This Week on Good Food: Shrimp, Restaurant Pricing, The Science of Umami

Paul Greenberg provides an in-depth look at how Americans get their shrimp, Amanda Cohen explores what goes into a restaurant’s prices. Plus, Ole G. Hourtisen discusses the science behind umami.

Highlights from this week’s show:

1. Shrimp–Paul Greenberg, author of American Catch, returns to Good Food this week to talk about shrimp, which is by far the most popular seafood in America.

But there’s a lot about our shrimping history that you probably don’t know.

2. Taming the Feast–Chef Ben Ford worked at Chez Panisse before moving to Los Angeles to work at Campanile and Chadwick. His new cookbook, Taming the Feastoffers DIYers diagrams, line drawings, and timelines for creating a backyard party to satisfy the masses.

3. Jonathan Gold Reviews Ladies Gunboat Society at Flores–Jonathan Gold is the Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer for the Los Angeles Times. This week he reviews Ladies’ Gunboat Society at Flores on Sawtelle.

Ladies Gunboat Society at Flores

2024 Sawtelle Blvd

Sawtelle

(424) 273-6469

Find all of Jonathan’s restaurant recommendations on the Good Food restaurant map.

4. What Goes Into the Price of an Entree?

Amanda Cohen, chef/owner of Dirt Candy in New York City, pulls back the curtain on restaurant pricing. In a recent column for Eater, Cohen argued that the numbers on menus have less to do with expensive ingredients than with making rent and compensating employees. If we care about the people serving our food, she says, we’re going to have to pay for their health insurance.

5. Market Report–Farmer Chris Milliken gives Laura Avery a primer on everything you need to know about cucumbers.

Plus, Chef Curtis Stone of Maudetalks about how he’s using corn in his restaurant.

6. The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking

978-1623361297

Martha Rose Shulman writes the Recipes for Health column in the New York Times, and her latest book is The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking.

7. Umami–Ole G. Mouritsen is a distinguished scientist and professor of biophysics at the University of Southern Denmark. His book, Umami: Unlocking the Secrets of the Fifth Taste, won the Danish national Mad+Medier+Prisen (Food and Media Award) in the category of academic food communication.