Dish City
WAMU 88.5
Dish City explores the iconic foods of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia to understand local history and how we live today. Join hosts Patrick Fort and Ruth Tam as they learn the origins of Old Bay in Maryland, explore the roots of Vietnamese cuisine in Virginia, and investigate whether D.C.'s bottomless brunch is actually a good deal. From WAMU.
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Top 10 Dish City Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Dish City episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Dish City for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Dish City episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Solutions Mode
Dish City
06/17/21 • 40 min
There are problems with food delivery. There's the reliance on gig laborers who say they are underpaid. Restaurants have to pay high commission fees on top of most orders. And delivery companies wind up operating on threadbare margins and still haven't turned an annual profit. Oh, and soggy fries. We haven't quite solved for that yet.
There's plenty to vent about. But, food delivery's not going anywhere. So, on our season finale: Can food delivery be better?
Read a transcript of this episode at dishcity.org.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @dishcity.
Leave us a tip at wamu.org/supportdishcity.
Email us your favorite delivery order at [email protected].
1 Listener
06/03/21 • 36 min
DoorDash started a decade after its competitors, but now controls half of the food delivery market in the U.S. What can we learn from the very first order its founders delivered? And how did all these third-party platforms reshape the way we think of food delivery? Ruth and Patrick explore the origins of DoorDash and examine whether the "magic wand" it built for restaurateurs is working.
Note: This episode has been updated to reflect DoorDash and Uber Eats' current policy regarding listing restaurants on their platforms.
Read a transcript of this episode at dishcity.org.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @dishcity.
Leave us a tip at wamu.org/supportdishcity.
Email us your favorite delivery order at [email protected].
1 Listener
05/27/21 • 24 min
In the '60s, delivering pizzas meant wrapping hot pies in a blanket or driving them to customers over open flames. With those humble (and, uh, life-threatening) beginnings, how did we get to the quick and easy delivery everyone knows and loves today? From heatproof bags to rotating ovens, Patrick Fort and Ruth Tam investigate how 'big pizza' changed the delivery game forever.
Read a transcript of this episode at dishcity.org.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @dishcity.
Leave us a tip at wamu.org/supportdishcity.
Email us your favorite delivery order at [email protected].
1 Listener
06/10/21 • 34 min
"Quick sign up! Flexible hours! Be your own boss!"
The perks of gig work are well-known, but do they actually reflect the reality of drivers working for food delivery apps? Patrick and Ruth try driving for DoorDash to find out. Plus, they interview three drivers in D.C., Seattle, and Denton, Texas, to see how gig workers are fighting for better working conditions.
Read a transcript of this episode at dishcity.org.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @dishcity.
Leave us a tip at wamu.org/supportdishcity.
Email us your favorite delivery order at [email protected].
1 Listener
Carryouts
Dish City
05/19/22 • 38 min
Asian carryouts are longtime fixtures of D.C.’s Black neighborhoods. Where else can you get a quintessential order of chicken wings and mambo sauce? Despite how loved they are by District natives and transplants, they’ve also gotten a lot of bad press. For years, Black customers have experienced racism at the hands of Asian workers. Meanwhile, Asian workers have received xenophobic attacks. Hosts Ruth and Patrick puzzle through their mixed feelings about a D.C. institution.
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1 Listener
Bottomless Brunch
Dish City
07/07/22 • 32 min
The only meal D.C. loves more than a power lunch is a bottomless, boozy brunch. Most weekends, unlimited mimosas, and bloody marys are flowing as Washingtonians splurge on late breakfasts, often after late nights. But brunch has equally impassioned critics and fans. Ruth and Patrick learn why Washingtonians love brunch so much and whether it’s a good deal for anyone.
Fill out our survey: dishcity.org/survey
Leave us a tip at wamu.org/supportdishcity.
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/dishcity
Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/dishcity
1 Listener
Why Is Delivery A Thing?
Dish City
05/13/21 • 30 min
When you really think about it, delivering food from restaurants to homes is kind of strange. Nothing about the process saves money and it doesn't make the food taste any better! And yet, platforms like DoorDash and Grubhub doubled their revenue during the pandemic. So, what's the history of this weird system? Welcome to the latest season of Dish City, where we unwrap the past, present and future of delivery. Read a transcript of this episode at dishcity.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @dishcity. Leave us a tip at wamu.org/supportdishcity. Email us your favorite delivery order at [email protected].
1 Listener
05/20/21 • 30 min
On a cold November night in 1976, a New York City restaurateur named Misa Chang started sliding delivery menus under her neighbors’ doors for her Chinese restaurant in Manhattan. Chang wasn’t the first to offer delivery, but when delivery gained traction in U.S. cities, Chinese restaurants were often the first to do it. As dishes like chop suey and General Tso's chicken became part of American food culture, Americans’ feelings toward the Chinese Americans who made the food (and delivered it) remained stuck in the past. And now, as demand for delivery increases, many American Chinese restaurants are closing. Is delivery the key to survival?
Read a transcript of this episode at dishcity.org.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @dishcity.
Leave us a tip at wamu.org/supportdishcity.
Email us your favorite delivery order at [email protected].
1 Listener
Trailer: Dish City Is Back
Dish City
05/12/22 • 2 min
We’re back! After covering the pandemic’s effect on food delivery and our local restaurant scene, Dish City is dining out again.
Behind every iconic food of the Washington region is a story of city change. On the latest season of Dish City, join hosts Ruth Tam and Patrick Fort as they sample iconic meals from D.C., Maryland and Virginia and search for answers to questions like: Why are there so many Chinese carryouts in D.C.’s Black neighborhoods? What’s the seasoning that’s actually on your blue crabs? And...what is stuffed ham?
Introducing Dish City
Dish City
08/20/19 • 2 min
A new podcast from WAMU asks what we can learn about Washington, D.C. through its iconic foods. Hosts Patrick Fort and Ruth Tam trek around the city and meet the people eating, making, and fighting for the city's staples. New episodes on Thursdays starting September 12th.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Dish City have?
Dish City currently has 38 episodes available.
What topics does Dish City cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts, Arts and Food.
What is the most popular episode on Dish City?
The episode title 'Solutions Mode' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Dish City?
The average episode length on Dish City is 24 minutes.
How often are episodes of Dish City released?
Episodes of Dish City are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Dish City?
The first episode of Dish City was released on Aug 20, 2019.
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