The Splendid Table turns 20

While some cooking programs have turned to high drama to attract bigger ratings, one show has remained rock steady for 20 years: NPR's The Splendid Table. Host Lynne Rossetto Kasper reminisces with Eater about the show, recalling the early episodes which featured luminaries like chefs Danny Meyer and Michael Romano of The Union Square Cafe, food scientist and cookbook author Shirley Corriher, and Julia Child, who appeared regularly on the early shows.

Kasper also discusses the changes that have happened over the past two decades. She feels there is now "more varied material on food. We were always tracking what was happening in the food world in the broadest sense. One of the great changes was that in the beginning, whenever we mentioned the word "sustainable" or "organic," we had to explain it. Today, you don't even have to think about explaining it."

The Spendid Table has certainly contributed to the broader U.S. interest in food today. Says Kasper: "We saw the changes. Some people have said we nudged some of those, or at least broadened the awareness of those changes in what we were doing. I consider that a great compliment." Congratulations to The Splendid Table and Lynne Rossetto Kasper on twenty years of great food radio.