Dan Pashman Does Not Like Pumpkin Spice

Dan Pashman, the creator and host of WNYC podcast “The Sporkful,” is an eater, not a foodie. His mission is to get his listeners to eat more, better. Pashman, along with his guests, dissect the culinary quirks, cravings and traditions of eaters from around the world with an eye toward perfection.

The Tufts University alumnus will host a live show in partnership with the Tufts Hillel at his alma mater in Somerville, MA on Tuesday, October 20 at 7:30pm. The event is open to the public.

Boston is such a big college town. What was your impression of college food in New England when you were a student at Tufts?

I always thought the food at Tufts was actually pretty good. Granted my tastes have changed over the years. I love dining halls. Yes, some of the food can be a little greasy and gross, but I like the fact that you [can] view this giant smorgasbord as a sort of palette of ingredients. If you go into a dining hall and don’t come away with something that’s pretty delicious, it might mean you’re not trying hard enough.

Were there any particular dishes you remember either assembling yourself or that they made in the dining hall?

I remember one time I tried to make a fluffernutter sandwich. I was rushing and I got confused; it wasn’t until I sat down and bit into my sandwich that I realized I had mistaken the sour cream for marshmallow fluff. So I had a peanut butter and sour cream sandwich. Now that I think about it, that could actually be pretty good, but back then, especially when you’re expecting fluff, sour cream is gross.

It wasn’t until I moved to Boston for college that I discovered calzones, particularly the buffalo chicken calzone. Is the buffalo chicken calzone a New England thing?

Calzones are very different in New England than they are in New York. In New York, a calzone is much thinner and smaller and it often has ricotta cheese on the inside. They don’t put tons of stuff in there. In Boston, it’s more like a pizza folded in half. I personally kind of prefer the Boston version. If there’s one food that I really remember [from college], it’s the local pizza place that might have closed down. It’s called Espresso’s. Their chicken parm calzone was amazing.

Do you think there’s a way that college students should be trying to eat better? Should they not even bother because their metabolisms are robust?

Enjoy it while you’re young. There’s going to be a time when you can’t eat that stuff. That being said, if it makes you happier to eat healthier, then eat healthier. But, you will get to a point in your life when eating a whole chicken parm calzone will make you feel very bad, physically and emotionally.

How do you think that the college dining hall experience could improve?

What I would rather see are better cooking facilities in the dorms. You have a dorm with hundreds of students and there’s one stove. I hear [this] from students around the country. I understand a lot of students don’t want to cook, but if colleges created a nicer kitchen space that was more accessible and there were more of them in a building, then I think the students would be encouraged to cook.

In your podcast and web series, “You’re Eating It Wrong,” you dissect the ways in which we could be approaching the way we eat in better and more strategic ways. What quintessential New England foods are we eating wrong?

Fried clams. Clams strips are an abomination. They’re just bits of fried [stuff]. You’re not eating clams if you’re eating clam strips.

So what you’re saying is that we should be eating whole belly clams.

Only eat whole belly clams. And I understand that they’re not for everyone and that’s okay. But don’t eat clam strips and convince yourself you’re eating clams. It really upsets me. It's very hard to find fried clams in New England with really big bellies, but either eat whole belly clams or eat some other fried fish.

Speaking of clams, there are three chowders that I’m aware of: New England, Manhattan and Rhode Island. Do you have any thoughts on which chowder is superior?

I prefer New England clam chowder of the chowders. Ideally, you want your oyster crackers to be a little crispy, but a little bit soggy. So what I do is, I put half the bag of oyster crackers in, dunk them, stir them around a bit, let them sit. Then I start eating and when I’m halfway done I add the other half of the bag of oyster crackers and mix those in. The perfect bite of New England clam chowder will have the creamy broth, a piece of clam, a piece of potato and a slightly crispy oyster cracker. If you can get all of that in the same bite, that’s nirvana right there.

There are a lot of opinions about the ideal lobster roll. Cold with mayo or hot with butter? Is there a perfect lobster roll?

I don’t know that there’s a right or wrong. If you’re eating the hot lobster roll with butter, then you’re really just eating regular lobster on a bun. The only difference is that they put it on a hot dog bun. That’s fine, but what are you adding? Why is putting that on a bun better than just having a lobster with drawn butter? I’m not convinced that it’s better. But to me, the lobster roll with mayo is a unity. You have mayo on the lobster, the buttery salty flavor that’s coming from the top sliced bun. So in the mayo-based lobster roll, the bun is adding something you can’t get with plain lobster salad. Whereas with the hot buttered lobster roll, I’m not convinced that the bun is doing anything special.

If the bun is not griddled in butter, forget it. That’s an F-minus. And don’t skimp on the lobster, people. I’d rather pay $22 for a lobster roll that has a ridiculous amount of huge chunks of lobster meat in it, than pay $17 for a crummy lobster roll that’s half empty.

It’s starting to get cold out. What is your ultimate comfort food?

I would say matzah ball soup. Chicken soup is a classic comfort food. It’s hot, it’s salty, it’s rich with without being heavy. Matzah balls are a perfectly engineered broth delivery system. I love their texture, I love their flavor, I love that they soak up the broth. I like to take the spoon and slice the matzah ball in half and then spoon the broth on top of the matzah ball so it’s fully saturated.

Have we reached peak pumpkin spice?

Oh god. Last year was peak pumpkin spice. This year the backlash is really coming out in full force. Although the memo clearly has not gotten to the major food corporations of the country. It’s just awful. I was just thinking the other day that if I had a restaurant, I would declare it a pumpkin spice free zone in the month of October and that would be my marketing ploy. Come to my restaurant, where nothing pumpkin related will be served the entire month. Maybe I would only use pumpkin spice in the toilets. I would scent the toilet water with pumpkin spice. Like, this is where this garbage belongs.

This interview has been edited and condensed by Emily Balk.