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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: I'm any Recent and I'm Lauren vocal Bum and today

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Speaker 2: we have an episode for you about conveyor belt sushi.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and wow, wow are there a lot of avenues

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Speaker 1: to go down with this one?

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Speaker 2: Uh huh Yeah, I really had to streamline. I think

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Speaker 2: there could be a bunch of weird little spinoffs.

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Speaker 1: I think so too. I think so too. Fascinating topic

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Speaker 1: And was there any reason it was on your mind? Lauren?

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Speaker 2: Nope, all right, I think it had during some prior

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Speaker 2: searching of like restaurant types and technologies I had run across.

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Speaker 2: I was like, oh, yeah, what's that about. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: here we are, here we are, and there.

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Speaker 1: Is some really cool technology. I got kind of lost

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Speaker 1: in rabbit hole reading about that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I regret today that we are not

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Speaker 2: tech stuff and that I did not allot myself an

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Speaker 2: extra week to read about all of this.

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Speaker 1: Yes, but fortunately there are other pieces of media you

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Speaker 1: can find that have really delved in about how this

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Speaker 1: whole thing works, and it is honestly very interesting. I've

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Speaker 1: had good times at these types of restaurants. I have

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Speaker 1: a friend who likes to go on her birthday and

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Speaker 1: that's always fun. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, they're just kind

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Speaker 1: of fun.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I've actually never been to one, I know, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it seems like absolutely the thing that I would be

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Speaker 2: up to. I think the one around Atlanta that I'm

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Speaker 2: most aware of is right next to like my favorite

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Speaker 2: Iszikaya in Atlanta's, so I always just go to show you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that. Uh, they

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Speaker 1: are they are fun, They're they're they're good old time

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Speaker 1: just seeing what comes out. As I've discussed before, like

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Speaker 1: that's one of my favorite things about dim sum is I.

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Speaker 2: Like, oh yeah, kind of like random selection.

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Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, I see the food and I didn't know

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Speaker 1: I wanted it, and now you need it.

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Speaker 2: Weich.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of past episodes, you can see automats, southern cafeteria

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Speaker 1: style dining, and dim sum.

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Speaker 2: I would say buffets maybe, sure, yeah yeah, But I

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Speaker 2: guess this brings us to our question.

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Speaker 1: Sure, all right, conveyor belt sushi, what is it?

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Speaker 2: Well, conveyor belt sushi is a type of restaurant service

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Speaker 2: that serves sushi and other dishes with some degree of automation,

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Speaker 2: which will include delivery of food to the customer's table.

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Speaker 2: Via a conveyor belt that winds through the dining room

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Speaker 2: at more or less table height. This confunction in a

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Speaker 2: bunch of different ways, but the sort of classic is

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Speaker 2: that you're seated in a restaurant dining room at a

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Speaker 2: table or a bar that sidles up to the conveying mechanism,

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Speaker 2: and as dishes go by on this contraption, you take

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Speaker 2: them off as desired, and when you're finished, you turn

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Speaker 2: in your plates to either a human person or an

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Speaker 2: automated collection system, and your total cost is tallied based

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Speaker 2: on some indication on the plates, be that like the

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Speaker 2: color of the plate, or a barcode, or like RFID chip,

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Speaker 2: or whatever it is that it is. Some restaurants also

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Speaker 2: have self served drinks like Hot Green Tea that operate

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Speaker 2: on similar concepts. Different restaurants may have ways of ordering

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Speaker 2: specific dishes and drinks, either from a human or a

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Speaker 2: touch screen at your seat or somewhere elsewhere in this

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Speaker 2: and then that item will be sent directly to you

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Speaker 2: via human or conveyor belt or free roving robot. I

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Speaker 2: don't know. The kitchen might be in the center of

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Speaker 2: one of the conveyor belt loops, like in the middle

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Speaker 2: of the dining room, or it might be hidden in

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Speaker 2: the back. The vibe in the food can vary, but

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Speaker 2: it is often meant to be like an inexpensive, fast

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Speaker 2: casual dining experience with an efficient sort of feel and

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Speaker 2: with fairly standard sushi varieties served a few pieces at

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Speaker 2: a time, plus like appetizers or sides like soup or

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Speaker 2: noodles or dumplings or some kind of veg plus a

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Speaker 2: few desserts. Though of course, places might serve fancier dishes

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Speaker 2: or incorporate different cuisines based on the whims and or.

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Speaker 3: Savvy of the staff.

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Speaker 2: The whole thing is, Yeah, it's like fun, Like it's

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Speaker 2: a fun visual stick. It can be nice if you

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Speaker 2: don't want that much human interaction or if you're in

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Speaker 2: a hurry. It's like being inside a toy prize machine.

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Speaker 2: But every prize is food, the best prize, so right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of often proprietary technology involved in these things,

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Speaker 2: and again this is not tech stuff, but but very basically,

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Speaker 2: there are a few different types of conveyor that you

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Speaker 2: might encounter, so okay. A classic belt conveyor is a

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Speaker 2: device where where a motor turns a pulley or a

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Speaker 2: roller that's connected to a second roller or a pulley

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Speaker 2: with this taut closed loop of material and that's that's

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Speaker 2: your belt. Yeah, so when the motor turns the roller,

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Speaker 2: it pulls the belt around in its loop. You've seen

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Speaker 2: this at a supermarket checkout lane or at a baggage

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Speaker 2: claim at an airport. And if you've ever been at

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Speaker 2: a baggage claim that has not like a flat rubber surface,

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Speaker 2: but rather a surface made of interconnected panels or plates

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Speaker 2: that can fan over each other around corners, that's usually

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Speaker 2: the type that we're talking about. In sushi restaurant situations,

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Speaker 2: the individual dishes of food can be carried around via

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Speaker 2: just direct contact with the belt, you know, like friction,

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Speaker 2: or if it's a bit fancier, by magnets under the

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Speaker 2: belt that loosely attached to a magnet on the interior

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Speaker 2: of the plate.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: There's also a train style track that some restaurants use,

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Speaker 2: which again vary. Basically is just a programmable electric mini

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Speaker 2: trainset with like stops at every table or seat around

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Speaker 2: the bar so that the customer can order a particular

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Speaker 2: dish or drink and you can send it straight to them,

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Speaker 2: or like a trainset. You can just set that thing

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Speaker 2: to go around on loop. Yeah, adorable. The tracks and

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Speaker 2: trays can be variably fancy, with like lighting installed above them,

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Speaker 2: sneeze guards, all kinds of different design elements, Like do

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Speaker 2: you want to theme everything like monorails, You can do that.

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Speaker 2: Do you want to theme it like wooden fishing boats

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Speaker 2: and have the track pulled through like a very small

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Speaker 2: lazy river, that's a thing. The dishware can also be

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Speaker 2: anything from like just a plate with some stuff on

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Speaker 2: it to a covered dish to plates with these kind

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Speaker 2: of like clear bubble tops, so it's a little bit

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Speaker 2: more sanitary, but it still lets you see the food

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Speaker 2: because temptation and presentation are absolutely part of this business model.

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Speaker 1: Oh yes, oh yes.

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Speaker 2: That food is traditionally like modern Japanese sushi or is

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Speaker 2: a kaya like like pub adjacent cuisine, though that ranges

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Speaker 2: pretty widely from like what people would expect around different

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Speaker 2: parts of Japan and the adaptations of those cuisines around

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Speaker 2: the world, But generally speaking, you might expect like single

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Speaker 2: or pairs of nagiri, which are small, oblong balls of

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Speaker 2: vinegar seasoned rice that are topped with like a pretty

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Speaker 2: little slice of usually some kind of protein, often raw

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Speaker 2: or cooked seafood, sometimes with other seasonings or sauces, or

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Speaker 2: like a little bit of solid kind of situation incorporated,

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Speaker 2: or maybe three to six pieces of a maki like

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Speaker 2: like a sushi roll, or maybe some single or pairs

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Speaker 2: of gunkan which are sort of like nagiri, but they

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Speaker 2: have got a sheet of seaweed around the perimeter, not

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Speaker 2: around the center, around the perimeter. Yeah, or a larger

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Speaker 2: hand roll, which is a cone of sheet seaweed with

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Speaker 2: fillings inside of it. Yeah. You might have some cold

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Speaker 2: sides up there, like pickles or small salads, or some

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Speaker 2: steamed and cooled veg. Maybe some hot sides like steamed

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Speaker 2: or fried dumplings, grilled proteins, fried proteins or veg, bowls

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Speaker 2: of noodles or soup or noodle soup, desserts like cut fruit,

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Speaker 2: small pastries, ice creams, mokey taiyaki see our taiyaki episode. Sure,

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Speaker 2: and each table or seat at the bar probably has

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Speaker 2: some basic condiments placed at it, but additional dish specific

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Speaker 2: sauces or dips might come out on each plate depending

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Speaker 2: on what it is. Yeah, and yeah, like some restaurants

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Speaker 2: will use that conveyor element as pretty much the only automation.

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Speaker 2: It'll otherwise look and operate a lot like any other

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Speaker 2: sushi bar. But some really lean into automation through those

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Speaker 2: table side touch screens for ordering, or technology that will

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Speaker 2: scan your plates and tally your order automatically as you

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Speaker 2: finish each plate and drop it in a receptacle. Some

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Speaker 2: places have like a little reward story that plays out

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Speaker 2: on your touch screen for every so many plates that

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Speaker 2: you finish. All right, yeah, yeah, And the automation isn't

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Speaker 2: just going on in the dining room necessarily, because in

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Speaker 2: order to perform volume automated kitchen gadgets like a nagery

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Speaker 2: rice ball maker or a maki maker might be used

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Speaker 2: back in the kitchen. And all of this does lead

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Speaker 2: to some friendly discussion about quantity versus quality and the

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Speaker 2: experience that you're looking for from sushi, and like the

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Speaker 2: respect that you have for the ingredients and the chefs

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Speaker 2: and the entire the entire thing. But I'm not really

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Speaker 2: here to discuss that that is that is a broader

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Speaker 2: topic that I would love to have experts in the

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Speaker 2: field speak about.

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Speaker 1: Yes, And it is once again something that you can

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Speaker 1: find plenty written about if you're interested. Oh yes, well

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Speaker 1: what about the nutrition.

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Speaker 3: Oh that depends on you.

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Speaker 1: This to choose your own adventure. Yeah. Yeah, well, I guess,

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Speaker 1: speaking of we do have some numbers for you.

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Speaker 2: A couple here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So this is a restaurant model that is sometimes lauded

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Speaker 2: as being cool for an owner and operator because it

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Speaker 2: lets you save on service costs. But I haven't like

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Speaker 2: really dug into all of the numbers about it, but

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Speaker 2: I will say that the costs for the machinery can

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Speaker 2: be a little bit intense, Like conveyor belt system might

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Speaker 2: cost anywhere from like fifty grand to like two hundred

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Speaker 2: grand at startup, and it does require maintenance, So I'm

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Speaker 2: not entirely sure exactly how much money you're saving by

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Speaker 2: hiring fewer servers. But that said, the market for the

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Speaker 2: technologies that go into these restaurants is pretty huge. I

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Speaker 2: saw multiple estimates that put the technology market for conveyor

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Speaker 2: belt sushi restaurants at over three billion dollars a year

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Speaker 2: and growing as like cultures that are familiar with the

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Speaker 2: concept in Asia Pacific gain more disposable income, and as

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Speaker 2: affluent urban cultures around the world gain more familiarity.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay, well, listeners, we would love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, about your experiences, your familiarity with this type

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Speaker 1: of restaurant.

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Speaker 2: If you have strong opinions.

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Speaker 1: If you have always But yeah, the history of how

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Speaker 1: we got to hear it is very interesting. Oh it is.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and we are going to get into that as

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Speaker 2: soon as we get back from a quick break forward

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Speaker 2: from our sponsors.

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Speaker 3: And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay.

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Speaker 1: So sushi has a long history in Japan. Absolutely, that

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Speaker 1: is a separate episode.

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Speaker 3: Yep, for sure.

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Speaker 1: We are not tackling about today, Nope. But for our

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Speaker 1: purposes now, as early as the sixteen hundreds, people in

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Speaker 1: Japan could purchase seasoned ball rice, usually seasoned with vinegar,

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Speaker 1: along with some type of cooked or dried seafood on

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Speaker 1: top from street carts. Yes, sushi itself is way older

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Speaker 1: than that. For now, these snacks were tasty, they were affordable,

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Speaker 1: they were convenient, and during the Second World War, rationing

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Speaker 1: impacted these sushi businesses. The stalls and carts were outlawed

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Speaker 1: by American forces post World War Two, and in some

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Speaker 1: cases customers had to bring their own rice to restaurants

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Speaker 1: if they wanted sushi. So sushi went from an inexpensive

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Speaker 1: casual food to something much more formal and costly, meaning

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Speaker 1: that some people no longer had easy access to it.

