A Taste of the Past

On this week's episode of A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio speaks with chef and cookbook author Joyce Goldstein. For twelve years she was Chef and Owner of the ground-breaking Mediterranean Restaurant, SQUARE ONE, in San Francisco. A consultant to the restaurant and food industries, Joyce’s areas of expertise are recipe development, menu design, and staff training. She is the author of Inside the California Food Revolution, and her latest book is The New Mediterranean Jewish Table: Old World Recipes for the Modern Home.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 speaks with "Pope of Peppers" Dave DeWitt, a food historian, award-winning author, and founder of the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show, which is now in its 25th year. DeWitt has written or coauthored more than thirty books on peppers and has edited two magazines on the subject. He is one of the foremost authorities in the world on chile peppers, spices, and spicy foods.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 by Dr. Tim Ryan, president of the Culinary Institute of America. Dr. Ryan has served as president of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) since 2001. He himself graduated from the CIA in 1977, and received bachelor's and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of New Haven. He earned his doctorate degree in education from The University of Pennsylvania. With the unique background of being a Certified Master Chef and Culinary Olympic Champion with an Ivy League doctoral degree, he is the first alumnus and faculty member to rise through the CIA to become president.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 author, food blogger, and design writer Elizabeth Minchilli, and Rolando Baramendi, founder of Manicaretti, an importer and seller of Italian specialty items. Tune in to hear them discuss the changing food culture in Italy, from cocktails and coffee to the price of a dish of pasta.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 by Clifford Wright and Tim McGreevy. In recognition of the UN's International Year of Pulses, they discuss the history of pulses, from 10,000 years ago to their importance in today's farming and diets."Pulse” is a derivation from the Latin words puls or pultis meaning “thick soup.” Pulse crops are small but important members of the legume family, which contains over 1,800 different species.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Adrian Miller is a 'recovering' lawyer, soul food scholar, and former special assistant to President Clinton and today joins Linda Pelaccio on A Taste of the Past. Explaining that after President Clinton's second term, he found himself with extra time on his hands and ended up spending the next decade or so researching soul food. Specifically commenting on macaroni and cheese, Adrian shares how it began as a food fit for royalty dating back to the 1300s. From royalty to US Presidents, soul food has consistently had a place on the White House dinner table and Adrian goes on to recall tales of the influential African American chefs featured throughout presidential history. Tune in for a great episode!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ever wondered how plate size affects waist size? This week on A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio is on the line with Brian Wansink, Professor and Director of the famed Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, where he is a leading expert in changing eating behavior – both on individual level and on a mass scale -- using principles of behavioral science. The author of Mindless Eating and Slim by Design as well as over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, tune in as Brian relays how we can change the way we eat in a fun, painless, scalable, meet-people-where-they-are way.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Americans eat more processed foods than anyone else in the world. We also spend more on military research. These two seemingly unrelated facts are inextricably linked. If you ever wondered how ready-to-eat foods infiltrated your kitchen, you’ll love this week's episode of A Taste of the Past. Tune in as Linda Pelaccio is on the line with Anastacia Marx De Salcedo, author of the book, "Combat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat," discussing the secret military history of practically everything you buy at the supermarket.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Folklore has long explored food as a core component of life, linked to identity, aesthetics, and community and connecting individuals to larger contexts of history, culture and power. It recognizes that we gather together to eat, define class, gender, and race by food production, preparation, and consumption, celebrate holidays and religious beliefs with food, attach meaning to the most mundane of foods, and evoke memories and emotions through our food selections and presentations. Today, A Taste of the Past host Linda Pelaccio welcomes Dr. Lucy Long to the show to elaborate on her books, The Food and Folklore Reader as well as Culinary Tourism, talking how these topics play into current food studies and much more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You don't need anybody to tell you Chicago is a food city or to extol the virtues of chicken Vesuvio, deep dish pizza, a jibarito, South Side rid tips or a Vienna Beef hot dog (on a poppy seed bun, of course). Perhaps less well known is how Chicago's cuisine developed, or how the city became the first modern industrial food center, both of which are explored in Chicago: A Food Biography by Daniel R. Block and Howard Rosing. (Chicago Tribune) A fascinating food history of Chicago, revealing the reasons, many unexpected, why this city’s cuisine is so diverse and rich. An essential read for anyone interested in food and culinary history. (Jennifer McLagan, the author of award winning Bitter:A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes) An interesting foray into Chicago's influence on food and food's influence on Chicago. (Denese Neu, PhD, author of Chicago by the Pint: a Craft Beer History of the Windy City) Anyone interested in American food history must know a lot about the indispensable heart: Chicago. The nation’s historic food production and commodity distribution center, home to every ethnic food in America, Chicago always has been an innovative culinary center. How this came about is told in Block and Rosing’s well researched and engagingly written work. A complex story very well told, it is the best survey to date. (Bruce Kraig, co-editor, Food City: The Encyclopedia of Chicago Food and Man Bites Dog: Hot Dog Culture in America) Chicago: A Food Biography is as much a history of today’s industrial food system as a story of the evolving food culture of Chicago. While Chicago has been a melting pot for today’s food industry, the city has remained a veritable stew of ethnic cuisine. The book is a good read for anyone interested in food and a must read for anyone interested in both food and Chicago. (John E. Ikerd, professor emeritus, University of Missouri Columbia) Chicago’s food traditions are no less towering than the skyscrapers that define its skyline. Deep-dish pizza and Chicago-style hot dogs loom large in the culinary landscape, as does the influence of Chicago chefs like Rick Bayless, Grant Achatz, and the late Charlie Trotter. In Chicago: A Food Biography, geographer Daniel R. Block and anthropologist Howard B. Rosing chronicle Chicago’s swift evolution from frontier town to food capital—a path paved by meat and corn, migration, and modern industrialization—and make a strong case for Chicago as the most American of cities. (Meryl Rosofsky, MD, writer and adjunct professor of Food Studies, New York University)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.