Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle

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 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.

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. 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.

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.

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 share her tips for a zero-waste home kitchen. Have you even dehydrated fruit in your hot car, bro? Jack has been with his wife, Kim, for 33 years and his last meal, and the story behind his song Banana Pancakes, are both inspired by their love story.Jack’s new film, a documentary called Surfilmusic about his evolution from surfer to filmmaker to world renowned musician, premieres March 13th 2026 at SXSW! His SURFILMUSIC 2026 North American Tour has 43 stops from June through October, and he’s being supported by G. Love and Lake Street Dive, both past guests on Your Last Meal! 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.

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. 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.

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 a team of diverse cooks create and test recipes with Yotam at the helm. So I chat with a man who has run many magazine test kitchens, Hunter Lewis, editor-in-chief of Food and Wine Magazine. He takes us behind the scenes of the test kitchen to see how the sausage is literally and figuratively made. Get tickets to see Yotam Ottolenghi on tour!Get the recipe for Ottolenghi's Clementine Almond Syrup Cake! 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.

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 episode of Your Last Meal with Lachi here. Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV showThe 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.

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 more successful. And she shares why eggs play a starring role in her relationship with her longtime partner, Arthur. Then we meet the creator of The Blind Cafe, a pop-up dinner that travels the world, giving diners the experience of eating in pitch darkness. 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.

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 with Chuck Klosterman here. Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV showThe 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.

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 I a guest on this show? Do you eat leftovers? A Wall Street Journal food reporter joins the show to share new data on Americans’ relationship with the plastic containers of food piling up in our refrigerators. Then Chuck and I chat about his new book, Football and he tells me a hilarious story about the times he’s been mixed up with other famous Chucks. ---------------Listen to the Prodigy episode, featuring an inmate who cooked many death row meals. Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV showThe 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.

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. Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV showThe 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.

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. Neko Case’s new album is Neon Grey Midnight Green. Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show, The Nosh with Rachel Belle. Follow along on Instagram. Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame.

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! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV showThe 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.

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 introverted people, and how to use food as a social glue! And Jonathan talks about why the six members of The Head and the Heart started seeing a therapist together. Thanks to the Seattle Symphony for setting up this interview! Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV showThe 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.