July 22, 2022 • 50 mins
This British sci-fi franchise has nearly 60 years' worth of lore, including foods from restorative celery to fish fingers and custard. Anney and Lauren dive into the wibbly-wobbly, semi-fictional foods of 'Doctor Who'.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Bolga Bam, and today
we have an episode for you about the food of
Dr Who. Yes, which several of you have requested and
has been a long time coming. Yes, yes, long time
(00:29):
request uh and actually okay, So we had like vaguely
planned to do this episode. Gosh, what like a year ago?
I think so yeah, And then I was like, oh man,
I just don't know if this is like a cohesive
episode mm hmm. But for some reason last week I
(00:54):
was like, let's do this episode. I wonder if you
have like media osmosis, because I feel like there's been
a lot of Doctor Who news lately. Maybe maybe that's it. Yeah,
mm hmm. Okay, Well, well here we are a year later.
I'm happy to finally move it. As you know, I
love organization, Lauren, so we will finally be able to
(01:17):
move this outline from our main page into our archive page,
which is well, we all have reasons to be excited today. Look,
I'm easily excited about organization. Um and actually I have
I feel like this one's gonna be front loaded with
(01:38):
a lot of we have our like personal takes at
the beginning of these, and I got a lot of
things about Doctor Who. Okay, okay, Okay, here we go. Okay.
So I think I have been very very open on
have our I think I have. I'm afraid of Aliens.
(01:59):
I was afraid of Alien when I was a kid,
thanks to a very very effective prank my older brother
played on me. I couldn't watch the movie Aliens until
I got Alien and Aliens until I got to high school. No,
not even high school college. Um. But my my bff, Katie,
who I've mentioned on here before, she loved Doctor Who.
(02:19):
And every time I go to a house, we'd be
trying to fall asleep, and she was somebody who liked
to have something on the background which she would sleep
Doctor Who awake terrified, terrified, Lord, like just watching it
horrors you. You probably could have told her, No, I
(02:41):
couldn't admit I was afraid of the dolleks. I couldn't. Um.
But it was my early experience with Doctor Who was
one of fear. This this is actually like a relatively
common thing because um, although or I guess, because Doctor
Who was like ostensibly a show aimed at children, um,
(03:07):
but also incorporates very frequently elements of suspense and horror.
UH There's like there's there's a phrase in the UK
behind the Sofa that is specifically linked to Doctor Who.
It's um. It indicates that like you're sort of watching
(03:27):
something from behind the sofa, like like you're like you're
ducking behind for the scary parts and then liked but
still being in the room for the rest of it.
UM's specifically linked to doctor Who UM because so many
people there grew up with this terror, partially of dolics,
which are scary Yese is very upsetting. One of my
(03:50):
very favorite episodes is when they're like, oh, we're going
up the stairs, they'll never get us, and then it
starts Elevate Elevate. For people who don't know, I've never
seen it, it's hard to explain, but basically it's like
a trash can droid that kills everything. It looks like
it can't go upstairs, but it can. Well. In the
old series that was like one of the in jokes
(04:12):
like how do you defeat a doalek? Just go up
some stairs because on rollers like it clearly can't and
so like very early in the in the UH Not reboot,
but but new new series that started. Yeah, they were like,
oh ah ha, they're like rafters. They figured out out
open doors. So yeah, I was really scared of it.
(04:36):
And I don't think I watched it. I bench watched
it when Matt Smith's seasons were out, Okay, so I
watched all of them up until him and then I've
seen most of the of the new stuff. For the
old stuff, but the new stuff. The movies I have
seen that I've blocked out because I saw them as
(04:58):
a child, But I have seen him. And I have
my friends very strong opinions about who the best Doctor
is from, so I can recite those with their her
opinions and not mine. Um, I watched them. I have
watched most of the new stuff. I did watch it
in a block. And I have a lot of friends
who are really really big into Doctor, who have a
(05:18):
friend who has like the electronic screwdriver. Screw ever, Yeah,
it's pretty cool, pretty cool. You and I I went
to oh, the way point in Brooklyn and U, Yes,
that was cool. Um the way station, the way station. UM.
(05:39):
And I do have a funny story where I have
seen a couple of the actors that UM Dragon con.
Think about a doctor who at one time. If you
haven't been to Dragon Con, I heard about Dragon Con.
One of the kind of jokes complaints is the elevator
situation is terrible. The elevator takes for for Yeah, because
(06:01):
there's so many people. This is a large fan convention
that happens here in downtown Atlanta, and there are too
many people, and yeah, they're not using the elevators properly. No.
And in fact, like one of the like idioms is
you have to go down to go up because you
can't get in otherwise. But anyway, one time I was
in the Marriott, which is one of the busiest ones,
(06:24):
waiting for an elevator, and the doors open and out
rolls a Dollek with no person that I can see,
just rolls independent Dolly moves on and it's it's stuck
with me for so long. I have to think it
(06:45):
was somebody on the floor below that was just like
messing with me or with everybody. I don't know, but whoa, um,
you don't know, I don't know, I don't I don't know.
It was pretty cool. It was a good dollar um.
But also I recently I won't say who but one
of my best friends recently revealed to me she's only
(07:07):
written one fan letter in her life, and it was
to David Tinnett about that's that's actually really sweet. It
is it is, I won't portray your confidence. But I
was like, oh, yes, um, I have not written any
fan letters, um to anyone involved with Dr Who. I
(07:32):
do have like very vague memories of watching some of
the classic episodes with my parents when I was really young. Um,
but yeah, I got pretty into the new series when um,
when they started coming out, starting with the Christopher eccleston. Um.
But and yeah, yeah, I I dropped off at some point.
(07:55):
But um, but I watched a bunch like a like
a good smatter ring across the years, um, in preparation
for doing this episode. And I'm like, oh, I do
like this. This is just nice. It's just so nice
and horrific and horrific. I was about to say in
our D and D campaign, not once, but twice, I
have used the Weeping Angels as a as a villain.
(08:21):
We okay, y'all, listeners, I need to relay this to
you because it was so funny because the US the
players were so upset about these weeping angel esque statues
possibly attacking us, that we refused to touch them. We
could have gotten through the puzzle that they that they
(08:42):
were part of in like four seconds if we had
just touched them. But all of us were like, naw, dude,
it was hilarious. I have seen blank and I refuse,
and so like we we we wound up working out
the puzzle like in a very round about way, but
at any rate, at any rate, yeah, that's how scary there.
(09:05):
I mean, it was hilarious to me. I was trying
so hard not to lose it because no one even
tried to push them, which is all you had to do.
I was not going to touch it. No, you weren't.
And then I was frantically like, oh my god, what
if they actually had to fight these things? They might die.
I wasn't anticipatus. You knew they're scary. They're scary. Well,
(09:32):
um uh. I also do want to note, like right
here at the top that um, like, over the course
of the you know, sixty years that this franchise has existed, UM,
there has been a lot of lower written and rewritten,
and this episode is not comprehensive, all right, Like we're
(09:55):
we're we're just here to like to like discuss and
have fun and so yeah, so please don't come at us.
Um if you have something to add, Oh my goodness,
do yes, because there is a lot. Oh, there's a
there's too much. There's too too much, but in a
in a nice way. But I suppose this. I mean,
(10:18):
if anyone out there is very confused right now, this
probably brings us to our question. It does it does? Um? Okay,
foods of Doctor Who? What are they? Um? Oh? Goodness up? Well? Uh.
(10:42):
Doctor Who is a science fiction fantasy media franchise, again
ostensibly aimed at children, that began with a television show
produced in the UK, which originally started airing in nineteen
sixty three. UM. It ran for twenty six can set
kit of seasons until it was canceled in but then,
(11:03):
after a long period of regeneration you might say, UM
was revived in two thousand five and has gone another
thirteen pretty consecutive seasons with no sign of stopping. UM.
All the while there have been tie in films and
spinoff series and TV specials and audio dramas and books
(11:24):
and comics and games and stage shows so many things.
It is a it is a genuine phenomenon and part
of its longevity is this, I would say, like very
British sensibility about the creative team not being beholden to
(11:44):
stay with the property forever, and any given creative team
having the ability to play with the show's format and
feel like like individual episodes might be horror, or they
might be drama or dark comedy or suspense, and they
might incorporate a range of effects um makeup or costumes
or puppets or animations or digital effects to get the
(12:08):
job done. There have been so many changeovers over the
years of production staff and performers it has written into
the franchise's storyline. Yeah yes so uh. Doctor Who is
a set of stories about humanity like everything means to
be Human, the good and the bad and the weird,
(12:30):
told through the adventures of an alien. The alien in
question is from this advanced civilization called the Time Lords,
almost certainly because they have more or less harnessed the
technology and the mental capacity to travel through space time
at will UM using these vehicles called tartesses which stands
(12:52):
for a for time and relative dimension in space UM
and the Time Lords sometimes go instead of by like
a proper name by sort of like wishful aliases UM,
and our main character is known mostly just as the Doctor.
The Doctor likes helping people and has a particular penchant
(13:15):
for helping humans. Although time Lords appear human on the
surface convenient for a television show made by humans, yess um,
they do have a number of biological differences UM, including
the ability to regenerate in a different body if their
current one gets too injured, so, like flash Bang, you
(13:37):
can replace the lead actor in the series whenever you like. UM.
This plot point apparently came about due to the flagging
health of the first actor to play the role, William Hartnell,
in nineteen sixty six, and it's been played by over
a dozen actors over the years, each with their individual
take on the character UM and also like individual conceptualization
(14:00):
from the rest of the creative team. But the general
concept here is that the Doctor is is a sort
of intellectual warrior for the forces of good, like a
like a protector of the common man. UM you know
stands for for freedom, beauty, truth and love and whimsy. UM.
(14:22):
The character tends to be like a like an eccentric
professor kind of trope UM. It turns a Stern and Zany.
The Doctor often travels with a human or occasionally other
alien companion UM, who tends to be like a sort
of audience stand in to make an excuse for the
Doctor and other characters to explain what the heck is
(14:43):
going on UM, because what the heck is going on
is frequently anywhere from fantastical to bizarre to completely bonkers
m uh. The storylines hop around all of time and
(15:04):
space UM, visiting all kinds of worlds past and present
in future, and the companions often kind of like ground
the Doctor from going completely mad scientists or not like
mad scientists, like mad science wizard. Yeah, yeah, because that's
one of the things that always stuck out to me
is there's always moments with every one of them where
(15:25):
you're like, you, okay, dude, seems like you're like having
a break out and are kind of like appear and
I'm just very high and like maybe in order yeah,
maybe in order to not like destroy the universe, you
should be yeah, not up there. Yeah, that is another
(15:48):
I don't know if anyone ever picked up on this
in our previous D and D campaign more, but I
had a plot point about the the Four Knocks, which
is David Tennant's doctor. He was the tenth doctor. He
was here in these Four Knocks, and it was like
for telling his regeneration and it just became something I
(16:11):
would dream about, these damn Four Knocks. But he like
kind of went off the rails because he knew it
was coming. So there's sort of that element of them
that is very most of the time, they're very nice
and kind, but there's that element of danger always. They're
(16:31):
so powerful and like it's like a thread, it's just
yea attaching them. Yeah. Well, and and and the doctor
likes humanity, but he's not human um and and they're
like motivations are not always focused, are not always laser
focused on like saving the specific life of a specific human,
(16:57):
which can be very traumatizing for that specific human. Okay. Um.
We are ostensibly a food show, um And frequently in
sci fi and fantasy, food is also grounding, like like
a point of reference for the audience. And I feel
like contrariwise, most of the time on d Doctor Who,
(17:17):
food and drink are used to actually highlight the differences
between like our earthly lives and whatever is going on
on screen, like to really focus the absurdity um, and
sometimes the social commentary that's being played out. M hm.
(17:37):
Just for one very strange example, uh one one of
the one of the things I watched yesterday, um are
the episodes the Happiness Patrol. Uh. This is from like
right before the show got canceled, when it was very
(17:58):
camp um meaning very like like over the top and wacky. Um.
One of the Sylvester McCoy doctor storylines, and in in
this three part are one of the villains is this
robot that is made out of confections called the candy
Man with a K no. It's it is so bonkers.
(18:27):
It's so like, well okay, so, so the the idea
behind the candy Man um is that there's this government
that's like forcing its society to be performatively happy, and
so of course one of its enforcers is just out
there like aggressively making candy because what you know, like
like there's nothing more like surface pleasurable but also like
(18:51):
practically useless than candy terrifying. It's so it's I mean
like it's it's a whole thematic thing, like I mean,
like like this guy like drowns people in jam um.
Oh my gosh, it's weird. It's very it's very I
(19:12):
wonder I blocked this out. Yeah, I I was onto something.
Um uh but okay, so like so like you have,
that is like one very strange, extreme example. But in contrast,
like like the most like mundane human moments on the
show are often accompanied by sandwiches or Christmas dinners or
(19:37):
cups of tea. Um, and these kind of like quiet
moments are often interrupted by adventure. Um m hmm. I've
read that one of the companions in the newest series
volunteers at a food bank in Liverpool and that's just nice,
so nice. What about the nutrition don't eat media franchises again,
(20:08):
I think there's an episode where there's somebody and doctor
who who like eats feeds on I mean there's feeds
on fear for sure. Sure, sure, and so that would
be me. They could have a feast. Yeah. Yeah, there's
there's lots of commentary about the BBC um in there
(20:28):
at various times. Wasn't wasn't there an episode of Simon
Pegg as the guest start with anyway? Um at anyway, Yeah, definitely,
um so there that's a separate podcast. But there's something
to be said there, we do have some numbers for you,
we do. UM. So the show was very successful very
(20:50):
soon after its premiere UM. The first episodes featuring the Dolleks,
for example, which we're quite soon UM, got twelve million
viewers tuning in UM. That was in nineteen sixty four.
Like the show was in black and white at the time,
like the BBC wasn't even routinely archiving its tapes, like
nearly a hundred episodes from that era are lost UM.
(21:12):
But it was popular enough that it went to affiliates
around the world by five and then entered a syndication
in the United States in the early nineteen seventies. Wow uh.
Skipping ahead a little as of UM, which was the
fiftieth anniversary of the show Doctor Who was the sixth
(21:35):
most valuable television brand in the United States. UM. Like
pre sales for for theater screenings of the anniversary special
numbered over a hundred and seventy five thousand here in
the States UM, and that episode had about three point
six million viewers UM here and like ten point two
(21:57):
million in the UK, which was a third of the
audience watching television that day. Wow yeah UM around the world.
That episode was simulcast in seventy five countries. That was
a good episode. Liked it. It was um At that time,
(22:21):
BBC Worldwide was selling an average of a thousand sonic
screwdrivers a day. Oh oh wow, yeah, a sonic screw driver.
If you don't, if you're unfamiliar with the concept. Um
is this tool that the Doctor, like I think, has
invented and uses um uh, sort of sort of playing
(22:44):
into that, into that eccentric professor stereotype. Um uh. It's
it's nice because like it's a tool, not a weapon,
and that's a frequent trip on the show. Yeah. Yeah,
And I think this is one episode if you haven't
seen this show, it is complicated to describe. And I
hope that we are explaining things well enough because I know,
(23:07):
for me, I'm familiar with it. So I was just like, oh, yeah,
you know the tenth Doctor and the song screwdriver, and
thank you for coming in and trying to Yeah, wait
a minute, I don't know, Yeah yeah, yeah, I I
I swear all these these fictional food episodes take me
solidly twice as long as anything else on this show
(23:28):
to write about, because it can be it can be
like deep physics, and I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I
got this. And I'm like trying to explain Doctor Who,
and I'm like, I do not got this. It's tricky,
very tricky. Um. At any rate, more more numbers, numbers
(23:52):
ish for you or right, I guess, I guess cultural points. Yes,
there are a handful of Doctor Who themed restaurants and dishes.
The Way Station in Brooklyn, which we mentioned, the Pandorica
and New York, the Tartest Room in Portland, and Doctor
Who Donut Day at the Donut Hole in Wichita, Kansas.
(24:12):
Sounds cool to me. Yes. Um. There is the Doctor
Who Cookbook by Gary Downey, which was published in and
Downey was a production manager on the series at the
time UM and partner to one of the producers, and
so the book includes all of these recipes and photos
(24:33):
from casting crew members. UM recipes run along the line
of like penny names for familiar earth dishes like um
time Lady Suziki and uh Castro Valvin Kebabs and uh
kipper of tracking. Oh, by the way, there's a storm
happening right now. And right when Lauren did that, she
did like a fist motion and a huge just rang
(24:58):
out if you heard it in the audio keeper of
tracking Baboo feels appropriate, yeah yeah, um yeah, well yeah,
so sorry, if they're recording on this one is a
little bit wonky, or if you hear thunder in the background,
we didn't add that, that's just nature chiming in. The
Doctor Who was very serious something um um. One of
(25:24):
the other recipes in this book um was contributed by
longtime production member Barry Letts, who The recipe is unnamed um,
but the dishes apparently from Venus and it includes ingredients
like blim tree worms and grated snadg. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, well,
(25:53):
I don't know what great it snatches. I the words
fun to say, right, and I like the creativity. It's
sort of like choose your own Adventure recipe, which I enjoy. Yeah. Oh,
(26:15):
I I hope that they're a Doctor who themed Choose
your Own Adventure books. That would only be appropriate definitely,
but terrifying. You're so just spaceline, frightened, I know, scared.
