Chef Karen Akunowicz is a Northeast gal through and through. The James Beard Award winning Top Chef alum is chef-owner of Boston’s Bar Vulpe and Fox and the Knife, named best new restaurant in America in 2019 by Food & Wine Magazine, Eater and USA Today. And her last meal is sun-drenched and summery, enjoyed on the deck of her favorite Maine seafood restaurant, overlooking sparkly water and the Five Islands.

Karen tells host Rachel Belle what it’s like raising a bougie, foodie toddler; ranks French fry shapes from best to worst; tells the story of how she fell in love with cooking (spoiler: she was trying to get a coworker to fall in love with her) and her secret to making fantastic, award-winning Italian food (an Italian couple once made a reservation at her restaurant 17 nights in a row!). She also talks about her management style, and how she has worked to make her employees happy in a fair and equitable way.

Then Rachel chats with John Birdsall, author of the book What is Queer Food? John shares several stories from his book, from a charming, personal childhood tale about the culinary awakening he had when his gay neighbors cooked for him in the 1960s, to the story of the man who invented the chiffon cake, to the historical connection between lesbians and potlucks.

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Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle.

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Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame.

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Padma Lakshmi, Emmy nominated TV host, executive producer, best-selling author and activist. Padma hosted Top Chef for 17 years and her brand new show, America’s Culinary Cup, recently premiered on CBS.

In this week’s lightning round, Padma talks about how she decides whether to eat the food fans bring her at meet-and-greet events; what she ate as a 16-year-old teenager in Los Angeles; what the ultimate New York City food is and her perfect birthday dessert.

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Padma Lakshmi here!

Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media!

Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle.

Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings.

Follow along on Instagram.

Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame.

After leaving Top Chef after a 17-year run as Emmy-nominated host and executive producer, Padma Lakshmi vowed to never host another food competition show again. She created and hosted Taste the Nation, an exploration of American food through the lens of immigrant and indigenous communities, continued to write cookbooks (Padma’s All American is her latest) and do activist work for the ACLU and UN.

But last week, her new culinary competition show America’s Culinary Cup premiered on CBS! Why did she break her vow? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Padma and host Rachel Belle talk about the joy of eating in bed; her favorite midnight snacks to eat with her teenage daughter, Krishna; and what valuable lessons her grandmother taught her about life, through the lens of cooking.

Then New York Times food reporter Priya Krishna joins the show to talk about the negative impact ICE detainments and raids are having on American restaurants. The folks she interviewed say it’s harder on restaurants than the pandemic was.

Get the Your Last Meal food crawl Google map that pins every restaurant, pickle shop and pizza joint mentioned on the show over the past 9.5 years!

Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media!

Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle.

Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings.

Follow along on Instagram.

Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame.