Michele is joined by author, civil rights activist, and famed Star Trek actor George Takei. George’s story of his mother’s kitchen is far different than our other guests—he didn’t have one growing up. He shares his harrowing experiences living in an internment camp as a child, how he adjusted to life after, and what led to becoming Sulu. He’ll also share two foods that gave him solace throughout his life: his mother’s East LA-influenced tacos and her “footballs,” or Iniri.

George Takei is a social media superstar, Grammy-nominated recording artist, New York Times bestselling author, and pioneering actor whose career has spanned six decades. He has appeared in more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television roles, and he has used his success as a platform to fight for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and marriage equality.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode18

Singer, songwriter, composer, and genuine music lover Jon Batiste serenades us with his harmonica-keyboard while reminiscing on the sounds of his childhood kitchen in New Orleans. He describes what it was like to grow up in a big, musical family of jazz legends, and shares some of their favorite Christmas traditions—including competing to see who could make the best and truest gumbo.

Jon Batiste is a multiple Oscar and Grammy award-winning musician and TV personality. He was the bandleader and musical director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022. He also received multiple awards for his work on Pixar’s Soul. He is the subject of a new documentary, American Symphony.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode17

Michele joins chef Samin Nosrat, author of the New York Times bestseller Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, to tell stories of Nosrat’s mother’s kitchen, who and what else shaped her as she grew up, and a very special trip Nosrat took to her native Iran when she was just a kid.

Samin Nosrat is a San Diego-born, Oakland-based chef, writer, and teacher. Netflix’s documentary series Salt Fat Acid Heat, based on her book, was released in 2018. She has also starred in Netflix’s children’s cooking series Waffles + Mochi (produced by Higher Ground Productions), and co-hosted the podcast Home Cooking with Hrishikesh Hirway.

Nosrat began her cooking career at Alice Waters’ acclaimed Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse. She went on to work in Italy alongside chefs Benedetta Vitali and Dario Cecchini, and at (the now-closed) Eccolo in Berkeley.

She is currently at work on a second book.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode16

Singer and songwriter Jeff Tweedy discusses cherished memories from his childhood kitchen in Illinois, and the invaluable time he spent at his kitchen table with his mother, and he explains how his favorite home-cooked dish today - known simply as The Dis - became a Tweedy family hit.

Jeff Tweedy is an American songwriter, musician, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Born and raised in Belleville, Illinois, Tweedy started his music career in high school with Jay Farrar and their band The Plebes (which later became Uncle Tupelo). After Uncle Tupelo's fourth studio album, the band broke up in 1994, prompting Tweedy to form Wilco. Wilco found critical and commercial success on their albums Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born; the latter went on to receive a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2005. Across Tweedy's career, he has released fifteen studio albums: four with Uncle Tupelo, ten with Wilco, and one with his son Spencer, along with numerous collaborations with other musicians. He is the author of several books, including his memoir Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) and most recently, World Within a Song.

Tweedy lives with his wife, Sue Miller, in Chicago. They have two sons, Spencer and Sammy.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode15

Author, journalist, and professor Michael Pollan talks about the influence Julia Child had on his mother’s kitchen and the nature of kitchens in America today, and shares his unexpected favorite dish growing up.

Michael Pollan is a renowned advocate for responsible farming, gardening, and slow, local eating. Pollan has been a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine since 1987 and is the author of several successful books. Pollan writes about “the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in our minds.” In 2003, Pollan was appointed Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. In 2017, he was appointed Professor of the Practice of Non-fiction at Harvard. In 2020, he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. In his Netflix documentary series Cooked, Pollan explores how cooking transforms food and shapes the world.

Michael Pollan was born into a Jewish family in Long Island in 1955. He is the oldest of four children and brother to three little sisters. His father, Stephen Pollan, was a financial consultant, and his mother, Korky, was a New York Magazine columnist, style editor at Gourmet magazine, and an avid home cook. Pollan has a son, Isaac, and lives in the Bay Area with his wife, the painter Judith Belzer.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode14

On this special Thanksgiving episode, we’re joined by America’s weatherman Al Roker. He shares Thanksgiving traditions new and old, plus tips on how to perfect his mama’s oxtail stew with dumplings.

Al Roker is the longtime host of Today’s weather programing on NBC. He led NBC’s coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade 26 years in a row, up until 2021. He had his own program on Food Network called Roker on the Road and a podcast, Cooking up a Storm with Al Roker.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode12

In this episode of Your Mama’s Kitchen, comedian, writer, and TV host Hari Kondabolu talks about growing up in Queens, New York City, where his mother brought her native South India to the dinner table with an unforgettable peanut chutney. Hari also discusses his parents’ quiet activism—and how, from his mother, Hari learned to use humor to confront the world’s injustices.

Hari Kondabolu is a comedian, writer, TV host, and podcaster based in Brooklyn, New York. His comedy covers subjects including race, inequity, and Indian stereotypes; the latter was the basis of Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu, a cultural critique of The Simpsons’ character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. His 2018 Netflix special Warn Your Relatives was named in several Best Of Year lists, including ones from TIME, Paste, and Cosmopolitan. Hari has released two comedy albums, Waiting for 2042 and Mainstream American Comic, and was a writer and correspondent on the FX show Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. He regularly appears on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and WNYC’s Midday on WNYC. Kondabolu attended both Bowdoin College and Wesleyan University and earned a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode12

Award-winning actress Uzo Aduba opens up about growing up with her Nigerian family in Medfield, Massachusetts. She speaks on how her mother taught her to be proud of her Nigerian heritage and name in a town that did not have a lot of people of color. We also learn how to make her mother’s delicious red stew and rice.

Three-time Emmy Award-winning Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba is an actress best known for her role on Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black, which made her one of only two actors to win an Emmy in both the comedy and drama categories for the same role. In 2021, she received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress for her performance in Clyde’s on Broadway.

Find the episode transcript here: https://www.audible.com/ymk/episode11