Podcast appearances and mentions of Evan Kleiman

For nearly a decade, the LA Chef Conference has been the gathering of Los Angeles chefs and industry professionals. After a one-year hiatus, the conference returns this October 6 in its new home at Redbird and Vibiana in Downtown LA. On this episode, conference founder Brad Metzger and host chef Neal Fraser join Andrew to discuss some featured topics, speakers, and chefs who will be cooking for the conference's always-impressive lunch, including (in alphabetical order) Gilberto Cetina, David Gelb, Rashida Holmes, Jordan Kahn, Evan Kleiman, Michael Mina, Charles Namba, Laurie Ochoa, Nancy Silverton, Michael Voltaggio, Alice Waters, and others. (Andrew will be moderating a panel on Ten Years of Chef's Table, celebrating the acclaimed Netflix series.)Be sure to check out the details at the LA Chef Conference site, and sign up there for email updates regarding tickets (including discounted tickets for restaurant professionals) and updates to the line up.Following the brief conversation about this year's conference, we share some excerpts from previous conference interviews that give a sense of what makes this homegrown event, and the city it celebrates, so special.Huge thanks to Andrew Talks to Chefs' presenting sponsor, meez, the recipe operating software for culinary professionals. Meez powers the Andrew Talks to Chefs podcast as part of the meez  Network, featuring a breadth of food and beverage podcasts and newsletters.  THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

What baking beliefs can you do without? Nicole Rucker rekindled her love for baking by tinkering with her favorite recipes and eliminating the fuss Gabriela Glueck visits the "Torture Orchard," where California's nut trees are pushed to the brink so they can withstand the curveballs thrown by climate change Nasim Alikhani spent decades working various jobs before realizing her calling — opening a restaurant to showcase the food of Iran Evan Kleiman recalls the crazy ride of the 1980s LA restaurant scene with Francis Lam, host of The Splendid Table Often overlooked among springtime greens, chef Dashiell Nathanson is anything but sorry to use sorrel in his cafe dishes Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter!

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-owners Uyên Lê, who makes delicious Vietnamese comfort food at her take-out, Bé Ù, Keith Corbin, executive chef and co-owner of Alta Adams, and bestselling author of his memoir, California Soul and Elvia and Alex Garcia, the James Beard nominated chef-owners of Evil Cooks, one of L.A.'s most lauded taqueria pop-ups now transformed into a full restaurant.Broadcast dates for this episode:April 11, 2025 (originally aired)Your support is a special ingredient in helping to make The Splendid Table. Donate today

The EPA designated two locations for sorting and processing locations for hazardous debris from the Palisades and Eaton Fires. Residents in both areas are concerned.  We must rethink city planning and development following the LA fires, says UCLA Professor Alex Hall, who advises building homes away from wildlands. Critics review the latest film releases: “Dog Man,” “Companion,” “Love Me,” and “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.” Eat out to support restaurants that lost business due to the Palisades Fire. Evan Kleiman shares recommendations for west side eateries participating in DineLA, which is happening now. Using film, models, music, and costumes, artist and futurist Liam Young envisions a world where everyone on earth lives together in a single city. 

LA County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger responds to reports of residents not receiving text evacuation alerts, and shares updates on rebuilding efforts.  Among his executive orders, President Trump has discontinued diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government. It's part of a larger rollback of DEI efforts nationwide.   Will Rogers State Park was beloved by Angelenos, especially Palisades residents. The January 7 fire destroyed the ranch house and outbuildings of the early 20th-century movie star, columnist, and leading political wit of his day. Only by patronizing neighborhood restaurants can we keep them afloat and our communities vibrant. Evan Kleiman recommends eateries located in neighborhoods adjacent to the Eaton Fire.

The Good Food team — host Evan Kleiman and producers Gillian Ferguson, Laryl Garcia, and Elina Shatkin — choose their favorite segments of the year. Nicola Twilley takes a cold plunge into the history of refrigeration. Chef Fadi Kattan is on a mission to document and share Palestinian foods, traditions, and the work of home cooks. Filmmaker Peter Byck casts a lens on the maverick farmers and scientists working to solve the climate crisis. In her latest docuseries, Pati Jinich showcases the politics, culture, and cuisine of the US/Mexico borderlands.

Cryptocurrency has been pumping since Donald Trump’s reelection and promise to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.” Critics review the latest film releases: “Y2K,” “The Return,” “Get Away,” and “Nightbitch.” At least five people are running to head the Democratic National Committee. Plus, familiar and potentially polarizing people like Rahm Emmanuel have been floated. The best cookbooks contain stories of cultural and historical importance. Here are Evan Kleiman’s recommendations this year.

Evan Kleiman taps flavor scientist Arielle Johnson to co-host Good Food's annual Thanksgiving episode. Food science writer Harold McGee breaks down brining, spice, and the best way to prep that giant Thanksgiving bird. Khushbu Shah forgoes the turkey for squash filled with biryani, a tikka masala-inspired mac and cheese, and Mexican food. Homemade cranberry sauce is all about the crackle and pop for Harold McGee. Sommelier Ian Krupp goes beyond Beaujolais in his Thanksgiving wine pairings. Arielle Johnson opts for two types of cardamom in her pumpkin pie recipe. Brian Polcyn assembles the perfect pot pie with turkey leftovers.

Donald Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, recently spoke to news media about concerns that the former president would govern as a dictator if re-elected.  James Carville was part of the campaign to get Bill Clinton elected in 1992 — and an early critic of Joe Biden’s choice to run for a second term. He talks about the high stakes in the Nov. election.  Longtime Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela died on Tuesday at age 63.  “Fernandomania” in 1981 left an indelible mark on LA and its Mexican American community. Evan Kleiman offers a recipe for flavoring your whole chicken with rosemary-infused maple syrup and combining it with a melted butter baste. It’s inspired by Colu Henry and Samin Nosrat. 

The movie Sideways celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Evan Kleiman of KCRW explores the movie's lasting effects on the Santa Ynez Valley. Correspondent Tom Wilmer enjoys a conversation with second generation winegrower Austin Hope. Fr. Ian plays with wine. Former KCBX news director Benjamin Purper takes us on a sonic journey through a Central Coast wine harvest.

A hotdish must be a main dish that includes protein, starch, veggies, and a creamy element. Evan Kleiman takes on the recipe for Tim’s Turkey Taco Tot Hotdish. The Harris-Walz ticket gives Democrats a chance to coalesce in a way they’ve struggled to since losing to Donald Trump in 2016. Franklin Foer makes the case in his latest “The Atlantic” piece. USC Professor Geoff Cowan played a pivotal role in the reforms that came out of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Now he’s back in the Windy City for 2024’s DNC.   The far-right majority of Georgia’s election board is passing new rules that could let counties refuse to certify election results if Kamala Harris wins. Earlier this year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. polled higher than any third-party candidate in decades. Now his running mate says they're considering dropping out.

Critics review the latest film releases: “Back to Black,” “IF,” “Gasoline Rainbow,” and “Babes.” Google will start putting AI-generated answers at the top of search results. Content creators and media outlets say this will cost them clicks. A military historian and retired Army colonel discusses Benjamin Netanyahu's strategy against Hamas, and what the war in Gaza means for Israeli politics domestically and globally.  How are various sugars made, and what textures and flavors do they add to baked goods and other dishes? Evan Kleiman walks you through her library of sugars.

Welcome back to another cruise with Locales Only! This week, we're picking up the host of Good Food Radio, Evan Kleinman, for a drive in Santa Monica to discuss how the LA restaurant scene is changing, how her show Good Food Radio has been influencing the city's tastebuds, and her secret love for fast food. So buckle up and tune in! Big thanks to Fletcher-Jones Motorcar of Newport Beach for sponsoring the show and building out the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQE as our rolling podcast studio!  

Rep. Adam Schiff wanted to run against Republican Steve Garvey for Senate — and got his wish on Tuesday night. George Gascón leads the pack for DA, but will face a battle in November. San Francisco voters passed measures — which Mayor London Breed supported — that will expand police powers and restrict welfare recipients. Can SF still be called a progressive city?  On Tuesday, Bitcoin's value soared past previous records, largely because federal regulators started allowing it to be traded in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). “Wandering Stars” is a new novel by Tommy Orange that explores how addiction and trauma, such as the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre, ripple through a family for generations.  Instead of juicing citrus or eating them out of your hand, Evan Kleiman encourages you to add them to a beautifully composed salad that includes pink radicchio. 

The deluge of rain over California has created a unique, shallow lake in California's Death Valley National Park. Rangers are now welcoming kayakers. Could a gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium — about half a billion dollars to build — mitigate traffic? The LA Metro board will vote Thursday on whether to proceed. Amid the war in Gaza, Biden is losing support among Arab American voters — a key demographic that helped deliver his 2020 victory in states like Michigan and Georgia. In “Island in Between,” Leo Chiang explores how residents in Taiwan feel about the country's relationship with China and the United States.   Looking for scones, finger sandwiches, and loose-leaf tea? Good Food host Evan Kleiman gives recommendations on where to get afternoon tea in LA. 

A produce box could contain cauliflower, beets, turnips, kale, lettuce, avocados, eggs, apples, and more. Evan Kleiman offers many ways to use the ingredients. South Africa argued its case before the International Court of Justice — that Israel is acting with "genocidal intent" in Gaza. Israel denies the accusation. UCSD oceanographers discovered thousands of World War II-era munitions dumped off the California coast. That adds to the barrels of DDT already documented. Critics review the latest film releases: “Mean Girls,” “The Beekeeper,” “The Settlers,” and “The Book of Clarence.”

Most pregnant women experience morning sickness. About 2% of them require hospitalization for an extreme version known as hyperemesis, which is tied to a hormone called GFD15.  West Hollywood, a famously progressive city, has the highest minimum wage in the country. Labor activists cheer the move, but many business owners are concerned. Critics review the latest film releases: “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” “The Iron Claw,” “Ferrari,” and “The Color Purple.” Which LA charities make an impact and need support? Evan Kleiman points to No Us Without You, Student Lunch Box, Hollywood Food Coalition, and Adopt an Elder.

Molecular biologist turned cookbook author Nik Sharma joins Evan Kleiman to talk turkey and all the trimmings. Hetty Lui McKinnon has led a life surrounded by vegetables and shares a riff on a potato gratin. Fahara Zamorano promises nobody will be upset if you open a bottle of champagne but she has thoughts on other wines to pair with your Thanksgiving feast. After spatchcocking, butter brining, and breaking down her bird, recipe developer and author Sohla El-Waylly has found the turkey she plans to make for the rest of her life. Chef Mei Lin recalls how her family incorporated their Chinese heritage into holiday meals. At the farmers market, chef Zach Jarrett does anything but loaf around for his ingenious take on stuffing. Nik Sharma puts his science background to use to tackle your pie problems. Finally, let your leftovers become tomorrow's mise en place. And if you need recipe inspiration, here you go! 91 vegetarian and vegan Thanksgiving recipes 75 Thanksgiving side dish recipes 45 of our best Thanksgiving pie recipes

Evan Kleiman explains how to make pasta using flour and eggs, called “la sfoglia.” It's kneaded, rolled out, and can be turned into stuffed treats or long, flat noodles.  The Rafah border has opened for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began, allowing foreign nationals and severely injured Palestinians to enter Egypt. In Let Us Descend, author Jesmyn Ward follows a young enslaved woman's journey from the Carolinas to Louisiana in the pre-Civil War South.

The Biden administration has introduced new plans meant to lower payments for federal student loan borrowers. Here's how it works. “Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court” looks at the decades leading up to the creation of the most conservative court in recent history. A century ago this week, the Mt. Wilson Observatory hosted one of science's greatest discoveries. Today, volunteers fight to keep it afloat. Ford brought back the Bronco in 2021, and now the SUV could be the future of the federal government's efforts to fight wildfires. Evan Kleiman offers a Moroccan salad that combines beets and tomatoes, adapted from Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford's cookbook, Flatbreads and Flavors. 

The WGA is back at work today as the union ends its nearly five-month strike. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA's strike could wrap up by Thanksgiving, according to one prediction.  Many Americans aren't happy about a Joe Biden v. Donald Trump rematch in 2024. One of them is Andrew Yang, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. Evan Kleiman and her friends spent 10 hours processing and canning 365 pounds of paste tomato varieties. The method involves precise rules — and stamina.

Some 80 miles off California's central coast, thousands of pearl octopuses have gathered near an extinct underwater volcano, an ideal place for mating and nesting. During Thursday night's first GOP presidential primary debate, newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy shined. Veterans Chris Christie, Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley held their ground. Frontrunner Donald Trump skipped it all for X. Japan began releasing nearly 8,000 tons of treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean today. It's the first step in a decades-long plan to clean up the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Critics review the latest film releases: “Gran Turismo,” “Retribution,” “Golda,” and “Bottoms.” Evan Kleiman talks about tomato sandwiches, which consist of four or five ingredients: a large and aromatic summer tomato, soft bread that's white or wheat, mayonnaise, salt and black pepper.

Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco are together, in person, in Los Angeles (!) and mock the latest Trump indictment before diving into news coming from the Midwest, from Ohio's special election and Wisconsin's Judge-elect Janet Protasiewicz to backstabbing Rep. Tricia Cotham's and concerning “prenatal care deserts” in South Dakota. Then, Evan Kleinman of KCRW's Good Food comes on to talk about her TikTok For You Page, growing up in the LA food scene, and pomegranate molasses. Next, Megan Gailey and Kiran Deol join to discuss the double Hollywood strike, how it's impacting their careers, the economy, and labor movements at large, and how they might need to start marrying rich. Finally, some Sani-Petty (Who needs a Louis Vuitton suitcase? How are Women's World Cup players so cool?).For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.Show NotesCorrection: Abortion is legal in Minnesota.Easy Persian Barbari BreadCream Cheese Flour TortillasCabbage ChipsLogan on TikTok (Korean food)Kiran DeolI Love My Kid, But... (Megan Gailey podcast)

Do you love good food AND good weed? Get your aprons readybecuase today we are diving into home cooking-infused style.We sat down with Christina Wong and discussed the following:How to easily add cannabis to your home cookingCalculating accurate Dosing at homeRecipes, ideas, and so much more*Warning this episode will make you hungryAbout Christina Wong:Christina Wong is a CLIO Cannabis and MarCom award-winning storyteller and seasoned PR & communications pro who spent over a decade in the food & restaurant industry working with well-known chefs, restaurants, hospitality, and cannabis brands including Papa & Barkley, Raw Garden, and Tender Greens. A culinary cannabis educator, recipe developer, content creator, and baking show host, her imaginative and delectable creations have earned numerous awards and accolades, including a pie that KCRW's Evan Kleiman called “f*&%ing delicious."She's created custom desserts for events with Qveen Herby, Cypress Hill, LaGanja Estranja, Luna Lovebad, and Tommy Chong to name a few. Additionally, she's partner + culinary content editor of The Clever Root, a digital publication about cannabis food, drinks, hospitality, and everything that grows; co-host of Mogu Magu, an AAPI food + culture + cannabis collective; and a member of the HiVi Higher-Ups, an inclusive community of cannabis advocates and activists. #cookingwithcannabis #infusedcooking #cannabisSubscribe to Christina's Substack: https://fruitandflower.substack.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-s-wong/https://www.instagram.com/toastymuffin/?hl=enhttps://twitter.com/fruit_flower_cohttps://www.fruitandflower.co/https://www.instagram.com/fruitandflower/https://twitter.com/fruit_flower_cohttps://www.tiktok.com/@fruitandflowerhttps://open.spotify.com/user/31xww22dul5nfrcs3jww5jv66y6y?si=3ed0302b4cfd446e&nd=1Follow us: Our Links.At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev), we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in the cannabinoid industry.8th Revolution Cannabinoid Playbook is an Industry-leading report covering the entire cannabis supply chain The Dime is a top 5% most shared  global podcast The Dime is a top 50 Cannabis Podcast Sign up for our playbook here:

Do you love good food AND good weed? Get your aprons readybecuase today we are diving into home cooking-infused style.We sat down with Christina Wong and discussed the following:How to easily add cannabis to your home cookingCalculating accurate Dosing at homeRecipes, ideas, and so much more*Warning this episode will make you hungryAbout Christina Wong:Christina Wong is a CLIO Cannabis and MarCom award-winning storyteller and seasoned PR & communications pro who spent over a decade in the food & restaurant industry working with well-known chefs, restaurants, hospitality, and cannabis brands including Papa & Barkley, Raw Garden, and Tender Greens. A culinary cannabis educator, recipe developer, content creator, and baking show host, her imaginative and delectable creations have earned numerous awards and accolades, including a pie that KCRW's Evan Kleiman called “f*&%ing delicious."She's created custom desserts for events with Qveen Herby, Cypress Hill, LaGanja Estranja, Luna Lovebad, and Tommy Chong to name a few. Additionally, she's partner + culinary content editor of The Clever Root, a digital publication about cannabis food, drinks, hospitality, and everything that grows; co-host of Mogu Magu, an AAPI food + culture + cannabis collective; and a member of the HiVi Higher-Ups, an inclusive community of cannabis advocates and activists. #cookingwithcannabis #infusedcooking #cannabisSubscribe to Christina's Substack: https://fruitandflower.substack.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-s-wong/https://www.instagram.com/toastymuffin/?hl=enhttps://twitter.com/fruit_flower_cohttps://www.fruitandflower.co/https://www.instagram.com/fruitandflower/https://twitter.com/fruit_flower_cohttps://www.tiktok.com/@fruitandflowerhttps://open.spotify.com/user/31xww22dul5nfrcs3jww5jv66y6y?si=3ed0302b4cfd446e&nd=1Follow us: Our Links.At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev), we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in the cannabinoid industry.8th Revolution Cannabinoid Playbook is an Industry-leading report covering the entire cannabis supply chain The Dime is a top 5% most shared  global podcast The Dime is a top 50 Cannabis Podcast Sign up for our playbook here:

Do you love good food AND good weed? Get your aprons readybecuase today we are diving into home cooking-infused style.We sat down with Christina Wong and discussed the following:How to easily add cannabis to your home cookingCalculating accurate Dosing at homeRecipes, ideas, and so much more*Warning this episode will make you hungryAbout Christina Wong:Christina Wong is a CLIO Cannabis and MarCom award-winning storyteller and seasoned PR & communications pro who spent over a decade in the food & restaurant industry working with well-known chefs, restaurants, hospitality, and cannabis brands including Papa & Barkley, Raw Garden, and Tender Greens. A culinary cannabis educator, recipe developer, content creator, and baking show host, her imaginative and delectable creations have earned numerous awards and accolades, including a pie that KCRW's Evan Kleiman called “f*&%ing delicious."She's created custom desserts for events with Qveen Herby, Cypress Hill, LaGanja Estranja, Luna Lovebad, and Tommy Chong to name a few. Additionally, she's partner + culinary content editor of The Clever Root, a digital publication about cannabis food, drinks, hospitality, and everything that grows; co-host of Mogu Magu, an AAPI food + culture + cannabis collective; and a member of the HiVi Higher-Ups, an inclusive community of cannabis advocates and activists. #cookingwithcannabis #infusedcooking #cannabisSubscribe to Christina's Substack: https://fruitandflower.substack.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-s-wong/https://www.instagram.com/toastymuffin/?hl=enhttps://twitter.com/fruit_flower_cohttps://www.fruitandflower.co/https://www.instagram.com/fruitandflower/https://twitter.com/fruit_flower_cohttps://www.tiktok.com/@fruitandflowerhttps://open.spotify.com/user/31xww22dul5nfrcs3jww5jv66y6y?si=3ed0302b4cfd446e&nd=1Follow us: Our Links.At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev), we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in the cannabinoid industry.8th Revolution Cannabinoid Playbook is an Industry-leading report covering the entire cannabis supply chain The Dime is a top 5% most shared  global podcast The Dime is a top 50 Cannabis Podcast Sign up for our playbook here:

A proper cherry pie is made with sour, not sweet, cherries. You want a flaky, buttery crust and a nicely thickened filling. Evan Kleiman offers a recipe to try. In a lawsuit, Disney is accusing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of launching a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” against the company. A Russian private military group with close ties to President Vladimir Putin has been expanding its influence in Africa for years. Now it's likely arming Sudan's paramilitary. Critics review the latest film releases: “Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret,” “Big George Foreman,” “Sisu,” “Polite Society.”

“Storming Caesars Palace” is a new PBS documentary that follows a group of poor women who fought back against the racist stereotype of welfare mothers.  Dozens of people died in a fire at a migrant detention facility in Mexico. President López Obrador says migrants started it, but many details remain unclear. Starting April 1, there will be a one-time sales tax on properties worth over $5 million. To avoid the charge, Angelenos are rushing to sell their mansions. To celebrate spring, Evan Kleiman shares how to make risotto with the triad of spring vegetables —  asparagus, leeks and peas — and another one with strawberries.

*This episode originally aired on October 15th, 2022* Some people measure the passing of time by the weather. Some people measure it by holidays. Good Food measures it in tortillas. Every year, for the last five years, host Evan Kleiman helps Gustavo Arellano judge KCRW's Tortilla Tournament. Every year, it has gotten bigger and more competitive. Every year, listeners learn a little more about the subtleties of texture, flavor, density, and consistency. But in half a decade, one thing has remained the same — at the heart of any truly great tortilla or pupusa or tamal, you'll find one ingredient — masa. 

China has lifted several of its pandemic health restrictions.That includes allowing asymptomatic or mild COVID patients to quarantine at home. Critics review the latest film releases: “The Whale,” “Empire of Light,” “Emancipation,” “One Fine Morning,” and “Pinocchio.” Gift-giving season is a great way to remind yourself of the bounty of great products and people in Southern California. Evan Kleiman offers ideas for the people on your list.

A new documentary tells the story of Opportunity, a NASA rover that exceeded expectations, and explored and analyzed the planet's surface for nearly 15 years. As home cooks know, there will likely be hiccups and frustration when putting together a masterful Thanksgiving spread. Good Food host Evan Kleiman shares last-minute hacks. On Saturday, a gunman burst into LGBTQ bar Club Q and killed five people and injured 17 others. The suspect has a history with law enforcement, including a 2021 bomb threat. A shooting at Colorado Springs bar Club Q left five people dead. Two worked at the establishment and another was a mother to an 11-year-old daughter.

As America prepares for its biggest cooking holiday of the year, Good Food taps cook and food writer Andy Baraghani to co-host a special Thanksgiving episode with Evan Kleiman. Peppering in answers to listeners' most troubling kitchen and hosting dilemmas, the duo is joined by chef and artist DeVonn Francis, who has unique entertainment activities to keep the conversation lively while leaving politics and religion off the table. Pitmaster Kevin Bludso shares all you need to know about smoking and frying the Thanksgiving bird. Evan and Andy riff on turkey alternatives and their favorite side dishes. New York Times cooking editor Genevieve Ko developed nine new pie recipes, including a dessert inspired by breakfast. Finally, go beyond the turkey sandwich when using leftovers.

Some people measure the passing of time by the weather. Some people measure it by holidays. Good Food measures it in tortillas. Every year, for the last five years, host Evan Kleiman helps Gustavo Arellano judge KCRW's Tortilla Tournament. Every year, it has gotten bigger and more competitive. Every year, listeners learn a little more about the subtleties of texture, flavor, density, and consistency. But in half a decade, one thing has remained the same — at the heart of any truly great tortilla or pupusa or tamal, you'll find one ingredient — masa. 

As a heat wave continues in California, policies about air conditioning access are distorted, says a USC professor. And 20% of LA households don't have AC. To quench thirst in this heat, Good Food's Evan Kleiman recommends agua fresca, an iced drink made of water and minced or pureed fruit or vegetables, sweetened with sugar, and seasoned with lime or lemon juice. Due to drought, vital agricultural products — corn, wheat and tomatoes — are seeing the lowest yields in years. What does this mean for California farmers and consumers? The FAST Recovery Act, recently signed by Gov. Newsom, will set up a state-appointed council to protect fast food workers, and could help boost their wages to $22 an hour. A Politico writer spent 10 straight hours sampling podcasts from Ted Cruz, Al Franken, Matt Gaetz, and Pete Buttigieg. But this medium isn't a fit for politicians, he learned.

Each week on Good Food, host Evan Kleiman speaks to experts in their field of food, interjecting with personal anecdotes. Francis Lam turns the tables and invites Kleiman to share her experiences — from her considerable shyness, hearing men talking about food other than barbecue for the first time on a train in Italy, and her beloved restaurant, Angeli Caffe, on Melrose. Evan Kleiman is Lam's guest on “The Splendid Table.” Also, market correspondent Ben Mims catches up with Francesco Lucatorto of Ceci's Gastronomia as he shops for Swiss chard.

The story of the National Rifle Association involves infighting and backstabbing, million-dollar corruption, and a red-headed Russian spy. Tim Mak chronicles it all in his book called “Misfire.”  California Democrats are trying to pass new gun control bills. One would let private citizens sue manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of ghost guns and assault-style weapons. While coronavirus vaccines are good at reducing the risk of hospitalization and death, they may not shield you from long COVID, according to new research. Critics review new film releases: “Top Gun: Maverick,” “The Bob's Burgers Movie,” “Zero Contact,” “Dinner in America,” and “Look at Me: Xxxtentacion.” Evan Kleiman explains how cheeses like halloumi, smoked mozzarella, and kefalotyri have a high melting point, and they are perfect for summer grilling.

Los Angeles-based author Michelle Huneven joins Evan Kleiman to discuss her latest book, “Search.” In this engaging and funny literary fiction novel, main character Dana Potowski writes a memoir that describes the steps of her Unitarian Universalist Church congregation's year-long search for its new minister and the challenges they encounter.

This week, we talk to the pioneering food  radio personality Evan Kleiman host of our other favorite food radio show, Good Food from KCRW 

Russia is famous for its billionaires who squirrel away their money through luxury yachts and real estate in Western cities. How could U.S. and European sanctions affect them and Vladimir Putin? The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science recently received a $20 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. How has the institution helped shape LA? Critics review new film releases: “Turning Red,” “The Adam Project,” “Gold,” and “Lucy and Desi.” Irish soda bread is easy to make, involving wheat flour, buttermilk, salt, and baking soda. Evan Kleiman walks you through the steps.

Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia are accepting Ukrainian refugees who've been fleeing since Russia invaded their homeland about a week ago. What could long-term resettlement look like? The Russia-Ukraine conflict is expected to further disrupt the global supply chain, as Russia is a major producer of special minerals and materials for car parts, and Ukraine is a big exporter of wheat and sunflowers. Russia spent years building its cyber intelligence network, and many thought the country would use it to launch a “hybrid war” in its next major military conflict. It has yet to do so after invading Ukraine. Critics review “After Yang,” “Fresh,” “Huda's Salon,” and “The Batman.” Evan Kleiman explains how yogurt can be used in sweet and savory dishes, plus as a child's edible finger paint.

Tomatomania! is back and Scott Daigre joins us to discuss this fascinating fruit and its many uses and importance in the culinary world. After a pandemic hiatus, Daigre is producing 13 events this year, which are more than just a chance to find rare breeds and learn growing techniques and advice, they take on a festival-like atmosphere. Daigre's interest in gardening began when he was very little on his grandfather's farm in southern Louisiana, and continued even through his corporate career in marketing, until he followed his passion to a job as a nurseryman, then taking over the helm of Tomatomania! nearly 15 years ago. He is a regular on Evan Kleiman's popular KCRW radio show, "Good Food," and the author of "Tomatomania!," a lavishly illustrated book full of his insights and advice on this versatile fruit. We also talk about how he came to find and love Ojai, our climate and its impact on growing tomatoes, as well as the history of tomatoes from the Incans and Aztecs to the present day. He talks about preserving tomatoes, both by canning but also freezing and the uses of tomato water. We did not talk about Baffin Island, the lost wax method of jewelry making or Summit restaurants burgers.

To try to change her personality, the Atlantic writer Olga Khazan took up improv, meditation, and anger management classes. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the U.N. about the Russia-Ukraine crisis today, as Moscow moved to expel a top U.S. diplomat in the country.  Critics review the latest movie releases: “Dog,” “Uncharted,” “The Cursed,” and “A Banquet.” Evan Kleiman shares how you can make salads more craveable by adding dressings based on nuts, tahini, and cheese.  

We're dishing up more of The Chef Show! In this episode, Jon and Roy welcome Andrew Rea, Evan Kleiman, and Jazz Singsanong into the kitchen. Featuring chocolate lava cake, pie contests, and more! Today's Menu: The Chef Show (Season 1 - Volume 1) Episode 3: Chef Film Recipes Episode 4: Remembering Jonathan Gold Back Burner: Duncan Hines and Dolly Parton Baking Collection Borderline Salty Podcast with Rick Martinez and Carla Lalli Music _ Find Pod Appétit: Website: podappetitpodcast.com Twitter: @pod_appetit Instagram: @pod_appetit Facebook: podappetitpodcast Email: podappetitpodcast@gmail.com Merch: podappetit.threadless.com _ Logo by: Janelle Wilke Instagram: @janelle.wilke _ Shout-outs: Bottled Up Bitches Podcast: linktr.ee/BottledUpBitches ChiGuyFood: linktr.ee/chiguyfood The Unwritable Rant Podcast: theunwritablerant.com _ Promoted Podcast: Book of Lies Podcast: bookofliespodcast.com

The 2022 Winter Olympics start next week in Beijing. With thousands of worldwide athletes, coaches, and support staff arriving, can China avoid another coronavirus outbreak? The U.S. is facing a dire blood shortage that's prompted some LA trauma centers to close. Currently, the FDA says men who have sex with men can't donate blood unless they've been celibate for the past three months. Critics discuss highlights from the Sundance Film Festival, plus new films in theaters and on streaming services, such as “Home Team,” “Sundown,” and “Cyrano.” Evan Kleiman explains why you should buy beans locally — and recommends where. There are also many ways of cooking beans, from simple to complex.

More than 700 people face federal charges for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Writer Kerry Howley profiled three insurrectionists and what's happened to them in the months since.  Writer Barton Gellman says Jan. 6, 2021 was practice, and that Donald Trump's Republican Party is in better shape to subvert the next election. Critics review the newest movies: “Memoria,” “The Tender Bar,” “The 355,” and “The Lost Daughter.” Evan Kleiman shares quick recipes for soups that can be made with water instead of broth and are full of vegetables and/or protein-rich legumes and beans. 

Eddie Lin, the blogger behind Deep End Dining, risked his stomach on raw chicken and lived to tell about it on Evan Kleiman's Good Food. He began his well-known food blog Deep End Dining around fall 2004. Almost immediately it began to receive critical attention as one of his entries was selected to be in the 2005 food anthology Best Food Writing. Eddie is the author of Lonely Planet's Extreme Cuisine, a guidebook about exotic foods around the globe. His extreme food exploits and essays have been covered by NPR, PBS, the Los Angeles Times, OC Weekly, BlackBook Magazine, Food & Wine, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, USA Today, and others. Eddie was an on-air contributor and segment producer for KCRW's long-running Good Food and has appeared on Visiting with Huell Howser, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Freakiest Foods, Eat St., KABC Eyewitness News's The Man Who Eats Everything, and CSI: NY. Eddie Lin was a guest judge on Top Chef Masters, among other popular tv food competition shows, such as MasterChef. Eddie's ideal job as a tasting judge kept him busy traveling the country to vet hopeful cooking contestants for shows like The Taste with Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Chef Ludo Lefebvre, and Chef Marcus Samuelsson. He also appeared on Knife Fight in 2013 alongside Top Chef Ilan Hall. His long ago attempted YouTube series, Kamikaze Kitchen, featured unsuspecting chefs who are ambushed at their restaurants with a "mystery ingredient" and usually it's something you would not find on the menu, like alligator. Eddie is currently a contributor to LA Taco and LA Times, covering restaurants and interesting food stories around the city. He's also writing his food memoir titled All You Can Eat Hell, a requiem for a restaurant, about his family's failed all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet in Houston, Texas and his coming of age exile into lonely adulthood as the number one son of Taiwanese immigrants. Eddie and I have dined together at some of the best vegan restaurants around LA for the past nine years. Our favorite dates happen to take place at vegan Chinese restaurants in particular. We also like to go have dim sum in LA's famed San Gabriel neighborhood where the most authentic Chinese restaurants are found. And what's Eddie's favorite dim sum dish? Chicken feet. So how am I, a plant-based vegan chef and host of the Plantfull Life podcast, with this crazy guy? Well, I'll let you listen into this episode to find out. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/plantfull/support

As some families are preparing to travel and gather for the holidays next week, they should be especially careful as the Omicron variant is expected to overtake the Delta variant, says UCLA epidemiology professor Anne Rimoin. She emphasizes the importance of booster shots, using high-quality masks, keeping your distance from people if you don't know their vaccination status, and rethinking which activities are worth it. When it comes to considering holiday plans, she says it comes down to your risk threshold. Press Play also looks into the mysteries behind humans' olfactory senses and gets reviews for the latest movies, including “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Swan Song,” “The Novice,” and “Nightmare Alley.” Finally, Good Food host Evan Kleiman shares savory pie recipes.

Alberto Carvalho announced today that he's leaving his job as the head of Miami-Dade County Public Schools to become the next superintendent of LA Unified School District. He's taking the job as hundreds of LAUSD employees were fired for failing to meet the vaccine mandate, and nearly 35,000 students have yet to receive their first dose. In Tripoli, Libya, old warehouses have been turned into secret prisons to hold thousands of Europe-bound migrants, sometimes indefinitely, and under the most inhumane conditions. Film critics review the newest releases: “West Side Story,” “The Unforgivable,” “Don't Look Up,” “Being The Ricardos.” And Good Food host Evan Kleiman talks about warming spices and gives a recipe for chocolate gingerbread with lemon curd.

