This Is TASTE

This one has been a long time coming! The one and only Alice Waters joins us in the studio for an amazing conversation. We naturally talk about her legacy at Chez Panisse, the pioneering restaurant in Berkeley, California, that opened in 1971 with California farmers front and center. There would be no farm-to-table movement without Alice. We also talk about her work bringing regenerative farming to school kitchens and her new book, A School Lunch Revolution.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Wareheim is an actor, director, winemaker, and writer based in Los Angeles. You may know him as one half of the comedy duo behind the cult-followed Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, but in recent years, he’s been making a foray into food and wine, starting with the New York Times Best Seller cookbook Foodheim. His new book, Steak House, chronicles his freewheeling, exhaustive search for the ultimate steak house. It’s a heady mix of recipes, interviews with legendary servers, and his own very funny essays—and today on the show, we go deep on his steak house fixation and reporting process.  And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: The Great Community Bake Sale is New York’s big weekend event, Katie Parla has a very cool new book out, Rome: A Culinary History, Cookbook, and Field Guide to the Flavors that Built a City, it’s soup season and Andy Baraghani’s Golden Potato and Greens Soup is a great option. Also, a recap from the fun Los Angeles Chef’s Conference, a visit to the Tiny Dollhouse Store, and Matt is heading to Korea. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re taking a break from food conversations to highlight another love of ours: Great music. In ⁠Fela Kuti: Fear No Man⁠, Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton’s America—tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained "colonial boy" traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound into a battering ram against the state—creating a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat. Subscribe to ⁠Fela Kuti: Fear No Man For years, the world’s biggest stars made pilgrimages to Nigeria to experience Fela’s Shrine, the epicenter of his musical revolution. But when the mix of art and activism got too hot, the state pulled out its guns, and literally opened fire. Fela Kuti: Fear No Man is an uncategorizable mix of oral history, musicology, deep dive journalism, and cutting edge sound design that takes listeners deep inside Fela’s life, music, and legacy. Drawing from over 200 interviews with Fela Kuti’s family, friends, as well as scholars, activists, and luminaries like Burna Boy, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Santigold, and former President Barack Obama (just to name a few), Fela Kuti: Fear No Man journeys deep into the soul of Afrobeat to explore the transformative power of art and the role artists can play in this current moment of global unrest. An Audible Original presented by Audible and Higher Ground. Produced by Western Sound and Talkhouse. ©2025 Higher Ground, LLC (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon Bonné is Resy’s managing editor, and the author of The New French Wine and other books, and a winner of awards from most major food organizations. We always love having Jon in the studio, and today we talk in detail about the Resy 100, a decisive and illuminating list of restaurants around the United States that define dining today. The list has a very strong point of view and highlights restaurants in both big cities and smaller communities that serve exceptional food that might be alternately comforting and daring, traditional and completely new. It’s a fantastic list, and we cover many of the entries while also zooming out to discuss interesting examples of Mexican cuisine, the New Nordic moment, and, naturally, the modern wine bar scene. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nikita Richardson, the Food section editor at The New York Times and creator of the 'Where to Eat: New York City' newsletter, dives into the intriguing concept of a 'brunch recession' and its impact on the restaurant scene. She shares insights on her journey to The Times, the newsletter's ambitious expansion, and her vision for diverse food coverage beyond traditional reviews. The conversation also touches on digital tipping, TikTok food trends, and the intersection of food culture with popular media, making for a delightful exploration of contemporary food writing.

Jesse Burgess is behind Topjaw, the wildly popular, restaurant-centric social media account covering the food scene in London and beyond. Jesse is also the host of a cool new series on Apple TV+ called Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, which is streaming now. The show follows several restaurants, including Coqodaq, Nōksu, and the Musket Room (in New York) and Feld and Esmé (in Chicago), as they sweat it out during Michelin Guide season. Jesse reveals how he views these star-worthy restaurants and what it’s like being at the center of food influencing.    Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rosie Grant is the creator of Ghostly Archive, a project documenting the real-life phenomenon of recipes inscribed on tombstones in cemeteries around the world. After years of seeking out these immortalized dishes, she’s released a truly singular cookbook, To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes. Today on the show, we chat about the project, creating the book, and some of Rosie’s favorite gravestone recipes. Also on the show, Matt catches up with Vanessa Anderson, known widely online as Grocery Goblin. Vanessa writes a terrific Substack and posts video clips on social media, all in celebration of international grocery stores. Vanessa is based in Los Angeles, home to a great grocery store scene, and we talk about her work and some of her favorite places to shop. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This one is a long time coming, and we’re thrilled to welcome Joshua McFadden to the studio. Joshua is a chef based in Oregon and the author of one of the most beloved cookbooks of all time, Six Seasons. He’s back with a new one that is equally incredible. Six Seasons of Pasta takes the same six-seasons principle (discussed in the episode) to pasta cookery, and it might just break your brain. We talk about some simple tricks for cooking pasta at home before digging into Joshua’s career, his consulting work, and the kale salad, something that he’s (unbelievably) credited with inventing. No, for real, you gotta stick around for the kale salad update.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Nunn, the founder of the food culture newsletter Vittles, dives into his editorial vision and the vibrant London food scene. He highlights London's diverse diaspora cuisine and the unique experiences he had while visiting New York. Nunn discusses notable projects like the Kids and Paris guides, advocating for timeless reporting over trend-chasing. He explores the balance in restaurant criticism and the challenges of fine dining coverage today. Plus, he shares insights on the joy of print media and his thoughts on community-focused content creators.

Antoni Porowski, the beloved culinary expert from Netflix's Queer Eye, shares his journey from Montreal food memories to navigating fame. He offers insights into the importance of childhood cooking experiences and defends simple recipes that resonate with people's needs. Joining him is Lindsay Baruch, a cookbook author influenced by her Iraqi-Jewish and Indian heritage. Lindsay discusses approachable cooking, family traditions, and her unique recipe for a reinvented BLT using crispy mortadella. Together, they explore the profound connections food makes in our lives.