I'm Katherine Spiers, the former food editor at LA Weekly and longtime journalist (Seattle Times, LA Times, Associated Press, Gawker Media and more). Smart Mouth is my food history podcast - don't worry, it's not stuffy.

Every week I have a different guest on - Danny Trejo, Gail Simmons, Jacques Pepin, Jenny Yang, Tawny Newsome, you name 'em - and we talk about the story behind one of their favorite foods. I can usually blow their minds with at least one factoid.

I have big plans for Smart Mouth (like a newsletter with paid contributors!) but first I've got get this thing to sustain itself. I'm excited about creating Smart Mouth and hope to turn all our listeners into food experts. And sometimes, sometimes the show is even funny.

If you want, think of it as contributing to independent journalism. I do many hours of research for every episode - not just about food, but institutional racism, underreported events in history, etc. Come join the club!