Your Last Meal With Rachel Belle

Country music star, Martina McBride, has won 15 major music awards, sold more than 23 million albums, written two cookbooks and has a brand new exhibit in Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. But her roots are in a small, Kansas farm town where she grew up eating plenty of canned vegetables and ground beef with her musical family. You know what other musically gifted gal grew up on a farm in Kansas? Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz! We take a trip down the Yellow Brick Road with William Stillman, author of The Road To Oz, who shares both the fun and unfortunate food facts behind the most watched film of all time. After Martina tells host Rachel Belle about Fluff Salad, where Cool Whip is a salad dressing, we needed to know: what defines a salad?? Meggan Hill, creator and executive chef of Culinary Hill, a midwestern recipe website, explains how popcorn salad, Snickers salad and cookie salad are all...salads. A couple of years ago we did an episode all about the tomato sandwich, but have you ever had a

You know Antoni Porowski as the charming, gentle, earnest food and wine expert on Netflix's Queer Eye, but before he got his big break, he was an out of work actor who spent years working front-of-the-house restaurant jobs. Antoni shares his biggest home kitchen splurge, after landing the coveted job as one of the Fab Five, and Your Last Meal listeners call in to confess their most extravagant food related flings. Antoni and host Rachel Belle were both intrigued by TV dinners as kids, something neither were allowed to have, so we'll learn the origin story of those little compartmentalized trays filled with frozen Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. And the co-author of the new Gastro Obscura book joins the show to share the stories behind some of the world's most remarkable, strange and fascinating foods of past and present. Who invented Hawaiian pizza? Why were single Austrian women putting apples under their armpits? Listen in! Pre-order Antoni's new cookbook, Antoni: Let's Do Dinner! Follow alon

Tony and Grammy nominated performer Joshua Henry has been in nine Broadway shows, including In the Heights and the role of Aaron Burr in the first run of Hamilton, and he's about to release his first solo album. Joshua grew up in Miami, on his mom's Jamaican food, so host Rachel Belle welcomes Jamaican culinary historian and cookbook author Victoria Burke to the show to lay out the long, fascinating history of Jamaican cuisine. Burke was a dear friend of Bob Marley, and she shares the incredibly healthy, culinary rituals of Rastafarians, including why they don't use silverware or metal pots and pans. And Rachel and Joshua bond over a shared history of Shake N Bake (and I helped!). Stars, They're Just Like Us: they shop at Trader Joe's! Joshua shares his Top 5 favorite foods from Trader Joe's and we learn what shoppers voted as their very favorite TJ's products of the year. Follow Your Last Meal on Instagram! Your Last Meal is sponsored by Ooni Pizza Ovens, the portable, affordable pizza oven th

It's Your Last Meal's 5th Anniversary, but instead of the traditional 5th anniversary gift of wood, we're giving you the gift of...this podcast episode! The show's very first guest, back in August 2016, was Seattle chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas. So we flipped the script and rallied Tom to interview host Rachel Belle about her last meal! This episode is all about party foods, so Rachel welcomes back some of her favorite celebrity guests to talk about the tiny, toothpicked party snacks they can't resist. And because there's nothing better than a surprise party, you'll have to listen in to find out who the mystery guests are! So BYOB, grab a bag of ice on your way over & please take your shoes off before you come in because it's podcast party time! Follow Rachel Belle on Instagram! This episode is sponsored by Ooni Pizza Ovens, the portable pizza oven company that makes one of Rachel Belle's prized possessions! Make your summer infinitely more fun & delicious by visiting www.ooni.com/yourlastmeal &am

Lake Street Dive's singer, Rachael Price, and drummer, Mike Calabrese, have been buddies since college, when they formed their first band together at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music. Years and years of touring, and eating every meal together on the road, means they know each other's eating habits inside out. But there was one thing they didn't know about each other: their last meals! Through Rachael's last meal we'll learn the history of America's favorite snack food and then, inspired by Mike's last meal, we'll hop down a babysitting rabbit hole. Sittercity.com founder, Genevieve Thiers, answers every babysitter's question: can you really help yourself to anything you want in your charge's fridge and pantry?! And we discuss the role of food in The Baby-Sitters Club books with Marisa Crawford, co-editor of a new book of essays and art, We Are the Baby-Sitters Club, and writer Jennifer Epperson who wrote a critical essay about Claudia Kishi, the series' beloved junk food junky. Follow

