January Bonus: Erewhon Taste Test

I love these taste tests!!!!!

trying to skip past the mouth sounds in this ep, even though they already warned me, is a losing game

I was put on the macrobiotic diet as a teenager (and it wrecked my health, although this may not say anything about the diet itself - turns out you shouldn't put someone on an ultra-strict vegan diet to cure what were, in retrospect, classic B12 deficiency symptoms), so I actually have an answer for why Aubrey's favorite veggies are forbidden! Potatoes and eggplant aren't allowed because they are nightshades. Something something inflammation.

Omg I need Aubrey to revive her sci fi book idea

this was so damned funny

This is rich people moralising spending insane amount of money in the name of wellness in an attempt to make themselves feel better about having that ungodly amount of wealth and to fool the gen pop and make us forget that what they are doing is exactly the same as driving obnoxiously expensive cars and wear obnoxiously expensive clothes. In the mean time keep creating weird super food trends that they stole from other cultures, whitewash it, make it into a craze consumerism, demand for these so called superfood sky rocketing, they have to source these items from developing countries which then have to struggle to fulfil these demands, local people no longer able to enjoy the food that used to be their staple and local environments are destroyed to fulfil these demands.

Had to stop the video to comment and defend claire Saffitz lol. I own both of her cook books and have tried many of the recipes, love them all

was not expected my 20-something past self to get dragged for their cigarette preferences on this ep lmao

I had a near death experience thanks to this episode. I laughed SO hard, while taking a large swig of iced tea, that upon hearing you say “malk,” I nearly choked to death. I love you both so much. If I do have to shuffle off this mortal coil, having Maintenance Phase be the last thing I hear would be an honor.

I genuinely adore that some folks who don't enjoy unexpected mouth sounds might have braved this out of love of the content only to be updated on the seeds' progress inside of Mike's mouth and being carried away by the elixir.

Ox bile is actually an active ingredient in the only digestive enzymes that I've ever found to help. (Auto-immune illness with IBD as a comorbidity)

Kunk! 😂 I love the little bit of almost-radio silence when you two are laughing so hard you are hardly breathing! Y'all crack me up and your natural joy make life easier to live. Thank you for doing this podcast.

Michael! Both Gardisil and the shingles vaccine will absolutely make you feel like hell for days! If you have another dose to take, do yourself a favor and plan a few days off and space them out.

I’m not familiar with Erewhon as a ritzy shopper (or even a curious one!) but I used to work for a very small/niche vegan cheese company- I AM a bit more familiar with the concept of bigger companies buying out the little places with good “IP”and making it their own. This was a great episode! Thanks.

you two are so funny!!!

Not gonna lie, I still shop at Erewhon at least once a month. Their smoothies are the BOMB. I do wonder if the superfoods, etc. they put in them really work. I have some of their recipes make smoothies at home with just the basic ingredients. They kick ass. The strawberry glaze they make is literally strawberries, lemon juice and maple syrup blended together. It makes everything taste divine.

I know yall focus on the food and exercise industry for the most part but I would love to see more beauty industry health grifting get debunked, there is So Much of it out there

is anyone else having trouble playing the new February episode? it just sits there loading indefinitely for me. how do I report this?

Holy moly, those brownies really do whip ass!

I really hope we don’t do anything with bile. It’s gross and the method for obtaining it is insanely cruel.

Would love to see yall do an episode on complicated movie Monster House.

iirc "Malk" was also a joke from 'Ernest Scared Stupid' where he's trying to solve a riddle and the answer is "mother's *blank*" and he confidently answers "Malk! Mother's malk!"

Aubrey, please keep writing and eventually publish your fat spec fic novel! You are such an awesome storyteller and researcher I know it'll be a great novel ❤️

This is not specific for this episode. I just want to say that I love Maintenance phase. I only started listening cause I am a fan of well researched media material and have followed Michael Hobbs. I was never particularly interested in health pseudo science or self help grifters. Not that it's exclusively US but there is (or used to pre-social media) different level of cultural prevalence than where I'm from. This podcast has been an absolute eye-opener! Not just on fat phobia and the nonsensical wellness industry but on other issues I'm usually more interested in like journalism, research, class dynamics, etc. Just keep up the good work! It is much appreciated. I cannot shut up about this podcast and have made my family listen. Forced former journalist colleagues as an example of how to treat complicated and sensitive issues should be approached. Again thank you! Love and appreciate how much work you put in.

