In her latest book, If You Can’t Take the Heat, Geraldine DeRuiter uses food, humor and her own (often ridiculous!) life to explore the topic of feminism.

Geraldine has a way of, as she puts it, “going bonkers viral.” Millions of people read her James Beard Award-winning blog post, “I Made the Pizza Cinnamon Rolls from Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter,” and her essay about a bizarre experience at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Italy inspired a front-page New York Times article.

Over the course of two interviews (host Rachel Belle forgot to ask Geraldine a very important question the first time around), Geraldine and Rachel bond over the strange (read: disgusting) things they ate as children and the absolute best way to make and eat popcorn, plus Geraldine shares her last meal, which is almost entirely cooked by her husband.

Romans take their carbonara very seriously and insist it be cooked using “traditional” ingredients. But Rome-based culinary guide and cookbook author Katie Parla says modern-day Italian carbonara is not as authentic as passionate locals think it is.

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This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Dan Pashman, host of The Sporkful podcast, inventor of the cascatelli pasta shape, and author of the new cookbook Anything’s Pastable.

Dan was a guest on Your Last Meal in 2017, so host Rachel Belle checks in to see if his last meal has changed over the past seven years.

Then, a speed round! Dan talks about the biggest challenge of writing a cookbook, his carb-on-carb recipe for pasta pizza, and his dream birthday cake. 

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Award winning The Sporkful podcast host, Dan Pashman, invented a new pasta shape in 2021. Cascatelli was released with great fanfare -- Time magazine declared the pasta one of 2021’s best inventions and it was covered everywhere from The New York Times to Access Hollywood.  

But when fans started tagging Dan on Instagram, eager to show off their cascatelli creations, he realized everyone was bathing their pasta in the same three sauces! Eager to move beyond marinara and mac & cheese, Dan wrote his first cookbook, Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People.  

On his recent book tour, Dan popped by host Rachel Belle’s Seattle home studio to talk about the cookbook’s innovative, international recipes; the best place in the house to eat when you don’t want to share food with your children; and why he thinks spaghetti is an inferior pasta shape.

Then host Rachel Belle blindfolded Dan and fed him pasta to see how many shapes he could identify by mouthfeel alone! Watch the video here!

Dan was on YLM to talk about his last meal back in 2017 -- you can listen here!

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This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Kathleen Hanna, frontwoman for the groundbreaking feminist punk bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre and author of the new memoir Rebel Girl. Last week, on Your Last Meal, Kathleen talked about meals she’s eaten that were so good, they made her cry. Like, really cry. 

Today she tells us about her major, if accidental, contribution to a Nirvana record, what it means to be punk-rock while living a comfortable adult life and what it was like working at McDonald’s as a teenager. 

Then host Rachel Belle meets the co-founder of Food Not Bombs, a global movement to end hunger.  

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The legendary riot grrrl and punk rock singer for Bikini Kill and Le Tigre has a reputation for crying over a delicious meal. As far as we know, she's shed tears over sushi, birthday cake, and gelato. Why does food make her so emotional? She breaks it down (but doesn’t break down!) for host Rachel Belle. 

Kathleen, who got her start in the punk scene in Olympia, WA in the early 90s, is best known for being an outspoken feminist and activist; at her early shows she’d speak out about domestic violence and sexual violence between songs.  

While Kathleen took her rage to the stage, cookbook author and James Beard Award winning journalist Kathy Gunst, released her outrage through flour, sugar, butter, fruit, and chocolate. We talk about her cookbook, Rage Baking: The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury, and Women's Voices.  

Pick up Kathleen's new memoir Rebel Girl!

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Today on The Leftovers, a speed round with Jesse Tyler Ferguson; Modern Family star and Tony Award winning Broadway actor. Jesse reveals his bougiest, most cliche LA indulgence and creates a menu for a hypothetical dinner party with Barbra Streisand.  

If you missed last week’s full interview with Jesse, listen here!

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The Modern Family star grew up in New Mexico (the Chile Capital of the World!) where the native green chiles find their way into everything from burgers to mac & cheese.

Jesse hasn’t lived in Albuquerque since high school, but he keeps his freezer full of New Mexico green (Hatch) chiles and green chile enchiladas are his forever favorite comfort food. 

The retired director of the Chile Pepper Institute tells host Rachel Belle about the history and migration of spicy peppers from the Americas to the rest of the world, which involves everything from bird poop to Christopher Columbus.  

Then Jesse tells us about his lunch with Weird Al at one of the country’s most woo-woo restaurants!

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If waiting two whole weeks for a new episode of Your Last Meal is way too long, we’ve got something to tide you over.  

On the weeks we’re not releasing a full-length episode of Your Last Meal, we’re airing The Leftovers: audio left on the cutting-room floor, interviews that host Rachel Belle really wants to do that don’t fit into the show’s usual format and, as you’ll hear today, a speed round with last week’s guest.     

Which means you will now be getting a little taste of Your Last Meal every single Thursday!   

Today’s episode features a never-before-heard interview with Tom Papa; comedian, writer, and sourdough-obsessed bread baker.  

If you missed last week’s full interview with Tom, you can listen here. 

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Tom Papa is a bread nerd. The comedian, author and podcast host is quick to point out that he got obsessed with baking sourdough bread long before the pandemic sourdough craze. He loves to talk about sourdough, read about sourdough and, of course, bake and eat sourdough. So host Rachel Belle chats with the owner of a Seattle bakery that uses a sourdough starter that’s more than 150 years old.

Pasta with butter and Parmesan may be the meal of choice for picky American children, but in Italy the simple, comforting dish has an entirely different context. Rachel calls Katie Parla, a Rome-based food and beverage writer and cookbook author, to learn more, and in the process learns the history of fettuccine Alfredo.

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By the end of this episode, you'll feel like the charming, hilarious and down-to-earth Julia Sweeney is your best friend! Julia and host Rachel Belle discuss everything from her true love of eating alone (and how that makes her husband feel) to the 60th birthday gift she gave herself: never dieting again.

Julia wants to cap her last meal with Canada’s favorite no-bake, layered dessert: the Nanaimo bar! Rachel chats with Joyce Hardcastle, the contest winner who created the city’s official recipe back in 1986, and with the current mayor of Nanaimo, about the history of the bar and how ubiquitous it is in the Vancouver Island city it was named after.

*This is a replay of an episode from 2022. Rachel lost her voice & hopes to be back with a brand-new episode next week!*

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