Can’t sleep? Neither could Julie Gauthier. Restless, anxious and unable to switch off, she had a lightbulb moment: she’d lull others to sleep by recording her favourite pastime, reading restaurant menus.
“A few years ago, I started struggling with anxiety, particularly nighttime anxiety,” says Gauthier. “I started listening to sleep podcasts and I very quickly realised: this is it. This is what I want to do. I didn’t want to do guided meditation or read an old book, and honestly the idea came to me while I was in bed, reading a menu.”
In October, Gauthier launched Pepperoni Pizza Dreams – a softly spoken sleep podcast in which she reads menus from cafes and restaurants from anywhere in the world. It’s rhythmic and mundane, and it works. “It’s interesting enough that someone would want to listen to it,” she says. “But not so interesting that it would keep them up and they wouldn’t want to fall asleep.”
“Julie G”, as she calls herself, speaks slowly and with that breathy quality of ASMR content. She records herself at night, often dressed in her PJs. “My bedroom has the most soft surfaces of all of the rooms in my house,” she tells Broadsheet. “I’m surrounded by soft pillows, blankets, and so it makes for the best recording quality, but it also puts me in the right head space. It’s when it’s quietest in the house. Oftentimes my cat is snoring away on the bed. It’s perfect.”
As she explains in episode one, the menus she chooses are not necessarily from places she’s visited. Episode six – called Brekkie, Lunch and Dinner (Melbourne) – is a fantasy day where she starts with coffee at Good Measure in Melbourne, followed by Lune Croissanterie, then Hector’s Deli and Osteria Renata. It’s fantasy because Gauthier is based in British Columbia, Canada.
“Many years ago, in 2006, I spent a year in Australia. I visited Melbourne, just not for very long. I love sandwiches and obviously Melbourne is known for its great Italian food. I could probably have multiple episodes just for Melbourne sandwiches because it’s such a big thing there.”
She pronounces the Mont Blanc at Good Measure and the kouign-amanns at Lune like a French speaker, because she is one. She nails the pronunciation of “Prahran”, but she says she’s bound to make mistakes as different cuisines or place names come up in the future. “I’m French and English. I’m sure I will mispronounce many, many words, but I do my best not to.”
Her fifth episode, Sandwiches (Italian Deli-Style), includes Collingwood’s Stefanino Panino alongside delis in Philadelphia and Chicago. And her future episode ideas list includes themes such as buffets, airline menus, food courts and the real restaurants featured in The Sopranos.
“Menus are one of my favourite things to read, as crazy as that sounds. My social life revolves around going out to eat with my friends, and before I go out, I always carefully study the menu. Even when I get to the restaurant, I’ll read the menu again.”
So far there’s only been one niggling distraction that’s splitting her audience down the middle – restaurant prices. Gauthier reads every element of the menu she’s chosen, including opening times, dietary notes, lines like “Extra charge for oat, soy or almond milk” and the prices. “I think it adds to that repetitive hypnotic feeling which can help people fall asleep,” she says. “Some people are saying they love it and other people are saying they hate it. I also did an episode with no prices and people said they missed hearing them, so it’s something I’m trialling.”
But the true mark of success is barely listening to the podcast at all. “I’ve had people say, ‘I’m so sorry I fell asleep within the first five minutes’ and I’m like, ‘Don’t apologise, that’s perfect’.
“If I’ve done what I’m supposed to do, you’re asleep by 30 minutes.”
