Podcast

How does a venture capitalist working in and around food actually grocery shop? Elly Truesdell, founder and managing partner of New Fare Partners, joins us on the show to tell us all about it. Elly got her start working in the corporate office of Whole Foods, and we find out about her nearly 10 years there discovering some of our favorite food brands. We also find out what a VC actually does, and how she hunts for the next big thing in CPG—short for consumer packaged goods, i.e., the products lining the shelves of your local grocery store. This is a cool conversation with one of the sharpest minds in food. Also on the show, we catch up with cookbook collaborator, podcast host, and former Food & Wine editor Kristin Donnelly. We discuss all things cookbooks, including some exciting projects she has in the works. We also go back to her time at Food & Wine and talk about changes in food media. It’s so great having Kristin on the show. MORE FROM ELLY TRUESDELL and KRISTIN DONNELLY:New Fare Partners is latest female-led VC to close first fund [Tech Crunch]Grocery Wars: A Natural Foods Reckoning [Food Tech Connect]Writing a Bestselling Cookbook in Your 80s [Everything Cookbooks]Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share [Amazon] FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/ellytruesdellinstagram.com/kristincdonnellyinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

For the 20th anniversary of Nada Surf’s third album, LET GO, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Matthew Caws and Daniel Lorca formed the band in 1992, they eventually linked up with drummer, Ira Elliot. They spent several years grinding it out in their hometown of New York City where they worked multiple jobs and hustled to get their music heard. During a chance encounter with Ric Ocasek at a show at the Knitting Factory, Matthew Caws gave him a demo tape. A couple weeks later, Ocasek got back in touch with Matthew and offered to record them if they were able to sign to a label. Luckily, Elektra Records offered them a deal soon after and they went on to release their Ocasek-produced debut album, HIGH/LOW in 1996. Due to the unexpected success of the first single, “Popular,” Nada Surf found themselves under a lot of pressure for their follow-up album. THE PROXIMITY EFFECT was released in Europe in 1998 but Elektra got cold feet and decided not to release the album in the U.S. and ended up dropping the band. With no record contract, they found themselves back in New York, working odd jobs and calling in favors for help recording their third album, which ended up becoming LET GO. In this episode, Matthew Caws joins us for an in-depth conversation about this pivotal moment in the band’s history when they went from being a major label success to suddenly being completely independent. Matthew describes how this period of his life was completely music-focused as he worked at a record store and spent all of his time going to shows and writing songs. The low pressure situation that they found themselves in inspired a more diverse group of songs and a more relaxed feel to their recordings than ever before. From sprinting home to remember song ideas to obsessively listening to a Sony Sports Walkman to writing a song in an Amsterdam bathroom to Chris Walla’s mixing skills to gratitude for recorded music, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

Gail Simmons is a very cool human being—had to say that from the jump! While many know her best from Top Chef, Gail’s career in food expands way beyond a judge’s table. She trained at culinary school and went on to assist legendary food writer and columnist Jeffrey Steingarten. She also worked the line in busy New York City restaurants and is the author of two books, including her latest, Bringing It Home. We wanted to have her on the show to talk about her past in New York City restaurant kitchens and what we can expect on the new season of Top Chef. And, hey, this is our 200th episode! While this is simply a round number and that’s it, Matt wants to acknowledge the team who helps bring the show to the feed many times a week. This show does not happen without cohost Aliza Abarbanel; our amazing producers, Shalea Harris and Pat Stango; our incredible editor, Clayton Gumbert; our amazing illustrator, Ellie Skrzat; and, most of all, all of you listeners out there. Thanks for tuning in each week. Thanks for all the messages on IG and the emails. And thanks for telling your friends about the show. MORE FROM GAIL SIMMONS:Make chicken schnitzel with Gail Simmons of ‘Top Chef’ [Today]Inside the ‘Top Chef’ Industrial Complex [New York Times]TASTE Podcast 05: Gail Simmons [TASTE] FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/gailsimmonseatsinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Singer Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive, and the duo Rachael & Vilray, joins Carmel Holt to talk about the new Rachael & Vilray album I Love A Love Song!, what pregancy and planning for new motherhood as a musician has been like, and changes she would like to see for women and nonbinary people in the music industry.

Chef and budding TV personality Daniel Harthausen is one of the most exciting voices in food, having just won the first season of HBO’s very good cooking competition show The Big Brunch and running the roving pop-up Young Mother in Richmond, Virginia. Harthausen was raised by a Korean mother and a half-Korean father and “had a baseline of what really good Korean food tasted like, without really knowing it at the time,” he told Matt during a Zoom conversation earlier this year. He was visiting New York recently, and we asked him to stop by the studio for a really cool conversation about his travels, his loot (he won $300,000 on the show), and the delicate topic of Korean-Japanese relations. He’s got a lot to say, and we were so excited to have him in. MORE FROM DANIEL HARTHAUSEN:Daniel Harthausen’s Big Korean-Japanese Brunch Is Special [TASTE]Brunch Time [Richmond Magazine]Richmond’s Daniel Harthausen wins big [Richmond Times Dispatch] FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/danielharthauseninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Cute story or "shit indie film"? You decide.