Good Food

This year-end episode compiles favorite interviews from 2025, exploring food's connection to resilience, heritage, and global stories through segments on history, migration, and politics.

Evan Kleiman interviews chef René Redzepi about Noma's upcoming 16-week pop-up residency in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, discussing the reasons for choosing LA and what to expect from the menu.

This episode of Good Food announces the return of KCRW's Pie Fest and features an interview with pie baker and documentary filmmaker Beth Howard about her journey into pie-making and its role in creating community.

This episode investigates how grocery stores and platforms like Instacart use dynamic pricing to charge different customers varying amounts for the same products, with COVID-era inflation enabling more aggressive price increases.

Evan Kleiman interviews Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) about her Halloween-themed cookbook and her childhood food experiences.

This episode examines the ongoing battle to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers in the U.S., featuring insights from a journalist who covers labor issues and the restaurant industry's opposition to such changes.

This episode explores how corporate power and corruption have captured America's food system, as discussed in Austin Frerich's book, with a focus on Iowa's transformation and its impacts on farmers and the environment.

Evan Kleiman interviews Samin Nosrat about her new cookbook 'Good Things' and her personal journey with depression and culinary inspiration.

This episode features an interview with Khushboo Shah about Diwali food traditions, including her childhood celebrations in Michigan and typical dishes like sweets and special meals.

The host urgently discusses Congress cutting federal funding for public media like KCRW, emphasizing its impact on community storytelling and urging listeners to donate to support the station.

This episode explores the history of Thomas's English muffins, focusing on Samuel Bath Thomas's creation and the iconic nooks and crannies, as discussed in a Malcolm Gladwell podcast segment.

This episode explores how freezers can be used for meal preparation and food preservation, featuring personal stories and insights from chef Vivian Howard.

This episode discusses John Yao winning the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef California, featuring his acceptance speech about immigrant communities and a re-airing of a Los Angeles Times review of his restaurant Cato.

This episode revisits the impact of the Eaton and Palisades fires a year later, focusing on a heartfelt conversation with Christine Moore, a local business owner who recently passed away, and reflects on community resilience and loss.

Evan Kleiman interviews LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison about his curated list of California's tastiest spots and iconic culinary landmarks, starting with recommendations in Sacramento.

This episode investigates why stadium concession prices like hot dogs are so expensive, tracing back to historical pricing disputes and consumer advocacy.

This episode features an interview with writer Elaine Ciolino about her book 'Adventures in the Louvre', offering practical tips and a food-focused perspective for visiting the world's greatest museum.

Chef Jeremy Fox discusses his new cookbook 'On Meat' and his culinary journey from vegetable-focused cooking to exploring meat, starting with bacon as a gateway ingredient.

Host Evan Kleinman speaks with Sarah Ahn, creator of the Honest Kitchen social media channel, and her mother Nam Soon Ahn about their new cookbook Uma, a Korean Mom's Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes.

This episode features an interview with Kathy Feng about her family's iconic Chinese restaurant, House of Nanking, in San Francisco's Chinatown, discussing its history, her childhood experiences, and their new cookbook.

Host Evan Kleinman interviews Jasmine Corp, the winner of PieFest 2026 for her ube blueberry pie, discussing her Filipino-inspired baking journey and recipe creation process.

This episode explores how California's wine industry is adapting to declining alcohol consumption trends, new dietary guidelines, and growing interest in moderation and non-alcoholic alternatives.

This episode features an interview with gardener and writer Kevin West about his new book 'The Cook's Garden,' which explores how to grow food from a cook's perspective to enhance flavor and create a better future.

This episode discusses the impact of ICE raids on Los Angeles' immigrant food community, shifting from celebrating food diversity to addressing fear and displacement among taqueros, vendors, and restaurant workers.

Chef Knight Young discusses her new Khmer cookbook 'My Cambodia' and how her childhood experiences with Cambodian food vendors shaped her culinary journey.

This episode features a conversation with Kushboo Shah about her search for the best pancakes in Los Angeles, exploring their cultural significance and her top picks.

This episode features a mother-son duo discussing their new cookbook 'Heartland Masala', which explores Indian regional cuisines with a focus on Punjabi and Bengali food, blending recipes with cultural essays on colonialism and immigration.

This episode features an interview with social media barbecue sensation Tony Ramirez about his new book and how barbecue serves as both a culinary tradition and social activity, especially around Father's Day and summer.

Kat Liu discusses founding the online community Subtle Asian Baking during COVID to share Asian baking recipes and her new cookbook.

This episode explores how wildfires in 2020 affected wine regions in California and Oregon, focusing on the challenge of smoke taint in grapes and how winemakers and scientists are addressing it.

This episode features Elizabeth Mateo discussing her family's journey from selling ice cream in Mexico to founding Mateo's Ice Cream and Fruit Bars in Los Angeles, highlighting their traditional paletas and ice cream offerings.

This episode explores the concept of queer food through a discussion about John Birdsell's book 'What is Queer Food?' and his experience at Little Deb's, a restaurant in Hudson, New York, that creates an affirming queer space.

This episode explores America's growing protein obsession, focusing on how whey—a cheese byproduct—has become a booming industry transforming dairy and food products.

This episode features an interview with Celia Sack of Omnivore Books discussing the best cookbooks of 2025, focusing on trends like the resurgence of home cooking and comfort food.

This episode explores the controversy surrounding President Trump's executive order promoting glyphosate production, its health and environmental impacts, and the political backlash from health advocates.

This episode explores the role of women in barbecue through a discussion about a new book 'When Southern Women Cook' and an essay on gender dynamics at a barbecue camp.

Evan Kleiman interviews food writer Olya Hercules about her memoir that weaves her family's story with her response to the war in Ukraine.

This episode features a Thanksgiving-themed conversation with a guest chef from Nashville, discussing her family's Thai restaurant legacy, culinary achievements, and holiday traditions.

This episode explores the historic 62% die-off of commercial honeybee colonies in the U.S.

This episode explores the depiction of cocktails in classic Hollywood films, featuring an interview with journalist and historian Hadley Mears about how drinks like the French 75 in Casablanca and James Bond's martini contribute to cinematic sophistication and leisure.

This episode explores the highest concentration of sushi restaurants in the world outside Japan along Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles, featuring an interview with Brent Cox about iconic spots like Asanabo.

This episode explores how instant ramen can be transformed into gourmet dishes through creative recipes, featuring an interview with Peter Kim about his book 'Instant Ramen Kitchen'.

This episode explores how people preserve food traditions amid war and violence, featuring author Michael Shaik discussing his book 'The Last Sweet Bite' and the intersection of culinary heritage with human rights.

This episode explores the historical roots of New Orleans' street food culture through an interview with historian Dr.

Host Evan Klyman interviews Ruby Tandoh about her book 'All Consuming,' exploring how food culture has evolved from sustenance to a performative mix of trends, advertising, and social pressures, with a call for less judgment in personal eating habits.

Marion Nestle discusses the updated food pyramid and dietary guidelines, emphasizing their political context and the shift toward recommending real food.

This episode features chef Roy Choi discussing his cooking philosophy, community involvement in wildfire relief, and his new recipes, reflecting on how recent challenges have deepened his purpose as a chef.

This episode explores how corporate power and profit motives have corrupted America's food system, as discussed in Austin Frerich's book about the industry's dynasties and their impact on farmers and the environment.

Good Food host Evan Kleiman interviews Ted Genovese, author of Tequila Wars: Jose Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico, about the turbulent history of the Cuervo family's rise to dominance in the tequila industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

KCRW's Good Food with Evan Kleiman features baker Nicole Rucker discussing her new book Fat and Flour, which introduces the Cold Butter Method for cookies — a reverse-creaming technique that eliminates the frustrating creaming step and produces better, more consistent results in 30 minutes flat — and later features an Iranian-American chef discussing the remarkable regional diversity of Iranian cuisine and how she brings her own perspective to classic Persian dishes while refusing to touch the truly iconic ones.

Host Evan Kleiman interviews spice trader Sana Jhaveri Khadri and recipe developer Asha Lupi about their new cookbook and the history of the spice trade.

Host Evan Kleiman and contributor Kushboo Shah discuss the origins and best versions of pasta al limone in Los Angeles.

Evan Kleiman interviews Emily Mester about her essay collection 'American Bulk,' exploring how consumer habits shape identity and family life.

Evan Kleiman interviews scholar Helene Jawara-Pinier about her book on Sephardic Jewish food history during the Inquisition.

Evan Kleiman interviews Rachel Phan and Curtis Chin about their memoirs growing up in families that ran Chinese restaurants.

Evan Kleiman interviews Iranian-American chef Omid Roustai about his cookbook and the cultural significance of Nowruz, touching on family and political division.

Evan Kleiman interviews Diane Kochilas about her new cookbook focusing on the traditional, flavorful plant-based cuisine of Ikaria, Greece.

Hana El-Hibri discusses her journey hiking the Lebanon mountain trail and the traditional Lebanese dishes she discovered, leading to her cookbook Melu.

Chef Fadi Kattan discusses his family's diaspora history and his mission to document Palestinian food traditions.

Host Evan Kleiman interviews author Mark Kurlansky about his book on onions, exploring the science, history, and cultural significance of the vegetable.