Hong Kong’s famed pineapple bun does not contain pineapples. Samosas can be found in many cultures outside of India. And the birria taco owes a lot to indigenous cultures who helped cultivate a love and devotion to chiles. These are some of the surprising food backstories that host Cecilia Phillips and the team behind KQED’s digital program “Beyond the Menu” explore in this new series. We’ll talk to Philips about where our favorite foods come from and hear from you. What dishes do you love that have an intriguing backstory? 
 Guests: 
 Cecilia Phillips, host, "Beyond the Menu" a KQED digital production focused on getting the backstory of some of our favorite dishes; coordinating producer and reporter, "Check, Please! Bay Area" 
 Emmanuel Galvan, founder and owner, Bolita: Masa y Más L.L.C. - makes and sells artisanal masa and other products 
 Hetal Vasavada, author, "Milk and Cardamom"; former contestant, MasterChef; Vasavada's work can also be found in Food &amp; Wine, Bon Appetit, and other publications

KQED Series ‘Beyond the Menu’ Tells the Backstory of Food

Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints.

Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love to hear from you! Please dial 866.SF.FORUM or (866) 733-6786 or email forum@kqed.org, tweet, or post on Facebook.

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When Ann Powers began to draft her expansive new biography of Laurel Canyon music legend Joni Mitchell, she says that “certain subjects emerged: childhood as an imaginary terrain where singer-songwriters could express their ideals and idiosyncrasies; sadness as a complicated form of women’s liberation; side roads and retreats as the secret sources of an artist’s strengths. And traveling, always traveling.” Powers’ book charts Mitchell’s influences, collaborators and milieu, weaving in reflections on the broader politics and trends of each decade during Mitchell’s career. It grapples with the sexism of Laurel Canyon’s heyday and Mitchell being labeled a “confessional” artist, as well as Mitchell’s own complicated relationship with feminism and with being the only woman at the table. We talk to Powers about Joni Mitchell’s life and art and hear how Mitchell has affected you. Powers’ new book is “Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell.” 
 Guest: Ann Powers, music critic and correspondent, NPR

Music Critic Ann Powers on ‘Traveling’ on Singer-Songwriter Joni Mitchell’s Path

Every historical era is marked by the fight for a commodity: spices, gold, oil, steel, to name a few. In the next decades as climate change deepens and resources become scarcer, security experts believe the commodities fueling conflict will be food and water. The global battle to control these two resources centers the documentary “The Grab,” which follows Center for Investigative Reporting journalist Nate Halverson’s quest to uncover state-sponsored efforts to snatch up land and water rights in other countries, including the U.S., at the expense of the people who live there. 
 Guests: Nathan Halverson, reporter with the Investigative Reporting Program, UC Berkeley - Halverson is featured in the documentary "The Grab," which centers on his efforts to uncover the players behind state-sponsored land grabs around the world. Brigadier Siachitema, consultant, Women’s Lands & Property Rights at Southern Africa Litigation Centre

The Global Battle to Control Food and Water Chronicled in Documentary ‘The Grab’

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on Tuesday called on the medical community to adopt a new, universal definition of Long COVID to help patients access better medical care and benefits and minimize skepticism and social stigma around the condition. The National Academies would define Long COVID as an “infection-associated chronic condition that occurs after COVID-19 infection and is present for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.” Long COVID afflicts an estimated 17 million Americans. We’ll talk about the latest Long COVID research and hear your experiences. 
 Guests: 
 Dr. Linda Geng, co-director, Stanford Long COVID Collaborative

National Academies Push for New Definition of Long COVID

In her new book, “Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies,” primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy rebuffs the idea that men don’t develop a dad instinct the way mothers do. For centuries, it was just assumed that men were not inclined to be good at caregiving and Hrdy says academic researchers overlooked studying what happens when men become fathers. Hrdy’s own research found that fathers, like mothers, experience biological and neurological changes when they become parents. We’ll talk about how the role of fathers is changing and why we should rethink the way society treats dads. 
 Guests: 
 Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, anthropologist and primatologist; author, "Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies"

‘Father Time’ Explores How Parenthood Alters Men’s Brains and Bodies

In her new novel “Exhibit” R.O. Kwon introduces us to Jin Han, a photographer in San Francisco who’s unsure if her transgressive infatuation for a ballet dancer activated a family curse, conjuring a ghost from her family’s past in Korea. Through Jin, Kwon explores the nature of desire — and why shame too often accompanies it.. Kwon says it’s as though she “made a list of boxes a person might tick to explain why a woman ought to be disliked, perhaps despised, and then, writing this novel, I filled in each box.” We’ll talk with Kwon about why women especially feel shame for the desire they feel for others or for personal creative fulfillment — and for not desiring motherhood. And we’ll hear about how she grappled with her anxieties and reflected on her politics while writing this novel. 
 Guests: 
 R.O. Kwon, author, "Exhibit" and "The Incendiaries"; co-editor, "KINK: Stories" the anthology

KQED Series ‘Beyond the Menu’ Tells the Backstory of Food

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