"We journey to Vietnam this week with our guide Mai Pham, author of Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. We'll hear about street life, street food, and home cooking as she tells of a country at peace for the first time in a century and of a cuisine that's perhaps the freshest and brightest in all of Southeast Asia. We can't wait to try Mai's recipe for Lemongrass Beef on Cool Noodles.
We're talking with scholar, explorer, and beer anthropologist Alan Eames, author of The Secret Life of Beer. Alan has tracked down beers in Amazon jungles and Egyptian temples, and survived being held at gunpoint by guerrillas in his quest to discover beer's origins. He believes it's at the heart of nearly every culture and he claims beer is, and always was, about women! Jane and Michael Stern have found cheeseburger heaven in upstate Connecticut. Minimalist cook Mark Bittman has had a life-changing experience with chickpeas. He stops by to tell all and give us his recipe for Chickpea Soup with Sausage.
This week we're taking a look at farmers' markets with award-winning author Deborah Madison, whose latest book is Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets. Deborah traveled America to determine if local markets can save the vanishing family farm and whether farmers can even make a living selling their harvest at these markets. She leaves us with a menu and recipes for a Late Summer Vegetarian Feast, just the thing right now to take advantage of summer's bounty.
It's a real variety show this week with controversies over apes with Dr. Frans de Waal, one of the world's leading primatologists and author of The Ape and the Sushi Master. Dr. de Waal theorizes that apes are more like us than we think, and it's demonstrated in how they deal with food.
This week we're coming to you from the Food and Wine Magazine Classic at Aspen, Colorado—the annual extravaganza where food and wine lovers mingle with the culinary world's superstars and sample everything from outrageous champagnes to duck-liver lollipops.
The next time you open your refrigerator door, consider that, centuries ago, cold was a mystery—something seemingly without a source, often associated with danger and death, and altogether too fearsome to explore. Tom Shachtman, author of Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold, examines the subject that baffled ancient mankind before it brought conveniences like refrigeration and air conditioning that we take for granted today.
Just a generation ago American wines were dismissed by Europeans as pedestrian and of little consequence. Thirty years later things changed, and the best French wines began falling behind American varietals in international competitions. Our guest Paul Lukacs, author of American Vintage, traces the rise of American wine and tells the story of the famous blind tasting that started the revolution. From teetotalers to bootleggers, Paul introduces an array of interesting characters who contributed to America becoming a formidable leader in the wine industry.
Polar explorer Ann Bancroft, who recently skied 1,700 miles across Antarctica with her partner Liv Arnesen, joins us this week with tales from her third expedition. She also tells of a lavishly outfitted Arctic expedition from 150 years ago and the food that doomed the members to starvation and insanity.
"This week British writer Elizabeth Luard, author of Sacred Food: Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment, takes a look at the traditional foods different cultures serve at significant life events. We'll focus on food for a wedding celebration as Elizabeth explains why the French favor cream puffs hit with a hammer over cake cut with a knife, why the British avoid greens at a nuptial feast, and why higher is better when it comes to the cake. Her recipe for Soupe de Mariage is pot-au-feu for a wedding party or any time.
This week it's an unusual take on botany and the issue of control—plants vs. humans—with our guest, journalist and gardener Michael Pollan. In his new book, The Botany of Desire, Michael claims that plants manipulate us by taking advantage of our basic desires. (Starts at 20:41.)