Good Food

Raw fish reaches its apex on a stretch of Ventura Blvd. that's home to the highest concentration of sushi restaurants in the US.  Brant Cox of The Infatuation surveys the sushi restaurants of Ventura Boulevard. Chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern imparts lessons from his time on the water to set up home cooks for seafood success. Ixta Belfrage creates recipes that embrace her multicultural lens and Brazil's layered cuisine. For nearly two decades Aldo Sohm has poured wine at Le Bernardin in New York City, creating harmony between what's in the glass and on the plate. Chef Michael Fiorelli of Fiorelli Pizza pairs Brussels sprouts with persimmons and pomegranates in a salad that screams autumn. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.  

Pull out that package of ramen and get ready to dress it up! Instant ramen is most frequently associated with tired clichés about quick dorm room eats but Peter J. Kim wants us to rethink the dried noodles. Beloved baker Dorie Greenspan takes the cake in a new collection of recipes. LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison pays a visit to Cafe 2001. Fighting our food confusion with science, journalist Julia Belluz and scientist Dr. Kevin Hall attempt to answer, "Why do we eat the way we eat?" Chef Harry Posner of Tomat explores farmers market pomegranates. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

Exploring African flavors, Japanese fermentation, and a Paris farmers market. Ruby Tandoh traces how our culinary tastes have transformed in our 24/7 food obsession. Yasmin Khan manages stew recipes without meat. Kenji Morimoto was tasked with making pickles in his family's kitchen and that assignment blossomed into a love of fermentation and putting his DIY projects to use. Born in a refugee camp in Somalia, Meymuna Hussein-Cattan ended up launching a celebrated refugee aid organization as well Flavors from Afar, which earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand. For the Market Report, Gillian Ferguson heads to Paris where she catches up with chef David Lebovitz at the Marche d'Aligre. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

Hosting a Halloween party, veganizing Korean cuisine at home, and the horrors of labor throughout the food system: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark AKA Cassandra Peterson IRL dons her towering black beehive and blood-red lipstick for a collection of hair-raising recipes just in time for Halloween. When we last talked to her, three years ago, Rosie Grant had already gone TikTok viral for prowling cemeteries to find the tastiest gravestone recipes. Now, she has an entire book devoted to these dishes as well as interviews with the families of the dearly departed. Joanne Lee Molinaro AKA the Korean Vegan shares her love of tofu and a recipe for a Kimchi Queso Mac and Cheese in her newest cookbook.  Underpaid, undervalued, and unsafe — that’s the trifecta of problems plaguing food system workers, according to Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern and Teresa M. Mares, who chronicle labor across our food chain. Memo Torres delivers an update on the fallout of ICE raids in the hospitality industry. Connect with Good

Celebrating Diwali, Thai roots meet Nashville soul, a soju party, yaupon as a potential coffee alternative, and green satsumas: Khushbu Shah shares how she celebrated Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, growing up in the Midwest, and this year's plans. Chef Arnold Myint, who grew up at his family’s beloved International Market & Restaurant, which introduced Thai food to Nashville, has a new book, Family Thai, that's both a primer on Thai cooking and a tribute to the flavors he inherited from his mother. At Orion Bar in Brooklyn, Irene Yoo and her husband, Nick, get playful with soju and upend Korean alcohol traditions. How expensive does coffee need to get before we start looking for alternatives? Writer KC Hysmith considers yaupon, the only caffeinated plant grown in North America, for its potential as a coffee alternative. Chef Miles Thompson shops for green satsumas at the farmers market. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

Samin Nosrat discovers "Good Things"; a bar devoted to women's sports; winter squash at the farmers market. Samin Nosrat chats about the pressure she felt following the success of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, relinquishing perfectionism, and the importance of ritual in connecting with others and yourself. Married couple Janie Trinh and Stephanie Ellingwood founded Silver Lake's Untamed Spirits, a bar devoted to women's sports. Gillian Ferguson takes us to the farmers market to meet Ben Norton, the chef behind Darling, Sean Brock's grill house and hi-fi lounge in West Hollywood. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

How do you fix a food system that isn't simply broken but has been captured, top to bottom, in the name of profit? Our food system isn't simply broken, it has been captured, top to bottom, in the name of profit. Austin Frerick shares the stories of seven agricultural titans, their rise to power, and the consequences for the rest of us. For almost a decade, renowned Mexican chef Enrique Olvera veered away from serving tacos at Pujol, his Michelin-starred Mexico City restaurant. Now, he celebrates them with taco omakase at the bar. Oaxacans claim if you eat chapulínes (grasshoppers), you will return to Oaxaca. Anthropologist Jeffrey H. Cohen looks at the consumption of these insects and the women who make a living selling them. Travel and food writer Caroline Eden hiked between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, discovering recipes along the way. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.  

Passionfruit, overlapping food crises, and what federal spending cuts mean for local food banks Seven years after chef Jeremy Fox released On Vegetables, he offers a cookbook with a different focus, On Meat. Michael Flood of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank explains what the massive cuts to SNAP, USAID, and DOGE mean for local food assistance programs. Dr. Stuart Gillespie analyzes the cascade of overlapping crises impacting our food system — and he proposes solutions. At the farmers market, passionfruit from Carpinteria goes into an LA mole. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

The real story behind "no tax on tips" and the best vegan cheese Eyal Press reports on the fight to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers Animal and food activist Miyoko Schinner prides herself on making dairy-free butters, creams, and cheeses Chloe Sorvino exposes the hidden corruption and corporate greed within the meat industry Mike Cirone travels from See Canyon near San Luis Obispo to share his apples with farmers market shoppers. Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

