Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are the ice cream equivalent of Cher or Madonna: they need only be introduced by their first names. The boyhood buddies are just as well known for their activism as they are for flavors like Cherry Garcia and Chubby Hubby, unabashedly seeking equality for all on their own time and through Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors. It seems social justice + ice cream go tog...

Comedian Cameron Esposito wants to be clear: she's  not  from  Illinois , she's from Chicago. Specifically, Little Italy, where her Italian American family has lived and ate red sauce and melted mozzarella for generations. Cameron is sentimental about Chicago's famed Italian beef sandwich, a big, sloppy, drippy, delicious mess that she has given up for a vegetarian lifestyle in Los Angeles. Chicag...

On Christmas Day 2012, a video was uploaded to YouTube featuring a woman in a pink top, costume jewelry and a styled coif prancing through a Florida park. A few months later the video went viral, and everyone from John Mayer to your mom's hairdresser was talking about Prancercise and its creator, Joanna Rohrback. Rohrback defines her Prancercise exercise program as "a springy, rhythmic way of movi...

Chef and TV personality Carla Hall ( The Chew, Crazy Delicious ) took a long and winding road to the kitchen. She started her career as an accountant, moved on to modeling and eventually charmed Americans with her charisma and from-the-heart cooking (and her catchphrase "Hootie Hoo!") on Bravo's  Top Chef. Carla's last meal is pure Americana. In fact, pretty much every modern president, from Clint...

It's the Food + Friendship episode! Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman are long-distance best friends who host the popular podcast Call your Girlfriend  and co-wrote the new, best selling book  Big Friendship .  Just like New York City was the fifth character in  Sex and the City , snacks might be the third wheel in Ann and Aminatou's friendship. After years of lounging on each other's couches, chattin...

Filmmaker ( Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, Cry Baby ) John Waters built a decades long career creating strange, sometimes grotesque, cult art that, for years, had most of America clutching its collective pearls. But in his day to day life, John craves order and embraces a bit of the mundane: he cooks almost exclusively from the now defunct  Cooking Light  magazine. John eats healthy on the weekdays an...

Listening to Matthew Amster-Burton & Molly Wizenberg host the popular culinary comedy podcast ' Spilled Milk ' is like eavesdropping on a giggly slumber party between two curious, well-read best friends who love to eat. Molly's last meal takes us to Oklahoma City, home of one of her favorite childhood treats: the chocolate malt at Braum's Ice Cream & Dairy Store . We'll learn the fascinati...

We are hard at work on a brand new episode of 'Your Last Meal,' but until then we are re-releasing an updated version of one of our favorite interviews with Isaac Mizrahi ! Acclaimed fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi has it all: humor, heart and hot takes on the culinary world. He knows what he likes (Long Island beefsteak tomatoes) and what he doesn't like (calling lemon juice "acid") and he shares...

François Clemmons is best known for playing Officer Clemmons on  Mr Roger's Neighborhood  from 1968 to 1993 and he shares the story of his life in a new book called  Officer Clemmons: A Memoir . François tells James Beard Award finalist Rachel Belle  about his special relationship with Fred Rogers, the first man who ever told him, "I love you." A resident of Vermont for decades, François' favorite...

Danny Trejo has happily played the villain, the bad guy & the mean dude in more than 300 films. And now that he's hit his 70s he's added a new career to his incredibly diverse portfolio: restaurant owner! Danny opened Trejo's Tacos and Trejo's Coffee & Donuts in Los Angeles and was adamant about packing the menu with healthy dishes like vegan jackfruit tacos, cauliflower tacos and horchata...

Actor, activist and musician, Rose McGowan, was born and raised in Italy, in what many would describe as a cult. When she moved to the United States at age 10, she said she cried, knowing her days of eating delicious Italian food were over. Rose offers up two very different versions of her last meal: one that speaks to her Italian palate, and another that's reflective of her teenage life in Americ...

Actor and Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli's happiest childhood memories are set in her Aunt Adeline’s basement kitchen, where pots bubbled with marinara for her mom's lasagna and her nonnie stood at the counter expertly rolling out gnocchi. But her favorite meal, her most comforting meal, her last meal is a delicate Italian dish that traces back to medieval times and was commonly served on Ch...

The affection that Best Coast's singer, songwriter and guitarist, Bethany Cosentino, has for suburban chain restaurants is not ironic. A musician who's (almost) always on the road (thanks, quarantine), she finds it comforting to experience the same decor, menu and flavors no matter what city she's in. Bethany's favorite chain of all is The Cheesecake Factory , so host Rachel Belle chats with chief...

Actor Laura Prepon ( That 70s Show, Orange is the New Black ) is the mother of two tiny children and just released a book called  You and I, as Mothers: A Raw and Honest Guide to Motherhood . But in her conversation with host Rachel Belle she opens up about her own mother, who was a serious, eccentric home cook who also taught Laura how to have an eating disorder. Laura's last meal is a dish she g...

Betsey Johnson has been a fashion designer since the 1960s and her clothes are just as colorful and vivacious as the true stories in her new book, Betsey, A Memoir . From her courthouse wedding to the Velvet Underground's John Cale to years of eating nothing but Red Vines and almonds, she is the most free spirited, joyful, foul mouthed punk rock grandma the world did ever see. Betsey is teeming wi...

Comedian Judy Gold 's email signature reads "Sent while thinking about my next meal"...but what about her last meal?! A stand-up comic for nearly 40 years, Judy won two Emmy's for writing and producing The Rosie O'Donnell Show, has countless TV acting credits and, the highest honor of all, a bagel sandwich named after her at New York City's famous, and now defunct, Carnegie Deli. When describing h...

Hello, friends! Normally we would be releasing a new episode today. But a certain pandemic, of which we will not name, has complicated things a bit. We are still working on making new episodes, because we believe it's important to take a break from the news and spend 30 minutes talking about Lucky Charms or Banoffee Pie or Chicken Katsu, but it's just coming along a bit more slowly. In the meantim...

Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie, Postal Service) hates brunch. But heck, so did Anthony Bourdain! Host Rachel Belle explores the history of the mid-morning weekend meal and asks New Yorker writer Sadie Stein what's not to like about bottomless mimosas and Instagrammable #yolkporn. Ben is an ultramarathon runner who runs 100 mile races and, in turn, consumes a whole lot of calories. But what (and...

Comedian and writer Guy Branum ( Chelsea Lately, The Mindy Project ) grew up on an almond farm in the northern California farming community of Yuba City, where he was forced to hunt pheasant with his dad and ate a steady diet of dishes his mom plucked from the trusty church cookbook. The centerpiece of Guy's last meal is his mom's juicy, cakey peach cobbler, a fairly untraditional recipe that he l...

Legendary radio DJ, Marco Collins , was the first disc jockey in the world to play records by Nirvana, Weezer, Beck, Pearl Jam, Garbage, and many others, when he was music director and DJ at Seattle's 107.7 The End in the '90s. Breaking these bands earned him a spot in the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame. Marco loves breakfast, so host Rachel Belle takes a field trip to Glo's , one of Seattle's long...

Forty years ago, disco queen Gloria Gaynor won a Grammy for  I Will Survive , a universally relatable anthem that's still blasted and belted out at pride parades and karaoke parties and inside showers and cars the world over. Now she's back with a new album,  Testimony , that's been nominated for two Grammys. Gloria grew up surrounded by good music and good food and despite being poor, neighbors w...

Director and actor Greta Gerwig chatted with host Rachel Belle two years ago, after her award winning coming-of-age film  Lady Bird  came out. Now she's back with a new movie, the Louisa May Alcott classic  Little Women , so we decided to spruce up the old episode and re-release it, nice and fresh and funky for 2020. When it comes to food, Greta has a soft spot for sentimental childhood favorites,...

It's Hanukkah, friends! And in an attempt to build a human menorah, host Rachel Belle invited Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz into the studio, hosts of the world's leading Jewish podcast, Unorthodox ! (We are still five "candles" short, if you know anyone). Together, we attempt to tackle the most important Jewish food topics of our time: is it more Jewish to wrap your leftov...

Alison Roman is everywhere these days. She's been zipping around the world promoting her new,  New York Times  best selling cookbook,  Nothing Fancy , never without her signature orange-red lips and matching nail polish. Opinionated and sassy, with a penchant for lemons and anchovies and a fuss-free approach to cooking, the Internet goes absolutely wild for a Roman recipe. Honestly. Just Google 'T...

Chef Graham Elliot has a knack for creating delicious, wacky, highly Instagrammable dishes that are as effervescent as his big, bubbly personality. His lobster corn dogs are adored by Eminem, Rihanna and Dave Grohl and YLM host Rachel Belle is a big fan of his foie gras lollipops rolled in Pop Rocks. But for his last meal? Graham craves a humble, breakfast table staple that he grew up eating in hi...