Extra Spicy

Prubechu, a popular restaurant in the Mission district, is adapting to the times. As the coronavirus pandemic reshapes how restaurants function, co-founders Shawn Naputi and Shawn Camacho are steadfast in their dedication to show San Francisco what Guam has to offer. In this episode, they discuss their challenges and triumphs.

Read a transcript of the conversation with “the two Shawns”, and send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod

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Toriano Gordon, a rapper-turned-restaurateur, talks about finding his place in veganism, meat’s masculinity problem and the history of plant-based eating in Black communities. Gordon’s vegan soul food restaurant, Vegan Mob, has made a huge splash in Oakland’s food scene, offering everything from plant-based cheeseburger egg rolls and fried chicken po’boys to Impossible meat tacos and gumbo.

Read a transcript of our conversation with Toriano Gordon, and send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod

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Gabriela Alemán and Ashley Rahimi Syed, who’ve helped bring a fridge stocked with fresh food to the Mission, talk about protecting the dignity of those they serve, and mitigating the “performative” aspect of some of the giving.

Read a transcript of our conversation with Gabriela and Ashley, and send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod

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Korsha Wilson talks about her website and podcast, A Hungry Society, and how she’s protected her byline by only taking on writing assignments she believes in. Her focus on Caribbean cuisine and Black foodways at large has been an inspiration to Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips.

Plus: Soleil and Justin compare their writing careers to the acting career of Nicolas Cage.

Read a transcript of our conversation with Korsha Wilson and send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod

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Simileoluwa Adebajo, owner of San Francisco’s Eko Kitchen, speaks with hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips just hours after her restaurant burned down in a major fire. She remains positive she can rebuild the city’s only Nigerian restaurant and has launched a GoFundMe in support of her business as well as several others that lost property in the fire. She also talks about performative support for Black-owned restaurants by white folks amid the surging Black Live Matters movement.

Read a transcript of our conversation with Simileoluwa Adebajo and send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. 

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San Francisco food blogger and professional companion Adahlia Cole talks about the ways in which sex work intersects with the food industry. Cole also talks about her pandemic-era work documenting the myriad side hustles that laid-off or underemployed restaurant workers have taken on in recent months to supplement their incomes.

Plus: Justin Phillips and Soleil Ho tackle some listener questions about foie gras and the things they miss about restaurants.

Read a transcript of our full conversation with Adahlia Cole and send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. 

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Anthony Strong, the chef and owner of San Francisco's Prairie, talks about his restaurant’s quick pivot to a general store at the onset of the pandemic. Hang on to the end to hear some nonsense about Hot Pot Panic, Soleil Ho's new favorite computer game made by a Bay Area local.

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Bay Area chef and community organizer Jocelyn Jackson is the founder of JustUs Kitchen, a project that provides healing food experiences for Black women and femmes. Jackson, also the co-founder of the People’s Kitchen Collective, talks about what it means to create liberated spaces, the ancient history of mutual aid, and how we can sustain the political moment. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod

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Hawa Hassan, CEO of Basbaas Somali Foods, talks about her work to promote African cuisines here in the U.S. and her new cookbook, “In Bibi’s Kitchen.” She also has a frank discussion of her work with Bon Appetit’s Test Kitchen, which she says used her image to uphold the illusion of diversity while not affording her the respect she deserved. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod 

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Writer and advice columnist Daniel M. Lavery talks about potatoes for dessert, imaginary restaurant ideas and the persistence of the dinner table as the place where family tensions come to a head. Plus: In this week’s Dear Spicy, Soleil Ho and co-host Justin Phillips dole out their own advice about making it as professional food writer. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod

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