This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and pianist Regina Spektor ! Regina grew up in the Soviet Union, moving to the United States when she was 10, and many of her eating experiences are colored by her young life in Russia — including the desserts she likes! Regina tells host Rachel Belle which foods she’d choose over a birthday cake, why she woke up at 3 a.m. to house a container of chopped liver (when she was a vegetarian!) and her though...
Jul 24, 2025•12 min•Ep. 248
Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and pianist Regina Spektor grew up in Soviet Russia, so when she moved to the Bronx with her family in 1990, American food was a bit of a culture shock. Cereal! Oranges! Chocolate pudding cups! It was all brand-new! Regina shares a handful of her family’s immigration eating stories. When in doubt, order the soup! That’s what Regina does. She tells host Rachel Belle about her (nearly) lifelong love of soup, what caused her to rebel against it in high school and...
Jul 17, 2025•40 min•Ep. 247
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Dave Barry, award-winning humorist, columnist and author. Dave tells host Rachel Belle about the all-author band he’s been in for 30 years (that includes Stephen King!), what food he finds the funniest and why he hates lightning rounds (the entire episode is a lightning round!) Listen to Dave’s Your Last Meal episode from last week! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle ! Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s new ...
Jul 10, 2025•10 min•Ep. 246
Dave Barry wrote a nationally syndicated, Pulitzer Prize-winning column that appeared in 500 newspapers from 1983 to 2005 and has published dozens of books. His newest is his very first memoir: Class Clown: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass. How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up. Case in point: Dave really loves ketchup! He’s also very opinionated about it: where he stores it and what vessel it is delivered in. Spoiler alert: He keeps his ketchup on the counter. Food safety expert Angela An...
Jul 03, 2025•32 min•Ep. 245
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Molly Yeh, star of Girl Meets Farm on Food Network & bestselling cookbook author. Her latest is a book of desserts called Sweet Farm. Molly bakes beautiful cakes for everybody’s birthdays, but what treat does she request when celebrating her own? I'll bet you a thousand brownies that you’ll never guess! Molly says there is one kitchen tool that will vastly improve your bakes, something all professionals use, but which many home bakers...
Jun 26, 2025•11 min•Ep. 244
Molly Yeh is the Emmy- and James Beard Award-nominated star of Girl Meets Farm on the Food Network; owner of Bernie’s, a bakery and cafe in East Grand Forks, Minnesota; and a bestselling cookbook author. Her new cookbook is Sweet Farm , 100 dessert recipes that feature oh-so-Molly flavors like tahini, marzipan, hawaij and halva, plus a whole chapter devoted to Midwestern cookie salads! Molly tells host Rachel Belle how her relationship to sprinkles has changed as she’s gotten older; how she, a J...
Jun 19, 2025•35 min•Ep. 243
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Prabal Gurung, celebrated fashion designer and author of the new memoir Walk Like a Girl . Prabal has made a habit of ordering a cheeseburger and fries in every city he visits – he tells host Rachel Belle who makes the best burger in the world. He recalls the magical celebrity sighting he had the first time he went to a restaurant in New York City after moving there from Nepal, and he talks about what he would pack to eat on weeks-long tr...
Jun 12, 2025•10 min•Ep. 242
Prabal Gurung’s new memoir, Walk Like a Girl , tells his life story: how he went from being a bullied queer boy in Nepal who was always an outsider to starting his own label in New York City, designing gowns for First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris and Oprah Winfrey. Prabal says he loves all kinds of food, but he is OBSESSED with momos, the steamed dumplings from his home country. He tells host Rachel Belle why they're so special to him and which A-list celebrity asked him to ...
Jun 05, 2025•30 min•Ep. 241
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from W. Kamau Bell, Emmy- and Peabody-nominated TV host, comedian, filmmaker and best-selling author. Kamau tells host Rachel Belle about the delightfully different flavor of attention that came with winning Celebrity Jeopardy; how rare it is to find his favorite kind of burrito in California’s Bay Area, a region famous for burritos; and how losing a family member means he’ll never taste his favorite birthday cake again. Listen to last week's ...
May 29, 2025•13 min•Ep. 240
Kamau Bell has a long and impressive resume, including hosting seven seasons of the CNN docuseries United Shades of America, winning a Peabody Award for We Need to Talk About Cosby, and winning the third season of Celebrity Jeopardy, and he’s about to take off on his “ Who’s With Me” standup tour. Kamau wore a T-shirt on TV that read, “Not All Macaroni and Cheeses are Created Equal,” a political message and “insider Black conversation” that he explains to host Rachel Belle. We’ll also learn the ...
May 22, 2025•47 min•Ep. 239
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from musician and actor Sharon Van Etten, who is on the road touring her new album now ! An educated wine lover, Sharon tells host Rachel Belle which bottle best represents her personality and which countries are often left out of the conversation when we talk about fantastic wines. Nicknamed “Snacks” by her bandmates, she reveals what she loves to nibble on when she’s on a road trip, on an airplane, hanging with her son or late at night, star...
May 15, 2025•8 min•Ep. 238
Sharon Van Etten is on the road now touring her seventh album, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory. But as much as she loves writing and performing music, she has considered a couple different career paths: therapist and sommelier! Sharon’s love of wine started in high school, when she was an exchange student living with a family in Spain. So host Rachel Belle interviews the founders of Open That Bottle Night, a couple of former Wall Street Journal wine writers who created an annual hol...
May 08, 2025•32 min•Ep. 237
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Tony-, Emmy- and Grammy-nominated singer and actor Josh Groban. Josh is getting ready for a string of shows in Las Vegas, so host Rachel Belle presents him with the most ridiculous, over-the-top, calorie-packed dishes she could find on Vegas menus (obviously Guy Fieri is involved) and asks him to pick which ones he'd eat. Josh and Rachel bond over a childhood love of New Kids on the Block, and he admits to loving a very trendy Los Angeles...
May 01, 2025•9 min•Ep. 236
Is Josh Groban ’s best song about baked beans? Two foods Josh Groban’s dad turned him onto as a child: pickled and smoked fish and baked beans. So when Bush’s asked Josh to write them a commercial jingle, he took it a step further and composed a semi-autographical baked-bean power ballad! He tells host Rachel Belle the whole story. Josh learned to cook during the pandemic and developed a soft spot for ugly, misshapen farm produce. So Seattle chef Becky Selengut joins the show to talk about her c...
Apr 24, 2025•35 min•Ep. 235
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Danielle Chang, host of Lucky Chow on PBS. And Rachel Belle takes a very special field trip to Seattle’s Mixed Pantry, a beautifully curated specialty foods shop that exclusively sells Asian and Asian American-made products. On last week’s episode of Your Last Meal , Danielle told Rachel she never goes anywhere without a little vial of high-quality soy sauce in her purse. So Rachel popped into Mixed Pantry for a soy sauce tasting, a fun a...
Apr 17, 2025•17 min•Ep. 234
PBS's "Lucky Chow " host, Danielle Chang , has been using food as a tool to promote diversity since her family immigrated from Taiwan to Texas when she was 5, and she eventually turned it into a career! Danielle tells host Rachel Belle which condiment she always keeps in her bag and Your Last Meal listeners call in to confess what flavor enhancers they have sneaked into restaurants, movie theaters and doughnut shops over the years. First Beyoncé sang about having hot sauce in her bag, then Hilla...
Apr 10, 2025•23 min•Ep. 233
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from China Forbes and Timothy Nishimoto from Pink Martini! The Portland, Oregon-based band is taking off on tour this week to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Get tickets here! China and Timothy reveal their perfect birthday cakes, the countries they most enjoy eating in when they’re traveling the world, and what foods they can’t wait to eat when they get back home. Listen to last week’s Your Last Meal episode with Pink Martini! Watch Rachel’s ...
Apr 03, 2025•10 min•Ep. 232
Pink Martini is celebrating 30 years of global music, and for the band’s pearl anniversary, China Forbes and Timothy Nishimoto dish on oysters (get it?!), the group’s unusual origin story and Thanksgiving dinner. It may be March, but thanks to lead vocalist China Forbes’ last meal, we’re talking turkey! China is very particular about which seven dishes should appear on her Thanksgiving table, so host Rachel Belle consults with a food historian about what was eaten at the very first harvest feast...
Mar 27, 2025•32 min•Ep. 231
From pear & blue cheese to bone marrow with bourbon smoked cherries, Salt & Straw has always been experimental, and eager to weave local products and ingredients into their flavors. On this delightful episode, we hear how the highly successful brand got started (the story involves Portlandia, an ice-cream maker from Goodwill and Cheetos), the grossest flavor head ice-cream maker Tyler ever developed and, of course, their last meals – both chose sentimental dishes made by their Grandma Ma...
Mar 20, 2025•44 min•Ep. 230
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Nadia Caterina Munno, known to her 10 million social-media followers as The Pasta Queen, which also happens to be the name of her new Amazon Prime Italian cooking and travel show. On this bite-sized episode, Nadia reveals her all-time favorite pasta shape, how many times she's been to The Olive Garden and the Roman dish she thinks all Americans should be eating. Subscribe to Your Last Meal on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or YouTube . Sign up...
Mar 13, 2025•5 min•Ep. 229
Nadia Catarina Munno is best known to her 10 million social-media followers as The Pasta Queen , a glamorous, dramatic Italian who crumples her face in ecstasy and throws her fork across the room after slurping up a sauce-slicked noodle. Cooking traditional pasta dishes in her Florida kitchen has earned Nadia two bestselling cookbooks and a new Amazon Prime series, The Pasta Queen. Nadia says she sees a lot of Americans committing unforgivable pasta-cooking crimes, so she created The 10 Commandm...
Mar 06, 2025•26 min•Ep. 228
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from singer/songwriter Kevin Morby. Kevin grew up in Kansas, and after 15 years of building a successful music career living in the coast’s largest cities, he has returned to his hometown. He tells host Rachel Belle why living in the Midwest can spark creativity, what Kansas City meal should be as famous as its legendary BBQ, and what he and his girlfriend (the musician, Waxahatchee) always eat when they return home from a long tour. Listen to...
Feb 27, 2025•8 min•Ep. 227
Singer/songwriter Kevin Morby is a peanut butter and jelly man. Like most kids who grew up in the U.S. before peanut-allergy-mania, he loves the classic lunchbox version. But as an adult he’s taken to adding some very unorthodox ingredients like ... scrambled or fried eggs! In this economy?! You know who else eats a TON of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? NFL players! Actually, they eat a ton of Uncrustables, and there is data to prove it. Host Rachel Belle interviews the co-creator of Uncrus...
Feb 20, 2025•34 min•Ep. 226
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from TV host, chef and author Alton Brown. Alton famously loathes single-use gadgets , but the one he despises most still has a home in his kitchen drawer. He tells us why. And he shares how he developed a deep love for Jewish deli food as a kid growing up in 1970s Georgia. Seattle chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas joins the show to talk about his special relationship with his late mother's 70 year old stove. And Allen Salkin, author of The Un...
Feb 13, 2025•28 min•Ep. 225
Alton Brown hosted Good Eats on the Food Network for 16 seasons, and says Julia Child, Mr. Wizard and Monty Python were his inspirations for the wacky, science-driven TV show he created. He just released his 10th book, Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations. Alton famously despises single-use gadgets, but he tells host Rachel Belle about the one item that must be present in every kitchen. He talks about why he is not worried about ChatGPT taking his job as a recipe developer, and admits that h...
Feb 06, 2025•38 min•Ep. 224
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from comedian Paula Poundstone! If you listened to last week's episode of Your Last Meal , you know Paula has a serious sweet tooth, from the Ring Dings she wants for her last meal to the sugar packets she used to eat for dessert. Same holds true in this episode where Paula shares her perfect birthday cake, the same one she's adored since childhood, and her very unexpected favorite holiday meal. Hint: it comes in "fun size." Follow along on In...
Jan 30, 2025•12 min•Ep. 223
Veteran comedian Paula Poundstone loves Ring Dings, her favorite little chocolate snack cakes only sold in a handful of East Coast states. She once told a very skeptical Michael Pollan, on NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! , that they are her reason for living. So host Rachel Belle interviews the pastry chef/owner of The Ring Ding Bar in New York City, a bakery that’s recreated the confection with “real ingredients” in 25 flavors. Paula talks about how she lived on a Greyhound bus in the 80s, whe...
Jan 23, 2025•32 min•Ep. 222
This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Ani DiFranco, singer/songwriter, activist and feminist icon. Ani started her own record company in 1989, put out her first record in 1990 and just released her 23rd album. But what do her two school-aged children think about her music? She will discuss! Plus she shares her family’s boozy holiday traditions, and reveals what is no longer on her rider. Subscribe to Your Last Meal on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or YouTube . Follow along on Ins...
Jan 16, 2025•10 min•Ep. 221
If you listened to the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter in the ’90s, she wants you to know she’s still making music: Ani DiFranco just released her 23rd album! Ani is known for lyrics that explore politics, social justice and feminism, but in real life she is smiley, friendly and down-to-earth – not the “angry feminist” she was often mislabeled as. Ani grew up in Buffalo, New York, where she was tasked with cooking dinner for her family starting at age 9. Today she enjoys cooking for her own fam...
Jan 09, 2025•36 min•Ep. 220
Host Rachel Belle celebrated the launch of Open Sesame at Book Larder, Seattle's only dedicated cookbook store. The event sold out, but you can listen in! Rachel is usually the one asking the questions, but on November 13 the tables were turned! She was in conversation with Becky Selengut , a beloved Seattle cookbook author, cooking instructor, podcast host and chef. Rachel tells the magical story of how she was offered a book deal (despite having a small social media presence!), a reminder of t...
Jan 02, 2025•49 min•Ep. 219