Aubrey, I'm watching your movie right now and I am weeeeeeeping. It's amazing, you're amazing ❤️

Global watch party for your fat friend is live now on kinema!

Anyone else bummed by the total absence of content on the main feed? I became a Patreon to support the general work…and now we are 4+ months since a drop of anything non-subscriber. Late stage capitalism seems to have swallowed up MP too. :(

i kind of need an episode where you eat brownies and chat tbh

Thank you so much for the misophonia warning!!

Did anyone else find that this cut out 6 minutes or so from the end?

I am so ready for the Jamie Oliver episode.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-77WXUGcrzU this made me think of aubrey's JUSTIFIED clothing rants <3

So funny that Michael described assessing his listening performance on zoom. I absolutely do this and I get obsessed with watching myself blink.

The Google AI tricked me and answered my question with an answer to a different question.

I am guessing that is in reference to You're Wrong About not Maintenance Phase.

It is you Mike, Claire’s buttermilk biscuit recipe/method from her BA days slaps. 😄

Fun fact, in the French Canadian dub of the MALK Simpsons episode, they call it "Chalk Milk". Like they'd mixed ground chalk with water.

Love the "no trader Joe's" in Seattle take because Queen Anne hills are the worst. Valid.

This just clicked for me, this is the real life store that is fictionalised in the Netflix series, You. It’s Anavrin!

Lol this was amazing! "Why does it taste metallic?" Also, I like kale chips too!

Omg Aubrey’s cackle as Mike opens the package

So glad to hear that you too were bowled over by 'Malk'

I am so excited for the Jaime Oliver episode! I had such a crush on him as a teenager when he was just The Naked Chef and just seemed like this nice little British guy with messy hair who liked to cook, but then turned out to be or turned into this out of touch, fat-people-hating ghoul (at least in my perception). I am psyched.

"I feel like I'm eating a sandcastle." 😂😂😂 I snorf-laughed at that one!

Aaaaahahahahaa am I on paxlovid?!!!! 😂😂😂 Dying listening to this! “SHUT THE FUCK UP REALLY?!” I was just sad it wasn’t a cacao nib brownie so I could hear Michael run for the trees!

The ENTIRE time, I just kept hearing the President of Turkey’s name lmao!

Aubrey have you tried Trader Joe’s vanilla sheet cake? It’s divine. Best eating with a fork standing over kitchen sink.

I'd like a t shirt that says "My apartment smells like my running pants." Not at all true, I just like the concept. 😆

“Vet-i-vare” 🤣

Mike’s genuine guffaw during the Malk discussion! I was in tears!

When I hear that name I think of Erehwon Mountain Outfitters. (It's "nowhere" spelled backwards). So when I saw the title I thought ...the outdoor store sells groceries? Then I realized it was spelled wrong and I was really confused 😂😂

your apartment smells like your running pants mike 😭😭😭 please

Omg just saw the episode title And Had no idea it’s not spelled arrowhon

Ok but how tf do you grass-feed a collagen peptide…?

I’m obsessed with this podcast being an ongoing debunking of my childhood. Grew up on the macrobiotic diet and it was absolutely bonkers.

Soooo excited to listen to this one! I actually worked at an erewhon in the supplement department and boy do I have some stories from that insane work environment

Please know you two bring so much joy into my life! This ep was delightful

Elixers are the next evolution of the smoothie add ins (wellness shots, ginger shots, protein powder) which were the next evolution of wheatgrass 😂 I’ve listened to just about every episode so correct me if I’m wrong but can we please talk about wheatgrass 🤣

Michael, if you’re going to deep dive on heath food, you need to read “Hippie Food” by Jonathan Kaufman. It’s really great and well documented.

I will have forever beef with vetiver because I was talking with a woman at a shop in Taos NM and I mentioned I worked with autistic elementary schoolers and she recommended vetiver oil because there have been “clinical trials” proving it cures autism……HUH???

