Ali Domrongchai is a writer, recipe developer, and baker in Brooklyn. She’s passionate about researching and uplifting Thai culinary traditions, from teaching luk chup workshops to popping up with pandan lemongrass mochi cake and other treats at restaurants around the city. It’s so fun having Ali on the show to talk about the exciting state of Thai food in NYC, including her upcoming Thai Takeover at New York’s Museum of Food and Drink on May 29. Also on the show we have a great conversation wit...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 597
Tasteland is a very cool podcast that offers creative takes on media, marketing, and technology from Daisy Alioto and Francis Zierer . Daisy is the CEO of Dirt Media , a next-generation entertainment brand using emerging technology to tell the coolest stories about culture and collecting. Francis is the editor of Creator Spotlight , a weekly newsletter about creators across the world of newsletters. Matt joins Daisy and Francis to talk all about media, the power of the podcast, and some of the w...
May 24, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 596
Betsy Andrews is a James Beard Award–winning journalist who edited at Saveur magazine during some of its most fruitful years. She’s been traveling the Central California coast and staying there with family since childhood, and these travels are the topic of the terrific book she coauthored with the chef Scott Clark. Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip is a wonderful read, and we talk about how Betsy turned road-tripping into such a colorful book. We also dig into Betsy’s journalism ...
May 23, 2025•49 min•Ep. 595
We had a great time catching up with Leah Cohen . She’s the chef-owner of the terrific Pig & Khao restaurants in New York City, with locations on the Upper West Side and Lower East Side. On this episode, we talk about her career and appearing on an early season of Top Che f. We also get into her struggles with identity as a kid, and how her Filipino and Jewish upbringing made her the chef she is today. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Barbara Costello . She of the popular @...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 594
Casey Elsass is a food writer, recipe developer, and cookbook author living in Brooklyn, New York. Known among his collaborators as the cookbook doula, Casey has helped birth over twenty titles, as co-author, ghostwriter, friend, and unlicensed therapist. He is the author of a terrific new cookbook, What Can I Bring?: Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life . Also on the show is chef and TV fixture Michael Symon . He’s the author of Symon's Dinners Cooking Out: 100 Recipes That Redefine Outdoor...
May 19, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 593
Meera Sodha is a cook and food writer based in London. Meera’s best-selling cookbooks and weekly Guardian column, The New Vegan, are some of my favorite sources of cooking inspiration, but like many people, she experienced burnout that led her to fall out of love with food. Today on the show, Meera talks about finding her way back into the kitchen and how that experience inspired her new book, Dinner , an honest and helpful guide to getting the most important meal of the day on the table. Also o...
May 17, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 592
Meredith Hayden is the author of the new bestselling The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook and she has quite the story to tell, which we get into in this great conversation. While working at Conde Nast, Meredith attended night culinary school and lived a double life of sorts—publishing worker during the day, line cook at night. We get into how she walked the tightrope and eventually landed as a private chef before launching a memorable, and might I say incredibly popular, TikTok account. The rest is his...
May 16, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 591
Nina Compton is the chef and owner of three highly regarded restaurants in New Orleans: Compère Lapin, BABs, and Nina’s Creole Cottage. Born in Saint Lucia, she honed her chops at many notable restaurants before appearing as the fan favorite on season 11 of Top Chef . Nina’s new cookbook, Kwéyòl / Creole , written with Osayi Endolyn, is a true standout, tracing her culinary journey from growing up in Saint Lucia to Jamaica, Miami, and her adopted home of New Orleans. It’s so special to have Nina...
May 14, 2025•56 min•Ep. 590
It’s the return of a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. It’s available on the TASTE YouTube channel , so make sure to subscribe and check out the video version of this podcast. Every couple of weeks, Matt Rodbard invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. On today’s episode we have an amazing conversation with David Farley . Farley’s a longtime food and travel writer with stories i...
May 12, 2025•47 min•Ep. 589
It was really amazing to have Enrique Olvera in the studio. Olvera is the acclaimed Mexican chef behind Pujol in Mexico City, Cosme in New York (celebrating its 10th anniversary), and other acclaimed restaurants around the world. In this episode, Enrique shares his honest thoughts on how a global chef stays fresh, especially in the highly competitive restaurant scenes of New York and Mexico City. We also talk about the business of restaurants, which is always a hot topic with those running them....
