Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Hannah Dasher, country music star and author of the new cookbook, Stand By Your Pan!

Hannah talks about:

Hannah Dasher is a country music star and author of the new cookbook Stand By Your Pan, named after her super popular cooking videos enjoyed by her millions of TikTok and Instagram followers. 

Hannah’s house in Nashville is a 1970s time capsule and her kitchen is an avocado green dream, stocked with nostalgic, vintage cookware, including the Tupperware so many of our moms bought at parties. 

It's Tupperware's 80th birthday, and the iconic plastic bowls, not to mention the Tupperware parties, found their place in the American Zeitgeist thanks to a woman named Brownie Wise...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from filmmaker, writer and actor Jay Duplass!

Jay shares:

Director, producer, writer and filmmaker Jay Duplass is from New Orleans, therefore he sprinkles Tony Chachere’s seasoning on everything, from lasagna to his "white guy huevos rancheros."

Jay tells me:

And I chat with Barry and Sandy Mann, who are perhaps the most fa...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Oscar, Grammy and Juno award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge!

Melissa shares:

Oscar, Grammy and Juno award-winning artist, Melissa Etheridge, started playing with an adult band when she was just 12 years old and this year she released her 17th album, "Rise."

Melissa tells host Rachel Belle:

Then Cathy and Jerome Jenkins, owners of Cathy's Kitchen...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from John Cameron Mitchell,  writer, director and star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch; the cult film is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year!

John shares:

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with John Cameron Mitchell here.

It’s the 25th anniversary of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, one of host Rachel Belle’s Top 5 Favorite Films of All Time! Today we get to hear from the man who wrote, directed and starred in the film, and played Hedwig on Broadway, John Cameron Mitchell! You may also know John from his roles in Shrill and Girls.  

John talks about his fraught relationship with food as a youth, digestive issues that completely vanished after he came out as gay and moved to New York City. He tells Rachel who the Hedwig character was based on, and w...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Hrisihikesh Hirway, musician and prolific podcast host and producer!

Hrisihi shares:

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Hrisihikesh Hirway here.

Your ears are in for a treat -- this week they'll be graced by the velveteen voice of Hrishikesh Hirway! Hrishikesh is a prolific podcaster & he hosts and produces many, including my favorite food podcast of all time, Home Cooking, co-hosted by past Your Last Meal guest, Samin Nosrat, and the excellent music podcast, Song Exploder, that was turned into a Netflix show. He's also a musician and his new album is out now!

Hrishikesh tells host Rachel Belle:

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Eve Plumb, the actor who played Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch!

After spending most of her life in southern California, Eve moved to New York City and in this week's lightning round, she talks about the food she misses most from her home state. 

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Eve Plumb here.

Eve Plumb was 10 years old when she landed the role of Jan Brady, the middle daughter on The Brady Bunch, and now she's sharing what was going on behind-the-scenes in her new memoir, Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond.

The night Eve got the part, in 1969, her parents took her out for a celebratory dinner at Martoni’s, a martini-soaked, Italian-American Hollywood hot spot popular with folks in the music industry. Los Angeles culinary historian Katherine Spiers spills the tea on all the juicy Martoni’s celebrity gossip and tells host Rachel Belle which unsuspecting dish was all...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Dawn Richard, singer; animator and Adult Swim creative consultant and owner of Papa Ted’s vegan food truck in New Orleans.   

In a lightning round, Dawn talks about graduating from college at the same time as her dad and her grandma, which food celebrity she admires most and how she finds a way to "New Orleansify" everything she cooks!  

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Dawn Richard here.

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Dawn Richard is a proud New Orleans native and a true Renaissance Woman: singer; animator and Adult Swim creative consultant and owner of Papa Ted’s vegan food truck in New Orleans.  

Dawn went vegan back in 2013, in solidarity with her dad after he received a non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis. She talks about getting naked for PETA, the ethical intentionality behind her food truck and what (not-vegan) food she misses the most but will never eat again.  

Then we crack into the history & explore the culture of what is, perhaps, New Orleans’ oldest food tradition: crawfish! Food h...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from singer-songwriter and guitarist M. Ward.

In this week’s lightning round, Ward talks about his favorite American cities to get an amazing Mexican meal and what holiday dessert he'd prefer to have on his birthday.

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with M. Ward here. 

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Singer-songwriter and guitarist M. Ward is also half of She & Him (with volcalist Zooey Deschanel) and a member of the indie supergroup Monsters of Folk. And I don't know how to tell him that he may never have his last meal ever again - the restaurant that makes the dish shut down late last year! 

M. Ward's last meal comes from Tucson, Arizona, one of only two UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy in the United States. What does that mean? What makes Tucson's food scene so special? You're about to find out! 

