A butter aerobics class enlivens the Santa Monica Pier, bar man Christiaan Rollich talks about his innovative cocktails, Good Food takes look at the California drought that is threatening farmers and much, much more.
Highlights from this week’s show:
1. Butter Aerobics–Good Food producer Gillian Ferguson recently visited Feel the Churn, a “butter aerobics” class led by a group called Pop Soda on the Santa Monica Pier. Pop Soda describes the class, where participants churn butter while burning calories to an ‘80’s workout routine, as ‘the stupidest, most inefficient, and funniest way to make butter.”
2. Combating Hunger in Rwanda– Josh Ruxin is a public health expert and author of A Thousand Hills to Heaven. His book chronicles his experience working to build a health infrastructure in Rwanda. In it, he describes the key role of local agriculture.
He also spearheads Rwanda Works and Global Health Builders. He describes how his project, the Millenium Villages Project, implemented a stable supply of food in Mayange, a village in Rwanda.
3. C.A. Drought– California is in a serious drought situation currently, and Laura Avery talks to farmers Troy Regier, a family farmer from Reedley, and Dawn Canter from Flora Bella Farms about how the drought is affecting their crops.
Good Food also turns to two journalists, Vinnee Tong and Paul Rogers, to find out more about the drought situation.
4. The Creative Process of Bartenders– Christiaan Rollich is the cocktail wiz at A.O.C., Lucques and Tavern. He talks about one of his popular cocktails served at A.O.C., the Pinkerton, how he tailors his drinks for each restaurant, and the first cocktail he ever made.
5. The Untold Story of Alcohol in American Literature– Olivia Laing is the author of The Trip to Echo Spring, a book about her literary journey across the U.S. tracking the role alcohol played in the lives of extraordinary American writers. She talks about how she discovered the untold story of the role of alcohol in literature.
6. Jonathan Gold Reviews Factory Kitchen– Jonathan Gold is the Pulitzer Prize winning food writer for the Los Angeles Times, and this week he reviews Factory Kitchen, a new Italian restaurant in the Arts District in downtown L.A.