Good Food

This week, zoologist Bill Schutt considers the implications of culinary cannibalism, and we visit Tony Danza’s cheese shop in New York City. We also find hundreds of different cheeses on offer at The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills and make a pitstop for Swedish meatball sandwiches at Olson’s Scandinavian Delicatessen before heading to Van Nuys for Syrian kobee.

Melissa Clark switches up the dinner game with her latest cookbook, “Dinner,” and George Geary shares stories of the iconic restaurants where’s Tinseltown’s elite once dined. Jonathan Gold treats himself to meat from the butcher shop at Gwen, and Michael Cimarusti makes a pitch for a new seafood tracking system called Dock to Dish 2.0. Plus: Chef Casey Thompson shops for cardoons at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

We devote this week’s show to the most important meal of the day: breakfast. April McGreger of Farmer’s Daughter gives us a historical account of biscuits, and Chef Josef Centeno serves up his spin on Japanese breakfast at Orsa & Winston. Then Big Bad Breakfast Chef John Currence talks up cornmeal, and Carolyn Phillips shares tips on ordering dim sum. Plus: We’re all about eggs from the farmers market.

Shep Gordon discusses his move from managing musicians to star chefs, and Lisa Morehouse reports on the role compulsory farming played for Japanese-American internees at the Tule Lake Segregation Center. In honor of Pi Day, Dan Pashman debates Evan over the particulars of pie, and Yasmin Khan shares a saffron rice recipe for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. Plus: Kohlrabi is in season now at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

So many hands go into bringing our food to the table, from farm and slaughterhouse to market and restaurant. We hear about how President Trump's immigration policies will affect business at Taco María, Maddox Dairy and La Niña del Mezcal, and examine the travel ban's impact on the way even your sausage gets made. Plus, meet the people behind the local produce, fungi and seafood at the Hollywood Farmers' Market.

Chef Ludo Lefebvre talks about a warm asparagus salad with foie gras ice cream that helped him find his way. Then Chef Alon Shaya takes us through the modern Israeli fare on his menu at Shaya, and bar owner Martin Cate schools us on the cult of tiki. We close out the show with journalist Larry Olmsted breaking down the differences between real and fake foods. Plus, we're all about heirloom grains at the farmers' market.

TV food show host Alton Brown gives us a taste of his new culinary variety show while LURN's Rudy Espinoza breaks down a proposal to change street vending regulations in LA. Then, Jonathan Gold heads to Agoura Hills to eat Kurdish food at Nîroj and Karen Stabiner shares the stories of the millennial chefs featured in her new book, Generation Chef. Plus: a leek tart recipe from Chef Mark Peel of Bombo.

We talk to one of our favorite local chocolatiers about the pin-up girls and broken hearts that inspired this year's line of V-Day sweets, and learn how sound affects our perception of taste. Then, two chefs talk about infusing Spanish and Asian flavors into the Southern classics. Plus: a boozy tribute to Arnold Palmer using Marrakech limonettes, and what to order at Hatchet Hall in Culver City.

We take a look at the food and ag policies under review on Trump's desk, get a history lesson on street vending in LA and find out where to stock up on sausages for Super Bowl Sunday. Jonathan Gold tells us where to get a juicy vegan burger, and we try a zhajiang mian recipe from Little Fatty, then Virgilio Martinez shares his diversidad de maíz at Central.

Chinese New Year festivities kick off this weekend. We asked journalists and food writers for their favorite holiday foods, from sticky rice balls stuffed with sweet black sesame to chewy Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodles. Plus, a history of Chinese food in the US, techniques for drying persimmons, the Chile Pepper Bible and sprouted almonds at the market.

This week, Eater's Bill Addison spotlights 38 restaurants that are defining America’s dining scene. Pomologist David Karp and farmer Tony Ayala introduce new mandarin varieties, and Padma Lakshmi talks spices. Thomas Thwaites ponders his own existence as a goat, and Peter Meehan shares his turbo-charged vegetable recipes. Plus, Jonathan Gold knocks one back at Here’s Looking at You in Koreatown.

Stanley Ginsberg gives us a primer on the terroir of rye bread, and Simran Sethi visits a cafe serving food from nations at odds with the US. Tunde Wey explains why the food at his dinners is secondary to conversations about race, violence and privilege. Gustavo Arellano rants about the Mexican dishes he's over and Jonathan Gold dines at Sun Nong Dan in Koreatown. Plus, sprouting broccoli at the market, and Evan remembers farmer Bill Coleman.

For the Japanese, New Year's is a holiday steeped in tradition. Chef David Schlosser marks the occasion with ozoni and handmade soba at Shibumi in Downtown LA. Next, we travel to the Silk Road with Caroline Eden, author of Samarkand, and Naomi Duguid, whose new book is Taste of Persia. Plus, food and beer to try on the California coast, bitter greens at the market, and Jonathan Gold dines at Destroyer in Culver City.

In November, Californians voted to legalize recreational marijuana and hemp use. The repeal of such a longstanding prohibition in a state as large as ours means that the rollout will be slow, detailed and tailored to each municipality. The financial implications will be huge. For our last show of the year we revisit our 420 show, which first aired the Saturday before the election.

This week, we revisit our favorite segments of 2016. Journalist Martha Mendoza discusses slavery and sustainability in the shrimp supply chain. Then cultural documentarian Candacy Taylor makes the case for preserving Green Book sites, and writer Bee Wilson delves into the early eating habits of children. Plus, Jonathan Gold takes us to Shibumi, a new Japanese kappo-style restaurant in Downtown LA