This Is TASTE

Sue S. Chan is an expert marketer, brand builder, and all-around busy bee on the global food scene. She was Momofuku’s first brand director, and in this episode we go back to her time helping to build the David Chang empire (and figuring out how to tell DC what to do). She later founded her own agency, Care of Chan, which has become a go-to for major fashion and retail brands looking to engage wit...

Today on the show, we speak with two authors of terrific new cookbooks. First up is Nok Suntaranon, the chef and owner of Kalaya, a celebrated Thai restaurant in Philadelphia. A former flight attendant, Nok reinvented herself at age fifty to become a James Beard Award–winning chef, and we talk about her journey as well as her excellent new cookbook, Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen. Also in this epi...

In a terrific new book, Taste in Music, musician Alex Bleeker (of Real Estate) and food and travel journalist Luke Pyenson (former drummer of Frankie Cosmos) cover the world of music through the foods bands eat while touring the world. In this episode, we speak with Alex and Luke about a book that brings a lot of heart and empathy to a subject that has been covered since the advent of food bloggin...

For years, Ryan Sutton was the chief restaurant critic at Eater New York, before his position was recently eliminated. Ryan is one of the most respected critics in the game, and we wanted to invite him to the studio to talk about the LO Times, his Substack covering the New York City restaurant scene. We talk about modern pizza by the slice, the economics of sushi, and some of his favorite restaura...

Many of us subscribe to NYT Cooking, the decade-old recipe emporium and offshoot of the venerable New York Times Food desk. This week marks the release of a new cookbook from the New York Times, Easy Weeknight Dinners, and we were thrilled to speak with Ali Slagle and Emily Weinstein, two core members of the NYT Cooking crew. Emily is the editor in chief of New York Times Cooking and Food and the...

Franco Fubini is the founder and CEO of Natoora, a high-end greengrocer connecting chefs and home cooks with some of the world’s best heritage produce through direct grower relationships. He’s also a professor of sustainability management at Columbia University and the author of the book In Search of the Perfect Peach, detailing Natoora’s quest to find flavor-first food and impact food systems in...

Sarah Fennel is the self-taught baker and photographer behind the widely popular Broma Bakery, a “mostly” baking blog that she launched in 2010. In this episode, we are introduced to Sarah’s incredible exuberance for baking, sharing, and baking more. We talk about the early days of her writing and how Broma has grown to become one of the most popular food publications online. We also get into her...

Today’s interview is so great. Dan Barber is the chef and co-owner of Family Meal at Blue Hill in Manhattan and of the legendary Blue Hill at Stone Barns. He’s also the founder of Row 7 Seed Company, a seed company built by chefs, farmers, and breeders that is pushing the boundaries of modern agriculture. We talk about his Row 7 vegetables, including red Badger Flame beets and the semi-viral produ...

Samantha Irby is a humorist, a TV writer, and the author of an incredible new essay collection, Quietly Hostile. In this episode, we talk about so many things: Chicago pizza, living in Michigan, Bosnian food in Grand Rapids, car wash dudes in Kalamazoo, and what it’s like to write lines for Carrie Bradshaw (as well as give her diarrhea).  Clare de Boer is the chef-owner of Stissing House, a restau...

Ina Garten joins us in the studio for a really fun conversation that dips into her excellent new memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens, which is out this week. While the story covers Ina’s whole technicolor life—from a difficult childhood through her time working at the White House, to opening her specialty food store, Barefoot Contessa, to her cookbook and television work—we wanted to focus on I...

Casey Lewis is an expert on Gen Z and writes the colorful Substack After School, which covers youth culture and trends. We wanted to have Casey on the show not just to talk about “how the kids are eating and drinking and shopping for food” but to dig into her reporting on today’s rapidly shifting culture. It’s a fascinating talk about CPG, restaurant trends, and how social media is changing the wa...

Joe Yonan is the food and dining editor of the Washington Post. It’s a big job, covering an outstanding food city, so it’s pretty remarkable that Yonan finds time in the margins to write cookbooks every couple years. Much respect, Joe. In this episode, we talk about his latest cookbook, the ambitious Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking, among other topics. It’s a really great talk, and we dig...

Jessie Sheehan is all about baking. She’s host of the baking podcast She’s My Cherry Pie on Radio Cherry Bombe and the author of four baking cookbooks, including her newest: Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes. This book ventures into all-savory territory, from biscuits and scones to what she calls “toasty handhelds,” kinda like fancy hot pockets, and this episode will have you craving th...

Paola Velez is an award-winning chef, activist, and author based in Washington, DC. She’s the cofounder of the viral grassroots bake sale Bakers Against Racism and the author of a great debut cookbook, Bodega Bakes. We brought Paola into the studio to talk about her impressive career, including acting as a culinary diplomat for the State Department, and the unforgettable recipes in her book, like...

Cookbook author and online personality Carolina Gelen is on a mission to share her love of food, which comes into focus in a great new cookbook, Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday Recipes. Carolina’s journey began in Transylvania, Romania, where she was born and raised. In 2021, she immigrated to the United States to pursue her passion for food full time. She is a recipe dev...

Zoë François is a professional pastry chef, recipe consultant, cookbook author, food photographer, and baking instructor and the host of Zoë Bakes on Magnolia Network. We recently spoke with her live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City to talk about the subject of her latest book: cookies. Her new book is Zoë Bakes Cookies, and it’s one of our favorite cookie books of all time. We get into so ma...

Today we have two great conversations with two of our favorite recent cookbook authors. Have you found your way into the world of Suzy Karadsheh and the megapopular YouTube channel and website The Mediterranean Dish? We sure have, and it’s changing the way we cook. Born and raised in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean city of Port Said, Egypt, Suzy grew up just a boat ride away from countries like Ita...

Today on the show we are talking all about restaurants in America with two talented editors. First up is Kate Kassin who along with the staff at Bon Appétit just released their list of the best new restaurants in America. Kate talks about the rigorous process that goes into selecting the restaurants, shares stories from the road, and offers some great restaurants we should be visiting, from New Yo...

Elyse Inamine is a writer and editor based in New York. A former restaurant editor at Bon Appétit and Food & Wine, she’s now writing some of our favorite food stories across the internet, including here at TASTE. It’s so fun to have Elyse on the show to talk about her TASTE story on the rise of cute food, her view on restaurant reporting, and more. Also on the show it’s the return of three things...

As the cofounder of online restaurant watchdog and chronicler Eater, as well as reservations booker Resy, Ben Leventhal has been at the center of all things dining out for nearly 20 years. On this episode we catch up with Ben about his latest company, Blackbird, a restaurant loyalty program that is rethinking the way hospitality and online culture converge. We talk about the company’s big expansio...

Ellen Marie Bennett is the founder and chief brand officer of Hedley & Bennett, a beloved apron and kitchen gear company that’s found in top restaurants around the world. She’s also a chef and the host of Kitchen Glow Up, a new kitchen renovation show from Tastemade. It’s so fun to have Ellen on the show to talk about Hedley & Bennett’s evolution, the CPG cookware boom, her proudest kitchen renova...

Fall cookbook season has arrived, and there’s nobody better to talk about the busy time than Rebecca Flint Marx, editor of Eater at Home. Rebecca just dropped Eater’s thoughtful fall cookbook preview, and we go over a number of her selections in this episode. We also talk about Rebecca’s journalism career and what she has been excited about in the world of restaurants, home cooking, and product tr...

Giada De Laurentiis is in the studio for an all-time classic conversation. She is the Emmy-Award-winning television personality of Food Network’s Everyday Italian (among many other shows) and the author of nine New York Times best-selling cookbooks, including her most recent, Eat Better, Feel Better. And check out our online retail store, Giadzy. It's really cool. Also on the show is Julius Robert...

We are always so happy to hang out with Jenny Rosenstrach, the talented writer and editor behind a highly enjoyable newsletter and a series of cookbooks. On this episode, we talk with Jenny about her terrific new book, The Weekday Vegetarians Get Simple. We get into some of the recipes that drive this creative cooking plan, and how the challenge to eat less meat is hardly that—it’s a fun adventure...

Melissa Urban is the cofounder and CEO of Whole30, a megapopular 30-day elimination diet program. She’s a six-time New York Times best-selling author and just released a new book: The New Whole30. We had Melissa on the show to reflect on the Whole30 universe and how it’s evolved alongside food culture over the past 15 years. Also on the show, it’s time to talk about cool new cookbooks. All fall Al...