Podcast reviews: It's the season for sight, taste and smell, and these listens should whet your appetite
Festival organisers are now dusting off marquees and portable show kitchens, ahead of the four-day Taste of Dublin opening on Thursday in Merrion Square. Sharon Noonan of Best Possible Taste (Apple Spotify) recently talked shop with the event's marketing pro Nina Massey to discuss how Taste of Dublin has changed over 20 years, reflecting Ireland's ever-changing palate.
And Noonan sure knows her onions: Best Possible Taste is Ireland's longest running food and drinks audio show, premiering on West Limerick 102FM in 2013. Its USP is interview with food and drinks producers and purveyors across the island, such as recent guests Eunice Power (Waterford chef and firebrand), Kian Louet-Feisser (successor of the family-run Carlingford Oyster Company) and Max Jones (West Cork-based traditional food conservationist and polymath).
Chef Neven Maguire said of Noonan on the 10th anniversary of the series: 'Putting producers' names out there on a podcast like Sharon's and allowing them to share their stories is truly powerful and inspiring.'
Smell is the most sneakiest of senses, triggering a long-forgotten memory without word or warning. Freshly baked bread, cut grass and the seaside commonly top lists of our favourite scents, but fragrance is so much more personalised when it comes to nostalgic recall.
Smell Ya Later (Apple Spotify) is bright and breezy, but don't be fooled by each episode's introductory smalltalk – once co-hosts Sable Yong and Tynan Sinks get going (and, boy, do they take their sweet time), they take their subject seriously, chatting with the likes of Marie du Petit Thouars and Matt Bergson, founders of Maison Louis Marie, as well as hearing how AI is being applied in the fragrance world, learning from Christophe Laudamiel of Google spin-off Osmo.
You don't have to even visit London's National Gallery to be enthralled by its new podcast Stories in Colour (Apple Spotify), which journeys through the trends and tech that have coloured our world. It's hosted by the NG's Beks Leary who chats with historians, curators, scientists and artists to discuss how humanity has harnessed and made sense of colour, such as the discovery of Prussian blue, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's deadly Yellow Wallpaper. The series kicks off vividly with Professor Anya Hurlbert exploring visual perception, such as 2015's viral dress debate (blue and black, or white and gold?).
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