Salt + Spine Live: The State of California Cuisine

A Conversation with Leading Cookbook Authors

Join us as we bring cookbooks to life with a live recording of the award-winning Salt + Spine podcast, which features compelling cookbook authors in conversation. For this thought-provoking episode focused on the "State of California Cuisine," host Brian Hogan Stewart will be joined in conversation by three local cookbook authors: Tanya Holland, Reem Assil, and Sara Calvosa Olson. Be part of our live studio audience as we discuss their culinary and cookbook careers, the now-and-future of California cooking, and put our guests to the test in our signature game. Note: This event will be recorded and broadcast as a future episode of the Salt + Spine podcast.

Registration highly recommended.
Adults and high school students only! Free wine reception at 6:30pm for pre-registered guests. Waitlist line opens up at 6:45 on a first come, first served basis. 

Brian Hogan Stewart is the host and creator of the award-winning cookbook podcast Salt + Spine. Brian has conducted in-depth interviews with more than 200 leading authors, chefs, and activists, including Nigella Lawson, Samin Nosrat, Jacques Pépin, Diana Henry, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Toni Tipton-Martin, Julia Turshen, Yotam Ottolenghi, and Carla Hall. His podcasting work has been recognized by the Cook Awards (via Italy's most-read newspaper, Corriere della Sera) and the Taste Awards. Brian has been published in or quoted by The New Yorker, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and, most uniquely, ESPN’s “College GameDay.” He has served as a judge for both the Good Food Awards and the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ annual awards.

Reem Assil is the author of Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora. She is a James Beard Award Outstanding Chef nominee and the owner of Reem's California, a nationally acclaimed bakery and restaurant with locations in Oakland and San Francisco. She was also the opening chef for Dyafa, an Arab fine-dining restaurant that was awarded a coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand in its first year. She has established herself at the intersection of food, Arab culture, and social justice. Photo by Lara Aburamadan.

Tanya Holland is the author of Tanya Holland's California Soul: Recipes from a Culinary Journey West. She is the host of Tanya's Kitchen Table on the Oprah Winfrey Network and the podcast Tanya's Table. She is the author of Brown Sugar Kitchen and New Soul Cooking, was the host and soul food expert on the television series Melting Pot, and competed on the fifteenth season of Top Chef. She holds a Grande Diplôme from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine, and is a Trustee of James Beard Foundation and Chair of Awards Committee. Photo by Aubrie Pick.

Sara Calvosa Olson (Karuk) is the author of Chími Nu'am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen. She is a food writer and editor living in the Bay Area with her husband and two teenage sons. Her work dwells at the intersection of storytelling, Indigenous food systems, security, sovereignty, reconnection, and recipe development. Her writing has appeared in News from Native California and Edible Shasta-Butte. Visit her website at akihsara.com, and follow her on Instagram at @thefrybreadriot.