Dan "the Automator" Nakamura is one of the great music producers of our time. Someone who, like Brian Eno or Phil Spector, changed the sound of an entire decade. The fact that he did it as an Asian-American breaking into hiphop way back in the early 90s, well, there's a story. Automator mixed some excellent negronis at his studio in San Francisco and talked with Nathan about his unlikely path to hiphop immortality and why he's owning his Asian-American identity now more than ever.

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Shannon Martinez is the chef behind the famed Smith & Daughters vegan restaurant in Melbourne, Australia. After soiling a couple Bloody Marys with Ireland's cheapest vodka (Huzzar!), Shannon and host Nathan Thornburgh talk about everything from meat-free pub fare to sharpie skinhead diets and why vegans just want to get drunk and screw like the rest of us. 

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Michelin-starred chef and author JP McMahon talks with host Nathan Thornburgh on the eve of his annual Food on the Edge conference in Galway, Ireland. Topics include Dingle Gin, Anthony Bourdain, and why McMahon left his kids at the bar with his credit card. Also on the conversational menu: pickled heron, swan pie and other delicious cruelties of yore. 

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Somewhere in a hotel room in central Moscow, steps away from a frenzied nationalist Victory Day rally, Nathan shares a mini-bar white wine with writer Alexa van Sickle and talks about her sorta-homeland Austria. Her epic roadtrip story, Farewell to the Alps, took her across her country in search of beer, wine and booze. Along the way there is plenty of thinking about nationality, belonging, doctored wine and subpar whisky.

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Niki Nakazawa's path took her from the northeastern US to Mexico City to Oaxaca, from art to food and now to Neta, a mezcal brand devoted to supporting small producers. She talks with host Nathan Thornburgh about the future of mezcal and why Mexico is a great place for hustlers.

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Paulina Garcia grew up in Saltillo, in the north of Mexico. But when she and a group of friends began looking in their early 20s for a life with a bit more meaning and mission, they ended up in Oaxaca, in Mexico's southern mountains, baking and canning and pickling and generally breaking the Internet with their beautiful food. In this episode, Paulina talks mushroom tea, coyote skins and how her group of Norteños ended up so far from home.

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Samin Nosrat grew up in Southern California, hearing plenty about the flavors of Iran. But her path took her to another country, Italy, where her perspective on cooking and living changed forever. In this episode, Nathan shares a bottle of Italian amaro with Samin in a corporate conference room, way too early in the morning, as they talk about cocktails, careers, and Samin's gorgeous new Netflix show Salt Fat Acid Heat.

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When Nicole Choi's mother went through a bruising round of chemotherapy in Maryland, she craved nothing more than an old postwar Korean cornbread. Nicole set out to recreate it for her. Read her essay on R&K.

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Asya Khramchenkova is an owner of the legendary Bar Khroniki in Saint Petersburg, As such she's the best person we can think of to talk about the borderlands between Finland and Russia, their culture, and their alcohol. She sat with host Nathan Thornburgh in the Leningrad Documentary Film Studio with a few swiped shot glasses and together they drank their way through smoked apple cider, heavy California-style IPA beer from Karelia, and caraway spirits that will knock you off your barstool. Listen for the conversation and for the Russian contact high.

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In the first episode of The Trip after the death of his partner Anthony Bourdain, host Nathan Thornburgh communes in a squatted Beverly Hills hotel room with two people who knew Bourdain well: chef José Andrés and Roads & Kingdoms co-founder Matt Goulding.

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