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The Finest

The Finest

By: KPBS Public Media
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 San Diego earns its title as America’s Finest City through the people, art and movements redefining the region’s cultural identity. The Finest is a podcast that highlights the emerging voices and dynamic forces reshaping community and expression. Through personal stories and critical perspectives, each episode brings forward the artists, advocates and ideas driving change and pushing boundaries in the region’s cultural landscape. New episodes premiere Thursdays.KPBS Public Media Art Cooking Entertainment & Performing Arts Food & Wine Literary History & Criticism Music Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • From Seafood City to stardom: How Jessica Sanchez returned to 'America's Got Talent' 20 years later

    From Seafood City to stardom: How Jessica Sanchez returned to 'America's Got Talent' 20 years later
    Feb 5 2026
    Jessica Sanchez seemed born to be a star. At 10, she took the leap from singing in her local Filipino grocery store, Seafood City, in San Diego onto the very first season of "America's Got Talent" — at 16, onto "American Idol." But as quickly as she rose, everything began to unravel.
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    29 mins
  • 'Made in a Home Kitchen': Raíz Chocolate turns Mexican tradition into a microenterprise

    'Made in a Home Kitchen': Raíz Chocolate turns Mexican tradition into a microenterprise
    Jan 22 2026
    Elizabeth "Ely" Rosales Aguilar has built Raíz Chocolate from her San Diego home kitchen, turning a childhood love of chocolate into a small but thriving business. She carefully sources Mexican cacao and crafts silky bars and rich drinking chocolates, like champurrado, using recipes passed down for generations. Her work is precise and deliberate, highlighting skill, patience and artistry while remaining deeply rooted in tradition.From bean sourcing to finished bars, Ely keeps her process transparent and small-scale, with an emphasis on preserving natural flavors — a sharp contrast to mainstream chocolate production. The name Raíz, which means "source" or “root” in Spanish, reflects that commitment to honoring cacao’s origins and the heritage behind each recipe.California's home kitchen and cottage food laws allowed her to turn that passion into a legitimate career, offering an alternative to mass-produced chocolate. Her story blends resilience, entrepreneurship and cultural heritage, showing how craft, intention and tradition can transform a home kitchen into a business that delivers exceptional flavor while preserving the legacy of Mexican chocolate-making.Guests:Elizabeth "Ely" Rosales Aguilar, Raíz Chocolate founderSources:Home Kitchen Operations: Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKO) and Cottage Food Operations (CFO) (SanDiegoCounty.gov)California Cottage Food Operations (University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources) ​Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (California Department of Health)Restaurant Owner Demographics (National Restaurant Association)At-home businesses are growing. Women and people of color benefit the most (Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th, 2021)Almendra Blanca Bar - 70% Single-Origin, Finca Frida, México (Raíz Chocolate)Revival Cacao (Supplier for Raíz Chocolate)ILAB Cocoa Storyboard: Exposing Exploitation in Global Supply Chains (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs)Mars Supply Chain Transparency (Mars) In Maya society, cacao use was for everyone, not just royals (Richard Kemeny, ScienceNews, 2022)Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica: The Aztecs and the Maya; Where did the Ritual Use of Cacao Originate? (Caroline Seawright, 2012)The Maya civilization used chocolate as money (Joshua Rapp Learn, Science, 2018)What is the chocolate and cocoa industry worth in Mexico? (Laura Islas, Merca 2.0, 2025)Mexico cocoa bean imports and exports (World Integrated Trade Solution)Cottage Foods and Home Kitchens: 2021 State Policy Trends (The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, 2022)
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    30 mins
  • Risograph revival: How a forgotten printer built a global DIY art movement

    Risograph revival: How a forgotten printer built a global DIY art movement
    Jan 15 2026

    Risograph printing was built for efficiency — a fast, economical way to make thousands of identical copies for offices, churches and schools. It was never meant to be expressive or personal. After newer technology pushed the machine into obsolescence, artists began discovering risography — drawn to its unpredictability, physicality and limits. From a squatted bank in the Netherlands to DIY print spaces across Europe and the U.S., Risograph printing became a tool for people working outside traditional art and publishing systems.


    In San Diego, that lineage comes into focus at Burn All Books — a space that is part shop, part press and part gathering place. There, Risograph printing isn't just about what gets made, but how: through shared labor, in-person collaboration and a commitment to keeping artists connected in an increasingly expensive and isolating city.


    "You need a network of people who want to help you. That's something cobbled together very slowly over a long period of time. I just feel like so much of our success, to me, has felt like a combination of flukes and really wonderful favors and opportunities," said Manda Bernal, who cofounded Burn All Books with her husband Nick.



    Guests:

    • Manda and Nick Bernal, Burn All Books founders
    •  Kevin Huynh, artist
    • Paloma, Jill, Phillip, Noelle, Tia, Galia and the crew at Burn All Books
    • Jan Dirk de Wilde, Knust co-founder
    • George Wietor, Issue Press founder


    Sources:

    • Squatting in the Netherlands: The social and political institutionalization of a movement (Hans Pruijt, Public goods versus economic interests via EUR Research Information Portal, 2017)
    • “KNUST, the pioneers of Riso print” documentary directed by Ivana Smudja
    • RISO Kagaku’s history (RISO official website)
    • The Vintage Japanese Copy Machine Enjoying an Artistic Renaissance (Evan Nicole Brown, Atlas Obscura, 2018)
    • Culture Report: The Rise of the Risograph (Julia Dixon Evans, Voice of San Diego, 2018)
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    37 mins
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