Chef Douglas Rodriguez joins us with a Cuban take on the Christmas feast, the legendary Paula Wolfert joins us with her new book Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking, and we have a tale of a childhood gingerbread house gone mad from Augusten Burroughs author of You'd Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas.

This week it's a look at the Russian tradition of zakuski with Diana Henry, author of Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, Winter Food to Warm the Soul. Iconoclast chef David Chang of Momofuku fame joins us with the method behind the madness of his inspired fusion cuisine, Jane and Michael Stern are eating sweets in Salt Lake City's The Lamb , and Food and Wine Magazine's Ray Isle joins us with his short list of the bottles every wine lover should taste.

This week for Thanksgiving we meet up with Chef Marcus Samuelsson for a new take on the turkey. His latest book is New American Table. Historian Andy Smith reminds us of the real origin of Thanksgiving Day, and Lynne takes on the great feast ... vegetarian style.

This week it's a show of American iconoclasts starting with winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard. His latest book is Been Doon So Long, A Randall Grahm Vinthology. And we meet the true originator of the no-knead bread technique, Jim Lahey of New York City's famed Sullivan Street Bakery. His book is My Bread, The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method.

This week we go into the kitchen with Andy Ricker, the man behind Portland's legendary Thai restaurant Pok Pok. Jane and Michael Stern are noshing kolaches in West, Texas, and wine authority Josh Wesson suggests some smooth sips for rough times.

This week, we're taking a look at the cuisine of Portugal with David Leite, author of The New Portuguese Table. Jane and Michael Stern have found stellar Creamed Chipped Beef at The Breakfast Shoppe in Severna Park, MD, plus we check in with the Hungry Scientist society, and we'll get a few tips for traveling on the cheap from the frugal traveler.

What makes man, man and an ape an ape? According to Richard Wrangham it is not one's ability to fashion tool, but rather the ability to cook. He is the author of Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human. The Sterns are in LA eating a French Dip at its origin, Philippe's French Dip Restaurant, and there is a new movement sweeping across America — group canning sessions.

We're looking at the art of the Asian pickle with Alex Hovzen creator of the Cultured Pickle Shop in Berkely, CA, the Sterns are visiting Moonlite Bar-B-Q in Owensboro, KY, Fred Plotkin teaches us how to take an eaters vacation without a rental car, and Amy Stewart author of Wicked Plants: A Book of Botanical Atrocities introduces us to the darker side of Mother Nature.

Historian John T. Edge take a look back at one of America's great food treasures, Craig Claiborne, the Sterns share their pick of great public markets on both coasts and wine writer Paul Lukacs from Wine Review Online introduces to the wines of Priorat.

What does a chef consider the most important tool in the kitchen? Chef and writer Daniel Patterson has a surprising answer for all of those who love to cook. He is the author of Aroma. Jane and Michael Stern are looking at the phenomenon of the "slider" and Elizabeth Karmel author of Soaked, Slathered and Seasonings, fills us in on the latest developments in outdoor grilling.

This week we've tips to turning your kitchen green with Kate Heyhoe author of Cooking Green: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen, historian Rachel Lauden explores the link between Mexican cuisine and Islam, and cheesemonger Steve Jenkins explains the real cost of artisan cheeses.

We're talking to food activist Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food about the intersection between sustainable foods, and our real life pocketbooks. Jane and Michael Stern have been researching the green chile cheeseburger in New Mexico and we look at the origins of the American potato chip with Dirk Burhans author of Crunch, A History of the Great American Potato Chip.

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This week we're celebrating the Fourth of July and the start of high summer. Gourmet magazine's John Willoughby talks smoke roasting, a much-ignored technique worthy of revival for its easy and succulent results. John's latest book, Grill It!: Recipes, Techniques, Tools, co-authored with fellow grilling guru Chris Schlesinger, is hot off the press. The Sterns feast on only-in-America fried clams and onion rings at Champlin's Seafood Deck in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Sally Schneider, author of The Improvisational Cook, has ideas for summer coleslaw. Gary Nabhan, co-author of Renewing America's Food Traditions, looks at America's endangered foods, and David Rosengarten, creator of The Rosengarten Report newsletter, talks burger bliss.

This week it's the seeds and bark that changed the planet. We're talking spices, the stuff of wonderment and avarice in the medieval world with Paul Freedman, author of Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. It's a St. Augustine, Florida special for Jane and Michael Stern at Saltwater Cowboy's. We talk with Peter Shafer, our Gastrosexual for the month of June. Tea purist Bill Waddington, proprietor of St. Paul's TeaSource, has summer in a glass — iced teas for the lazy at heart, and culinary improv artist Sally Schneider has a brief on the wallflower of the farm stand… the beet.

This week it's the making of a wine merchant with Neal Rosenthal, one of the wine world's most respected importers. We'll hear the story of how he learned his craft and much more. His book is Reflections of a Wine Merchant.

It's world class chili with the Sterns at Joe Roger's Chili Parlor in Springfield, Illinois; and we're eating on the cheap abroad with Anya Von Bremzen. Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones, has secrets for flourishing well into our tenth decade, and we'll hear about a new kind of eatery in Denver named So All May Eat.

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This week it's a look at the noodle foursome that's the heart of Japan's beloved noodle cuisine: udon, somen, soba and ramen. Our guide is Chef Takashi Yagihashi, author of Takashi's Noodles. He talks noodle cooking, noodle etiquette, and the Japanese way with noodles that may even outflank Italy.

Jane and Michael Stern are forking into some of the most sublime banana cream pie anywhere at Betty's Pies on Minnesota's North Shore.

Indian food expert Raghavan Iyer has the fastest, lustiest breads you'll ever make. Forget the oven; for this quick bread you need to fire up your grill. Raghavan's latest book is 660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking.

American Public Media commentator and dad John Moe tells of a little experiment in dinner table politics. Parents of picky little eaters will want to tune in!

Brendan Newnam takes an off-center approach to the dinner party and it all starts with a joke. Then poet Nikki Giovanni reads her poem "So Enchanted with You" from her book Bicycles: Love Poems.

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It's a look at cork taint and the controversy it's creating in the wine world with George Taber, author of To Cork or Not to Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science and the Battle for the Wine Bottle.

Hot-dog obsessed Michael Stern has found wiener excellence at Ted's Hot Dogs in Tonawanda, New York.

Wine Spectator's Matt Kramer wants us to give more respect to Riesling, Gourmet magazine's John Willoughby has tips for cooking school vacations, and Scott Huler examines the ballpark mustard wars of Cleveland, Ohio, and we meet our Gastrosexual for the month of May!

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This week master bladesmith Bob Kramer joins us to talk the making of knives that chefs and collectors lust after. He's constantly experimenting, rethinking techniques, and traveling to Asia to learn from masters there. We'll learn what goes into the perfect knife.

For Jane and Michael Stern it's first class Neapolitan pizza at Pizzeria Lauretano in Bethel, Connecticut.

Food writer Janet Fletcher looks at bulgur, a grain that cooks fast, tastes great, and is easy on the wallet.

Years ago gardening expert Rosalind Creasy infuriated architects and city planners when she penned her book Edible Landscaping. They claimed she would ruin the look of America's neighborhoods. Now she has the last word as naysayers beat a path to her door. She joins us to talk planting a garden amidst what's already in your back yard. Her latest book is Rosalind Creasy's Recipes from the Garden.

Poet Todd Boss, author of Yellowrocket: Poems, reads his poem titled "Apple Slices," then James Brett, creator of Great Britain's Pomegreat juice, tells of the Pom354 project in Afghanistan.

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This week it's soul food, or what some think of as the culinary calling card of African Americans. It's an odd juxtaposition that out of great poverty and struggle came some of America's best eating. Our guest is history professor Frederick Opie, author of Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History).

For Jane and Michael Stern it's hot corned beef on rye and potato pancakes at McBob's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Food & Wine magazine's Ray Isle has good news from the wine world: it's prime time for good cheap wine from around the globe! He'll share some picks.

Spanish chef José Andres, author of Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen, considers the glory of the egg. No country finesses that little ovoid like Spain.

March 28, 2009: Buffalo Hunt

This week it's the story of one man, a one thousand pound buffalo and a passel of hungry wolves and bears on an Alaskan mountainside. Our guest is naturalist and hunter Steve Rinella, who talks 14,000 years of the American buffalo and the humans who hunted them. Steve's new book is American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon.

Jane and Michael Stern, on the hunt for the essential Cajun breakfast, end up at Café Des Amis in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

We say meat is so over! We're moving on to great beans, and talking with Steve Sando, author of Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo. He has a bunch of heirloom varieties we've never heard of.

Food and music is not a new idea, but music critic Tom Moon has a new niche for the
combo: music to clean up by. It's just what we need in the kitchen. Tom is the author of 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

The poems of Jane Hirshfield are called "honest and beautiful, sensual and clean, risky and wise." The same could be said of an inspired dish. Jane reads us her poem, "Cook."