It is a testament to my commitment to MP that despite my severe misophonic response to chewing/eating noises that I listened to this in full. NGL it was hard at times, but worth it :)

The Erewhon shopping bags in the recent Balenciaga show needs to be seen https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/pre-fall-2024/balenciaga

I love Kale chips. I had a friend who made them, which made them pretty cheap (though a long, low temperature oven drying process) and they just gave them to me. The first time I bought commercial ones I could not believe what they were charging. I can inhale a bag. Absolutely love them.

lol a V-8

PLEASE MAKE THE SALAD EPISODE AUBREY THERE IS SO MUCH THERE

Unrelated: can you guys look into David Sinclair??

I am on my knees begging you to get a PO box so I can send Michael a scented candle.

This trend makes me sad in the sense that it really demonstrates the tax on people with chronic illnesses. Because some of these foods, like the brownie, soooo perfectly match what I'd need in a baked good/doesn't contain certain things I can't have (there's not a lot of recipes either that don't have certain items) and it's expensive!

Hello! Not sure where to ask this : Have you considered doing an episode on "slow/fast metabolisms"? What the science currently says about it? How metabolism speed can change due to what we eat, and other factors? I feel like it's one of the core recurrent themes of your show. But never the centerpiece! So I feel like it would be an awesome subject for Mike to dig into research. I discovered the podcast a few weeks ago and have now listened to every episode and bonus. Some really blew my mind. Glad you're here!

Also -- Aubrey, why no carob?? Was hoping you'd prank Mike

I'm bummed out that they somehow ruined the delicious flavor of elderberries.

Malk cracks me the fuck up whenever I see it (they have it in Lidl + Market Basket as well) because it's the Simpsons rat milk 😭😭 Who let them do this 😭😭

Okay also on the health food store topic (sort of), I would love an MP-style deep dive on Whole30 - I just went through it because I’m trying to narrow down some health issue triggers and it felt like the easiest way, and while I mostly think the founder has good intentions and maybe even a decent take on food, the ‘community’ really doesn’t reflect that.

The fat bomb review actually helped me. I was making a smoothie just now and poured from the turkey broth carton instead of the oat milk carton. Very different. But I added almond butter and I think it actually covered up most of the weird flavor. I learned from Erewhon!

Aubrey, I’m begging you to write a dystopian, sci-fi! Fat representation is so often missed in the genre

Oh god was drinking a malk latte while listening. Nearly spit it out when you exposed me. It’s trash but I spent $6 so I’ll finish it. Also what you’re talking about in the beginning and not displaying wealth has been branded “quiet luxury” 🤑🤑🤑

Straight up screaming about the Claire Saffitz recipe take because THANK YOU

OH YAY this is like an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Groceries!!!

1) I love taste tests this episode was a masterpiece 2) tocotrienols are a form of vitamin e! They usually add those as a preservative because they’re antioxidants so I’m surprised they didn’t tout cancer “curing” properties.

I mentioned upthread that my mother lived in the macrobiotic house in the late 1960s, in Cambridge. My favorite detail of her time there is that her mother, a Yiddish lady from the border region of Ukraine and Poland, used to call the house and upbraid Michio Kushi with a lot of Oy vey! Vhat are you doing to my daughter?! and similar, until one day when my mother happened to walk by and hear her mother's voice coming out of the phone. I appreciate the brown rice and miso soup and umeboshi I grew up eating, alongside the Jewish food that was our family's baseline. But macrobiotics seems one step away from an eating disorder to me. My mother tells me she used to occasionally see Michio Kushi in a diner, smoking and eating eggs & bacon. There's a depiction of a very judgemental French macrobiotic community in David B.'s excellent graphic memoir "Epileptic".

now i just really want to try a mushroom brownie 😂 y’all are the best ❤️

My in-laws were Vit D truthers - I get that they grew up in post WWII London where you had to put babies in the sun to prevent rickets, but they migrated here to South Australia where it's very, very different.

I miss Aubrey’s voice

Claire Saffitz bon appetite recipes are pretty mid. Her cookbooks are really made for advanced home chefs or professionals and a lot flopped for me as an amateur baker. BUT Sohla El-Waylly has THE most amazing brownie recipe in her cookbook "Start Here"

I am loving the Erewhon episode and looking forward to the one about Macrobiotics. It was a big part of my childhood and part of what brought me to Maintenance Phase. Thank you for helping me process my experiences. Also, if you would like to talk with a fan that spent a few weeks at the Kushi Institute one summer and met Michio let me know. Thank you for all the wonderful episodes

Agreed. I would add that Maida Heatter never went to press with anything less than perfect. Her chocolate recipes especially are the best fill-in-the-chocolate-treat you have ever tried.

Oh my God, macrobiotics! As a child of the early '70s, that takes me back! My mom, like most white suburban LA moms in the 1970s, was somewhat into health food (so much carob and tofu) which of course pre-Whole Foods we bought at the 1 crunchy hippie health food store in town. But one of my aunts, after a cancer scare, moved to Japan and went full macrobiotic for the better part of the next decade. My impression as a kid was that a macrobiotic diet was as much a religion or cult as it was a diet. So many, many weird rules. And the food was so, so bad. When my aunt moved back to the states she lived in Omaha and was literally having ingredients like raw oats and barley shipped to her from Tokyo because they weren't available anywhere in early '80s Nebraska.

i would love if aubrey did write fat scifi! but i understand the hesitation and not trying to have a "we created the torment nexus from the hit novel don't create the torment nexus" moment

MALK: now with vitamin R!

I’m a big home baker (used to work as a pastry chef assistant) and am not a big fan of a lot of Bon Appetit / Claire Saffitz baking recipes! They can be pretty hit or miss, or over complicated. If you need a suggestion, go for Deb Perelman / Smittenkitchen - she tests her recipes like no one else, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a single one go wrong if following her directions. Her olive oil brownies are INSANE

I feel like Claire recipes only work in you are as particular as her and really follow everything to the letter. I made her confetti cake and it turned out amazing but was a marathon for someone that doesn't make much. My friend is cooking through her dessert book. Her olive oil cake is so good

My friend brought me there for the gag when I visited and I was so upset when I thought the $20 smoothie was one of the best I’ve ever had 😭 but we did sit on the chairs outside drinking them while we hit the weed vape so it felt like a necessary quintessential LA health obsessed but only kind of experience

Love shopping at a grocery store priced like I'm stuck in an airport lol

This was just so much fun. You bring so much joy to my ears. Thank you.

The Kate Hepburn brownies DO whip ass!

Ngl my biggest takeaway from this is I wanna read Aubrey's sci-fi dystopia novel

I hope you feel better soon Michael! Sending you lots of virtual chicken soup made from organic free-range grass-fed mansion-housed chickens who voluntarily sacrificed themselves just for you.

Can’t wait for the ox bile diet in 2030.

I hope the almonds in the almond bites were activated hahah

Damn, that lip smacking is making my scalp tingle in a really distressing way. I heard the warning for people with misophonia, quickly reached over to turn this episode off, but there wasn't enough time. I love this show. Next time though, could you please give us a moment to respond to a content warning?

Has Mike ever not skipped breakfast

I love whenever Aubrey and Mike do taste tests because it’s usually something I’m intrigued by but can’t get myself to purchase 😂 thank you for your service

Genuinely have never heard of this grocery store. Will you share pics of your haul? I need to see the good brownie and the seeded bar. Also I’m with you, Audrey, baking at home is king. But I can’t do flaky things (I’m more of a cook).

Malk tastes okay but I couldn’t really enjoy it because the name grosses me out. Sounds like liquid chalk. 😳

Facts: legit came into this thinking we were going to talk about a Turkish dictator #teammichael

So basically you’re telling me Anavrin from “You” is REAL? 😰

Goddamn. Now I want brownies

I did not know this place existed but the naming thing is like - they really did just invent the torment nexus again, huh?

If you liked this episode, definitely check out Groceries from Erin Gibson & Bryan Safi. (You might need to be an Attitudes patron to listen.) It is so fun and daffy! https://www.patreon.com/collection/62144?utm_campaign=collectionshare_patron

I have laughed out loud so many times. I swear, Aubrey’s low grunt laugh that went on for a solid 10-20 seconds. Malk, the rat milk. The “Tastes like I’m eating a sand castle.” I need all my Patreon dollars to food taste tests.

