While I unload the dishwasher, a podcast plays from my phone on the counter, letting me hear my favorite author talk about her book inspiration. While I drive to yoga, a podcast keeps me company and updates me on current events. Back home, folding laundry, I binge on a show about podcasting.
More and more, I find myself searching for new podcasts. I love the convenience, the accessibility, the feel of listening to a show targeted to my specific interests and needs.
I am far from alone in my increasing podcast consumption. According to Pew Research Center, 42% of Americans over 12 listened to podcasts in a month in 2023, up from only 12% in 2013. True crime is the most popular podcast topic, according to a Pew study. But if you find yourself feeling nostalgic for your childhood meals or missing chats with girlfriends about pop culture, then you’re in luck. Two podcasts may fulfill your cravings.
Pop Culture Moms
Decades of friendship and motherhood combine with a love of TV, books and movies in Pop Culture Moms, a weekly podcast by Andie Mitchell and Sabrina Kohlberg that launched on February 27. The duo, both approaching 40, met during their freshman year of college. They have helped each other navigate single-turned-married life, the births of their combined four children and their careers. Andie, a New York Times best-selling author, and Sabrina, a television producer, are bringing their intimate daily phone call discussions to a larger audience.
Through their conversational podcast, the best friends strive to create solidarity through motherhood in all its forms and show how their beloved fictional characters can serve as sources of guidance. Through celebrity guests, including Misty Copeland and Melissa Rivers as well as other pop culture lovers, Mitchell and Kohlberg tap into the magic of friendship and showcase motherhood, while also bridging the worlds of reality and fantasy in a fresh, relatable way.
Mitchell told The Girlfriend, “We want to explore as broad a range of mothering experiences as we can. Mothering is not limited to the people that biologically or physically gave birth to us.” Mitchell added, “We're not interested in picking apart actual everyday mothers in any capacity. We’re sticking with fictional characters because … [they] can serve as a mirror.”
Your Mama’s Kitchen
Meanwhile, author and acclaimed veteran journalist Michele Norris hosts the podcast Your Mama’s Kitchen. The show began a new season on February 7 and centers on our collective common ground: the kitchen. In her show’s official trailer, Norris explains, “The kitchen is usually the heartbeat of our homes. It's the place where we're nourished physically and spiritually.”
Norris’ guests include authors, actors, musicians and chefs, sharing details about their family’s cooking and culinary traditions, and insights into how their childhood kitchen affected them, as well as recipes. At the end of each episode, Norris speaks directly to her audience in a way that can feel like Norris is sitting at listeners’ kitchen tables and talking just to them about her guests and the life lessons discussed.
Michelle Obama, Norris’ first guest, talked about the small, makeshift kitchen in her childhood home on the South Side of Chicago and the love her mother cultivated around their table. This season, Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves-McConaughey, tell Norris about Matthew’s sweet method for de-escalating conflict. Leslie Jones shares how her parents’ kitchen fostered her outlook on comedy. Other future guests will include Maria Bamford, Judy Bloom and Tayari Jones.
So, the next time you’re looking for new podcast programming and maybe even feeling overwhelmed by all the choices, save yourself time and energy. Add Pop Culture Moms and Your Mama’s Kitchen to your list. With each episode, you'll feel like you’re making three new girlfriends who — like you — are navigating midlife and beyond and bringing us fresh ways to connect.
Courtesy of Pop Culture Moms, Courtesy of Your Mama's Kitchen
