Your Mama’s Kitchen

Tony Award winning actor and Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson talks about finding his “tribe” in his local theater program as a kid in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He opens up about coming out to his dad three times and what it’s like for him to be a dad himself now, in real life. Plus, we learn how to make an especially southwestern dish, green (hatch) chili chicken stew.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor best known ...

Eric Kim, staff writer and essayist for The New York Times food section, introduces us to his mother Jean’s exceptional Korean cooking, and to the suburban Atlanta kitchen he grew up in. It was there that Eric developed a love for traditional Korean cooking, and it was the same kitchen he would return to as an adult to write his debut cookbook, Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home. His mother Jean was his chief recipe taster...

Journalist and television news personality Natalie Morales takes us back to her globetrotting childhood as a daughter in a military family. She reminisces on living in Spain during her teenage years and food she ate in her Puerto Rican and Brazilian household. Plus, she teaches us how to make the perfect flan.

Natalie Morales co-hosts the Daytime Emmy award winning show, The Talk on CBS. Before this, she served over two decades ...

Award-winning food writer and journalist Mark Bittman walks us through the evolution of his relationship with all things culinary, beginning with his upbringing on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Bittman describes how he first started using cookbooks, the impact of global politics on his perspective, and how his mother and grandmother influenced his cooking habits.

Mark Bittman is a food writer and journalist who has authored ...

Nationally renowned women’s health advocate Dr. Sharon Malone takes us back to her childhood in Mobile, Alabama where she lived through a monumental moment in civil rights history led by her sister, Vivian Malone. Dr. Malone talks about how she views cooking together with family as an act of love, and what better way to show love than baking a decadent pound cake.

Dr. Sharon Malone is an OB/GYN and Certified Menopause Practition...

In this episode, Nicole Avant—daughter of legendary music mogul Clarence Avant—looks back at her bustling childhood kitchen, where prominent Black figures were always stopping by. She’ll tell us about her mother’s snow cookies recipe as well as reflect on the loss of her mother and share tips for consoling someone experiencing deep grief. 

Nicole Avant is a film producer, author, and former ambassador for the Bahamas. She w...

Award winning, best-selling author Kristin Hannah recounts her outdoorsy childhood living in farmhouses and campsites built by her adventurous dad. We get a glimpse into what inspired Hannah to venture into historical fiction and what her mom managed to cook for her and her siblings with a wood fire stove. Plus we hear how to make her mama’s buttermilk cornbread.

Kristin Hannah is an American historical fiction author. She’s wri...

On this episode of Your Mama’s Kitchen, we’re joined by Maria Bamford. She’s a comedian, actor, and now a New York Times bestselling author with her memoir Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult, released in late 2023. Maria talks about her Midwestern upbringing, her journey with obsessive compulsive disorder, and the delicious pot roast she still craves from childhood.

Maria Bamford is an American actress and stand-up comedian. She’s the fi...

Bestselling children’s book author and literary legend Judy Blume takes us back to her childhood New Jersey kitchen in the ‘40s, where she ate lamb chops and baked potato scrapings as a baby. She also shares a precious memento: her mother’s little yellow recipe box, filled with complicated, mid-century dishes her mother never made. We’ll hear about Judy’s major sweet tooth, which is perfectly captured by the recipe she chose to sha...

Mark Cuban — entrepreneur, fixture on the reality TV show Shark Tank, and born outsider — joins Michele this week. Mark shares how he acquired a do-what-needs-to-be-done attitude from his Jewish immigrant grandparents when he was a boy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; how he first tapped his entrepreneurial spirit by selling garbage bags to neighbors. And – ignoring the way things “should” be done – fast-forwarded his education to star...

Award-winning novelist Tayari Jones speaks on her childhood in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was raised in the midst of the historic civil rights movement, women’s liberation, and the tragic Atlanta child murders. She reflects on the role feminism played in her home life and how she learned to love cooking by cooking things she liked. Plus, she tells us about her delectable red velvet cake.

Tayari Jones is a writer and novelist....

Bryant Terry – cookbook author, chef, food activist, conceptual artist and publisher – joins Michele at his University of California Berkeley art studio to discuss one of the biggest influences behind all of his work: his grandmother, Margie Bryant; or, as his family affectionately called her, Ma’dear. In Ma’dear’s Memphis, Tennessee kitchen, Bryant spent hours helping her shell peas, peel potatoes or pour sugar into the pot for he...

Comedian and actress Leslie Jones makes us laugh and gets philosophical about the gift of comedy in this episode. We get a glimpse into her childhood kitchen in Southern California, where her father was the primary cook and funnyman. She opens up about dealing with the loss of both her parents and using humor as a form of therapy. We also get to hear her talk about her grandmother’s cornbread stuffing that is so good, Leslie has it...

In this episode, Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves McConaughey bring listeners into their marriage, from how they first met over margaritas to cooking steak sushi to make amends. Matthew’s sometimes chaotic upbringing in Texas could not be more different from Camila’s family-filled, farm-to-table childhood in Brazil, but they found ways to connect and thrive together in their kitchen in Austin. Plus, Camila teaches us how to mak...

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-influ...

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 awa...

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, b...

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 Dish–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 ...

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 success...