November 2024: Ruth Reichl’s Garlic & Sapphires

Today, Jen gets to fulfill a dream of interviewing one of her favorite influences and mentors in the food world. The iconic six-time James Beard award-winning Ruth Reichl sits down with Jen to discuss her extensive impact on food culture spanning the last several decades. They hit on everything from the alarming state of the modern food industrial complex, how we source our food and the impacts it poses to our health (as well as the hope they see for our future), to what it has been like to document the evolution of food across the changing media landscape of print media and the internet. Ruth reflects on highlights from her career as a chef, food critic, editor, tv personality, author, novelist and documentarian and discusses the challenges and joys of her various roles in the culinary world, including the emotional toll of her work which has garnered both admiration and criticism.

Cooking Up Laughs with Stephen and Evie Colbert: From Gullah Cuisine to Kitchen Mishaps

Jen and Amy are beyond thrilled to welcome late-night legend Stephen Colbert and his amazing wife, Evie McGee Colbert, to the show! They’re dishing about their brand-new cookbook, Does This Taste Funny?—a project born during pandemic life at home. Stephen and Evie share the hilarious backstory of how it all came together, dive into their kitchen quirks (spoiler: they don’t always agree in the kitchen!), and bond over their love for Gullah cuisine from South Carolina’s Lowcountry. From cooking together to a classic metal spoon disaster, it’s the perfect blend of laughter, food, and a little bit of chaos.

On today’s show:

  • Jen and Amy discuss high school reunions.
  • Jen’s advice on accessorizing senior photos.
  • Amy shows off her gluten-free version of Patti McGee’s Cheese Biscuits.
  • The group tries to unpack why today’s generation is obsessed with food expiration dates.
  • Stephen shares how he got radicalized by fancy butter.

Stanley Tucci: Food, Memories, and Emotions

This week Jen and Amy sit down with the charismatic and engaging Stanley Tucci, to discuss his new book, ‘What I Ate in One Year’, that explores the deep connections we can find amongst the food we eat, the memories we make, and the emotions we feel and how our cultural practices around food can provide fuel for us, not just in times of celebration, but can also provide us comfort in times of grief. Stanley reflects on how food plays a role in both joyous and difficult moments, emphasizing the importance of sharing meals with loved ones, hoping that readers will find comfort and connection through his work, especially in a time when we are all experiencing more loneliness and disconnection.

Cooking Dreams & Destiny with Ina Garten

This week, step into the studio (and kitchen!) with Jen and Amy as they have an intimate and insightful conversation with the iconic Ina Garten, a true pioneer in the culinary world who has shaped the way we cook at home. As they delve into Ina’s groundbreaking career, from the beloved Barefoot Contessa specialty food shop to the 28 seasons of her cherished TV show, you’ll discover the heart and humor behind Ina’s success. Amidst laughter and heartwarming tales, the conversation takes a deeper turn as Ina opens up about her new memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens,” providing candid insights into her life, including her early days with husband Jeffrey and the triumphs and challenges that have defined her journey. 

Topics include: 

  • Being open to unexpected opportunities can lead to fulfilling paths.
  • The importance of maintaining a sense of humor and lightheartedness on the journey to success and connection.
  • Behind the scenes of Ina’s relationship with her husband of 56 years, Jeffrey, where she underscores the value of strong support systems and partnerships in achieving balance and joy.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to Ina’s world, this episode offers a personal glimpse into the life of a culinary legend who continues to inspire us all.

PLUS don’t miss Jen and Amy’s discussion about foods they ate as kids that they wouldn’t dare touch now, and the cooking shows that first caught their attention as young wives and moms.

The 5 Things Anyone Who Cooks Needs To Know with Bri McKoy

Our guest this week is bringing core insights into the kitchen so that everyone can: 

a.) enjoy cooking and b.) turn it from a massive chore to a bright spot in your day.  Author, blogger and “accidental cook” Bri McKoy is here, talking with Jen about the best practices and advice on how to become the kind of cook you want to be for your own life.

Drawn from her essential cookbook, “The Cooks Book: Recipes for Keeps and Essential Techniques to Master Everyday Cooking,” Bri wants to share what she’s learned in her kitchen so that everyone’s kitchen can become a place of confidence and joy. 

Jen and Bri dish on: 

  • Why it matters where you put things in your kitchen—and how small changes can make a big impact
  • The Forever Grocery list, is Bri’s tried and true list of things you should always have on hand in your kitchen so that you limit your time shopping and planning
  • Bri’s Kitchen Techniques – simple rules that help us make decisions in the kitchen
  • What you need to know about pairing the right wine with the right foods and how to stock your bar with the essentials

If there’s more cooking in your life this summer with kids at home, guests coming to visit, or budget-conscious cooking when traveling, this relatable episode will give you the tools you need to de-stress your kitchen and make it a place for great food and great fun!

Food Fight! Jen’s Mom and Sibs Reveal the Family Food Secrets

As we wrap up our food series and celebrate of the release of Jen’s very first cookbook, we have another first right here in this Feeding These People Food series: Jen’s mom, her brother, and one of her sisters give us all the dish on the history of food in the King family in their very first appearance together on For the Love, for the last episode of this series! Jana, Drew, Cortney, and Jen weigh in on the good, bad and ugly of their family meals growing up, their favorite around the table memories, and the foods that, well, just failed. From Hamburger Helper, to Veg-all, to Drew’s penchant for boiling cokes he would pinch from the garage in the Louisiana heat, it’s a wonder any of us that grew up in the 80’s survived. You’ll be riveted by their spirited discussion about ranch dressing, the time when Jen’s dad decided to eat healthier and Jana started cooking everything with oat bran, and the highly debated pot pie incident–plus a few other family controversies over what really happened in the King kitchen. Stick around to the end when we hear each siblings’ recollection of their favorite meals and their assessment of how they are doing these days feeding their own families. 

