In this episode Linda talks with Lucinda Scala Quinn about the history of immigrant Italian women who came to America between 1880 and 1924, fleeing the poverty of their southern Italian homes. They cooked the food they knew, often substituting ingredients and embellishing recipes with the new found abundance of foods in America. These recipes represented their kitchens and evoked the flavors of their homes, thus founding an Italian American foodway. Recipes are discussed from Lucinda's new book, Mother Sauce: Italian American Family Recipes and the Story of the Women Who Created Them.

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Nigerian food writer and cookbook author Ozoz Sokoh describes the historical foodways and evolution of the cuisine of Nigeria and its regions. From her new book, CHOP CHOP:: Cooking the Food of Nigeria, Ozoz shares descriptions and background of many of the spices, ingredient combinations, and recipes of regional classics and contemporary dishes which have evolved over time. From indigenous nuts, seeds and salts to the colonial imposition of bouillon cubes, the author educates us on how the geography, and global and political events shaped the complex cuisine of Nigeria.

Image excerpted from Chop Chop: Cooking the Food of Nigeria by Ozoz Sokoh, copyright ©2025 by Ozoz Sokoh, photographs copyright ©2025 by James Ransom. Used with permission of Artisan Books, a division of Workman Publishing Co., Inc., a subsidiary ofHachette Book Group, Inc.

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Monasteries, temples, mosques, and synagogues around the world preserve not only the world’s religions, but also cultural and culinary traditions, And those who cook in the kitchens of those sacred places—the sacred kitchens-- are the keepers of the flame, if you will, preserving the culinary heritage by cooking the traditional recipes and foods from their respective places. And they are culinary innovators, as well, keeping up with modern methods and tastes that reflect the world today from within these religious sanctuaries. Author Jody Eddy visited these kitchens and speaks with us about the intersection of culture, spirituality, and cuisine.

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Peruvian gastronomy is one of the most diverse cuisines in the world, consisting of an extensive variety of distinctive dishes characteristic of each city in the country, stemming from the bio diversity of their agriculture. Robert Bradley, author of Eating Peru, talks about the history of the cuisine.

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From growing up in a Kibbutz, to a life in New York City where her work sits at the intersection of food, culture, community building, and art, landing her in a profile article in Vogue, Naama Shefi is a leader in promoting the foods of Israel and archiving the recipes of Jewish communities around the world. On this episode, we speak with Naama about her many projects, including the newest: a beautiful new book, The Jewish Holiday Table.

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Drawing on Slow Food's Ark of Taste, a list of endangered foods throughout the world, culinary historian Sarah Lohman decided to look closer at the American local culinary traditions and rare, cherished foods that are in peril of becoming lost. She shares the stories of her travels and the people who work with these foods in her new book, Endangered Eating, and talks about them on this episode of A Taste of the Past.

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Based on years of observation, ethnographic fieldwork, and countless shared meals, mother and son Merry White and Ben Wurgaft explore how our foods reach our plates and how every bite is part of a complex web of social meaning and value. From the Venetian spice trade to the Columbian Exchange, from Roman garum to Vietnamese nớc chấm, from the origins of agriculture to contemporary debates over culinary authenticity, they uncover new ways to understand food and the social rules that shape our meals.

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Fasting from food is a controversial, dangerous, and yet utterly normal human practice. Christine Baumgarthuber discusses our fascination with restrictive eating in cultural history from her new book, Why Fast? If fasting offers few health benefits, why do people fast? Why have we always fasted? Does fasting speak to something deep and immutable within us? Why are our bodies so well adapted to intermittent fasting? And, what might this ancient, ascetic ritual offer us today?

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