Heston's Pod & Chips and The Allusionist—the best podcasts

 

Heston’s Pod & Chips, Heston Blumenthal

Apparently this is “the world’s first multi-sensory podcast,” though since it began late last year it’s mostly, as far as I can tell, Heston Blumentha talking about food. But as he is almost certainly the world’s biggest food nerd (that’s a compliment), there’s lots of interesting food history and theories to devour here, as well as experiments in how to make food taste better that you can join in with at home. For instance, can sound waves improve fish fingers?

 

Click, BBC World Service

The BBC World Service has started making the excellent Click series of digital and technology news programmes available as a podcast, and about time too. It’s one of the best places around to find the latest technology news and debates, from considering the story of 20 years of the computer mouse, to the safe amount of screen time for children, the rise in cyber attacks, what cyber sex tells us about relationships, and how states can control internet provision.

 

The Allusionist, Helen Zaltzman

Writer and broadcaster Helen Zaltzman’s brilliant long-running podcast about language is always enlightening and often very funny. Some of the topics she chews over include why people change their names and what it feels like to go by a different identity; how meteorologists decide which are the most accurate and evocative words to use to describe different weather phenomena; the motivations of schools that ban pupils from speaking in their mother tongues and the impact on children; and whether swearing is good for you.