Food Podcasts to Go

I was probably one of the few people around who didn't have the ubiquitous white earpods coming out of my ears, listening to music. That's because I never owned an iPod. My feeling was, hey, I already have enough to carry, what with my cellphone and camera (you know I got to shoot those pictures) and sometimes my sunglasses. I couldn't imagine carrying a music player, too.

Then Apple came out with the iPhone and that would have solved the whole issue of carrying my cellphone and a music player (and in some cases my camera), but I had a Verizon cellphone and didn't want to make the switch to AT&T. So you know what happened last month, right? After years of rumors and anticipation, Verizon finally was allowed to sell the iPhone and I ordered mine right away.

Now I love my iPhone, especially since my Web surfing is much faster than on my previous Blackberry. But more importantly, I now can play my music from my iTunes and I've started watching podcasts.

I'm a real visual guy, so I don't just download podcasts to listen to. I'm looking only for video podcasts, where I can actually watch something as I wait for the bus or BART. So I've been hunting down food podcasts, in particular. I haven't seen a whole lot, but here are some of my favorites. (You can search these titles in iTunes under podcasts.)

1. Epicurious: Food and Drink. A food media institution, Epicurious offers up fundamental "how-to" video podcasts. Even though these podcasts are four years old, and they're not offering up new ones, the information is still relevant. Learn the basics about how to temper chocolate or make creme anglais. Don't know what's "creme anglais?" Then download the podcast.

2. Jamie's Ministry of Food Recipes. You know one person I search for by name is Jamie Oliver, and sure enough he offers a whole slew of cooking demo under this series name. Even though this series is from 2008 and it doesn't look like he's producing any new ones, there's enough in his archives to keep you busy watching for awhile. Plus, this is the Naked Chef, so come on, you can be sure to be entertained by his style and food knowledge. And really, because podcasts are often less than 10 minutes, he sticks to the cooking and does less shtick. (Not that I ever minded Oliver's shtick.)

3. Market Kitchen Recipes from the Good Food Channel. I admit I have a thing for the English accent (um, didn't you just read my post about Jamie Oliver?), so I was excited to discover this collection of video podcasts created by this British food channel. And not only are these cooking demos interesting to watch, there are tons to download, more than three years worth of viewing. So I'm going through them for awhile. A variety of British chefs buy ingredients at the popular farmers market called Borough Market and cook right at the market outside. This is a well produced series with some interesting recipes.

4. Simply Ming. Chef Ming Tsai's "Simply Ming" TV series is always educational to watch. But when I did a search under his name, just this one episode is offered up as a video podcast. It's pretty much a TV episode turned into a podcast. But it's still entertaining to watch Chef Ming on location in Beijing.

5. What's This Food? This is a new video podcast featuring Daniel Delaney, who's a young entrepreneur who has created several interesting Web-based food programming through Vendr.tv. Now he's started this podcast where he talks about a particular food ingredient, most times unusual or something you might not be familiar with, and then he shares a quick recipe using that ingredient. Like with all his video productions, Delaney's "What's This Food?" is pretty slick, and Delaney has that quirky personality (with the accompanying spikey hair) to keep it entertaining.

So do you watch any particular video podcast? Got any recommendations for me to download?