May 10, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 588
Hawa Hassan is a chef, the founder of Basbaas Foods , and the author of the James Beard Award–winning cookbook In Bibi's Kitchen . She’s spent the past several years writing an ambitious new book, Setting a Place for Us: Recipes and Stories of Displacement, Resilience, and Community from Eight Countries Impacted by War , and we had her in the studio to talk about her research and reporting process. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Maryam Jillani talking all about her amazing de...
May 09, 2025•52 min•Ep. 587
Is Scarr’s the best pizza in New York? Some may debate this, but if you ask anybody in the industry, Scarr Pimentel ’s shop on Orchard Street takes the prize. In this episode, Scarr joins us in the TASTE studio to talk about his deep NYC pizzeria history, his dedication to ingredients (to an extent many may not recognize), and his new cookbook, The Scarr’s Pizza Cookbook . Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Craig Mod . Craig is a prolific writer , photographer, and author of a t...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 586
Giovanni Cervantes and Tania Apolinar are partners in life and in two amazing New York City taquerias: Taqueria Ramirez in Greenpoint and Carnitas Ramirez in the East Village. Formerly professional photographers, the duo is dedicated to making some of the most delicious tacos in New York’s ever-expanding scene, and it’s so fun to have them on the show today to talk about how it all happens. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exci...
May 05, 2025•58 min•Ep. 585
Our friend Jamie Oliver returns to the show, and we could not be happier to talk with him about so many things. He’s currently appearing on Netflix as part of the Chef’s Table: Legends series. In addition to the Netflix show, he will be launching his 10 Cooking Skills for Life platform in the United States, a free curriculum available for schools and organizations that is designed to teach young children all the skills they need to cook. For those who didn’t grow up watching food TV, here’s the ...
May 02, 2025•58 min•Ep. 584
It was really fun having Michele Norris in the studio. Michele is the host of the great podcast Your Mama’s Kitchen and the founder of the Race Card Project . A respected journalist, Michele cohosted National Public Radio's evening news program All Things Considered from 2002 to 2011 and was the first African-American female host for NPR. In this episode, we talk about Michele’s journalism career and what draws her to stories in the food orbit. Also on the show, we have a great talk with cookboo...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 583
It’s the return of a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing . It’s available on the TASTE YouTube channel , so make sure to subscribe. Every couple of weeks, cohost Matt Rodbard invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Our next guest is Kat Kinsman , executive features editor at Food & Wine . Kat is an absolute legend in the game and has been at the center of food media for nearly...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 582
Today is all about ice cream, and we have two guests who know the business inside and out. Tyler Malek is the cofounder and head chef of Salt & Straw, a cult-followed ice cream chain with scoop shops across the country. Based in Portland, Oregon, Salt & Straw is known for churning out the most imaginative ice cream flavors around. In the new cookbook America’s Most Iconic Ice Creams , Tyler takes a look at the classics with fresh eyes, then branches out into new territory. Aliza had so m...
Apr 28, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 581
We love catching up with Nicole Rucker . She’s a Los Angeles–based chef and owner of the wildly creative pie shops Fat + Flour . She’s also the author of a new cookbook , which covers some of the iconic pies at the shop and so much more. In this episode, we catch up about her favorite Los Angeles restaurants, have a blast debating fruit fillings, and cover all the big decisions a home baker needs to make. Also in the episode, we have a terrific conversation with Shaily Lipa . She’s the author of...
Apr 26, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 580
The meme can be funny, biting, poignant, and oftentimes ubiquitous. Eli Sussman , a talented chef and cookbook author, has mastered the art of the culinary meme with his IG account, @ TheSussmans . Eli is a proud Michigander, and on this special episode, we talk about the state’s bounty and how Michigan’s sustainably farmed, artisanal spirits brand Thatcher's Organic Artisan Spirits is channeling the state’s produce in its line of liqueurs. We discuss how Eli mixes and cooks with Thatcher’s, and...