The story of the National Rifle Association involves infighting and backstabbing, million-dollar corruption, and a red-headed Russian spy. Little did the organization know, Donald Trump's election would trigger their downfall. NPR's Tim Mak chronicles it all in his new book called “Misfire.”  The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks. The six conservative justices seem ready to uphold that law, overturning the precedent established in Roe v Wade in 1973.  And KCRW's Evan Kleiman offers food-related gift ideas for this holiday. 

With global fine-dining experience, a deep appreciation for sustainably-sourced seafood and local farmers market produce, Chef Brandon Gray (aka Brandoni Pepperoni) is Los Angeles' Wizard of ‘Za.At the age of 18, Gray joined the United States Navy as a deckhand but quickly assumed a role as a cook after showing enthusiasm for the kitchen. He spent the next three years honing his skills and preparing meals for officers in addition to other enlisted personnel.In 2007, Gray returned from shore and enrolled at the Art Institute of California Los Angeles. Inspired by an Anthony Bourdain segment indulging in “the best carrot he'd ever eaten” at the Royal Mail Hotel in Australia, Gray relocated to Australia and spent some time honing his craft Down Under before returning to his hometown of Los Angeles in 2012.After years working the line at some of Los Angeles's buzziest kitchens (Providence, Trois Mec, Cape Seafood & Provisions, Best Girl at the Ace Hotel), Brandon was toying with the idea of a career change. Then came Covid and an out-of-the-blue question from a friend: “Hey, do you know how to make pizza?” Brandon did not make pizza. But he lied. He made three pies for his friend, and she told her friends. A few weeks later, chef and author Evan Kleiman mentioned the pizzas on her KCRW radio show, Good Food, and Brandoni Pepperoni was born.Since April 2020, Brandoni Pepperoni has been firing up pies so sophisticated and flavor rich, you'd think he grew up in the hills of Naples in Italy instead of the Hills of Baldwin in Crenshaw. When not in the slinging Zas, you can find him biking, listening to music or making ceramics.Links:Brandoni PepperoniDonovan'sAtticaBrandoni on KCRW's 'Good Food' Jonathan GoldBrandoni in Bon AppetitEpisode transcriptFollow the show on InstagramEmail usFollow Jordan on Instagram or TwitterShout out to Shawn Meyers for the music, Korey Pereira for help with the mix, and Jason Cryer for the art!

The countdown to the Super Bowl of the food world has begun — Thanksgiving. It's an imperfect holiday, rife with historical baggage, and a lot of likes and dislikes swirling around the table. However, it is the one holiday that is focused entirely on food, and after covering this celebration for so many years, what brings Good Food host Evan Kleiman the most joy is how every family makes it their own. Kleiman is joined throughout the show by Genevieve Ko, senior editor at the New York Times, as they answer some of the most frequently asked cooking questions. Guests also share stories of their first Thanksgiving celebrations, new traditions, and the generosity that can be extended across the table.

POIF Part 3 is here, and the gang is in very deep. After a brief check-in with KCRW's pie-contest maven, Evan Kleiman (5:20), we get into our tasters' pie-zonked responses to the mail-order barrage (11:05). Featuring discussion of Dave's sole pie-making attempt, a journey beyond the 'Interstellar'-inspired pie horizon, mincemeat disappointment, eating key lime pie in South Beach, #pielife vs. #vanlife, and Oakland's great Lois the Pie Queen. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Noelle Cornelio and Evan Kleiman Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today the U.S. Labor Department said prices in October were 6.2% higher than they were last year, which is the biggest jump in three decades. High prices and shortages are hitting food banks too, and some are concerned they won't have enough supplies to give out for the holidays.  Frustration with school boards is brewing nationwide and affecting elections. San Francisco Mayor London Breed endorsed the recall of three progressive members of her city's school board, citing fed-up parents as one big reason. Plus, the new book “Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide” contains hundreds of pages of tasty treats and places worth seeking out around the world, and KCRW's Evan Kleiman talks about squash recipes for fall. 

LA City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas faces 20 federal charges of conspiracy, bribery, mail, and wire fraud — all connected to an alleged scheme with Marilyn Louise Flynn, the former dean of USC's School of Social Work. This is the latest in a history of scandals for the Trojans. Along the Santa Barbara coastline, the Alisal Fire continues to burn and is a long way from being contained. Photographer Josh Edelson pivoted to covering California's biggest wildfires and breaking news — after focusing on corporate events and headshots. KCRW also looks at how the recent OC oil spill might affect underwater sea creatures, and Evan Kleiman gives tips on making vegetarian “meatballs.”

Rebecca Taub, an OB/GYN from California's East Bay, has been traveling to Oklahoma City once a month to perform abortions at a clinic there. She sees dozens of patients a day, and some are coming from Texas. “It is activism. For me, it is frustrating. I was just talking with a colleague today about how abortion is a part of medical care. And I wish that we could provide this care and just have it be seen in that way. But obviously, that's not the system that we live in,” Taub says.   Also, the NBA says athletes will not get paid if they miss a game due to local vaccine mandates, and so far, about 90% of the players are vaccinated. Some U.S. conservatives are looking at Hungary as the shining nation on the hill. KCRW's Evan Kleiman gives tips on making Cacio e Pepe, an Italian mac and cheese with a zing. And some LA restaurants have just earned coveted Michelin stars.

In her new book “We Are Each Other's Harvest,” author Natalie Baszile brings together the narratives and histories of Black farmers in America. She co-hosts this edition of Good Food with Evan Kleiman, as they speak to those who are tied to the land and profiled in the book. “Farmers are living ancestors for Black people,” explains Baszile, whose personal history includes a connection to farming.  Clyde W. Ford provides a historical account of how the American government has failed Black farmers. Willie Earl Nelson and his son Adrain explain the discriminatory tactics deployed to deny Black farmers of capital to purchase land. O'Neal Bluefort remembers early days on his family's tobacco farm and his grandfather's final gift, and shares how he plans to continue his legacy. Baszile recounts a visit from her grandmother and her recipe for dirty rice. Finally, Naima Penniman, an activist behind Soul Fire Farm, reads her poem for future generations.

California lawmakers are pushing to pay addicts not to use illegal drugs. State Senator Scott Weiner says the strategies would be spearheaded by community organizations and health care clinics that work with meth users. These programs would run for three to four months and cost $300 to $400. Also, President Biden wants to get nearly half of the U.S.' electricity from solar power by 2050. Mexico's Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to decriminalize abortion, whereas Texas is criminalizing it after six weeks. Britney Spears' conservatorship may be coming to an end. And Good Food host Evan Kleiman offers tips on packing kids' school lunches.

“Literally all pasta shapes are wonderful except bucatini. Bucatini can go get effed.” Francis Lam's strongly-worded tweet inspired Dan to organize a live event in 2018, where he, Francis (host of The Splendid Table), and Evan Kleiman (host of Good Food) could debate the merits of various pasta shapes. It was called “The Bucatini Dialogues” — and yes, it was the night when Dan first announced his intention to invent a new pasta shape. But now, for the first time, we're airing the rest of that conversation. We cover a range of shapes and tackle the tough questions, like: Why would you ever use a penne without ridges? Is there a time and a place for overcooked pasta? And what's the best approach to eating a bowl of ramen? // Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL). Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, better known as Sleater-Kinney, got down to business in 2020 and recorded an album in their Portland homebase with local musicians. They produced the record's 11 tracks themselves, including the rocker “Path of Wellness.”   Join KCRW hosts Evan Kleiman and Anne Litt at 7pm tonight in conversation with Sleater-Kinney as part of Sound Bites, the intersection where music and food meet. Free! 

Evan Kleiman visits “The Plastic Bag Store,” where artist Robin Frohardt has designed products from collected materials that speak to the foreverness of single-use plastics and what it means for the future. Bill Esparza journeys through Los Angeles for barbacoa, the pit-roasted meat found across Mexico. The availability window for Blenheim apricots is open, and Sherry Yard shares how she is using those from See Canyon Fruit Ranch. Director David Gelb reveals the rise of the celebrity chef in his new documentary “Wolfgang.” Journalist and editor Laurie Ochoa remembers Chef Mark Peel. Finally, Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison returns with his weekly reviews.

In her new book “We Are Each Other's Harvest,” author Natalie Baszile brings together the narratives and histories of Black farmers in America. She co-hosts this edition of Good Food with Evan Kleiman, as they speak to those who are tied to the land and profiled in the book. “Farmers are living ancestors for Black people,” explains Baszile, whose personal history includes a connection to farming.  Clyde W. Ford provides a historical account of how the American government has failed Black farmers. Willie Earl Nelson and his son Adrain explain the discriminatory tactics deployed to deny Black farmers of capital to purchase land. O'Neal Bluefort remembers early days on his family's tobacco farm and his grandfather's final gift with wishes to continue his legacy. Baszile recounts a visit from her grandmother and her recipe for dirty rice. Finally, Naima Penniman reads her poem for future generations.

On this Memorial Day, Press Play replays some of our favorite interviews. Baker Roxana Jullipat shares how to go back in time and cook with ancient grains. Illustrator Stacy Michelson’s new book has all sorts of fun facts, like Ancient Egyptians invented the Marshmallow, and all Haas avocados can be traced back to a single tree. Good Food host Evan Kleiman has cider recommendations. And how about hiking in Griffith Park to personalized music by composer and sound artist Ellen Reid?

Good Food host Evan Kleiman is a born and bred Angeleno. This week she speaks to Elizabeth Ito, the animator and creator of “City of Ghosts,” a six-episode Netflix series which Kleiman describes as “a love letter to Los Angeles.” Journalist Emilie Friedlander used Google as her metaphoric magnifying glass and fingerprint kit on her wild goose chase to uncover the origins of “F*cking Good Pizza.” Chef Eric Ripert knows his way around seafood and turns his focus to vegetables in his latest cookbook. Summer squash has hit the farmer’s market. Finally, Eater LA’s Farley Elliott has the story behind El Pato hot sauce.

“Food is a love language between a lot of parents and their children,” Michelle Zauner tells host Evan Kleiman. In her new memoir, Zauner recounts the solace she took in learning to cook Korean dishes after her mother’s cancer diagnosis. Lyn Nguyen describes the unlikely pairing between her chef mother and the woman who took her in as a refugee from Vietnam. Chef Brandon Jew shares his prodigal son story of returning to San Francisco’s Chinatown. Sheldon Simeon talks about how different cultures make do with what’s on hand to come together as Hawaiian cuisine. Chase Valencia brings Filipino rotisserie to Lasita for this week’s “In the Weeds.” Finally, squash blossoms have returned to the farmer’s market.

We are all in on pasta this week!  Francis joins Evan Kleiman, host of Good Food on KCRW, and Dan Pashman of The Sporkful to debate the merits of different pasta shapes in front of a live audience. Then, we talk to Dan about his years-long quest to create his very own pasta shape, cascatelli. And then a true pasta obsessive, Chef Douglass Williams of MIDA in Boston, is in-house to help Francis take your pasta questions.

As Los Angeles heads into another lockdown, Good Food checks in with Celia Sack of Omnivore Books in San Francisco for ideas on which cookbooks to give your friends/family (or yourself). Two of Sack’s picks are “Flavor” by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage and “Red Sands” by Caroline Eden. Evan Kleiman talks recipes and wanderlust with them. Ken Concepcion of Now Serving and Simon Davies of Somekind Press share their collaboration on the Take Away Los Angeles series of books benefitting LA restaurants. Ari Kolander describes the constant pivoting in order to keep the doors open at his year-old seafood restaurant, Found Oyster, in East Hollywood. Finally, market correspondent Gillian Ferguson heads down to the Torrance Farmers’ Market to talk Japanese shave ice and macadamia nuts.

Chef David Chang takes a seat at the table to co-host the Good Food annual Thanksgiving show with Evan Kleiman. Nokx Majozi of London’s celebrated Pie Room shares recipes for traditional savory and individual pies that can transform this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. Mark Pasternak of Devil’s Gulch Ranch suggests alternative turkey proteins for the holiday centerpiece. Cheryl Day reveals her twists on classic Thanksgiving desserts. Andrea Ngyuen has a plan for leftovers with an Asian spin. Plus, pomegranates have found their way to the farmer’s market.

In the United States, we place a high value on our independence, on our ability to choose for ourselves, and to have things the way we want them when we want them. And while I know I’m speaking in broad strokes and this doesn’t necessarily describe every US citizen, it does in many ways describe us as a whole. But this is not necessarily a shared value around the world. Why is it so hard for us to make decisions? Listen in. Links + Resources From This Episode: Literary London with Tsh Oxenreider In Europe, little refrigerators hold a grand reason for less waste by Evan Kleiman for the LA Times Sheena Iyengar's TED Talk The Art of Choosing and her book by the same title How cultures around the world make choices by Amy S. Choi What's Your Decision? by Fathers Michael Sparough and Tim Hipskind Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing  Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman Download Transcript

On this episode of Press Play: How COVID-19 affects kids, and a mysterious illness similar to Kawasaki Disease; the author of a viral post about how the coronavirus spreads, and what we should do as California starts to open back up. Also the future of the auto industry in these quarantine times; KCRW’s Evan Kleiman with a beach pasta as the beaches partially reopen; our regular Friday film reviews, but on Thursday!

We are pleased to feature two interviews this week from Annenberg's podcasting course, ASCJ 420. The first interview is a conversation between USC student Katie Angel with LA chef, author, and radio host, Evan Kleiman. Kleiman hosts a radio show on KCRW called "Good Food," which has been on air since 1997. This interview touches on the effects to restaurants during the Safer At Home order, and how Covid-19 could foster more at-home American cooks. The second interview was conducted by Brianna Devons, and features cyber security engineer, Yalabe Dukuly. The pair discusses how cyber security can offer a path to financial freedom, as well as Dukuly's vision for more African Americans in the field through his forthcoming company "Nerdy Black Guys."

Open KitchenInspired Food For Casual GatheringsBy Susan Spungen Intro: Welcome to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book with Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City sitting at her dining room table talking to cookbook authors.Susan Spungen: Hi, I'm Susan Spungen and I'm here to talk about my latest cookbook, Open Kitchen.Suzy Chase: So here in New York City we just ended week two of the coronavirus quarantine. In Open Kitchen you have some recipes scattered throughout the cookbook that you call projects. Since many of us have lots of time on our hands right now, I thought you could walk us through your French beef stew recipe on page 101, and I bet we have these ingredients on hand.Susan Spungen: So, yeah, personally I've been definitely stocking up on the basic mirepoix vegetables, which is onion, carrot, celery, because I want to be ready to make soups and stews at a moment's notice. And I've been actually buying mushrooms too. So even if you can't get fancy hen of the woods mushrooms from your farmer's market right now or anywhere else, any kind of mushrooms are great in this stew. And you just need to get your hands on a nice big chuck roast and you're ready to go to make this really comforting stew that even if you're not going to be serving it to guests, you can share it with your family and you could also divvy it up and freeze some for later, which is what I've been doing a lot of batch cooking lately.Suzy Chase: So I started making this, this morning and I don't have pearl onions. White onions are okay?Susan Spungen: Look, you can always make substitutions, especially in … Like this. It has to have that onion flavor in it, but if you don't have pearl onions or can't even get a bag of frozen pearl onions, then just chop up a white onion and put that in in the beginning.Suzy Chase: Could I use stew meat too?Susan Spungen: Yeah, you could. I wrote the recipe to cook the meat in larger pieces, like if you got one big chuck roast. But if you buy stew meat, that's the same cut of meat just cut in smaller pieces. Either one is fine, a big roast or cut into, I think, four pieces I have it in the recipe. Or you can just use stew meat.Susan Spungen: The reason I did it with a big chuck roast and bigger pieces is because I just found the final product to be moister and juicier while you still got the flavor into the sauce from searing three or four bigger pieces of meat and then you pull them apart at the end and the sauce sort of bathes all of those wonderful craggy surface areas with delicious sauce. If you can just get stew meat that works perfectly well. Because when you cook it for two-and-a-half, three hours, it will get tender no matter what.Suzy Chase: So talk a little bit about the demi-glace concentrate.Susan Spungen: Yeah, that's something I always have in my kitchen and I think it came from working at one point in my career with a couple of classically trained chefs. I learned how to actually make demi-glace from scratch in giant kettles full. And it's just a really invaluable ingredient, I think, for making flavorful sauces. There are so many things you can do without that, making a quick pan sauce, whatever, but demi-glace is when you've cooked down veal and beef bones for many, many hours, strained it, reduce it again. It's rather labor intensive although it could be a once a year project for anybody that likes doing those kind of things.Susan Spungen: You can get some really good high quality demi-glace concentrates and it's a very hard jelly, because that is from all the collagen from the bones, and it really adds … A big spoonful of that in something like the French beef stew, it just adds so much richness and flavor that would be hard to get otherwise because a canned beef stock or a box beef stock, you might as well not even … In my opinion, it's just salt water. It doesn't really have a lot of flavor and it's mostly salt. So I tend to avoid beef stock in a box.Suzy Chase: So just quickly going down the ingredients, I think everyone has these in their kitchen. It's beef, butter, olive oil, garlic, red wine, beef stock, bay leaves. So easy. So you've had a lot of practice making this dish both in your real life and professional life. Can you tell us the story behind the recipe?Susan Spungen: Well, I have had a lot of practice with boeuf bourguignon, which this is loosely based on the classic French recipe. I worked on a little move called Julie & Julia, and this was the recipe that we cooked the most throughout the three months that I worked on Julie & Julia. It just came up again and again and again in different scenes and it was just to me the quintessential Julia Child dish. And it's so delicious and so good that I didn't mind making it over and over again.Susan Spungen: I've tweaked it and perfected it and made it my own by making the … It's a little more vegetable heavy than the classic. I roast the vegetables on the side and throw them into the sauce at the end rather than stewing them along with the meat the whole time because I really like … It makes it a little more vegetable forward. I found when I eat this dish, I like the sauce and I like the vegetables. I don't really need to eat a lot of the meat and I'm not a huge meat eater, so I like it but I don't want to eat a big, big portion of it. That's why I've tried to balance out the meat with a little more vegetable.Suzy Chase: Did you ever meet Julia Child?Susan Spungen: I did. I did. Back in my Martha Stewart Living days, when she was working on a book and companion TV series called Baking with Julia, Martha Stewart was one of the people that she had come up to Cambridge, along with lots of other different pastry chefs from all over the country on different days. Our day came and, of course being the food editor, I was the one down in the basement making the wedding cake and Martha was on TV talking about it. But it was a great experience.Susan Spungen: Of course now to say that I've been in that kitchen that's now preserved in amber in the Smithsonian is cool. I had a real experience there with Julia and our shoot went over two days, so she actually cooked us dinner in her kitchen. We ate out on her patio, it was summertime. The night that we stayed over in Cambridge and then we went back and filmed the second day. That was pretty cool.Susan Spungen: I had met her at a couple of different events. I actually went to her 80th birthday celebration, which was a big deal at the Rainbow Room. That was when I had first started working at Martha Stewart Living. And then about 10 years later we did this book project with her. And then I met her a couple other times too, at the IACP Awards I remember seeing her. I got an award for the Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook, which I was the co-author of, and on my way up to the stage to accept the award, she said … Should I do my imitation? She said, "It's a wonderful book. I got it at Costco."Suzy Chase: Were those awards the year that they had them in San Antonio?Susan Spungen: No. I don't remember but I've never been to San Antonio so it wasn't there. I can't remember which city it was, it might have been Portland. I'd have to look. I think it was 1999 that we won that award. I'd have to go back and do research to know which city it was in, but it was not San Antonio.Suzy Chase: Because I think the year before I went to the IACP Awards in San Antonio, and she was there. The room just stopped. When she walked in everyone was like, "My God, Julia's here."Susan Spungen: Yeah, I think she was one of the founders of IACP. She used to go every year. And then I saw her out here once in the Hamptons for the James Beard Awards. So I think those are all the times that I had met her.Suzy Chase: I love it. So on your Instagram you wrote, "Some good things. I'm achieving my goal of eating dinner earlier and it's getting lighter later by the day. It's hard not to find one's self happy to feel spring coming despite this world we're living in right now. Cooking is truly getting me through all of this."Susan Spungen: The truth is I've been having … I've barely been enjoying cooking. I always enjoy cooking, that's why I've made it my career, but I have been … I think a lot of people who cook already especially have been finding a lot of solace in cooking right now. And it's just the act of cooking, it's not about cooking for others, although it probably is about cooking for whoever's in your household. But I know there are people who are quarantining alone who are enjoying cooking too.Susan Spungen: But I just find that I've had a few strategies that have been getting me through. Which is really just about cooking more than you need for any one particular meal. I've been cooking a big pot of beans and then I'll make a soup with some of the brothy beans that are there and maybe a chili or maybe just rice and beans or incorporate the beans into a salad, or I might freeze some of them. I'll cook more grain than I need, like freekeh, and then I'm really trying hard not to let anything go bad.Susan Spungen: So we've had some planned dinners and then we find ourselves with a surplus of already prepared ingredients so we do what we call scrounging, where we just put together meals based on what's in the fridge. My husband and I sometimes just eat different things. It's like, "Let's scrounge," and we each make our own thing. We're not going hungry that's for sure. Definitely eating less meat than I normally do even though we have meat.Susan Spungen: Tonight we're having fish. We're here in Long Island and the fish market was full of wonderful fresh fish, so that seems like a treat right now. They had gorgeous, gorgeous halibut from Nova Scotia today, so that's what we're having for dinner.Suzy Chase: I thank you for your cooking inspiration and take good care.Susan Spungen: Thank you. You too.Suzy Chase: Cooking makes you happy and it's a way you can make other people happy, but you didn't start out cooking. You first started out as an art student, then you moved on to become the dessert chef at Coco Pazzo on the Upper East Side, then founding food editor of Martha Stewart Living and I can't leave out culinary consultant on numerous movies, including Julie & Julia and Eat Pray Love. You've been called the queen of food. This cookbook is called Open Kitchen. What does Open Kitchen mean to you?Susan Spungen: Well, when I was coming up with what's the hook for this book, after going through a few different ideas, I settled on this concept of an open kitchen. I loved the double meaning of that phrase. I had just finished renovating … I should say building a new kitchen in a newly renovated home and of course we wanted a big beautiful open kitchen.Susan Spungen: I never really even had a very good kitchen before, so I really started entertaining in earnest when I had this home. Entertaining more in a more grownup way. And I realized that when you have this open kitchen space and your friends are literally walking right into it and most likely hanging out there while you're getting ready to eat dinner or lunch, whatever it may be, they can see everything you've been doing and working on. It made me want to get ahead even more than I already naturally did. And when I say get ahead I mean it's really about prepping and being ready. If there's something I can do a day ahead, I'm going to do it. If I can do it two days ahead I'm going to do it. So it just streamlines the cooking of the meal and also lessens the mess in the kitchen that everyone's going to walk into.Susan Spungen: And then the other side of that meaning is just having it be a place to welcome friends and family and guests into your home and wrap them up in nurturing food. It's an open kitchen in that sense as well.Suzy Chase: And this whole cookbook is all about your get ahead cooking philosophy.Susan Spungen: It is.Suzy Chase: So in the introduction you wrote, "A few years ago I came across the word sprezzatura."Susan Spungen: Yup, that's perfect.Suzy Chase: Really? My God. You wrote, "Not only did I love the way it sounded, I was intrigued by its translation which, simply put, means studied nonchalance." What is it about that word that caught your attention?Susan Spungen: Well, like I said, I just love the way it sounded, but when I heard what it meant I thought, that's exactly what I strive for when I cook. I don't want things that seem fussy but, at the same time, I am willing to put some work in and I think you have to be willing to put a little bit of work in when you make good food. Let's face it, you have to shop, you have to plan your menu, you have to cook the food and pay some attention to how you're doing that. But the more you do it, the better you get at it.Susan Spungen: And I want it to feel nonchalant even if I make something super delicious. Maybe it's an amazing dessert that I spent a little bit of time making, it's just sitting there on the counter during dinner and people can't … Their mouths are watering waiting for it. But they didn't see me executing that. So it just feels very nonchalant. What can I say? I really want it to always feel nonchalant and I also don't want my guests to feel put upon. That's why I want to be done in the kitchen. You'll never find people saying to me, "Can I help? Are you sure you don't need help?" I think people only say that when they see you struggling.Suzy Chase: Yeah, I love that. Because I'm always like, "She needs help."Susan Spungen: Yeah, exactly.Suzy Chase: So you hear about chefs and you hear about home cooks, but this is a new one for me, professional home cook. What sets the professional home cook apart from the ordinary cook, which is what I am?Susan Spungen: Right, well I'm glad you picked up on that because for years I worked in restaurants, I worked in catering, I still work as a food stylist and a recipe developer, but as a recipe developer I actually do work at home. So I have the skills of a professional but I have the mindset of a home cook. So it's just maybe kicking it up a notch. I create recipes for home cooks, but I'm doing it from a professional's point of view. So I really have to get inside the head of a home cook and realize what their limitations are, but also I want people to have something to aspire to. And, like I said right on the cover, I want people to be inspired.Susan Spungen: And that's what I keep hearing from people over and over again about this book, how they feel inspired. Of course that is so gratifying. I'm so happy to hear it. Because that's what I want to do. I'm not about solving your every day problems. I'm about making you want to really spread your wings and fly.Suzy Chase: Can you talk a little bit about how the book is organized?Susan Spungen: So I start with simple starters and they are, as I say, simple. Really, really easy low effort things that you can put out for people to nibble on while … We call them nibbles in our house. Some of them are make ahead, like the dukkah crostini. I actually have this dukkah, which is a spice and nut and seed blend on hand from another recipe, and I thought, wow, that would be so good in crostini, which are those skinny breadsticks. That's a wonderful recipe.Susan Spungen: That requires making ahead but there are other things that are super spontaneous, like grilled peas in the pod, edamame-style. You could buy a quart of English peas, the season is coming up really soon. I'm too lazy to shell peas myself so I just throw them on the grill in one of those grill baskets and char them and the peas inside don't need much cooking. And then people can just nibble on them, they just have a little olive oil and lemon zest and flaky salt on top.Susan Spungen: Or there's a beautiful avocado tahini dip which I put out with all kinds of raw or slightly pickled vegetables. I think you get the idea. That's simple starters.Susan Spungen: And then I break the centerpieces, which I think is something you should actually start with when you're planning a menu. What's the main event of the meal? I have centerpieces that are meat, poultry, fish and shellfish and then vegetarian or nearly. Because I don't like to leave out my vegetarian friends and my vegetarian readers because I know there are a lot of them. And I myself eat vegetarian part of the time because I enjoy it. The whole book is very vegetable forward. So the nearly vegetarian chapter might have a little thing you can remove, like a little bit of pancetta for flavor, still going to be great without it.Susan Spungen: And then I have salads, which I think as side dishes because I like to have a lot of room temperature things when I do a menu because it doesn't really matter if things are hot. So I love a salad as a side dish. And then I have a vegetable chapter, a starchy side chapter and then a really big and robust dessert chapter.Suzy Chase: So some Saturdays I wake up and think, all I want to do is spend the day in the kitchen cooking and listening to NPR. Tell us about your project recipes that are sprinkled throughout the cookbook.Susan Spungen: I like to warn people. I don't want people to think, wow, that is really a lot of work, I wasn't expecting that. So I wanted to label them as projects and also as people, like you said, they sometimes want to embrace a project. I would say that all in all the projects are things that are really great things that can be made almost completely ahead. It just breaks down that way. A lot of things that are easy are more last minute things, but a lot of the things that are projects are things that you can make a couple days ahead of time and then serve the last minute, like the French beef stew, which I just saw someone making the other day and they loved it.Susan Spungen: Osso buco sugo with orange gremolata, this is one of my absolute favorite things to make ahead. It's a braise so it takes a good couple hours and it has a veal osso buco, you could use beef shanks if you didn't want to use veal. It makes the most delightful pasta sauce. You can make this completely ahead of time. All you have to do is boil the pasta and make the gremolata at the last minute. The vegetable lasagna that I mentioned before is another project, but I think there's about five or six throughout the book and they're all centerpieces.Suzy Chase: You approach cooking with an artist's sensibility, layering flavors, textures and colors. And one section of this cookbook that might be the definition of that is your toast section. Like your cassoulet toast recipe, can you describe this?Susan Spungen: I really, from the very beginning, wanted to have this specific toast section and I wanted it laid out the way that you see it on a double page spread, so that you could see the … Be inspired by the array of things that you could do. Depending on how good a cook you are you might not need a recipe for some of these and they also might inspire recipes of your own.Susan Spungen: The cassoulet toast I'd say is one of the more complex of the toasts, because you actually have to cook something. And when I first approached the book I wanted to do a cassoulet recipe because I thought that's such a great make ahead wonderful winter dish. And then I realized there is just no way to really streamline a cassoulet without really compromising on what it is. I just thought, what if I took the flavors of cassoulet and made them into a delicious hearty toast? You just have to caramelize onions, that's the most complex part of it, and then you take can of big butter beans and then you buy a duck confit leg at the supermarket, which if you look for it it's usually there with the bacon. D'Artagnan makes a great one and a couple other ones. It's almost a real shortcut to the very delicious flavors of cassoulet. And you could serve this actually as a lunch with a green salad, it would be fantastic.Suzy Chase: In your go to pantry list on page 14, you included preserved lemons. I bought my first jar of preserved lemons a few weeks ago. So what is your favorite way to use preserved lemons in a dish?Susan Spungen: Yeah. I think also mentioned that I also love preserved lemon paste, which I think is even easier. Now what you have to remember is that preserved lemons are preserved with salt. So what you're getting is … You actually only use the rind. If you're getting a jar of whole preserved lemons, you don't actually use the pulp. Just scrape out the pulp, which is very almost nonexistent by the time they're preserved. The pip part has been salted and it takes three months to make them, that's why I don't make them myself, I buy them.Susan Spungen: They have a very strong flavor, a little bit like Indian lime pickle if you've ever had that as a condiment, similar. It's quite strong, you don't need a lot and you should always hold back on salting other parts of the dish until you've put them in because they contribute a lot of salt. So I like putting them into dressings and vinaigrettes. I love just a little bit of that preserved lemon paste in maybe a vinaigrette that you might put over fish. Because I love fish with something really zingy. Super zingy, salty, absolutely delicious.Suzy Chase: Over the weekend I made your recipe for clams with chorizo and smoked paprika on page 155. Can you describe this recipe?Susan Spungen: Sure, and thank you for giving me page numbers. Very helpful. I think I might have seen that on Instagram.Suzy Chase: Yes.Susan Spungen: Clams are something that people might walk past in the supermarket or the fish store, and don't underestimate them. Because when you cook clams they release this incredibly powerful flavorful broth that is a little bit of garlic, a little bit of white wine and some clams and you have a flavor bomb. Yeah, I cook this on the stove but I have also done the same thing on a gas grill or a live fire grill. If you have a big cast iron pan you could cook these outside on your grill.Susan Spungen: These are Portuguese flavors really, mixing the idea of a spicy sausage like chorizo with clams. That's a very Spanish and Portuguese flavor combo. And how many ingredients do we have here? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight ingredients, quite a short list. Some cherry tomatoes, they help break down into a delicious sauce, and then just grill or toast some yummy bread and you have a great meal that you can stick in the middle of the table and have a messy feast with a couple of friends.Suzy Chase: And you can dip your bread in that broth.Susan Spungen: So good. Or let me give you another idea, another way to serve this, put a big piece of bread in four bowls and then spoon this over and let people eat the clams and then eat that soaked bread. Delicious.Suzy Chase: My gosh, okay, I'm going to write that down. Now for my segment called My Favorite Cookbook. Aside from this cookbook, what is your all time favorite cookbook and why?Susan Spungen: Well, lately I've been thinking about some of the books that I've kept over the years and I don't know if it's definitely my only all-time favorite, but a book that had a big influence on me early in my career was a book called Cucina Fresca written by Evan Kleiman, who's now on the radio, and Viana La Place.Suzy Chase: I love her.Susan Spungen: Yeah, and they had a series of books but Cucina Fresca was the first. And it was a revelation to me at the time because the recipes were so straightforward and simple and they were really based on mostly Tuscan ideas, and that's a sensibility that really appeals to me where less is more and true farm to table cooking. It just always inspired me. It taught me how to be simple.Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media?Susan Spungen: Well, my website is my name, so just type in susanspungen.com or just Susan Spungen, it should come right up, and that's S-P-U-N-G-E-N, I'm used to always spelling my name because it's a little hard to figure out. And on social media, same thing, @susanspungen on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, everything.Suzy Chase: Thanks so much for coming on Cookery by the Book podcast.Susan Spungen: Thanks for having me.Outro: Subscribe over on CookerybytheBook.com and thanks for listening to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book.

Daycare Workers Are Essential for Medical Staff to Work A lot of California day care centers are dealing with more kids, even as the preschools have fewer resources, like toilet paper. Reporter: Benjamin Purper, KVCR Restaurant Industry Reels from Pandemic Closures Restaurants have been ordered to close for in-house service to slow the virus’ spread. That’s led to the layoffs of countless restaurant workers. Evan Kleiman, a chef, former restauranteur, and the host of KCRW Santa Monica’s weekly food show, "Good Food," has been watching this with a heavy heart. We talked to her about what she’s been hearing from friends and colleagues in the restaurant industry. Guest: Evan Kleiman, Host of KCRW's "Good Food"

The Italian TableBy Elizabeth Minchilli Intro: Welcome to the Cookery by the Book podcast. With Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authors. Elizabeth: Hi, I'm Elizabeth Minchilli and my latest cookbook is The Italian Table.Suzy Chase: The Italian Table is glorious, from the recipes to the photos. The first thing you see when you open the cookbook is the stunning kitchen with rustic blue and white tile, and blue and white plates hung on the wall. Is this your kitchen?Elizabeth: Oh, I wish! That's a kitchen in a beautiful castle outside of Rome. Although I've spent a lot of time in it.Suzy Chase: Oh, that tile is to die for.Elizabeth: Beautiful. And you know, a lot of the kitchen, I didn't get into all the kitchens in the book, but the particularly beautiful ones I tried to include since they're so inspirational.Suzy Chase: I can't figure out what's more beautiful in this cookbook, your writing or your photographs. What do you love more?Elizabeth: Well, you know, for me, since the kinds of books I've always done have been so image-driven, I can't imagine one without the other. And I see the photographs as giving a different dimension to the words. And that's always been my response to cookbooks, you know. I love, obviously, recipes that work, but I love the story behind them. But I also like the visual inspiration, whether it's actually the food or the place settings or the tiles on the kitchen wall.Suzy Chase: Me too. So I found it interesting that each chapter captures a specific meal that you experienced in Italy. Describe how this cookbook is laid out.Elizabeth: Well the way, I was trying to decide how to combine my competing passions for, you know, interior design and setting and history with food. And I realized that it all came together at the table. And once I decided that, I wanted to share as many different kinds of meals as possible to show my readers how Italians really eat. I mean you know, most people imagine certain dishes with Italy, whether it's pasta or pizza or gelato. But people aren't eating those things all day long, and they're not eating them perhaps in the way that people think. So while the settings are beautiful, these are really the way people eat, whether it's at the beach, whether it's on a coffee break, you know, grabbing a slice of pizza in Rome. Whether it's in a summer vacation villa outside of, in Umbria. So I wanted to have a great range and that way to be able to explore both the setting and the food on the table.Suzy Chase: Yeah, I notice that you really drill down beyond the ingredients, beyond the cooking technique. Like you'll get the pasta and the bowl, but what about the bowl, or the tool used to get the pasta from the bowl to the plate or even the linens that cover the table. I love that part.Elizabeth: Yeah, that's my ... I love that part too. And not just because it involves shopping opportunities. What I really love about it is that it really, you know, 'cause when you go to a place you might have a great meal and you might support the local restaurants, in a way, but there's other ways that you can learn more deeply about a region and that's by visiting its artisans. And you know a lot of people will see pretty, you know, ceramics from Italy and stop there, knowing that they're from Italy. But I really like to, you know, drive home why this certain kind of plate shows up if you're on the beach in Positano, why a different kind of bowl shows up if you're in a small town in Puglia, and what those mean. And explore a bit about the people who are actually making those bowls, who are often the people that are eating those dishes anyway.Suzy Chase: Here's the question I'm dying to know the answer to. How did a girl from St. Louis end up in Rome as an expert on Italian cuisine?Elizabeth: Well, that goes back to the fact that when I was 12 years old I was living in St. Louis and my parents took a vacation, and they went to Italy and they did Florence, Venice, Rome. And they came back and instead of getting back to our life they packed up our house, sold the business, and we moved to Rome for two years. And although we only stayed there for two years and then moved back to the States, we always came back in the summer. And so I always felt at home whether it was in Italy or Spain or France, trying to get a way to get back, and that way came back in graduate school. And in the late '80s I decided if I picked a, you know, my dissertation topic correctly, I could get somebody else to sort of fund my permanent vacation, and I did. And I ended up in Florence working on sixteenth century gardens. And then along the way I met my Italian husband and started having Italian babies and Italian dogs and that's when my new career really shifted gears from academia to publishing. And at the beginning I was writing predominantly about art and architecture and design, but almost really really shortly thereafter I also started writing about food. But always in a cultural context. You know, when I was writing for Bon Appetit or Food & Wine or Town & County I would write about restaurants but more, not just as a place to find good food but as a way to dive deeper into the culture.Suzy Chase: Tell me about where you live.Elizabeth: I currently divide my time between Rome and Umbria. Umbria is a region located just north, in between, let's say, Rome and Florence. And my main house is a little apartment in the old section of Rome called Monti. It's a little, I'm now talking to you from my office on the roof of our building. We've been living here, my husband had the apartment when I met him, my kids have been born here, and it's right, I mean, if I walked out, I just now walked down the street and my cash machine, my ATM, is in front of the Colosseum. Which is kind of nice.Suzy Chase: Oh, wow.Elizabeth: And then our house up in Umbria, which is on the cover of the book, actually. We spend the summers there and have a big vegetable garden and we have olive trees so we make our own olive oil and that's where we live.Suzy Chase: How old is your house in Umbria? It looks like it's stone.Elizabeth: It's made out of stone. And the house itself is, I would say parts date back to the sixteenth century.Suzy Chase: Wow. That's gorgeous.Elizabeth: And you know, like all of these houses, they're built onto over the years, and we restored it. My husband's an architect, and his specialty is restoring these houses into inhabitable places. And in fact two of my books talk about restoring houses in Italy.Suzy Chase: Talk a bit about how the Italian food words are the hardest to tackle. Like, cicchetti, in Venice, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. What is it, and where would we eat it?Elizabeth: Well, cicchetti is a word that yeah, exists only in Venice. Took me a really hard time to figure out what it means, because people translate it into tapas, you know? 'Cause we think we know what that means. Or little bites. And they kind of are both those things. But when you say to a Venetia, they know exactly what it means and it has a sort of social context. It means, little things to eat along with a glass of wine so you don't get too drunk 'cause that's not the point. The point is actually meeting your friends and having a drink. And the food is sort of secondary. And you know all this stuff I just said, it's hard to put down in a one word translation. But it's funny you ask that because I mean, food in Italy is so difficult to translate and this past week I just did food tours as well, and Melissa Clark was just here and we were doing-Suzy Chase: Yes. You had your Awful Tour.Elizabeth: We had our Awful Tour. And it wasn't awful at all, it was wonderful. But it did deal with innards. And one of the things that we both learned, you know, we were both in Umbria, in Rome, and in Florence, is you know, the same little part of an animal can have, you know, ten different words depending where you are in Italy. And for me, that's sort of the fascinating thing. There's always something more to learn. You know, you said I'm an expert in Italian food, but I find it hard to believe that anybody's an expert. I think that there's always something to learn.Suzy Chase: Well since you brought up Melissa Clark, tell me about your food tours and your daughter Sophie.Elizabeth: So, when I first started my blog I didn't really know, you know, back in the early days of blogs, I didn't really know what it would lead to and how it would make money. 'Cause blogs don't make money. And so one of the things that it led to was doing food tours. And people started asking me for food tours and I didn't quite know what they were at the time. Nobody was really doing them in Rome. And so I started doing them, and I did market tours around several different neighborhoods in Rome on my own, and was immediately very busy doing these tours. And I was doing it on my own for a few years and then luckily my daughter, Sophie, graduated university. She was going to school in London, came back here, and I convinced her to work with me. And so now we both got sort of more work than we can handle. She's doing, handling the day by day tours here in Rome. I do some of them as well. But my time is mostly focused on our week in Italy tours. And those are deep dives into different regions. We're currently doing tours in Rome, in Florence, and in Puglia. And we do them on our own, they're usually six nights. We do them on our own, sometimes we partner with people. I've partnered with Melissa Clark twice and Evan Kleiman, who's located in LA. She's a cookbook author and host of Good Food.Suzy Chase: The best.Elizabeth: Yeah. And then in July we're doing one with Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love.Suzy Chase: Oh cool.Elizabeth: Yeah. We're doing one in Puglia. So it's a fun excuse to collaborate with friends, and also see Rome and Italy in general from a different point of view.Suzy Chase: What influence did Anna Tasca Lanza and her cooking school have on you?Elizabeth: Well I just remember seeing the book really early on, you know, when I first moved to Italy, working on my dissertation. I can remember picking up the Marcella Hazan books, cooking through them, and then there were these books also by Anna Tasca Lanza. And these beautifully illustrated books. And Sicilian food at the time, even in Italy, people weren't really talking about it. And I just found it fascinating. And when I started writing about food and getting sent on press trips, I found myself at the Tasca d’Almerita estate. And seeing these pictures of the food processes that were going on in both of the houses on the estate. And there was one house that sort of focused on the wine and then there was Anna Tasca Lanza at the other villa. And I would see these pictures of like, women pouring tomato sauce on wooden planks in a sun drenched courtyard making tomato paste, and her recipes talked about these really romantic memories of the house cook sort of teaching her how to make things, and with the ingredients from the land. And it always was something that stuck in my head, and over the years I've made it back there as many times as possible and I'm really happy to recreate a menu inspired by my time there.Suzy Chase: You have a gorgeous porchetta in this cookbook. What is the key to a good porchetta?Elizabeth: Well obviously the key to any of these dishes is getting great ingredients. And the other thing is that you have to sort of, a lot of these recipes that people love are often eaten in certain places. For instance, porchetta is most likely eaten at the side of the road, you know, as you're driving through Italy there's a porchetta stand and he's got, you know, this 200 pound pig on the side of the road that he's cutting thick slices off of. I don't think anybody that's buying my book has an oven big enough to fit a pig in it. And so the challenge of my recipe was creating a porchetta that you could cook at home. And in that case it was something that would fit in your oven, have all that crispy skin, have all the nice juicy fat, but not get dried out in the middle. And so I, working with my local butcher in Umbria, I came up with that recipe. So it has all those things. And it's just super easy. Once you get the really right kind of meat, you barely season it. I mean, you season it correctly, tie it up correctly, you put it in the oven and you walk away. So, and I have to say, most of the recipes in the book are sort of, you know, not a lot of work.Suzy Chase: I can't talk about porchetta without bringing up fraschetta. Describe a fraschetta.Elizabeth: A fraschetta.Suzy Chase: Fras-, yes.Elizabeth: Sorry! They're all really hard. Everybody mispronounces my name, too, because the C and the H and all those things are really hard to get in Italy. So, a fraschette.Suzy Chase: Yes.Elizabeth: A fraschetta is a restaurant located in the town of Ariccia. It's south of Rome and it's known for its porchetta. And these fraschette were originally just little shops, like hole in the walls that would sell wine. And people would sit outside and to provide shade the owners would put up a few branches to provide shade, so its leaves still attached. And those are frasce. And so these places became known as fraschette, where you could go get sort of table wine. And bring your own food. Eventually these places started serving their own food, turned into restaurants, but they're still called fraschette today. And one of the places that actually, Sophie and I visit a lot, is la Selvotta in Ariccia. And the pictures in the book come from our experience there, which is one of my favorite ones because it's actually located in a leafy sort of forest.Suzy Chase: It looks heavenly.Elizabeth: It is. And the food is just, you know, it's what you want to sit down at a picnic bench and eat. It's like, mozzarella and salami and olives. And then you always have a few cooked things included. Porchetta, maybe, some sausages. It's fantastic.Suzy Chase: So last night I made some of your recipes out of the menu for a late summer dinner under the pergola. Even though it's the dead of winter here.Elizabeth: I saw that, I saw that! I saw that. You put them on Instagram. They looked perfect. Well, I have to say when people are asking me what's my go-to recipe in the book, it's the bean soup recipe. It's just so good.Suzy Chase: It's two minutes.Elizabeth: I know. It's two minutes. And people really think you put a lot more effort into it than you did.Suzy Chase: Yeah.Elizabeth: I mean, if you start out with dried beans and soak them, it does become, you know. And I do suggest you do that. But I'm not gonna tell anybody if you use canned beans, that's okay.Suzy Chase: Okay, thanks.Elizabeth: But I have to say, it's a great winter recipe, but then I find that in the summer if you serve people soup they really appreciate it. It's like something they don't expect and they're sick of eating cold food.Suzy Chase: Describe the story that went with this menu, how you became a good Italian momma immediately after your daughters were born.Elizabeth: Well one of the things, one of the many things that I realized, is that being an Italian momma has lots of sort of unspoken rules. And one of them is that while you stay in the city with your kids during school year, the minute the school year ends or the weekend comes, you head out to a country house. And I don't know how it is, but everybody seems to have a country house. Whether it's your Nonna, whether it's, you know, your friends, you go out to the countryside. And so I would pack up the kids and go up to the country. And so that's where, you know, even though we live in Rome, I learned to cook a lot and entertain at our house in Todi. And you know I learned to cook, you know, meals according to the seasons as well, which is something that's, I think, really important.Suzy Chase: So moving on to my segment called My Last Meal, what would you have for your last supper?Elizabeth: You know, it has to do with place as well. So I think I would have to say, maybe a plate of carbonara at one of my favorite Trattoria, Perilli in Rome. Just because for me that sums up sort of everything. It sums up the place I would go for Sunday lunches with my family, it has my favorite waiter Valerio, it's a place that's always been there before I got there, it will exist long after I leave. And the plate, you know, the carbonara goes without saying.Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media?Elizabeth: On social media, I'm eminchilli at Instagram. And I am Elizabeth Minchilli on Facebook, and eminchilli on Twitter. And my website is elizabethminchilli.com. And I also have an app, Eat Italy, which is guides for eating your way through Rome, Venice, Florence, Puglia, Umbria, and more and more cities every day.Suzy Chase: Thanks Elizabeth, for coming on Cookery by the Book podcast.Elizabeth: It was great to be here. Thanks for having me.Outro: Follow Suzy Chase on Instagram, @cookerybythebook, and subscribe at cookerybythebook.com or in Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening to Cookery By The Book podcast, the only podcast devoted to cookbooks, since 2015.

The groundbreaking work of bestselling authors Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser started a revolution in how Americans think about what they eat. Originally recorded on February 9, 2011, Pollan and Schlosser came together for a dialogue moderated by KCRW radio host Evan Kleiman about the industrialization of food and its devastating impact on personal health and the environment. Food Inc., a conversation with Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser was recorded live on USC's University Park campus via USC Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities.

We made this special, shorter, family-friendly version of "Natural Wineberg" for our friends at KCRW's Good Food. Half the length, and completely PG! Our terrestrial radio debut! Thanks KCRW, Nick Liao, and Evan Kleiman.

Chef and Momofuku founder Dave Chang sits down with 'Good Food' host Evan Kleiman to discuss growing up as a food lover in Los Angeles (1:20), innovation in dining during the '70s and '80s (23:24), the trials and tribulations of operating a restaurant (40:26), and moving on from being a restaurateur (59:04).

This week, we'll welcome someone with a very special culinary contribution to the record-breaking episode – "Forgive and Regret." With this episode The Simpsons officially surpassed "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running scripted American prime time television series. The episode features a very special apple pie recipe from Mona Simpson. In real life the recipe was provided by author, chef, restaurateur, and radio host of KCRW's Good Food – the wonderful Evan Kleiman! She'll give us a behind the scenes look at the pie recipe, and discuss how her recipe made it into this episode. Over the years, she's also had a number of friendships with several producers of the show, and she'll tell us what it's like to cater Simpsons writers poker game nights. Tweet us your favorite Simpsons food moments @simpsonspod and don't forget to tag @evankleiman, too!

Originally podcasted: 2/23/2016 A special hour all about FOOD. Stories from the farm and the table; complete with celebrated chefs and presidential diners. Hosted by The Moth's Senior Producer, Meg Bowles. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media. Storytellers: Chris Fischer, Evan Kleiman, Abhishek Shah, and Roy Choi. Sponsored by: www.rocketmortgage.com/Moth www.squarespace.com/Moth www.ziprecruiter.com/Moth To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Evan Kleiman is the beloved host of KCRW's award-winning program Good Food. From a cello suite to chaotic classic rock and an Italian classic, she takes us on a musical trip from her childhood to her first time in Europe with lots of eye-opening stories along the way.

This week on The Stew! Jason and Andre catch up after a week away, a bit delirious, we talk about Coachella foods, Jason's highlights from filming a Chef's Night Out for Vice Munchies, a pop up dinner for Evan Kleiman's now closed Angelini Restaurant, and the best thing we ate all week!

Evan Kleiman works on team building and efficiency for Ticketmaster & Live Nation. He has an international business degree from the University Oregon, is currently working on a degree in psychology, has traveled the world, and is a true purveyor of the gamut / dynamics of human behavior. Episode Highlights // 0 - Intro 0:22 -­ An important metaphor for the podcast! 1:45 ­- Guest's background >3:58 ­ A life shifting question.. 6:17 ­- Movie theatre vs. meditation = no difference 9:25 -­ Impact of community on personal transition 13:15 -­ Being stuck has perks 15:00 ­- A deeper perspective on ALL jobs 21:35 ­- Huge piece of wisdom for your future endeavors 24:46 ­- Advice to get to know yourself and your team 28:12 ­- When to keep pushing for something vs. when to let go?

A special hour all about FOOD. Stories from the farm and the table; complete with celebrated chefs and presidential diners. Storytellers: Chris Fischer, Evan Kleiman, Abhishek Shah, and Roy Choi. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ep. 120 - On November 9th we helped Castle Gourmet and Mack Sennett Studios put on the Eastside Food Festival here in Los Angeles to benefit PATH. There was great food, beer and wine from Angel City Beer and Silverlake Wine, and Zach podcasted live on stage in front of a standing room only crowd w/ Stella Mozgawa from the L.A. band Warpaint, Morgan Kibby from M83 and The White Sea, chefs Jessica Koslow from Sqirl, Ari Taymor from Alma, Craig Thornton from Wolvesmouth, and special guest host Evan Kleiman from Good Food on KCRW.  We recorded the talk and are releasing as this week's podcast.  Enjoy!  ********************This week's episode is brought to you by DOT ME, the personal domain name extension. You need a webiste for your restaurant, food truck, or blog?  Visit www.register.me and make it personal with a DOT ME domain. And CURB (formerly Taxi Magic).  Go to www.gocurb.com and use the code ESFEST14 for $15 off your first ride.  

This episode Chris and I chat about fondant potatoes, oily fish, Evan Kleiman, Grand Central Market, Jewish Delis, Acai Bowls, smoothies, cheese, ice cream, wetting the bed, beef and pickle tacos, New York favs, and so much more!

KCRW Good Food host Evan Kleiman talks with a panel of people who look at food from different angles--UCLA epidemiologist Alex Ortega, food blogger Javier "The Glutster" Cabral, and former Bon Appetit editor Barbara Fairchild--about what L.A. is eating right now. Los Angeles is a city of two food worlds, richer and poorer. We're home to many farmers markets and world renowned restaurants. But a million people here go to bed hungry, and obesity is a large problem.

L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My FoodRoy ChoiIn conversation with Evan Kleiman, host of “Good Food,” KCRW 89.9FM Roy Choi, border-crossing chef and co-founder of the Kogi BBQ taco truck, pays homage to the city that he loves in this memoir, a tale of his journey from childhood afternoons at his parents’ Korean restaurant, to pizza-fueled studying at the Culinary Institute of America, to becoming one of America’s most acclaimed chefs. Join us as Choi takes a break from the kitchen to talk about his new book, L.A. SON, a flavorful love letter to Los Angeles. *Click here to see photos from the program! 

What does an ancient African deity have to do with a Reese's cup? Meet Elegba, trickster spirit of chaos. Plus, Evan Kleiman on the spirit of chaos in restaurant kitchens.

Talking pie with Evan Kleiman, the host of KCRW's "Good Food." Plus, a listener question about starting a blog. Keep in touch via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @mslynnchen. xo Lynn

KCRW "Good Food" host Evan Kleiman talks with journalist Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating, about McMillan's journey from farm fields to Wal-Mart to Applebee's--doing some of the most menial jobs in the American food system to find out what it would take for everyone to eat well. Is it possible to eat well on minimum wage? Not really. For all of us to eat well, said McMillan, change needs to come not just on our plates and in our shopping carts but in getting everyone easy access to good food.

Photographers have turned their lenses on food since the invention of their art. Early images captured simple, soft arrangements that showcased seasonal bounties — fruits and vegetables in vases and bowls, like still-life paintings. Photographed still lives — whether elaborate or bare — evoked not only taste and appetite, but the experience of a meal, the process, the drama, the company. Shots of markets captured commerce and abundance. Decades later, technological and aesthetic advances transformed the food photograph into its own art that set off all the senses. As the Getty opens its exhibit, "Tasteful Pictures,” featuring food photographs from the Getty collection, Zócalo invites a panel of experts — including KCRW’s Evan Kleiman, Artbites’ Maite Gomez-Rejón, photographer Charlie Grosso, and Gastronomica founding editor Darra Goldstein — to explore the origins of food photography and why we like to look at what we can’t eat.

After 70 years of setting the standard for epicurean living, Gourmet magazine ceased publication in October at the order of its parent, Conde Nast. The magazine cultivated its exalted reputation by a devotion to lush photography, lengthy writing by famed authors, and finely crafted and often complex recipes. The commitment to such quality, and the name of the magazine itself, made it an aspirational and indulgent read for generations of gourmands who understood that food—eating it, cooking it, reading about it—was an art. Despite the subsequent rise of many other food magazines and blogs—often more focused on quick, simple, low-cost recipes than on literary food writing—Gourmet built a strong and diverse brand with books, websites, and television shows, and boasted nearly one million subscribers. Zócalo invites former Gourmet editors Ruth Reichl and Laurie Ochoa, former Gourmet writer Jonathan Gold, and KCRW’s Good Food host Evan Kleiman to look back at the history of Gourmet, the culture it sparked, and the future of the Gourmet brand and American food writing.

Annemarie will be talking with Evan Kleiman about her quest to bake a pie a day. Evan will share all her wonderful tip, tricks, recipes, and will give a little background info into how she began her pie project!

Annemarie will be talking with Evan Kleiman about her quest to bake a pie a day. Evan will share all her wonderful tip, tricks, recipes, and will give a little background info into how she began her pie project!

The world premiere of Sexy Video! Lisa puts a mob hit on Kathy Griffin. Guest stars Charlie Shaughnessy, Sam Tripoli, Evan Kleiman.