Annabel Crabb baked her laptop (and it wasn’t even her worst cooking disaster), while Kate Reid’s croissants inspired people to line up at two AM in zero-degree weather, just to try her pastries.

Those are two of the many stories I’ve earnt from creating 100 episodes of The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry podcast.

Other things I’ve discovered: a near-drowning on the NSW coast inspired the launch of beloved NY pizzeria Roberta’s, Mike Bennie used to pick out wines for Russell Crowe, A Tribe Called Quest and Malcolm Turnbull. Jowett Yu couldn’t afford a bed when working at Tetsuya’s (then ranked #5 on the World’s 50 Best list), while Lennox Hastie essentially lived in an on-site ruin while cooking at top Michelin-starred restaurant Extebarri (“sheep used to walk in the back door to keep warm in the winter”).

I’ve learnt a lot about the nature of working in hospitality – from Morgan McGlone inheriting the worst site in the city (no could park near the restaurant and there were issues with the bathrooms, which may have cost more than the actual restaurant) to Bentley’s staff deciding to move $500,000 of wine in GoGet cars. Plus, it turns out David Chang’s innovations – from cranking up the music loudly to chefs personally serving diners actually came out of selfish motives (the music was loud so the chefs could hear it all the way back in the kitchen, and he thought he could run a restaurant without front-of-house staff)!

There have been a lot of great and surprising pay-offs from doing this podcast – from being Top 3 food podcast in Slovakia for a day to being picked to be archived by the National Library of Australia.

I’m grateful to the people who helped me get the podcast off the ground (Alex Watts, FBi radio), ALL the incredible people I’ve been lucky enough to talk to, all the people who’ve given me interview leads or helped me organise Q&As and, of course, every single person who listens to the episodes.

I’m about to jump on a plane (otherwise I’d individually link to all the podcasts listed below), but you can find all the episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, all your podcast-catching services and also here.

Top 10 Most Downloaded Podcasts

1. Helen Yee, Grab Your Fork 07/20/16
2. Danielle Alvarez, Fred’s 02/13/17
3. Annabel Crabb, Kitchen Cabinet, Special Delivery 11/29/15
4. Glen Goodwin, Bentley, Monopole, Yellow 09/29/16
5. Mike Bennie, Rootstock Sydney
6. Ibrahim Kasif, Stanbuli, Porteno
7. Ben Shewry, Attica 11/18/17
8. Palisa Anderson, Chat Thai, Boon Cafe
9. Jake Smyth, Mary’s 08/25/15
10. Dan Hong, Merivale 02/24/15

10 Podcast Episodes To Start With

1. Analiese Gregory (then at Funemployed, now at Franklin)
2. Ben Shewry, Attica
3. Kate Reid, Lune Croissanterie
4. Samin Nosrat, Salt Fat Acid Heat
5. Glen Goodwin, Bentley
6. Palisa Anderson, Boon Cafe, Chat Thai
7. Alex Elliot-Howery, Cornersmith
8. Richard Hargreave, Momofuku Seiobo
9. Morgan McGlone, Belles Hot Chicken
10. Helen Yee, Grab Your Fork

And this is the list of every single episode so far …

1. David Ralph, Kakawa
2. Josh Nicholls, The Milk Bar by Cafe Ish
3. Myffy Rigby, Time Out Sydney
4. Jack Hanna, The Grounds
5. Nick Palumbo, Gelato Messina
6. Naomi Hart, Hartsyard
7. Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar
8. Kristen Allan, Cornersmith and Full Circle
9. Joanna Savill, Good Food Guide
10. Jaime Wirth, Drink N Dine
11. Adam Humphrey, Arras
12. Elizabeth Hewson, Moving Out, Eating In
13. Andrew Levins, The Dip
14. Mike Bennie, Rootstock Sydney
15. O Tama Carey, Berta
16. Renee Creer, Perfect South and Sydney Tea Festival
17. Richard Hargreave, Momofuku Seiobo
18. Ferran Adria, elBulli
19. Andy Bowdy (Andrew Bowden), Hartsyard
20. Hanz Gueco, Cafe Paci
21. Ambrose Chiang, Momofuku Seiobo
22. Chui Lee Luk, Claude’s, Chow Eating House
23. Nick Smith, Rising Sun Workshop
24. Hetty McKinnon, Arthur Street Kitchen
25. Kerby Craig, Ume
26. Kylie Millar, Burch and Purchese, Pei Modern
27. Massimo Bottura, Osteria Francescana, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef
28. David Thompson, Katrina Birchmeier, Emma Barnes, Appetite For Excellence Awards
29. Carlos Heng and Dan Pigott, MakMak Macarons
30. Dan Hong, Merivale
31. Andrew Levins, TwoThousand
32. Mitch Orr, ACME
33. Dan Barber and Eric Kayser, Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
34. Christopher Thé, Black Star Pastry
35. Matt Swieboda, Waterman Lobster Co.
36. Analiese Gregory, Funemployed
37. Gregory Llewelyn, Hartsyard
38. Min Chai, N2 Extreme Gelato
39. Jake Smyth, Mary’s
40. Barbara Sweeney, Food and Words Festival
41. Myffy Rigby, Good Food Guide
42. Luke Powell, LP’s Quality Meats
43. Claire van Vuuren and Mitch Grady, Bloodwood
44. Ben Sears, Moon Park
45. James Hird, Rootstock
46. Ben Greeno, The Paddington
47. Annabel Crabb, Kitchen Cabinet, Special Delivery
48. Magnus Nilsson, Faviken, The Nordic Cookbook
49. Mike Eggert, Pinbone
50. Stuart Krelle, Luchetti Krelle
51. Patrick Friesen, Papi Chulo, Queen Chow
52. Alex Elliott-Howery, Cornersmith
53. Corie Sutherland, Edition Coffee Roasters
54. Palisa Anderson, Boon Cafe, Chat Thai
55. Elijah (EJ) Holland, Noma Australia
56. Helen Yee, Grab Your Fork
57. Ibrahim Kasif, Stanbuli
58. Glen Goodwin, Bentley, Monopole, Yellow
59. Nancy Singleton Hachisu, Preserving The Japanese Way
60. Mike Bennie, Rootstock Sydney
61. Lauren Eldridge, Pei Modern
62. Toby Wilson, Ghostboy Cantina
63. Danielle Alvarez, Fred’s
64. Pasi Petanen and Giorgio de Maria, That’s Amore
65. Rob Caslick, Two Good
66. Phil Gandevia, Bentley
67. Mike McEnearney, Kitchen By Mike
68. Nikki To, Food Photographer
69. Clayton Wells, Automata
70. Jill Dupleix, Australia’s Top 100 Restaurants
71. Donato Toce, Gelato Messina
72. Lennox Hastie, Firedoor
73. Katherine Sabbath, Baker, Greatest Hits
74. Duncan Welgemoed, Africola
75. Brent Savage, Bentley, Monopole, Yellow, Cirrus
76. Shannon Martinez, Smith and Daughters, Smith and Deli
77. David McGuinness, Bourke Street Bakery
78. Sarah Doyle, Bodega, Porteno, Continental Deli
79. Ben Shewry, Attica
80. Morgan McGlone, Belles Hot Chicken
81. Myffy Rigby, Palisa Anderson, Trisha Nelson, Live At Rootstock
82. Jock Zonfrillo, Orana
83. Alexandra Caroll (Alex Craig), Paris and New York
84. Eve Yeung, Noma
85. Samin Nosrat, Salt Fat Acid Heat
86. Sharon Salloum, Almond Bar
87. Joe Beddia, Pizzeria Beddia
88. Travis Harvey, OzHarvest
89. Kylie Javier Ashton, Momofuku Seiobo
90. Sunny and Ross Lusted, The Bridge Room
91. Su Wong Ruiz, Momofuku Ko
92. Bo Bech, Geist.
93. Christine Manfield, Tasting India
94. Jowett Yu, Ho Lee Fook, Mr Wong
95. Shannon Martinez, Mo Wyse and El Rosa, Smith and Deli
96. Adam Wolfers, Etelek
97. Carlo Mirarchi, Roberta’s
98. Caitlyn Rees, Fred’s
99. Daniel Puskas, Sixpenny
100. Kate Reid, Lune Croissanterie