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.

We all saw it unfold in real time, some of us from our phones, others witnessing the devastation firsthand. Our beautiful, complicated, and geographically vast Los Angeles has been brought to its knees. Our heart goes out to everyone who finds themselves struggling and unmoored through all the types of loss, whether it be family, a home or a neighborhood. As the days have passed, one aspect of this tragedy has kept us going — the extraordinary kindness and generosity of the citizens of Los Angeles.

This week, we speak with those affected by the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, and those who have selflessly stepped up to help. Wendy Escobedo of World Central Kitchen explains how the organization mobilizes — with a little help from chefs and restaurateurs like Roy Choi, Kim Prince, and Greg Dulan — to feed evacuees and first responders. Christine Moore, owner of Little Flower in Pasadena, fought flames in her neighborhood and is now feeding the community while navigating her own displacement. Dina Samson offers perspective on how the fires are impacting LA's already struggling hospitality industry. Teddy and Andy Leonard, owners of The Reel Inn in Malibu, look back on their restaurant, which succumbed to fire after 36 years of selling seafood on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Julia Child reporting fellow Gabriela Glueck heads to Humboldt to speak with a community of seaweed evangelists. Brant Cox plays soothsayer and predicts what's on trend for restaurants in 2025. Joe Yonan proves that plant-based cooking is anything but boring. Heidi Pickman outlines the new licensing steps for home cooks who want to legally prepare foods to sell. "What if we slowed down and savored flavors, smells, and textures?" asks Betsy Andrews while considering the science behind pacing ourselves.

In this excerpt from The Treatment, chef René Redzepi unpacks the complicated history of global ingredients in "Omnivore," an eight-part series for Apple+. Known for his examination of nature on the plate, Michael Pollan alters consciousness in this clip from Life Examined.

The Good Food team — host Evan Kleiman and producers Gillian Ferguson, Laryl Garcia, and Elina Shatkin — choose their favorite segments of the year. Nicola Twilley takes a cold plunge into the history of refrigeration. Chef Fadi Kattan is on a mission to document and share Palestinian foods, traditions, and the work of home cooks. Filmmaker Peter Byck casts a lens on the maverick farmers and scientists working to solve the climate crisis. In her latest docuseries, Pati Jinich showcases the politics, culture, and cuisine of the US/Mexico borderlands.