Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle

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 historian Dr Zella Palmer introduces host Rachel Belle to Al Scramuzza, the city’s late Crawfish King, and shares her favorite places to experience a crawfish boil in the city.   

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 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. 
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.

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 became a vegetarian, his family's immigration story and the Mexican dishes that he grew up with that he still makes to this day. 

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 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.