Bitchin' About Food

Kath has been looking forward to/dreading talking to Jan's cousin Lauri Weiss for almost two years because Lauri knows the truth about food and is the epitome of the saying "you are what you eat". A scrupulously clean eater, Lauri recounts her health journey which began nearly 30 years ago with a focus mainly based on diet and nutrition. She debunks the notion that martinis and giant hunks of cheese (Kath) and mini-tootsie rolls (Jan) are good for you and participates in Kath's lightening round of a long list of foods which may or may not be beneficial. Spoiler alert: Doritos don't make the list. A fascinating conversation about the power of the mind, discipline and mindful eating. Listen in!

Karen Pratt is a fearless world traveler with a taste for adventure (and good food). She is also one of Kath's oldest pals and she was kind enough to Zoom with us and regale us with tales of food experiences in foreign lands. Recalling early travel and food experiences as a child, she has now experienced all sorts of gastronomic delights, from Jordanian bread slapped on the side of a hot metal dome to Israeli salads to Norwegian eels to fenugreek cake: she has tasted it all. A true culinary journey that made us both want to simultaneously book tickets and eat something. Listen in!

Jan goes way back with screenwriter and author Parker Bennett and his wife Tish Hicks. As one of LA's most successful voiceover artists for over 25 years, there’s a good chance you have heard Tish’s voice talking to you about Subaru, Citibank or Pop-Secret...or maybe you have even taken her voice-over class (head to www.thevodojo.com [http://www.thevodojo.com/] - Jan keeps promising to). Tish recounts the Polish feasts of her childhood and how her Swedish stepfather was really the one who introduced her to thoughtfully prepared and executed meals. We talk about the three-meat minimum for any Polish get-together, Parker’s infamous ground turkey "crumble", Kath’s love of pierogis, the famous Croquembouche project and the annual turkey photo with their kids. A delightfully tasty and fun episode – listen in!

Long-time veterans of Chicago theatre Steve Totland and Meryl Friedman join Kath and Jan in the studio to discuss a wide-variety of subjects: vegetarianism, their very long marriage, the journey to Los Angeles from Chicago, Steve’s garden, how working long hours impacts who does the cooking, the price of food, a salmon dinner that went south and Meryl’s face-to-face with a ham sandwich on white bread with mayo served on a Christmas plate.  We marvel at how we’ve known each other for decades, but have never really hung out much, yet still have much in common to talk about, especially when it comes to food. A terrific episode that seemed to fly by – listen in!

It's a rollicking good old Chicago love-fest when Kath's old pal and stage manager, Steve Sweeney, joins Jan and Kath in person. We talk about Steve's health journey from scary to svelte, using food quality improvement and portion control as the ultimate medicine. We reminisce about Margie's Candies in Chicago, and Steve finally gets to tell HIS side of the story about how he helped an elderly woman with her Thanksgiving dilemma of a too-big turkey by (let's call it) re-homing it. A hilarious conversation with the cleverest of them all - listen in!