Explore every episode of the podcast This Is TASTE

Meherwan Irani has been sharing wisdom about Indian street food since first appearing on this show in 2019. That would be vada pav’s genius, naan’s overratedness, and his mom’s three-lentil dhansak. Now it’s all in his debut cookbook, No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World, alongside the two decades’ journey of building Chai Pani, Botiwalla, and Spicewalla. In this episode, Matt catches up with his old friend (and recent India travel companion) about auntie holdbacks, striking a balance between tradition and invention, and what he means about his strong stance on naan. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting them in the world of food including food in the movie “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is really fun. Plus: check out the movie box office podcast, B.O. Boys, from our producer Clayton. Also: Matt returns to Traverse City, Michigan and visits Farm Club. He also drops by Penny in NYC for another amazing meal. Aliza has great rice rolls at Sun Hing Lung in Manhattan’s Chinatown (and check out the Chinatown Records live streams), and visits Conwell Coffee Hall in the Financial District. And speaking of coffee, Matt checks out Heist Coffee and its ¼ caffeinated glory. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ali Francis is an Australian writer and pastry chef living in Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s the author of the new book The Curious Lives of Vegetables: An Artful Exploration of the Wonderful World of Edible Plants, Their History, and Their Crucial Role in Our Future. It’s a must-read for produce lovers everywhere, with in-depth reporting and beautiful botanical illustrations that ensure you’ll never look at the grocery aisle or farmers’ market the same way again. Today on the show, Ali and I nerd out on all things vegetables. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting them in the world of food including Matt’s recent trip to Chicago where he visited Mi Tocaya Antojería, Feld, and Mindy’s Bakery. He was blown away by all three. Aliza checks out Elbow Bread’s hot dog pop-up, Chambers for terrific late-summer cooking, and coffee at The Mandarin in New York City. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zola Gregory is a writer, recipe developer, and food stylist based in Seattle. Her biweekly recipe column for TASTE, Extra Good, has yielded countless hits, and now she has a debut cookbook to enjoy: Sheet Cakes! In this long-overdue episode, Zola stops into the studio to talk about her distinct cooking point of viewpoint of view, going down the chocolate cake rabbit hole, and much more. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pim Techamuanvivit left a career in Silicon Valley to become one of the most important Thai chefs working today. She’s self-taught and runs Michelin-starred kitchens on two continents at San Francisco’s Kin Khao and Nari and Bangkok’s Nahm. Her new book, Cooking Thai, is the result of writing down everything she had to figure out on her own. It’s a remarkable book, and you should pick it up. Pim joins the show to talk about her amazing journey from working in tech to opening her first restaurant—her first restaurant job—and translating her iconic restaurant dishes for the home cook. Also on the show, I have a great conversation with Gidon Coll of the Hudson Valley Apple Project. If you love apples as much as I do, you will want to listen to this conversation. We talk about Gidon’s work growing heirloom and obscure varieties of apple, and we discuss his truly amazing farm visits. You should book tickets while they are still available.  Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maria Geyman is the founder of Masha Tea, a board-certified naturopathic doctor, and the author of With Tea: Culture, Accoutrements, and Rituals. It’s a great new book all about the wide world of tea, paired with recipes for brewing tea and desserts to serve with it. Today on the show, we go deep on all things tea. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting them in the Los Angeles food scene including visits to Jasmine Market & Deli, Quat, Chikaramochi, Bar 109, Kura Revolving Sushi, Odd One Out, and Hermon’s.  Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tanya Sichynsky isn’t a vegetarian—but as the editor behind NYT Cooking’s newsletter The Veggie, she’s spent years making the case that vegetables belong at the center of the plate. Her new book, Veg Everything, curates 100 recipes from NYT Cooking’s deep bench of recipe developers, including Melissa Clark, Eric Kim, Hetty Lui McKinnon, and many more, for weeknights, parties, and everything in between. Matt talks to Tanya about her unlikely path from sports media (go Dawgs) to food editing, the challenge of curating from an archive of 24,000 recipes, and why she thinks vegetables open a “multiverse” instead of a life of side dishes. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Polina Chesnakova’s latest cookbook, Chesnok, opens with a hard question: What do you call the food of a diaspora that has outlived the country that made it? Polina—born in Ukraine to a Russian mother and Armenian father and raised in a Rhode Island community of Soviet refugees—joins us to talk about food in the context of “post-Soviet,” the Book of Tasty and Healthy Food, her family’s uncompromising Olivier salad, and her prolific cookbook career. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world and beyond, including Matt’s visit to the Bay Area and Wine Country, with meals at Lazy Bear, Garden Creamery, Sohn, and Valley Bar + Bottle. Aliza shares about an upcoming Cake Zine reading series taking place September 4 to 6 in New York City, a visit to Chrissy’s Pizza, and thoughts on the new Erewhon café at LACMA in Los Angeles.   Read: It’s Difficult to Talk About Soviet Food Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Mitchell grew up in his grandmothers’ Detroit kitchens, walked away from culinary school, and talked his way into a line cook job while working as a valet. Years later, after stints at Benu, Eleven Madison Park, and Per Se, he won the prestigious Best Chef: New York State James Beard Award for his restaurant Clover Hill—and then lost his mentor, James Kent, and inherited Saga’s kitchen 63 floors above Manhattan. We talk about growing up in Detroit, his interest in Japan, and how he views the evolution of the tasting menu. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Marion Nestle is a renowned nutritionist who has been shaping food policy for over half a century. She co-founded NYU’s groundbreaking Food Studies program in the ‘90s and has published over sixteen books, including her newest, Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America's Favorite Breakfast Food. Today on the show, she weighs in on many buzzy topics in the food world (think: highly processed foods, fiber-and-protein-maxxing), the dramatic evolution of food culture, and how her cereal box collection inspired this new book. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Irene Yoo’s groundbreaking book Soju Party just won a James Beard Award for teaching Americans to drink like Koreans—the rounds, the rules, the anju, all of it. It’s a big topic to cover, and we get into the soju tornado, the convenience-store hangover industrial complex, and how a pop-up turned into Orion Bar, the Bushwick bar she co-owns with her husband and cocktail collaborator, Nick Dodge. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Beddia opened Pizzeria Beddia in 2013 as a six-seat, cash-only Philadelphia shop with no phone and no logo. Two years later, Bon Appétit called it the best pizza in America, and the line never really stopped. Now Beddia runs a 140-seat restaurant with a Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction and a private “Hoagie Room,” and he’s just opened his first restaurant outside the country: Bar Etna, in London. We talk about the myth of the original shop, why the initial dough recipe hasn’t changed much, and how Beddia honed his skill in Madison, Wisconsin, of all places. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gecile Fojas and Anthony Virey are the team behind HOSE New York, a creative R&D studio observing systems that shape culture, ecology, and consumption. Their projects include the honey brand Deadass Beekeeping, the beverages pop-up Palate Service, and the Listening Apiary and Hive Theory, an installation and live radio show streaming the sounds of their beehives at Wave Farm art park. Gecile and Anthony stopped by the studio to talk about the ethos and systems driving their many creative processes. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Kessler is a guitarist and founding member of Interpol, one of New York’s defining bands. He also helped build Bergen Hill—a beloved Carroll Gardens crudo bar he conceived from scratch with Ravi DeRossi—and quietly became a fixture of the city’s cocktail and natural wine scene. On the eve of Interpol’s eighth album, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, Kessler joins us to talk about what turned a late-night bar regular into a serious eater, eating between Barcelona and the East Village, and remembering the early 2000s NYC food scene. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zeena Lattouf Joy is the founder and head baker of Zeena Bakery, a Palestinian American bakery based in NYC. Their ma’amoul, focaccia, and other treats are beloved mainstays of the artisan side of the Fort Greene farmers’ market—and a regular part of Aliza’s weekend routine. Today on the show, Zeena talks about building a bakery that supports farmers in NYC and the Levant, the realities of operating a bakery stand at the market, and her plans for the future.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carla Lalli built her name in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen before going independent and publishing two best-selling cookbooks. Yet there was much more going on in her life. Her marriage ended after 24 years, and her sparkling new book, Food Is a Feeling, tells the story through 65 recipes and 30 essays that treat cooking not as a lifestyle brand extension but as the thing that got her through it all. In this episode, Carla and Matt talk Substack life, savvy recipe shortcuts, and getting it all down in a voice that feels true to real life, not online life.  Read Carla’s Substack: Food Processing Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zach Griff spent nearly seven years as The Points Guy’s most recognizable reporter, filing dispatches from first-class cabins and airport lounges around the world—before walking away in 2025 to launch his own venture, From the Tray Table. Today he joins Matt to talk about what actually makes airline food good, the science of why food tastes different at 30,000 feet, the credit-card-fueled arms race over airport lounges, and how one might achieve the coveted Delta 360 status. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world and beyond including amazing juice at Olabisi Sips, stops at Morning Sunshine Market in Ellenville, NY, Eataly Caffè in Manhattan, and Win Son in Brooklyn. Also: Maya Kaimal’s new Indo-Chinese sauce line, and watching Moonlighting for the first time is highly recommended. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sally Ekus has been inside the cookbook business since before she could walk—literally stuffing press kits for her mother’s culinary PR firm as a kid. Now a senior literary agent at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency leading the Ekus Group, she’s brokered hundreds of book deals and become one of publishing’s most transparent voices on how cookbooks actually get made. She’s behind the terrific Substack Not So Secret Agent, and Matt speaks with her about what agents really do for authors day to day, why a book deal is rarely a retirement plan, and some favorite books from years past. Also on the show we have a great conversation about Rebecca Eisenberg, author of the terrific new book Small-Batch Breads. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patrick Miller is the founder and distiller of Faccia Brutto, an Italian-style spirits brand based in Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a chef for 19 years in some of LA and New York’s brightest restaurants, and he began making amari as holiday gifts for loved ones while working as the chef-partner at Rucola in Brooklyn. Today Faccia Bruttio is busy using old-world techniques to create singular and special amari and aperitivi, and on the show, we go deep into their process and vision. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world including Matt’s visits to Golden Hof in Manhattan and The Dale in the Catskills, and he previews Morgan Eckroth’s debut coffee book, Coffee, for Here. Aliza visits a Creole pop-up from Chasing Chaz, enjoys Ha’s Snack Bar a great deal, and tries Julia Sherman’s new salad dressing. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is really special: a deep eating and drinking tour of Kingston, New York, the Hudson Valley town located under two hours’ drive from New York City that has quietly built one of the most interesting food scenes in the state. Matt has lived nearby for the past five years after two decades in Brooklyn, and Kingston has become his go-to for dining out. His guide for the day: Jenn Sit, editorial director of food and drink at Clarkson Potter, Kingston born -and -raised, and part of a longtime Kingston restaurant family. Consider this your summer-into-fall Hudson Valley trip-planning assignment. Check out all the places mentioned on Google Maps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenn Saesue didn’t want to open another Thai restaurant that served the same watered-down menu as everyone else’s—so she didn’t. Nearly a decade later, she’s the cofounder of 55 Hospitality, the group behind Fish Cheeks, the Michelin-listed Bangkok Supper Club, and Bub’s Bakery, New York’s first completely allergen-free bakery. Matt talks with Jenn about refusing pad Thai, managing an impossible reservation list, and how a birthday cake for her husband turned into a two-and-a-half-year research and development project. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Johnson directed the films BlackBerry and the DIY comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie—now he’s taking on Anthony Bourdain. His new film Tony, out in August from A24, skips the traditional biopic format entirely, compressing three formative Provincetown summers described in Kitchen Confidential into one transformative season for a 19-year-old, pre-fame Bourdain. Johnson joins us to talk about adapting a book everyone already loves, directing Dominic Sessa away from doing an impression, and his love for the Canadian rock band Sloan.  And before that, Matt shares some recent restaurant visits, including stops at Thai Diner, Keens, and Goosefeather.  Check out Matt on the podcast Put It In My Mouth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pierce Abernathy is a recipe developer and content creator based in Brooklyn. You may know him from his popular online videos showcasing his seasonal approach to plant-forward cooking—and now, he’s releasing a debut cookbook: Every Leaf, Every Stem: Craveable, Creative Vegetables All Year Round. Today on the show, we go deep on Pierce’s inspiration and book-making process, including getting the book’s introduction written by the one and only Alice Waters, and his upcoming book tour. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2005, Matt sat across from Anthony Bourdain at a magazine photo shoot. His first TV show, No Reservations, was only a few months old, and they dug into the contents of his travel bags, which he had brought to the set from his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. Two hours turned into a highly personal conversation, recorded on a cassette that sat untouched for twenty years. This week, that tape gets its first public airing, and we discuss Tony’s preferred sucker-punch etiquette, his loyalty to cigarettes and the Chateau Marmont, ayahuasca in Peru, and the talk show he dreamed up with Christopher Walken in mind. The Bourdain biopic, Tony, is out on August 7. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renata Ameni is chef partner of Birdee, a bakery and all-day café on the Williamsburg waterfront. The Brazilian-born chef is a fine-dining veteran who worked at Eleven Madison Park and opened Crown Shy before hopping over to more casual territory. Today on the show, we talk about bridging the gap between different styles of restaurants, making singular pastries, and more. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noah Galuten—chef, James Beard Award–winning cookbook author, and YouTube food guy—joins the show to talk about his new book, Grill Time!. The conversation covers his unconventional path from UCLA theater student to LA pitmaster, the case for treating your gas grill as a weekday kitchen appliance, and a deep dive into his research trip to Hermosillo, Mexico, where he discovered that everything he thought he knew about carne asada was wrong. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Omi Hopper is a Puerto Rican chef, social media influencer, and food entrepreneur. You might know her as a semifinalist on season two of Next Level Chef, or from her popular cooking videos across social media, where she shares her takes on Puerto Rican classics. Today on the show, we talk about making her debut cookbook, Cooking con Omi: A Love Letter to Puerto Rican Home Cooking. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claire Saffitz joins us for a summer-minded conversation about cooking outside the dessert lane. The best-selling author of Dessert Person and What’s for Dessert talks pizza-oven construction, YouTube behind-the-scenes, garden life in the Hudson Valley, and—for the first time—details about her upcoming third cookbook, which is a bit of a departure from her previous work. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s visits to Lola’s, Bar Chimera, AOOA Farm, and Superiority Burger. Aliza checks out Dolores, Un Posto Italiano, and shares how she is having a real potato salad summer.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're thrilled to have chef Norman Van Aken on the show. Norman is the founding father of “new world cuisine” and the man who introduced the word “fusion” into the culinary lexicon—at a 1989 symposium in Santa Fe, decades before it became widely used and sometimes critiqued. A former carnival worker and tar roofer who never went to culinary school, Van Aken built his vision in Key West and Miami, gave Charlie Trotter his first kitchen job, and has spent 40-plus years arguing that Florida deserves a cuisine of its own. His restaurant Norman’s is now in its third Orlando incarnation. We get into all of it in this memorable episode. And check out Norman’s Substack too. It’s a great read. Also on the show we have a live recording from the recent The Great Nosh Jewish food festival. It’s an entertaining conversation featuring Niki Russ Federman of Russ & Daughters, Mike Solomonov of Kfar Brooklyn, and Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co in London. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caroline Chambers built the number-one food and drink newsletter on Substack, What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking, on one radical premise: most of us don’t want to cook, and that’s fine. Her debut cookbook became an instant New York Times bestseller. Her follow-up, Make It Fast, was written with the help of reader feedback and organized around a new concept: the “walk away” recipe. It’s like millennial “set it and forget it,” if you will. In this episode, Caroline talks about the community-sourced cookbook, Substack as a business, and how she writes about products she likes, not always the ones that pay her. It’s a refreshing conversation, and we love having Caro in the studio. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lydia Pang is a creative director and the author of Eat Bitter: A Story About Guts, and Food. It’s a memoir that connects to the Chinese cultural concept of 吃苦 (chi ku), “eating bitterness” or being resilient, to her own life, with each chapter rooted in a recipe. Today on the show, we chat about how the book began as a zine in 2020, being inspired by her Hakka-Welsh heritage, and more. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s trip to Chicago with visits to Maxwell Trading, Loaf Lounge, Best Intentions, and Colectivo. Aliza discusses her interaction with dirty soda in Utah, a recipe in the latest issue of Kismet Magazine, and a very good frozen drink at SAA in Brooklyn.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chloe Frechette spent nearly a decade as executive editor at Punch, the James Beard Award–winning drinks media brand, writing seriously about cocktails and the culture around them. Then she did what most drinks writers most certainly do not do: she opened a bar. Echo Lake and Undercurrent, her two-story rum destination in Williamsburg with partner Paul McGee, opened this spring—one a breezy daiquiri bar, the other an intimate den of rare and vintage spirits. In this episode, I speak with Chloe about making the jump from writing about bars to running one, the vintage rum collection that includes pre-embargo Cuban Bacardi, and so much more. Echo Lake is at 357 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bartender and author Toby Maloney has made somewhere north of half a million cocktails over thirty-plus years, from Milk & Honey and Pegu Club to the Violet Hour in Chicago and the Elbow Room in Vancouver, Washington. His new book with coauthor and drinks journalist Emma Janzen, The Classic Cocktail Sessions, is a deep-dive master class on 61 classic drinks: not their histories but their inner workings. In this episode, we talk about the daiquiri that changed Toby’s life and the difference between mastering a classic and making it yours. Also on the show Matt shares a few final thoughts on the Summer Fancy Food Show including a first look at rugelach from Manischewitz, how Jangin is a new Korean food brand that you should keep your eye on, and a look at Lapos NA aperitivo. Also: Juggad It from Spicewalla and cool things happening at Raazi Tea. Also see: This Is TASTE 801: We Went to the Summer Fancy Food Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hasung Lee spent a decade cooking inside other people’s restaurants—Gramercy Tavern, Geranium, Atomix, the French Laundry—before Netflix viewers met him as Culinary Monster, the mysterious “black spoon” who muscled his way into the final round of Culinary Class Wars season 2. While he lost in the finale, he opened Oyatte anyway and is clearly shooting for Michelin stars. In this episode, we talk with Lee about what it’s like to compete under an alias, and we hear about the chef’s journey through some of the world’s greatest kitchens. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vikas Khanna grew up in Amritsar cooking beside his grandmother, arrived in New York with $3 and a dream, and became one of the first Indian chefs in the city to earn a Michelin star. His restaurant Bungalow—now one of NYC’s most coveted reservations—tells India’s culinary story through its 28 states. We talk about Vikas’s early cooking career in NYC, the rise of Junoon and later Bungalow, and what it means to cook for both presidents and homeless folks. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Specialty Food Association's Summer Fancy Food Show is where the next year of grocery shelves gets decided, and Dan Frommer, founder of The New Consumer and one of the sharpest minds tracking how people spend their money, was there for all of it. Dan joins Matt to unpack the trends and new products they spotted on the floor of the Javits Center this week in New York. We talk about sparkling water, functional cookies, and some emerging categories that surprised even us. Check out Dan’s 2026 Mid-Year Consumer Trends Report. Brands mentioned on the episode: Mr. Pickles Industries Wandel Mad Mutz The Great Chestnut Experiment Ginja Snap Folkland Foods Buffs Rodeo Snacks Monte's Fine Foods Gamsa Foods Sooki Dirty Virgo Nomina Sparkling Water David Protein Field Goods Yakitori Guy Sauce Manischewitz 50 Hertz Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Stewart, cohost of How Long Gone and one of food media’s sharpest outside voices, returns to the studio. We talk about his early vegan days, his current London dining life, and what he’s enjoying in his hometown of Los Angeles. We also revisit some of his past TASTE writing, including a review of Noma in Copenhagen. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Luke Fortney went from covering New York’s restaurant scene at Eater to contributing weekly to the terrific New York Times food newsletter ⁠Where to Eat⁠. In this episode, we talk about the dream of the $50 dinner in New York, changes at the grocery store, Canada’s big showing at North America’s 50 Best, and how restaurants can think about a membership mode. Featured on the episode: But First, Restaurant [NYT] The New Grocer [Snaxshot] The Dream of a $50 Dinner Is Still Alive at These Restaurants [NYT] Why don't more restaurants have memberships? [Expedite] Oh, Canada [Caper] Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tadashi Ono spent nine years as executive chef of La Caravelle, one of America’'s great French restaurants—twice earning a three-star New York Times review—before walking away to cook the Japanese food he actually wanted to cook. Since then, he’s run Matsuri and Maison O; written four cookbooks with Harris Salat on Japanese hot pots, grilling, and comfort food; and opened Teruko, a sushi bar and Japanese restaurant in the subterranean belly of the Hotel Chelsea. We talk about his long career and his latest cookbook, Japanese Comfort Cooking. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rita Gigante is not your average food influencer. She’s a psychic medium and healer and the author of The Godfather’s Daughter, an autobiography about growing up as the daughter of notorious Genovese crime family boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante. Rita is passionate about creating videos that showcase the old-school Italian restaurants and food businesses of her childhood, creating a new generation of fans, and it’s so fun to have her in the studio to talk about her lifelong interest in food. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s trip to BevNET Live with introductions to the great Umma Juice, Cabu, and Dad Grass Leisure Drinks. Also: Visits to Xi’an Famous Foods in Midtown, the newly opened Uovo in NoMad, Pizzeria Panina in Ridgewood, and Supreme Restaurant in Manhattan Chinatown. Lastly, love for Saicho hojicha.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Becca Millstein built Fishwife into one of the buzziest brands in food, turning a sleepy pantry category into something people actually want to talk about. This time, we didn’t talk to her in our New York City studio—we followed her to Santoña, Spain, to board boats, participate in an anchovy auction, and visit the processing plants where tins of fish get packed by hand. Welcome to our new series, Founder in the Field. It’s a different side of the grocery business than the one you see on Instagram: less buzzy branding, more bidding war over the morning’s catch. It’s an introduction to a founder, at origin, doing the actual work. Also check out: Whole Foods Buyers Never Sit Still. We Followed Them to Spain. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toshi and Yasu Kizaki opened Sushi Den on Christmas Eve in 1984 on South Pearl Street in Denver. Little did they know how the opening would impact Japanese food in America. Over the next four decades, they built a supply chain that flies fish from a market in Kyushu to Denver in under 24 hours, took over a corner of Platt Park with a cluster of Japanese restaurants, and earned a Michelin star — at 69, the oldest sushi chef in the U.S. to receive his first. This is the story of Sushi Den's expansion, including the Michelin-starred Kizaki, and a rare sit-down with the founding brothers. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Mawa McQueen, the chef-owner of Mawa’s Kitchen in Aspen. This Michelin Guide–recommended restaurant is the flagship eatery of owner and executive chef Mawa McQueen, a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist and recipient of the 2022 Colorado Governor's Minority Business Award. The menu at Mawa's Kitchen is hyper-seasonal and reflects Mawa's international heritage, serving Afro-Mediterranean cuisine with a French-American flair. We talk about building her mini empire, and what it’s like to cook for the private jet crowd. Thank you to Visit Colorado for supporting this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kim Vallejo is the business director at She Wolf Bakery in Brooklyn, NY. She Wolf produces exceptional sourdough and sweet treats made from regional heritage grains that are sold at 12 greenmarkets across NYC, plus their cafe in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and over 70 restaurant wholesale clients. Today on the show, Kim goes deep on the serious logistics that makes all this possible, working with regional grains, and more. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including visits to Oyatte, Via Carota, Sunfish Seafood, and Lefty’s Burger Shack. Also: Island Way Sorbet has taken over our freezer, How to Rule the World is the One L for journalism, and the legend of the green bag with Taiwanese Guai Guai. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maggie Hoffman is the writer and host behind The Dinner Plan, a podcast and Substack where she talks to a cookbook author every week about weeknight cooking realities, kitchen burnout, and what people actually cook at home. She joins Matt for a look back at the standout cookbooks of spring 2026. Here are the spring books mentioned, and listen at the end for our early fall favorites. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Aliza’s swing through the Pacific Northwest for strawberry picking and visits to The Paper Bridge and a Portland Pickles game. Matt tries push-pop sushi at Suka Sushi, pays tribute to the mujaddara at Kalustyan's, and he checks out the new infused oils from Primis Imports. MAGGIE’S FAVORITE SPRING COOKBOOKS Özlem Warren’s Istanbul Natasha Pickowicz’s Everyone Hot Pot Georgina Hayden’s MEDesque Hillary Sterling’s AMMAZZA! Joe Woodhouse’s Weeknight Vegetarian MATT’S FAVORITE SPRING COOKBOOKS Ham El-Waylly’s Hello, Home Cooking Ella Quittner’s Obsessed With the Best Jena Derman and Jack Schramm’s Solid Wiggles Adeena Sussman’s Zariz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Nadia Chaudhury is the deputy editor of Eater New York and Eater Northeast, a born-and-raised New Yorker who spent a decade running Eater Austin before coming home. Her family is behind Kalustyan’s, the legendary NYC specialty food store that has been feeding chefs, cooks, and curious eaters since 1944. On this episode, Nadia and Matt discuss the state of food media, the stories she’s chasing at Eater, and what it’s like to grow up with one of New York City’s most essential food institutions in the family. Featured on the episode: The Carbone Team Will Open an American Tavern in the Tribeca Grill Space [Eater] The Whimsy Killer in Your Pocket [Best Food Blog] New East Village Restaurant Threads Korean and Italian Culinary Lines [Eater] Faux Is a Real McNally Restaurant [NY Mag] Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jena Derman and Jack Schramm are the Brooklyn-based cofounders of Solid Wiggles, the cocktail jelly company that turned the Jell-O shot into a legitimate art form—and a legitimate cocktail. Their debut book is a full system for making layered, clarified, beautifully decorated cocktail jellies at home, from quick party animal shots to three-day party pro cakes with injected flowers and glitter. Jena comes from Momofuku Milk Bar; Jack from Booker and Dax and Existing Conditions. Together they’re making the case for the solid cocktail—and that parties matter. Also on the show I spend some time with Carolyne Lane, director of coffee at Noma Projects. We stop by her cafe in Copenhagen to hear about how she thinks deeply about coffee sourcing, with an emphasis on Mexico. I really enjoyed getting to know her a bit and hope you enjoy this episode.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brendan Chareoncharutkun is the founder of Uncle’s Thai Food, a freeze-dried curry brick brand based in New York. He got his start in food by working on farms around the world, learned to cook by working in restaurants in Bangkok, then came to New York to work in marketing, all while doing food pop-ups on the side. That experience and wisdom is combined in Uncle’s, and today on the show, we go deep on everything it took to bring this brand to life—plus Brendan’s new products in the works.  Also on the show, Matt has a great conversation with Chef Nelson German, author of the terrific new book Caribbean Cocktails. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Scherer didn’t set out to make an expansive and deeply heartfelt show about mortality. He set out to make a funny YouTube video about a carne asada burrito. A hundred episodes of Last Meals later—with Tom Hanks, Jason Kelce, and Elijah Wood having sat in the chair—he’s built the best food talk show online. The executive director of culinary content at Mythical Entertainment and NYT best-selling author joins Matt to talk food, grief, celebrity, and the last thing you’d ever want to eat. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jess Shadbolt cofounded King in SoHo in 2016 with almost no money and no restaurant experience—and built it into one of the best restaurants in New York City. Now she and partner Annie Shi have opened Dean’s, a British seafood pub that features stargazy pie and pork scratchings on the menu as well as a Guinness challenge where 500 pints earn you an engraved tankard. We talk about why British food still has to fight for its reputation in New York and the dayboat fisherman in Suffolk the restaurant is named for. Also on the show, we have an entertaining (and entertaining-focused) conversation with Amber Mayfield Hewett, author of Your Turn to Host: A Guide to Great Parties and Gatherings. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re doing something a little different—a special episode all about writing romantic fiction, featuring two food people: Eliza Dumais and Julia Turshen. Eliza is a wine writer based in New York, and Julia is a cookbook author and part-time farmer in the Hudson Valley, and they’re both authors of new romance books from 831 Stories: Grape Juice, set amid a sweaty summer wine harvest in France, and Down to Earth, a queer love story with a highly crushable vegetable farmer in upstate New York. On the show, Aliza speaks with Eliza and Julia about the parallels between writing about food and romance and much more. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is really special: a deep eating, drinking, and food culture tour of Colorado, a state that has been quietly (and then not so quietly) building one of the most exciting culinary scenes in America. From Denver’s Michelin-starred restaurant boom to the peach orchards and wine country of the Grand Valley, we went to find out why Colorado is a serious food destination—and came back convinced. First up, we sit down with Johnny Curiel, the Guadalajara-born, Denver-raised chef and 2025 James Beard Award finalist behind the Michelin-starred Alma Fonda Fina and the newly opened Milpero. Johnny’s story—from learning to cook in his father’s kitchen in Jalisco to redefining modern Mexican cuisine in the Rockies—is one we’re excited to tell. Next we hit Five Points and RiNo with Laura Young, Denver food writer and founder of New Denizen. Laura takes us on an epic crawl of the spots defining the new Denver dining moment: Cuban pastry, specialty coffee, and an amazing Japanese-inspired all-day café. We then head west to the Grand Valley for a conversation with chef Matthew Chasseur of Pêche in Palisade—a restaurant built on the region’s extraordinary agricultural bounty, from Palisade peaches to Colorado lamb, proving that world-class dining doesn’t require an urban zip code. Throughout the episode, we share highlights from our wider Colorado eating adventures—the restaurants, markets, and producers that made this trip one for the books. Check out a ⁠Google Map⁠ to see all of the places we visit, and save for your own visit. Thank you to Visit Colorado for supporting this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices