Podcast
This Is TASTE
Hosted by Aliza Abarbanel & Matt Rodbard · EN
If you're a fan of smart and lively conversations about food, home cooking, and culture, this is the place. We interview the most interesting characters in the world of food, media, and cookbooks and release episodes several times a month. The program is hosted by TASTE editors Aliza Abarbanel and Matt Rodbard, and is sometimes recorded live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City.
Visit TASTE online: tastecooking.com
97episodes
Episodes
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821: Carla Lalli Stopped Performing and Started Cooking for Herself
2d ago00:55:56Tap to summarizeCarla Lalli built her name in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen before going independent and publishing two best-selling cookbooks. Yet there was much more going on in her life. Her marriage ended after 24 years, and her sparkling new book, Food Is a Feeling, tells the story through 65 recipes and 30 essays that treat cooking not as a lifestyle brand extension but as the thing that got her through it all. In this episode, Carla and Matt talk Substack life, savvy recipe shortcuts, and getting it all down in a voice that feels true to real life, not online life. Read Carla’s Substack: Food Processing Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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820: Airplane Food, Elite Status Chasing, and What the Airlines Don't Want You to Know with Zach Griff
4d ago01:02:14Tap to summarizeZach Griff spent nearly seven years as The Points Guy’s most recognizable reporter, filing dispatches from first-class cabins and airport lounges around the world—before walking away in 2025 to launch his own venture, From the Tray Table. Today he joins Matt to talk about what actually makes airline food good, the science of why food tastes different at 30,000 feet, the credit-card-fueled arms race over airport lounges, and how one might achieve the coveted Delta 360 status. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world and beyond including amazing juice at Olabisi Sips, stops at Morning Sunshine Market in Ellenville, NY, Eataly Caffè in Manhattan, and Win Son in Brooklyn. Also: Maya Kaimal’s new Indo-Chinese sauce line, and watching Moonlighting for the first time is highly recommended. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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819: Confessions of a Cookbook Literary Agent with Sally Ekus
6d ago01:15:39Tap to summarizeSally Ekus has been inside the cookbook business since before she could walk—literally stuffing press kits for her mother’s culinary PR firm as a kid. Now a senior literary agent at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency leading the Ekus Group, she’s brokered hundreds of book deals and become one of publishing’s most transparent voices on how cookbooks actually get made. She’s behind the terrific Substack Not So Secret Agent, and Matt speaks with her about what agents really do for authors day to day, why a book deal is rarely a retirement plan, and some favorite books from years past. Also on the show we have a great conversation about Rebecca Eisenberg, author of the terrific new book Small-Batch Breads. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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818: It Took a Chef to Make a Buzzy Drinks Brand like Faccia Brutto
1w ago01:02:24Tap to summarizePatrick Miller is the founder and distiller of Faccia Brutto, an Italian-style spirits brand based in Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a chef for 19 years in some of LA and New York’s brightest restaurants, and he began making amari as holiday gifts for loved ones while working as the chef-partner at Rucola in Brooklyn. Today Faccia Bruttio is busy using old-world techniques to create singular and special amari and aperitivi, and on the show, we go deep into their process and vision. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world including Matt’s visits to Golden Hof in Manhattan and The Dale in the Catskills, and he previews Morgan Eckroth’s debut coffee book, Coffee, for Here. Aliza visits a Creole pop-up from Chasing Chaz, enjoys Ha’s Snack Bar a great deal, and tries Julia Sherman’s new salad dressing. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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817: TASTE Travels: Kingston, NY
1w ago01:15:36Tap to summarizeToday’s episode is really special: a deep eating and drinking tour of Kingston, New York, the Hudson Valley town located under two hours’ drive from New York City that has quietly built one of the most interesting food scenes in the state. Matt has lived nearby for the past five years after two decades in Brooklyn, and Kingston has become his go-to for dining out. His guide for the day: Jenn Sit, editorial director of food and drink at Clarkson Potter, Kingston born -and -raised, and part of a longtime Kingston restaurant family. Consider this your summer-into-fall Hudson Valley trip-planning assignment. Check out all the places mentioned on Google Maps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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816: The Pad Thai–Free Zone with Bangkok Supper Club’s Jenn Saesue
2w ago00:44:52Tap to summarizeJenn Saesue didn’t want to open another Thai restaurant that served the same watered-down menu as everyone else’s—so she didn’t. Nearly a decade later, she’s the cofounder of 55 Hospitality, the group behind Fish Cheeks, the Michelin-listed Bangkok Supper Club, and Bub’s Bakery, New York’s first completely allergen-free bakery. Matt talks with Jenn about refusing pad Thai, managing an impossible reservation list, and how a birthday cake for her husband turned into a two-and-a-half-year research and development project. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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815: Anthony Bourdain’s Life Was a Movie. Matt Johnson Directed It.
2w ago00:45:58Tap to summarizeMatt Johnson directed the films BlackBerry and the DIY comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie—now he’s taking on Anthony Bourdain. His new film Tony, out in August from A24, skips the traditional biopic format entirely, compressing three formative Provincetown summers described in Kitchen Confidential into one transformative season for a 19-year-old, pre-fame Bourdain. Johnson joins us to talk about adapting a book everyone already loves, directing Dominic Sessa away from doing an impression, and his love for the Canadian rock band Sloan. And before that, Matt shares some recent restaurant visits, including stops at Thai Diner, Keens, and Goosefeather. Check out Matt on the podcast Put It In My Mouth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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814: How Pierce Abernathy Went from Instagram to Your Bookshelf
2w ago00:57:08Tap to summarizePierce Abernathy is a recipe developer and content creator based in Brooklyn. You may know him from his popular online videos showcasing his seasonal approach to plant-forward cooking—and now, he’s releasing a debut cookbook: Every Leaf, Every Stem: Craveable, Creative Vegetables All Year Round. Today on the show, we go deep on Pierce’s inspiration and book-making process, including getting the book’s introduction written by the one and only Alice Waters, and his upcoming book tour. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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813: Anthony Bourdain in 2005: Direct From Cassette
3w ago00:53:21Tap to summarizeIn 2005, Matt sat across from Anthony Bourdain at a magazine photo shoot. His first TV show, No Reservations, was only a few months old, and they dug into the contents of his travel bags, which he had brought to the set from his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. Two hours turned into a highly personal conversation, recorded on a cassette that sat untouched for twenty years. This week, that tape gets its first public airing, and we discuss Tony’s preferred sucker-punch etiquette, his loyalty to cigarettes and the Chateau Marmont, ayahuasca in Peru, and the talk show he dreamed up with Christopher Walken in mind. The Bourdain biopic, Tony, is out on August 7. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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812: Building Birdee Bakery with Renata Ameni
3w ago00:41:58Tap to summarizeRenata Ameni is chef partner of Birdee, a bakery and all-day café on the Williamsburg waterfront. The Brazilian-born chef is a fine-dining veteran who worked at Eleven Madison Park and opened Crown Shy before hopping over to more casual territory. Today on the show, we talk about bridging the gap between different styles of restaurants, making singular pastries, and more. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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