When Lee Anne Wong was starting out as a line cook, her nickname in the kitchen was The Little General — and she owns it. For her entire life, she's thrown herself full-force into anything she does, whether it's cooking, competing on TV shows, being a culinary producer on Top Chef, or mentoring young chefs, and it's led to a pretty extraordinary life — complete with running her own restaurants in Hawai'i. But then in August of 2023, suddenly, things were out of her control. Wildfires...

Rodney Scott is having a good day. It's right there on the pit master's shirt — the slogan "every day is a good day." He's a James Beard Award-winning chef who rose to national prominence cooking the sumptuous whole-hog barbecue he grew up eating. He's been the subject of a documentary, won accolades for his cookbook, and has plans to expand his restaurant empire everywhere. But back when he was a music-loving kid in Hemingway, South Carolina, annoyed about spending his vacation days working...

By the time Daniel Boulud was in Food & Wine's first class of Best New Chefs in 1988, he'd already been working in restaurant kitchens for almost two decades. At 14, he knew school wasn't for him and that despite his parents' concerns, he wanted to be a cook. Now with 20-plus restaurants and countless accolades in his knife roll, the world-famous chef looks back at the moments that made his legendary career, including grueling work in a windowless Lyon basement, creating the first viral...

Food & Wine has led the conversation around food, drinks, and hospitality in America and around the world since 1978. Season Two of the Tinfoil Swans podcast continues that legacy with even more intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting interviews 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. This season, you'll hear from icons and...

In our season one finale, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman catches up with her brilliant friend and colleague, Ray Isle, a few weeks before his debut book "The World in a Wineglass" arrives in stores. Growing up in Texas, the self-described "word-drunk kid" was years away from discovering the pleasures of fermented grapes, but he was clearly a born storyteller — and even ended up as a character in a famous novel. The executive wine editor shared his winding, wonderful...

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 will welcome future generations in the vast and varied cuisine of her homeland. In the twelfth episode of Tinfoil Swans, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman finally meets her lifelong culinary hero and gets some sage advice from the writer, teacher, and actress about self...

In 1999, when Food & Wine named Rocco DiSpirito as one of its Best New Chefs he was only in his early 30s, but he'd already been in the industry for a couple decades. At 10 years old, Rocco started working at a local pizzeria – a natural fit for a kid whose Italian American family grew most of their own food and started talking about lunch before breakfast was over. His innovative cuisine at Union Pacific made him a darling of both industry peers and jaded New York diners, but it was his...

In our tenth episode, executive features editor Kat Kinsman managed to find chef Stephanie Izard in a rare quiet moment when she wasn't fussing over the final details of opening a new restaurant (or two), in front of a camera on "Tournament of Champions" or "Hell's Kitchen", testing a new sauce for her This Little Goat line of products, or at work on one of the billion other projects she has going on at any given time. If you'd shared a snapshot of this future with Izard back in the days...

In our ninth episode, executive features editor Kat Kinsman gets raw with Gregory Gourdet. You might know him from "Top Chef," "Iron Chef," or playing himself on "Portlandia." You might be a fan of his cookbook "Everyone's Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health." Perhaps you've read Korsha Wilson's profile of him in the August issue of Food & Wine or spent months scheming to get into his James Beard Award-winning Portland restaurant Kann. Gregory Gourdet is — and should be — at the...

In our eighth episode, executive features editor Kat Kinsman checks in with Enrique Olvera as he's on the verge of expanding his international restaurant empire. There's a good chance you're picturing him in a "Chef's Table" glow, making the mole and tostadas and other dishes that has made his Mexico City restaurant Pujol into a global destination since 2000. That flagship was followed by New York outposts Cosme in 2014 and Atla in 2017, then Los Angeles in 2020 with Damian, and he's now...

In our seventh episode, executive features editor Kat Kinsman gets personal with Padma Lakshmi. The author and TV personality had a stunning 17-season run as a host, judge, and executive producer on "Top Chef," has written multiple bestselling cookbooks and a memoir, and won both James Beard Awards and Emmys. Just days after this recording, it was announced that she was leaving the show, and will be diving full force into "Taste The Nation" – a show that she created for Hulu, focusing on the...

In our sixth episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman sits down with the multifaceted David Chang. In 2006, Food & Wine named him as one its Best New Chefs, but no one could have predicted the impact that his restaurants, books, consumer products, TV shows, podcasts, magazine, and more would have on food culture — least of all Chang, who didn't expect to live past 35. Ten years past that self-predicted end, the chef who was once as well-known for his volatile...

In our fifth episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman catches up with Maneet Chauhan, the chef and restaurateur behind Chauhan Ale and Masala House, and other excellent Nashville spots, as well as the author of "Chaat: Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India". These days, Maneet is a force on shows like "Chopped", "Iron Chef America", and "Tournament of Champions", but before all that, she was a self-admitted "complete brat" as a kid, running from...

In our fourth episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman catches up with the eternally optimistic Shota Nakajima. Many people may know him from his incredible run on Top Chef Season 18, his appearances on Food Network shows like Tournament of Champions, his array of Seattle restaurants, or his extremely entertaining and educational Instagram feed. But before his rise to fame, Shota was a "punky looking" high school drop-out with his head deep in a sketchbook, or...

In our third episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman speaks with her friend Antoni Porowski. His rise to fame may seem meteoric, with a star-making role as Queer Eye's food and drinks expert leading to bestselling cookbooks and tours, and a Netflix competition show of his own. But Porowski has been preparing for this moment since he was a multilingual, food-fixated, Martha Stewart-loving kid in Canada with his eye on the silver screen and beyond. Antoni and Kat...

In our second episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman speaks with the inimitable Mashama Bailey. You may know her from Chef's Table. her James Beard Awards for Best Chef, Southeast and Outstanding Chef, or her book Black, White and the Grey, which she co-authored with her business partner Johno Morisano. You may have caught her on a screen on the back of an airplane seat, sharing the secrets of Southern cooking. Mashama Bailey is everywhere — as she should be! But...

In our debut episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman speaks with the one and only chef Guy Fieri. He's become a household name as a restaurateur, cookbook author, host of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Guy's Grocery Games, Tournament of Champions and more smash-hit shows — and in recent years, as a mega-philanthropist who has raised millions for first responders and hospitality workers. But before all that, Guy was just a kid with big dreams and a Kool-Aid stand in a...

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 a new series of intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting interviews with the biggest names in the culinary industry, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made them who they are today. Each week, you'll hear from icons and innovators like Guy Fieri, David Chang,...