Podcast

Every year we await the release of The Best American Food Writing. It’s a sharp collection of works from around the world of food media, and it always brings surprises. This year was no different, and the collection’s new editor, Jaya Saxena, tells us about her selection process. We also dig into her own journalism career. She’s one of our favorite writers at Eater, and we talk about some memorable stories she’s written there as well as for TASTE.   Also on the show, it’s the return of Three Things where Clayton and Matt discuss what is exciting in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: the B.O. Boys, Saturday Night is actually good, the Seoul Meets Bagel at Between the Bagel, Bruce Eric Kaplan's look inside Hollywood screenwriting in They Went Another Way. Two more books: Mammoth by Eva Baltasar and William by Mason Coile. Also, a reminder that Zingerman's has the best holiday gifts, Little Flower Cafe in Astoria is a lovely place, Daniela Galarza's broccolini parmesan soup rules, and Mombard has invented quite the sandwich. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

We just wrapped our limited SHEROES series called The Road to Joni. The road was both a metaphor for artists’ paths that led to Joni Mitchell and where those roads led them - and it was a literal road to Joni, as simultaneously, host Carmel Holt travelled across the country from New York to Los Angeles to see Joni at the Hollywood Bowl and back again, while on a tour of public radio affiliate stations who carry SHEROES each week. At the very start of the journey back in September, I visited The Current in St. Paul, Minnesota, and hosted a one hour interview with St. Vincent, recorded in front of a live studio audience of public radio members. A portion of that interview focused on Annie Clark’s road to Joni and aired as part of episode six of The Road to Joni series. The rest of the hour centered on St. Vincent’s now four-time Grammy nominated, seventh studio album, All Born Screaming, and the interview has been in the SHEROES vault until now. With The Road to Joni freshly in the rear view window, we take one last look back to the beginning of our SHEROES Radio tour, and bring you St. Vincent as this week’s SHERO in the Spotlight.

“I thought of you guys as older mentor cousins.”

conversation with music writer Jaap Van Der Doelen

What a fun conversation with the one and only Bobby Flay. Bobby joins us in the studio to talk about his New York City restaurant career, including highly memorable restaurants Mesa Grill, Bolo, Gato, and Bar Americain. We dig into why Mesa Grill was such a groundbreaking idea in the early 1990s and how his cooking there brought Southwest flavors into the mainstream. We also discuss how beating Bobby actually means beating Bobby, and we talk about some classic Iron Chef episodes as well as his great new cookbook, Bobby Flay: Chapter One. Also on the show, 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: It's persimmon season (we have thoughts), Atlanta's Breaker Breaker is extremely chill, New York's 99 Favor Taste is the best birthday spot, Camilla Marcus wrote a really cool book, My Regenerative Kitchen. Also, some thoughts on cooking beans, when are beans really a "meal", and a reminder about how much we love the book Cool Beans. Lastly, the chicken Big Mac is very bad, and the new episodes of Chef's Table are very, very good. Stay tuned for an episode with Chef's Table creator David Gelb very soon. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.  MORE FROM BOBBY FLAY:Bobby Flay Taught Ina Garten His Go-To Easy Pasta [F&W]Bobby Flay owes his career to an Easy-Bake Oven [Today]Don't Sleep on Pinto Beans [TASTE]