We typically invite scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for an informal conversation about their work, and then we turn those brunches into a podcast.

But for these bonus mini-episodes, we’re changing things up a bit, asking Notre Dame researchers to talk about something that both makes them happy and has no direct connection to their academic pursuits.

In other words, if you thought a podcast recorded over brunch couldn’t get even more casual, you’d be wrong.

Here, Katie O’Reilly, a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Stream and Wetland Ecology Lab at Notre Dame, joins host Ted Fox to discuss a subject near and dear to both of them:

Midwest pizza.