Explore every episode of the podcast Finding Our Flavor

Who insisted all spices were washed off their childhood food? Who struggled to learn English from kids TV? Who survived the pandemic by learning their mother’s recipes? Exciting, diverse guests share stories rich with recipes and reminiscences, tales and tastes of how the food we grow up with helps shape the people we grow up to be. Enjoy some second helpings in this bonus episode!.

“It was almost like my true roots were exposed by sharing this recipe with you,” says Malaka Gharib, NPR editor, cartoonist, and graphic novelist. Growing up in California with Filipino and Egyptian parents, she recalls being encouraged to “suppress the Filipino and Egyptianness so you could succeed in this country.” In this episode she explains how she reconnected with her unique heritage - to find her flavor - and celebrate this cherished family dish.

Madhushree Ghosh describes her memoir Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family as a love letter to the country she left and to the country she now calls home. Based in San Diego, the Indian-American author squeezed writing around her day job as a biotech cancer specialist, a role where she also champions diversity and belonging. Here, she mixes science with art when she joins Rajesh in person to make naru - a Bangladeshi coconut treat. Find out more at FindingOurFlavor.com

British Asian DJ Bobby Friction helped usher in a golden age for young British Asians - as they defined their own exciting hybrid culture, with music, food, and art at its center. But as a child, suffering racist abuse led him to reject his own South Asian food heritage. These days, he says, even though racism in Britain hasn’t gone away, Bobby’s found his flavor - and he can’t get enough of his mom’s shahi paneer. Find out more at FindingOurFlavor.com

CBS News foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab has covered conflicts all over the world, and seen how food is a political tool and a great connector across tense boundaries. Here, he shares a recipe that began his unusual culinary journey to emulate his mom’s South Asian cooking. More details at FindingOurFlavor.com

“I’m looking for a connection to my ancestors through food” explains Deb Freeman, food writer and host of the acclaimed podcast Setting the Table. In this episode, she shares the recipe for her beloved nana’s collard greens - made with a twist. And she explains how “there’s very little that African American hands have not touched when it comes to food in America.” More details at FindingOurFlavor.com

“Food is one way we manipulate people,” says Dominican-American author Cleyvis Natera, whose acclaimed debut novel Neruda on the Park tells of love and loss, family and food, generations and gentrification in the Bronx. In this episode, Cleyvis reveals she’s no fan of dessert - but explains why she can’t resist her mami’s habichuelas con dulce. More details at FindingOurFlavor.com

Welcome to Finding Our Flavor - a podcast that asks how does the food we grow up with help shape the people we grow up to be? Spotlighting exciting, diverse voices from migrant and diaspora communities it’s a show with food and people where we meet fascinating people and try their amazing food! Enjoy tastes and tales, recipes and reminiscences, secret dishes and dished secrets, as guests share a cherished family recipe and explain how it both reminds them where they come from - and helps them figure out who they are in the places they now call home. Your host is Rajesh Mirchandani, broadcaster, food-fan, storywhisperer. More details at FindingOurFlavor.com