Apr 25, 2025•30 min•Ep. 579
It’s so special having Rick Martinez on the show to talk about his very fun new book, Salsa Daddy . Rick is the author of the best-selling cookbook Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico , and Salsa Daddy is just as delicious. It’s a salsa-first approach to cooking, with more than 70 salsa recipes that anchor 24 meals, from torta de Milanesa to pozole verde de pollo, and I can already tell it’s going to change my cooking for the better. Also on the show, I chat with author Emma...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 578
Driven by her passion for food and travel, Rachel Simons traded her corporate law career for an entrepreneurial adventure, cofounding Seed + Mill , New York’s first store devoted entirely to sesame products. Located in the iconic Chelsea Market, the business quickly captured the hearts of locals and tourists alike, evolving into a nationally celebrated brand. Today on the show, we speak with Rachel about her growing business and her terrific new cookbook, Sesame: Global Recipes + Stories of an A...
Apr 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 577
We are excited to bring you this episode. Recently Matt headed out of the studio to visit Philadelphia, one of America’s great food cities, to check out the scene and report back on his findings. He visited bakeries and coffee shops and stopped by a really cool cookbook store. He felt the incredible spice and vibes at Kalaya and met a bunch of new friends along the way. In this episode, we speak with Tyler Akin , the chef of Bastia , an exciting tribute to the food of Sardinia and Corsica. We al...
Apr 19, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 576
Eden Grinshpan is a Canadian chef and television host based in Toronto, Ontario. She has hosted Top Chef Canada since 2017, and she is the author of a very cool new book, Tahini Baby . In this episode, we talk about Eden’s career both on and off television. We dig into her New York City restaurant takes — the good, the bad, and the labneh — and how she developed her unique recipe style and vibe. Also on the show we have a terrific conversation with Gena Hamshaw , author of the new book, A Grain,...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 575
On today’s episode, we talk about protein, one of the biggest topics in food today. First up is a really fun conversation with our friend Daniel Holzman . Daniel is the chef and owner of Danny Boy’s Pizza in Los Angeles and cofounder of The Meatball Shop in New York City. This is a guy who knows about cooking with beef while balancing his diet for optimal health. We also talk about the pizza game and the creative ways he cooks to maximize his daily protein intake. Also on the show, we have a fas...
Apr 16, 2025•42 min•Ep. 574
The one and only Adam Richman joined us in the studio for a really memorable conversation. Adam has been a fixture of food TV for over two decades, and he is one of the sharpest minds in the game. His series The Food That Built America just returned for season six, and we talk about Adam’s career exploring the foods of the world on shows like Man v. Food and many other food TV hits. What an interesting guy! Also on the show we have a great conversation with Lyndsay C. Green . She's the restauran...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 573
Roy Choi is known as one of the architects of the modern food truck movement through Kogi BBQ. He is cohost of the Netflix cooking series The Chef Show along with Jon Favreau and has written a terrific new book, The Choi of Cooking . In this episode, we talk all about Roy’s philosophy around cooking with foundation, balance, and compassion in mind. We hear about how he reinforces these concepts through smart recipes, and about his connection to the rise of Korean food in America. (For you dakdor...
Apr 12, 2025•52 min•Ep. 572
MacKenzie Chung Fegan is the restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle , which has just released its top 100 restaurants list . It’s the first time in six years the publication has done a big list like this, and in this episode, MacKenzie goes over how she chose the restaurants and why the Bay Area food scene is absolutely on fire. We go over many of the picks, including the top ten. Also on the episode, Aliza and Matt talk about a recent trip to San Francisco and a number of exciting re...
Apr 11, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 571
Sisters Danielle and Gabrielle Davenport are the cofounders of BEM , a bookstore and community space for Black food literature. After years of operating online and at pop-ups, they’re getting ready to open a permanent location in Bed-Stuy. It’s so fun to have Danielle and Gabrielle in the studio to nerd out on food literature, building a family business together, and more. Also on the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of res...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 570
We’re pretty sure many of you have at least heard of Cava and have possibly ordered lunch or dinner from the wildly popular Mediterranean restaurant chain. In this episode, we have a really cool conversation with Cava’s cofounder, Ted Xenohristos . We talk about the company’s early days and how Ted’s Greek heritage and detail-minded approach have made Cava one of the biggest restaurant stories in years. We discuss the group’s broad expansion, how the company’s IPO changed everything (and nothing...
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 569
We’re excited to launch a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing . It’s available on the TASTE YouTube channel , so make sure to subscribe! Every couple of weeks, cohost Matt Rodbard will invite a journalist or cookbook author to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Our first guest is a special one: Eric Kim is a writer and columnist at the New York Times and a great consumer of food writing. In this epi...
Apr 05, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 568
