Good Food

With temperatures dipping below 80 degrees, it must be pasta weather in Southern California. This week, Good Food heads to Italy. Rachel Roddy combines 50 pasta shapes with sauces, creating iconic dishes of everyone's favorite carb. When Saghar Setareh landed in Rome from Tehran, she uncovered a Venn diagram of overlapping flavors. Silivia Nacamulli looks back at Jewish influences on Italy's culinary history, which stretch back 2,000 years. Clifford Wright hones in on the culinary traditions of Emilia-Romana. At the farmer's market, Melissa Lopez finds eggplant to top one of her must-have pies

It's that time of year. Summer is officially over and kids are back in school. And sending kids to school means figuring out what they're going to eat for lunch… unless your child eats the lunch provided by their school. Then you're done and dusted. A team of experts has figured all of that out for you, right? On the James Beard award-winning podcast Pressure Cooker, hosts Jane Black and Elizabeth Dunn explore the Herculean task of providing nutritious food that children will actually want to eat. If you've never thought about the inner workings of the school lunch program, you're about to get a crash course. This week on Good Food, we're rebroadcasting two episodes from Pressure Cooker. In "The Twisted History of School Lunch in America," Black and Dunn dig into the origins of the school lunch program to figure out how we got to where we are today. It's a surprising tale involving desperate farmers, skittish military generals, shortsighted bean counters, pizza lobbyists, and a network of underground caves filled with cheese. 

Who owns Taco Tuesday? Gustavo Arellano weighs in on the legal skirmish around the phrase. Using slices, pieces, and crumbs, baker Rick Easton treats bread as an ingredient. Sisters Margaret and Irene Li crack the code for using wilted, nearly expired, and only-needed-a-tablespoon ingredients. Krista Burton makes a cross-country pilgrimage to visit the last lesbian bars in the US. LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison sets his sights on a newish spot that brings Korean fine dining to Los Angeles. Meredith Pangrace delves into Midwest pies and their origins in a new cookbook.

Meliz Berg praises the overlapping cultures of the slow-cooked meats and herby salads of a Cypriot diet. Third-generation Alaskan Julia O'Malley reports on salmon fishermen trying to keep their head above water amid a lawsuit and starving orcas. Maunika Gowardhan reconfigures tandoori cooking for the home oven, replicating the flavors of the traditional clay pot. LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison heads to Beverly Grove for a union between the Goat Mafia and Saucy Chick. Food historian Judith Tschann breaks down the often farcical etymology of food words. Finally, Chef Matthew Schaler at Birdie G’s celebrates tomato season with a sandwich layering the nightshade in every component.

Sophie Donelson looks at modern kitchens, leaving plenty of wiggle room for comfort and realistic living. Anya von Bremzen travels to six food capitals in search of the connection between cuisine and identity. Learning the tricks of the trade, journalist Jaya Saxena discovers that performing at a Benihana teppanyaki grill isn't as easy as it looks. Daniel Gritzer lays out the tenets of marinades and discusses whether they're worth the effort. Chef Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak Thai shops for market mangos for a traditional Thai dessert.

Memo Torres shares three under-the-radar dining destinations on his monthly Apple Maps list. Gloria Swanson is ready for her close-up as a health food advocate (with a little help from LA historian Hadley Meares). Forget meat alternatives. Lukas Volger develops veggie burger recipes using whole foods. TikTok Jell-O revivalist Otto Markel is documenting every recipe from a 1963 cookbook. "Jiggle Daddy" Ken Albala showcases gelatin cuisine using some eyebrow-raising ingredients. Erika Chan visits the farmers market to find melons for a gelatin dessert at Dunsmoor.

Terrified of the ocean in her youth, Valentine Thomas is now a champion spearfisherwoman. An obsession with a bluefin tuna named Amelia led journalist Karen Pinchin on a deep dive into the future of fish. Saltie Girl owner Kathy Sidell recommends her favorite tinned fish among an ocean of possibilites. Gilberto Centina keeps racking up accolades at Holbox, a top-shelf seafood counter located in Mercado La Paloma. From a five-acre shellfish lease to a legendary Northern California seafood business, Hog Island Oyster Company is the pearl of the Bay Area.

Culinary producer Courtney Storer and actor Liza Colón-Zayas from The Bear show us how they prepped for Season 2. When Uli Nasibova found ice cream and gelato too sweet, she decided to make her own. Dominick DiBartolomeo started working at the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills as a pre-med student and now has keys to the front door. Joanne Lee Molinaro found a (probably) AI-generated knockoff of her award winning cookbook, The Korean Vegan, being sold on Amazon. Italian cooking instructor Viola Buitoni offers ideas for using summer produce. 

Historian Amy Brady chips away at the 200-year-old history of ice in America. Martin Riese's fascination with the taste of water began as a child in Germany, where more than 500 brands are sold. Memo Torres namechecks a dozen must-try tacos in Van Nuys. Susan Jung pays homage to fried chicken across East and Southeast Asia. After a two-year wait, Jihee Kim brings her banchan to a brick-and-mortar in Echo Park.

What happens when you equip three podcast producers and a host with two tents, an egg spoon, and some marshmallows? We decided to find out. We sent the Good Food team camping but we knew they'd need a little help. So we called some experts.  Podcast host Ivy Le ventures outside to answer the couch-surfers' burning questions. Canadian food journalist Chris Nuttall-Smith eschews cans of beans for cocktails and campfire paella. Seasoned camper and local chef Shannon Swindle swings by the farmer's market to help pack the cooler. Monique Caulfield shares the secrets of axe throwing. Ashley Jones collects and refurbishes vintage cast iron skillets.  PS - We've also come up with a KCRW Picks: Campfire Songs playlist filled with great tunes for the great outdoors.