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Speaker 1: The sushi conveyor belt kind of changed that. The story

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Speaker 1: goes that after witnessing the conveyor belts used to move

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Speaker 1: beer bottles at Japan's Asaii Brewery or some other beer

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Speaker 1: factory restaurant chort Yoshii Ki Shidai she got the idea

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Speaker 1: to implement a similar mechanic in a restaurant of his own.

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Speaker 2: Shidai she was a self taught inventor and sometime restaurant

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Speaker 2: worker who moved to Osaka as a young man and

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Speaker 2: wound up back there after World War Two.

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Speaker 1: He had a small place already but was struggling to

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Speaker 1: get it off the ground, and this was an idea

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Speaker 1: that he thought would alleviate his difficulties finding staff, that

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Speaker 1: it would cut cost and in theory offer a unique

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Speaker 1: dining experience where customers could serve themselves. At least that

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Speaker 1: was the plan. Over the course of four years, he

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Speaker 1: came up with and tested a prototype.

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Speaker 2: It was this whole process he apparently had trouble even

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Speaker 2: finding a machine shop willing to work with him in

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Speaker 2: this bustling post war era. He you know, had to

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Speaker 2: figure out how to design something sturdy and washable, you know, sanitary,

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Speaker 2: that could move smoothly through corners. He settled on these

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Speaker 2: pieces of stainless steam I'll cut in crescent shapes that

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Speaker 2: can fan out along long stretches and fold in around corners,

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Speaker 2: inspired by how people hold playing cards.

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Speaker 1: He opened his restaurant, Mawaru Jinroku Sushi in Osaka in

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight. And just a side note, Osaka is

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Speaker 1: known as a big food city in Japan. When I

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Speaker 1: was in Japan, this was where I did my food

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Speaker 1: tour and I'm so full I could popped. It was

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Speaker 1: delicious and amazing, but I was like, no more, please,

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Speaker 1: I wish more, please.

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Speaker 2: But I can't.

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Speaker 1: Uh yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2: And Genroku is the name of the era in Japan

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Speaker 2: from sixteen eighty eight through seventeen oh four. That was

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Speaker 2: this era of like peace and arts and culture. So

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Speaker 2: that's why he incorporated that into the name of this place.

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Speaker 2: One of the restaurant's first ad campaigns talked about like

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Speaker 2: satellite sushi, like revolving satellite sushi because the Sputnik had

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Speaker 2: just been launched the year prior to the restaurant opening.

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Speaker 1: And at the time, the restaurant featured a horseshoe shaped

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Speaker 1: bar in the center minus sets. The stainless steel belt

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Speaker 1: moved clockwise since most people used chopsticks with their right hands,

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Speaker 1: so that they could grab the plate with their left hands.

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Speaker 1: The conveyor belt moved at about three inches or eight

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Speaker 1: centimeters per second. He determined this was the best speed

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Speaker 1: to prevent sushi accidents. It's pretty excellent and allow people

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Speaker 1: time to look at and pick up dishes, and was

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Speaker 1: not slow enough that the food would dry out. People

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Speaker 1: were charged per plate. The price was indicated by the

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Speaker 1: color of the plate. Fifteen years later, the restaurant introduced

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Speaker 1: an automatic green tea dispenser so customers could put some

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Speaker 1: green tea powder or a green tea bag and a

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Speaker 1: cup and then fill it with hot water, which is

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Speaker 1: now a pretty standard feature at a lot of them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, especially in powder format. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yes. At first, his restaurant was slow to take off,

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Speaker 1: but that soon changed. In nineteen seventy, Osaka hosted the

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Speaker 1: Osaka World Expo for almost sixty five million people from

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Speaker 1: all over the world. Shiaishi decided this would be a

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Speaker 1: great place to introduce others to this style of restaurant

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Speaker 1: that he developed. The whole thing was a success for him.

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Speaker 1: It exposed so many people to this type of dining

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Speaker 1: and allowed him to open more restaurants because more people

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Speaker 1: were like, yes, I want that. He went on to

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Speaker 1: open the chain Genroku Sagno, which at one point had

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Speaker 1: about two hundred and forty locations. People really loved it,

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Speaker 1: and it changed how people interacted with and saw sushi.

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Speaker 1: Before it had been this fairly expensive formal affair. Perhaps

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Speaker 1: this was not only more approachable and affordable, but it

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Speaker 1: also had the addition of novelty and entertainment. Customers liked

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Speaker 1: that it saved them time, perhaps they liked that they

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Speaker 1: didn't have to interact with people. Of course, such success

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Speaker 1: inspired others to open similar restaurants, and not all of

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Speaker 1: them sushi based, especially because his patent expired sometime in

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Speaker 1: the mid nineteen seventies.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and this did also coincide with the introduction of

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Speaker 2: international fast food chains in Japan like KFC and McDonald's,

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Speaker 2: which also tabled at that expo. In nineteen seventy, although

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Speaker 2: I will say that along the line here somewhere in

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Speaker 2: some conveyor belt sushi restaurants they added chairs. That original

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Speaker 2: one had no seating because he was like, look, man,

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Speaker 2: take your plate, eat the food, get out. This is

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Speaker 2: meant to be too quick for seating.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, Oh, also, I love how many times these

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Speaker 1: expos come up in our episode. They really did have

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Speaker 1: a big impact. Absolutely, Oh my goodness restaurants up. This

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Speaker 1: style started proliferating first in Japan, then across Asia and

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Speaker 1: then the rest of the world, and this led to

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Speaker 1: different takes on sushi rolls. We're gonna have to come

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Speaker 1: back to that oh my goodness as mentioned because yes,

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Speaker 1: as we've talked about before, this is the time when

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Speaker 1: we saw things like the California role popping up in

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Speaker 1: the United States, and just more exposure to sushi around

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Speaker 1: the world in general. This type of restaurant also led

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Speaker 1: to other innovations, including the sushi robot the Nagiri machine

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Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty one that later went on to be

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Speaker 1: incorporated into these sushi conveyor belt restaurants.

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Speaker 2: Right, So, okay, this I briefly glanced across it earlier,

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Speaker 2: but this was an innovation from the Japanese food service

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Speaker 2: machinery company Suzumo, which had previously been mostly working in

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Speaker 2: machines for making like filled dessert products. But this nagiri

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Speaker 2: machine was a machine that could gently pack prepared sushi

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Speaker 2: rice into that small oblong ball that's used for single

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Speaker 2: pieces of naghii. They expanded into other rice forming related

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Speaker 2: equipment like an ungari machine and a maki machine later

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Speaker 2: in the nineteen eighties, and this concept took a layer

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Speaker 2: of skill and time out of sushi making because like

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Speaker 2: as as Suzumo and eventually some rivals honed the machinery.

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Speaker 2: Over the next couple of decades, it became possible to

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Speaker 2: shape rice for nagiri at the rate of like a

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Speaker 2: ball every few seconds from increasingly more convenient countertop equipment

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Speaker 2: without having to train a person or pay them, you know.

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Speaker 2: So I have a number of feelings about that, But

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Speaker 2: also it absolutely drove the proliferation of both these conveyor

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Speaker 2: belt joints and also supermarket sushi. Should I she would

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Speaker 2: pass away in the year two thousand and one, at

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Speaker 2: the age of eighty seven. At that time, there were

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Speaker 2: over two thousand four hundred restaurants of this type in Japan.

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Speaker 2: The name in Japan is a Kiten Sushi, and at

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Speaker 2: that time the restaurant was worth some two point one

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Speaker 2: billion dollars.

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Speaker 1: Wow. Well, there have been other tech innovations as this

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Speaker 1: type of restaurant has evolved and modernized. Touchscreen ordering, an

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Speaker 1: automated dish collecting system that scans a barcode on the

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Speaker 1: plates to calculate price, pictures of food on dishes that

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Speaker 1: customers use a tablet to order, large LEDs that display

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Speaker 1: virtual conveyor belts. I almost went on a complete deep

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Speaker 1: dive about the dishwashing system that some of us it's fascinating.

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Speaker 1: In recent years, newly opened establishments often omit the conveyor

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Speaker 1: belt to prevent food waste, probably cost also instead relying

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Speaker 1: on custom orders and or express track options. In twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three, there was a viral trend called sushi terrorism,

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Speaker 1: where people were posting videos of themselves poking, touching, or

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Speaker 1: coughing on the passing sushi or the plates, or licking

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Speaker 1: the soy sauce bottles something like that. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: This in particular, in addition to you know, the COVID pandemic,

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Speaker 2: like really drove some of the above innovations in this

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Speaker 2: type of dining, like like digital ordering and the direct

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Speaker 2: to table type service. One of the big chains, Kuda Sushi,

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Speaker 2: installed surveillance cameras with software designed to tag suspicious behaviors

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Speaker 2: to back of house staff so that they can call

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Speaker 2: the police. Because for the record, doing this in Japan

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Speaker 2: can and will get you arrested. Like, don't do this,

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Speaker 2: you absolute COVID lockdown, adult gremlins. We still live in

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Speaker 2: a society for now. Let's respect it a little bit.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, And there are a lot of if you

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Speaker 1: want to look it up, there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: articles about the etiquette. Oh yeah, being at a restaurant

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Speaker 1: like this, but I feel like this one. We don't

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Speaker 1: even need to say it. But don't even touch the plates.

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Speaker 1: Don't even unless you want that plate.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, don't mess with that touch it. Yeah, Why would

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Speaker 2: you mess with it if you don't want it, don't

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Speaker 2: go mess with it. Yeah, yeah, that's all. Yeah, huh okay.

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Speaker 1: So at the twenty twenty five of Soccer World Expo,

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Speaker 1: sushi chain Kurda Sushi debuted the longest sushi conveyor belt

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Speaker 1: in the world at one hundred and thirty five meters

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Speaker 1: or four hundred and forty two feet, breaking the company's

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Speaker 1: own previous record.

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Speaker 2: That is, if you're struggling to imagine the length of this,

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Speaker 2: it's a slightly longer than a soccer field or a

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Speaker 2: Boeing seven forty seven, whichever is easier for you to picture. Yes,

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Speaker 2: and it features a huge variety of sushi and other

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Speaker 2: dishes from seventy countries, yeah, including a lot of international

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Speaker 2: dishes presented in the giri format, like like little you

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Speaker 2: know the little like like vinegar seasoned balls of rice

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Speaker 2: topped with say, spicy tied chicken or fried Swiss cheese

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Speaker 2: or Peruvian style sebich.

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Speaker 1: The expo runs from April thirteenth to October thirteenth, and again, listeners, if.

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Speaker 2: You go, if you've been, if you're going, oh please,

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Speaker 2: if you witness this personally, if you eat just as

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Speaker 2: much as you can from it. We want to know

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Speaker 2: everything about the Zexpo and this in particular, and oh

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Speaker 2: my goodness.

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Speaker 1: Yes, so much so yes, please please let us know

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Speaker 1: if you've had a good experience at a restaurant of

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Speaker 1: this type, please let us know.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and also I'm always super fascinated by how

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Speaker 2: different cultures localize cuisines. So yeah, like, what's what's your

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Speaker 2: local Japanese restaurant up to? Yes, if you're in Japan,

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Speaker 2: if you're elsewhere, yeah, yeah, absolutely, please let us know.

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Speaker 1: But in the meantime, I think that's what we have

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Speaker 1: to say about sushi conveyor belt restaurants for now.

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Speaker 3: It is.

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Speaker 2: We do already have some listener mail for you, though,

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Speaker 2: and we're going to get into that as soon as

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Speaker 2: we get back from one more quick break for a

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Speaker 2: word from our sponsors.

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Speaker 3: And we're back, Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and

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Speaker 3: we're back with us.

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Speaker 1: I went on a date once at a restaurant of

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Speaker 1: this type and you get so distracted you miss a

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Speaker 1: lot of the good dishes and you see them on

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Speaker 1: the other side. Curses there they go. Sounds like with

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Speaker 1: the technology at the time, what is currently available, I

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Speaker 1: would not have that issue. But when I was doing this.

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Speaker 2: It was just the luck of the luck of the

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Speaker 2: conveyor belt draw Yeah it was.

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Speaker 1: It was okay. Mark Robe, my name is Mark, a

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Speaker 1: very long time listener and first time commenter. I have

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Speaker 1: some serious thoughts on the subject of snack cakes. Even

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Speaker 1: did an episode about those thoughts on my podcast Random

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Speaker 1: Schmuck for Me. Drake's Ring Dings and Devil Dogs are

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Speaker 1: at the top of the top. But Hostess had the

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Speaker 1: King of snack cakes in the Choco Dial uh. It

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Speaker 1: was sold as a single cake and was essentially a

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Speaker 1: chocolate covered twinkie. I'd walk a mile for a Choco

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00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: Dial was the tagline for this insanely delicious snack cake. Unfortunately,

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00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 1: it became unavailable on the East Coast many years ago,

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Speaker 1: as the factory that made them was on the West

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Speaker 1: Coast and they were not shipped east. I came across

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Speaker 1: my first one in years while out on a storm

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Speaker 1: chasing trip in two thousand and seven at a gas

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Speaker 1: station in the middle of nowhere in Montana. There were

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Speaker 1: a few of us from the New York area, and

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Speaker 1: when we saw the display of these still single packed cakes,

436
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 1: we bought them out and gorged on them. The last

437
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 1: one I had was in twenty twelve at Ruby's Inn

438
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,080
Speaker 1: outside of Bryce Canyon in Utah, where I was visiting

439
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 1: with my dad. As I was with my dad, I

440
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: restrained myself to only one Choco Dial and it was

441
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 1: the last time I had one. Another fun fact about

442
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 1: Hostess going belly up. The disappearance of Twinkies and other

443
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,120
Speaker 1: favorites from the store shelves led to a massive online

444
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,280
Speaker 1: market for the last remaining boxes, which were bought up

445
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,160
Speaker 1: in large quantities and sold on eBay for a significant markup.

446
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: These might be the last Twinkies you ever get to taste.

447
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: From what I understand. The choco dile itself has been

448
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: reborn as fudge covered Twinkies, but once again they can

449
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,720
Speaker 1: be found here in the East. History repeats itself, and

450
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 1: I find myself once again utterly bereft. Oh no, oh,

451
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 1: the chocolate dial that got away? Oh no, yeah. I

452
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,440
Speaker 1: think I've said this before on here, but I wanted

453
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 1: to do a whole mini series that was just the snacks,

454
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: the food items you can't get anymore that were discontinued.

455
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 2: It's devastating when it is and you're like, no, this one,

456
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 2: and for some reason the company that makes it is like, hey,

457
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 2: screw you. Specifically, yes, we shall not be continuing that

458
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 2: and or we won't even ship it to the East.

459
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yes, Well I'm sorry, uh four or four

460
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: year loss.

461
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad that you had so many good times

462
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 2: with it. I'm fascinated that you've been storm chasing.

463
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 1: Yes, me too, me too.

464
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 2: Uh.

465
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 1: I would love to hear about that. Also, I hope

466
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 1: you find a Choco Dial in your future.

467
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I hope that. I hope that someone gets there,

468
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 2: gets their act together and gets some Choco Dial type

469
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 2: products out your way. Yes, uh, Nava wrote, I just

470
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 2: finished listening to the mapaw Tofu episode and I was

471
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,959
Speaker 2: so happy that a listener other than me commented on

472
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,360
Speaker 2: the proper pronunciation of gouda. I'm not gonna do it now.

473
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:36,720
Speaker 2: You're gonna get a bunch of them in a second here, Okay.

474
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 2: I think Dutch people love listening to foreigners trying to

475
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 2: pronounce it. Half my extended family lives in Holland, and

476
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 2: while I'm not fluent in Dutch, I feel like it

477
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 2: has some of the most fun words to pronounce. One

478
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 2: of my favorite words in the world is sinas apple

479
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 2: sup sin us apples up, which is the Dutch word

480
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:02,400
Speaker 2: for orange juice. Some other fun Dutch topics for episodes

481
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:09,120
Speaker 2: are Barren Burch Barren Burke, which is spiced Jennifer Jennifer

482
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 2: also puffer yes, which are tiny buckwheat pancakes and oily bowlin,

483
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 2: which are Dutch donuts already mentioned striup waffle so much

484
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:25,680
Speaker 2: fun with pronunciation. Not sure if you guys are still

485
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,080
Speaker 2: doing animal pictures, but I have some that are also

486
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,880
Speaker 2: food related, so I thought you'd appreciate them. We have

487
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 2: a pair of bloodhounds, Ladybird and Rollo, who have had

488
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 2: two litters before we got them fixed. It's traditional to

489
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 2: give each litter a naming theme, so for the first

490
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 2: litter we went with breads, briosch biscuit, peta baguette, olive loaf, marble, rye, pumpernickel,

491
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 2: and sour dough. The second litter was named for sweet

492
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:57,640
Speaker 2: pastries moose donut, chiro waffle, cheesecake, moon pie, cupcake, speculas, crumpet,

493
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 2: and truffle, treffle being the runt. The last picture is

494
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 2: a side by side of muse and treffle ps. In

495
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 2: my last email, I forgot to mention how much I

496
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 2: love and appreciate your Seinfield references. Would love to hear

497
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 2: a whole fictional food episode dedicated to sign Field food references.

498
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 2: Other suggestions for fictional food episodes American Psycho, the book

499
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 2: not the movie, and the TV show Hannibal with Mad's Michelson, which.

