Welcome to our club, welcome to our club! In the first installment of what we expect to be a recurring segment called Girls' Club (or Girls' Lunch Book Club, or Girls' Book Club, or some other to-be-determined combination of these words), Nicole and Julia review the book Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke. Nicole also provides some history and context about the phenomenon of tradwives, which feature heavily in the book and sneakily in the background of many of our episodes.

Timestamps for content warning: Discussion of a sexual assualt scene in the book (26:38 - 28:21) and brief mention of sexual assault (47:37 - 47:54)

Our theme song is "Red Onions" by Louie Zong, off of his album Vegetable Soul: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/vegetable-soul

We're on Instagram @girlslunchpod. Nicole's website is nicolehylton.com. Have an episode suggestion or question? You can email us at girlslunchpodcast@gmail.com and we will add it to our chaotic list of future episode subjects.

Sources:

• Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke

• "#Tradwife Life as Self-Annihilation," by Anne Helen Peterson on the Culture Studies Substack

• "Episode 18: Trad Wives," In Bed With the Right podcast

• "TikTok Gets the Boot, Plus a 'Tradwife' Fantasy," NPR's It's Been a Minute

• "The Agoraphobic Fantasy of Tradlife," by Zoe Hu for Dissent Magazine

As Marie Antoinette definitely once said: Let them serve 💅🏼 cake. In our first standalone episode in literal months, Julia and Nicole talk about what this episode is NOT about, the historical layers of cake, and the popcorn crimes of Mary Hamilton Talbott. Join us from our flying kitchen as we answer two of life's greatest questions: what is cake, and is it gay?

Our theme song is "Red Onions" by Louie Zong, off of his album Vegetable Soul: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/vegetable-soul

We're on Instagram @girlslunchpod. Nicole's website is nicolehylton.com. Have an episode suggestion or question? You can email us at girlslunchpodcast@gmail.com and we will add it to our chaotic list of future episode subjects.

Sources:

• On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, by Harold McGee

• Cake: A Global History, by Nicola Humble

• "History of bread and cakes," The History of Food, by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat (p. 223-246)

• Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, by Tamra Andrews (p. 52-54)

• Lynne Olver, foodtimeline.org

• "Cake Mixes: CU's consultants tasted and examined ready-mix cakes to find which brands were best," Consumer Reports, September 1953 (p. 385-7)

• What is Queer Food? How we Served a Revolution, by John Birdsall

• "News of Food," New York Times, November 17, 1949 (p. 39)

• Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America, by Andrew F. Smith

We're back for the chocolate-coated conclusion of our Hershey series! Picking back up at the turn of the 20th century, Nicole and Julia chronicle the Hershey Company's history through the Great Depression, two World Wars, and (spoilers) the death of its founder and beloved candy man Milton Hershey. They also ponder the ethics of extreme wealth, chocolate as patriotism, the Hershey Company's relationship with the US government, and (of course!) wacky marketing. Don't fill up on your Ration D starvation chocolate—this episode is CHOC-full (hehe) of cool cocoa trivia!

Our theme song is "Red Onions" by Louie Zong, off of his album Vegetable Soul: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/vegetable-soul

We're on Instagram @girlslunchpod. Nicole's website is nicolehylton.com. Have an episode suggestion or question? You can email us at girlslunchpodcast@gmail.com and we will add it to our chaotic list of future episode subjects.

Links to Sources:

• The Hershey Story Museum, Hershey, PA

• The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars, by Joël Glenn Brenner

• Hershey, by Michael D'Antonio

• "Hershey's Kisses Chocolates," Hershey Community Archives

• "Ration D Bars," Hershey Community Archives

• Honeywell Kitchen Computer Advertisement, Neiman Marcus Catalog, scan courtesy of Wikimedia