Good Food

Good Food looks back on the team’s favorite segments of the past year. In her acclaimed memoir “Crying in H Mart,” Michelle Zauner, who performs under the name Japanese Breakfast, recalls growing up in the Pacific Northwest and reconnecting with her Korean heritage following her mother’s terminal cancer. Sarah Everts explores the mysteries of sweat, a feature that distinguishes humans from other mammals. Culinary historian Adrian Miller discusses the complicated history of barbecue in America. Professor Dorinne K. Kondo examines how the APPI community is represented in the media, citing the most recent season of “The Great British Bake Off.” Finally, baker Roxana Jullapat hones in on eight ancient grains that are making a comeback though they never went anywhere.

Whether cooking basmati, jasmine or red, everyone has a way to make rice. Measure up to the first knuckle? Wash until the water runs clear? Stovetop or rice cooker with bells and whistles? This week, Good Food gets granular with rice — how it's grown, how it's cooked, and how it's eaten. Dr. Amber Spry opens her identity politics class each semester by asking students to share how their family cooked rice. Culinarian historian Michael Twitty shares how red rice came to the American South by way of Western Africa. Rice royalty Robin Koda documents her family’s legacy of growing Japanese rice in California. Matt Goulding explores the controversy over paella in Spain. The history of the rice cooker is explained by Anne Ewbank. Finally, Sophia Parsa is making tahdigs with her mother for this week’s edition of “In the Weeds.”

Winding down another year of the pandemic, Good Food looks back on the pivots, persistence, and perseverance of featured “In the Weeds” restaurants. Rashida Holmes brings the roti she first tasted visiting family in Barbados to the Arts District. Justin Pichetrungsi left an animation career to keep the wok heated at industry darling Anajak Thai. The heart of Keegan Fong and his mother’s Historic Filipinotown spot are the beef noodles and wings. Mother-daughter duo Maria Del Socorro Vazquez and Zacil Vazquez combine home and street food at Sazón in Huntington Park. The liquid gold flows at Crown & Hops, Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter’s brewery in Inglewood. Michelle Munoz supported her husband Andrew’s backyard Texas barbecue hobby into a full blown brick and mortar restaurant, Moo’s Craft Barbecue.

Fish sauce is the backbone of South Asian cooking. Chef Diep Tran is using Red Boat Fish Sauce in everything from a breakfast banh mi to pasta marinara. Journalist Gab Chabran has his picks for the top holiday tamales across the city. Food writer Bill Esparza discusses the wave of Mexico City restaurants opening in Los Angeles. Latin American cuisine is a story of global fusion that spans centuries, and Peruvian chef Virgilio Martínez compiled a compendium of recipes from Chile to Mexico. Matt Biancaniello swaps spinach for stinging nettles and shares a beautiful winter cocktail. Finally, Melissa Acedera is combating food injustice with a mobile pantry that travels the Southland.

‘Tis the season for Good Food’s annual roundup of cookbooks. Celia Sack of Omnivore Books in San Francisco shares her recommendations for the bakers, vegans, and jammers on your list. One of her favorite comfort food how-to’s over the last year is Missy Robbins’ book about pasta, which she says is the only book one needs on the subject. For anyone in LA who wants homemade lasagna and focaccia straight from the oven, head to Ceci’s in Silver Lake, where Francesco Lucatorto and Francesca Pistoria are making traditional favorites from Genoa and are the subjects of this week’s “In the Weeds.” Regional baking is perhaps nowhere as pronounced in the United States than the South, and pastry chef Cheryl Day is paying homage to her ancestors’ ovens. Pomegranates are having their moment at the farmer’s market just in time to celebrate the winter solstice. Finally, LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison announces his picks for the best restaurants in the city.

The landscape of food media is diverse, and until recently the female voice has been faint and overshadowed by male counterparts. Writer and professor Mayukh Sen researches and reports on seven immigrant women who revolutionized how modern America cooks and eats. Yotam Ottenghi and test kitchen chef Noor Murad reach into the pantry, freezer, and fridge and have created recipes for forgotten ingredients. Master preserver Delilah Snell has tips on preserving this holiday season that go beyond canning. Filmmaker Scott Gawlik dives into the strange and wonderful world of table setting competition. Persimmons are plentiful at the farmer’s market. Finally, Arturo Enciso and Ana Salatino took their backyard baking project to greater heights, making kouign amann with masa and perfecting their concha for this week’s “In the Weeds.”

The countdown to the Super Bowl of the food world has begun — Thanksgiving. It’s an imperfect holiday, rife with historical baggage, and a lot of likes and dislikes swirling around the table. However, it is the one holiday that is focused entirely on food, and after covering this celebration for so many years, what brings Good Food host Evan Kleiman the most joy is how every family makes it their own.

Kleiman is joined throughout the show by Genevieve Ko, senior editor at the New York Times, as they answer some of the most frequently asked cooking questions. Guests also share stories of their first Thanksgiving celebrations, new traditions, and the generosity that can be extended across the table.

Julia Child completely changed how Americans thought about cooking, and a new side of the culinary phenom is shown in the documentary by Julie Cohen and Betsy West. Lien Ta announces that Here’s Looking At You is reopening in Koreatown and shares the ups and downs of the restaurant during the pandemic. Claudia Roden is credited with introducing Middle Eastern cuisine to a larger audience and has a new cookbook cataloging recipes from the Mediterranean. Beth Lee prepares to bake up a storm for Hanukkah. New York Times California critic Tejal Rao discovers baby celery and other ingredients at the Torrance Farmer’s Market for vegetarian Thanksgiving dishes. Lastly, Priya Fielding-Singh researches food injustice and some misconceptions connecting class and diet.

It’s fall, so fire up the oven and get baking! Dorie Greenspan explores savory spins on classic sweet recipes. Former farmer and chef Abra Berens dives into grains, seeds, and legumes, with ideas on how to stretch a pot of boiled black beans into a whole week of meals. Professor Bartow Elmore spent a decade researching the troubling and jaw dropping history of Monsanto and the company’s impact on how America eats. Computer engineer, recipe developer, and blogger Amisha Dodhia Gurbani uses California ingredients to modernize traditional Indian recipes. At the farmer’s market, Valerie Gordon shops for the makings for her pumpkin pies.

James Beard Award-winning chef and educator Bryant Terry aims to bring BIPOC voices to the forefront of the culinary conversation and debuts the first output from 4 Color Books, the publishing imprint where he serves as editor-in-chief. Then, Sandor Katz logs his fermentation romp around the world. Closer to home, Alex Hozven of The Cultured Pickle Shop in Berkeley talks about how she started producing kraut before the trend to pickle everything within arms reach caught on. Across the Bay, chef Heena Patel recalls childhood memories of Diwali as she prepares her restaurant menu. Finally, correspondent Gillian Ferguson does a double take of Tahitian squash at the farmer’s market.