The Burnt Toast Podcast

You're listening to the Burnt Toast Podcast! I'm Virginia Sole-Smith and today my conversation is with health teacher and author Christopher Pepper.
Christopher is joining me to talk about the Cornell 7 case and why too many boys are not learning about bodies, consent and control.
This is a hard conversation. Content warning if any of that sounds not helpful to you today, but it is an important one, and Christopher has lots of strategies and scripts to help.
On Indulgence Gospel:
Corinne and I will be talking about what men aren't doing—specifically why they aren't posting more about the Cornell 7 case online.
Indulgence Gospel segments are for paid subscribers, who also get transcripts and commenting privileges. Don't miss out — join us here!
FREE LISTENERS can find this episode on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or the podcast player of your choice.
PAID SUBSCRIBERS can listen right here on Patreon, or add your member-only feed to the podcast player of your choice. Indulgence Gospel starts at the timestamp tk. You can find an AI-generated transcript of this segment if you’re following us on Apple or Spotify!
Meet today's guest!
Christopher Pepper is an award-winning health teacher whose lesson plans are used in schools around the globe. He’s been an educator for more than two decades, and currently teaches 9th grade health education in Los Altos, California.
He is the co-author of the bestselling book Talk to Your Boys: 16 Conversations to Help Tweens and Teens Grow into Confident, Caring Young Men, and also writes the popular newsletter Teen Health Today.
I first met Christopher while reporting Fat Talk. He's quoted frequently in my chapter on diet culture in schools. We are going to talk about diet culture today, and specifically how diet culture trends like looksmaxxing and bodybuilding are impacting boys.
BUTTER & LINKS
Virginia's Butter: Joining your school's PTA and serving on their equity, diversity, and inclusion committee.
Christopher's Butter: Joining a men's group, like Ever Forward Club or Next Gen Men.
Talk to Your Boys: 16 Conversations to Help Tweens and Teens Grow into Confident, Caring Young Men by Christopher Pepper, Joanna Schroeder
Christopher Pepper: Channel Your Rage Into Action Against Rape (Substack)
NYT: "Racists Are Recruiting: Watch Your White Sons" by Joanna Schroeder
Kate Manne: They Didn’t Want Consent (Substack)
https://www.patreon.com/virginiasolesmith/posts/how-do-we-raise-173458592

EPISODE CREDITS
Co-hosts: Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay.
Producer: Kim Baldwin.
Logo design: Deanna Lowe.
Theme Song: Farideh.
Video Editor: Elizabeth Ayiku
Audio Engineer: Tommy Harron
Follow us on social!
Virginia is on Instagram and Threads as @v_solesmith and on Bluesky at @virginiasolesmith.
Corinne is on Instagram at @selfiefay, on Bluesky at @corinnefay and on Patreon at Big Undies.
Support the Me Little Me Foundation, a virtual food pantry supporting multiply marginalized folks recovering from eating disorders.
Thanks for listening and supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism!

You're listening to the Burnt Toast podcast! I'm Virginia Sole-Smith and today my conversation is with Laura Thomas, PhD.
Laura is going to help me dissect the new book Feed Them Well by Jennifer Anderson, MSPH, RDN—the dietitian and influencer behind Kids Eat in Color.
SO many of you have asked for this episode, and there is SO much to get into — so no Indulgence Gospel this week! Free listeners will get the first half of our conversation, and paid subscribers will get the whole shebang, including our analysis of what Kids Eat In Color really thinks about GLP-1s and intentional weight loss for kids. Don't miss out — join us here!
FREE LISTENERS can find this episode on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or the podcast player of your choice.
PAID SUBSCRIBERS can listen right here on Patreon, or add your member-only feed to the podcast player of your choice. You can find an AI-generated transcript of the entire episode if you’re following us on Apple or Spotify!
Meet today's guest!
Laura Thomas, PhD is a registered nutritionist based in London. She writes the fantastic newsletter, Can I Have Another Snack?, where she aims to complicate overly simplistic narratives about food, nutrition and bodies. She's also the author of two books about intuitive eating, Just Eat It and How to Just Eat It: A Step-by-Step Guide to Escaping Diets and Finding Food Freedom.
Laura joined us for the second episode in my series on The Picky Eating Backlash. We kicked this off with Episode 265, where Amy Palanjian joined us to explain why certain conversations around picky eating (especially the ones that blame moms and processed foods) tend to go viral so easily.
One of those viral conversations that has been taking over my Instagram in the past month is about Jennifer Anderson, MSPH, RDN, the creator behind Kids Eat In Color. Anderson has been making some wild claims that she was canceled for her views on picky eating, that everything you thought you knew about restriction and food is wrong, and even accusing her fellow dietitians of being on the payroll of "Big Sugar."
BUTTER & LINKS
Virginia's Butter: enjoying the end of dahlia season before the first frost hits
Laura's Butter: rain and getting matching tattoos with your bestie
What Instagram Gets Wrong About Feeding Your Kids
The Ballerina Farm of Kid Food Instagram
Laura on Ultra-Processed Foods Part 1
Laura on UPF Part 2
https://www.patreon.com/virginiasolesmith/posts/has-kids-eat-in-172829763

EPISODE CREDITS
Co-hosts: Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay.
Producer: Kim Baldwin.
Logo design: Deanna Lowe.
Theme Song: Farideh.
Video Editor: Elizabeth Ayiku
Audio Engineer: Tommy Harron
Follow us on social!
Virginia is on Instagram and Threads as @v_solesmith and on Bluesky at @virginiasolesmith.
Corinne is on Instagram at @selfiefay, on Bluesky at @corinnefay and on Patreon at Big Undies.
Support the Me Little Me Foundation, a virtual food pantry supporting multiply marginalized folks recovering from eating disorders.
Thanks for listening and supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism!

You're listening to the Burnt Toast podcast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay, and today we are talking about The Weigh In, a new podcast about GLP-1s ... from Weight Watchers.
And on Indulgence Gospel!
Corinne and I will be discussing a very controversial topic: Cold calling your friends.
Indulgence Gospel segments are for paid subscribers, who also get transcripts and commenting privileges. Don't miss out — join us here!
So, there's a new podcast from Weight Watchers. It's called The Weigh In and it's hosted by Samhita Mukhopadhyay. The first two episodes are out and Corinne and I listened and have many, many thoughts.
BUTTER & LINKS
SHOP:
Virginia's Butter: Going through your credit card statements and cancelling unnecessary subscriptions. Hello, efax?!
Corinne's Butter: TruFru
READ:
Big Undies: The Search for a Perfectly Oversized Plus Size Button Up Shirt Continues...
Burnt Toast: The Only 6 Jeans Worth Buying (According to Science)
The Weigh In Podcast
The Myth of Making It: A Workplace Reckoning by Samhita Mukhopadhyay
Big Undies: Samhita Mukhopadhyay style questionnaire
The Cut: “Mounjaro and Me” by Samhita Mukhopadhyay
NYT: “In the Ozempic Era, Who Needs Weight Watchers? A new podcast, with a feminist host, aims to keep the decades-old diet brand in the GLP-1 conversation.”
The Cut: "What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now" by Kate Manne
The Cut: "The Strong, Empowered, Secretly Broke Divorcée" by Melinda Wenner Moyer
The Cut: “I Should Be Allowed to Cold-Call My Friends”
https://www.patreon.com/virginiasolesmith/posts/why-is-weight-1-172152397

EPISODE CREDITS
Co-hosts: Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay.
Producer: Kim Baldwin.
Logo design: Deanna Lowe.
Theme Song: Farideh.
Video Editor: Elizabeth Ayiku
Audio Engineer: Tommy Harron
Follow us on social!
Virginia is on Instagram and Threads as @v_solesmith and on Bluesky at @virginiasolesmith.
Corinne is on Instagram at @selfiefay, on Bluesky at @corinnefay and on Patreon at Big Undies.
Support the Me Little Me Foundation, a virtual food pantry supporting multiply marginalized folks recovering from eating disorders.
Thanks for listening and supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism!

You're listening to the Burnt Toast podcast! I'm Virginia Sole-Smith and today my conversation is with Mary Mahoney of @Landline - Pop Culture & History with Mary Mahoney | Podcast + Newsletter.
And we're talking about... Dolly!!!

Meanwhile on Indulgence Gospel:
Corinne and I are asking: Is breaking up with your phone a diet?
Indulgence Gospel segments are for paid subscribers, who also get transcripts and commenting privileges. Don't miss out — join us here!
FREE LISTENERS can find this episode on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or the podcast player of your choice.
PAID SUBSCRIBERS can listen right here on Patreon, or add your member-only feed to the podcast player of your choice. Indulgence Gospel starts at the timestamp 34:23. You can find an AI-generated transcript of this segment if you’re following us on Apple or Spotify!
Meet today's guest!
Mary Mahoney, who also goes by Mimi, is a historian and writer who wrote Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can't Quit American Girl. She also makes an incredible podcast and newsletter called Landline that gives pop culture some context. It's like a group text for people who love footnotes or the answer to the question: why can't history feel more like Us Weekly?
Mary joined me to talk about Dolly Parton's relationship with her body and beauty standards, how we locate her as a feminist, and her incredible legacy. We go down so many fascinating rabbit holes —this is one of my favorite episodes ever!
BUTTER & LINKS
Mary's Dolly tribute essay
Dolly's 1978 Playboy interview
Gloria Steinem's event with Miss Piggy at the Brooklyn Museum in 2015
Reese Witherspoon's Dolly Parton interview
1984 Interview Magazine interview
@Culture Study's Dolly Parton Syllabus
Billionaires who want to live forever
Mary's Butter: Ms. Rachel (featuring I Love A Rainbow) & Dolly singing Johnny Cash's I Still Miss Someone.
Virginia's Butter: Dolly singing The Harper Valley PTA.

EPISODE CREDITS
Co-hosts: Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay.
Producer: Kim Baldwin.
Logo design: Deanna Lowe.
Theme Song: Farideh.
Video Editor: Elizabeth Ayiku
Audio Engineer: Tommy Harron
Follow us on social!
Virginia is on Instagram and Threads as @v_solesmith and on Bluesky at @virginiasolesmith.
Corinne is on Instagram at @selfiefay, on Bluesky at @corinnefay and on Patreon at Big Undies.
Support the Me Little Me Foundation, a virtual food pantry supporting multiply marginalized folks recovering from eating disorders.
Thanks for listening and supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism!

You're listening to the Burnt Toast podcast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay, and today our conversation is with Amy Palanjian.
And on Indulgence Gospel!
Corinne and I will be discussing table manners, and Amy is staying on to get into that with us.
Indulgence Gospel segments are for paid subscribers, who also get transcripts and commenting privileges. Don't miss out — join us here!
Meet today's guest!
Amy Palanjian is the creator of Yummy Toddler Food and the author of the New York Times bestselling cookbook, Dinnertime SOS. Amy has built YTF as a resource to provide reassurance and easy recipes to families with little kids. Because she knows that feeding kids is hard and our recipes (and the advice we follow) should be easy. She is an advocate for taking shortcuts in the kitchen, helping moms remember to feed themselves, and empowering kids to have agency at the table. She lives in Central PA with her three kids (and many plants).
Amy joined us to talk about picky eating, how trends and conversations are shaped by social media, plus the rise of parent-shaming content on social media. And more! It's a good one, you guys.
BUTTER & LINKS
SHOP:
Virginia's Butter: Giant coloring sheets and good markers
Corinne's Butter: Whirley Pop popcorn maker
Amy's Butter: Leaving your house via joining a gym
READ/WATCH:
Please Stop Asking Michael Pollan How to Feed Kids.
Michael Pollan on 60 Minutes reel
Michael Pollan, “We make time for the things we value” reel
The Economist picky eaters reel
https://www.patreon.com/virginiasolesmith/posts/amy-palanjian-170815324

EPISODE CREDITS
Co-hosts: Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay.
Producer: Kim Baldwin.
Logo design: Deanna Lowe.
Theme Song: Farideh.
Video Editor: Elizabeth Ayiku
Audio Engineer: Tommy Harron
Follow us on social!
Virginia is on Instagram and Threads as @v_solesmith and on Bluesky at @virginiasolesmith.
Corinne is on Instagram at @selfiefay, on Bluesky at @corinnefay and on Patreon at Big Undies.
Support the Me Little Me Foundation, a virtual food pantry supporting multiply marginalized folks recovering from eating disorders.
Thanks for listening and supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism!