Tinfoil Swans

Tinfoil Swans

Food & Wine has led the conversation around food, drinks, and hospitality in America and around the world since 1978. Tinfoil Swans continues that legacy with intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting conversations with the biggest names in the culinary industry and beyond, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made them who they are today. You'll hear from icons and innovators like Daniel Boulud, Padma Lakshmi, Tristen Epps, and Maneet Chauhan, going deep on their formative experiences, the dishes and meals that made them, their joys, doubts and dreams, and what's still on the menu ahead. Tune in for a feast that'll feed your brain and soul — and plenty of wisdom and quotable morsels to savor later. New episodes every Tuesday.

Episodes

May 5, 2026 57 mins
1990 F&W Best New Chef Nancy Silverton recounts growing up craving white bread and sugary cereal while her mother served spanakopita and beef bourguignon, how a college crush led her to a dorm kitchen where she first realized she wanted to cook for a living, the moment at Chez Panisse that defined her food philosophy, her insistence on simplicity over trends, and why even after decades of acclaim, she still feels like an impostor. ...
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Cooking the Borderlands author and chef Claudette Zepeda opens up about growing up in Tijuana learning English from PBS shows, being told she’d “never make it” as a chef while pushing a newborn in a stroller, and why she relies on her inner "chaos demon." She shares how a trip to Morocco reignited her creative spark, why she and her cooks chant “You’re doing it, Peter” in the kitchen, what it took to survive toxic restaurant cultur...
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Legendary chef Wolfgang Puck opens up about leaving an abusive home at 14, finding refuge in a pastry kitchen, and getting his first real validation from a mentor. From taking a Greyhound bus to Indianapolis expecting it to be like Monaco, getting life advice from Elton John and Mick Jagger, and building Spago with an open kitchen that changed dining culture, he reflects on cooking for celebrities and royalty — and why he says hell...
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Chef Paul Carmichael traces his path from a teenage cook in Barbados to the chef behind Kabawa, which Food & Wine recently named the best restaurant in the U.S. He opens up about feeling like an impostor in top kitchens, the mentors (like Wylie Dufresne, Marcus Samuelsson, and David Chang) who shaped him, and the turning point that led him to “burn clean” and build a restaurant rooted in purpose, not pressure. Visit foodandwine....
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April 7, 2026 44 mins
What does it mean to “repaint” the world more truthfully and joyfully? Bridgerton and You, Me & Tuscany star Regé-Jean Page traces his path from a spider-fearing, Indiana Jones–loving kid in Zimbabwe to an actor determined to enrich how and for whom we see love, travel, and culture depicted on screen. He shares vivid memories of childhood meals eaten by hand around a fire, why moving to the UK pushed him to find belonging through m...
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On the 25th anniversary of his groundbreaking restaurant Craft, and 20th anniversary of Top Chef, Tom Colicchio reflects on his path from teenage short-order cook to one of the defining figures in American dining. He opens up about ADHD, a dangerous road not taken, a surprise appearance by a Jacques Pépin cookbook, the moment he chose cooking over everything else, and why he’s now pushing for better work-life balance in restaurant ...
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Season 4 of Tinfoil Swans returns March 31 with an all-star lineup of culinary icons, storytellers, and industry trailblazers. Hosted by Kat Kinsman, this award-winning podcast goes beyond food to explore the personal journeys behind the people shaping what and how we eat. This season features powerful conversations with legends like Wolfgang Puck, Claudette Zepeda, and Tom Colicchio. Expect laughter, vulnerability, and hard-earned...
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December 9, 2025 52 mins
Phil Rosenthal is living his dream life as a newly-minted restaurant owner who gets to work alongside his family and one of the greatest chefs in the country. In this live podcast taping from the Food & Wine Classic in Charleston, the Somebody Feed Phil star, Everybody Loves Raymond creator, and bestselling cookbook author talks about his childhood culinary awakening at 7-Eleven, dragging his parents kicking and screaming to a fanc...
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December 2, 2025 52 mins
Celebrated food writer and Great British Bake Off finalist Ruby Tandoh talks about growing up with Nigel Slater on her parents' bookshelf, hosting earnest teenage dinner parties, and finding her own voice on the page. She digs into regional food traditions from Manchester’s spicy dip burgers to Scotland’s arbroath smokies, the strange pressures of algorithm-driven food culture, the joy of old cookbooks and weird jelly molds, her ne...
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November 25, 2025 60 mins
