Hungarian food from a second generation point of view.

When rice = family.

The future of farming and food.

What’s it like to be a chef on a cruise ship?

“It’s a great time to be a first generation baker.”

Inspired by food in divine places.

Why there are reasons to be optimistic about school lunch.

The chef and cookbook writer talks to Mark and Kate about being a Black man in opera, and why he left the art behind to become a chef; traveling through Africa and the beauty of educating others on the continent’s cooking traditions; and the one food tradition he encountered in his journeys that shocked him.

Writer and food champion Julia Turshen talks to Mark and Kate about the beauty and the struggles that come with being a diligent home cook, how 2020 changed the way we make dinner (and clean up), if “aspirational cooking” has made people cook less, and her new cookbook, What Goes with What.

Reporter Alice Driver talks with Mark and Kate about her work with Arkansas-based Tyson employees – many of whom are immigrants and refugees – for her book, Life and Death of the American Worker. She explains why the number of injuries at the company is higher than reported; how employees feel gaslit; why support for meatpacking companies – and, by default, their cruel practices – is bipartisan; and the growing role of children in the industry.

Jen Saesue and Max Wittawat, owner and chef (respectively) at NYC’s wildly successful Bangkok Supper Club, talk to Kate and Mark about bringing Bangkok to life in New York, being jaded by fine dining, the art of ordering Thai food, and the secret to Max’s toasted rice powder.

Mark and Kathleen talk to each other from Meghalaya, in the east Khasi hills, where the government provides just 5 rupees per child per day for school lunch – about 6 cents – plus rice. They talk about the funding that’s underway for a group of schools in Meghalaya to change meals there, plus what the schools can do to maintain these positive changes when the funding runs out.

Journalist Tim Requarth talks to Mark about the French Paradox and the “J-shaped” relationship between alcohol consumption and health, the inconvenience of alcohol being a little good for you, the less drinking trend and where it’s headed (what will alcohol consumption look like in 2080?), and Mark’s brushes with sobriety.