SHOUT OUT TO MS. HEPBURN'S BROWNIES!!! They are so good and easy to whip up when you a dessert. I got their recipe from NYT Cooking.

Imma Winco girlie so Erewhon is like another planet to me lol

FWIW I also can never get bon appetit recipes to work for me

Michael saying his apartment smells like his running pants is signaling to all the “musk” fetishists 🤣🤣🤣

"I can kill myself with lemonade at home" 🤣🤣 🤣

What a treat! I missed y'all. Love the taste tests

lol so I do in fact take ox bile and laughed so hard at that throwaway line at the beginning. But it was prescribed to me by a doctor because I don’t have a gallbladder 😂 I would not recommend taking it for fun.

So glad I’m not the only one who finds Malk hilarious

This is so fun. I ran over to the gas station down the road and got cheap snacks to munch on while listening to this. Now we’re all making mouth sounds together.

Does Patreon do that thing where you can designate your contribution to only certain items? Let it be known I want my $X a month to be only used for taste tests.

President of Turkey…..😂

Fat dystopian sci-fi?!?!?! AUDREY SIGN ME UPPPPPPP

I was NOT expecting for you guys to come dor Claire Saffitz in this episode LMAO

This was a great trip down memory lane because it reminded me of my childhood going into Boulder, Colorado to Green Mountain Grainery for HUGE bags of beans, oats, and other weird smelly items once a month. We live near Rocky Mountain National Park and drove down for bulk purchases. I've seen so much wellness grifting in my life living in that town. 😞 But the taste testing had me rolling... I knew you'd actually like the chaga brownies!

Claire Saffitz, who, like me is from St. Louis, has a gooey butter cake recipe in her first cookbook. However, it's one of those things that's actually better with shortcuts than made from scratch. It's actually *better* when you use one of the recipes that calls for yellow cake mix than otherwise.

I need you all to cover the Glucose Goddess. I have gestational diabetes, and folks keep recommending her to me, but she comes across as woo-woo to me

LOOOVE your taste test episodes! I'm in the middle of the US so the only knowledge I have of Erehwon are memes I see on the internet. Thanks for clarifying it's as ridiculous as it seems. P.S. As a self-proclaimed #brownieslut (the things I would do to a brownie at any given moment...) I prefer the good ol' boxed brownies.

Love hearing from y'all - I VERY MUCH live for these Patreon eps!

Nice! Mike's a fellow grocery outlet shopper. Erewhon must the store they compare their prices to. I shop at Grocery Outlet so often I must have saved a million dollars

Not a good baker here but Claire Saffitz’s brownies worked amazingly for me and they remain my favorite. Mike’s experience is hella valid too! And I agree there are basically no bad brownies.

BWAHAHAHA omg. Do taste tests always. Michael about gross food and Aubrey just cracking up is all I ever need❤❤❤❤❤

An absolutely delightful episode. “I gave them $130, Michael!!” 😂 Oh how I’ve missed you two 😊

I am SO GLAD you brought up the whole video chat thing, I've always been extremely uncomfortable on those bc PLS I'm gonna be distracted by my own face the whole time 🫣😩

Oh yes, please do the Macrobiotic diet. My mother lived in the macrobiotic house in Cambridge. I have a few stories and I've long hoped you'd tackle it.

I had no idea what erewhon was until the Frozen Pizzas, and then could not spell it to look it up, and this now makes so much more sense.

You are not missing much if you don’t know what vetiver smells like. To me, it smells like cat pee.

I just saw Aubrey in London and it was amazing! I’m now writing both my dissertation on gendered anti-fat bias and another essay on religion and diet culture, so please can we have some religious related diet episodes 😅 Time for a Charlie Shedd debunking!

Mike you are not alone in your bon appetit baking fails

My MIL was obsessed with Erewhon in the mid 90s when there was only one near what’s now The Grove. Even then it was *elite* and very bare bones but very very aspirational and astonishingly expensive. She was prone to niche health trends and “cancer prevention” so I was always skeptical of Erewhon. Now it’s just an orthorexic meet up spot and it just bums me out. Not at all surprised about its roots in ableism and low key eugenics.

I only knew Erehwon as a camping supply store. I was expecting Michael and Aubrey to eat dehydrated spaghetti and MREs.

