This simple PHP package simply defines all of the valid categories for iTunes podcasts.
composer require lukaswhite/itunes-categories
use Lukaswhite\ItunesCategories\Categories;
$categories = new Categories();
$categories->all();
This simply returns a nested associative array of all the categories as objects.
You can get a category directly:
$categories->get('Sports');
$categories->get('Sports', 'Football');
$categories->get('Kids & Family'); // NOTE we're using the key
You can check whether categories exist:
$categories->has('Sports') // true
$categories->has('Sports', 'Football'); // true