A Taste of the Past

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined via phone by Patric Kuh, the multiple-James Beard Award–winning restaurant critic for Los Angeles Magazine and author of Finding the Flavors We Lost: From Bread to Bourbon, How Artisans Reclaimed American Food. Industrialization and mass production stripped many foods of their original flavors, but there's been a growing movement over the past 50+ years to get back to those flavors and restore the natural goodness of our food. In Finding the Flavors We Lost, Kuh profiles major figures in the so-called “artisanal” food movement who brought exceptional taste back to food and inspired chefs and restaurateurs to redefine and rethink the way we eat.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

America's Gilded Age, the last quarter of the nineteenth century, is renowned for the excesses of robber barons and tycoons and their culture of conspicuous consumption. The lavishness of their tables impressed contemporaries and historians alike. But what about the eating habits of ordinary people at the time? Robert Dirks, author of Food in the Gilded Age, poses that question and discovers some surprising answers by peering through the lens of what then was a newly emerging science of nutrition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined in the studio by Fany Gerson. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Fany has worked in many kitchens, from the three-Michelin star Akelare in San Sebastian, Spain, to Eleven Madison Park and Rosa Mexicano in New York, where she developed her celebrated modern Mexican desserts. After returning from a long trip to her native Mexico to write her first book, My Sweet Mexico, she opened La Newyorkina to share and celebrate the amazing frozen treats and sweets of her homeland. Also joining them in the studio is Rosio Sanchez, the former pastry chef of Noma who opened her own taqueria in Copenhagen, Hija de Sanchez.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined in the studio by Chef Alex Raij. Alex Raij and her husband Eder Montero are chefs and owners of Txikito, a love letter to the Basque country in Spain – a region whose cuisine is distinguished by excellence and simplicity in both ingredients and techniques. She is also the co-author, along with Montero, of The Basque Book: A Love Letter in Recipes from the Kitchen of Txikito.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined in the studio by Andrew F. Smith, author of the book Fast Food: The Good, The Bad and The Hungry. He is also the editor of the Edible Series, a revolutionary new series of books on food and drink which explores the rich history of man’s consumption. Each book provides an outline for one type of food or drink, revealing its history and culture on a global scale. Tune in to hear them discuss the history of the fast food industry, from the streets to the franchises.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined by Roger Horowitz, an historian of American business, technology, and labor, and an expert on the nation’s food. He is the author of the book Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History). Horowitz traces the history and dramatic rise of kosher food products, specifically how they made their way into American food culture and were later popularized in the mass market of consumer products.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chef Gabriel Kreuther joins us in the studio to talk about the cuisine of his native Alsace-Lorraine. A Michelin-starred chef, Kreuther was born on a family farm in Alsace and raised on his mother's traditional Alsatian cooking. After attending culinary school and working in Michelin-starred kitchens throughout Germany, France and Switzerland, Kreuther arrived in New York City in 1997 to work as a sous-chef at La Caravelle restaurant. He was named one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs in 2003 and won a 2009 James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: New York City.” Kreuther's eponymous restaurant offers an Alsatian-inspired dining experience overlooking Bryant Park.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Appalachian food has been sustainable and organic for generations. They have been offering “farm to table” fare forever, without needing to call it that. And the iconic dish of soup beans and cornbread is "culinary harmony," a perfect blend of the native beans with the rendered fat of the pig, an animal brought to the lower South by the Spanish in the 16th century and to the upper South by the English in the 17th. Fred Sauceman, Appalachia born and raised, tells the story. Fred Sauceman is Senior Writer and Associate Professor of Appalachian Studies at Eastern Tennessee State University. His latest book is Buttermilk & Bible Burgers: More Stories from the Kitchens of Appalachia, published by Mercer University Press. He is also the author of the three-volume book series on Appalachian foodways, The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South, from Bright Hope to Frog Level, published by Mercer as well. In addition, he is editor of Cornbread Nation 5: The Best of Southern Food Writing.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's A Taste of the Past, the tropical elegance and vibrant energy of Cuba's rich history and culture are recaptured in the stories of cocktails by two owners of the well known NYC rum bar, Cienfuegos – Jane Danger and Alla Lapushchik.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's episode of A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined in the studio by Krishnendu Ray, Department Chair of the Food Studies program at NYU. A food studies scholar, he is the author of The Migrant’s Table: Meals and Memories in Bengali-American Households (Temple University, 2004). He co-edited Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food and South Asia (University of California Press, 2012). His most recent monograph is The Ethnic Restaurateur (Bloomsbury 2016).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.