Whether you’re walking your dog, traveling, or just trying to please your Fitbit, summer is the ultimate season to stretch your legs. To make sure you have plenty of listening material, I’ve compiled a few choice podcasts for you to add to your lineup. Don’t forget sunscreen!

Bon Appétit Foodcast

Chefs are incredibly fascinating people, as anyone who has bought into Le Network De Food already knows. Some are arrogant, some are incredibly down-to-earth and creative, and others are just unique unicorns, like Moon Juice’s Amanda Chantal Bacon. Learn more about your favorite chefs by tuning into Bon Appétit’s Foodcast. You can also check out their newer programs, like “Basically,” where they answer reader questions about cooking.

The Daily

As much as I hate the tire fire that America has become, I can’t stop wanting updates on the craziness. If you also want regular explanations and debriefs of the insane headlines floating before your eyes, check out The Daily, by the New York Times. Host Michael Barbaro explores topics in depth so that you can know whether or not the sky is indeed falling.

Fresh Air

This podcast is the nearest and dearest to my heart. I just love the interviewing style of its host, Terry Gross. Whether she’s exposing the most sensitive side of the late Maurice Sendak or diving into how the housing market has served a segregationist agenda, she unlocks life-changing insights in every episode. You’ll definitely fall in love with this podcast if you give it a chance. Terry Gross for president?

Slate’s Trumpcast

This podcast started as a lighthearted affair, with its host Jacob Weisberg inviting people to do Trump impressions and poke at what makes people like him. But once Trump actually became our president, it did its civic duty and became a serious journalistic endeavor. I tune into Trumpcast regularly to hear experts on Trump/Russia, like Anne Applebaum. This might be the podcast I currently listen to most.

Still Processing

Looking for a chill new way to discover the latest music, movies, and TV? Still Processing hosts Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham are down-to-earth, whip-smart and hilarious. In each episode, they bring you the pop culture news and commentary you want without the pretension of holier-than-thou gatekeepers. They can dissect Katy Perry’s fake wokeness in one stride and sing Carly Rae Jepsen’s praises in the next.

Comedy Bang Bang

Scott Aukerman is one of the low-key funniest dudes of our generation. Between his punny send-up of traditional Q&A hosts and his guests’ non-sequitur improvisational characters, Comedy Bang Bang is a podcast like no other. If you want to see the most up-and-coming figures in comedy doing what they do best, make sure to tune in.

Channel 33 – ‘Bachelorette Party’

Let’s not lie. What you really want is a Bachelor nation recap podcast. Don’t worry. This is a safe space. I am happy to point you to Channel 33’s Bachelorette Party episodes, where you’ll find the commentary you want, plus plenty of special guests. Host Juliet Litman has an ingenious interview style of making guests feel comfortable with wide-eyed questions and jokes before shoving hard-core journalistic questions in their face. I will also point you to the Here to Make Friends podcast by the Huffington Post, where Emma Gray and Claire Fallon break down each episode with the wit and smarts of best friends you wish you had.

Bulletproof Radio

Want to learn about health and nutrition while you walk? For that, I usually turn to Bulletproof Radio by Dave Asprey. The creator of the lifestyle behind the fatty coffee (so good) has on excellent guests like Gary Taubes and Subir Chowdhury to chase down the truth in the latest nutritional science. Learn about everything from quelling inflammation to why the “calories in/calories out” hypothesis may not be so true.

S-Town

If you haven’t listened to this year’s biggest podcast yet, now’s the time. S-Town, hosted by Brian Reed, explores the life of a man named John B. McLemore, who is truly unlike anyone else. Not without its share of controversy, S-Town exists in its own unique space in podcast-land. Devour it on a few walks, and then proceed to read the think pieces. Your mind will be opened.

Terrible, Thanks for Asking

Our own contributor, Nora McInerny, has created her own famed podcast, Terrible, Thanks for Asking, on American Public Media. She explores what people are really feeling as they face all kinds of terrible situations, from broken marriages to police brutality. Each episode will leave you more in touch with your own unvoiced feelings, and that’s a good thing.

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Image sources: top image / the rest are courtesy of linked sources.

Becky Lang

Becky Lang is a writer, creative director and occasional podcaster living in Minneapolis. She also likes to draw dogs and female protagonists.