us imagine that an athlete's diet consists of sports supplements providing carefully calibrated doses of carbohydrates, protein and electrolytes, but for ancient Olympians, a diet of cheese or figs was seemingly enough. In truth, whole foods are still the most important part of an athlete's diet today, as we discover on our culinary tour of the sporting world.This episode was originally broadcast on May 17, 2025.