500
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 1: If I am not misremembering, we have done.

501
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 2: We did a Hannibal universe. Did we do it specifically

502
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:37,400
Speaker 2: on the TV show or was it kind of the universe?

503
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 2: I can't remember, but we've definitely talked about some of

504
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:45,160
Speaker 2: that before. I remember talking about the TV show. It

505
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 2: might have been a long time ago. Styling, Oh right,

506
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 2: so gorgeous, really upsettingly pretty.

507
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: Upsettingly pretty is a good description. Yes, thank you, you're

508
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,520
Speaker 1: your recommendations are noted and appreciated.

509
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:04,360
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, I know that.

510
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 2: I feel like Annie has been waiting for someone to

511
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:12,320
Speaker 2: suggest a Seinfield. Oh yeah, I'm ready, Seinfeld. Do I

512
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,319
Speaker 2: keep saying Seinfield? Seinfeld? What am I doing today? Well?

513
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:21,319
Speaker 1: I did behind the Curtains listeners. I'm the one who

514
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,160
Speaker 1: chooses the listener mail. Usually I just go in order,

515
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:29,160
Speaker 1: but I did. This one is a little behind because

516
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 1: I was going to give it to Lauren in the

517
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:36,719
Speaker 1: previous episode, and I was like, well, this one has

518
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:40,160
Speaker 1: a lot of pronunciation. I should give her at least

519
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:44,359
Speaker 1: a little heads up before I assign it to her,

520
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:45,440
Speaker 1: because I wasn't going.

521
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:45,799
Speaker 3: To do it.

522
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:46,440
Speaker 1: Yeah.

523
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, And and Annie did warn me about it, and

524
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,880
Speaker 2: then I did not heed her warning, and so so

525
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,280
Speaker 2: I just spent a couple of slightly panicked minutes trying

526
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:00,200
Speaker 2: trying to remember and or look up how to say

527
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 2: these things because in my many years doing weird, weird

528
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 2: stuff for this company, I know I've talked talked about

529
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 2: a few of these things before.

530
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:16,280
Speaker 1: But Dutch, cute, Dutch. I think you did great given

531
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 1: out what you had in the time that you had.

532
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: I think it was fantastic.

533
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,960
Speaker 2: That is for Dutch speakers to let us know about.

534
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:29,319
Speaker 1: That, Yes, definitely you can. But those two seem they

535
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:35,799
Speaker 1: seem like very fun, difficult words, but yeah, oh yeah

536
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,319
Speaker 1: for non Dutch speakers, but you know, oh.

537
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, but those I mean just the combination of

538
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 2: sounds alone is fascinating, so cool, very cool. And all

539
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:51,560
Speaker 2: of these dogs are the cutest. Every single one is

540
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:55,320
Speaker 2: the very cutest dog. And I know that that isn't

541
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,359
Speaker 2: technically possible, but it but it, but it is.

542
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:04,600
Speaker 1: It's true. So yeah, And the names are fantastic, they.

543
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,640
Speaker 2: Are, and they all do resemble the type of the

544
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,839
Speaker 2: type of bread and or pastry at hand, So.

545
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:15,600
Speaker 3: They're well named, very fitting.

546
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, on their little their little phrases are so wrinkly

547
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,919
Speaker 2: and you just want to smoosh them. They're so cute.

548
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,920
Speaker 1: Yes, I believe in this. I didn't include it, but

549
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,000
Speaker 1: I believe in this. Email was a note like, I'm

550
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 1: not sure you still want pet pictures named after pets

551
00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:38,279
Speaker 1: named after food literally always always, Yeah, thank you, thank you.

552
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 2: That is my number one interest. My number two interest

553
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,440
Speaker 2: is like making a podcast about food, science and history

554
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,720
Speaker 2: and culture. Pet pictures is number one.

555
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: This was the means to an end. Well, thank you

556
00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,640
Speaker 1: so much to both of these listeners for writing in.

557
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 1: If you would like to email, as you can our

558
00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,279
Speaker 1: emails Hello at savorpod dot com, and we're also on

559
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:04,960
Speaker 1: social media.

560
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,120
Speaker 2: You can find us on Instagram and blue Sky at

561
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 2: saver pod, and we do hope to hear from you.

562
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,239
Speaker 2: Save is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my

563
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 2: Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

564
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,200
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as

565
00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:22,120
Speaker 2: always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.

566
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,160
Speaker 2: Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots

567
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:33,480
Speaker 2: more good things are coming your way