From pear & blue cheese to bone marrow with bourbon smoked cherries, Salt & Straw has always been experimental, and eager to weave local products and ingredients into their flavors. On this delightful episode, we hear how the highly successful brand got started (the story involves Portlandia, an ice-cream maker from Goodwill and Cheetos), the grossest flavor head ice-cream maker Tyler ever developed and, of course, their last meals – both chose sentimental dishes made by their Grandma Malek.

Speaking of grannies, we’ll meet the owner of Enoteca Maria, a Staten Island restaurant where the food is cooked by a rotating cast of grannies from around the world. This month alone, the Nonnas of the World program welcomes women from 12 different countries, eager to share their unfussy homestyle cuisine.

It’s hard to imagine a world without ice cream. Food historian Sarah Lohman shares the history of the sweet treat, and says we have Black enslaved Americans to thank for the invention of the creamy, delicious ice cream (and scooping tool!) we know and love today.

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This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Nadia Caterina Munno, known to her 10 million social-media followers as The Pasta Queen, which also happens to be the name of her new Amazon Prime Italian cooking and travel show. 

On this bite-sized episode, Nadia reveals her all-time favorite pasta shape, how many times she's been to The Olive Garden and the Roman dish she thinks all Americans should be eating. 

Subscribe to Your Last Meal on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or YouTube.

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Nadia Catarina Munno is best known to her 10 million social-media followers as The Pasta Queen, a glamorous, dramatic Italian who crumples her face in ecstasy and throws her fork across the room after slurping up a sauce-slicked noodle. Cooking traditional pasta dishes in her Florida kitchen has earned Nadia two bestselling cookbooks and a new Amazon Prime series, The Pasta Queen.

Nadia says she sees a lot of Americans committing unforgivable pasta-cooking crimes, so she created The 10 Commandments of Pasta, a list she shares with host Rachel Belle along with a story about what she ate immediately after giving birth to her third daughter.

Nadia comes from a long line of farmers and pasta-makers, but she spent decades bucking family tradition. So we’ll hear from Cara Nicoletti, a 4th-generation butcher who founded Seemore Meats & Veggies so her customers would eat less meat.

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Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle!

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This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from singer/songwriter Kevin Morby.  

Kevin grew up in Kansas, and after 15 years of building a successful music career living in the coast’s largest cities, he has returned to his hometown. He tells host Rachel Belle why living in the Midwest can spark creativity, what Kansas City meal should be as famous as its legendary BBQ, and what he and his girlfriend (the musician, Waxahatchee) always eat when they return home from a long tour.  

Listen to Kevin on Your Last Meal.

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Singer/songwriter Kevin Morby is a peanut butter and jelly man. Like most kids who grew up in the U.S. before peanut-allergy-mania, he loves the classic lunchbox version. But as an adult he’s taken to adding some very unorthodox ingredients like ... scrambled or fried eggs! In this economy?! 

You know who else eats a TON of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? NFL players! Actually, they eat a ton of Uncrustables, and there is data to prove it. Host Rachel Belle interviews the co-creator of Uncrustables to unpack why the world needed a premade PB&J. 

And we’ll learn a bit about the history of the PB&J from an expat American journalist who is heartbroken that her England-born children have no interest in her favorite nostalgic sandwich, just like everyone else in the U.K. 

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This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from TV host, chef and author Alton Brown. 

Alton famously loathes single-use gadgets, but the one he despises most still has a home in his kitchen drawer. He tells us why. And he shares how he developed a deep love for Jewish deli food as a kid growing up in 1970s Georgia.

Seattle chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas joins the show to talk about his special relationship with his late mother's 70 year old stove. And Allen Salkin, author of The Uncensored History of the Food Network tells a juicy behind-the-scenes story about Ina Garten and Martha Stewart. 

Listen to last week's episode of Alton on Your Last Meal. 

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Alton Brown hosted Good Eats on the Food Network for 16 seasons, and says Julia Child, Mr. Wizard and Monty Python were his inspirations for the wacky, science-driven TV show he created. He just released his 10th book, Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations.  

Alton famously despises single-use gadgets, but he tells host Rachel Belle about the one item that must be present in every kitchen. He talks about why he is not worried about ChatGPT taking his job as a recipe developer, and admits that his wife Elizabeth, an interior designer, is a far more talented cook than he is.

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Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle!

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This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from comedian Paula Poundstone!

If you listened to last week's episode of Your Last Meal, you know Paula has a serious sweet tooth, from the Ring Dings she wants for her last meal to the sugar packets she used to eat for dessert. 

Same holds true in this episode where Paula shares her perfect birthday cake, the same one she's adored since childhood, and her very unexpected favorite holiday meal. Hint: it comes in "fun size."

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Veteran comedian Paula Poundstone loves Ring Dings, her favorite little chocolate snack cakes only sold in a handful of East Coast states. She once told a very skeptical Michael Pollan, on NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, that they are her reason for living. 

So host Rachel Belle interviews the pastry chef/owner of The Ring Ding Bar in New York City, a bakery that’s recreated the confection with “real ingredients” in 25 flavors.  

Paula talks about how she lived on a Greyhound bus in the 80s, when she didn’t have enough money for motels, why you should read the recipe on the marshmallow fluff jar very carefully, and why Dick Van Dyke will most likely never have dinner at Paula’s house again.  

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This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Ani DiFranco, singer/songwriter, activist and feminist icon.

Ani started her own record company in 1989, put out her first record in 1990 and just released her 23rd album. But what do her two school-aged children think about her music? She will discuss!

Plus she shares her family’s boozy holiday traditions, and reveals what is no longer on her rider.

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Order Rachel’s brand-new cookbook Open Sesame & get tickets to an upcoming book event!

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