Renowned chef Pierre Thiam discusses his company's mission to bring fonio, an ancient West African grain, to the world. He shares his personal journey from studying chemistry to becoming a successful chef and restaurant owner. The podcast highlights fonio's nutritional benefits, cultural influences on Senegalese cuisine, and the need for resilient crops in our food system for food security.

Pierre Thiam was robbed within days of arriving in New York City. It was 1989, and he had just traveled to the U.S. from Senegal to study chemistry and physics. This chance incident, however, set Pierre’s life on an entirely different course. Today, he’s a renowned chef, restaurant owner, cookbook author, and co-founder of Yolélé – a company working to introduce the world to an ancient West African grain called fonio.This week on How I Built This Lab, Pierre talks with Guy about his company’s work to circulate this nutrient-dense and drought-resistant food source. Pierre also shares how he overcame cultural norms to embrace his cooking career, and his take on the connection between colonization and the vulnerability of our global food systems.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests Amy Thielen, Eric Ripert, and Pierre Thiam share tips on stress-free Thanksgiving hosting, cooking moist turkey, simple seafood dishes, West African flavors, and crispy roasted Brussel sprouts. They discuss their books, including Thielen's Company, Ripert's Seafood Simple, and Thiam's Simply West African. They provide techniques for cooking salmon gently, creating reimagined Thanksgiving side dishes, and incorporating unique flavors like palm oil and collard greens.