Mark Bittman is a veteran food writer and prolific cookbook author known for his unfussy recipes and "How To Cook Everything," a 2,000-recipe tome that's sold more than a million copies. So when it comes to his last meal, Mark stays on brand and keeps it simple. So simple, in fact, he won't actually name a specific dish! Mark is also a dad. So as a Father's Day treat, host Rachel Belle invited Mark's daughter, Kate Bittman, to join the conversation, to talk about what it was like growing up with a food obsessed dad. The verdict: it was embarrassing. Former Bon Appetit magazine food director, and current cookbook author, Carla Lalli Music teaches us how to improvise a delicious meal, without a recipe, based on what looks fresh at the market. And listeners share the delicious, disgusting and darling dishes their dads cooked when they were growing up!Follow host Rachel Belle on Instagram!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few weeks ago, Rachel Belle hosted the very first Your Last Meal *LIVE* at Crosscut Festival! She was joined by brothers Mark and Brian Canlis, third generation owners of Seattle's 70-year-old fine dining institution, Canlis. The Canlis brothers just hired a new executive chef, only the 7th in the restaurant's history, and they share the quirky and unconventional application process they used to help weed out a leader without ego, who isn't afraid to be vulnerable. Canlis' doors have been closed over the past 15 months, but they've gained international attention for their ingenuity, launching 18 different pandemic culinary concepts that sold out one after the next: everything from a parking lot crab shack to the virtual learning platform, Canlis Community College. And Brian reveals his Secret Shame Food, a concoction that made his wife think twice about marrying him. Then Chinese Soul Food cookbook author, and maker of a million dumplings, Hsiao-Ching Chou joins us to talk xiao long bao, otherwise

Michelle Zauner is famous for playing music under the name Japanese Breakfast, but it turns out she's one of those obnoxiously talented people who creatively thrives in multiple genres. Michelle just released a wildly popular memoir called Crying in H Mart, about her complicated relationship with her Korean mother who died of cancer when Michelle was 25. Korean food plays a huge role in the book and in her conversation with host Rachel Belle. Michelle takes us to Korea, where she and her mother insatiably ate their way through Seoul every other year of her childhood. She talks about who taught her to cook Korean food, since her mother never got a chance to teach her, and how the Korean grocery chain H Mart now brings her comfort. Immigrant parents and grandparents are infamous for not writing down recipes or measuring out ingredients, making it virtually impossible to perfectly recreate their food after they're gone. Melissa Miranda, the Filipina-American chef/owner of Seattle's Musang, opened her restaurant

Actor Mayim Bialik (Blossom, Big Bang Theory, Call Me Kat) is a pickle monster. If it's crunchy, face puckering sour and floating in brine, chances are she's going to love it. Pickles are one of humanity's most ancient foods, so host Rachel Belle consults with Jan Davison, author of Pickles, a Global History to suss out their origin story and Alan Kaufman, owner of The Pickle Guys, Manhattan's last standing pickle shop. Mayim also shares her journey to veganism, her favorite Jewish holiday foods and what it's been like since she revealed that she's in recovery for an eating disorder that developed in her 40s. Follow Rachel Belle and Your Last Meal on Instagram! Check out Every Day is a Food Day, a podcast that explores the stories, scandals, holidays and heroes behind your favorite foods, hosted by Anna Van Valin and Lia Ballentine. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to Your Last Meal!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/l

It's been 41 years since Raffi's hit children's song Baby Beluga was released and he's still plucking away at the guitar and writing new tunes. Raffi is arguably the most famous performer of children's music in North America, but he's also an outspoken environmentalist and activist for climate change, which greatly influences the way he eats (read: so many vegetables!). Raffi loves pesto, a seemingly simple, five ingredient, raw Italian sauce. But every time host Rachel Belle makes a batch, she's disappointed. So Daniel Gritzer, culinary director for Serious Eats and recipe tester of many pestos, breaks down what it takes to make the most delicious, creamy, vibrant green pesto. Hint: you won't be needing your food processor. Keeping with the theme of children's entertainment and food, Rachel chats with Erika Thormahlen and Jeremy Konner, creators of the wonderful new Netflix show Waffles and Mochi, a food and travel program for kids starring two culinary curious puppets. It's the first sho

Growing up, Friday nights were for slumber parties, pizza delivery and the best TV of the week: the TGIF lineup, starting with the very best show, Full House. Candace Cameron Bure was a big part of host Rachel Belle's childhood, and she's wiggled her way into the nostalgia of a new generation, reprising the role of DJ Tanner on Fuller House and writing her latest children's book, Candace's Playful Puppy. Growing up in a big family, Candace says almost every night was taco night. But her parents served them with a very American twist: ketchup! We learn the ancient history of ketchup and hear some Ketchup Confessions from listeners who get way more creative with the condiment beyond French fries and hot dogs. Plus, the history of carrot cake with The Cake Historian, Jessica Reed! Follow Rachel Belle and Your Last Meal on Instagram!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julia Quinn is a New York Times bestselling author 19 times over, but a whole new audience has been introduced to her work since her popular Bridgerton romance novels were turned into a fantastically popular Netflix show. Julia doesn't write much about food in her Regency Era novels, so host Rachel Belle called on Paul Couchman, a food historian known as “The Regency Chef,” who offers Regency Era cooking classes at The Regency Town House, a restored 1820s mansion in Brighton, England. He indulges us in what the Bridgerton family would have eaten and says vintage British cuisine was far bolder and spicier than it is now. Seattle might be famous for salmon and Starbucks, but with nine months of gray and rain, locals (including Julia Quinn & family) are in love with pho, the aromatic Vietnamese beef and noodle soup. Rachel chats with former Washington state governor Dan Evans and the owners of Seattle's first pho restaurant, Pho Bac, about why there are so many pho shops in Seattle

For the 100th episode of Your Last Meal, host Rachel Belle welcomes three, 100-year-old women to the show to share their extraordinary lives, their last meals and the secret to a long, happy life: red wine and “keeping your own teeth.” It is our pleasure to introduce you to Antoinette Underwood, a World War II nurse with a love of dry, Italian wines, Ruth Samuelson, who walked a half marathon at 96, and Eleanor Owen, whose career spans from Broadway actor to co-founder of NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness. IKEA’s US culinary director joins the show to tell us how an umlaut-happy furniture store became synonymous with Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam. And if you're single, living alone and loathe eating solo during the pandemic, Sutanya Dacers, host of the podcast Dinner For One, shares the story of how learning to cook for herself, post-divorce, made her feel whole again. Here are some highlights from the past 99 episodes, in case you missed them: Ice cream icons, Ben

Want to be the best tennis player in the world? Start playing when you're four years old! That's what Maria Sharapova did and after five career Grand Slams, an Olympic medal and an impressive 28 years of playing, she retired last year. But Maria is still working -- she's CEO of Sugarpova, her very own candy company, inspired by her love of collecting sweet treats when she traveled the world playing tennis. Maria was born in Russia and her happiest childhood memories are eating pelmeni and honey cake in her grandmother's kitchen. So Bonnie Morales, chef/owner of Kachka in Portland, Oregon, joins the show to talk about why she was inspired to open a modern Russian restaurant. Turns out, Maria, Bonnie and host Rachel Belle share an undying love for one the world's most under appreciated condiments (that's what we call a tease!). And Jewish linguist and professor Sarah Bunin Benor explains why we might pronounce hummus, challah and latke differently depending on who we're talking to. Follow 'Your Last Meal' and h

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are the ice cream equivalent of Cher or Madonna: they need only be introduced by their first names. The boyhood buddies are just as well known for their activism as they are for flavors like Cherry Garcia and Chubby Hubby, unabashedly seeking equality for all on their own time and through Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors. It seems social justice + ice cream go together like hot fudge + whipped cream: host Rachel Belle chats with Madison, Wisconsin's Katrina Ervin, founder of Ice Cream Social, who started selling ice cream for a cause after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor's murders. Ben reveals why Ben & Jerry's ice creams are famously studded with so many delicious chunks & Rachel interviews two doctors who have collectively been studying smell and taste for decades, Dr. Sandeep Robert Datta and Dr. Pamela Dalton. They say suddenly losing these senses to Covid can have serious psychological effects. And, we are all familiar with the fifth taste, umami, but Dr. Datta s

