KCRW

Good Food

Society EN ↓ 100 episodes

Evan Kleiman is your guide to the best cooking and eating 

Author

KCRW

Category

Society

Podcast website

www.kcrw.com

Latest episode

Jul 10, 2026

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Episodes

The legacy of Edna Lewis, birria, microplastics 21.03.2025

A Black chef and cookbook author finally gets her due! Deb Freeman traces the life of Edna Lewis, author of "The Taste of Country Cooking," in a new documentary. While some people spent the pandemic starting sourdough, Jesse Valenciana got busy perfecting his birria. Memo Torres visits an Inglewood backyard, where three generations of the Sandoval family make birria using an abuela's recipe. Carol...

Nowruz, cabbage, agricultural policy, whales vs. crabs 14.03.2025

Celebrate the Persian new year with fresh herbs and new recipes Known to his followers as the Caspian Chef, Omid Roustaei prepares to celebrate Nowruz.  Economist Betty Resnick lays out the reasons behind the US's agricultural trade deficit. Alissa Timoshkina ventures beyond cabbage in a new cookbook dedicated to vegetables in Eastern European cuisines. Whales that get caught in Dungeness cra...

The legacy of Socorro "Mama" Herrera, Panda Inn reopens, chicories 07.03.2025

The story behind the famous orange chicken at Panda Express and more! Dora Herrera remembers her mother, Socorro, who took orders at Yuca's in Los Feliz for nearly 50 years. Tejal Rao visits the renovated Panda Inn, where a precursor to orange chicken took flight. Honor May Eldridge follows our obsession with the Hass avocado, which was developed right here, in Southern California. In his new cook...

Ramadan, the new who’s who in national food policy, seed oils 28.02.2025

Karen E. Fisher shares stories of Ramadan at Zaatari, the world's largest Syrian refugee camp located in Jordan. Helena Bottemiller Evich introduces the new administration's appointments charged to “Make America Healthy Again.” Dr. Christopher Gardener drops some wisdom about seed oil. Caroline Eden reflects on her travels through Central Asia and Eastern Europe and considers how the k...

Homestyle Chinese cooking, spiny lobster, makgeolli 21.02.2025

Eat Thai street food and maple tofu sticks while sipping makgeolli. Designer-turned-food-writer Kristina Cho celebrates her Chinese heritage with delicious and approachable recipes Bill Addison dives into pad see ew and other iconic Bangkok street food dishes at Holy Basil Chef Govind Armstrong cracks into spiny lobster while celebrating a popular Santa Monica Pier restaurant's 25th anniversary Da...

Lab-grown chocolate, bird flu, beans, egg substitutes 14.02.2025

From chocolate grown in a petri dish to the latest updates on bird flu, this is a sciencey episode along with a few beans, lemons and eggs. Gabriela Glueck puts lab grown chocolate under the microscope. Apoorva Mandavilli reports on the bird flu crisis and what items to avoid when you're shopping. Genevieve Ko offers alternatives for recipes that involve eggs. Steve Sando and Julia Newberry of Ran...

Dates, candied fruit, maple syrup 07.02.2025

We explore candied fruit, small-batch cookies, how to make maple syrup and an ancient fruit — the date. Rawaan Alkhatib takes us on a hot date, offering a global perspective on the ancient superfood. Chewy and gooey, small batch bakes are perfect when you want just a little sweetness — and Edd Kimber knows how to mix them up. Camilla Wynne shows us how to make stunning candied fruit. P...

League of Kitchens, immigration raids, Indonesian cooking 31.01.2025

An Altadena bar owner works to be a good neighbor while a cooking school taps home chefs from around the globe. After the Eaton Fire, Randy Clement, who owns Good Neighbor Bar, used wine delivery software to canvas Altadena, informing neighbors whether or not their homes had survived. Sergio Olmos reports on the recent immigration raids in Kern County. Lisa Kyung Gross founded the League of Kitche...

Post-fire soil safety, Lunar New Year, fine China 24.01.2025

New York Times  reporter Rukmini Callimachi follows a Haviland pattern of china that has set the table for five generations of women. LA transplant Vanessa Anderson, aka The Grocery Goblin on Tiktok, documents the city by visiting its markets. Julia Van Soelen Kim shares advice for gardeners concerned about how ash from the Palisades and Eaton fires might impact their crops. Mother and daught...

Eaton and Palisades Fires: Wildfire aid and the road to recovery 17.01.2025

We all saw it unfold in real time, some of us from our phones, others witnessing the devastation firsthand. Our beautiful, complicated, and geographically vast Los Angeles has been brought to its knees. Our heart goes out to everyone who finds themselves struggling and unmoored through all the types of loss, whether it be family, a home or a neighborhood. As the days have passed, one aspect of thi...

Seaweed, dining predictions, plant-forward cooking 10.01.2025

Julia Child reporting fellow Gabriela Glueck heads to Humboldt to speak with a community of seaweed evangelists. Brant Cox plays soothsayer and predicts what's on trend for restaurants in 2025. Joe Yonan proves that plant-based cooking is anything but boring. Heidi Pickman outlines the new licensing steps for home cooks who want to legally prepare foods to sell. "What if we slowed down and savored...

René Redzepi and Michael Pollan 03.01.2025

In this excerpt from  The Treatment,  chef René Redzepi unpacks the complicated history of global ingredients in "Omnivore," an eight-part series for Apple+. Known for his examination of nature on the plate, Michael Pollan alters consciousness in this clip from  Life Examined.

The Best of Good Food – 2024 27.12.2024

The Good Food team — host Evan Kleiman and producers Gillian Ferguson, Laryl Garcia, and Elina Shatkin — choose their favorite segments of the year. Nicola Twilley takes a cold plunge into the history of refrigeration. Chef Fadi Kattan is on a mission to document and share Palestinian foods, traditions, and the work of home cooks. Filmmaker Peter Byck casts a lens on the maverick farme...

Kwanzaa, Shabbat, meat pies, cake 20.12.2024

Restaurant critic Bill Addison recruited Jenn Harris to help him divide and conquer as they determined LA's best restaurants. Culinary historian Jessica B. Harris lays out the symbolism and traditions of Kwanzaa. Adeena Sussman continues her mother's tradition of Shabbat and shares a recipe for her grandmother's potato kugel. Chef Brian Polcyn knows his way around a meat pie. Rose Levy Beranbaum p...

Aged eggnog, women and cocktails, liqueurs 13.12.2024

Food scholar Darra Goldstein traces the lineage of early fermented beverages, which were offered to deities and used in rituals. Sociologist Nicola Nice takes a look at how women brought the cocktail home. Lesley Jacobs Solmonson explains how liqueurs went from the hands of the apothecary to those of the mixologist. Balo Orozco shops the farmers' markets to make seasonal shrubs.

Gifting cookbooks, Southern foodways, Japanese cooking 06.12.2024

Reporter Jessica Roy delivers the bad news about those plastic kitchen utensils. Anne Byrn composes an exhaustive guide on Southern baking. Chef Ashleigh Shanti goes beyond cast iron fried chicken and cornbread in exploring Black influences on Southern foodways. Local cooking instructor and food writer Sonoko Sakai explains the deep meaning of "Japanese in style" cuisine. Celia Sack of Omnivore Bo...

Vegging out over the long weekend 29.11.2024

Director Tran Anh Hung and actress Juliette Binoche discuss the recipe for subtle seduction in  The Taste of Things.  On the 20th anniversary of  Sideways , Hitching Post owner Frank Ostini reflects on changes in the Santa Ynez Valley. Filmmaker Jason Wise joins Vahe Keushguerian in a conversation about making wine from Iranian grapes for the first time in half a century. Zimbabwean...

Turkey, wine, pumpkin pie – it must be Thanksgiving 22.11.2024

Evan Kleiman taps flavor scientist Arielle Johnson to co-host Good Food's annual Thanksgiving episode. Food science writer Harold McGee breaks down brining, spice, and the best way to prep that giant Thanksgiving bird. Khushbu Shah forgoes the turkey for squash filled with biryani, a tikka masala-inspired mac and cheese, and Mexican food. Homemade cranberry sauce is all about the crackle and pop f...

Wild turkey, baking ingredients, Chinese breakfast 15.11.2024

Austin-based chef Jesse Griffiths is on the hunt for the majestic wild turkey. Pastry chef Nicola Lamb sifts through the essential ingredients of baking — flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. Memo Torres runs down his top five tacos in Los Angeles. Having eaten his way around China, Michael Zee recreates breakfast favorites at home. Courtney Storer of  The Bear  joins Gillian Ferguson a...

Cookies, millennial farming, fast food and the African American community 08.11.2024

Food writer and recipe developer Ben Mims scours the world for great cookie recipes. Former professional basketball player Laurent Correa is turning out some of LA's best croissants. Dr. Naa Oyo Kwate unveils the insidious relationship between fast food and the African American community. Lindsey Beatrice explores the creative ways millennials are acquiring land they can farm. Food Access LA raise...

No-knead bread, see-through mice, soda science 01.11.2024

Anthropologist Susan Greenhalgh describes how soda companies have influenced the science around sugary drinks. Health and nutrition reporter Alice Callahan breaks down "ultra-processed foods," a newish term to describe the evil that lurks on supermarket shelves. National Park guide Joseph C. Ward explains how a Cheetos bag altered the ecosystem in a New Mexico cavern. Physician and journalist Bryc...

Diwali desserts, gothic recipes, great tacos, preserved fruit 25.10.2024

Hetal Vasavada prepares for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, by baking gorgeous, colorful sweets. The intersection of Gothic novels and food offers a rich, spooky tradition for literary scholar Dr. Alessandra Pino and food writer Ella Buchan. Food scholar Darra Goldstein shows us how to make candied pumpkin, a creative autumn treat. In the docuseries  La   Frontera , Pati Jinich sho...

Italian sweets, chocolate, vanilla, jujubes 18.10.2024

Pastry chef Victoria Granof relishes the diverse, and often misunderstood, sweets of Sicily. Essayist and poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil explains the laborious process of cultivating vanilla and the fragile state of its existence. Rowan Jacobsen travels deep into the Bolivian Amazon to uncover the chocolate's origins. Molecular biologist Raven Hanna shows us how to produce tree-to-bar chocolate. At th...

Gerrymandering, baking tweaks, LA-style pizza 12.10.2024

Ben Blount and Bryan Kett created a chocolate bar to explain why our congressional districts have such weird shapes (hint: gerrymandering).  Left, Right and Center  host David Greene discusses how gerrymandering impacts our elections. Lola Milholland discusses how community living can help us develop life skills and flex our generosity muscle.  LA Times  restaurant critic Bill...

Syrian refugee cookbook, baking for happiness, the future of food 04.10.2024

To tell the stories of Syrians living in the world's largest refugee camp, Karen Fisher collected their recipes. For Kim-Joy, one of  The   Great British Bake Off's  most memorable contestants, baking isn't just about flavor or cuteness — it's also about mental health. Julie Guthman critiques tech entrepreneurs whose proposed food system "fixes" ignore the underlying problems...

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