Wine, Food, and Diversity with Noel Burgess

It’s another episode of our cozy fall series; For the Love of Feeding These People. How could we talk about food without talking about one of the things that pairs with it best. Yes, we’re talking wine on this week’s show, and we’ve got a knowledgeable, smart and decidedly different wine expert joining Jen to talk through food’s most delightful partner. Noel Burgess is a wine writer and influencer who lives in wine country in Northern California. For those of you that love wine, and even better, for those of you who have been looking to add wine to your table, Noel’s approach to wine is refreshing to us all. What’s great about Noel is that he’s on a journey of wine discovery himself—having only started drinking wine less than 5 years ago. He makes wine approachable to all of us and wants us to learn along with him. As Noel likes to say “wines are as diverse as people, spectacular in their perfect imperfections, shaped by their distinct environments, and always evolving.” Sounds like our kind of wine guy. Stick around to the end, where we’ve picked a dish from Jen’s cookbook, Feeding These People, and Noel tells us exactly the right wine to pair with it—just in time for fall entertaining. 

Getting Spicy with Instagram Foodie Phenom Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest

Things are getting even more delicious as we continue with the “Feeding These People” series here on the For The Love Podcast, as we celebrate the launch of Jen’s dream project – her very first cookbook! And like we need an excuse to talk about food (we don’t) so pardon us as we revel in all the foodie-loving goodness our guest this week brings us through her oh-so-delectable, highly followed Instagram channel. We’ve got Half Baked Harvest’s Tieghan Gerard with us this week and we couldn’t be more excited (and a little hungry). Tieghan, much like Jen, got her start in the world of blogging way back in 2012 and was just a natural to move her food thoughts and creations over to Instagram (to the tune of 4.7M followers), and subsequently began appearing on outlets like the Cooking Channel, Food Network, HGTV and more. Tieghan confesses to us, as much as she loves cooking (which came from experimentation as a kid, and watching a lot of Rachael Ray) she loves styling the things she cooks even more. And if you get a look at Half Baked Harvest on the socials, you’ll understand why. From her point of view on food, to her flavor profiles, to how she showcases her beautiful creations, you’ll see her talent–but rejoice in the fact that even though her recipes *look* elevated, they are made for people who might not have a chef’s touch in the kitchen.  We were stunned to find out that she wrote AND styled her last three cookbooks (after last week’s episode, where we had Jen’s entire cookbook team describing their work, we marvel at how she does it all). We also love the moments when Tieghan discovers Jen is southern and their hand-clapping delight that they both adore spicy foods (more jalapenos, please) and their aside about how wonderful it is to get to do what you love for a living. Stick around for the end as Tieghan shares her favorite (and easy) go-to recipe that everyone needs for their fall menus. 

The Making of “Feed These People”: Jen’s Cookbook Stylists Tell It All

It’s time to get into a topic for a brand new series that is near and dear to our hearts—food. We love to eat it, we love to take pictures of it, we love to cook it (well, some of us do). This brand new series, For the Love of Feeding These People, coincides with the release of Jen’s brand new cookbook; “Feed These People,” but lest you think this is one long discussion about Jen’s book, think again. We’re bringing in other food creators whose Instagrams we follow religiously for their culinary creations, we’re bringing in a wine guy (not a snooty one, but one that gives us affordable options and doesn’t shame us if we wonder out loud what wine pairs with corn dogs), and Jen’s own family (sisters, brother and mom) to talk about their family food moments and give up the secrets of their most loved and hated family meals. But for this episode, we’re going deep behind the scenes and uncovering the mystery of how the pictures of food we see in advertisements, websites, Instagram feeds, books and more look so darn good. There are people who specialize in photographing food to make it look as sumptuous as possible, and other folks who “style” the food so it appears in the most beautiful atmospheres, and the chefs who cook up every recipe to its ultimate best so the photog and stylist can enhance the magic around it.  If you’ve ever been curious as to how that all happens, we have the actual team who put together Jen’s cookbook, and they’re here to dish about all the hours, details, and antics that go into this kind of work, and how they got to the mouth-watering final results. Mackenzie, Maite and Taylor are the dream team behind so many beautiful food shoots and you’ll love the triumphs and the fails they share (including a story about Jen’s Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce recipe that somehow resembled something REALLY unappetizing) and other hilarious challenges and triumphs that happened while creating Jen’s beautiful new cookbook. 

Relax–It’s Just Food! Finding the Fun in Cooking with Teri Turner

As we come to the end of our Favorite Pastimes series, we hope you are filling your summer with your favorite activities —and maybe some new ones we’ve talked about here! Our series wouldn’t be complete without a conversation about one universal pastime that is approached with either love or loathing—cooking!  Perhaps cooking has become nothing but drudgery for you and those ungrateful kids who eye your culinary masterpieces with disdain have made you turn to slinging out Lunchables and microwave mac and cheese. Or maybe you are single and cooking for one seems like a chore. Or maybe you *think* cooking could be your thing but you’re intimidated by the lingo and measurements and if you have the right appliances (Hot Pots! Air Fryers! Immersion Blenders! Oh my!). No matter where you fall on the cooking spectrum, easy and delicious summer cooking is within your reach and we have a guest who is here to help us claim our cooking identity. Teri Turner is an author, home cook, and podcast host who has turned her love of the kitchen into a whole career for herself. Her mantra is “It’s Just Food,” —takes the pressure off, right? She encourages us to find our “food thing” and how we can perfect that signature dish that will have even the most skeptical palates coming back for more. Teri’s tips include Whole30 options, gluten free dishes—she leaves nothing behind. Teri makes cooking seem accessible to us all—and promises our kitchens can be places of joy and magic-making.