This Is TASTE

Today on the show, we welcome one of our favorite writers in the game, Jason Diamond. Jason runs the wonderful newsletter The Melt and has written two books, Searching for John Hughes and The Sprawl: Reconsidering the Weird American Suburbs. In this action-packed episode, we cover a great many topics: Spago Rock, time travel, forgotten foods of Chicago, burger night in the Diamond household, and the enigmatic restaurateur Keith McNally. This is only a fraction of what we discuss, and I really hope you enjoy our talk.

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Since Cynthia Shanmugalingam was young, she has witnessed the food of her ancestral home, Sri Lanka, through her immigrant parents’ kitchen in London. In this really fun episode, we talk with Cynthia about living in both worlds, as well as how she transitioned from working in finance to writing a cookbook, Rambutan, and opening a restaurant, all in the same year. We also find out what it was like to photograph the book on location with a friend of the show, Alex Lau. 

Also on, Matt catches up with three of our favorite cookbook authors to talk all about holiday cooking, gifting, and how to save the day—when the day needs saving. We hope you enjoy Matt’s conversation with Melissa Clark, Suzy Karadsheh, and Claire Saffitz. 

More from Cynthia Shanmugalingam:

Buy: Rambutan

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Today, we welcome Matt Sartwell into the studio. Matt is the owner of the legendary New York City bookstore Kitchen Arts & Letters, and he’s one of the biggest supporters of cookbook publishing in the business. On this episode, we find out what it’s like to run an independent cookbook store today, and we go over some of Matt’s favorite cookbooks of the year—including what is selling briskly in the Upper East Side store. Matt also shares his thoughts about what the publishing industry is missing (hint: it’s hot and rhymes with “schloup”). It was really fun catching up with Matt and talking about cookbooks.

More from Matt Sartwell:

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Today, we welcome Rita Sodi and Jody Williams on the show. They are the duo behind some of New York City’s favorite restaurants, including Buvette, the Commerce Inn, I Sodi, and Via Carota—“New York’s Most Perfect Restaurant,” according to the New Yorker. In this episode, we talk about the couple’s new cookbook, a tribute to the West Village’s Via Carota. We also find out how the restaurant stays fresh, what it’s like to expand a brand overseas, and some of their favorite recipes from regional Italy. It was so great getting to know two legends in the chef world.

Also on the show, we catch up with Tara Schuster, author, playwright, and accomplished entertainment executive. Schuster served as VP of talent and development at Comedy Central, where she was the executive in charge of the Emmy and Peabody Award–winning Key & Peele. We talk about writing for comedy as well as her book, Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, from Someone Who’s Been There.

Buy: Via Carota

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Ken Forkish is a legend in bread baking and the Ken behind Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza in Portland, Oregon. He’s also a prolific cookbook writer of favorites like Flour Water Salt Yeast, The Elements of Pizza, and his latest release, Evolutions in Bread: Artisan Pan Breads and Dutch-Oven Loaves at Home. In this entertaining episode, we find out about what it was like for Ken to leave Portland for his new home in Hawaii, and how he launched one of the country’s most influential bakeries. We also find out some of Ken’s strong opinions about baking trends and science. This is a great talk with one of our favorite cookbook authors today.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt catch up about Matt’s recent trip to Korea, where he visited for two weeks while working on his book with Deuki Hong and Alex Lau, Koreaworld. What did he find? What did he eat?

More from Ken Forkish:

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Fly By Jing is one of the most exciting brands in food, and we were lucky to have the company’s founder, Jing Gao, stop by the studio for a really cool conversation. We find out how the company has grown and grown, from a tiny Kickstarter selling chile crisp to a major player in the competitive condiment wars, now being sold in a great many Targets and Whole Foods in the United States. We also hear about Jing’s upbringing in China and when she knew that Fly By Jing was a winner. We always have a jar of Fly By Jing close by, and it was great catching up with the brand’s founder.

More from Fly By Jing:

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We welcome back our good friend Akira Akuto to the show. Akira is the co-owner of Los Angeles sandwich and pastry counter (and so much more) Konbi and one of the more clairvoyant voices in the restaurant world. We talk about many things on this entertaining episode, including lunch vs. dinner bias, paying for good coffee, his go-to LA restaurant rotation, and some strong opinions about New York City. We loved catching up with Akira, and we think you will enjoy this.

Also on the show, TASTE contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel joins Matt to talk about some things that are on their minds including: smoking turkey, poached pears obsession, Nothing Hidden Ranch, NA beers getting better, the lack of food in The White Lotus.  

More from Akira Akuto

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Jason Stewart is a DJ (playing as Them Jeans) and cohost of How Long Gone, a podcast that dips in and out of the food world with surprising and entertaining frequency. It was so great to have Jason stop by to talk about many things: punching up vs. punching down, cool email jobs, regional Mexican food chain Del Taco, breaking veganism, how Italian food in Italy is mid, Erewhon vs. Gelson’s vs. Ralphs, and Brooks Headley’s Fancy Desserts. If you don’t know TJ, now you do. A real pleasure to have him on.

More from Jason Stewart:

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Wow, we love David Tamarkin so much, and this is such a great interview. We’re old friends and have been reading David since he worked at Time Out Chicago and Epicurious—and he’s now the editorial director at King Arthur Baking Company. How did an award-winning journalist end up working for Big Flour? It’s easy. The guy likes to bake. We talk about the job, a new cookbook King Arthur Baking just released, and look back at the time David was perhaps a little too snarky, a little too tough, on restaurants while working as a restaurant critic. He also talks about the 100%-employee-owned model at King Arthur and how that culture is baked (ha) into everything the company does. David is always welcome on the show, and we enjoyed catching up with him.

We also have a great conversion with the writer Tarajia Morrell and hear about the very special book she has written, Savor: A Chef's Hunger For More. It's a collaboration with the chef and Top Chef fan favorite Fatima Ali. We talk about writing a book with somebody with only months to live. This is a really touching and human talk about loss and legacy and should not be missed.

More from David Tamarkin and Tarajia Morrell:

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Today on the show, we welcome back one of the most interesting and entertaining voices in food, Lucas Sin. He’s a chef and creator, and he’s behind some of the biggest ideas in home and restaurant cooking. This conversation was recorded the day before Lucas left his longtime home of New York City for a planned multiyear trip around Asia. We get into those details and how this Yale grad and culinary superstar stays fresh. We think you’re going to really dig this talk.

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