Chef Chris Valdes was born into a family restaurant in Miami. Before he could do homework, he was watching his mom stuff a five-hour boliche with chorizo, walking the dining room alongside his dad, and getting what he calls his "pre-training" in the family business of catering to others.

In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval sits down with her friend Chris to trace his strongest food memories, starting with the day a 10-year-old home alone flipped to Emeril Lagasse on TV, took $20 to the supermarket, and made his first arroz con pollo. Along the way, they talk about manifesting your future and why chefs plate beautifully for everyone else but happily eat plain white rice.

At its heart, this conversation is about what it really means to be a chef: cooking with your soul for the people you love. Because for Chris, food is therapy. It's the purest form of love you can offer yourself and everyone at your table. Sixteen years into catering and eleven years on TV, his next chapter is simple: remember why you started.

New episodes every Wednesday.

You can find Chris Valdes on Instagram @chefchrisvaldes

Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram

Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy

Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production.

If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes.

For advertising inquiries, contact us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef DuVal Warner grew up in Danville, Virginia, surrounded by strong women, Southern cooking, and a community rich with history. From his Aunt Margaret's legendary mac and cheese to his Aunt Shanita's smoked neck bones and collard greens, food was always home.

In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval sits down with Ranch 45's Chef DuVal to talk about the memories that shaped him: what Juneteenth meant to his family long before it became a federal holiday, the life lessons the Marine Corps gave him that he brings into every kitchen, and the right way to make Southern mac and cheese and potato salad.

A man connected to his family, his community, and yes— his moonshine.

New episodes every Wednesday.

You can find DuVal on Instagram @chefduvalwarner and at San Diego’s Ranch 45 @ranch.45

Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram

Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer, Theme Music, & Editor: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy

Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production.

If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes.

For advertising inquiries, contact us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She made history as the first Native American and Mexican American woman to win a televised cooking competition, but Chef Pyet DeSpain's food story doesn't start with a garden or a grandmother's recipe.

It starts with struggle meals. Government commodities. A childhood spent moving from city to city. And a grandfather in Kansas City who put a bowl of beans in front of her and made her feel like she had the most important job in the world.

In this episode, Pyet joins Chef Claudia Sandoval to talk about the foods that were handed to their communities and the ones they're reclaiming. For Indigenous communities, Pyet says, food was never just nutrition — it's about rootedness. This conversation is about what happens when that connection gets severed, and what it looks like to find your way back.

New episodes every Wednesday.

You can find Pyet on Instagram @chefpyet and grab her cookbook, Rooted In Fire, here. 

Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and find Chef Claudia ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram

Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy

Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production.

If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes.

For advertising inquiries, contact us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Boghosian, better known as Chicken Charlie, came to America at 11 from Damascus, Syria, with his family, a produce store, and a work ethic that never quit. What started as a 14-year-old's summer job turned into a 30-plus-year career feeding tens of thousands of people a day across California's county fair circuit. Oh, and somewhere along the way, he invented the deep-fried Oreo.

In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval and Chicken Charlie trace their food memories back to the dishes that made them: a mother's fried eggplant stuffed into pita with fresh yogurt and tomatoes, the Armenian and Middle Eastern cooked on the stove, and the accidental cookie that launched a food empire. Along the way, they talk about what it means to feed 20,000 people a day, why the county fair is a world unlike any other, and why the best things in life — like deep-fried Oreos — are sometimes just sitting on the counter waiting to happen.

This episode is in partnership with the San Diego County Fair. Learn more at sdfair.com

New episodes every Wednesday.

You can find Chicken Charlie's on Instagram @chickencharlies

Follow along on Instagram ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠

Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy

Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production.

If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes.

For advertising inquiries, contact us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actress Angélica Celaya grew up straddling borders: Tucson and Mexico City, Spam sandwiches and slow-cooked pozole, margarine and manteca. On screen, she's played everyone from Spanish-language telenovela heroines to unapologetic women on English-language TV.

In this debut episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval and Angélica trace their food memories back to the dishes that shaped them: a father's refried beans eaten with ketchup, a mother's pineapple upside-down cake, and the kind of flour tortilla you can only get in Sonora. Along the way, they talk about cooking for their family at 12 years old, what it means to feed people from your most honest place, and why the best thing you can do, in food and in life, is be the weirdo at the table.

New episodes every Wednesday.

You can find Angelica on Instagram @angelicacelaya1

Follow along on Instagram ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠

Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy

Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production.

If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes

For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when a single bite unlocks a buried truth or a complicated family history? Bitefully is a new podcast hosted by Claudia Sandoval — the first Latina winner of MasterChef — tracing personal food pathways back to culture, land, and the stories traditional food media rarely tells. With guests spanning hospitality, entertainment, wellness, and beyond, every conversation is real, raw, and deeply human. Food opens the door — but the stories are what keep us at the table.

New episodes every Wednesday, starting June 3rd.

Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy

Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production.

For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices