Extra Spicy
Join host Soleil Ho as they attempt to decipher the bizarro happenings of the food world alongside a mix of fascinating folks. They dismantle diet culture and angry chefs, cover the restaurant apocalypse and pandemic pivots, and dish out advice you didn't know you needed. Extra Spicy will stimulate your mind and your appetite.
26
Food as Love Language
Cooking, eating and delivering food has helped many of us take care of ourselves and each other during tough pandemic times.
21 min
27
How a Podcaster Designed a New Pasta
Dan Pashman of The Sporkful podcast talks about his creation of a new pasta shape, ‘cascatelli’
36 min
28
The Doctor’s Orders
Doctor and cookbook author Linda Shiue takes a radical approach to treating food as medicine: She writes prescriptions for recipes.
30 min
29
Crying in H Mart
Japanese Breakfast singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner discusses her debut memoir, “Crying in H Mart,” which explores grief, heritage and consolation cooking.
33 min
30
Cooking REAL Hawai’ian Food
Hawai’ian chef Sheldon Simeon on the relationship between tourism and the mainland’s image of the islands’ cuisine and how chefs like him are on a quest to reclaim it.
22 min
31
America’s Minimum Wage Debate Is Tipping Over
Tipped workers, like servers and bartenders, can be paid as low as $2.13 per hour in some states. But America’s minimum wage debate is more than a “restaurant issue.”
33 min
32
Can Chocolate Be Ethical Under Capitalism?
Major chocolate companies are facing child slavery lawsuits in the United States. Simran Sethi, professor and freelance journalist, joins Soleil Ho to talk about how to love chocolate without guilt.
40 min
33
Asian & Black People Are Hurting. And It's Comp...
A frank conversation about the tensions between Asian and Black communities, and why a widening rift could prove dangerous.
41 min
34
ICYMI: Can Free Fridges Avoid “Poverty Porn”?
Gabriela Alemán of the Mission Meals Coalition and Ashley Rahimi Syed of SF Community Fridge have teamed up to bring a fridge stocked with fresh food to the Mission District amid the pandemic. They talk about protecting the dignity of those they serve, and mitigating the “performative” aspect of some of the giving.
50 min
35
What Will Food Historians Say About the Pandemic?
Katherine Spiers, host of the Smart Mouth podcast, discusses how the coronavirus pandemic is changing the way we eat and think about food.
30 min
36
The Hidden Labor Behind Cookbooks & Recipes
Author Julia Turshen talks about the process and labor it takes to take a cookbook from pitch to publication and how to make a recipe that works, is accessible, and provides context.
28 min
37
Pandemic Pivot to the Worker-Owned Restaurant R...
Restaurateur and activist Reem Assil talks about the struggle and necessity of transforming her Arab bakery shop into a worker-owned operation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
29 min
38
Chuck E. Cheese & Ferrero Rocher: How Immigrant...
Writer and journalist Liana Aghajanian shares stories about growing up in the U.S. as a child of Iranian-Armenian refugees and how she approaches writing about diaspora cuisines in a unique way.
33 min
39
Finding Wild Food with @BlackForager
Liable to break into song at any moment, Alexis Nikole Nelson shares her passion for urban foraging and talks about teaching people how to identify and cook wild foods.
40 min
40
The Fight to Save Chinatown
Even before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the Bay Area, San Francisco's Chinatown — America’s oldest — felt the impact. We look at how the community is trying to overcome the challenges a year later.
29 min
41
Brogurt & Burgers: Dude Food, Explained
Dr. Emily Contois, author of "Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture," talks about how gendered food upholds the patriarchy.
38 min
42
The Restaurant Apocalypse Is Upon Us
Restaurateurs and workers share their thoughts on how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the restaurant world and their relationships to it.
36 min
43
Extra Spicy Season 2
Flavor. Culture. Politics. Dinner. It's all on the table.
1 min
44
2020: What Was This Nonsense?
Expanding their "What Is This Nonsense" segment, hosts Justin Phillips and Soleil Ho dive into their top nonsensical moments from 2020.
27 min
45
Kevin Vaughn Talks Travel Writing
Kevin Vaughn, writer and cook based in Buenos Aires, discusses travel writing and its problems with Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips
30 min
46
Aubrey Gordon Discusses Anti-Fat Bias
The author published under the moniker Your Fat Friend discusses the social realities of anti-fat bias with Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips
48 min
47
Bonus: Chef Anthony Salguero on Salvadoran Food...
Anthony Salguero, chef / founder of Popoca in Oakland, talks about Salvadoran food and restaurant culture with host Soleil Ho.
33 min
48
Bonus: Dessert Potatoes with Daniel M. Lavery
The advice columnist and food writer talks about potatoes for dessert, imaginary restaurant ideas and the persistence of the dinner table as the place where family tensions come to a head.
25 min
49
Roman Mars: How the Pandemic is Transforming Re...
The author and host of the design and architecture podcast “99% Invisible” talks about how the pandemic creates an opportunity to make restaurant design more resilient while making people less empathetic when ordering food.
38 min
50
Breaking Up with Diet Culture
Virgie Tovar, author and podcast host of the Rebel Eaters Club, talks about diet culture: what it is, how it feels and how we can push against it.
35 min