September 19, 2022 • 47 mins
This cartoon turned media franchise features food in both very ordinary and very extraordinary situations. Anney and Lauren can’t believe we’ve come so far -- ‘Steven Universe’ food stuff, here we are!
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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 VOC Obam and today
we have an episode for you about the fictional foods,
the semi fictional foods of Stephen Universe, yes, which you
know we love these fictional foods episodes so much and
you can go check out the mini we've already done.
(00:29):
But yes, I do love this show. It's so sweet.
I benched a couple of years ago, I think, around
the same time as I did adventure time. So it
was so I'm behind. YEA, yeah, but I did, I
did love it. Uh, and recently I went to Dragon Con,
(00:51):
this convention here in Atlanta, and one of my good friends,
friend of hers, Kane, dressed as garnet and it was
an amazing garnet cool. Yeah, it was really, really good. Wow, yeah,
it's IT'S A it's a difficult series to to costume
many of the characters because a lot of them are
(01:11):
like really sci fi fantasy based with and it's very
cartoony too. So you're like, how would I physically construct
that in real life? It would not support the weight
of itself. Uh, but but absolutely, like my friends and
I have talked about costuming from that series and it
seems like a lot. I don't know how to I
don't have a vacuumuld so I don't know. Well, anybody
(01:36):
out there answer? Um, UM, yeah, I wonder if I
can hunt down a picture of hers. Hers is really,
really good. Um, yeah, and uh, Laura and I are
very excited to talk about this. I did take a
very scientific quiz, key quiz, before this called who are
(01:58):
you from? Stephen The Universe? Eased on your food preferences
and according to that, I am Paradot, which I think
is my birth stone. It did make me feel kind
of basic, or may be simple, uh, in my preferences,
but a lot of the choices were fairly basically. It
was like pancake, waffle, Bacon. That's not totally could but yeah, yeah, yeah,
(02:22):
like coffee to your orange juice and like like yeah, sure, sure.
I also got paradox. So I don't know, I don't
know how accurate the quiz is, but I will say
that absolutely paradox is the character that I like over
associate with on the show. Um, like, uh, shout, shout
(02:46):
out to my dear friend cody, who introduced me to
the show cody, formerly of Um, giving me way too
much beautiful information about pokemon fame. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they
introduced me to the series and, Um, we'll be watching
it together and something they're they're a lot like lapis
(03:06):
Um and uh so, like we'll be watching the series
together and Para doot or Lapist will say something and
we'll turn to the other one and be like Lauren cody,
like as that was our fault that they said that.
I love that. I I did. I liked Paradogle a lot.
(03:28):
I can see para dot in you. I don't know
if I'm a parent. I think you are, but I
did take another very scientific quiz right before this from
buzzfeed and I got Steve. That's a lot more. That's
a lot more you. Yeah, I think. I think so.
But I did love Paradot, like it was just one
(03:50):
of those ones where I was like, I don't think,
I don't think that was right, but I do love
this character, so I won't sneak at it. M M uh. Also, also,
our coworker holly FRY got to put together a few
years ago, Um, a lovely short podcast series called drawn,
(04:14):
the story of animation. That was in collaboration with cartoon network,
which is the the channel that Stephen Universe was hosted on.
Um and Steven's creator, Rebecca Sugar, said a whole lot
of very smart, very lovely things in that podcast. So
so go check that out if you have an interest
in any of that. Yes, yes, absolutely, Um, but I
(04:36):
guess that brings us a too, a question Stephen Universe.
What is it? Well, UH, Stephen Universe is an animation
based media franchise about the life and adventures of this sweet,
relatable kid by the name of Stephen Universe and his family,
(04:59):
natural and chosen as he grows up. Uh, and Stephen
happens to be a half human, half gem based alien
life form who sometimes has to help that family save
his town and his planet and beyond from both their
enemies and themselves. Yeah, HMM, I was very excited to
(05:20):
hear your description of this. So far you're knocking out
of the fire. UH, yeah, it's it's surreal and funny
and introspective and and this very just dear all ages
science fiction fantasy piece that focuses on themes of acceptance
(05:42):
and emotional maturity and like learning and growth. Despite the
world and the people in it being less than perfect. Uh,
it's about it's about working on it, you know, Um,
and and it's like it's like having a rollicking good
time going to therapy. Yeah, yeah, pretty heavy stuff there is.
(06:08):
There is like within this like hypothetically children's show for children,
like there's a lot of stuff that made me look
at myself and kind of cry about it. So then,
so cool, good times. Highly recommend Um. This all started,
or started airing in as an animated TV series on
(06:30):
cartoon network, aimed primarily at kids and or young adults,
with each episode running about eleven minutes. It ran for
five seasons with a total of a hundred and sixty
two episodes. Hundred Sixty, hundred sixty two, something right around there. Um, yeah,
ran through early there's also a feature length film that
premiered later in Twenty nineteen, mostly on TV. There was
(06:52):
some limited theater appearances as well, uh, and an epilogue
series called Stephen Universe Future, which ran for twenty episodes
in late nine and early uh. They've also been a
number of like kids books and Trivia and art books, comics,
video games and soundtracks, because the show does have a
strong musical element. Oh yeah, I have the I have
(07:16):
the theme song in my head right now. Uh. The
show was created by Rebecca Sugar, who is a writer
and cartoonist and composer and performer. They cut their teeth
on adventure time with cartoon network early in that series production,
like two thousand nine ish. You can see our whole
episode on adventure time for more about that. And then, yeah,
she pitched Stephen H Rebecca sugar came out as non
(07:40):
binary after the series aired, by the way, when, when
it premiered, she was the first woman to helm a
series Solo for cartoon network. Now she's the first non
binary person. Uses she they pronounced, which is why I
am using both. Anyway. The series kicks off with the basic,
basic and scared quotes setup of this eighteen year old boy, Stephen,
(08:01):
who lives with his guardians, who are these three gemstone
based anthropomorphic aliens called the crystal gems, and they are
on earth to fight evil and help Stephen Learn how
to control his gem based powers. Stephen's Human Dad, Greg Universe,
lives mostly in a van and is also involved in
(08:23):
Steven's daily life. Stephen's mother was also a crystal gem
and she isn't like technically around anymore. Shades of her
kind of live on in Stephen's gem, but she basically
died giving birth to him in a complicated way. It's
an it's an unconventional family unit. Yes, yeah, and this
is ostensibly a food show. Gems don't have to eat,
(08:48):
though they can, but certainly the human characters and Stephen
do have to eat. And food is just a hyper
integral part of the series because the as the series
is meant to be personal and relatable, and it can
be very slice of life like episode to episode, despite
the fact that there are all these like weird epic
(09:09):
action sequences and bizarre monsters and like they go to
other planets and or dimensions. Sometimes the food is both
a grounding element and like a way of showcasing how
weird this fictional universe can get. Um like, on the
one hand, the show's opening sequence features greg setting up
(09:29):
a beach side cookout. The title card in the first
season has stephen eating a hot dog. On the other hand,
within the first handful of episodes, like you get this
French fry costume that comes to life like a Golem.
It's partially made of French fries and it forces people
to eat French fries. UH, they have to, they have
(09:51):
to like take it down and it like profusely bleeds.
Catch up anyone who hasn't seen this show. I'm just
so happy for you right now. Yeah, confusion. The series
(10:13):
is mostly set in a small fictional town called beach city. Um,
it has shades of like northeastern oceanside boardwalk towns. Uh.
It has like an amusement park and several little restaurants,
including a big donut, which is a pastry and coffee
and snack shop, beach citywalk fries, which specializes in French fries,
(10:33):
fish stew, pizza, which is a pizza parlor that has
fish options, extra fishy options. Sure, yeah, Um, and the
crab shack, which is a slightly more upscale restaurant, definitely
serves breadsticks. Don't don't know whether they're unlimited. Oh, yeah,
probably not if it's upscale. You know, you know, uh,
(10:55):
a lot of the a lot of the recurring characters
who become very close ends with Stephen and his cohortum
throughout the series, work in these shops and are shown
producing some of this food and, you know, right like it. Like.
It is a series about the human experience. Um and
so throughout food is UH is, a is, a fuel
(11:19):
and assustenance. It's also a pleasure and a comfort. It's
also a social tool and a sharing of oneself and
one's culture. It's also a livelihood and an economy and
like a way to to find purpose or to put
purpose in your life. Um and it's also part of
a greater ecology that we all live in. And that
(11:43):
gets really funny because, like a lot of the characters
are gems. They are not from Earth, they don't have
to eat. So so you also get this outsider perspective
of how food works and and of how people's humans
relations chips with food work. Um. Just, for example, those
(12:04):
three main gems who are Steven's guardians, Amethyst, pearl and Garnet.
You could, you can make the argument that their characters
are tropes of the ID, the Super Ego and the EGO.
