Eater's Digest

Nathan Myhrvold is the wildly successful businessman/scientist/tech guru behind Modernist Cuisine, a self-published culinary encyclopedia that demystifies the world of high-end gastronomy. Nathan also released a spinoff, Modernist Cuisine at Home, and he’s working on another volume focusing entirely on bread. During his chat with Helen and Greg, Myhrvold drops some knowledge about baking bread, building nuclear reactors, and barbecuing dinosaurs. 

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Helen, Greg, and AP Dan discuss their favorite moments from season 2 of the Eater Upsell.

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Francis Lam’s cookbooks always do more than dinner. The editor and writer has ushered some of the best and most inventive cookbooks of the last few years to publication, all of which stand out as better than just a list of recipes — for their introspection, research, and often their humor. Lam dropped by the Eater Upsell studios to talk about the immigrant experience, the writer-editor relationship, and how to spend three perfect hours in the Atlanta airport.

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Fuchsia Dunlop is a big proponent of the “I’ll have what they’re having” school of restaurant ordering. The cookbook author and veritable historian of Chinese culinary culture has made a career of introducing the country's gastronomic traditions to a Western audience — without dumbing anything down. Fuchsia dropped by the Eater Upsell studios to talk about her latest book, Land of Fish and Rice, as well as 12th century Chinese foodies, and how to make the best of long-distance travel (chocolate and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, for starters). But first, Helen and Greg shoot the shit about pie.

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For anyone who’s ever asked, “Why?” in the kitchen, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is your man. After getting his start in restaurant and test kitchens in Boston, Kenji created The Food Lab, a column on Serious Eats dedicated to lassoing the laws of science and riding them to home cooking success every time. In the subsequent six years, the “Kenji method” has blown up, but despite being a cult phenomenon and bestselling cookbook author, Kenji himself is just about as cool and down to earth as you can get. He stopped by the Eater Upsell studios to talk meatloaf, space travel, and how to secretly take a professional phone call from the bathtub.

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Evan Sung didn’t think he’d be a photographer — let alone one of the most sought-after food photographers in the country. Armed with an undergrad degree in psychology and an insatiable curiosity about people and the world, Sung set out to tell the most honest visual stories he could, his success at which landed him on the pages of 35 cookbooks (shooting with the likes of chefs Paul Liebrandt and Marc Forgone) and a myriad of publications. Sung visited the Eater Upsell studios to talk LA’s incredible light, his favorite shots of all time, and the unsung hero of the food photography world: the prop stylist. But first, Helen tells Greg about a secret Las Vegas restaurant.

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Vivian Howard’s new cookbook Deep Run Roots weighs as much as a newborn, but if you think you’ll find a fried chicken recipe on one of its nearly 600 pages, you are gravely mistaken. The eastern North Carolina-based chef, restaurant owner, and Peabody Award-winning co-creator and star of A Chef’s Life on PBS, swung by the Eater Upsell studios to chat with Helen and special guest host Amanda Kludt (Eater's editor-in-chief) about homemade ketchup, the price of tea, and Hollywood's eye roll-inducing portrayal of chefs.

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Filmmaker turned chef Preeti Mistry cooks Indian food with a distinctly Bay Area sensibility. Think big flavors built from the best ingredients, served in a casual, fun setting. On a recent trip to New York, Mistry stopped by the Eater Upsell studios to talk about her Top Chef days, her stint in a Google cafeteria kitchen, her love of Do The Right Thing, embracing her heritage, and building something new out of her past. But first, Greg and Helen shoot the shit about why some flavors of seltzer are gross.

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Ashley Christensen is a Raleigh-based chef and restaurateur who was shot into the culinary spotlight after opening Poole's Diner, both because of her unique take on Southern cooking and the way the space brought new life to the community. Now, her work is synonymous with city of Raleigh, but her network and influence can be felt all across the South, and the nation at large. Christensen stopped by the Eater Upsell studios to chat with hosts Helen and Greg about teamwork, kale fatigue, and what makes North Carolina the perfect place for women to become culinary powerhouses.

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Don't ask Anthony Bourdain to limit himself to other people's assumptions. It's been sixteen years since Kitchen Confidential blew up the food world; in the time since, he's built a career as a full-time expectation-upending maverick. Bourdain's books, television shows — and his not insignificant renegade charisma — have catapulted him into the kind of badass cross-genre celebrity that results in bros geeking out over him (though he doesn’t love that) and fans accosting him in the bathroom (he doesn’t totally love that either). Bourdain swung by the Eater Upsell studios to talk about his brand new cookbook, Instagram FOMO, and the life-altering magic of fatherhood.

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