Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | YouTube We've put together a collection we're calling Culinary Masters. It's our favorite interviews with truly iconic people in the world of food, people who have fundamentally changed how so many of us cook, enjoy, and understand food. This week, it’s an interview with the great French chef Jacques Pépin....
We're celebrating our 30th Anniversary on the road, and this week, we make our fourth stop in Iowa City in partnership with IPR. We talk to bakers, chefs, restaurateurs, and farmers about the food of the heartland. First up, Shae and Anna Pesek of Over the Moon Farm and T.D. Holub of The Garden Oasis Farm talk about their personal experiences with farm life, from agricultural challenges to sustainability and the community and passion that contribute to the success and drive of a farm. Then, we t...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | YouTube . For decades, we’ve sat down with some of the greatest culinary minds — and now we’re re-sharing a few of those remarkable conversations as a part of our Culinary Masters series. This week, we're visiting the home of one of the world's great ambassadors of Indian cuisine, author of 30 books, and award-winning actress, Madhur Jaffrey....
This week, we get some seasonal Italian inspiration and delicious Italian sweets. First, we sit down with chef and cookbook author Hillary Sterling to talk about some of her signature dishes, how her obsession with Italian cooking began, and what it takes to get an exquisite dish on the table. Famous for her Creamy Parmigiano-Braised Beans , Hillary Sterling is the chef of Ci Siamo in New York City and author of Ammazza! Culinary Adventures from New York to Italy and Back Again. Then, we are on ...
Every week on our show, we celebrate the intersection of food and life. And this month, we’re highlighting some of the most iconic people in the food world. It’s a new collection called Culinary Masters. We revisit interviews with some of the people who have fundamentally changed how many of us cook and think about food. This week, the man who brought Chinese cuisine into the homes of millions of Americans, the one and only Martin Yan.
We're on the road celebrating our 30th Anniversary and this week, we bring you an eventful night in Seattle in partnership with KUOW. First up, Valerie Segrest , cofounder of Tahoma Peak Solutions, and Jeremy Thunderbird , owner of Native Soul Cuisine, about the diversity of indigenous food, carrying on traditional recipes, and food sovereignty. Then, Tan Vinh, host of KUOW's Seattle Eats podcast , and Melissa Miranda , chef-owner of Musang and Kilig, talk about the rich Asian community food sce...
Every week on our show, we celebrate the intersection of food and life. And this month, we’re highlighting some of the most iconic people in the food world. It’s a new collection called Culinary Masters. We revisit interviews with some of the people who have fundamentally changed how many of us cook and think about food. This week, we're all about the iconic Claudia Roden, who helped introduce the food of the Middle East and Mediterranean to the English-speaking world.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | YouTube . This week, we’re excited to get cooking! First, two-time New York Times bestselling cookbook author and the internet’s favorite Italian, Dan Pelosi, joins us to staff the phone and answer your cooking questions. We get into his top hosting tips, the how-tos of building menus for all kinds of gatherings, and his favorite springtime recipe, Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan Sauce . Then, Francis and Dan jump into your cooking q...
This week, it's home cooking with the authors of Food IQ: 100 Questions, Answers, and Recipes to Raise Your Cooking Smarts. Daniel Holzman and Matt Rodbard bust food myths about cooking with frozen meat, and extoll the beauty of letting butter brown in the pan. Then, we visit J. Kenji López-Alt’s home where he gives us a lesson on cooking his favorite childhood dish, a super quick Japanese take on the Chinese classic, Ma po Tofu. Kenji is the author of the New York Times #1 Bestseller, The Wok: ...
This week, we talk about Mexican street food and the sometimes surprising foods that make us happy. Masienda founder, Jorge Gaviria, gives us a quick lesson on Vitamina T, aka those delicious masa-based Mexican street foods. Jorge is co-author, with Fermin Nunez, of Vitamina T, Your Daily Dose of Tacos, Tamales, Tortas and More Mexican Street Food Classics. He leaves us with a delicious recipe for a soon-to-be classic, Beet and Avocado Tostada . Then, pastry chef and writer Tanya Bush talks abou...
We're back on the road to celebrate our 30th Anniversary! This week, we’re headed to Los Angeles, in partnership with LAist , to talk about the world-influencing food scene in LA and the community that brings it together. First, we dig into how LA dining influenced the country and the world with KCRW's very own Evan Kleiman, Host of Good Food , and Gab Chabrán, Associate Editor of Food and Culture at LAist . Then we talk community and the restaurants that foster those connections with chef-owner...
This week, we amp up your home cooking with nostalgic dishes, perfect recipes, and pro cooking techniques. First, we talk with Chef Ham El-Waylly about his favorite dishes that were inspired by his wildly international upbringing and what draws him to comfort foods. From his mom’s cheesy empanadas to his riff on cinnamon toast cereal, he gets imaginative with recipes like his Tahini Roasted Swordfish . Ham El-Waylly is the author of Hello, Home Cooking: Do-Able Dishes for Every Day. Then we dive...
This week, we’re all about the diverse and delicious foods of Ghana and Nigeria. First, Food Network Star Eric Adjepong joins us from his childhood home to talk about the connection to food when eating with his hands, the community that happens around the Ghanain table, and his take on traditional dishes like his recipe for Roasted Banana Grits with Seasoned Shrimp. Eric is the chef and owner of Elmina in Washington DC and the author of Ghana to the World: Recipes and Stories That Look Forward W...
This week, we get into the history, craft, and techniques of homemade Ramen with the brilliant author, Sho Spaeth. We talk about its origins in Japan, the introduction of ramen to the US, and the recent innovation that gave rise to what we know as instant ramen. We learn about the five elements that go into a bowl of ramen: broth, tare, fat, noodles, and toppings, and how these have been refined over the years to create endless variations, including the kind that can be enjoyed in our own homes....
This week, we dedicate the entire episode to answering your bread baking questions with two brilliant bakers and teachers, King Arthur’s very own Jessica Battilana, Staff Editor, and Martin Philip, King Arthur’s Baking Ambassador. While King Arthur has taught millions of people to bake through their school, website, and classic cookbooks. They only now have published a book devoted entirely to bread, The King Arthur Baking Company’s Big Book of Bread . Francis, Jessica, and Martin take listener ...
This week, we’re joined in the studio by food superstar and philanthropist Jamie Oliver. We talk about his start in food, growing up above a small-town pub, and finding himself at the iconic River Café with Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, and later becoming the TV persona behind The Naked Chef. He talks about his travels, his admiration for women cooks, and the use of his platform to champion nutrition programs and job-skills training for underserved communities. Jamie Oliver is a restaurateur, TV pe...
We're taking the show on the road this year to celebrate our 30th Anniversary! This week, we bring you to our first stop, Indianapolis, in partnership with WFYI. We dig into the local food scene with restaurateur Martha Hoover, founder of Cafe Patachou and the Patachou Foundation. We talk to her about her start as a prosecutor turned restaurateur and how the restaurant scene has changed over her 35-plus years running a restaurant in Indianapolis. Then, we welcome Samir Mohammad of 9th Street Bis...
This week, we’re all about mindfulness in our kitchens. First, we explore a whole new meaning of fancy with author and recipe developer Jerrelle Guy. She shares her unusual thinking and creative recipes that can transform your everyday eating. The little extras that can make a dish a bit more celebratory. Jerrelle Guy’s latest book is We Fancy: Simple Recipes to Make the Everyday Special , and she left us with her recipe for Olive Oil Brownie Pudding . Then we talk with Bee Wilson about the surp...
This week, food columnist for The New York Times Magazine, Lisa Donovan, joins us to talk about what she's been cooking up recently and help answer our listeners' kitchen conundrums, from making the best tomato paste despite out-of-season tomatoes to using unsweetened chocolate in baking recipes. Lisa is the author of the memoir Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger , and she leaves us with a recipe for a lovely Tarte Tatin to add to our repertoire. Then, we head over to Philadelphia, where we meet the f...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | YouTube . This week, we explore flavors and techniques with two incredible guests. First, James Beard award-winning author Henrietta Lovell, aka the Tea Lady, takes us on her tea journey. From discovering the art of tea in China and countries beyond, to teaching us how to taste the nuanced flavor profiles and appreciate the craftsmanship. She left us with a recipe for Cold Brew Iced Teas that can be enjoyed like a fine wine. Henriett...