"I'm not a scented candle," Michael Hobbes, 2024

Could someone without misophonia be the absolutely kindest person in the world and indicate the time stamps for the taste test(s)? I survived the sounds in the beginning and made it safely to 25:00. Would be appreciated so, so much 🙏🙏

Does anyone else think that "Erewhon" sounds like the name of a country in some fantasy series? Like, it rhymes with Eragon, and I could see someone doing a D&D campaign in a world called Erewhon just for the absurdity. Edit: And now I've gotten to the bit about the name being from a book.

Shrieked at Aubrey mentioning the Katherine Hepburn brownies

If I had a nickel for every time someone misunderstood a satire as a real way to fix a problem, I’d be part of the problem

Just thanking you for misophonia warning truly 😁 much appreciated and will gladly catch y’all on another one ❤️

“The implement an oxygen component” I laughed so hard at this. Sounds like some marketer asked Chat GPT to write a product description in the style of Corporate B.S. Generator (www.atrixnet.com/bs-generator.html)

i’m picturing aubrey in the knuckle sandwich tshirt. i hope i’m not wrong.

IDK if you'll see this Aubrey, I was at the film screening in Belfast but got too emotional so had to leave before the Q&A, it was so good though! The lights came up and I was sitting at the front so I noped out of there, I hope you got some good questions!

WHAT THE MEOW IS A VIT D TRUTHER!!!! I want to know!!!!

I think a big part of the story here is that the store is insanely profitable and yet it appears they might pay their store employees less than my teen made starting out at Safeway here in Colorado. At least pay your employees well!

you two doing food reviews is totally the podcast content i didnt know I needed.

I grew up in LA and my mom shopped at Erewhon somewhat regularly (she was way way ahead of the health food craze) so I have very fond memories of Erewhon. This bonus episode is especially delightful.

Michael you have to try Claire saffitz’s Blueberry Buckle cake thing it’s INCREDIBLE

I worked at a health food store in NW DC in the early 90s ( now defunct) but even then thier devotees were snooty and loosely unhinged so this doesn't surprise me but it's kinda sad.

Can’t wait for the Jamie Oliver ep. Aubrey I hope you managed to avoid his rhetoric whilst over here for your tour!

So amped for this speculative fiction adventure

This whole time I’ve been spelling the name in my head as Arawon. Absolutely wild

"Are there bad brownies??" snackwells

So I have both of Claire Saffitz’ books and all but one of the recipes have turned out perfectly. To be fair, I haven’t tried any of the things Michael mentioned but my guess is it’s him not the recipe 😂

RELEASE THE UNEDITED EPISODES PLZ

I knew Erewhon as the seller of huge brown bags of rice in the 80s. My folks were macrobiotic-adjacent, coming to it as seaweed harvesters for a little seaweed company in Maine. My mom then worked the packaging line, at the time basically a table in a barn, and my dad became the marketing team; my mom was a back-to-the-land hippie, not as an aesthetic or political choice but as sensible survival, and my dad was looking for firm ground, and a family illness turned them upside down — and the then-tiny natural foods industry became their rock. We had the bulk foods ordering cooperative my mom ran in the corner of the local general store, the tin trays of wheat grass on the sunny window sill, a lot of supplements, a lot of kelp. (My brothers and I hated everything, but moral security via good food/bad food sunk in deep.) Erewhon as a luxury brand is funny to me. But… of course that’s what happened. The Maine seaweed company, though, seems to be true to its original earnest mission, and I now like kelp.

Omg the keto bombs sound like blue buffalo “life source bits”, cold formed for greater potency!

I’m always thrown when you guys say “should we turn our cameras on” because i never consider they wouldn’t be 😂

Malk sounds like Smeg appliances. Hilariously weird/gross name but they figure it’s so expensive nobody will make fun of the name.

I am so disappointed to know that Mike is a smelly anti candle man 👨

I brainstormed puns for Mike and Aubrey signature Erewhon smoothies and came up with: - you’re raw about - your fat friend fat bomb - you just need to taste this smoothie, it’s great: 19 ingredients in this smoothie - maintenance bae

So glad to hear that you’ll be back with more episodes soon! Can you please do Ka’Chava as part of an episode? It’s been recommended to me and it’s giving big Moon Juice energy.

