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Good Food

KCRW

Everything you wanted to know about good cooking and good eating from LA chef, author, radio host and restaurateur Evan Kleiman.

Location:

Santa Monica, CA

Networks:

KCRW

Description:

Everything you wanted to know about good cooking and good eating from LA chef, author, radio host and restaurateur Evan Kleiman.

Twitter:

@evankleiman

Language:

English

Contact:

1900 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 310-450-5183


Episodes
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Rosh Hashanah, child labor, a culinary memoir

9/27/2024
From nopales and horchata to matzoh balls and Manischewitz, Ilan Stavans and Margaret Boyle merge Mexican and Jewish foods. Rachel Gordin Barnett and Lyssa Kligman Harvey celebrate the unique and diverse food history of Jewish South Carolina. Hannah Dreier reports on child labor in the poultry broiler belt. Brigit Binns reflects on her dysfunctional LA childhood and how it delivered her to the kitchen and writing.

Duration:00:59:36

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Chasing the Watermelon Man (from KCRW's Lost Notes)

9/27/2024
An audio folk story examining the tradition of Black watermelon long-haulers, who drive to farms in the South for watermelon and sell them in Black neighborhoods around the US. This is a special bonus edition from KCRW's Lost Notes.

Duration:00:57:11

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Ottolenghi comfort food, croissants, lettuce

9/21/2024
Sylvio Martins gives us a glimpse into The Infatuation's blind taste test to determine the 10 best croissants in Los Angeles. Yotam Ottolenghi and Verena Lochmuller craft globally-inspired comfort food in a new cookbook. Seeking Turkish cuisine, LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison finally finds it in a Santa Monica coffee shop. Chef Juan Ferriero creates inspired salads for his menu at Great White.

Duration:00:48:09

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Cocktail recipes, ancient beers, forever chemicals

9/13/2024
Jim Meehan asked some of the best bartenders on the planet for their favorite cocktail recipes — and put them in a book. Archaeologist Tate Paulette explores ancient beers. Market correspondent Gillian Ferguson explores how California farmers handled the latest heat wave. Investigative journalist Sharon Lerner unpacks how 3M lied to its employees — and by extension the American people — about the dangers of PFAS and PFOS. New York Times correspondent Kim Severson reports on the attempts to replace plastics in the grocery store.

Duration:00:59:37

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"Sideways" turns 20, Iranian wine, Arizona water

9/6/2024
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. Maanvi Singh reports on corporations buying up water rights, often in drought-stricken areas, and selling them to other communities, sometimes hundreds of miles away. Growing up in Northern California with a Kenyan mother and Nigerian father, Kiano Moju celebrates her family's AfriCali cuisine. At the farmers market, chef Dan Barber visits with Alex Weiser who is growing a new allium — garleek.

Duration:00:59:36

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Seed saving, dosirak, school lunch, the art of the midday meal at work

8/30/2024
Kristyn Leach and a network of farmers work to preserve cultural heritage through seed saving. LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison visits Perilla in Echo Park for Korean banchan and dosirak. Photographer Lucy Schaeffer captures the nostalgia and personal memories behind school lunch. Peter Miller pens an ode to the midday meal. Politics professor Aaron Bobrow-Strain looks at the history of white bread in America and how it became so popular and industrialized. Wax Paper in LA pays homage to NPR personalities with their sandwiches, and co-owner Peter Lemos explains what goes into an “Ira Glass.”

Duration:00:59:36

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Coastal summer cuisine in Greece, Italy, and France

8/23/2024
Georgina Hayden makes her family's Greek-Cypriot recipes more achievable. Amber Guinness entices the palate with coastal Italian snacks and seaside refreshments. Rosa Jackson goes beyond Salad Niçoise to embrace the rustic cuisine of France's fifth largest city. Inspired by her family's beloved bundt cake recipe, Daphane DeLone is whipping up whoopie pies at Connie & Ted's. The owners of Koda Farms, who grow rice in Merced County, decide to retire their grandfather's legacy.

Duration:00:59:43

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Restaurant reservations and economics, tacos, melons

8/9/2024
Reporter Adam Iscoe exposes the auctioneers and private clubs making a profit on restaurant reservations. Behind most kitchen doors, restaurants are hemorrhaging money. Heather Sperling documented every dollar her restaurant spent over the course of a month. Stephanie Breijo spent months talking to chefs and restaurateurs about operating in crisis mode. Daniel Hernandez and the Food section team at the LA Times canvassed the city to find its best tacos. Aaron Lindell from Quarter Sheets uses summer melons from Weiser Family Farms in playful ways.

Duration:00:58:19

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Greek cuisine, prison labor, eating with Memo Torres

8/2/2024
Diane Kochilas reveals the secrets of Ikaria, a Greek island known for the longevity of its inhabitants. Margie Mason and Robin McDowell uncover an unlikely source of labor in our food chain — maximum security prisons. Podcast host and food historian Jessica Gingrich shares the story of Robert King, a member of the Angola 3, who survived 31 years in prison where he cut sugarcane. Memo Torres shares his latest recommendations of where to eat across Los Angeles. Pastry chef Sam Robinson of All Day Baby bakes up sweet summer corn cakes with peach preserves.

Duration:00:59:42

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Gastrodiplomacy, Ruth Reichl, Judith Jones

7/26/2024
Dan Hong considers the role food has played in diplomacy and politics. Ruth Reichl weaves art and fashion into The Paris Novel, in which her heroine finds herself through food. Sara B. Franklin pays tribute to Judith Jones, the editor responsible for bringing Julia Child and Edna Lewis to American kitchens. At the farmers market, chef Daniel Cutler puts tomatoes and peaches to work at two different restaurants.

Duration:00:59:40

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Tortilla extortion, Italian snacks, LA Times Restaurant of the Year

7/19/2024
Mary Beth Sheridan details how drug cartels in Mexico have begun extorting tortilla vendors. Stef Ferrari raises a glass to stuzzichini, Italian bites served during aperitivo. LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison reviews Baroo, which he recently named Restaurant of the Year. Julia Sarreal pores over yerba mate, an iconic South American beverage that has been revered and vilified. Catherine Roberts reports on pesticide residues lurking in 59 common fruits and vegetables.

Duration:00:59:42

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Making pizza at home, taking a dip, eating poison oak

7/12/2024
Alexandra Stafford shares her easy techniques for making pizza at home — no kneading or stand mixers required. Alyse Whitney dives into summer with riffs on crowd-pleasing dips that are perfect for communal dunking. Want to make a smooth, creamy queso? Swetha Sivakumar reaches into the medicine cabinet. When Jeff Horwitz wanted to get rid of his allergic reaction to poison oak, he started consuming it. Summer tomatoes have arrived at farmers markets!

Duration:00:59:38

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James Beard Award winners

7/5/2024
It's Good Food's 2024 James Beard Award winners show! More than three decades after her father passed away, Hetty Liu McKinnon honors him with a tender cookbook about his legacy and her love of vegetables. Abi Balingit, a self-described "dork who baked," turned her passion into a cookbook of Filipino desserts. Becoming a chef wasn't in Jason Hammel's plan but he now operates Chicago's Lula Cafe, a leader in the hospitality industry. Sohla El-Waylly teaches us the "why" behind kitchen techniques. Bill Addison reviews Filipino favorite Kuya Lord, which started as a garage pop-up and now has a brick-and-mortar spot in Melrose Hill.

Duration:00:56:01

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The history of refrigeration, ice cream, gelato

6/28/2024
Nicola Twilley takes a cold plunge into the history of refrigeration. Lucas Sin explains how to use the freezer to improve cooking. Adrienne Borlongan jettisoned a career in nursing to explore ice cream production. For two decades, Michael Buch has watched Silver Lake change around his shop, Pazzo Gelato. At the farmer's market, Elaine Marumoto-Perez and her brother use apricots to make ice cream and donate portions of each pint to charity.

Duration:00:58:15

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The Indian diaspora, the life of Fu Pei-mei, California salmon ban

6/21/2024
Food writer Khushbu Shah reflects on how Bisquick and Cream of Wheat fit into the Indian American diaspora. Michelle T. King recounts the life of Fu Pei-mei, a culinary star who taught generations of Taiwanese women how to cook. Reporter Elena Kadvany explains the elimination of restaurant surcharges and the last ditch effort to keep them intact. Historian Xaq Frohlich unpeels nutrition labels and why they leave the onus of good health on consumers. Finally, what does a California ban on salmon mean for the livelihood of fishermen?

Duration:00:57:15

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Caribbean food, a move to France, cooking outdoors

6/14/2024
Chef and culinary activist Lelani Lewis returns to her Caribbean roots with classic recipes. Steve Hoffman dreamed of moving his family to France… until he moved them to the wrong town in France. Kevin and Jeffrey Pang cook up some father-son bonding over plates of Mongolian Beef and General Tso's Chicken. Avid outdoorsman and conservationist Steven Rinella cooks what he hunts and catches. At the farmers' market, peach season is anything but the pits.

Duration:00:57:04

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Lebanese cuisine, beer hiking, the return of Vespertine

6/7/2024
In a new cookbook filled with Lebanese recipes, Hana El-Hibri invokes the spirit of "mayylu," an invitation for visitors to pop in. Jo Flashman pairs Southern California hikes with microbreweries. Kitty Morse opens a tattered leather valise and uncovers a WWII journal from her French forbearers — with photographs and some very special recipes. Chef Jordan Kahn ushers in a new era at Vespertine. Gustavo Arellano weighs in on a proposed California law that would require folic acid to be added to masa. Finally, there's a new face at the farmer's market.

Duration:00:57:14

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'Bethlehem,' a farming meeting of the minds, asparagus

5/31/2024
Franco-Palestinian 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 farmers and scientists working to solve the climate crisis. Chefs Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson bring the bold Mediterranean flavors of Kismet to a new cookbook. Cindy Carcamo reports on why California's once flourishing asparagus farms are disappearing.

Duration:00:57:10

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Veggie burgers, onions, Asian plant-based recipes

5/24/2024
Author and illustrator Mark Kurlansky peels back the cultural, historical, and gastronomical layers of the onion. Jonathan Kauffman explains how "hippie food" went mainstream. Forget meat alternatives, Lukas Volger develops veggie burger recipes using whole foods. Flexitarian Pamelia Chia canvases chefs for show-stopping Asian vegetarian recipes. Forget meat alternatives, Alicia Kennedy unpacks the history of vegan and vegetarian eating in America. Two small voices sing the praises of seeds in the book A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds.

Duration:00:56:51

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Trader Joe's private label, sheet pan recipes, avocados

5/17/2024
Memo Torres uncovers hidden gems and family-run businesses across Los Angeles. Adam Reiner takes a closer look at the products behind the tongue-in-cheek labels on the shelves of Trader Joe's. Olga Massov and Sanaë Lemoine have tons of recipes devoted to the limitless possibilities of the sheet pan. Farmer Laura Ramirez explains the seasonality of the avocado while chef Stephanie Izard sticks to local ingredients. It’s our Spring Pledge Drive at KCRW. Click here to support Good Food.

Duration:00:45:32