Going garden-to-table and how immigration raids are impacting LA's restaurant workers Canning evangelist Kevin West puts his home garden to work in the kitchen Journalist Andrew Lopez reports on how ICE raids are impacting Boyle Heights Rudy Espinoza shares how Inclusive Action supports communities affected by the immigration raids Journalist Kim Severson explores the creation of the perfect peanut Vannak Tan serves Cambodian-style seafood at A&J Seafood from a shack in San Pedro Alvaro Bautista brings dates from Mecca to the farmers market in Santa Monica Connect with Good Food host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

Is America any healthier, yet? Mother and son Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji stay rooted in their Indian heritage while living in the Midwest. Journalist Lisa Held sorts through the details of the recently leaked draft of the MAHA strategy report, a year after Make America Healthy Again debuted. Public health advocate Marion Nestle was cautiously optimistic in the early days of MAHA. What's her perspective now? Lior Lev Sercarz explores the many varieties of peppercorns. The weekly market report features chef Zach Pollack's use of sweet peppers. Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter and connect with host Evan Kleiman on Substack.

Elizabeth Mateo expands her family's 40-year-old paletas business. Filmmaker Eddie Schmidt weaves together scenes of the men and women who drive ice cream trucks from in his documentary, Popsicle Culture. Adrienne Borlongan of Wanderlust Creamery makes ice cream inspired by travel and adventure. On a stroll, David Owen uncovered the remnants of Berkshire Ice Company, a century-old business which shipped ice around the world. His curiosity sent him on a journey investigating the history of refrigeration and cooling technologies, which along with convenience, harbor harsh impacts on the environment. Bee Wilson embraces room temp dishes while acclimatizing food temperatures to the weather. Connect with host Evan Kleiman by subscribing to KCRW's Good Food on Substack.

The protein powder boom, anchovies, ancient Roman recipes, and more! Whey, the liquid byproduct of cheese making, was once considered waste. It's now a key ingredient in the protein powders that dieters and weightlifters are downing in ever-greater amounts — and that means big changes for the dairy industry, reports Kevin Draper. Horror film producer turned food historian Christopher Beckman chronicles the anchovy's place in the European cooking canon. Sally Grainger reinterprets Roman recipes taken from Latin texts. As students head back to school, we catch up with Jack Bobo, Executive Director of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies. Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter and connect with host Evan Kleiman on Substack.  

Grocery store feasts, eggplant, the Jonathan Gold menu project and more! Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules shares family stories and recipes passed down through four generations Tien Nguyen opens the LA Public Library's archives to explore vintage restaurant menus and remembers Jonathan Gold's crucial essay about eating on Pico Blvd Vanessa Anderson — aka the Grocery Goblin — profiles grocery stores where you can grab a great meal Meera Sodha has low-effort, high-reward dinner ideas that use summer vegetables When eggplant hits farmers markets, chef Evan Algorri knows what to do with it Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter!

You better bee-lieve it, we're talking about honeybee headaches. Former beekeeper Adam Novicki explains the causes of this year's historic honeybee die-off Sawdust covered floors, free peanuts, and stiff martinis are hallmarks of Chez Jay, which celebrates 66 years along Route 66 Jenny Linford explores cooking, eating, and drinking through objects in the British Museum's collection Chef Katie Reicher of legendary San Francisco restaurant Greens shares vegetarian recipes from her repertoire Baker Nicole Rucker adopts a fruit tree and sets her sights on a glazed peach pie Sign up for Good Food's weekly newsletter!

When everything falls apart, food is sometimes all we can cling to. Michael Shaikh looks to those who are preserving their food and culinary traditions in the aftermath of war, displacement, and global violence Lee Svitak Dean and Linda Svitak are Minnesota sisters who collaborated on a book that highlights people from vastly different circumstances all over the globe Toni Tipton-Martin showcases the creativity of women who bring soul to Southern cuisine In his new novel, Mark Kurlansky explores how an ancient cheesecake recipe and a conniving landlord change one Manhattan block forever Get happy, it's tomato season at the farmers market!Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter!

Although Good Food loves pie, we're also Team Galette! Podcaster Ben Naddaff-Hafrey dives into the legal tussle hidden in the nooks and crannies of Thomas' English muffins Artist and cook Linda Dangoor leaves a trail of recipes from Baghdad and Beirut to Ibiza and Paris Fátima Juárez and Conrado Rivera of Komal explain that the secret to great masa starts with great corn It's peak summer fruit season, which means it's time for recipe developer and stylist Rebecca Firkser to explore the art of the galette With all the recent closures of classic LA restaurants, reporter Jennifer Swann explains why crowds are lining up around the block to get one last taste of the past At Lucia, chef Adrian Forte shares how he uses shado beni (aka culantro, not to be confused with culantro) in his Caribbean dishes Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter!

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Good Food explores the Golden State! LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison drove up and down the state to determine California's 101 best places to eat Chef Scott Clark left the pressure cooker of Michelin-starred restaurants to cook in a train caboose on the side of Highway 1 Chef and fisherman Conner Mitchell says "yes" to locally caught bluefin tuna Bernadette Berterretche Helton preserves Basque food and traditions at Centro Basco in Chino Coming from a family of dairy operators, Vivian Straus honors Northern California's agricultural roots with the Cheese Trail Sign up for Good Food's weekly newsletter!

How one man's fruity side hustle became a cash cow There are many ways to look at the Louvre but writer Elaine Sciolino invites us to view the largest museum in the world through the lens of food  Journalist Lisa Held documents the power and influence of the pesticide industry Since stress for farmers is deeply intertwined with the land, social worker Kaila Anderson developed a tool to treat depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues among farmers Omar Vaid didn't set out to be one of Southern California's most prolific mango dealers — he had greatness thrust upon him At SoCal farmers markets, no one has better or more interesting melons than Alex Weiser Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter!