This Is TASTE

Hasung Lee spent a decade cooking inside other people’s restaurants—Gramercy Tavern, Geranium, Atomix, the French Laundry—before Netflix viewers met him as Culinary Monster, the mysterious “black spoon” who muscled his way into the final round of Culinary Class Wars season 2. While he lost in the finale, he opened Oyatte anyway and is clearly shooting for Michelin stars. In this episode, we talk with Lee about what it’s like to compete under an alias, and we hear about the chef’s journey through some of the world’s greatest kitchens.

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Vikas Khanna grew up in Amritsar cooking beside his grandmother, arrived in New York with $3 and a dream, and became one of the first Indian chefs in the city to earn a Michelin star. His restaurant Bungalow—now one of NYC’s most coveted reservations—tells India’s culinary story through its 28 states. We talk about Vikas’s early cooking career in NYC, the rise of Junoon and later Bungalow, and what it means to cook for both presidents and homeless folks.

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The Specialty Food Association's Summer Fancy Food Show is where the next year of grocery shelves gets decided, and Dan Frommer, founder of The New Consumer and one of the sharpest minds tracking how people spend their money, was there for all of it. Dan joins Matt to unpack the trends and new products they spotted on the floor of the Javits Center this week in New York. We talk about sparkling water, functional cookies, and some emerging categories that surprised even us.

Check out Dan’s 2026 Mid-Year Consumer Trends Report.

Brands mentioned on the episode:

Mr. Pickles Industries

Wandel

Mad Mutz

The Great Chestnut Experiment

Ginja Snap

Folkland Foods

Buffs

Rodeo Snacks

Monte's Fine Foods

Gamsa Foods

Sooki

Dirty Virgo

Nomina Sparkling Water

David Protein


Field GoodsYakitori Guy Sauce

Manischewitz


50 Hertz

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Jason Stewart, cohost of How Long Gone and one of food media’s sharpest outside voices, returns to the studio. We talk about his early vegan days, his current London dining life, and what he’s enjoying in his hometown of Los Angeles. We also revisit some of his past TASTE writing, including a review of Noma in Copenhagen.

Get your tickets for ⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE Live with Claire Saffitz⁠⁠⁠⁠ at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City on July 7.
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It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Luke Fortney went from covering New York’s restaurant scene at Eater to contributing weekly to the terrific New York Times food newsletter ⁠Where to Eat⁠. In this episode, we talk about the dream of the $50 dinner in New York, changes at the grocery store, Canada’s big showing at North America’s 50 Best, and how restaurants can think about a membership mode.

Featured on the episode:


But First, Restaurant [NYT]


The New Grocer [Snaxshot]


The Dream of a $50 Dinner Is Still Alive at These Restaurants [NYT]


Why don't more restaurants have memberships? [Expedite]


Oh, Canada [Caper]

Get your tickets for ⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE Live with Claire Saffitz⁠⁠⁠ at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City on July 7.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices