This week's episode of The Sporkful podcast is up! Listen through the player, Stitcher, or Apple Podcasts. (And please subscribe!)

"[There are times] when things have just spiraled out of control...but god damnit, I am going to have the exact number of layers in my homemade puff pastry — because I can control that."

That's food writer David Leite. This week on The Sporkful, David tells us how his struggles with bipolar disorder affect what he cooks and eats.

"When I was feeling depressed…I would eat…a lot of comfort foods. Later, there was this restorative quality to cooking…it just gave me a certain amount of peace," he says. "There’s a real close connection between mood and food."

David also talks about growing up Portuguese outside Boston, craving the all-American treats he saw on TV:

"I wanted to eat Betty Crocker cakes with Betty Crocker frosting. I wanted to eat anything with Velveeta," he recalls. "I just didn’t want to be Portuguese. … I wanted to be American by consumption."

Listen in to the full episode to hear Dan and David bond over the difficulties of being neurotic party hosts. Plus David puts on his marriage therapist hat and takes sides in an ongoing dispute between Dan and his wife.

This week's episode of The Sporkful podcast is up! Listen through the player, Stitcher, or Apple Podcasts. (And please subscribe!)

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Interstitial music in this episode from Black Label Music:

- "Sun So Sunny" by Calvin Dashielle

- "Steady" by Cullen Fitzpatrick

- "Dreamin'" by Erick Anderson

- "New Old" by JT Bates

Photos: Dan Pashman and courtesy of David Leite