From takeout boxes to feeling boxed in, growing up as a "restaurant kid" is a unique experience.

• Curtis Chin and Rachel Phan share memories of growing up in their parents' Chinese restaurants
• Cookbook author Irina Georgescu finds inspiration east of the Danube River in Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria
• Jeremy Salamon reconnects with his Hungarian Jewish heritage and the charming childhood created by his grandmother
• Chef Harry Posner takes advantage of the short window for green almonds

Here are all the SoCal James Beard finalists. And don't forget to sign up for the weekly Good Food newsletter!

Explore the spiritual side of food and modern Ghanaian recipes.

• Jody Eddy spent two years visiting sacred spaces and meeting the people who cook in them
• Inspired by childhood visits to Ghana, Eric Adjepong debuts his first collection of recipes
• Andrea Nguyen questions the accuracy of those Prop 65 warning labels on many foods
• Evan Rail plays detective, looking back on an absinthe enthusiast who became a con artist
• Restaurant critic Tom Sietsema blows his cover in the CIA dining room

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A Black chef and cookbook author finally gets her due!

• Deb Freeman traces the life of Edna Lewis, author of "The Taste of Country Cooking," in a new documentary.
• While some people spent the pandemic starting sourdough, Jesse Valenciana got busy perfecting his birria.
• Memo Torres visits an Inglewood backyard, where three generations of the Sandoval family make birria using an abuela's recipe.
• Carolyn Kormann shares alarming facts about how microplastics have made their way into our bodies.
• Chef Caroline Leff of Stir Crazy turns up at the farmers market for a favorite root vegetable.

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Celebrate the Persian new year with fresh herbs and new recipes

• Known to his followers as the Caspian Chef, Omid Roustaei prepares to celebrate Nowruz. 
• Economist Betty Resnick lays out the reasons behind the US's agricultural trade deficit.
• Alissa Timoshkina ventures beyond cabbage in a new cookbook dedicated to vegetables in Eastern European cuisines.
• Whales that get caught in Dungeness crab fishing gear have left fishermen and environmentalists scrambling for a solution.

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The story behind the famous orange chicken at Panda Express and more!

• Dora Herrera remembers her mother, Socorro, who took orders at Yuca's in Los Feliz for nearly 50 years.
• Tejal Rao visits the renovated Panda Inn, where a precursor to orange chicken took flight.
• Honor May Eldridge follows our obsession with the Hass avocado, which was developed right here, in Southern California.
• In his new cookbook, Tu David Phu reconciles his family's trauma with his perceptions of what ingredients are deemed worthy.
• In shades of pinks and greens, farmers market chicories are favored by chefs for creating balance in dishes. 

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Karen E. Fisher shares stories of Ramadan at Zaatari, the world's largest Syrian refugee camp located in Jordan. Helena Bottemiller Evich introduces the new administration's appointments charged to “Make America Healthy Again.” Dr. Christopher Gardener drops some wisdom about seed oil. Caroline Eden reflects on her travels through Central Asia and Eastern Europe and considers how the kitchen is a unique space to tell human stories.

Eat Thai street food and maple tofu sticks while sipping makgeolli.

• Designer-turned-food-writer Kristina Cho celebrates her Chinese heritage with delicious and approachable recipes
• Bill Addison dives into pad see ew and other iconic Bangkok street food dishes at Holy Basil
• Chef Govind Armstrong cracks into spiny lobster while celebrating a popular Santa Monica Pier restaurant's 25th anniversary
• Dakota Kim embraces the modern boom in an ancient Korean drink — makgeolli.
• Monique King mourns the loss of Fox's, a family restaurant in Altadena, while trying to support her staff
• Pastry chef Sasha Piligian uses olive oil and farmers market citrus in a cake destined for a charity bake sale

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From chocolate grown in a petri dish to the latest updates on bird flu, this is a sciencey episode along with a few beans, lemons and eggs.

• Gabriela Glueck puts lab grown chocolate under the microscope.
• Apoorva Mandavilli reports on the bird flu crisis and what items to avoid when you're shopping.
• Genevieve Ko offers alternatives for recipes that involve eggs.
• Steve Sando and Julia Newberry of Rancho Gordo share their ideas for using 50 varieties of beans.
• Bethany Harris puts the squeeze on farmers market citrus.

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We explore candied fruit, small-batch cookies, how to make maple syrup and an ancient fruit — the date.

• Rawaan Alkhatib takes us on a hot date, offering a global perspective on the ancient superfood.
• Chewy and gooey, small batch bakes are perfect when you want just a little sweetness — and Edd Kimber knows how to mix them up.
• Camilla Wynne shows us how to make stunning candied fruit. Peter Gregg pursues happiness via maple syrup.
• Baker and chocolatier Valerie Gordon explains how she sugars rose petals for her bestselling petits fours.

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An Altadena bar owner works to be a good neighbor while a cooking school taps home chefs from around the globe.

• After the Eaton Fire, Randy Clement, who owns Good Neighbor Bar, used wine delivery software to canvas Altadena, informing neighbors whether or not their homes had survived.
• Sergio Olmos reports on the recent immigration raids in Kern County.
• Lisa Kyung Gross founded the League of Kitchens Cooking School, where women from around the world act as instructors; now, they've compiled their recipes into a cookbook.
• Mother and daughter Patricia Tanumihardja and Juliana Evari Suparman share recipes from their Indonesian kitchen.
• Finally, Good Food looks back on a conversation with Slanted Door chef Charles Phan, who died unexpectedly last week.

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New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi follows a Haviland pattern of china that has set the table for five generations of women. LA transplant Vanessa Anderson, aka The Grocery Goblin on Tiktok, documents the city by visiting its markets. Julia Van Soelen Kim shares advice for gardeners concerned about how ash from the Palisades and Eaton fires might impact their crops. Mother and daughter Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Riddle prepare for the Lunar New Year with recipes from their new cookbook. Chef Travis Hayden lost his home in the Palisades Fire but is finding time to feed first responders and other fire victims.