Special Sauce with Ed Levine

Ed Levine

Serious Eats' podcast Special Sauce enables food lovers everywhere to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation about food and life between host and Serious Eats founder Ed Levine.

  • 42 minutes 40 seconds
    Karen Washington Redux

    On this episode of Special Sauce we revisit our provocative conversation with the food activist, farmer, and force of nature Karen Washington, one of the stars of the terrific documentary 'Food and Country'. In times like these, when many of our cherished institutions are coming under attack, we need more voices like hers.

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    18 April 2025, 7:00 pm
  • 41 minutes 26 seconds
    The Future of Farming with Will Harris

    On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to White Oak Pastures' Will Harris about nothing less than the future of farming. Harris has become one of the leading voices of the regenerative farming movement. 

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    11 April 2025, 7:00 pm
  • 38 minutes 32 seconds
    Asheville After the Flood with Pete Wells

    Last September Asheville, North Carolina was devastated by Hurricane Helene. The damage is estimated to be $60 billion. Especially hard hit was the close-knit food community that has attracted millions of visitors to Asheville every year. The New York Times's Pete Wells did some stellar reporting last fall when he spent a few days interviewing chefs and farmers in the picturesque western Carolina city. Now, six months down the road, Special Sauce checked in with Pete and James Beard Award-winning chef-restaurateur Meherwan Irani to update us on the state of Asheville's recovery. 

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    4 April 2025, 7:00 pm
  • 39 minutes 24 seconds
    Bob Jones of The Chef’s Garden on Farming's Future

    When the documentary Food and Country came out last year, we had Ruth Reichl on Special Sauce to talk about the film as a whole and the farmers that are actually the stars and heroes of the movie. One of those farmers is Bob Jones, CEO of The Chef's Garden in Ohio. Given the various extraordinary challenges farmers are set to face in the coming years, we thought it would be great to have Bob on the podcast to tell us his story and to tell us what the future might hold for all farmers.

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    28 March 2025, 4:00 pm
  • 36 minutes 21 seconds
    Remembering New Orleans' Pableaux Johnson

    The great street photographer, red beans and rice cook, and New Orleans food community organizer Pableaux Johnson died recently while doing what he was put on this earth to do: taking pictures of a second line parade. Here to talk about Pableaux Johnson and what he meant to the hundreds of people who called him a friend and the thousands of people who admired his work are my old friend New York Times food writer, Brett Anderson, and television and food writer, my good pal, Lolis Eric Elie. 

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    21 March 2025, 4:00 pm
  • 40 minutes 20 seconds
    Is the L.A. Smorgasburg the best street food festival in America?

    Is the L.A. Smorgasburg the best street food festival in America? We talk to the two people most responsible for it, Zach Brooks and Fernando Lopez. Zach has the dream job of tasting all the food and choosing the vendors; and Fernando runs the beer garden at Smorgasburg in Los Angeles and also helps run his family's famous James Beard Award-winning Oaxacan restaurant Gualaguetza. 

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    14 March 2025, 4:00 pm
  • 38 minutes 55 seconds
    Laurie Woolever on Bourdain, Batali, and Herself

    Today on Special Sauce we welcome back writer and former assistant to both Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain, Laurie Woolever. Laurie has just published 'Care and Feeding', a candid, funny, and often devastating memoir about her adventures and misadventures making her way through the food world while navigating addiction, motherhood, a cultural reckoning, and an unexpected tragedy.

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    7 March 2025, 5:00 pm
  • 37 minutes 46 seconds
    Remembering the Pizza OG Patsy Grimaldi

    With the passing of legendary pizzaiolo Patsy Grimaldi, the pizza world has lost one of its true giants. I discuss his legacy with Scott's Pizza Tours founder and pizza scholar Scott Wiener, and another great pizzaiolo, Una Pizza Napoletana's Anthony Mangieri on this episode of Special Sauce. 

    For more on the show, visit thespecialsaucepodcast.com.

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    28 February 2025, 9:00 pm
  • 38 minutes 45 seconds
    Food in the Aftermath of the L.A. Fires

    On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to the Los Angeles Times' Bill Adddison and Jenn Harris about the calamitous effect of the recent devastating fires on the L.A. food community.

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    21 February 2025, 5:00 pm
  • 37 minutes 32 seconds
    Adam Chandler on Work in America

    On this episode of Special Sauce, Adam Chandler talks about his new book '99% Perspiration' which explores the history of work in America. 

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    14 February 2025, 5:00 pm
  • 24 minutes 25 seconds
    'Reheating' Hot Chocolate With Jacques Torres

    On this episode of Special Sauce we revisit our chocolate-centric conversation with Mr. Chocolate himself Jacques Torres just in time for Valentine's Day.

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    7 February 2025, 5:00 pm
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