Evan Kleiman

Los Angeles, Santa Monica, United States

Host at Good Food Podcast

Podcast Host at LA Theatre Works (Podcast)

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Articles

Matzo, Joan Nathan, Italian Easter desserts

1 week ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

Hèléne Jawhara Piñer unravels the thread connecting the Spanish Inquisition to modern Jewish food practices. In a new memoir, Joan Nathan reflects on her life through the lens of food. Jeff Chu abandoned his career as a journalist to work the land and attend seminary, tilling up life lessons as well as a sense of calm. Great British Bake Off alum Giuseppe Dell'Anno celebrates a sweet Easter with Italian desserts.
Joan Nathan tracks American culture and food writing in the 1970s

1 week ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

There are food memoirs written by people in their 30s and 40s. Then there is My Life in Recipes by Joan Nathan. Starting in the 1970s, she has spent a lifetime exploring, learning, writing, and teaching about Jewish food all over the globe. She changed the way Jewish food was seen in America. In many households, her books are as fundamental as Julia Child's were for a certain generation of cooks. This is a weighty memoir from a woman who has lived - and continues to live - a big life.
For Giuseppe Dell'Anno, Easter desserts smell like spring blossoms

1 week ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

All over the world, people have repertoires of dishes that they make for Easter. For some sweet Easter inspiration, we turn to Italy and to Evan Kleiman: Thank you so much for coming. Buona Pasqua. Giuseppe Dell'AnnoWhen you were growing up, did you bake or did you come to it later as a hobby? . As the 2021 winner of the Great British Bake OffI saw that you're teaching a class on Easter desserts at a school in Cheltenham where you live. What did you decide to make for this particular class?
Fava beans and English peas color farmers market stands

1 week ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

Spring is in full swing at farmers markets, which means there are snap peas and fava beans everywhere you look. Chef Nestor Silva of Camélia, a French Japanese bistro in the Arts District in Downtown LA, shops for English peas and fava leaves that he'll incorporate into a new dish. The raviole du Daphiné is stuffed with housemade ricotta and Gruyere cheese then topped with the verdant, blanched greens. He explains that the dish dates back to the Middle Ages and differs from its Italian counterpart.
Jeff Chu mediates on life's biggest questions while working the soil

1 week ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

In periods of chaos and crisis, it helps to focus on things that ground us and have real meaning. That looks different for everyone. For Evan Kleiman: You open the book with musings on how Western thought often relies on linear storytelling while most of our life journeys are the opposite of linear. How is Chinese storytelling different? Jeff ChuWhat was your relationship with religion and the church before joining a seminary?
A medieval scholar considers the transformative potential of flour

1 week ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

When we talk about Sephardic Jews in diaspora, we tend to focus on the cuisines that formed as the Jews of Spain and Portugal fled to other countries, from Turkey and Italy to Morocco, Mexico, and Brazil. But we rarely speak of what caused this immigration - the Spanish Inquisition. Hèléne Jawhara Piñer is a French-Spanish scholar whose focus is medieval history and the history of food.
Restaurant kids, Balkan and Hungarian recipes, green almonds

2 weeks ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

By Evan Kleiman Curtis Chin and Rachel Phan share memories of growing up in their parents' Chinese restaurants. Cookbook author Irina Georgescu finds inspiration east of the Danube River in Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Jeremy Salamon reconnects with his Hungarian Jewish heritage and the charming childhood created by his grandmother. Chef Harry Posner takes advantage of the short window for green almonds.
Fuzzy, unripe green almonds mean spring has officially sprung

2 weeks ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

The green almond is a perfect example of a "blink and you'll miss it" ingredient. Chef Harry Posner of , a new restaurant in Westchester, is half-Persian and was born in LA although he grew up in England. He remembers his parents and grandparents sitting around playing backgammon each spring, snacking on green almonds dipped in salt and lime. That crunchy, fruity, sour taste is a pure hit of nostalgia, and as a chef, he uses those flavors in an aguachile.
Two tales of Chinese 'restaurant kids,' From takeout boxes to feeling boxed in

2 weeks ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

Two books recently landed with the Good Food Team at approximately the same time. Both were memoirs about growing up in families where work, and therefore life, centered around a family-run Chinese restaurant. As we explored each book, we realized that we wanted to hear both of their voices in a joint conversation about growing up in such a particular space, where they learned to carve out their own identities amid their family's expectations. Evan Kleiman: Thank you both so much for joining us.
Jeremy Salamon updates paprikash and other Hungarian dishes in a colorful cookbook

2 weeks ago | kcrw.com | Evan Kleiman

Grandparents are often the gatekeepers of our earliest culinary memories. Evan Kleiman: Hi, Jeremy. Your book is just so beautiful. Often when we think of Eastern European foods of any kind, we tend to think of them in a darker palette, but the food is just so vibrant and filled with color. Jeremy SalamonCould you share a couple details about the early lives of your grandparents, Agi and Steve?