So amethyst, being the ID, will and does eat anything
and everything and has these like hungry moments and like
(12:26):
devour sentient pizza and, you know, like eats literal garbage,
stuff like that. Uh Pearl, the Super Ego, despises consuming food.
She thinks the whole process of digestion is the most
disgusting thing she can possibly think of. Um. And Garnet
as the ego is like, you know, like she will eat,
(12:47):
she's willing to eat, but like doesn't really have a
strong emotion about it, doesn't really overdo it. Mostly does
it as like a kind of social, uh, social placation. H. Yeah,
uh so. Yeah, there's like there's like infinite stuff to
unpack there. Um about about the series, though? Like adventure time,
(13:10):
it was storyboard driven, which means that the artists were
also the writers, which you can really see in like
the tight collaboration among the visuals and the dialogue and
the music to all tell the story together. Yeah, uh.
Rebecca sugar has talked about the show becoming an increasingly
(13:31):
personal project. Um over the course of its life, about
about self discovery and growth, really heavily influenced by everything
that she went through. She was she was twenty three
years old when she pitched this series Um that she
then produced. That then got really big and a really
short period of time, and she also started therapy and
(13:52):
she also came out as bisexual and then as non binary. Um.
She has a little brother named Stephen. She also talks about,
you know, trying trying to take the constrictive tropes that
she grew up seeing in kids media and in animation,
like like Disney animation in particular, and trying to question
(14:13):
them or or invert them. Ah, interestingly to me, the
voice actor who plays Stephen was only a couple of
years older than the character when the series started, like
maybe fifteen or sixteen, and so the show really uh,
let's the character and the actor and the audience all
(14:36):
sort of grow up together. Yeah, yeah, Um, one of
my best friends younger brothers, he told me that fact. Um,
and he writes uh, Stephen Universe fan fiction, which I
find incredibly adorable and also, I saver would have guessed.
(14:58):
He's just not the type, and so I love that.
I love that the show is kind of about like
not judging, are assuming based on type or like questioning stereotypes.
And when he told me that, I was like, Oh,
that makes me so happy, that makes happy. Yeah, goodness. Well, uh,
(15:23):
what about the news dream? Uh Yeah, normally this is
where I say don't eat media franchises, but but I'm
going to go ahead and say, you do you, you
do you, on this one. You make you make your
own decision. Uh, make you know you, you work on it.
You work on it with yourself. Yes, yeah, just like
(15:45):
Stephen and it's friends. Yes, we do have some numbers
for you. A few. Yeah, as of when, when future
was airing, the series had in a hundred and eighty
seven countries, with an average audience of a million viewers
(16:05):
per episode. It has of one percent critic rating on
rotten tomatoes. Yes, it does, which makes me so happy.
It's been nominated for about thirty six awards across the
(16:25):
industry as an overall series and also in various categories
for its art and sound and vocals. Uh. It won
eight of those awards including, Um but not limited to,
a James Tiptree Jr Honor List Award for Rebecca Sugar,
which is an award for for speculative fiction that explores gender. Um,
an award for best vocal ensemble from behind the voice
(16:48):
actor awards, and a Bang peabody for youth programming. Yeah, yeah, Um.
And then bringing it back to food, over on the
Tumbler as all right, and I don't know why I
put the if I was trying to be ironic or not,
I can't remember. Um, user love takes work, created every
(17:10):
recipe from the show and it's excellent. Oh, it's so good. Okay, like, like,
I didn't I didn't double check, but I counted. Uh,
I counted through a real quick and counted seventy nine recipes. Um.
And yes, this is a fabulously fun project with a
really hilarious list of caveats, Um, including like, okay, I'm
(17:33):
not going to do recipes about, about stuff if it's
only mentioned and not pictured. I'm not going to do
recipes if it's pictured in the background and not featured.
I'm not going to do recipes if it's like a
non food item that some monster eats or amethyst eats
because it's furniture. Uh, not putting together recipes for those seventy,
(17:54):
seventy nine recipes, which is, I think, conservative, extremely conservative. Yeah, Oh, yeah, because, yeah,
going through, we do have a list of some of
the big food and drink items in here and we
had to limit we had to limit ourselves. Yeah, it
could have gone on a lot longer, and it's they're
(18:15):
like people are eating and I cannot remember an episode
where food doesn't come up in some way. MM HMMM.
So we're going to get into some of those examples,
but first we're going to take a quickbreak for a
word Ormor, sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor. Yes,
(18:38):
thank you so. Yes, like with many things we talked
about in these fictional food segments episodes, um, many of
these foods and drinks are our variations of them exist
in our real world. So you can tell, like, what
the inspiration was, what the idea was behind said food
or drink item. A lot of the branded objects in
(19:00):
the show in particular have similar packaging to a real
world product, like a generic margarine in a yellow tub. Yeah, yeah,
lots of lots of examples of that in there. Yes,
for example, one of my favorites is something called beast,
which is a can. It's a brand of canned beverage
(19:24):
similar in appearance to monster energy drinks. Uh. And then
one of my favorites chops, chops, exit chops. It's got
a lot of a's in it, everybody. Um, this is
a brand of potato chips debuted in the episode Monster
(19:46):
Buddies when Steven feeds them to neph right, and I'm
not going to explain any of this again. I love
the idea of people just listening confused. Yeah, let's just
just go with that. Anytime, anytime that you hear the
name of a rock, you're talking about some kind of
Uh Anima, like like Uh sentient creature. Yeah, and you're
(20:08):
just gonna have to watch the show to learn anything
else than that. Yeah, yeah, but yes, uh, Stephen later
uses these chips in a later episode to Jog Nif
writes memory of him. Remember when I fed you those
potato Um, they do have a couple of flavors, like
a maximum B B Q and cheese with a Z.
(20:32):
and yeah, they are featured in several episodes, many, many episodes,
especially in the background. Yes, and then there are cheese balls,
which is a brand of cheese puffs sold in canisters.
That they also pop up in a lot of episodes,
including fusion cuisine, which is one of those episodes as
a lot to do with food. Um, when Steven uses
(20:54):
them to decorate a cake, which is also a recurring
theme of like salty snacks on sweet items, which I
read like a couple of people were like, yeah, I'm
very similar to a child's palate, but I was kind
of like yes, but let's be real, a lot was
do that and enjoyed that as adults? Yes, similar to
a child's Palet. I will I will allow persimilar to
(21:16):
a child's experimentation, at any rate, because Stephen does do
a lot of experimenting with with foods. Yes, which. Speaking
of this is a big one that popped up a
lot together. Breakfast, and this was the name of the
fourth episode of Season One, so very early on, and
was also the name of a breakfast that Stephen Attempts
(21:39):
to make to share with everybody. And here's a quote
I wanted to include to the voices, but Oh, that's
all right, cool. So this is Stephen. Everyone's out. Guess
I'm making us breakfast. Pearl Garnet, amethyst. Is Anyone home? One, two, three,
rap in, I guess they're all still out saving the world.
Look at you, you're out of control. Pearl Garnet, it's done.
(22:01):
That thing's too good for me to eat alone. It's
a together breakfast. Garnet perfect. Check it out. It's not
exactly healthy, but it's in a stack, so I guess
you could say it's a balanced breakfast, you know, like
I made it all breakfast. I thought we could eat
together like like best buds. Then Garnet says, I can't today.
(22:22):
There's business to attend to inside the tempole. The whole
episode is just him trying to get them all together
to eat this breakfast. Yeah, yeah, it's cute. Um. So
this also shows up in a handful of other episodes
and serves as Garnet's wedding cake, which is honorable. Um, and,
(22:44):
and there's a strawberry on top in the regular one,
but in this episode it's replaced by these like little
figurines of Ruby and Sapphire, where the two getting married, yeah,
or refusing, as the case maybe. Yeah, yes, yes, so,
based on the image from this episode and Fan Created Recipes,
what Stephen makes is essentially a stack of waffles or pancakes? No,
(23:09):
it's it's definitely waffles. Yeah, okay, some of the recipes
had had pancakes, but that might be a preference thing.
So okay, waffles smothered in chocolate sauce or maybe maple syrup.
