The Moth Podcast

Episode: Food Fiascos

Release Date: November 21, 2025
Host: Chloe Salmon
Theme: True tales of food disasters, family, and the power of embracing culinary imperfection

Overview

In honor of the high expectations and inevitable mishaps of holiday cooking, The Moth presents three stories of food gone wrong. Host Chloe Salmon invites listeners to "lean out of perfection and into messiness" as storytellers recount their most memorable food fiascos—each tale serving up not just laughs but poignant reflections on family, identity, and resilience.

1. Ellie Tonkin: The Mayonnaise Betrayal and the Power of Showing Up

Recorded at a Boston Moth Story Slam (Theme: Grudge)
Start: [03:26]

Key Points & Insights

• Childhood Frustration:
  Ellie wanted the hot, “normal” school lunches her classmates enjoyed, which clashed with her family's kosher diet. Every day, she brought a tuna fish sandwich—her main complaint being mayonnaise, which she detested for its “look, texture, the sliminess.”
• Failed Compromise:
  At age twelve, Ellie musters the courage to ask her mother not to spread mayo on the bread. Her mother agrees, but the next day, the sandwich arrives with “mayo slathered all over the bread.” Ellie's feeling of betrayal is deep and formative.
• Long-Running Grudge:
  The disagreement over sandwiches becomes a symbol of a larger emotional disconnect. In her diary, Ellie scrawls, "I hate her" repeatedly, channeling frustration at a love that was always present but unspoken (familial affection was assumed, never verbalized).
• Mother-Daughter Dynamics in Adulthood:
  Even as an adult—by then a seasoned mediator—Ellie feels unheard by her mother. A blow-up leads to a mordant punchline:
  • Quote:

    “I have spent so many decades not being listened to by you that I had to go out and make it my full time job to get people to listen to each other.”
    (Ellie, [07:04])

• Bittersweet Resolution:
  In her mother’s final illness, peace is made—not through apology or confrontation, but by being present. They share conversations about soup and politics rather than old resentments.
• Profound Realization:
  Ellie comes to appreciate “the power of showing up” and the consistent, if flawed, love her mother offered—a sandwich always made to “hold together,” if not exactly as requested.
  • Notable Closing:

    “I never got the sandwich I asked for, but I always got a sandwich. And it was one that was made to hold together.”
    (Ellie, [09:12])

Memorable Moments

• Ellie's realization that gaslighting has always existed—in her case, through sandwich assembly!
• The ironic twist that a career in conflict mediation was, in some ways, forged by her experiences at the lunch table.

2. Kayleigh Hudson: London Broil in the Drawer

Recorded at a Denver Moth Story Slam (Theme: Ambition)
Start: [12:09]

Key Points & Insights

• Family Inspiration, College Ambition:
  Kayleigh's mother is an expert cook, and Kayleigh, newly independent at college, wants to channel that skill by hosting a dinner party for friends.
• The London Broil Fiasco:
  Diligently follows her mother's instructions for London broil—marinates, prepares sides, and times everything perfectly. When it's time to reveal the meal, the meat emerges:
  • “An uncooked, raw, now room temperature slab of meat.”
• The Drawer Debacle:
  Kayleigh mistakenly believes the broiler is the bottom oven drawer, not realizing it's actually just for storage in her apartment's oven.
  • Quote:

    “Why did you try to cook it in the drawer?”
    (Caroline, [14:26])

  • Kayleigh’s steadfast insistence:

    “Oh, no, that’s a broiler.”
    (Kayleigh, [14:30])

• Rescue and Redemption:
  Admits confusion after a neighbor with culinary school training explains the mistake; ultimately, he helps salvage dinner.
• Crowning Admission:
  The most embarrassing part wasn’t the oven mistake—it was that halfway through, she opened the drawer and “flipped” the meat, per her mom’s real broiler instructions!
  • Quote:

    “I thought I was cooking a London broil in a drawer...but honestly, the part that was the hardest to come clean to my friends about was...I opened it up and I flipped it over.”
    (Kayleigh, [17:13])

• Epilogue:
  Many years later, Kayleigh and friends attempt the recipe again—this time successfully.

Memorable Moments

• The gentle, Southern-accented corrections from her friends.
• The mortified, yet hilarious, moment of flipping raw meat in a storage drawer.

3. Gabrielle Shea: Mac and Cheese, Sweetened Condensed Disaster

Recorded at a New York City Moth Story Slam
Start: [18:15]

Key Points & Insights

• Cocky Beginnings:
  Gabrielle, proudly self-taught, describes her “baked mac and cheese” recipe—a box mix topped with corn flakes and baked.
  • Admission:

    “My black card should have been revoked for that.”
    (Gabrielle, [19:01])

• The Humble Realization:
  At a friend’s house, she tastes “real” homemade mac and cheese and is awed; the friend's mom teaches her how to do it right.
• Thanksgiving Showdown:
  Years later, Gabrielle wants to impress her boyfriend Frank’s large Irish family with her new, improved mac and cheese at Thanksgiving, channeling the pride of cooking as cultural love.
  • Quote:

    “I wanted to show these white folk how black folk throw down in the kitchen.”
    (Gabrielle, [20:59])

• Disaster Strikes:
  Frank tastes her dish and is clearly not impressed. On sampling it herself, she immediately gags—she accidentally used sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk.
• Stealthy Save:
  Frank covertly removes the offending dish from the table—no one else ever finds out.
  • Quote:

    “He went and performed some covert black ops extraction mission and got that Mac and cheese off the table without anyone knowing.”
    (Gabrielle, [23:33])

• Redemption:
  She makes a correct (tasted!) version for Christmas, to family acclaim. The dish becomes a staple at future dinners.
  • Notable Closing:

    “Twenty years later, my baked Mac and cheese is still the most sought after dish on the family dinner table.”
    (Gabrielle, [24:53])

Memorable Moments

• The overwhelming difference between boxed mac and “real” mac and cheese.
• The “spy mission” act of food removal.
• The tradition of love-through-food, even after utter disaster.

Episode Highlights & Notable Quotes

• On culinary imperfection:

  “Food disasters make for better family lore anyway.”
  (Chloe Salmon, [01:51])

• On the deeper meaning of showing up:

  “I might have underestimated the power of showing up.”
  (Ellie Tonkin, [08:54])

• On public shame and learning:

  “You would think the most embarrassing part would be that I spent a whole day where I thought I was cooking a London broil in a drawer.”
  (Kayleigh Hudson, [17:13])

• On the high stakes of Thanksgiving sides:

  “Now, on Thanksgiving, sides are a very, very important part of the meal...Mac and cheese is up there with mashed potatoes, collard greens, candied yams. So if you’re going to do it, you got to bring it.”
  (Gabrielle Shea, [21:37])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:26] Ellie Tonkin: Mayonnaise, mother-daughter conflict, making peace
• [11:51] Kayleigh Hudson: College cooking debut, broiler confusion
• [18:15] Gabrielle Shea: Mac and cheese mishaps, cultural expectations, redemption

Closing Thoughts

Chloe Salmon reminds listeners that honesty about failure, especially in the kitchen, is what forges the best stories—and that every ruined dish is just a future piece of family folklore. Whether it’s the mayo on bread, the London broil in the drawer, or the Mac and cheese catastrophe, the message is clear: culinary disasters unite us, and sometimes, they even help us heal.

Happy Thanksgiving from The Moth. May your food be only slightly disastrous, and your stories unforgettable.