Flavor scientist and Flavorama author Dr. Arielle Johnson charts her path from fashion-focused teen to being the go-to food nerd for Noma and Alton Brown. She unpacks the neuroscience of taste and memory, explains why certain foods trigger powerful emotional reactions (like a potential “Dorito of sadness”), and explores how flavor can be engineered to shape how we feel.
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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Dr. Arielle Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nancy Silverton and the Artichoke That Knows
2026-05-05 | 57 mins.
1990 F&W Best New Chef Nancy Silverton recounts growing up craving white bread and sugary cereal while her mother served spanakopita and beef bourguignon, how a college crush led her to a dorm kitchen where she first realized she wanted to cook for a living, the moment at Chez Panisse that defined her food philosophy, her insistence on simplicity over trends, and why even after decades of acclaim, she still feels like an impostor.
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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Hexclad
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Claudette Zepeda and the Canned Bodega Escargot
2026-04-28 | 1h 6 mins.
Cooking the Borderlands author and chef Claudette Zepeda opens up about growing up in Tijuana learning English from PBS shows, being told she’d “never make it” as a chef while pushing a newborn in a stroller, and why she relies on her inner "chaos demon." She shares how a trip to Morocco reignited her creative spark, why she and her cooks chant “You’re doing it, Peter” in the kitchen, what it took to survive toxic restaurant culture, and the 160-mile Camino de Santiago walk that helped her process the loss as she rediscovered her childhood self.
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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Johnny Miller
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Wolfgang Puck and the Tennis Match With the Pope
2026-04-21 | 1h 2 mins.
Legendary chef Wolfgang Puck opens up about leaving an abusive home at 14, finding refuge in a pastry kitchen, and getting his first real validation from a mentor. From taking a Greyhound bus to Indianapolis expecting it to be like Monaco, getting life advice from Elton John and Mick Jagger, and building Spago with an open kitchen that changed dining culture, he reflects on cooking for celebrities and royalty — and why he says hello to the dishwasher first and Tom Cruise last when he enters his restaurants.
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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Marco Bollinger
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Paul Carmichael and the Blessing of Uncle Clive
2026-04-14 | 1h 1 mins.
Chef Paul Carmichael traces his path from a teenage cook in Barbados to the chef behind Kabawa, which Food & Wine recently named the best restaurant in the U.S. He opens up about feeling like an impostor in top kitchens, the mentors (like Wylie Dufresne, Marcus Samuelsson, and David Chang) who shaped him, and the turning point that led him to “burn clean” and build a restaurant rooted in purpose, not pressure.
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Episode Art Courtesy of Paul C: Food & Wine / Paul Carmichael
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Food & Wine has led the conversation around food, drinks, and hospitality in America and around the world since 1978. Tinfoil Swans continues that legacy with intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting conversations with the biggest names in the culinary industry and beyond, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made them who they are today. You'll hear from icons and innovators like Daniel Boulud, Padma Lakshmi, Tristen Epps, and Maneet Chauhan, going deep on their formative experiences, the dishes and meals that made them, their joys, doubts and dreams, and what's still on the menu ahead. Tune in for a feast that'll feed your brain and soul — and plenty of wisdom and quotable morsels to savor later. New episodes every Tuesday.
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