Ward also shares why he...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Karen Akunowicz, James Beard Award winning chef, Top Chef contestant & chef/owner of Boston’s Fox & the Knife and Bar Vulpe. 

In this week’s lightning round, Karen talks about the surprising rules and regulations of opening a restaurant in an airport; what her favorite restaurant in Boston is and where to get the world's best carrot cake. 

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Karen Akunowicz here!

Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media!   

Watch Rachel’s Cascade PB...

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 f...

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 L...

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...

This week, we are re-airing one of my favorite episodes with singer-songwriter, surfer and filmmaker Jack Johnson! This interview was extra special, because it was exactly 20 years after the first time I interviewed Jack, when I was a budding, baby reporter, writing for an alt-weekly in my college town, and his music career was just getting started.  

Jack is an environmentalist and he tells me the great lengths he takes to reduce waste at venues and how he supports local farms when he's out on tour. 

Zero Waste Chef, Anne Marie Bonneau, joins the show to...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Yotam Ottolenghi, chef and author of 9 bestselling cookbooks, co-owner of 12 restaurants and delis and a longtime columnist for the Guardian and The New York Times. 

In a lightening round with host Rachel Belle, Ottolenghi reveals his favorite food holiday (hint: he and Rachel bond over a love for sour cream); his opinion of British food as an Israeli transplant; and how people react when they find out he’s coming over for dinner.  

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Yotam Ottolenghi here. 

If you're an adventurous cook, chances are you’ve made on Ottolenghi recipe! The chef and newspaper columnist has written nine bestselling cookbooks, including Jerusalem, Plenty and Comfort, and co-owns 12 restaurants and delis, mostly in London.  

Yotam and I talk about how he found his way to a food career (he has advanced degrees in completely different subjects) and tackle philosophical questions like: Is cooking an art form? Do homely, but delicious dishes belong in cookbooks despite their lack of beauty? 

For the past decade, the brand’s creative hub is the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, where...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Lachi, award-winning recording artist, CEO of RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), host of the PBS series Renegades, and author of the new book, I Identify as Blind. 

In a spirited lightening round, Lachi speaks to her true passion: melting cheese on anything and everything; we debate pulp vs no pulp in orange juice; ketchup vs no ketchup on hot dogs; she shares her favorite food city in America; and what it’s like navigating a buffet as a blind person.  

Listen to the full epis...

Lachi is an award-winning recording artist, CEO of RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), host of the PBS series Renegades, disability advocate and author of the new book, I Identify as Blind: A Brazen Celebration of Disability Culture, Identity and Power. She’s also a joyful, gregarious ray of sunshine! 

Like the name of her book implies, Lachi is legally blind. She tells host Rachel Belle how learning to cook was a big part of learning to be independent and how finally being out and proud of her blindness has made life so much easier and...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Chuck Klosterman, the pop culture obsessed best-selling author, critic and journalist. 

Chuck moved from New York City to Portland, Oregon in 2017, a city known for its creative, eclectic, innovative restaurant scene. A scene that, you will hear, Chuck does not appreciate! Please enjoy his rant. He talks about the book that most inspired his writing career, the importance of having a distinct writing voice and wonders what distinguishes red velvet cake from regular chocolate cake, besides the Red 40. 

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal wi...

In this fantasy world, where my guests can choose anything they want for their hypothetical last meal, there is something very charming and humble about choosing...leftovers. Which is exactly what bestselling author, critic and journalist Chuck Klosterman did! 

Chuck told me he’s not that into food, then proceeded to deliver hot take after hot take, passionately opining on everything from candy bar innovation to turkey consumption to his disdain of restaurant chitchat. And he asks me a surprising question no guest has ever asked me before, in the nine years of making this podcast: Why am...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Neko Case, Grammy-nominated artist and author of the best-selling memoir, The Harder I Fight the More I Love You. Her brand-new album is called Neon Grey Midnight Green. 

On this week’s lightning round, Neko talks about her favorite fair food (her grandma worked at a food stand at her local fair when she was a kid!), what she listens to when she cooks and her farmer aspirations!  

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Neko Case here. 

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The only thing Grammy-nominated musician Neko Case craves more than crisp-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside popovers is Hungarian food from a 61-year-old restaurant in Ohio. Neko tells host Rachel Belle about her favorite Eastern European dishes and how eating at The Balaton helped her reconnect with her long-lost heritage.  

But back to popovers! We’re joined by a pastry chef who baked thousands of popovers every day, five days a week, for five years at Acadia National Park’s Jordan Pond House, the popover epicenter of the United States. Sign up for Rachel’s The Nosh Newsletter to get her recipe...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Jonathan Russell, vocalist, guitarist and founding member of the band The Head and the Heart. 

In this week’s lightning round, Jonathan talks about the joy of picking up the tab, what back-up dish he often brings to holiday meals (just in case he doesn’t like the version the hosts made!) and what he loves to cook when he returns home from tour. 

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Jonathan Russell here. 

Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! ...

Jonathan Russell is one of the founding members (vocals, guitar) of The Head and the Heart, a band that organically formed at weekly open-mic nights at Seattle’s Conor Byrne Pub.  

Russell didn’t grow up with happy memories around the dinner table. He tells host Rachel Belle about his natural inclination to eat alone, why a crab boil is the perfect meal for an introvert and how working in bars and restaurants changed the way he orders.  

Rachel’s friend, Roz Ray, joins the show to share her best party strategies for shy and introver...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Alice Waters, award winning chef, creator of the iconic 54-year-old restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley California, food activist and author of the new cookbook, “A School Lunch Revolution.” 

In this week’s lightning round, Alice talks about a memorable school lunch from her own childhood, her signature holiday dish, and her favorite comfort food, as someone who eats extremely healthfully, local and organic.  

Listen to the full episode of Your Last Meal with Alice Waters here!

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Watc...

Alice Waters opened her iconic Berkeley, California restaurant Chez Panisse 54 years ago, introducing the concept of farm-to-table eating to Americans and only serving local, seasonal produce at peak ripeness. She’s also a food activist, and through The Edible Schoolyard Project, has spent the past 30 years showing schools how to integrate locally farmed, organic produce into their cafeterias. 

On today’s episode, Alice shares two life-changing experiences that inspired her to open her restaurant; what diners thought about being served two figs for dessert in Chez Panisse’s early days; how schools can afford to serve kids farm fr...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from chef and best-selling cookbook author Gaby Dalkin, who's known online and on social as What’s Gaby Cooking. 

In this week’s lightning round, Gaby and host Rachel Belle bond over their favorite childhood birthday cake, Gaby shares the late-night, stand-over-the-sink snack she’d never put in a cookbook, and surprises Rachel with her answer to the question, “What do you wish people would ask you about in interviews, that’s not related to food?”  

Earlier this month, at Seattle’s Town Hall, Rachel Belle was a guest on a sold-out, live taping of Seattle Eats with host Tan Vinh, the award-winning food and drink writer for The Seattle Times. Bestselling cookbook author and chef, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt was also a guest!

The first segment of the show is dedicated to Thanksgiving: we learn about a local sushi chef’s recipe for teriyaki turkey, how green bean casserole factors into Tan’s immigrant story, and why Rachel has fond Thanksgiving memories of KFC and Celine Dion.  Then Tan asks Rachel and Kenji about t...

Best known to her millions of followers as What’s Gaby Cooking, the Los Angeles-area chef is a best-selling cookbook author, creator of the Dalkin & Co spice blend line and you can eat her food at Gaby’s in Neighborly food hall.  

Gaby tells Rachel Belle how she went from being a tragically picky eater to having a career as a chef, shares which celebrity she private cheffed for, and the dish that literally broke her website when said celebrity gushed over it on a late-night talk show.  

Gaby wants to cook and enjoy her last mea...

Prolific, five-time James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Dorie Greenspan is the queen of sweets, and she just released her 15th cookbook, Dorie’s Anytime Cakes. 

Famous for her beloved World Peace Cookies and many baking books, including one she wrote with Julia Child, it's not surprising that Dorie wants to start and end her last meal with dessert. What's wrong with eating dessert first, anyway? Rachel chats with Ayurvedic counselor Jodi Boone about the life-bettering benefits of starting your meal with sweets.  

And when Dorie told Rachel she ate the same exact lunch every single day for y...

Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka’s last meal, and the reason why she sometimes carries cooked scallops in her bag, trace back to her unstable, unpredictable childhood. She talks about being kidnapped by her grandmother and why a gluten-free spaghetti dinner brings her comfort, even as someone who doesn’t have a gluten sensitivity. 

Atsuko’s first foray into entertainment was working at an ice cream chain that made employees sing and dance for tips. Atsuko loved it, but host Rachel Belle interviews two other folks who had no idea they had to perform at their restaurant jobs, until they sa...

Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka’s last meal, and the reason why she sometimes carries cooked scallops in her bag, trace back to her unstable, unpredictable childhood. She talks about being kidnapped by her grandmother and why a gluten-free spaghetti dinner brings her comfort, even as someone who doesn’t have a gluten sensitivity. 

Atsuko’s first foray into entertainment was working at an ice cream chain that made employees sing and dance for tips. Atsuko loved it, but host Rachel Belle interviews two other folks who had no idea they had to perform at their restaurant jobs, until they sa...

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from rapper Rico Nasty, who is on tour now with her latest album, Lethal!

In a lightning round, Rico Nasty tells host Rachel Belle about her first concert, and how embarrassing it was to attend with her mom, her ideal 'girl dinner,' her top five favorite things to buy at Trader Joe's and her favorite hiking snacks.