Byron Gomez and his family arrived in the United States from Costa Rica when he was eight years old, and he was in for the shock of his young life. He spoke Spanish at home, had never seen snow or even a winter coat, and had to find his place in a world that didn't always want him there. But at age 15, he found restaurants. He put in the very hard work, let himself dream, and the success followed. The Top Chef contestant spoke abou...
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Houston-based sommelier and restaurateur June Rodil shares her journey from an immigrant kid decoding American culture through Babysitters Club books to becoming a hospitality visionary redefining what it means to serve with empathy. She opens up about fitting in, parental pressure, what Waffle House and Olive Garden taught her about hospitality, and the quiet refuge she finds beneath the covers when the world gets too loud. Learn...
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November 11, 2025 57 mins
Bestselling author, award-winning TV host and producer, activist, and fledgling comedian Padma Lakshmi joined the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen for a live onstage conversation about what's next after Top Chef and Taste the Nation, her new book Padma's All American, how comedy is like sex without touching, the freedom in working from the bathtub, the value in building an "old broads network," and why it's so healthy to embrace your r...
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If you're a fan of The Office, you're probably aware that co-star Angela Kinsey and her husband Joshua Snyder host an ultra-charming cooking show, but do you know how a giant pot of soup factored into their romance? They joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about their warm, wonderful, and empowering new cookbook; the way they feel when someone is rude to a waiter; the anxiety that still sometimes comes alongside the check at a restaurant;...
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Cassandra Peterson — better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark — grew up as a misfit kid with a bad perm, burn scars, and a mother who told her she'd never make it. Despite it all, she became a Las Vegas showgirl, a Groundling, a horror icon, and a beacon for weirdoes everywhere. The "Martha Stewart of the Macabre" talks about her new cookbook, the cooking tip Vincent Price gave her, the advice she didn't take from Elvis, and th...
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October 21, 2025 52 mins
Harry Hamlin shares how his Sunday Bolognese went from a Real Housewives lunch to an open-source food company, the reason his psychology degree informs his hosting (at parties that serve as exposure therapy for his wife, Lisa Rinna), and why it's so important to him to support hunger relief groups. Did you know he's owned an energy company for almost 30 years? The actor, activist, and entrepreneur goes deep on his belief in ingredi...
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When Madhur Jaffrey published "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" in 1973, she had no idea that half a century later, the book would not only still be in print, but also get an anniversary reissue that would welcome future generations in the vast and varied cuisine of her homeland. In this encore of one of our favorite first-season epsiodes of Tinfoil Swans, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman finally meets her lifelo...
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October 7, 2025 59 mins
2009 F&W Best New Chef and Houston icon Bryan Caswell opens up about single fatherhood, second chances, and his comeback with Latuli — plus the "redemption lies tomorrow" mindset reshaping his kitchen, and the time he sneaked into Jean-George Vongerichten's kitchen and came out with a job. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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September 30, 2025 55 mins
From fixing radios and writing slam poetry as a kid in the Bronx, to becoming one of the most celebrated pastry chefs and community builders of her generation, 2021 Food & Wine Best New Chef Paola Velez has never followed the expected path. Along the way, she’s embraced subcultures that gave her belonging, built spaces where strangers connect over shaved ice and cocktails, and redefined what it means to be a chef — on social media,...
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From three-mile walks to school in Guyana and “punishment baking” with his aunt to becoming the first pastry chef named a Food & Wine Best New Chef, Tavel Bristol-Joseph has never followed the expected path. In this episode, he shares the chaos and music of landing in Brooklyn, the quiet ritual he keeps each birthday to honor his late father, and why he believes cooking is just the vessel for something much bigger. For more info v...
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Food & Wine’s longest-serving editors in chief, Dana Cowin and Hunter Lewis, invite you into a revealing conversation about the history and impact of the Best New Chefs accolade since it started in 1988. From the early days of scouting talent with notebooks and stringers to today’s rigorous process shaped by mentorship, community, and culture, they share behind-the-scenes stories, heated debates, and the unforgettable moments that ...
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