Alissa Goodman is such a trash. She claimed to heal her Celiac disease with a fancy diet when it's an incurable autoimmune disease!

Yesss Jamie Oliver!!

Now I want to know Aubrey's favorite baking recipes! I'm lucky enough to live near a bunch of excellent bakeries now so I don't do it as much, but my go-to to show off is a kouign-amann (esp. the Breton style) as it's just so easy relative to how tasty it is.

As per usual—the horrors persist

So excited you did this episode! Macrobiotics was my gateway into eating disorders in my teens. The Kushi Institute was two towns over and one of my friends, a disciple of Michio Kushi, lived there. She talked a lot about Kushi's teachings that any ailments I had was because I was eating the wrong foods. And sugar kills. People died of Cancer because they weren't "disciplined enough" to stick to the macrobiotic regime, which is incredibly involved. Now, decades later, it's podcasts like yours that help me stay in Recovery.

Aubrey! Saw your movie when you sent out tickets for a link over Christmas! Thank you so much for sharing that with us, it was lovely to feel like I got to meet you 🥹💗💗💗

This episode made me so curious that I decided to go poke around the Erewhon website looking at their products. They have something called "cold pressed lemon water", and I do not understand how water can be cold pressed???? I guess they mean the lemon but still very confusing!

I hope you feel better soon, Mike! I got the flu in mid December and it turned into pneumonia and I'm still coughing, so I empathize!! Looking forward to this episode and some new main feed ones soon! ❤️❤️❤️

I'm only 13 minutes in but already nearly crying with laughter. I don't understand how you can "add an oxygen component" to water, without making it something else. It's already H2O...

Mike, did you try Claire’s forever brownies? Those generally work with or without the malt powder 🤌

I’m so glad my patreon money finances you eating weird rich people food like thats the real incentive 😂😂😂❤️❤️

I appreciate you acknowledging and warning those of us with misophonia but to follow it up with intentional mouth noises is cruel and unnecessary. When I see taste test episodes I know what I am getting into and am prepared to skip some of the episode. Mocking and making intentional trigger noises is a really disappointing choice on your part, Michael.

Aubrey's got that sweet book money, she can afford Erewhon now 😆

Yippeeeeee i loveeee taste test eps!! Looking forward to this later today :D

Had the best time seeing the movie in London, it is fantastic. And the Q&A with Jeanie and Sofie was excellent, thank you Aubrey. I was so star struck!! And I spotted Laura Adlington in the cafe who has a brilliant new anti-diet book out recently. Sadly I had to miss out on the meet and greet as I had a long train journey home. Ps. Cannot wait to hear your take on Jamie Oliver!

It was so great to meet you in Manchester, I'm a new Patreon but been listening in main feed for a while. I'm SO intrigued about the Jamie Oliver EP. Feel better Mike!

I love the grass fed collagen peptides = woke for animal protein and fats! 🤣🤣

Excited to have you both back on the main feed soon, and *really* looking forward to the Jamie Oliver one. Aubrey, it was fantastic meeting you, Jeanie, and Pammy in Cardiff, the film is incredible. Get well soon Mike! I just went on this Erewhon site to have a look... $11 for like 150g pomegranate seeds?! Yikes.

Try Stella Park's baked goods, particularly her brownies. Her book, Bravetart, is absolutely incredible.

Aubrey on tour! New If Books Could Kill! New Maintenance Phase! The Mike and Aubrey Cinematic Universe is spoiling us

Yaaay I love listening to you guys on my commute. Also, I saw Aubrey in Glasgow this month and she was amazing ♥️ Edit: at her event I mean, I haven't been following her around 🤣

Will be listening later but happy to hear Aubrey is back from her whirlwind tour with her "celebrity guest mic holder" 🥹🥰

Oh sweet! I just started noticing erewhon popping up and now I don’t need to google it 😂 Hope Aubrey got a break after the whirlwind and that Mike feels better soon!

Oh yes so happy you're looking at Jamie Oliver.

I have a 2 decade hate-on for Jamie Oliver and his school dinners shite (and not because British school dinners didn't deserve to be better, but oh my)

I hope Mike feels better soonest!

Just had a family death, I needed this 💜