Podcast

Today on the show we welcome Eric Adjepong to the studio, who, along with the writer Korsha Wilson, has released one of our favorite books this spring: Ghana to the World. It’s a wonderful collection of stories and recipes that captures Eric’s deep connection to Ghana and how the country’s cuisine has shaped his career. Eric has appeared on Top Chef and various Food Network programming, and he shares his amazing story and the deep reporting that went into this special book. Also on the show are sisters Alia and Radwa Elkaffas, who have been creating food videos together for over a decade. Known online as the Food Dolls, they’ve built a following with craveable recipes that blend their Egyptian heritage with their Midwestern upbringing. Now it’s all enshrined in their new debut cookbook: Pretty Delicious. It’s so fun chatting with Alia and Radwa about finding cooking inspiration, working together as sisters, and much more. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

Zaynab Issa is a cookbook author, recipe developer, and content creator based in Brooklyn, New York. Formerly a food editor at Bon Appétit, she contributes recipes to a variety of publications and just released a great debut cookbook, Third Culture Cooking: Classic Recipes for a New Generation. It’s so fun having Zaynab in the studio to talk about blending her East African and South Asian roots with Americana classics, building the perfect dinner party menu, and more.     Also on the show we have a really fun talk with Holly Brickley, author of the new novel Deep Cuts. We talk about the music scene in the early 2000s, and how the novel tackles a generation of musical vibe shifts. We also talk about the book’s exciting Hollywood future with A24. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.  Read More:Third Culture Cooking: Classic Recipes for a New Generation [Abrams]Zaynab’s Substack [Substack]Saoirse Ronan And Austin Butler To Star In Feature Adaptation of ‘Deep Cuts’ [Deadline]New Denizen [official]

Camilla Marcus is a chef, restaurateur, and founder of west~bourne, a wildly progressive restaurant and products company based in Los Angeles. Camilla is one of my favorite big thinkers in food, and I so enjoyed having her in the studio to talk about some important topics of the day, including the pioneering west~bourne, her career in and out of the kitchen, and how the government can help restaurants survive during these challenging times. And before our conversation with Camilla, it’s the return of Three Things where Aliza and Matt discuss what is exciting in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: We love Spongies Cafe in Manhattan Chinatown, early thoughts on Keith McNally’s buzzy memoir I Regret Almost Everything. Also: Visits to Kru in Brooklyn, Paul’s Pel'meni in Madison, WI, and Smithereens in the East Village. And we’re really enjoying the debut cookbook from New York City’s Scarr’s Pizza. It’s called The Scarr's Pizza Cookbook and is out March 25. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.  READ AND LISTEN TO MORE:This Is TASTE 444: Restaurants Are Broken with Akira Akuto [Apple]This Is TASTE 205: Rich Torrisi [TASTE]Buy Camilla's book: My Regenerative Kitchen            

Asmeret Berhe-Lumax is the founder of One Love Community Fridge, a network of ten community refrigerators across New York City and Seattle working to eradicate food insecurity. Its work is more urgent than ever, and it’s so special to have Asmeret into the studio to talk about fighting hunger and the stigma associated with it, and about One Love Community Fridge’s big plans for expansion.  Also on the show we have the big grocery news of the week. Poppi was acquired by Pepsi and we’re joined by Andrea Hernández of Snaxshot to talk about what this means for the better-for-you soda wars. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.             READ MORE:Woman Helps Feed Thousands by Putting Refrigerators Full of Nutritious Food into Communities [ABC]Pepsi Acquiring Poppi [Snaxshot]