It looked like chocolate Saus to me, but everybody seemed
to agree with Maple Syrup. So all right, topped with
a healthy swirl of whipped cream, topped with a strawberry
and finished with popcorn. Begin with the salty sweet kind
(23:32):
of time. I mean sounds good. Oh goodness. Oh yeah,
one bite, though, I think I'd be done, but it
would be delicious. Also, continuing along with traditionally breakfast items,
there is the Bagel Sandwich, first seen in the episode
cheeseburger backpack, obviously, Um, and it pops up in a
(23:56):
few episodes after that as well. It appears to be
a sunny side up fried egg, a slice of cheese
and Turkey Bacon, or perhaps salmon, or perhaps Canadian Bacon. Okay, yeah,
sandwich between a split Bagel. Oh, yeah, yeah, and binging
with Babish. Uh. Did did a recipe for this one? Um,
(24:19):
you can. You can look that up if you'd like to. Uh,
speaking of breakfast foods, there, okay, there's a TV series
within the series Um called crying breakfast friends, and these
are like semi anthropomorphic breakfast foods that cry a lot, Um,
(24:42):
out of sadness and out of joy. Oh, I don't
remember that. That's great. Yeah, yeah, it's a show that
Stephen is watching kind of a lot and like no
one else gets it, but but they're all willing to
watch it with them, Um, and I think that actually
it's it's a metaphor for Stephen Universe itself. That makes sense.
(25:06):
That makes sense. Like why are they crying again anyway? Um,
there are. There are other fictional brands in there though, too, yes,
including Gua Cola Um, which is an avocado soda that
was handed out to attendees of a show by sour
(25:27):
cream djs. Uh, done by sour cream DJ in the
episode drop beat Dad, which is a great episode title.
Drop beat Dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's pretty funny. Um.
The packaging claims that it has the nutritional equivalent of
three Avocados and, like Avocados, it has a bit of
(25:49):
a mushy consistency, so almost everyone pours it out because
they think it's cross. It is later revealed to be
banned in seventeen state and facing at least a one lawsuit,
which I love. Oh Heck. MM HMMM. And then a
(26:10):
few random things. There's also drink up, which is like
seven up, and dirry and juice that comes in a
in a juice box. Frequently featured dry and juice Um. Also,
a tomato soup in a juice box shows up at
one point. MM HMMM. And then there's something called cookie cuts, yes, yes, yes,
(26:32):
so cookie cats are ice cream sandwiches in the shape
of a cat's head. Um. So it's two chocolate cookies
with hash strawberry and half vanilla ice cream sandwich between them. Um.
These first showed up in the episode Jim Glow and
are Stephen's favorite item at the big donut and yeah,
this is basically a donut based snack and drink store
(26:54):
that is frequented often. Um, but over the course of
that episode, these cook cats were being replaced by a
rival product line, liquors. Yeah, and this is, by the way,
the first episode. This is the drama, the drama of
Stephen Not Being able to get his beloved cookie cats,
(27:18):
is the first scene of the first episode. It's important.
This is where it starts, and cookie cats do keep
showing up throughout the series, either his food, so like
Steven's birthday cake is in the shape of a cookie cat, Um,
and one of the seasons, and he later makes his
own cookie cats for the gym's or in merchandise, like
(27:43):
his cookie cat shaped alarm clock, which I think he
has too. I think we see two different ones, and
also cookie cat shaped walkie talkies. Um. So, yes, their mascot,
cookie cat is on the pink pack Jing. It's pretty
eye catching. The packaging Um and the half and half
(28:04):
nature of the ice cream is reflected on cookie cats features.
So like the eye. One of his eyes is like White,
one is pink for the in the strawberry, you know. UH, yeah,
in one episode Stephen Dreams that cookie cat goes evil
and uses a spaceship to kill him. It sounds like
a dream, I would have to be honest. Dear Heck Um. So,
(28:32):
according to the Crystal Gym's they went around stealing a
bunch in this episode for him, for Stephen, but Pearl
admits that she went back and paid for all of
the cookie cans stolen. Um. However, Stephen eats all of
these cookie cats to get the energy to summon a
(28:52):
shield to save the gym's Um. So yeah, at the
beginning of the episode, eating a sandwich and singing the
themes song of this of this mascot, of this item, uh,
seemed to activate his Jim but in the end it
was a jastic coincidence. But he thought like Oh, if
I eat them, I'll get all this power. Um. Of Note.
(29:15):
One of the song lyrics references that cookie cat is
a refugee of an interstellar war. Oh, yes, similar to
the gym's maybe Um, in the Stephen Universe Video Game
Jim bound, cookie cats restore Stephen's energy and they restore
harmony in the liked series of the gym. So, like
(29:35):
you eat them and you get like this energy like harmony,
which I love. All right. Yeah, and then, in a
promotion for New York Comic Con, the fantasy food truck
sold cookie cats, among other things. But cookie cats. That's
that's very cute. That's real good. Yes, you can still
(29:56):
find the menu online. Is Pretty Great. uh, but I
suppose we should talk about the competitor line liquor shrim
in it. Um. Stephen obviously not a fan playing. They
didn't look like lions. Uh. They are sort of like
ice cream popsicles. They're shaped lion ish. Remind me of
(30:18):
like those snoopy ice cream things I used to get
as a kid, but very totally like like a good
humor truck looking thing, right, exactly. Um, and they're yeah,
they're made with this yellow ice cream. However, upon melting,
they do take on a bit of a creepy a
bit of a creepy vibe. I must say. Yeah, and
I will say that there there is, Um, there is
(30:41):
a bit of a creepy vibe sprinkled throughout this series
like like like powdered sugar on a doughnut. Um. And Yeah, yeah,
the series really does does play with genre, Um, kind
of bouncing around from from comedy to horror to action
to everything else. Yeah, yeah, it's so much drama. Heck, yeah,
(31:05):
like punch you in the hard trauma. Oh my God, Um,
I know, we love it. It's great. Also, I'm pretty
sure the lion liquor mascot had his own kind of
sad story arc himself. So, you know, it's there's something
for everybody. There's also Colonel Colonel's classic creamed cord which
(31:30):
by name alone I had to include. Um. But yeah,
it's a can of creamed corn with this mascot Colonel Colonel,
saying in a speech bubble it's cream tastic. Yeah, I
mean that's great, right, all right, Oh, speaking of this one,
(31:52):
oh my gosh, clams, peanut butter and a side of
cut grass. Yeah, yeah, that's a dish. You heard it correctly.
This dish only appeared in one episode two, when an
unaligned character named Bluebird, as you're right, makes it to
impress Stephen, and Stephen, Being Stephen, eats it at Bluebird's request. Um.
(32:16):
As pointed out on the Fan Wiki, all of these
foods are known allergens, which, yeah, I didn't pick up
on either, but she's definitely trying to kill him. So attracts,
so attracts. Yeah, I love it, I love it, Um.
Then there's the dog nut, which is an item sold
(32:37):
at the big donut and it is a hot dog
that is placed through the holes of three frosted doughnuts
and then that is all topped with some mustard dognut. Yep, yeah,
that's something I can see in our real world for sure.
I am positive if someone has done this and done
it gloriously. Yep, uh. And then there are fire salts. Okay,
(33:04):
so fire salt is this mysterious magical seasoning. No one
seems to be too sure what's in it. Um. To
me it seems sort of like itching powder and that
it's used in these pranks in the episode, joking victim
or like maybe like hot peppery spice, like the equivalent
(33:25):
of putting that on someone's food unexpectedly or something they
don't know, because it causes this burning sensation. Like literally,
when one character ate an entire two of this Shimmery
red salt, he breathes fire and he had to stick
his head in a tub of ice cream to try
to cool himself down. Yeah, yeah, like you do. Um. Yeah,
(33:48):
and that's right. Like. So that's where, yeah, some of
the weird magic kind of stuff comes in. Um. Another
example of that is in the watermelon Stevens. Um. Okay,
so one of of Steven's gem based powers is that
his spit is like kind of magical. Um. So during
this one episode he accidentally creates a patch of watermelons
(34:12):
and then an army of watermelons that are Stephen Shaped.
After he like spits a whole barrage of seeds around
and then leaves them overnight. Yes, he winds up eating one. Yeah,
and throughout the series a few other vegetables also become
sentient or semi sentient. MM HMM, obviously. Uh. And then
(34:35):
we have to talk about some fries. Oh goodness, we do,
because we have a couple of French fry dishes. Yeah, yeah,
as we mentioned earlier, a fry shop is one of
these small businesses in beach city. It is run by
the Freeman family, and one thing Stephen Orders. There are
these things called fry bits, which are presumably the smaller
(34:55):
leftover bits of fries. Um. They are usually free, but
we see even offering to purchase them. UH, Huh. Um.
It also turns out that Mr Freeman is in this
like long running feud or or uneasy piece with neighboring
restaurant fish stu pizza. In one episode that piece is broken.
(35:17):
The FRY shop offers pizza BITs, the pizza shop offers fries. Uh.
Their their kids and Steven have to broker a renewed
treaty which which involves the creation of of a couple
of really stunning, stunningly beautiful dishes, Um, including the pizza
(35:37):
that's served on a Bagel, uh, which which allows you
to have pizza any time, dude, and also fantastic fries,
which are like sort of these fancy fries filled with ketchup. Yeah,
so there you go. Oh, and speaking of Ketchup, there's
(35:59):
a brand on the show call hines H Y in
e S, which is named after the show's lead character, designer,
Danny hines. Yeah, and this character named Garbonzo, which is
fun fakes fakes his own death with hines in the
episode onion gang, obviously using it as like a blood yeah, yeah, yeah,
(36:24):
there's a there's at least a couple instances of using
ketchup as like a fake blood substitute. I know that
sadie Miller in her sadie killer face also uses some
ketchup blood effects. Yeah, yeah, Um, and then, I guess,
a low key. Speaking of Sadie, I wanted to talk
about the UBE roll cake because this is this is
(36:47):
one of the uh no pun intended, sweetest, sweetest food
moments on the show that I remember. Um, is when
one of the townspeople named Lars Um, who starts out
working in the in the doughnut shop, it turns out
that he loves baking. He's not just working there because
it's a it's a job. Um, like he bakes a
(37:08):
Pumpkin cake shaped like a Pumpkin, Um, and an UBE roll,
like a sponge cake made with UBE, which is a
sweet purple Yam spread with cream filling and then shaped
into a log like roll, like a like a U
A log. Yeah, Um. And and it really goes into
Lars's feelings about this recipe, which is a family recipe
and about baking, because he's really self critical and he's
(37:30):
afraid that him liking baking will make him seem uncool.
And Uh, it's something that he really struggles with, even
though Stephen and and the aforementioned sadie, who's Lar's co worker,
both like really encourage him and say that he's great
at it, but he's, you know, he's kind of just
still working through it. Yeah, you know, just like all
(37:52):
of us, just like all of us. Oh Yeah, well,
clearly we highly recommend it. I I really I really
hope that that we described that, that that we gave
you enough to understand vaguely what we were talking about
at all. Right, yeah, I mean it's one of those things.
(38:16):
It's really once you watch it, I don't think there's
no difficulty picking it up. Oh No, oh no, no, no,
it's not describing it. Yeah, it's not like a challenging
no show to watch. Um, it's very light and fluffy,
but except for all those gut punches were talking about,
but generally the overall vibe is like Oh yeah, yeah,
(38:39):
so we recommend it. And there I mean we, like
we said, we limited ourselves. So if there's anything. We
didn't talk about that. You want us and talk about that?
US know if you have any recipes, if you've done
any parties and made these recipes. Oh Yeah, definitely, let
us know. Oh, and I and I did want to
put in here, I forgot to write in a note
into the outline, but okay. So the crew on Stephen
(39:03):
Universe had, while the series was airing, a Tumblr blog
called the crewniverse, Um, and they would have like little
like like like get togethers for when? When? When all
the episodes came out, and and they would frequently make
either dishes from the show or or like artistic interpretations
(39:29):
of the characters in Rice crispy tweet form or what
have you. Um, really really lovely stuff from a bunch
of really creative, deeply weird people. Uh, that just it's
so delightful. Um, genuinely recommend checking out the crewniverse blog
and also the other one, the one with all the recipes.
(39:50):
Love takes work. Yeah, yes, and you know, we did
it in Bob's Burgers and it was a very fun time.
If you want to write in and let us know
character you think we are. Oh goodness, yeah, I'm what
character you are? It would also be great. Please do. Goodness. Okay, right,
(40:11):
we do have some listener mail for you ready right now, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
award from our sponsors and we're back. Thank you, sponsor. Yes,
thank you, and we're back with just listener. I do
(40:42):
get there's a song that I want an award didn't it?
There's a like well known song that's in it in
the series and it gets stuck in my head all
the time, totally randomly. But there's no way we could
have done it. It's like when there's like fusing together.
It's got that like Oh, yeah, yeah, now, I think
(41:03):
I think I know which one you're talking about. Um,
but there's there's a bunch of there's a bunch of
really good songs in it. I that definitely when cody
and I are down, like we'll just kind of like
put on songs from it and like shout along pretty
off key, which is yeah, it's good, it's really good,
so good. Ah Um. Kirsten wrote. Being Gluten free living
(41:28):
in Miami, Rapas have become a beloved dietary staple of mine.
I was introduced to Venezuelan stylad rapis first through popular
food trucks and an awesome local place called Doggies, which
has the iconic yellow packages of how do you depen,
stacked on open shelves around the restaurant as part of
the decor. Uh. My favorite fillings for a loaded Venezuelan
RIPA AR ques of Demano, black beans, sweet plantains and Avocado.
(41:52):
You guys were not kidding about the cravings and juice
from the episode. Um, I've also I'm to learn about
some of the regional differences in popular types of Columbian arepas.
I worked for a Columbian owned company and I have
traveled to madeline or perhaps met a chin. I hope
I didn't totally mess ut up for a work where
(42:13):
I was delighted to find a little etre pizza about
the size of an Oreo, served with pretty much every
plate at every meal. They also have an amazing breakfast
specialty called AREPA to Chocolo Conqueeso, a sweet corn arepa
made with a mix of corn meal and blended whole
sweet corn Kernels, served with tons of delicious salty cheese.
(42:34):
Both of these are popular and Paisa regional cuisine in
the mountainous interior of the country. On a separate trip
to Columbia, my husband and I went to Cartagena, which
is on the Caribbean coast and had a totally different
culinary scene. The AREPA de Juevo that you mentioned in
the episode is the local specialty in Cartagena. They were everywhere,
from street vendors serving them up late night outside of
(42:56):
bars to the breakfast menus at high end historic hotels.
Kartagena is an amazing food city, so much fresh seafood
and tropical fruit. But I digress. Anyways, I've included pictures
of some favorite arepas and now I have to go
make some for lunch. Jealous, so jealous of all of it. Yes,
(43:17):
all of that sounds so good. I have not gotten
in an AP since we did that episode, but I
want one of every single one of these things. Oh
my Gosh, oh my gosh. Heck, I'm hungry now, Um,
but thank thank you. Yes, yes, pictures, we we we
(43:38):
asked and you answered. You did, indeed, you did. Indeed,
you've opened my mind to some options and also, I
apologize if I was stumbling through the Spanish, but you know,
the old savor try. Yeah, Heck Um, speaking of old
savor tries on pronunciation. Okay, uh. Hannah wrote. I'm from
(44:01):
the US, but I'm currently a Master's student in Germany,
so when I heard your non alcoholic beer episode from
a couple of months ago, I wanted to chime in.
Non Alcoholic or alcohol free beer is pretty popular in Germany,
to the point where they were the main sponsor of
the triathlon I participated in this summer. Good for you.
Beer brands are also pretty regional here. When I lived
(44:24):
in Hamburg, Astra Astra is one of the big local
brands and they're known for their crazy ad campaigns. I
thought this particular billboard I saw was worth sharing. It's
for a Non Alcoholic Beer with pomegranate juice and caffeine,
for when you want an energy drink but also want
the taste of beer. The article that pictures from says
(44:45):
that the drink has guarana in it, which is supposedly
an Afro dz. They say in parentheses. I can only
hear that word in Lauren's voice now, usually usually Annie,
but but both of us. Yes, yes, so the man
stripping and the photo is supposed to be an afrod dieter.
(45:09):
There you go. Yeah, they have plenty of other strange
ad campaigns if you want to check them out. As
a side note, I just listened to your cloud Berry episode.
A last semester I had a field course on the
wetlands of northern Germany and I gave your presentation on
the plants found in peat bogs. It was a short
presentation so I didn't do too much research into cloud
Berry's specifically, but now I know we would have been
(45:32):
super lucky to see them out in the field. But
we did come across Sun Do, which is a carnivorous plant,
so that was pretty exciting too. Yeah, Oh, I love
a carnivorous plant. So is such an innocuous name for
it too. Right. Yeah, oh, that's so good. Oh, that's wonderful,
(45:59):
and thank you for writing in about about beer culture,
and especially non alcoholic beer culture over in Germany. Yes,
the Ad Campaign in question is quite striking. The man
is wearing kind of a wrestler's outfit and a blue
bow tie, ripping his shirt open, and it's for Beer,
(46:22):
non alcoholic beer. So yeah, I am but right, it's
it's it's in a very like like like eighties hair
metal kind of vibe. It is yes, yes, it is.
Um We're seeking out, we're steeking out. I think Um
as ore cloud berries, which I love. How many of
you have written in and said like, I didn't realize
(46:43):
they were such a big deal and I almost have them,
or did have them and didn't realize one day. Lauren, yeah, okay,
I think so. Yes, I know. So that's what I say,
but in the meantime, thanks to both of these listeners
(47:03):
for writing to us. If you would like to write
to us, you can. Our email is hello at savorpod
dot com. We're also on social media. You can find
us on twitter, facebook and Instagram at Sabre pod, and
we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production
of I heart radio. For more podcasts my heart radio,
you can visit the I heart radio APP, apple podcasts
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks, as always,
(47:25):
to our superproducers, Dylan Fagin 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 VOC Obam and today
we have an episode for you about the fictional foods,
the semi fictional foods of Stephen Universe, yes, which you
know we love these fictional foods episodes so much and
you can go check out the mini we've already done.
(00:29):
But yes, I do love this show. It's so sweet.
I benched a couple of years ago, I think, around
the same time as I did adventure time. So it
was so I'm behind. YEA, yeah, but I did, I
did love it. Uh, and recently I went to Dragon Con,
(00:51):
this convention here in Atlanta, and one of my good friends,
friend of hers, Kane, dressed as garnet and it was
an amazing garnet cool. Yeah, it was really, really good. Wow, yeah,
it's IT'S A it's a difficult series to to costume
many of the characters because a lot of them are
(01:11):
like really sci fi fantasy based with and it's very
cartoony too. So you're like, how would I physically construct
that in real life? It would not support the weight
of itself. Uh, but but absolutely, like my friends and
I have talked about costuming from that series and it
seems like a lot. I don't know how to I
don't have a vacuumuld so I don't know. Well, anybody
(01:36):
out there answer? Um, UM, yeah, I wonder if I
can hunt down a picture of hers. Hers is really,
really good. Um, yeah, and uh, Laura and I are
very excited to talk about this. I did take a
very scientific quiz, key quiz, before this called who are
(01:58):
you from? Stephen The Universe? Eased on your food preferences
and according to that, I am Paradot, which I think
is my birth stone. It did make me feel kind
of basic, or may be simple, uh, in my preferences,
but a lot of the choices were fairly basically. It
was like pancake, waffle, Bacon. That's not totally could but yeah, yeah, yeah,
(02:22):
like coffee to your orange juice and like like yeah, sure, sure.
I also got paradox. So I don't know, I don't
know how accurate the quiz is, but I will say
that absolutely paradox is the character that I like over
associate with on the show. Um, like, uh, shout, shout
(02:46):
out to my dear friend cody, who introduced me to
the show cody, formerly of Um, giving me way too
much beautiful information about pokemon fame. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they
introduced me to the series and, Um, we'll be watching
it together and something they're they're a lot like lapis
(03:06):
Um and uh so, like we'll be watching the series
together and Para doot or Lapist will say something and
we'll turn to the other one and be like Lauren cody,
like as that was our fault that they said that.
I love that. I I did. I liked Paradogle a lot.
(03:28):
I can see para dot in you. I don't know
if I'm a parent. I think you are, but I
did take another very scientific quiz right before this from
buzzfeed and I got Steve. That's a lot more. That's
a lot more you. Yeah, I think. I think so.
But I did love Paradot, like it was just one
(03:50):
of those ones where I was like, I don't think,
I don't think that was right, but I do love
this character, so I won't sneak at it. M M uh. Also, also,
our coworker holly FRY got to put together a few
years ago, Um, a lovely short podcast series called drawn,
(04:14):
the story of animation. That was in collaboration with cartoon network,
which is the the channel that Stephen Universe was hosted on.
Um and Steven's creator, Rebecca Sugar, said a whole lot
of very smart, very lovely things in that podcast. So
so go check that out if you have an interest
in any of that. Yes, yes, absolutely, Um, but I
(04:36):
guess that brings us a too, a question Stephen Universe.
What is it? Well, UH, Stephen Universe is an animation
based media franchise about the life and adventures of this sweet,
relatable kid by the name of Stephen Universe and his family,
(04:59):
natural and chosen as he grows up. Uh, and Stephen
happens to be a half human, half gem based alien
life form who sometimes has to help that family save
his town and his planet and beyond from both their
enemies and themselves. Yeah, HMM, I was very excited to
(05:20):
hear your description of this. So far you're knocking out
of the fire. UH, yeah, it's it's surreal and funny
and introspective and and this very just dear all ages
science fiction fantasy piece that focuses on themes of acceptance
(05:42):
and emotional maturity and like learning and growth. Despite the
world and the people in it being less than perfect. Uh,
it's about it's about working on it, you know, Um,
and and it's like it's like having a rollicking good
time going to therapy. Yeah, yeah, pretty heavy stuff there is.
(06:08):
There is like within this like hypothetically children's show for children,
like there's a lot of stuff that made me look
at myself and kind of cry about it. So then,
so cool, good times. Highly recommend Um. This all started,
or started airing in as an animated TV series on
(06:30):
cartoon network, aimed primarily at kids and or young adults,
with each episode running about eleven minutes. It ran for
five seasons with a total of a hundred and sixty
two episodes. Hundred Sixty, hundred sixty two, something right around there. Um, yeah,
ran through early there's also a feature length film that
premiered later in Twenty nineteen, mostly on TV. There was
(06:52):
some limited theater appearances as well, uh, and an epilogue
series called Stephen Universe Future, which ran for twenty episodes
in late nine and early uh. They've also been a
number of like kids books and Trivia and art books, comics,
video games and soundtracks, because the show does have a
strong musical element. Oh yeah, I have the I have
(07:16):
the theme song in my head right now. Uh. The
show was created by Rebecca Sugar, who is a writer
and cartoonist and composer and performer. They cut their teeth
on adventure time with cartoon network early in that series production,
like two thousand nine ish. You can see our whole
episode on adventure time for more about that. And then, yeah,
she pitched Stephen H Rebecca sugar came out as non
(07:40):
binary after the series aired, by the way, when, when
it premiered, she was the first woman to helm a
series Solo for cartoon network. Now she's the first non
binary person. Uses she they pronounced, which is why I
am using both. Anyway. The series kicks off with the basic,
basic and scared quotes setup of this eighteen year old boy, Stephen,
(08:01):
who lives with his guardians, who are these three gemstone
based anthropomorphic aliens called the crystal gems, and they are
on earth to fight evil and help Stephen Learn how
to control his gem based powers. Stephen's Human Dad, Greg Universe,
lives mostly in a van and is also involved in
(08:23):
Steven's daily life. Stephen's mother was also a crystal gem
and she isn't like technically around anymore. Shades of her
kind of live on in Stephen's gem, but she basically
died giving birth to him in a complicated way. It's
an it's an unconventional family unit. Yes, yeah, and this
is ostensibly a food show. Gems don't have to eat,
(08:48):
though they can, but certainly the human characters and Stephen
do have to eat. And food is just a hyper
integral part of the series because the as the series
is meant to be personal and relatable, and it can
be very slice of life like episode to episode, despite
the fact that there are all these like weird epic
(09:09):
action sequences and bizarre monsters and like they go to
other planets and or dimensions. Sometimes the food is both
a grounding element and like a way of showcasing how
weird this fictional universe can get. Um like, on the
one hand, the show's opening sequence features greg setting up
(09:29):
a beach side cookout. The title card in the first
season has stephen eating a hot dog. On the other hand,
within the first handful of episodes, like you get this
French fry costume that comes to life like a Golem.
It's partially made of French fries and it forces people
to eat French fries. UH, they have to, they have
(09:51):
to like take it down and it like profusely bleeds.
Catch up anyone who hasn't seen this show. I'm just
so happy for you right now. Yeah, confusion. The series
(10:13):
is mostly set in a small fictional town called beach city. Um,
it has shades of like northeastern oceanside boardwalk towns. Uh.
It has like an amusement park and several little restaurants,
including a big donut, which is a pastry and coffee
and snack shop, beach citywalk fries, which specializes in French fries,
(10:33):
fish stew, pizza, which is a pizza parlor that has
fish options, extra fishy options. Sure, yeah, Um, and the
crab shack, which is a slightly more upscale restaurant, definitely
serves breadsticks. Don't don't know whether they're unlimited. Oh, yeah,
probably not if it's upscale. You know, you know, uh,
(10:55):
a lot of the a lot of the recurring characters
who become very close ends with Stephen and his cohortum
throughout the series, work in these shops and are shown
producing some of this food and, you know, right like it. Like.
It is a series about the human experience. Um and
so throughout food is UH is, a is, a fuel
(11:19):
and assustenance. It's also a pleasure and a comfort. It's
also a social tool and a sharing of oneself and
one's culture. It's also a livelihood and an economy and
like a way to to find purpose or to put
purpose in your life. Um and it's also part of
a greater ecology that we all live in. And that
(11:43):
gets really funny because, like a lot of the characters
are gems. They are not from Earth, they don't have
to eat. So so you also get this outsider perspective
of how food works and and of how people's humans
relations chips with food work. Um. Just, for example, those
(12:04):
three main gems who are Steven's guardians, Amethyst, pearl and Garnet.
You could, you can make the argument that their characters
are tropes of the ID, the Super Ego and the EGO.
So amethyst, being the ID, will and does eat anything
and everything and has these like hungry moments and like
(12:26):
devour sentient pizza and, you know, like eats literal garbage,
stuff like that. Uh Pearl, the Super Ego, despises consuming food.
She thinks the whole process of digestion is the most
disgusting thing she can possibly think of. Um. And Garnet
as the ego is like, you know, like she will eat,
(12:47):
she's willing to eat, but like doesn't really have a
strong emotion about it, doesn't really overdo it. Mostly does
it as like a kind of social, uh, social placation. H. Yeah,
uh so. Yeah, there's like there's like infinite stuff to
unpack there. Um about about the series, though? Like adventure time,
(13:10):
it was storyboard driven, which means that the artists were
also the writers, which you can really see in like
the tight collaboration among the visuals and the dialogue and
the music to all tell the story together. Yeah, uh.
Rebecca sugar has talked about the show becoming an increasingly
(13:31):
personal project. Um over the course of its life, about
about self discovery and growth, really heavily influenced by everything
that she went through. She was she was twenty three
years old when she pitched this series Um that she
then produced. That then got really big and a really
short period of time, and she also started therapy and
(13:52):
she also came out as bisexual and then as non binary. Um.
She has a little brother named Stephen. She also talks about,
you know, trying trying to take the constrictive tropes that
she grew up seeing in kids media and in animation,
like like Disney animation in particular, and trying to question
(14:13):
them or or invert them. Ah, interestingly to me, the
voice actor who plays Stephen was only a couple of
years older than the character when the series started, like
maybe fifteen or sixteen, and so the show really uh,
let's the character and the actor and the audience all
(14:36):
sort of grow up together. Yeah, yeah, Um, one of
my best friends younger brothers, he told me that fact. Um,
and he writes uh, Stephen Universe fan fiction, which I
find incredibly adorable and also, I saver would have guessed.
(14:58):
He's just not the type, and so I love that.
I love that the show is kind of about like
not judging, are assuming based on type or like questioning stereotypes.
And when he told me that, I was like, Oh,
that makes me so happy, that makes happy. Yeah, goodness. Well, uh,
(15:23):
what about the news dream? Uh Yeah, normally this is
where I say don't eat media franchises, but but I'm
going to go ahead and say, you do you, you
do you, on this one. You make you make your
own decision. Uh, make you know you, you work on it.
You work on it with yourself. Yes, yeah, just like
(15:45):
Stephen and it's friends. Yes, we do have some numbers
for you. A few. Yeah, as of when, when future
was airing, the series had in a hundred and eighty
seven countries, with an average audience of a million viewers
(16:05):
per episode. It has of one percent critic rating on
rotten tomatoes. Yes, it does, which makes me so happy.
It's been nominated for about thirty six awards across the
(16:25):
industry as an overall series and also in various categories
for its art and sound and vocals. Uh. It won
eight of those awards including, Um but not limited to,
a James Tiptree Jr Honor List Award for Rebecca Sugar,
which is an award for for speculative fiction that explores gender. Um,
an award for best vocal ensemble from behind the voice
(16:48):
actor awards, and a Bang peabody for youth programming. Yeah, yeah, Um.
And then bringing it back to food, over on the
Tumbler as all right, and I don't know why I
put the if I was trying to be ironic or not,
I can't remember. Um, user love takes work, created every
(17:10):
recipe from the show and it's excellent. Oh, it's so good. Okay, like, like,
I didn't I didn't double check, but I counted. Uh,
I counted through a real quick and counted seventy nine recipes. Um.
And yes, this is a fabulously fun project with a
really hilarious list of caveats, Um, including like, okay, I'm
(17:33):
not going to do recipes about, about stuff if it's
only mentioned and not pictured. I'm not going to do
recipes if it's pictured in the background and not featured.
I'm not going to do recipes if it's like a
non food item that some monster eats or amethyst eats
because it's furniture. Uh, not putting together recipes for those seventy,
(17:54):
seventy nine recipes, which is, I think, conservative, extremely conservative. Yeah, Oh, yeah, because, yeah,
going through, we do have a list of some of
the big food and drink items in here and we
had to limit we had to limit ourselves. Yeah, it
could have gone on a lot longer, and it's they're
(18:15):
like people are eating and I cannot remember an episode
where food doesn't come up in some way. MM HMMM.
So we're going to get into some of those examples,
but first we're going to take a quickbreak for a
word Ormor, sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor. Yes,
(18:38):
thank you so. Yes, like with many things we talked
about in these fictional food segments episodes, um, many of
these foods and drinks are our variations of them exist
in our real world. So you can tell, like, what
the inspiration was, what the idea was behind said food
or drink item. A lot of the branded objects in
(19:00):
the show in particular have similar packaging to a real
world product, like a generic margarine in a yellow tub. Yeah, yeah,
lots of lots of examples of that in there. Yes,
for example, one of my favorites is something called beast,
which is a can. It's a brand of canned beverage
(19:24):
similar in appearance to monster energy drinks. Uh. And then
one of my favorites chops, chops, exit chops. It's got
a lot of a's in it, everybody. Um, this is
a brand of potato chips debuted in the episode Monster
(19:46):
Buddies when Steven feeds them to neph right, and I'm
not going to explain any of this again. I love
the idea of people just listening confused. Yeah, let's just
just go with that. Anytime, anytime that you hear the
name of a rock, you're talking about some kind of
Uh Anima, like like Uh sentient creature. Yeah, and you're
(20:08):
just gonna have to watch the show to learn anything
else than that. Yeah, yeah, but yes, uh, Stephen later
uses these chips in a later episode to Jog Nif
writes memory of him. Remember when I fed you those
potato Um, they do have a couple of flavors, like
a maximum B B Q and cheese with a Z.
(20:32):
and yeah, they are featured in several episodes, many, many episodes,
especially in the background. Yes, and then there are cheese balls,
which is a brand of cheese puffs sold in canisters.
That they also pop up in a lot of episodes,
including fusion cuisine, which is one of those episodes as
a lot to do with food. Um, when Steven uses
(20:54):
them to decorate a cake, which is also a recurring
theme of like salty snacks on sweet items, which I
read like a couple of people were like, yeah, I'm
very similar to a child's palate, but I was kind
of like yes, but let's be real, a lot was
do that and enjoyed that as adults? Yes, similar to
a child's Palet. I will I will allow persimilar to
(21:16):
a child's experimentation, at any rate, because Stephen does do
a lot of experimenting with with foods. Yes, which. Speaking
of this is a big one that popped up a
lot together. Breakfast, and this was the name of the
fourth episode of Season One, so very early on, and
was also the name of a breakfast that Stephen Attempts
(21:39):
to make to share with everybody. And here's a quote
I wanted to include to the voices, but Oh, that's
all right, cool. So this is Stephen. Everyone's out. Guess
I'm making us breakfast. Pearl Garnet, amethyst. Is Anyone home? One, two, three,
rap in, I guess they're all still out saving the world.
Look at you, you're out of control. Pearl Garnet, it's done.
(22:01):
That thing's too good for me to eat alone. It's
a together breakfast. Garnet perfect. Check it out. It's not
exactly healthy, but it's in a stack, so I guess
you could say it's a balanced breakfast, you know, like
I made it all breakfast. I thought we could eat
together like like best buds. Then Garnet says, I can't today.
(22:22):
There's business to attend to inside the tempole. The whole
episode is just him trying to get them all together
to eat this breakfast. Yeah, yeah, it's cute. Um. So
this also shows up in a handful of other episodes
and serves as Garnet's wedding cake, which is honorable. Um, and,
(22:44):
and there's a strawberry on top in the regular one,
but in this episode it's replaced by these like little
figurines of Ruby and Sapphire, where the two getting married, yeah,
or refusing, as the case maybe. Yeah, yes, yes, so,
based on the image from this episode and Fan Created Recipes,
what Stephen makes is essentially a stack of waffles or pancakes? No,
(23:09):
it's it's definitely waffles. Yeah, okay, some of the recipes
had had pancakes, but that might be a preference thing.
So okay, waffles smothered in chocolate sauce or maybe maple syrup.
It looked like chocolate Saus to me, but everybody seemed
to agree with Maple Syrup. So all right, topped with
a healthy swirl of whipped cream, topped with a strawberry
and finished with popcorn. Begin with the salty sweet kind
(23:32):
of time. I mean sounds good. Oh goodness. Oh yeah,
one bite, though, I think I'd be done, but it
would be delicious. Also, continuing along with traditionally breakfast items,
there is the Bagel Sandwich, first seen in the episode
cheeseburger backpack, obviously, Um, and it pops up in a
(23:56):
few episodes after that as well. It appears to be
a sunny side up fried egg, a slice of cheese
and Turkey Bacon, or perhaps salmon, or perhaps Canadian Bacon. Okay, yeah,
sandwich between a split Bagel. Oh, yeah, yeah, and binging
with Babish. Uh. Did did a recipe for this one? Um,
(24:19):
you can. You can look that up if you'd like to. Uh,
speaking of breakfast foods, there, okay, there's a TV series
within the series Um called crying breakfast friends, and these
are like semi anthropomorphic breakfast foods that cry a lot, Um,
(24:42):
out of sadness and out of joy. Oh, I don't
remember that. That's great. Yeah, yeah, it's a show that
Stephen is watching kind of a lot and like no
one else gets it, but but they're all willing to
watch it with them, Um, and I think that actually
it's it's a metaphor for Stephen Universe itself. That makes sense.
(25:06):
That makes sense. Like why are they crying again anyway? Um,
there are. There are other fictional brands in there though, too, yes,
including Gua Cola Um, which is an avocado soda that
was handed out to attendees of a show by sour
(25:27):
cream djs. Uh, done by sour cream DJ in the
episode drop beat Dad, which is a great episode title.
Drop beat Dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's pretty funny. Um.
The packaging claims that it has the nutritional equivalent of
three Avocados and, like Avocados, it has a bit of
(25:49):
a mushy consistency, so almost everyone pours it out because
they think it's cross. It is later revealed to be
banned in seventeen state and facing at least a one lawsuit,
which I love. Oh Heck. MM HMMM. And then a
(26:10):
few random things. There's also drink up, which is like
seven up, and dirry and juice that comes in a
in a juice box. Frequently featured dry and juice Um. Also,
a tomato soup in a juice box shows up at
one point. MM HMMM. And then there's something called cookie cuts, yes, yes, yes,
(26:32):
so cookie cats are ice cream sandwiches in the shape
of a cat's head. Um. So it's two chocolate cookies
with hash strawberry and half vanilla ice cream sandwich between them. Um.
These first showed up in the episode Jim Glow and
are Stephen's favorite item at the big donut and yeah,
this is basically a donut based snack and drink store
(26:54):
that is frequented often. Um, but over the course of
that episode, these cook cats were being replaced by a
rival product line, liquors. Yeah, and this is, by the way,
the first episode. This is the drama, the drama of
Stephen Not Being able to get his beloved cookie cats,
(27:18):
is the first scene of the first episode. It's important.
This is where it starts, and cookie cats do keep
showing up throughout the series, either his food, so like
Steven's birthday cake is in the shape of a cookie cat, Um,
and one of the seasons, and he later makes his
own cookie cats for the gym's or in merchandise, like
(27:43):
his cookie cat shaped alarm clock, which I think he
has too. I think we see two different ones, and
also cookie cat shaped walkie talkies. Um. So, yes, their mascot,
cookie cat is on the pink pack Jing. It's pretty
eye catching. The packaging Um and the half and half
(28:04):
nature of the ice cream is reflected on cookie cats features.
So like the eye. One of his eyes is like White,
one is pink for the in the strawberry, you know. UH, yeah,
in one episode Stephen Dreams that cookie cat goes evil
and uses a spaceship to kill him. It sounds like
a dream, I would have to be honest. Dear Heck Um. So,
(28:32):
according to the Crystal Gym's they went around stealing a
bunch in this episode for him, for Stephen, but Pearl
admits that she went back and paid for all of
the cookie cans stolen. Um. However, Stephen eats all of
these cookie cats to get the energy to summon a
(28:52):
shield to save the gym's Um. So yeah, at the
beginning of the episode, eating a sandwich and singing the
themes song of this of this mascot, of this item, uh,
seemed to activate his Jim but in the end it
was a jastic coincidence. But he thought like Oh, if
I eat them, I'll get all this power. Um. Of Note.
(29:15):
One of the song lyrics references that cookie cat is
a refugee of an interstellar war. Oh, yes, similar to
the gym's maybe Um, in the Stephen Universe Video Game
Jim bound, cookie cats restore Stephen's energy and they restore
harmony in the liked series of the gym. So, like
(29:35):
you eat them and you get like this energy like harmony,
which I love. All right. Yeah, and then, in a
promotion for New York Comic Con, the fantasy food truck
sold cookie cats, among other things. But cookie cats. That's
that's very cute. That's real good. Yes, you can still
(29:56):
find the menu online. Is Pretty Great. uh, but I
suppose we should talk about the competitor line liquor shrim
in it. Um. Stephen obviously not a fan playing. They
didn't look like lions. Uh. They are sort of like
ice cream popsicles. They're shaped lion ish. Remind me of
(30:18):
like those snoopy ice cream things I used to get
as a kid, but very totally like like a good
humor truck looking thing, right, exactly. Um, and they're yeah,
they're made with this yellow ice cream. However, upon melting,
they do take on a bit of a creepy a
bit of a creepy vibe. I must say. Yeah, and
I will say that there there is, Um, there is
(30:41):
a bit of a creepy vibe sprinkled throughout this series
like like like powdered sugar on a doughnut. Um. And Yeah, yeah,
the series really does does play with genre, Um, kind
of bouncing around from from comedy to horror to action
to everything else. Yeah, yeah, it's so much drama. Heck, yeah,
(31:05):
like punch you in the hard trauma. Oh my God, Um,
I know, we love it. It's great. Also, I'm pretty
sure the lion liquor mascot had his own kind of
sad story arc himself. So, you know, it's there's something
for everybody. There's also Colonel Colonel's classic creamed cord which
(31:30):
by name alone I had to include. Um. But yeah,
it's a can of creamed corn with this mascot Colonel Colonel,
saying in a speech bubble it's cream tastic. Yeah, I
mean that's great, right, all right, Oh, speaking of this one,
(31:52):
oh my gosh, clams, peanut butter and a side of
cut grass. Yeah, yeah, that's a dish. You heard it correctly.
This dish only appeared in one episode two, when an
unaligned character named Bluebird, as you're right, makes it to
impress Stephen, and Stephen, Being Stephen, eats it at Bluebird's request. Um.
(32:16):
As pointed out on the Fan Wiki, all of these
foods are known allergens, which, yeah, I didn't pick up
on either, but she's definitely trying to kill him. So attracts,
so attracts. Yeah, I love it, I love it, Um.
Then there's the dog nut, which is an item sold
(32:37):
at the big donut and it is a hot dog
that is placed through the holes of three frosted doughnuts
and then that is all topped with some mustard dognut. Yep, yeah,
that's something I can see in our real world for sure.
I am positive if someone has done this and done
it gloriously. Yep, uh. And then there are fire salts. Okay,
(33:04):
so fire salt is this mysterious magical seasoning. No one
seems to be too sure what's in it. Um. To
me it seems sort of like itching powder and that
it's used in these pranks in the episode, joking victim
or like maybe like hot peppery spice, like the equivalent
(33:25):
of putting that on someone's food unexpectedly or something they
don't know, because it causes this burning sensation. Like literally,
when one character ate an entire two of this Shimmery
red salt, he breathes fire and he had to stick
his head in a tub of ice cream to try
to cool himself down. Yeah, yeah, like you do. Um. Yeah,
(33:48):
and that's right. Like. So that's where, yeah, some of
the weird magic kind of stuff comes in. Um. Another
example of that is in the watermelon Stevens. Um. Okay,
so one of of Steven's gem based powers is that
his spit is like kind of magical. Um. So during
this one episode he accidentally creates a patch of watermelons
(34:12):
and then an army of watermelons that are Stephen Shaped.
After he like spits a whole barrage of seeds around
and then leaves them overnight. Yes, he winds up eating one. Yeah,
and throughout the series a few other vegetables also become
sentient or semi sentient. MM HMM, obviously. Uh. And then
(34:35):
we have to talk about some fries. Oh goodness, we do,
because we have a couple of French fry dishes. Yeah, yeah,
as we mentioned earlier, a fry shop is one of
these small businesses in beach city. It is run by
the Freeman family, and one thing Stephen Orders. There are
these things called fry bits, which are presumably the smaller
(34:55):
leftover bits of fries. Um. They are usually free, but
we see even offering to purchase them. UH, Huh. Um.
It also turns out that Mr Freeman is in this
like long running feud or or uneasy piece with neighboring
restaurant fish stu pizza. In one episode that piece is broken.
(35:17):
The FRY shop offers pizza BITs, the pizza shop offers fries. Uh.
Their their kids and Steven have to broker a renewed
treaty which which involves the creation of of a couple
of really stunning, stunningly beautiful dishes, Um, including the pizza
(35:37):
that's served on a Bagel, uh, which which allows you
to have pizza any time, dude, and also fantastic fries,
which are like sort of these fancy fries filled with ketchup. Yeah,
so there you go. Oh, and speaking of Ketchup, there's
(35:59):
a brand on the show call hines H Y in
e S, which is named after the show's lead character, designer,
Danny hines. Yeah, and this character named Garbonzo, which is
fun fakes fakes his own death with hines in the
episode onion gang, obviously using it as like a blood yeah, yeah, yeah,
(36:24):
there's a there's at least a couple instances of using
ketchup as like a fake blood substitute. I know that
sadie Miller in her sadie killer face also uses some
ketchup blood effects. Yeah, yeah, Um, and then, I guess,
a low key. Speaking of Sadie, I wanted to talk
about the UBE roll cake because this is this is
(36:47):
one of the uh no pun intended, sweetest, sweetest food
moments on the show that I remember. Um, is when
one of the townspeople named Lars Um, who starts out
working in the in the doughnut shop, it turns out
that he loves baking. He's not just working there because
it's a it's a job. Um, like he bakes a
(37:08):
Pumpkin cake shaped like a Pumpkin, Um, and an UBE roll,
like a sponge cake made with UBE, which is a
sweet purple Yam spread with cream filling and then shaped
into a log like roll, like a like a U
A log. Yeah, Um. And and it really goes into
Lars's feelings about this recipe, which is a family recipe
and about baking, because he's really self critical and he's
(37:30):
afraid that him liking baking will make him seem uncool.
And Uh, it's something that he really struggles with, even
though Stephen and and the aforementioned sadie, who's Lar's co worker,
both like really encourage him and say that he's great
at it, but he's, you know, he's kind of just
still working through it. Yeah, you know, just like all
(37:52):
of us, just like all of us. Oh Yeah, well,
clearly we highly recommend it. I I really I really
hope that that we described that, that that we gave
you enough to understand vaguely what we were talking about
at all. Right, yeah, I mean it's one of those things.
(38:16):
It's really once you watch it, I don't think there's
no difficulty picking it up. Oh No, oh no, no, no,
it's not describing it. Yeah, it's not like a challenging
no show to watch. Um, it's very light and fluffy,
but except for all those gut punches were talking about,
but generally the overall vibe is like Oh yeah, yeah,
(38:39):
so we recommend it. And there I mean we, like
we said, we limited ourselves. So if there's anything. We
didn't talk about that. You want us and talk about that?
US know if you have any recipes, if you've done
any parties and made these recipes. Oh Yeah, definitely, let
us know. Oh, and I and I did want to
put in here, I forgot to write in a note
into the outline, but okay. So the crew on Stephen
(39:03):
Universe had, while the series was airing, a Tumblr blog
called the crewniverse, Um, and they would have like little
like like like get togethers for when? When? When all
the episodes came out, and and they would frequently make
either dishes from the show or or like artistic interpretations
(39:29):
of the characters in Rice crispy tweet form or what
have you. Um, really really lovely stuff from a bunch
of really creative, deeply weird people. Uh, that just it's
so delightful. Um, genuinely recommend checking out the crewniverse blog
and also the other one, the one with all the recipes.
(39:50):
Love takes work. Yeah, yes, and you know, we did
it in Bob's Burgers and it was a very fun time.
If you want to write in and let us know
character you think we are. Oh goodness, yeah, I'm what
character you are? It would also be great. Please do. Goodness. Okay, right,
(40:11):
we do have some listener mail for you ready right now, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
award from our sponsors and we're back. Thank you, sponsor. Yes,
thank you, and we're back with just listener. I do
(40:42):
get there's a song that I want an award didn't it?
There's a like well known song that's in it in
the series and it gets stuck in my head all
the time, totally randomly. But there's no way we could
have done it. It's like when there's like fusing together.
It's got that like Oh, yeah, yeah, now, I think
(41:03):
I think I know which one you're talking about. Um,
but there's there's a bunch of there's a bunch of
really good songs in it. I that definitely when cody
and I are down, like we'll just kind of like
put on songs from it and like shout along pretty
off key, which is yeah, it's good, it's really good,
so good. Ah Um. Kirsten wrote. Being Gluten free living
(41:28):
in Miami, Rapas have become a beloved dietary staple of mine.
I was introduced to Venezuelan stylad rapis first through popular
food trucks and an awesome local place called Doggies, which
has the iconic yellow packages of how do you depen,
stacked on open shelves around the restaurant as part of
the decor. Uh. My favorite fillings for a loaded Venezuelan
RIPA AR ques of Demano, black beans, sweet plantains and Avocado.
(41:52):
You guys were not kidding about the cravings and juice
from the episode. Um, I've also I'm to learn about
some of the regional differences in popular types of Columbian arepas.
I worked for a Columbian owned company and I have
traveled to madeline or perhaps met a chin. I hope
I didn't totally mess ut up for a work where
(42:13):
I was delighted to find a little etre pizza about
the size of an Oreo, served with pretty much every
plate at every meal. They also have an amazing breakfast
specialty called AREPA to Chocolo Conqueeso, a sweet corn arepa
made with a mix of corn meal and blended whole
sweet corn Kernels, served with tons of delicious salty cheese.
(42:34):
Both of these are popular and Paisa regional cuisine in
the mountainous interior of the country. On a separate trip
to Columbia, my husband and I went to Cartagena, which
is on the Caribbean coast and had a totally different
culinary scene. The AREPA de Juevo that you mentioned in
the episode is the local specialty in Cartagena. They were everywhere,
from street vendors serving them up late night outside of
(42:56):
bars to the breakfast menus at high end historic hotels.
Kartagena is an amazing food city, so much fresh seafood
and tropical fruit. But I digress. Anyways, I've included pictures
of some favorite arepas and now I have to go
make some for lunch. Jealous, so jealous of all of it. Yes,
(43:17):
all of that sounds so good. I have not gotten
in an AP since we did that episode, but I
want one of every single one of these things. Oh
my Gosh, oh my gosh. Heck, I'm hungry now, Um,
but thank thank you. Yes, yes, pictures, we we we
(43:38):
asked and you answered. You did, indeed, you did. Indeed,
you've opened my mind to some options and also, I
apologize if I was stumbling through the Spanish, but you know,
the old savor try. Yeah, Heck Um, speaking of old
savor tries on pronunciation. Okay, uh. Hannah wrote. I'm from
(44:01):
the US, but I'm currently a Master's student in Germany,
so when I heard your non alcoholic beer episode from
a couple of months ago, I wanted to chime in.
Non Alcoholic or alcohol free beer is pretty popular in Germany,
to the point where they were the main sponsor of
the triathlon I participated in this summer. Good for you.
Beer brands are also pretty regional here. When I lived
(44:24):
in Hamburg, Astra Astra is one of the big local
brands and they're known for their crazy ad campaigns. I
thought this particular billboard I saw was worth sharing. It's
for a Non Alcoholic Beer with pomegranate juice and caffeine,
for when you want an energy drink but also want
the taste of beer. The article that pictures from says
(44:45):
that the drink has guarana in it, which is supposedly
an Afro dz. They say in parentheses. I can only
hear that word in Lauren's voice now, usually usually Annie,
but but both of us. Yes, yes, so the man
stripping and the photo is supposed to be an afrod dieter.
(45:09):
There you go. Yeah, they have plenty of other strange
ad campaigns if you want to check them out. As
a side note, I just listened to your cloud Berry episode.
A last semester I had a field course on the
wetlands of northern Germany and I gave your presentation on
the plants found in peat bogs. It was a short
presentation so I didn't do too much research into cloud
Berry's specifically, but now I know we would have been
(45:32):
super lucky to see them out in the field. But
we did come across Sun Do, which is a carnivorous plant,
so that was pretty exciting too. Yeah, Oh, I love
a carnivorous plant. So is such an innocuous name for
it too. Right. Yeah, oh, that's so good. Oh, that's wonderful,
(45:59):
and thank you for writing in about about beer culture,
and especially non alcoholic beer culture over in Germany. Yes,
the Ad Campaign in question is quite striking. The man
is wearing kind of a wrestler's outfit and a blue
bow tie, ripping his shirt open, and it's for Beer,
(46:22):
non alcoholic beer. So yeah, I am but right, it's
it's it's in a very like like like eighties hair
metal kind of vibe. It is yes, yes, it is.
Um We're seeking out, we're steeking out. I think Um
as ore cloud berries, which I love. How many of
you have written in and said like, I didn't realize
(46:43):
they were such a big deal and I almost have them,
or did have them and didn't realize one day. Lauren, yeah, okay,
I think so. Yes, I know. So that's what I say,
but in the meantime, thanks to both of these listeners
(47:03):
for writing to us. If you would like to write
to us, you can. Our email is hello at savorpod
dot com. We're also on social media. You can find
us on twitter, facebook and Instagram at Sabre pod, and
we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production
of I heart radio. For more podcasts my heart radio,
you can visit the I heart radio APP, apple podcasts
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks, as always,
(47:25):
to our superproducers, Dylan Fagin and Andrew Howard. Thanks to
you for listening and we hope that lots more good
things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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