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Always Hangry

Always Hangry

Written by: George Duran
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Food isn't complicated. People make it complicated. Always Hangry is a funny, honest, slightly unhinged podcast where chef and TV personality George Duran calls out the weird, frustrating, and totally ridiculous ways we all behave around food. This is not a recipe show. It's not precious. It's not trying to impress you. It's the kind of conversation you have after a couple of drinks, when somebody finally says the thing everyone else is thinking but nobody wants to say out loud. Why does one gluten-free guest suddenly change an entire dinner party? Why are the Costco samples always the wrong thing? When did we stop trusting our instincts at a restaurant and start trusting whatever looked good on social media? Every episode grabs the everyday stuff — ordering, shopping, food trends, other people's eating habits — and pulls it apart with humor, honesty, and just enough chef perspective to actually make it land. Episodes open loose and opinionated: George and a co-host working through rants, food news, real-life scenarios, and arguments that start small and end up somewhere much bigger than they should. The energy comes from the back-and-forth and the disagreements. Nothing is locked in. And then the show goes deeper. Many episodes turn from the rant into a real conversation with someone who genuinely knows the subject — a chef, a scientist, a farmer, a writer, an insider — the kind of expert who can tell you whether the thing we've all been arguing about is actually true. Same honesty, same humor, just with someone in the room who has the receipts. Most food content either teaches you something or tries to look perfect. Always Hangry does neither, and somehow does both. It's for anyone who has ever been annoyed ordering at a restaurant, confused by a menu, skeptical of a trend, or stuck in a situation where dinner quietly turned into a social negotiation. New episodes weekly. Built to be watched, clipped, shared, and argued over. Always Hangry is what happens when you stop pretending food has to be serious and start admitting it's actually kind of ridiculous. Watch, subscribe, sign up for the newsletter, and t ell us who George should be arguing with next at https://alwayshangrypodcast.com/ (alwayshangrypodcast.com).Always Hangry Art Cooking Food & Wine Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Celery Jell-O, Baby Food for Adults & Glitter Maple Syrup

    Celery Jell-O, Baby Food for Adults & Glitter Maple Syrup
    Sep 22 2026
    "Low fat" might be the most fattening words on the bag. George Duran and recurring co-host Karla Walsh open with a brand-new study out of Turkey. People ate noticeably more of the exact same snack when it was labeled "low fat" or "high protein." Then they walk the fake-healthy aisle:veggie straws that are mostly potato starch"fruit" snacks that are basically jelly beansspinach wraps that are really just green tortillasrice cakes, which George insists double as home insulationThere's also a round of Trend or Trash on protein cookie dough. And a crash course in label words that mean far less than you think: natural, multigrain, farm fresh, plant-based. (Oreos are plant-based.)Then comes the food-flop hall of shame:Olestra-powered WOW chips and their infamous warning labelOre-Ida's bright-blue Funky Fries (George bought them, and he has a story about what happened next)Pepsi A.M., Crystal Pepsi and Life Savers sodaGerber Singles: pureed beef burgundy in a baby-food jar, marketed to adults who live aloneJell-O's 1960s savory line, including celeryKarla, from the Midwest, explains that anything made with Jell-O counts as a salad there, strawberry pretzel salad and cookie salad included. George is not convinced.In the back half, Laura Sorkin, co-founder of Runamok Maple in Fairfax, Vermont, takes George from tree to pancake:It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.She explains what reverse osmosis actually does.She explains why dark syrup isn't just "cooked longer." George had that one wrong.She shares the story of the one IHOP that serves the real stuff.She explains why an opened bottle belongs in the fridge.She names the one flavor experiment that should never be repeated: wasabi.She introduces Sparkle Syrup, maple with edible glitter that turns a cocktail pearlescent.Key TakeawaysHealth labels make us eat more. In a 2026 study of 60 adults, participants ate about 67g of a snack labeled "low fat," 61g labeled "high protein," and 50g with no label. The snack was identical in every case.The health halo is real. One virtuous word on the front of the package makes the whole product feel healthier. Read the nutrition panel, not the marketing.Veggie straws are mostly potato starch, potato flour and cornstarch. The vegetable powder is there for color.Fruit snacks nutritionally resemble candy more than fruit. Corn syrup, sugar and modified starch follow close behind the fruit puree."Multigrain" does not mean whole grain. The FDA has no formal definition of "natural," and "plant-based" covers potato chips and Oreos.WOW chips were a hit before they were a punchline. They sold roughly $347 million in their first year, until the "abdominal cramping and loose stools" warning caught up with them.Gerber Singles (1974) put beef burgundy, sweet-and-sour pork and "blueberry delight" into baby-food-style jars for single adults. They vanished within months.Jell-O once sold celery, mixed vegetable, seasoned tomato and Italian salad flavors. Karla says savory aspics are quietly making a comeback.In the Midwest, if it has Jell-O in it, it's a salad. That includes strawberry pretzel salad, cookie salad and Snickers salad.Maple sap is only 1–3% sugar. Reverse osmosis concentrates it to about 16%, and boiling does the rest. Vermont producers need about 40 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup. Birch needs roughly 100.Tapping doesn't hurt the tree. Some sugarbushes have been producing for over 200 years.Darker syrup isn't cooked longer. It usually comes late in the season and carries more minerals and complexity, so the maple flavor is stronger.Real maple is thinner than pancake syrup. Corn syrup is what makes the fake stuff thick.IHOP serves real maple syrup in Vermont. The Vermont location got special permission, because nobody there would eat pancakes without it.Organic maple is mostly about the forest. Because there are almost no inputs, certification comes down to how the land is managed: erosion, runoff and biodiversity.Refrigerate maple once it's opened. Unopened bottles keep on the shelf for years.Use maple like soy sauce or Worcestershire. A touch rounds out savory dishes without making them sweet. Laura uses it constantly in Asian cooking.Sparkle Syrup is maple with edible pearlescent sparkles. In a cocktail, it turns the drink shimmery.People & Companies MentionedGeorge Duran: Host, Always HangryKarla Walsh: Food and wellness writer, Level One Sommelier, recurring guest co-hostLaura Sorkin: Co-founder, Runamok Maple (Fairfax, VT)Eric Sorkin: Laura's husband and co-founder, who came up with Sparkle SyrupRunamok Maple: runamokmaple.comDicle University (Turkey): Source of the 2026 health-claims snack studyFDA: No formal definition of "natural"Frito-Lay / Procter & Gamble (Olestra): WOW chips; Pringles also made Olestra versionsOre-Ida / Heinz: Funky Fries (2002)PepsiCo: Pepsi A.M. (1989), Crystal Pepsi (1992)Coca-Cola: New Coke (mentioned)Life Savers: Life Savers sodaGerber: Gerber Singles (1974)Jell-O: Savory ...
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    27 mins
  • Deadly Eating Contests, Fake Croissants & Truffle Truths

    Deadly Eating Contests, Fake Croissants & Truffle Truths
    Sep 15 2026
    A man once ate 57 cow brains in fifteen minutes. Another ate the leaves off 74 feet of stinging nettles. A third downed 49 raw garlic cloves in five, and reported that the garlic got stronger every time it came back up. George Duran opens the show by dragging Karla Walsh through the strangest corners of competitive eating history — the first recorded pie-eating tournament in Toronto in 1878, where contestants knelt in front of raspberry tarts with their hands tied behind their backs and won a nicely bound book for it; the 1909 Manhattan Fat Men's Club contest where a 380-pound former alderman put away 275 oysters, eight pounds of steak and eleven cups of coffee; and the 1899 Welsh rarebit championship in Nutley, New Jersey, where three quarters of a gallon of melted cheese earned a man a beer mug.Then the mood turns. George walks through the medical case files: the doughnut challenge in Denver that killed a 42-year-old man while bystanders assumed the choking was part of the act, the ghost pepper burger that tore a hole in a man's esophagus and collapsed his lung, the single Carolina Reaper that constricted arteries in a man's brain, and a case published this year of a pizza contest that over-distended a stomach until it perforated. Karla's conclusion: listen to this episode before you sign the waiver.After the break, it's fakery from the bakery. A TikTok creator films what looks like a Costco delivery arriving at a Times Square French bakery moments after she pays $12 for a pistachio croissant. A Long Island vegan market discovers its "house-made, gluten-free" doughnut is wearing Dunkin's sprinkles. A 60-year-old Biloxi institution pleads guilty to selling more than 29 tons of imported frozen fish as Gulf snapper and grouper. Plus the escolar problem hiding behind the words "white tuna," and a round of Michelin Impossible, in which George reads absurdly elegant descriptions of supermarket junk food and Karla identifies them with unsettling accuracy.In the second half, Paolo Montanaro — second-generation truffle man and CEO of Tartuflanghe in Alba — explains what a real truffle actually tastes like, why almost all truffle oil is one synthetic molecule doing the work of hundreds, why white truffles can't be farmed and black ones can, how long a truffle really lasts after harvest, the color test that tells you whether the truffle being shaved onto your plate is mature or a prop, and why the world's truffle hunters swapped pigs for dogs.Key TakeawaysCompetitive eating is older and weirder than the hot dog era. The first recorded pie-eating tournament was a charity fundraiser in Toronto in January 1878, won by Albert Piddington at the Grand Opera House. His prize was a handsomely bound book. Karla's response: she'd rather just buy the book.The Fat Men's Club numbers are real. At the Manhattan club's East Third Street clubhouse in 1909, former alderman Frank Dotzler ate 275 oysters, eight-plus pounds of steak, twelve rolls, three pies and eleven cups of coffee. He won $50 — roughly $1,800 today.A beer mug for three quarters of a gallon of cheese. The 1899 New Jersey Welsh rarebit championship in Nutley went to Conrad H. Ray, described by the Chicago Daily Tribune as a man with a large mouth and a hungry look.The nettle championship started as a farmer's bet. Guinness traces it to 1986, when Dorset farmer Alex Williams produced a 15-foot-6 nettle and promised to eat any longer one. Somebody found one. In 2025 Michael Hobbs stripped and ate the leaves from 74 feet of nettles in an hour.Nettles are safe cooked; these people aren't cooking them. Blanching or drying neutralizes the sting. Raw, in quantity, it's mouth and throat irritation and an unhappy stomach.57 cow brains, 17.7 pounds, 15 minutes. Takeru Kobayashi's record — by George's math, about 12,100 calories and 249,000 mg of cholesterol. George's own cow-brain trauma is a childhood memory of coming home from a lesson on the nervous system and lifting a pot lid to find one bubbling away.49 raw garlic cloves in five minutes. Oliver Farmer won the first World Garlic Eating Competition in Dorset in 2013. Four to nine cloves is enough to cause serious gastrointestinal distress; doctors have documented genuine garlic burns.The deaths and injuries are not hypothetical. Travis Malouff, 42, choked to death in 2017 attempting a half-pound doughnut in 80 seconds — witnesses didn't intervene fast enough because distress and effort look identical in an eating challenge.A ghost pepper burger tore a 2.5 cm hole in a man's esophagus. Emergency surgery, a collapsed lung, 23 days in hospital, home with a feeding tube.One pepper, one brain event. A 34-year-old man who ate a single Carolina Reaper developed thunderclap headaches; imaging showed several cerebral arteries had temporarily constricted. They returned to normal.Stomachs can and do rupture. A case published this year: a 44-year-old man's stomach perforated immediately after a pizza-eating competition...
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    30 mins
  • Brown M&Ms, Death Row Dinners & Biggest Wine Myths

    Brown M&Ms, Death Row Dinners & Biggest Wine Myths
    Sep 8 2026
    Why is your bag of Doritos 86% air? What does a rock star's backstage snack list actually say about them? And what would you order if you knew it was the last thing you'd ever eat?George Duran sits down with Brooklyn-based artist and food photographer Henry Hargreaves, a New Zealander who describes himself as a sociologist who happens to work in food. They start with Waste of Space, the series where Henry vacuum-sealed convenience store snacks to measure exactly how much of each bag is nitrogen: Chex Mix came in at 56%, Fritos 64%, Pringles 66%, Doritos 86%. George runs through the snack industry's official excuses for “slack fill” — nitrogen flushing, settling in transit, packaging headspace, cushioning.Then it's Band Riders, Henry's photo series built from real contracts leaked by venue staff. Axl Rose wanted Wonder Bread and Dom Pérignon. Mariah Carey wanted Cristal and bendy straws. Busta Rhymes wanted fried chicken, Guinness and Rough Rider condoms. Lady Gaga wanted cheese that was neither smelly nor sweaty, served on ice. And Van Halen wanted M&Ms with every brown one removed — which turns out to have been a deliberate quality-control tripwire buried in a 53-page technical rider, not a tantrum.In the back half, the tone shifts. Henry's No Seconds series recreated the final meals of executed prisoners: Timothy McVeigh's two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream, John Wayne Gacy's bucket of KFC, and Victor Feguer's single olive with the pit left in — a request Henry calls a full stop at the end of a life. What Henry found across all of them was the same thing: comfort food.Finally, Stephen Finch — founder of Vagabond, the UK's most-awarded self-pour wine bar group, now opening its first US location in Nashville — explains why wine is the most intimidating consumer category there is, why the more expensive bottle isn't necessarily the one you'll like, why screw caps might actually beat cork, and how a wall of argon-sealed dispensers lets you taste a hundred wines before committing to a single glass.Key TakeawaysYour chip bag is mostly gas. Hargreaves' Waste of Space measurements: Chex Mix 56% air, Fritos 64%, Pringles 66%, Doritos 86%. Cape Cod was the worst offender he tested at 87%.The industry calls it "slack fill." George runs the four standard defenses past Henry: nitrogen prevents oxidation, chips settle in shipping, machines need headspace, air cushions the product. Henry accepts the first and rejects the rest.Vacuum sealing doesn't destroy the chips. Counterintuitively, Henry found sealed chips survive better — there's no room for them to bounce around and turn into Doritos dust in transit.Contract riders reveal true artist personalities. What began as basic technical requirements evolved into elaborate food, drink, and backstage demands—offering an unfiltered glimpse into an artist's real character.The brown M&Ms were an engineering safeguard. Van Halen's 1982 rider ran 53 pages of staging and load-bearing specs. Brown M&Ms in the bowl meant the promoter hadn't read it, which meant the rigging might not be safe either.The same rider also asked for one large tube of KY Jelly. Henry's question stands: if the promoter got the M&Ms right and missed that, what does that tell you?Henry thinks musicians get unfairly vilified for riders. Asking for something specific isn't the same as throwing a fit when you don't get it.An outsider's perspective on American executions. As a New Zealander, Henry found state-sanctioned execution surreal enough to investigate — which is how No Seconds started, after he read about a Texas prisoner being denied his final request.Last meals are almost always comfort food. Not gluttony, not spectacle. People reach backwards, toward childhood. Henry's own pick: granola with fruit and yogurt.A single olive said more than a banquet. Victor Feguer, executed in Iowa in 1963, asked for one olive with the pit still in it, hoping an olive tree would grow from his grave as a sign of peace. The pit was found in his suit pocket afterward. But since it was a brined pit, it was not destined to grow.Wine is arguably the most daunting consumer category that exists. Grapes, regions, producers, styles, vintages — Stephen Finch argues most of us default to either familiarity or price because we have no other tools.Quality and preference are different questions. More expensive generally does mean higher quality. It does not mean you'll like it. Finch's advice: like what you like, then learn why, and the confidence follows.At the bottom end, you're buying marketing. Industrial wine is a brand plus a process engineered to produce an identical liquid every year.Europe tastes free and sells cheap; America charges for the tasting. George's three years in France versus the US model, where the vineyard costs more than the shop down the road. Finch's read: it's a genuinely great experience, so American producers priced it like one.Screw caps aren't a downgrade. Cork allows ...
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    26 mins
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