Comedian Cameron Esposito wants to be clear: she's not from Illinois, she's from Chicago. Specifically, Little Italy, where her Italian American family has lived and ate red sauce and melted mozzarella for generations. Cameron is sentimental about Chicago's famed Italian beef sandwich, a big, sloppy, drippy, delicious mess that she has given up for a vegetarian lifestyle in Los Angeles. Chicago's Al #1 Italian Beef claims to be the inventor of the Italian beef, and host Rachel Belle gets the history from owner Chris Pacelli, who has worked in his family's business in some capacity for more than 60 years. Plus! Cameron and Rachel ponder the age-old question: "Is guacamole a lesbian food?" and Cameron reveals the unorthodox midnight snack she invented while working long, late hours on the road. Follow Your Last Meal on Instagram!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Christmas Day 2012, a video was uploaded to YouTube featuring a woman in a pink top, costume jewelry and a styled coif prancing through a Florida park. A few months later the video went viral, and everyone from John Mayer to your mom's hairdresser was talking about Prancercise and its creator, Joanna Rohrback. Rohrback defines her Prancercise exercise program as "a springy, rhythmic way of moving forward, similar to a horse's gait and ideally induced by elation." Rohrback is a very regimented eater. Once, when traveling abroad, she packed her suitcase full of her favorite, healthy foods to take along on vacation. So host Rachel Belle chats with a TSA spokesperson about the kookiest food people have tried to bring through security. We also talk about Chrissy Teigen's hack for getting gravy through TSA. Plus, food scholar Clifford Wright joins the show to share the history of the iconic Italian dish, eggplant parmesan. Follow Your Last Meal on Instagram!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See

Chef and TV personality Carla Hall (The Chew, Crazy Delicious) took a long and winding road to the kitchen. She started her career as an accountant, moved on to modeling and eventually charmed Americans with her charisma and from-the-heart cooking (and her catchphrase "Hootie Hoo!") on Bravo's Top Chef. Carla's last meal is pure Americana. In fact, pretty much every modern president, from Clinton to Trump, has been widely documented as a rabid cheeseburger fan. Host Rachel Belle chats with Matthew Wendel, the chef who cooked for President Bush and his family, about the cheeseburger that was famously, and regularly, served to foreign diplomats. Home DNA tests are all the rage, but when Carla Hall got the results of hers, it changed the way she cooked forever. We talk with Sarah Anderson from the Boston nonprofit, Oldways, about the African Heritage Diet and why food pyramids are not one-size-fits-all. Follow your Last Meal and Rachel Belle on Instagram!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.S

It's the Food + Friendship episode! Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman are long-distance best friends who host the popular podcast Call your Girlfriend and co-wrote the new, best selling book Big Friendship. Just like New York City was the fifth character in Sex and the City, snacks might be the third wheel in Ann and Aminatou's friendship. After years of lounging on each other's couches, chatting and watching Gossip Girl in their comfiest clothes, the pair have perfected their snack game. Learn the bizarre, over-the-top history of the cheese ball (Ann's snack specialty) with its political ties to President Thomas Jefferson, and the not-so-wacky history of Texas queso (Aminatou's snack strength) with Lisa Fain, author of the cookbook Queso and The Homesick Texan blog. Is there a food that defines one of your friendships? A meal that has become a friendship tradition? In the 90s, when their friends were cooking sophisticated and foreign dishes, Seattle's Joelle Nole and Michelle Dideon

Filmmaker (Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, Cry Baby) John Waters built a decades long career creating strange, sometimes grotesque, cult art that, for years, had most of America clutching its collective pearls. But in his day to day life, John craves order and embraces a bit of the mundane: he cooks almost exclusively from the now defunct Cooking Light magazine. John eats healthy on the weekdays and splurges on the weekends and wanted to know how many hours/days/weeks it takes for a couple slices of coconut cream pie to show up as fat on his body. So host Rachel Belle interviews Seattle dietician Mya Kwon about the science of weight gain and how your feelings about food can influence the shape of your body. And learn the long history and art of fake plastic food with Justin Hanus, owner of Fake Food Japan. Justin works with craftspeople in Osaka, Japan who apprentice and train for years to work in factories that painstakingly create extremely detailed, plastic versions of ramen, sushi, spaghetti and ice