Food with Mark Bittman: Margaret Cho and Rachel Belle

Mark and I are doing something a bit different this week: We handed off our feed to podcaster and host extraordinaire Rachel Belle, of Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle, and she’s doing the same. Personally, because of the sheer quantity of podcasts out there, I have a hard time finding the ones that suit me. I figure I’m not alone in this sentiment, so thought it’d be nice to share Rachel’s podcast with you, as it’s one food podcast that I really enjoy (and it was a finalist for a James Beard Award!).

On the episode we’re featuring, Rachel interviews the outstanding, brilliant, refreshing comedian Margaret Cho. It’s hard to imagine that you don’t know who she is, but in case you don’t, she’s an extremely successful stand-up comedian who opened for Jerry Seinfeld when she was in her late teens, and has acted in many of your favorite tv shows and movies. Hilariously, the thing that always pops into my mind when I think of her is the episode of Sex and the City where she plays Lynn Cameron, a fashion producer trying to get Carrie to do her show;Carrie finally agrees and then falls on the runway, causing Margaret Cho to drop about 80 f-bombs in 20 minutes. She’s also a prominent social activist–and she loves to cook.