Extra Spicy

British restaurant critic Jimi Famurewa talks about how he became the U.K.’s first Black food critic at London’s Evening Standard — a journey co-host and Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho is all too familiar with. This is part one of two episodes that go into the many differences between U.S. and U.K. food criticism. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Irene Li, chef and co-founder of Mei Mei restaurant in Boston, wrote about 8 Totally Achievable Ways to Show Up for Racial Justice… When You’re White and Own an Asian Restaurant! Li breaks downs each item on her list, the difference between appreciation and appropriation, and how white chefs can use their power to work toward racial equity. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will future generations only know meatless burgers and other food alternatives? It sounds dystopian, but that is a legitimate possibility if Silicon Valley gets their way. Hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips talk with author and journalist Larissa Zimberoff about her latest book, “Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission to Change What We Eat” and whether demand for “alternative” foods will overcome California’s farm-to-table culture. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cascatelli, a new pasta shape created by Dan Pashman, host of The Sporkful podcast, is making waves. Pashman joins Extra Spicy hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips to discuss his multi-year creation process with the company Sfoglini, plus the criteria — ‘forkability,’ ‘sauceability’ and ‘toothsinkability’ — that led to the world’s newest pasta shape. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doctor Linda Shiue had a revelation: her prescription pad could motivate patients towards better eating habits. First, she wrote a prescription for kale chips; now her new cookbook, "Spicebox Kitchen," bridges her medical expertise with the joy of cooking healthy, plant-forward meals. She talks to hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips about her journey from doctor to chef and the ancient tradition of food as medicine. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner, known by the moniker, “Japanese Breakfast,” discusses her memoir, “Crying in H Mart.” The book explores Zauner’s complicated relationship with her late mother, Korean identity and processing grief. At the time of the interview, the topic was abstract for host Soleil Ho – until her own grandfather got sick. Extra Spicy dives into the complexities of food, family and finding solace through storytelling. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sheldon Simeon, chef and owner of Tin Roof restaurants and two-time "Top Chef" finalist, talks all about Hawaiian food: what it is, what it isn’t, and how you can learn to cook it through his new cookbook, “Cook Real Hawai’i.” Sheldon addresses the relationship between tourism and the mainland’s image of the islands’ cuisine and how chefs like him are on a quest to reclaim the cuisine for his fellow Hawai’ians — to really capture the multicultural nuances of what people actually eat there. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tipped workers, like servers and bartenders, can be paid as low as $2.13 per hour in some states. Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips trace the origin of America’s tipping culture back to slavery, and how minimum wage politics mostly impact Black and female livelihoods. Plus: how the fight to raise the federal pay floor goes beyond the restaurant industry. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are 1.5 million children harvesting cocoa in West Africa. Major chocolate companies now face child slavery lawsuits, marking the first time a class action of this kind has been made against the cocoa industry in the United States. Simran Sethi, professor and freelance journalist, joins Soleil Ho to discuss the problems within the industry and what consumers can do about it. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips have a frank conversation about the tensions between Asian and Black communities, the dangers of a widening rift, and the media’s role in perpetuating misunderstanding. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So this week, we were planning to publish an open conversation between Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips about crimes against Asian people, from the March 16 Atlanta shootings, to high profile violent incidents in the Bay Area captured on video that often showed Black aggressors. And we’re going to be honest: we weren’t quite sure how to put our feelings into words. We had recorded one version of this episode, but we realized we needed more time to process so we’re going to take another week. So in the meantime, we would love to hear from you: What do you make of all this — and how do we end it? You can send us your responses by sending us a voice recording to extraspicy@sfchronicle.com, or you can also leave us a voicemail at 415-777-6156. We really hope to hear from you, and we look forward to including your thoughts on next week’s episode. For now, we want to leave you with a longer version of one of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Gabriela Alemán of the Mission Meals Coalition and Ashley Rahimi Syed of SF Community Fridge teamed up to bring a fridge stocked with fresh food to San Francisco’s 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. Read a transcript of our conversation with Gabriela and Ashley, and send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the culinary equivalent to sweatpants? Katherine Spiers, the woman behind the food history podcast and newsletter Smart Mouth, joins hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips to discuss the pandemic effect, food access issues and whether this past year has helped facilitate more empathy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julia Turshen – a bestselling cookbook author, food writer and food equity advocate – joins Justin and Soleil to discuss all the considerations of recipe making. From pitch to publication, Turshen shares the steps of making her latest cookbook, “Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food.” Plus, hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips take on the headnotes debate. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reem Assil, chef and founder of Reem’s California, talks about the struggle and necessity of transforming her Arab bakery shop in Oakland into a worker-owned operation amid the coronavirus pandemic. Assil’s restaurant models subvert and redefine the traditional definition of what a restaurant can and should be: Her team has been hard at work making meals for frontline workers, unhoused people and low-income community members while also cooking meal kits for customers. Plus: Hosts Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips talk about capitalism and how the way we shape narratives can unintentionally perpetuate and reinforce it’s agenda. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The child of Iranian-Armenian refugees, writer and journalist Liana Aghajanian shares stories of growing up in the United States, the role that places like Chuck E. Cheese, Sizzler and IKEA have in teaching immigrant communities how to be American, and how she approaches writing about immigrant experiences in a way that embraces their nuances. Her multimedia project, Dining in Diaspora, documents the Armenian experience in America through food. Related: Read Liana Aghajanian’s piece about Ferrero Rocher at Thrillist.com. Send us your questions about food, life and everything you’re obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices