Good Food

We wrap our Food on the Screen series with Sandra Aamodt weighing in on “The Biggest Loser.” Then Adeline Grattard takes us behind the scenes of “Chef’s Table” in Paris. Next it’s onto squash blossoms at the market and tofu balls with Jonathan Gold at Button Mash. Plus: Tacolandia judge Gustavo Arellano eats 31 tacos and Zach Brooks highlights the best of the best at Smorgasburg LA.

This week, we continue our conversation about food on the screen closer to home, in Los Angeles. Chef Niki Nakayama discusses how life has changed since being featured on the first season of Chef's Table on Netflix. Also on the show: how the pluot was born, Sichuan food in the SGV, the Lone Star State's many styles of BBQ, taking over the tap at LA Beer Week and vegan baking tips from a teen.

We kicked off last week's show exploring portrayals of food in television and film in New Orleans and the Central Valley. This week, we continue our Food on the Screen series in China and Italy with Phil Rosenthal and Eddie Huang. Then it's nectarines at the farmers market, blinged-out Korean BBQ with Jonathan Gold, Chinese cooking techniques from Kian Lam Kho and grilling meat around the fire at Ox.

Food is having its moment on the screen, from reality shows about baking and TV shows set in restaurants to films about food trucks and Netflix specials featuring the world's top chefs. Are these portrayals changing how we view food? We tap writer Lolis Eric Elie and filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes for some answers. Then we try apricots, salmon and tonkatsu with Valerie Gordon, Diane Morgan and Jonathan Gold before the Kitchen Sisters take us out with “Black Chefs, White House.” And tune in next week for more from our Food on the Screen series.

Harvest Public Media's Luke Runyon fills us in on Bayer's bid to buy Monsanto and Gastropod host Nicola Twilley discusses the concept of aeroir. Then, Jonathan Gold takes us to Salt's Cure for the best pork chop in LA before we pedal candy in Jefferson Park with Grace of the Sea. Plus, Travis Strickland, Jacob Grier and Claire Ptak share recipes for smoked beets, a beer flip and rye chocolate brownies.

We discuss the oppressive whiteness of the food world, how California's minimum wage law is playing out in the restaurant biz and pay homage to a cookbook author you may never have heard of. Then it's off to dine at a Vietnamese izakaya in Little Tokyo and the Little Arabia Lebanese Bakery in Anaheim. Plus, we fill you in on what you need to know about peaches and pozole.

Chef Eric Ripert discusses his new memoir 32 Yolks, and KCRW host Gustavo Arellano weighs in on Trump and taco bowls. We taste cherries at the farmers market and forager extraordinaire Pascal Baudar walks us through the found ingredients in his book, The New Wildcrafted Cuisine. Plus, Jonathan Gold goes to town with the affogato-style soft serve topped with cotton candy at CottonHi in Koreatown.

Kenji Lopez-Alt gives us tips on how to freshen up what's in the salad bowl. His engaging reference book, The Food Lab, just won a James Beard award. Norah Chef Mike Williams shares a recipe that makes use of snow white cauliflower from Tamai Family Farms. Jonathan Gold takes us to San Gabriel for Wuxi-style noodles and dumplings. Charlene Wang tells the tale of how Taiwanese oolong tea got growing in Thailand.

We sip local savory cocktails with Matt Biancaniello and discuss the return of rosé with Lou Amdur. Talia Baiocchi, Leslie Pariseau, Sarah Clarke and Mark Bitterman school us on spritz, amari and bitters. To soak up the booze, Jonathan Gold takes us to Chungsil Hongsil in Koreatown for dumplings and noodles, and Nick Ervan and Romeo Coleman share thoughts on treviso, a white-veined magenta radicchio at the market now.

Passover starts Friday night. If you're observing the holiday, Joyce Goldstein conversation about Jewish culinary traditions around the Mediterranean and Michael Wex on the mitzvah of making matzo in 18 minutes might interest you. Pati Jinich discusses how her Jewish-Mexican roots inform her latest cookbook, Laura Avery gets a primer on how to raise grass-fed lamb from Jimenez Family Farm and Jonathan Gold stops into Moruno for vermouth and Gildas. Plus, recipes for matzo ball soup with mushrooms and jalapeños, carciofata di Trieste and a roasted leg of lamb.