We took the show on the road for a live event at the Hawaii Theatre Center in Honolulu. First, we spoke to Hawaii Public Radio’s Culture and Arts reporter Jayna Omaye and Chef Sheldon Simeon of Tin Roof Maui about Hawaiian cuisine’s unique mix of cultures. Then, James Beard award-winning chef Robynne Maii of Fête in Chinatown, Honolulu, and chef-owner of Mud Hen Water, Ed Kenney, explained how native Hawaiian traditions influence their cooking. And then, we talked to three legacy business owners...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | YouTube This week, it's the final show of our 30th anniversary celebration, recorded from the stage of The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN, where it all began. Francis is joined onstage by some of the best chefs in Minnesota, including American Oglala Lakota Sioux chef, Sean Sherman, Somali-American chef, Jamal Hashi, Karyn Tomlinson of Myriel the winner of the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest and 6-time James Beard N...
This week, we’re spending the hour with the charming and beloved Irish cooking teacher and writer Darina Allen. It’s a spirited conversation about growing up in a country kitchen, her love of eating, and the single moment she decided to pursue her career in cooking. She tells us about her organic farm at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, shares her unusual and brilliant teaching style, and explains why learning to cook and connect to nature is one of the greatest life skills anyone can a...
We’ve got the most exciting cookbooks to gift this holiday season. Chef Chris Scott talks to us about his latest, Amish Soul Food and pays homage to the food of his Pennsylvanian German ancestors, and talks us through traditional recipes like chow chow, biscuits, and scrapple. He leaves us with his recipe for Okra Chow-Chow . Cynthia Shanmugalingam takes us on a deep dive into the seductive, cuisine of Sri Lanka. Her book is Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka . Then, Ben Mervis, author of The Brit...
This week, we’re all about community and coming together for the holidays. First, we talk to Lisa Kyung Gross, founder of The League of Kitchens , a unique cooking school where women from all over the world, welcome you into their homes and teach you how to make one of their family recipes. She talks about the delicious recipes she has collected in her new book, The League of Kitchens Cookbook: Brilliant Tips, Secret Methods & Favorite Family Recipes from Around the World. She leaves us with...
This week, we’re celebrating the holidays by looking beyond, into global stories that shape the season. First, we talk with Hetty Lui McKinnon about her new book, Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor , and what the holidays look like in Australia, where Christmas is hot and the seafood markets buzz at midnight. Hetty reflects on the vegetable forward meals that defined her Chinese Australian upbringing and leaves us with her recipe for Coronation Cauliflower and Chickpeas . Then, we turn ...
It’s the holiday season, and we’re kicking it off this week with some sweet treats. First, food editor and recipe developer Ben Mims joins us with his latest project, covering over 300 cookie recipes from Asia to the Levant to Scandinavia to the Caribbean. The varieties are astonishing. We get into cookie styles, the fascinating ingredients in regional cookies, and the hundreds of flavor combinations. Ben is the author of Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World . And he left us with a r...
This week, we’re taking a trip through the South and its food – how it tells the story of a region shaped by migration, memory, and culture. First, we talk with scholar and writer Michael W. Twitty about his new book, Recipes from the American South , a sweeping look at the many communities – Black, white, Indigenous, immigrant – whose traditions built Southern cooking as we know it. Michael reflects on the histories that define the region and leaves us with his recipe for Maque Choux , the Loui...
Today we have a bonus episode for you from Happier with Gretchen Rubin , featuring our very own Francis Lam. Gretchen Rubin is HAPPIER, and she wants you to be happier too. The #1 bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before gets more personal than ever as she brings her practical, manageable advice about happiness and good habits to this lively, thought-provoking podcast. Gretchen’s cohost and guinea pig is her younger sister, Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer livi...
This week, we welcome the cold with delicious soup! Food Stylist Mariana Velásquez Villegas, author of Colombiana: A Rediscovery of Recipes and Rituals from the Soul of Colombia talks us through Colombia's biodiversity and regional identity and the unique foods it inspires like Sancocho . This hearty stew brings people together in a communal dining experience. Be sure to listen to her playlist while preparing it! Then, we talk about Haitian cuisine with award-winning chef Gregory Gourdet as he s...
