Yasmin Khan’s Twitter bio reads: “Challenging stereotypes of the Middle East, one pomegranate at a time.” With her new cookbook, “The Saffron Tales,” Khan has not only delivered a beautifully written book about Persian food but has also challenged us to think about Persian food in entirely new ways.

Khan set out in 2013 to write her book because she was fed up with people in making assumptions that Iran equals bombs, nukes, and fanatics. She wanted to show the texture and the beauty she experienced during her own visits to the Iranian countryside. What she could not predict is that the antagonism between the “West” and Iran would only grow greater, especially with the US election of Donald Trump.

In this episode, Khan speaks about meeting artisanal chocolatiers in Iran, why London doesn’t have great regional Persian restaurants, and why she was denied a visa to the US during the Obama administration.

Produced by Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions.

One in five people in Portland are food insecure, according to the Oregon Food Bank. It’s a statistic Darrell Yuen knows well. He spent years fighting hunger, including a stint at the Oregon Food Bank. But in 2016, he called it quits and decided he would fight hunger by starting a restaurant instead.

The result is Musubi, a small restaurant in Southeast Portland that serves Hawaii snack food. Darrell contributes a portion of every purchase to combat hunger and he sees his role not as a restaurateur but as a social entrepreneur. In this episode, we talk about how restaurants owners can give back to communities and how Darrell sees his restaurant as a way for him to embrace his Hawaiian identity.  

Produced by Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions.

Do you remember our smash hit episode on racial signifiers in food photography featuring photog Celeste Noche? Since episode 14 came out last November, CBC has rerun the episode and Celeste has been interviewed about the subject by Quartz, the BBC, and Mic. And with greater exposure, the trolls have come out from under their bridge, showering Celeste and us with a lot of indignation over us claiming that eating tacos or using chopsticks is racist. (Hint: we never did.) We caught up with Celeste for a quick follow-up interview to talk about what the backlash is getting wrong and why she will, nevertheless, persist.

(We definitely suggest re-listening to episode 14 or reading some of the linked articles to refresh your memory of what initially discussed.)