This Week on Good Food: Guerrilla Tacos, Avocado Gangs, Cooking for Persian New Year

Jonathan Gold reviews an unusual taco truck, David Mills details the avocado cartels in Mexico and Louisa Shafia shares updated recipes for Persian cooking.

Highlights from this week’s show:

1. Farmacology–Dr. Daphne Miller is the author of Farmacology, a book that explores the idea of ‘food as medicine’ in the context of family farming and soil health.

2. Microbes Affect Wine’s Regional Taste–David Mills is a professor of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. He coauthored a recent study that found that microbes specific to certain regions have an effect on terroir, or the signature taste of an area’s wine.

3. Jonathan Gold Reviews Guerrilla Tacos–Jonathan Gold is the Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer for the Los Angeles Times. This week he reviews Guerrilla Tacos, Chef Wes Avila’s taco truck that frequents the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles.

The menu changes daily (as does the location, check their website for details), so Jonathan recommends to go with a group and order the whole menu.

4. ‘Street Meat’ Hits Los Angeles–Zach Brooks of Midtown Lunch and the Food is the New Rock podcast breaks the news of a halal meat truck coming to Los Angeles.

5. Avocado Cartels–Jose de Cordoba is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. In a recent article, he reported that Mexican cartels in Michoacan are extorting farmers, packing houses and shippers in the avocado growing region. He says 4 out of 5 avocados shipped to the U.S. come from the afflicted area where the local mafia takes at least a 10 percent cut of the profits.

6. Market Report–John Jackson sells blueberries for Whitney Ranch in Santa Barbara. He hopes to have blueberries at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market until at least August.

Amelia Posada co-owns Lindy and Grundy butcher shop with Erika Nakamura. Posada describes how the dry weather has affected the ranchers she buys from and the meat in her shop.

7. Nowruz Dishes and Fesenjan–Louisa Shafia is the author of New Persian Kitchen. She talks about cooking for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, and about updating Persian classics for a vegetarian and vegan palate.