This Is TASTE

• 638: Meet Your New New York Times Restaurant Critic, Tejal Rao

  How fun it was to have Tejal Rao in the studio. Tejal is the co–chief restaurant critic at the New York Times, a role where she shares the mic with Ligaya Mishan. Newly elevated to this important job, we talk about how she views her role as a critic and go over many of her memorable stories. We also look back on her days working at the Village Voice and discuss how that era of internet reporting (or, dare we call it, blogging) informed her well-respected journalism career. Tejal is one of our favorite voices in food.And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Zimi’s knows their way around aioli, Melissa King's Cook Like a King is a true standout in a busy cookbook season, Samin Nostrat's knows how people want to eat with her new book, Good Things. Also: Ed Park's new short story collection, An Oral History of Atlantis, is such a trip to the ‘90s. And speaking of trip, we made one to Edmond Hong restaurant pop-up, Stones, and it was impressive. Lastly, Steakhouse, by Eric Wareheim and Gabe Ulla, is documentary cookbook writing at its finest.Listen: Meet Your New New York Times Restaurant Critic, Ligaya MishanRead: Omakase Isn’t Always Worth the Hype. Our Critic Says This One Is.Read: The Hard-Shell Taco Deserves Your RespectSubscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• 637: The Korean Restaurant Family Novel with Jinwoo Chong

  Jinwoo Chong is the author of the novels I Leave It Up to You and Flux, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. We really enjoyed I Leave It Up to You. It’s a family story set in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and it features a Korean family working in a Japanese-Korean restaurant, with a family dynamic that feels quite realistic. Jinwoo talks about the research that went into writing so colorfully about restaurant culture as well as his own food memories from growing up in New Jersey. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: David Lebovitz has revised Ready for Dessert, a visit to Pavé NYC, Coffee Project NY is roasting exceptional coffee. Also: One Love Community Fridge launched a CSA, Van Leeuwen is king of non-dairy, and Muteki Udon is serving one of our favorite salads.Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• 636: Life at the Top of the Masthead with Food & Wine Editor in Chief Hunter Lewis

  Hunter Lewis joined us in the studio for an entertaining conversation about his career working in food media. Hunter has led Food & Wine as editor in chief since 2017, and before that he held editorial roles at Cooking Light, Southern Living, Bon Appétit, and Saveur. That is some résumé, and we talk through his various stops as well as digging into the terrific work currently being done at Food & Wine. We also asked him about the general health of editorial in 2025. It’s an interesting time to be doing what we do, and he doesn’t hold back.Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• 635: Taiwan #1 with Eric Sze

  Eric Sze is the chef-owner behind the Taiwanese restaurants 886 and Wenwen in New York City. He’s also working on a debut cookbook, Taiwanese?, and he recently returned from a whirlwind trip conducting research and taking photos for the book. Eric is one of our favorite voices in food, and it’s so fun having him in the studio to unpack his culinary career, the tricky task of defining Taiwanese food, operating restaurants in NYC, and more.Also on the show Matt catches up with journalist Elizabeth Dunn to talk about her terrific story in the New York Times about the protein bar arms race. What is up with the David bar, and the age protein era we are living in? Elizabeth has many thoughts and we had a great time talking esterified propoxylated glycerol. Wild stuff.Read: The Protein Bar Arms RaceRead: ConsumedSubscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• 634: Inside the Mind of a Former Whole Foods Buyer with Cathy Strange

  What a special episode we have today with Cathy Strange, Whole Foods Market’s ambassador of food culture and a world-renowned cheese expert, buyer, and consumer packaged goods tastemaker, among many other things. Matt invited Cathy to join in a walk around Whole Foods’ Columbus Circle location. We wanted to get her take on several categories of groceries, including beverages, snacks, and, of course, cheese. We go over what’s exciting her lately and how she thinks about the future of groceries. After our walk, Cathy joins us in the studio to talk about her amazing career, which spans both pre- and post-Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods nearly a decade ago.Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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