Oh heck. Um. Well there's also um an unauthorized a
(26:38):
cookbook called Dining with the Doctor an unauthorized hoofan cookbook
um that one. The the author is one Chris rachel
oslind Um originally published and then regenerated on Kickstarter. The
second edition in I Am not the only one who
makes up pun that that one was directly from from
(26:59):
that umu. The recipes in that one are lots of
like visually thematic recipes, like stacks of stuff that kind
of look like a dollek. Yeah, like food shaped cookies,
things that are colored tartis blue. Oh, I remember the uds.
I remember the HUDs. So I'm interested in these food cookies.
(27:25):
They're They're kind of cute. They just have they just
have a little little dangly bits. Yeah. Yeah, I love this.
I love for people who, again who haven't seen this
show and you're like, what are you talking about? Well,
you have to watch it, you know, yeah, yeah you
you just you have to dive right in with the
very upsetting food episodes. Yes. Absolutely. Then you can email
(27:49):
us and I can relate. We can be like, yes,
I know what, oh goodness. Uh. And there's also the
official cookbook forty Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whiney b Joanna Farrow,
with recipes like cookie canine, food, head bread, and a
(28:12):
pizza Cassandro. Yeah. Yeah, um that one was published in
and uh. And these recipes are a sort of mix
of like visually thematic and like Penny show references including yes, um,
a flatbread pizza, Cassandra um, Cassandra being the last human
(28:33):
Um who is just kind of a big sheet of skin, um,
and uh and of course, of course uh fish fingers
and custard of course, which we are going to talk
about when we dive into some more specific examples we are,
but first we are going to take a quick break
(28:53):
for a word from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
thank you. And like a lot of our fictional food episodes,
since this does exist, this property does exist in our
quote real world, or at least a parallel version to it.
(29:16):
A lot of the foods featured in the show do
exist in our real world, even though there are so
many alien planets, and like you said, Lauren, plenty of
examples of things that don't exist in the world. But
you kind of are like, oh, I get what you're doing.
We have a counterpart to that in our real world.
(29:37):
And the show does spend a lot of time on Earth.
Again convenient for a show produced on Earth. Um, it
is sort of unclear whether time lords actually need to
eat food. Um, but they're human companions, certainly do. Um.
And the Doctor often eats a little bit of like
(29:57):
whatever anybody else is eating, though often has strong and
hilarious preferences, Um, which we enjoy. Uh. And those preferences
may change from incarnation to incarnation. Um. You know, some
enjoy wine or coffee, others hate those things. Um. Some
prefer vegetarian diets, others really love sausages or bacon. Um
(30:19):
that that sort of thing, um, And point of clarity here, Uh,
Each individual incarnation of the Doctor played by a different
actor is referred to in fandom by number, like in
chronological order of when they were on the show, with
a couple of exceptions. But so right right like uh
like right, David Tennant is ten and right, so it
becomes like shorthand for that kind of thing at any rate. Yes, Um,
(30:44):
being that this is a British show, and like specifically
a British show that leans really hard into this kind
of uh mid twentieth century nostalgia about what Englishness or
or Britishness are. Um. A lot of the food references
(31:06):
are very British. Um. T is a thing yes, oh yes.
One of the first food things featured on the show
popped up during the time of the Third Doctor, who
enjoyed a bomb Bay sapphire gin with lime. So that's
pretty British. Um. Nine and ten liked fish and chips,
(31:30):
though nine uh, having come back to Earth just after
this like very traumatizing war event. Yeah, sort of like
denigrates humans for just kind of like sitting around eating
beans and toasts, Like, what are you guys gonna do
to help me save the world, Like you're just over
at the pub eaten fish and chips. He's going through
(31:50):
a lot at the time. It's you know, he was
very yes, oh yes. One of the Doctor's first food
loves was jelly babies. Um, jelly babies. Yeah. Yeah, so
the second Doctor enjoyed them, but it was the fourth
(32:11):
one really hammered home the love the Doctor had for them. Uh.
He would share them with pretty much anyone, enemy or not.
He also used them as a threat of the deadly
jelly Baby, and he offered them to Spark from Star
Chuck in a crossover event. However, I not seen that right.
(32:32):
Oh no, that sounds really terrible but cool. Oh I'm
into that. Spot crushes. Um. Oh yeah. A note about
jelly babies. The real world history is that's a separate episode. Um.
Originally these were called peace babies, and they were invented
(32:53):
around World War One, and they were this English suite
that was shaped like a human child. Mhm um. They
were gelatin based and came in a variety of colors
and flavors, including chocolate. Uh yeah, yeah yeah. Where the
U S went like globby bear shaped for our gummies,
the English went like globby baby shaped, but very very
(33:16):
similar to to to a gummy bear situation. According to
the Eighth Doctor, these jelly babies helped him concentrate. And
here's a quote. The ten style strength of a jelly
baby offers the perfect resistance. Uh. Bananas. Bananas are recurring
(33:36):
food item enjoyed by the Doctor through much of the show.
First introduced by the sixth Doctor, who's played by Coln Baker,
who is my bff Katie's favorite doctor. Uh. The ninth
Doctor switched out the blaster of Jack Harkness, who I
saw that actor a dragon conu with a banana. The
(33:58):
eleventh Doctor would later or do that trick again. The
tenth Doctor, played by David tennant. Yes, I claimed that
he invented the banana dachri in the eighteenth century in France,
and he advised that you should always take a banana
to a party, which is similar to the pineapple thing
talked about. Yeah, I mean it's a conversation starter for sure.
(34:21):
Then there's salary. Beginning with the Fifth Doctor. Celary was
really popular two on the show. Um and the Fifth
Doctor he always wore a piece of celery in his lapel,
with the explanation that it would turn purple in the
presence of gases he was allergic to. Sure, yeah whatever,
why not? Yeah? Why not? On top of that, he
(34:44):
could eat celery if he was having an allergic reaction.
That's handy and it would cure him. The Tenth Doctor
called celery a quote decorative vegetable. Uh. And the actor
who played the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davidson, hate his celery,
which made it extra funny when he had to eat
it on screen for everyone else anyway, um uh yeah.
(35:07):
They are like a number of in jokes that kind
of float through the show, especially as the revival hit
in the early two thousands, and some of the people
like kind of a lot of the people working on
it had like grown up fans of the series. Um uh.
For example, in a bit of like improvd dialogue that
(35:29):
was never meant to air, um, the Tenth Doctor warns
his companion to under no circumstances let him eat pairs
while he is in this like kind of incapacitated state
wherein he's going to have forgotten himself. Um. And that's
based on David Tennant, I think being aware that the
(35:52):
novelization of the same storyline with the Seventh Doctor involved this,
this line of the Seventh Doctor being like being like, no,
definitely don't let me eat pairs. I love that. So
it never made it to air. You can watch the
clip on the internet. But yeah, I love that. I
(36:14):
love the through line of like because they are regenerated
as different actors, but there's still like these hints, there's
differences and similarities that are really fun. Yeah yeah, yeah.
Another food item we want to talk about as cronkburgers.
So this was an item served in two hundred thousand
(36:38):
on satellite the year with a side of pojetoes pojatos
cheese and a drink usually Zappic. And again, I love
this because a lot of you are probably like, what
are you talking about? No need to explain um. When
Rose tried zaphic, she compared it to a sort of
beef flavored slush puppy situation. So it sounds like you've
(37:00):
got your burger and a beef flavored slush puppy. That's
a lot. That's a lot going on. But you know,
I'm not saying it's not good. Um. Soup flaze, so
Clara Oswald loved making su fleas, which earned her the
nickname soup flay Girl from this is one of the
(37:21):
companions Jammie Dodgers. This is a popular food item from
the UK, which is it's a biscuit or a cookie
in American parlance. Uh. Composed of two pieces of short
bread with raspberry jam in the middle. That could probably
be its own episode, but they come up yeah, And
(37:43):
this brings us to fish fingers and custard okay, also
called fish custard. This was a combo of fish fingers
and custard enjoyed by the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt
Smith right after he regenerated Um. He discovered it after
Emmy Pond, who was then a child played by Karen Gillian.
(38:05):
Later his companion. Yeah. Later his companion yeah, as a
child not played by Karen Gillian but later Yes, yes,
no actual time travel was moved in the making of
this believe it or not, Believe it or not, but yeah,
So she she found him and was offering him a
bunch of other foods to try to see what he
would like, and he didn't like a bunch of them,
(38:27):
like he didn't like apples, he didn't like yogurt, bacon,
baked beans, bread and butter. Carrots were a mirror threat,
which was also a nod to the hatred of carrot juice.
The sixth Doctor expressed, yeah, that was after his companion
mal Uh insisted on his drinking it. M hmm. But
(38:48):
for the Eleventh Doctor, one of these items, or guess
two of them hit the spot combination when he dipped
the frozen fish fingers into the custard and Amy was very,
very amused by this, and this caused the Doctor to
call her brave um and then yeah. Fourteen years later,
when Amy reunited with the Doctor, he commented on how
(39:11):
long it had been since he had had fish fingers
and custard and it was sort of a treasured memory
between the two of them, and Amy went on to
use it as sort of a truth testing thing and
also to bolster the doctor's hope. Um. At one point
Amy and her yeah, it's really sweet actually. Um. Yeah.
At one point, Amy and her boyfriend Rory eight fish
(39:32):
custard with the Doctor as adults, and the doctor claims
that if he had a restaurant, that's all that they
would serve. Um. He also declared that he was the
inventor of Yorkshire putting uh, noting the similarities to fish custard,
saying putting it savory sound familiar. Uh. And the last
meal the Eleventh Doctor had before regenerating was fish custard.
(39:54):
Oh yeah. And Matt Smith, the actor who played the
Eleventh Doctor, once claimed that in the first takes the
scene when they were doing this, when he's first trying
the combo, it was actually fish fingers and custard, but
eventually they replaced the fish fingers with coconut breaded cakes
and yeah, this is a whole thing. Um. It has
(40:15):
become very synonymous with Doctor Who, and various actors involved
in the show have eaten it, either in interviews or
on social media. It's frequently a question they get asked
about fish fingers and custard. It's the whole thing, all right, yeah,
mm hmmm. And just a quick note, fish custard is
(40:39):
an actual dish which is a custard that contains or
is flavored with fish, which we actually talked about in
a couple of episodes, like a down Nabby episode. Sure,
kind of her aspect Jello situation episodes. Um, totally. So
it's not the same thing, is what we're talking about now,
but similar terminology, right, yeah, absolutely, they're savory custard. Why not?
(41:04):
Why not? And I feel like that is in general
doctor who that's it's you know, people get mad up
in arms because it's he's the doctor. But you know whatever,
the doctor likes trying foods, whether he needs it or not,
because I think he's just very interested and curious and
(41:24):
wants to experience these human things and fish figures and
custard just being like something that he felt this is unique.
It's just kidding. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty much the apex
of of of of what the doctor is like, like,
you know, like what, sure, why not, let's try it?
(41:48):
That's good? Yeah. Yeah, So I feel like that's a
that's a good place to end this one on although
we could obviously there's so much we conteah. Uh yeah,
like like episode two, episode there are any number of
food references or not um and uh it is. It
(42:11):
is certainly a whole universe out there. It certainly is.
Maybe it will get a revisit in the future and
that'd be fun. Yeah, But for now, I guess that's
what we have to say about dr who. I guess
it is. Um. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
(42:42):
thank you, and we're back with snow. It's always good
when Lauren starts laughing in the mid a little bit.
I just gave up. I was like, I saw exactly
what you were trying to do, and I just didn't.
I wasn't entirely sure how to make those noises with
(43:04):
my face, and so I was just like, I'm all,
let I'm I'll let Annie take that one. I love it.
It always makes me happy when you're just like, I'm
gonna let any faldness ord. But it's also very fair
I can't remember the theme song. I just remember I
had a lot of like thereman type sounds. Yeah, um,
(43:25):
it's it's a it's a very very famously kind of
like ahead of its time electronic situation. Um that yeah,
we're ostensibly a food's a food sho u. But yeah,
the whole whole, other, whole other topic. Okay, well I'm
gonna have to look that up. I was trying to
remember because I keep thinking of the Wellington Paranormal theme
song instead, which has a similar like I think theremin
(43:49):
oh space, that's the best I could do. So you
usually this is the part where I like sing you
a bar of something, but like, I'm gonna try that right,
Like that's totally fair. Valerie wrote, my family was an
(44:13):
early adopter of induction cooking. We have been using it
for twelve years and are loving it. I have some tips. One,
when you are shopping for an induction stove, look at
the wattage of the burners. We have an induction stove
and a separate induction burner that we cooked on when
we couldn't use our kitchen. The standalone burner is very
slow to heat up food because it's wattage is only
(44:34):
about eighteen hundred watts. The burners on our stove very
from hundred watts to thirty six hundred watts, and they
are lightning fast. I recommend shopping for about three thousand
watts on each burner. You said that digital thermometers won't
work with an induction stove, but actually I do use
my digital thermometer to check the temperature of food in
(44:54):
the pots that I am cooking on the stove. I'm
careful not to touch it to the bottom of the
pot and haven't had any problems. Three the salesperson told
us that people sometimes will put a dish towel between
a scratchy cast iron pot and the stove to protect
the glass top of the stove for being scratched by
the pot. This is bad advice. The one time I
(45:15):
tried it, its scorched the dish towel and ruined it. Far.
The food heats up so quickly that I had to
adjust some cooking times. For example, before induction, I used
to put potato cubes into a pot of cold water,
heat to boiling and boil for ten minutes. But some
of the cooking happens during the heat to boiling stage,
and on an induction stove, that part goes by very quickly.
(45:38):
So on an induction stove for the same recipe, I
now do put potato cubes into a pot of cold water,
heat to boiling and boil for twelve minutes to account
for how much faster the water comes to a boil. Anyway,
I love our induction stove. It is more energy efficient,
doesn't put gas teams into the air, and is much
safer than a traditional stove. The heat turns on or
(45:58):
off instantly. Highly reckon meant it. Oh yeah, I'm like
I've sold even though I'm not looking like, Yeah, that
sounds great. Uh okay, uh, I have a correction to
my prior statement about digital thermometer. Is what I meant
(46:20):
was infrared thermometers, which can get pretty easily thrown off
by everything else that's going on. Or that's what I read. Um,
if other people have more direct experience, then please do
please do right in. Yeah, it has been really nice
to see how many people have come out pro induction cooking.
Yeah really, I really enjoyed it, and these are great tips. Yeah. Yeah,
(46:44):
I'm actually about to go to a friend of mine's
house and she has induction cooking. She has stove top,
so I'm like, I'm taking these tips and I'm trying
to embody them. Yeah, we'll report back for sure. I
will awesome, um Steve wrote listening to the Guinness episode
(47:09):
in July, and I had visited the storehouse in Dublin
on my trip to Ireland in September. I heard that
Annie visited storehouse in seventeen. I believe I was wondering
if she had seen the original nine thousand year land
lease that Arthur Guinness had drawn up, which is now
(47:29):
displayed in the storehouse. Um it's no longer valid as
the company has been expanded beyond the original four acres,
and also visited the gravity bar at the top the
seventh floor to get a complimentary pint of Guinness. I
I think I did see the lease. I think I didn't.
(47:49):
I think I thought it was like company, which it
kind of is. But I thought I think I thought
it was kind of like company legend. Like So wasn't
until we did the episode where I was like, oh,
this was a that was legit. They signed that, that
was the thing they signed. Yeah, so I think it's
a you know, it is company legend. But also actually
a thing. So I think when I think I passed
(48:13):
by it pretty quick. It is big. It's yeah, seven
stories at least. Um, And like I said, I really
enjoyed the experience. It was great, but it was like
it was a lot in a good way. I did
get the you know, if there's a complimentary pind of beginnings, yeah,
get it absolutely, But again it was a lovely experience. Um,
(48:38):
I kind of wish. I think that was a bit
early on. I think I was still getting the feel
of being a podcaster, and you know, I'd like to
go back. I guess that's what I'm saying because now
I think I would pick up on a lot more stuff.
I'd be like that that would be cool to talk
about they're advertising for is what I remember the most
(49:01):
because I was like, oh absolutely, whoa, yeah, I think
that that complimentary kind of Guinness though, is in a
white room. It's like all white and there's fog. It
feels like you're in heaven in the movies, are you
know alright? Cool? Yeah? Goodness, Yeah, I've I've never I've
(49:25):
never gotten to hang out in Ireland. I would really
love to go, I mean, hopefully for more than just
the Guinness, but you know, like, yeah, there's a lot
going on. Oh yes, yes. Hopefully one day we can
add it to an ever growing list of places we
want to go, which is pretty much everywhere. Uh hum.
But in the meantime, thank you to both of these
(49:47):
listeners who are writing in um and if you would
like to write to us, we would love to hear
from you. You can email us at hello at favorite
pod dot com. We are also on social media. You
can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at savor pod,
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my
Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
(50:08):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Bolga Bam, and today
we have an episode for you about the food of
Dr Who. Yes, which several of you have requested and
has been a long time coming. Yes, yes, long time
(00:29):
request uh and actually okay, So we had like vaguely
planned to do this episode. Gosh, what like a year ago?
I think so yeah, And then I was like, oh man,
I just don't know if this is like a cohesive
episode mm hmm. But for some reason last week I
(00:54):
was like, let's do this episode. I wonder if you
have like media osmosis, because I feel like there's been
a lot of Doctor Who news lately. Maybe maybe that's it. Yeah,
mm hmm. Okay, Well, well here we are a year later.
I'm happy to finally move it. As you know, I
love organization, Lauren, so we will finally be able to
(01:17):
move this outline from our main page into our archive page,
which is well, we all have reasons to be excited today. Look,
I'm easily excited about organization. Um and actually I have
I feel like this one's gonna be front loaded with
(01:38):
a lot of we have our like personal takes at
the beginning of these, and I got a lot of
things about Doctor Who. Okay, okay, Okay, here we go. Okay.
So I think I have been very very open on
have our I think I have. I'm afraid of Aliens.
(01:59):
I was afraid of Alien when I was a kid,
thanks to a very very effective prank my older brother
played on me. I couldn't watch the movie Aliens until
I got Alien and Aliens until I got to high school. No,
not even high school college. Um. But my my bff, Katie,
who I've mentioned on here before, she loved Doctor Who.
(02:19):
And every time I go to a house, we'd be
trying to fall asleep, and she was somebody who liked
to have something on the background which she would sleep
Doctor Who awake terrified, terrified, Lord, like just watching it
horrors you. You probably could have told her, No, I
(02:41):
couldn't admit I was afraid of the dolleks. I couldn't. Um.
But it was my early experience with Doctor Who was
one of fear. This this is actually like a relatively
common thing because um, although or I guess, because Doctor
Who was like ostensibly a show aimed at children, um,
(03:07):
but also incorporates very frequently elements of suspense and horror.
UH There's like there's there's a phrase in the UK
behind the Sofa that is specifically linked to Doctor Who.
It's um. It indicates that like you're sort of watching
(03:27):
something from behind the sofa, like like you're like you're
ducking behind for the scary parts and then liked but
still being in the room for the rest of it.
UM's specifically linked to doctor Who UM because so many
people there grew up with this terror, partially of dolics,
which are scary Yese is very upsetting. One of my
(03:50):
very favorite episodes is when they're like, oh, we're going
up the stairs, they'll never get us, and then it
starts Elevate Elevate. For people who don't know, I've never
seen it, it's hard to explain, but basically it's like
a trash can droid that kills everything. It looks like
it can't go upstairs, but it can. Well. In the
old series that was like one of the in jokes
(04:12):
like how do you defeat a doalek? Just go up
some stairs because on rollers like it clearly can't and
so like very early in the in the UH Not reboot,
but but new new series that started. Yeah, they were like,
oh ah ha, they're like rafters. They figured out out
open doors. So yeah, I was really scared of it.
(04:36):
And I don't think I watched it. I bench watched
it when Matt Smith's seasons were out, Okay, so I
watched all of them up until him and then I've
seen most of the of the new stuff. For the
old stuff, but the new stuff. The movies I have
seen that I've blocked out because I saw them as
(04:58):
a child, But I have seen him. And I have
my friends very strong opinions about who the best Doctor
is from, so I can recite those with their her
opinions and not mine. Um, I watched them. I have
watched most of the new stuff. I did watch it
in a block. And I have a lot of friends
who are really really big into Doctor, who have a
(05:18):
friend who has like the electronic screwdriver. Screw ever, Yeah,
it's pretty cool, pretty cool. You and I I went
to oh, the way point in Brooklyn and U, Yes,
that was cool. Um the way station, the way station. UM.
(05:39):
And I do have a funny story where I have
seen a couple of the actors that UM Dragon con.
Think about a doctor who at one time. If you
haven't been to Dragon Con, I heard about Dragon Con.
One of the kind of jokes complaints is the elevator
situation is terrible. The elevator takes for for Yeah, because
(06:01):
there's so many people. This is a large fan convention
that happens here in downtown Atlanta, and there are too
many people, and yeah, they're not using the elevators properly. No.
And in fact, like one of the like idioms is
you have to go down to go up because you
can't get in otherwise. But anyway, one time I was
in the Marriott, which is one of the busiest ones,
(06:24):
waiting for an elevator, and the doors open and out
rolls a Dollek with no person that I can see,
just rolls independent Dolly moves on and it's it's stuck
with me for so long. I have to think it
(06:45):
was somebody on the floor below that was just like
messing with me or with everybody. I don't know, but whoa, um,
you don't know, I don't know, I don't I don't know.
It was pretty cool. It was a good dollar um.
But also I recently I won't say who but one
of my best friends recently revealed to me she's only
(07:07):
written one fan letter in her life, and it was
to David Tinnett about that's that's actually really sweet. It
is it is, I won't portray your confidence. But I
was like, oh, yes, um, I have not written any
fan letters, um to anyone involved with Dr Who. I
(07:32):
do have like very vague memories of watching some of
the classic episodes with my parents when I was really young. Um,
but yeah, I got pretty into the new series when um,
when they started coming out, starting with the Christopher eccleston. Um.
But and yeah, yeah, I I dropped off at some point.
(07:55):
But um, but I watched a bunch like a like
a good smatter ring across the years, um, in preparation
for doing this episode. And I'm like, oh, I do
like this. This is just nice. It's just so nice
and horrific and horrific. I was about to say in
our D and D campaign, not once, but twice, I
have used the Weeping Angels as a as a villain.
(08:21):
We okay, y'all, listeners, I need to relay this to
you because it was so funny because the US the
players were so upset about these weeping angel esque statues
possibly attacking us, that we refused to touch them. We
could have gotten through the puzzle that they that they
(08:42):
were part of in like four seconds if we had
just touched them. But all of us were like, naw, dude,
it was hilarious. I have seen blank and I refuse,
and so like we we we wound up working out
the puzzle like in a very round about way, but
at any rate, at any rate, yeah, that's how scary there.
(09:05):
I mean, it was hilarious to me. I was trying
so hard not to lose it because no one even
tried to push them, which is all you had to do.
I was not going to touch it. No, you weren't.
And then I was frantically like, oh my god, what
if they actually had to fight these things? They might die.
I wasn't anticipatus. You knew they're scary. They're scary. Well,
(09:32):
um uh. I also do want to note, like right
here at the top that um, like, over the course
of the you know, sixty years that this franchise has existed, UM,
there has been a lot of lower written and rewritten,
and this episode is not comprehensive, all right, Like we're
(09:55):
we're we're just here to like to like discuss and
have fun and so yeah, so please don't come at us.
Um if you have something to add, Oh my goodness,
do yes, because there is a lot. Oh, there's a
there's too much. There's too too much, but in a
in a nice way. But I suppose this. I mean,
(10:18):
if anyone out there is very confused right now, this
probably brings us to our question. It does it does? Um? Okay,
foods of Doctor Who? What are they? Um? Oh? Goodness up? Well? Uh.
(10:42):
Doctor Who is a science fiction fantasy media franchise, again
ostensibly aimed at children, that began with a television show
produced in the UK, which originally started airing in nineteen
sixty three. UM. It ran for twenty six can set
kit of seasons until it was canceled in but then,
(11:03):
after a long period of regeneration you might say, UM
was revived in two thousand five and has gone another
thirteen pretty consecutive seasons with no sign of stopping. UM.
All the while there have been tie in films and
spinoff series and TV specials and audio dramas and books
(11:24):
and comics and games and stage shows so many things.
It is a it is a genuine phenomenon and part
of its longevity is this, I would say, like very
British sensibility about the creative team not being beholden to
(11:44):
stay with the property forever, and any given creative team
having the ability to play with the show's format and
feel like like individual episodes might be horror, or they
might be drama or dark comedy or suspense, and they
might incorporate a range of effects um makeup or costumes
or puppets or animations or digital effects to get the
(12:08):
job done. There have been so many changeovers over the
years of production staff and performers it has written into
the franchise's storyline. Yeah yes so uh. Doctor Who is
a set of stories about humanity like everything means to
be Human, the good and the bad and the weird,
(12:30):
told through the adventures of an alien. The alien in
question is from this advanced civilization called the Time Lords,
almost certainly because they have more or less harnessed the
technology and the mental capacity to travel through space time
at will UM using these vehicles called tartesses which stands
(12:52):
for a for time and relative dimension in space UM
and the Time Lords sometimes go instead of by like
a proper name by sort of like wishful aliases UM,
and our main character is known mostly just as the Doctor.
The Doctor likes helping people and has a particular penchant
(13:15):
for helping humans. Although time Lords appear human on the
surface convenient for a television show made by humans, yess um,
they do have a number of biological differences UM, including
the ability to regenerate in a different body if their
current one gets too injured, so, like flash Bang, you
(13:37):
can replace the lead actor in the series whenever you like. UM.
This plot point apparently came about due to the flagging
health of the first actor to play the role, William Hartnell,
in nineteen sixty six, and it's been played by over
a dozen actors over the years, each with their individual
take on the character UM and also like individual conceptualization
(14:00):
from the rest of the creative team. But the general
concept here is that the Doctor is is a sort
of intellectual warrior for the forces of good, like a
like a protector of the common man. UM you know
stands for for freedom, beauty, truth and love and whimsy. UM.
(14:22):
The character tends to be like a like an eccentric
professor kind of trope UM. It turns a Stern and Zany.
The Doctor often travels with a human or occasionally other
alien companion UM, who tends to be like a sort
of audience stand in to make an excuse for the
Doctor and other characters to explain what the heck is
(14:43):
going on UM, because what the heck is going on
is frequently anywhere from fantastical to bizarre to completely bonkers
m uh. The storylines hop around all of time and
(15:04):
space UM, visiting all kinds of worlds past and present
in future, and the companions often kind of like ground
the Doctor from going completely mad scientists or not like
mad scientists, like mad science wizard. Yeah, yeah, because that's
one of the things that always stuck out to me
is there's always moments with every one of them where
(15:25):
you're like, you, okay, dude, seems like you're like having
a break out and are kind of like appear and
I'm just very high and like maybe in order yeah,
maybe in order to not like destroy the universe, you
should be yeah, not up there. Yeah, that is another
(15:48):
I don't know if anyone ever picked up on this
in our previous D and D campaign more, but I
had a plot point about the the Four Knocks, which
is David Tennant's doctor. He was the tenth doctor. He
was here in these Four Knocks, and it was like
for telling his regeneration and it just became something I
(16:11):
would dream about, these damn Four Knocks. But he like
kind of went off the rails because he knew it
was coming. So there's sort of that element of them
that is very most of the time, they're very nice
and kind, but there's that element of danger always. They're
(16:31):
so powerful and like it's like a thread, it's just
yea attaching them. Yeah. Well, and and and the doctor
likes humanity, but he's not human um and and they're
like motivations are not always focused, are not always laser
focused on like saving the specific life of a specific human,
(16:57):
which can be very traumatizing for that specific human. Okay. Um.
We are ostensibly a food show, um And frequently in
sci fi and fantasy, food is also grounding, like like
a point of reference for the audience. And I feel
like contrariwise, most of the time on d Doctor Who,
(17:17):
food and drink are used to actually highlight the differences
between like our earthly lives and whatever is going on
on screen, like to really focus the absurdity um, and
sometimes the social commentary that's being played out. M hm.
(17:37):
Just for one very strange example, uh one one of
the one of the things I watched yesterday, um are
the episodes the Happiness Patrol. Uh. This is from like
right before the show got canceled, when it was very
(17:58):
camp um meaning very like like over the top and wacky. Um.
One of the Sylvester McCoy doctor storylines, and in in
this three part are one of the villains is this
robot that is made out of confections called the candy
Man with a K no. It's it is so bonkers.
(18:27):
It's so like, well okay, so, so the the idea
behind the candy Man um is that there's this government
that's like forcing its society to be performatively happy, and
so of course one of its enforcers is just out
there like aggressively making candy because what you know, like
like there's nothing more like surface pleasurable but also like
(18:51):
practically useless than candy terrifying. It's so it's I mean
like it's it's a whole thematic thing, like I mean,
like like this guy like drowns people in jam um.
Oh my gosh, it's weird. It's very it's very I
(19:12):
wonder I blocked this out. Yeah, I I was onto something.
Um uh but okay, so like so like you have,
that is like one very strange, extreme example. But in contrast,
like like the most like mundane human moments on the
show are often accompanied by sandwiches or Christmas dinners or
(19:37):
cups of tea. Um, and these kind of like quiet
moments are often interrupted by adventure. Um m hmm. I've
read that one of the companions in the newest series
volunteers at a food bank in Liverpool and that's just nice,
so nice. What about the nutrition don't eat media franchises again,
(20:08):
I think there's an episode where there's somebody and doctor
who who like eats feeds on I mean there's feeds
on fear for sure. Sure, sure, and so that would
be me. They could have a feast. Yeah. Yeah, there's
there's lots of commentary about the BBC um in there
(20:28):
at various times. Wasn't wasn't there an episode of Simon
Pegg as the guest start with anyway? Um at anyway, Yeah, definitely,
um so there that's a separate podcast. But there's something
to be said there, we do have some numbers for you,
we do. UM. So the show was very successful very
(20:50):
soon after its premiere UM. The first episodes featuring the Dolleks,
for example, which we're quite soon UM, got twelve million
viewers tuning in UM. That was in nineteen sixty four.
Like the show was in black and white at the time,
like the BBC wasn't even routinely archiving its tapes, like
nearly a hundred episodes from that era are lost UM.
(21:12):
But it was popular enough that it went to affiliates
around the world by five and then entered a syndication
in the United States in the early nineteen seventies. Wow uh.
Skipping ahead a little as of UM, which was the
fiftieth anniversary of the show Doctor Who was the sixth
(21:35):
most valuable television brand in the United States. UM. Like
pre sales for for theater screenings of the anniversary special
numbered over a hundred and seventy five thousand here in
the States UM, and that episode had about three point
six million viewers UM here and like ten point two
(21:57):
million in the UK, which was a third of the
audience watching television that day. Wow yeah UM around the world.
That episode was simulcast in seventy five countries. That was
a good episode. Liked it. It was um At that time,
(22:21):
BBC Worldwide was selling an average of a thousand sonic
screwdrivers a day. Oh oh wow, yeah, a sonic screw driver.
If you don't, if you're unfamiliar with the concept. Um
is this tool that the Doctor, like I think, has
invented and uses um uh, sort of sort of playing
(22:44):
into that, into that eccentric professor stereotype. Um uh. It's
it's nice because like it's a tool, not a weapon,
and that's a frequent trip on the show. Yeah. Yeah,
And I think this is one episode if you haven't
seen this show, it is complicated to describe. And I
hope that we are explaining things well enough because I know,
(23:07):
for me, I'm familiar with it. So I was just like, oh, yeah,
you know the tenth Doctor and the song screwdriver, and
thank you for coming in and trying to Yeah, wait
a minute, I don't know, Yeah yeah, yeah, I I
I swear all these these fictional food episodes take me
solidly twice as long as anything else on this show
(23:28):
to write about, because it can be it can be
like deep physics, and I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I
got this. And I'm like trying to explain Doctor Who,
and I'm like, I do not got this. It's tricky,
very tricky. Um. At any rate, more more numbers, numbers
(23:52):
ish for you or right, I guess, I guess cultural points. Yes,
there are a handful of Doctor Who themed restaurants and dishes.
The Way Station in Brooklyn, which we mentioned, the Pandorica
and New York, the Tartest Room in Portland, and Doctor
Who Donut Day at the Donut Hole in Wichita, Kansas.
(24:12):
Sounds cool to me. Yes. Um. There is the Doctor
Who Cookbook by Gary Downey, which was published in and
Downey was a production manager on the series at the
time UM and partner to one of the producers, and
so the book includes all of these recipes and photos
(24:33):
from casting crew members. UM recipes run along the line
of like penny names for familiar earth dishes like um
time Lady Suziki and uh Castro Valvin Kebabs and uh
kipper of tracking. Oh, by the way, there's a storm
happening right now. And right when Lauren did that, she
did like a fist motion and a huge just rang
(24:58):
out if you heard it in the audio keeper of
tracking Baboo feels appropriate, yeah yeah, um yeah, well yeah,
so sorry, if they're recording on this one is a
little bit wonky, or if you hear thunder in the background,
we didn't add that, that's just nature chiming in. The
Doctor Who was very serious something um um. One of
(25:24):
the other recipes in this book um was contributed by
longtime production member Barry Letts, who The recipe is unnamed um,
but the dishes apparently from Venus and it includes ingredients
like blim tree worms and grated snadg. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, well,
(25:53):
I don't know what great it snatches. I the words
fun to say, right, and I like the creativity. It's
sort of like choose your own Adventure recipe, which I enjoy. Yeah. Oh,
(26:15):
I I hope that they're a Doctor who themed Choose
your Own Adventure books. That would only be appropriate definitely,
but terrifying. You're so just spaceline, frightened, I know, scared.
Oh heck. Um. Well there's also um an unauthorized a
(26:38):
cookbook called Dining with the Doctor an unauthorized hoofan cookbook
um that one. The the author is one Chris rachel
oslind Um originally published and then regenerated on Kickstarter. The
second edition in I Am not the only one who
makes up pun that that one was directly from from
(26:59):
that umu. The recipes in that one are lots of
like visually thematic recipes, like stacks of stuff that kind
of look like a dollek. Yeah, like food shaped cookies,
things that are colored tartis blue. Oh, I remember the uds.
I remember the HUDs. So I'm interested in these food cookies.
(27:25):
They're They're kind of cute. They just have they just
have a little little dangly bits. Yeah. Yeah, I love this.
I love for people who, again who haven't seen this
show and you're like, what are you talking about? Well,
you have to watch it, you know, yeah, yeah you
you just you have to dive right in with the
very upsetting food episodes. Yes. Absolutely. Then you can email
(27:49):
us and I can relate. We can be like, yes,
I know what, oh goodness. Uh. And there's also the
official cookbook forty Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whiney b Joanna Farrow,
with recipes like cookie canine, food, head bread, and a
(28:12):
pizza Cassandro. Yeah. Yeah, um that one was published in
and uh. And these recipes are a sort of mix
of like visually thematic and like Penny show references including yes, um,
a flatbread pizza, Cassandra um, Cassandra being the last human
(28:33):
Um who is just kind of a big sheet of skin, um,
and uh and of course, of course uh fish fingers
and custard of course, which we are going to talk
about when we dive into some more specific examples we are,
but first we are going to take a quick break
(28:53):
for a word from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
thank you. And like a lot of our fictional food episodes,
since this does exist, this property does exist in our
quote real world, or at least a parallel version to it.
(29:16):
A lot of the foods featured in the show do
exist in our real world, even though there are so
many alien planets, and like you said, Lauren, plenty of
examples of things that don't exist in the world. But
you kind of are like, oh, I get what you're doing.
We have a counterpart to that in our real world.
(29:37):
And the show does spend a lot of time on Earth.
Again convenient for a show produced on Earth. Um, it
is sort of unclear whether time lords actually need to
eat food. Um, but they're human companions, certainly do. Um.
And the Doctor often eats a little bit of like
(29:57):
whatever anybody else is eating, though often has strong and
hilarious preferences, Um, which we enjoy. Uh. And those preferences
may change from incarnation to incarnation. Um. You know, some
enjoy wine or coffee, others hate those things. Um. Some
prefer vegetarian diets, others really love sausages or bacon. Um
(30:19):
that that sort of thing, um, And point of clarity here, Uh,
Each individual incarnation of the Doctor played by a different
actor is referred to in fandom by number, like in
chronological order of when they were on the show, with
a couple of exceptions. But so right right like uh
like right, David Tennant is ten and right, so it
becomes like shorthand for that kind of thing at any rate. Yes, Um,
(30:44):
being that this is a British show, and like specifically
a British show that leans really hard into this kind
of uh mid twentieth century nostalgia about what Englishness or
or Britishness are. Um. A lot of the food references
(31:06):
are very British. Um. T is a thing yes, oh yes.
One of the first food things featured on the show
popped up during the time of the Third Doctor, who
enjoyed a bomb Bay sapphire gin with lime. So that's
pretty British. Um. Nine and ten liked fish and chips,
(31:30):
though nine uh, having come back to Earth just after
this like very traumatizing war event. Yeah, sort of like
denigrates humans for just kind of like sitting around eating
beans and toasts, Like, what are you guys gonna do
to help me save the world, Like you're just over
at the pub eaten fish and chips. He's going through
(31:50):
a lot at the time. It's you know, he was
very yes, oh yes. One of the Doctor's first food
loves was jelly babies. Um, jelly babies. Yeah. Yeah, so
the second Doctor enjoyed them, but it was the fourth
(32:11):
one really hammered home the love the Doctor had for them. Uh.
He would share them with pretty much anyone, enemy or not.
He also used them as a threat of the deadly
jelly Baby, and he offered them to Spark from Star
Chuck in a crossover event. However, I not seen that right.
(32:32):
Oh no, that sounds really terrible but cool. Oh I'm
into that. Spot crushes. Um. Oh yeah. A note about
jelly babies. The real world history is that's a separate episode. Um.
Originally these were called peace babies, and they were invented
(32:53):
around World War One, and they were this English suite
that was shaped like a human child. Mhm um. They
were gelatin based and came in a variety of colors
and flavors, including chocolate. Uh yeah, yeah yeah. Where the
U S went like globby bear shaped for our gummies,
the English went like globby baby shaped, but very very
(33:16):
similar to to to a gummy bear situation. According to
the Eighth Doctor, these jelly babies helped him concentrate. And
here's a quote. The ten style strength of a jelly
baby offers the perfect resistance. Uh. Bananas. Bananas are recurring
(33:36):
food item enjoyed by the Doctor through much of the show.
First introduced by the sixth Doctor, who's played by Coln Baker,
who is my bff Katie's favorite doctor. Uh. The ninth
Doctor switched out the blaster of Jack Harkness, who I
saw that actor a dragon conu with a banana. The
(33:58):
eleventh Doctor would later or do that trick again. The
tenth Doctor, played by David tennant. Yes, I claimed that
he invented the banana dachri in the eighteenth century in France,
and he advised that you should always take a banana
to a party, which is similar to the pineapple thing
talked about. Yeah, I mean it's a conversation starter for sure.
(34:21):
Then there's salary. Beginning with the Fifth Doctor. Celary was
really popular two on the show. Um and the Fifth
Doctor he always wore a piece of celery in his lapel,
with the explanation that it would turn purple in the
presence of gases he was allergic to. Sure, yeah whatever,
why not? Yeah? Why not? On top of that, he
(34:44):
could eat celery if he was having an allergic reaction.
That's handy and it would cure him. The Tenth Doctor
called celery a quote decorative vegetable. Uh. And the actor
who played the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davidson, hate his celery,
which made it extra funny when he had to eat
it on screen for everyone else anyway, um uh yeah.
(35:07):
They are like a number of in jokes that kind
of float through the show, especially as the revival hit
in the early two thousands, and some of the people
like kind of a lot of the people working on
it had like grown up fans of the series. Um uh.
For example, in a bit of like improvd dialogue that
(35:29):
was never meant to air, um, the Tenth Doctor warns
his companion to under no circumstances let him eat pairs
while he is in this like kind of incapacitated state
wherein he's going to have forgotten himself. Um. And that's
based on David Tennant, I think being aware that the
(35:52):
novelization of the same storyline with the Seventh Doctor involved this,
this line of the Seventh Doctor being like being like, no,
definitely don't let me eat pairs. I love that. So
it never made it to air. You can watch the
clip on the internet. But yeah, I love that. I
(36:14):
love the through line of like because they are regenerated
as different actors, but there's still like these hints, there's
differences and similarities that are really fun. Yeah yeah, yeah.
Another food item we want to talk about as cronkburgers.
So this was an item served in two hundred thousand
(36:38):
on satellite the year with a side of pojetoes pojatos
cheese and a drink usually Zappic. And again, I love
this because a lot of you are probably like, what
are you talking about? No need to explain um. When
Rose tried zaphic, she compared it to a sort of
beef flavored slush puppy situation. So it sounds like you've
(37:00):
got your burger and a beef flavored slush puppy. That's
a lot. That's a lot going on. But you know,
I'm not saying it's not good. Um. Soup flaze, so
Clara Oswald loved making su fleas, which earned her the
nickname soup flay Girl from this is one of the
(37:21):
companions Jammie Dodgers. This is a popular food item from
the UK, which is it's a biscuit or a cookie
in American parlance. Uh. Composed of two pieces of short
bread with raspberry jam in the middle. That could probably
be its own episode, but they come up yeah, And
(37:43):
this brings us to fish fingers and custard okay, also
called fish custard. This was a combo of fish fingers
and custard enjoyed by the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt
Smith right after he regenerated Um. He discovered it after
Emmy Pond, who was then a child played by Karen Gillian.
(38:05):
Later his companion. Yeah. Later his companion yeah, as a
child not played by Karen Gillian but later Yes, yes,
no actual time travel was moved in the making of
this believe it or not, Believe it or not, but yeah,
So she she found him and was offering him a
bunch of other foods to try to see what he
would like, and he didn't like a bunch of them,
(38:27):
like he didn't like apples, he didn't like yogurt, bacon,
baked beans, bread and butter. Carrots were a mirror threat,
which was also a nod to the hatred of carrot juice.
The sixth Doctor expressed, yeah, that was after his companion
mal Uh insisted on his drinking it. M hmm. But
(38:48):
for the Eleventh Doctor, one of these items, or guess
two of them hit the spot combination when he dipped
the frozen fish fingers into the custard and Amy was very,
very amused by this, and this caused the Doctor to
call her brave um and then yeah. Fourteen years later,
when Amy reunited with the Doctor, he commented on how
(39:11):
long it had been since he had had fish fingers
and custard and it was sort of a treasured memory
between the two of them, and Amy went on to
use it as sort of a truth testing thing and
also to bolster the doctor's hope. Um. At one point
Amy and her yeah, it's really sweet actually. Um. Yeah.
At one point, Amy and her boyfriend Rory eight fish
(39:32):
custard with the Doctor as adults, and the doctor claims
that if he had a restaurant, that's all that they
would serve. Um. He also declared that he was the
inventor of Yorkshire putting uh, noting the similarities to fish custard,
saying putting it savory sound familiar. Uh. And the last
meal the Eleventh Doctor had before regenerating was fish custard.
(39:54):
Oh yeah. And Matt Smith, the actor who played the
Eleventh Doctor, once claimed that in the first takes the
scene when they were doing this, when he's first trying
the combo, it was actually fish fingers and custard, but
eventually they replaced the fish fingers with coconut breaded cakes
and yeah, this is a whole thing. Um. It has
(40:15):
become very synonymous with Doctor Who, and various actors involved
in the show have eaten it, either in interviews or
on social media. It's frequently a question they get asked
about fish fingers and custard. It's the whole thing, all right, yeah,
mm hmmm. And just a quick note, fish custard is
(40:39):
an actual dish which is a custard that contains or
is flavored with fish, which we actually talked about in
a couple of episodes, like a down Nabby episode. Sure,
kind of her aspect Jello situation episodes. Um, totally. So
it's not the same thing, is what we're talking about now,
but similar terminology, right, yeah, absolutely, they're savory custard. Why not?
(41:04):
Why not? And I feel like that is in general
doctor who that's it's you know, people get mad up
in arms because it's he's the doctor. But you know whatever,
the doctor likes trying foods, whether he needs it or not,
because I think he's just very interested and curious and
(41:24):
wants to experience these human things and fish figures and
custard just being like something that he felt this is unique.
It's just kidding. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty much the apex
of of of of what the doctor is like, like,
you know, like what, sure, why not, let's try it?
(41:48):
That's good? Yeah. Yeah, So I feel like that's a
that's a good place to end this one on although
we could obviously there's so much we conteah. Uh yeah,
like like episode two, episode there are any number of
food references or not um and uh it is. It
(42:11):
is certainly a whole universe out there. It certainly is.
Maybe it will get a revisit in the future and
that'd be fun. Yeah, But for now, I guess that's
what we have to say about dr who. I guess
it is. Um. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
(42:42):
thank you, and we're back with snow. It's always good
when Lauren starts laughing in the mid a little bit.
I just gave up. I was like, I saw exactly
what you were trying to do, and I just didn't.
I wasn't entirely sure how to make those noises with
(43:04):
my face, and so I was just like, I'm all,
let I'm I'll let Annie take that one. I love it.
It always makes me happy when you're just like, I'm
gonna let any faldness ord. But it's also very fair
I can't remember the theme song. I just remember I
had a lot of like thereman type sounds. Yeah, um,
(43:25):
it's it's a it's a very very famously kind of
like ahead of its time electronic situation. Um that yeah,
we're ostensibly a food's a food sho u. But yeah,
the whole whole, other, whole other topic. Okay, well I'm
gonna have to look that up. I was trying to
remember because I keep thinking of the Wellington Paranormal theme
song instead, which has a similar like I think theremin
(43:49):
oh space, that's the best I could do. So you
usually this is the part where I like sing you
a bar of something, but like, I'm gonna try that right,
Like that's totally fair. Valerie wrote, my family was an
(44:13):
early adopter of induction cooking. We have been using it
for twelve years and are loving it. I have some tips. One,
when you are shopping for an induction stove, look at
the wattage of the burners. We have an induction stove
and a separate induction burner that we cooked on when
we couldn't use our kitchen. The standalone burner is very
slow to heat up food because it's wattage is only
(44:34):
about eighteen hundred watts. The burners on our stove very
from hundred watts to thirty six hundred watts, and they
are lightning fast. I recommend shopping for about three thousand
watts on each burner. You said that digital thermometers won't
work with an induction stove, but actually I do use
my digital thermometer to check the temperature of food in
(44:54):
the pots that I am cooking on the stove. I'm
careful not to touch it to the bottom of the
pot and haven't had any problems. Three the salesperson told
us that people sometimes will put a dish towel between
a scratchy cast iron pot and the stove to protect
the glass top of the stove for being scratched by
the pot. This is bad advice. The one time I
(45:15):
tried it, its scorched the dish towel and ruined it. Far.
The food heats up so quickly that I had to
adjust some cooking times. For example, before induction, I used
to put potato cubes into a pot of cold water,
heat to boiling and boil for ten minutes. But some
of the cooking happens during the heat to boiling stage,
and on an induction stove, that part goes by very quickly.
(45:38):
So on an induction stove for the same recipe, I
now do put potato cubes into a pot of cold water,
heat to boiling and boil for twelve minutes to account
for how much faster the water comes to a boil. Anyway,
I love our induction stove. It is more energy efficient,
doesn't put gas teams into the air, and is much
safer than a traditional stove. The heat turns on or
(45:58):
off instantly. Highly reckon meant it. Oh yeah, I'm like
I've sold even though I'm not looking like, Yeah, that
sounds great. Uh okay, uh, I have a correction to
my prior statement about digital thermometer. Is what I meant
(46:20):
was infrared thermometers, which can get pretty easily thrown off
by everything else that's going on. Or that's what I read. Um,
if other people have more direct experience, then please do
please do right in. Yeah, it has been really nice
to see how many people have come out pro induction cooking.
Yeah really, I really enjoyed it, and these are great tips. Yeah. Yeah,
(46:44):
I'm actually about to go to a friend of mine's
house and she has induction cooking. She has stove top,
so I'm like, I'm taking these tips and I'm trying
to embody them. Yeah, we'll report back for sure. I
will awesome, um Steve wrote listening to the Guinness episode
(47:09):
in July, and I had visited the storehouse in Dublin
on my trip to Ireland in September. I heard that
Annie visited storehouse in seventeen. I believe I was wondering
if she had seen the original nine thousand year land
lease that Arthur Guinness had drawn up, which is now
(47:29):
displayed in the storehouse. Um it's no longer valid as
the company has been expanded beyond the original four acres,
and also visited the gravity bar at the top the
seventh floor to get a complimentary pint of Guinness. I
I think I did see the lease. I think I didn't.
(47:49):
I think I thought it was like company, which it
kind of is. But I thought I think I thought
it was kind of like company legend. Like So wasn't
until we did the episode where I was like, oh,
this was a that was legit. They signed that, that
was the thing they signed. Yeah, so I think it's
a you know, it is company legend. But also actually
a thing. So I think when I think I passed
(48:13):
by it pretty quick. It is big. It's yeah, seven
stories at least. Um, And like I said, I really
enjoyed the experience. It was great, but it was like
it was a lot in a good way. I did
get the you know, if there's a complimentary pind of beginnings, yeah,
get it absolutely, But again it was a lovely experience. Um,
(48:38):
I kind of wish. I think that was a bit
early on. I think I was still getting the feel
of being a podcaster, and you know, I'd like to
go back. I guess that's what I'm saying because now
I think I would pick up on a lot more stuff.
I'd be like that that would be cool to talk
about they're advertising for is what I remember the most
(49:01):
because I was like, oh absolutely, whoa, yeah, I think
that that complimentary kind of Guinness though, is in a
white room. It's like all white and there's fog. It
feels like you're in heaven in the movies, are you
know alright? Cool? Yeah? Goodness, Yeah, I've I've never I've
(49:25):
never gotten to hang out in Ireland. I would really
love to go, I mean, hopefully for more than just
the Guinness, but you know, like, yeah, there's a lot
going on. Oh yes, yes. Hopefully one day we can
add it to an ever growing list of places we
want to go, which is pretty much everywhere. Uh hum.
But in the meantime, thank you to both of these
(49:47):
listeners who are writing in um and if you would
like to write to us, we would love to hear
from you. You can email us at hello at favorite
pod dot com. We are also on social media. You
can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at savor pod,
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my
Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
(50:08):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
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Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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