The Leftovers with Matteo Bocelli

Yes, food TV host Tilly Ramsay is the daughter of famed chef and TV host Gordan Ramsay, but she is working hard to pave her own way! Tilly recently graduated from culinary school, which she paid for herself, thank you very much, and she tells me about her fateful first day of school, where she was faced with eating her three least favorite foods.   Host Rachel Belle asks Tilly the elephant-in-the-room question: Does her dad shout at his family like he shouts at TV contestants? And Tilly explains why a classic Sunday roast is so special to the people of England.   If you want to be a chef, do you need to go to culinary school? I chat with two chefs, a sister and brother – one who went to culinary school and one who didn’t – about the pros and cons. And they share a bit about their creative takes on Navajo cooking.   Tilly’s new Prime Video cooking show is called Dish It Out.   As Heard on the Episode: Listen to the Gavin Rossdale episode to learn more about the history and culture of the British roast! Get tickets to Food Fight x America's Test Kitchen in Seattle November 8! Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame  Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Italian singer Matteo Bocelli!  In a lightning round with host Rachel Belle, Matteo, a self-described romantic, shares which celebrity wedding he had the honor of singing at earlier this summer; sets the record straight on what bruschetta really is; and discloses the only dish his dad – famed singer Andrea Bocelli – has ever cooked for him (and why most Italians would be angry with the way he makes it).  Get tickets to Food Fight x America's Test Kitchen in Seattle, November 8! Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like any card-carrying Italian worth his focaccia, singer Matteo Bocelli says he could eat pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner! From his home in Tuscany, Matteo tells host Rachel Belle about the super-simple, but deeply delicious, sauce recipe he’s been trying to perfect, inspired by a three-Michelin-star restaurant, and why you should always choose Italian pasta made from ancient grains.  You’ve probably heard the tales: A gluten-sensitive American travels to Italy or France, and can magically stuff their face with croissants, baguettes and pasta without any negative consequences. Rachel asks Dr. Alessio Fasano, professor of nutrition and a Celiac and gluten expert and researcher at Harvard Medical School, if, and how, this is possible.  Matteo just released his second album, Falling in Love, and if his name sounds familiar, it’s because his dad is Andrea Bocelli, the famous Italian singer.  As mentioned in the episode: Watch Rachel Belle & Isaac Mizrahi cook together! Get tickets to Food Fight x America's Test Kitchen in Seattle November 8! Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the U.S. Representative from Washington’s 7th congressional district.  Representative Jayapal is almost as passionate about food as she is about immigrant rights, universal health care and income equality. Almost! And in this quick lightning round with host Rachel Belle, recorded live at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival earlier this summer, she shares her favorite Seattle restaurants and what dessert makes her the happiest on her birthday.   Listen to last week's full episode with Pramila Jayapal! Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle - Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame. Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this very special LIVE episode, recorded at The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival on May 31, 2025, host Rachel Belle sits down with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who represents Washington’s 7th District. She’s also the first elected official to be a guest on Your Last Meal!  Congresswoman Jayapal is an activist and fierce advocate of immigrant rights, but she was thrilled to (mostly) take a break from talking politics to chat about one of her favorite topics: food!   She talks about what it was like immigrating to the United States on her own at 16, what she thought of American food when she arrived and what American snack has been her favorite since she was a child living in India. She recalls the time President Joe Biden personally called her to invite her to the White House for breakfast, and a tells a charming story about why her daughter became such an avid cook at such a young age.   Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle - Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame. Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Isaac Brock — lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the Portland, Oregon-based band Modest Mouse!  Isaac tells Rachel Belle about the time Modest Mouse got to collaborate with an ice-cream company on a flavor that ... wasn’t so well received; he talks about the first concert he went to; and Rachel and Isaac bond over their love of milkshakes.  Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle - Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame. Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Modest Mouse’s lead singer, guitarist and songwriter has one of the longest, and most disjointed, last meals in Your Last Meal history, but each dish draws from a lifetime of experiences and memories.  A lover of culinary highs and lows, Isaac wants both traditional Japanese ramen and Top Ramen for his last meal, something he ate a lot of in his younger years. We’ll learn the history of instant noodles with Andrea Wang, author of the children’s book Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando.  Isaac tells host Rachel Belle about the bar he used to own in Portland, Oregon (and why he made a rule to never drink there!); what sorts of hijinks he’s been roped into doing on an upcoming Modest Mouse cruise; and his quest to figure out a mysterious dish his parents made him for breakfast when he was a kid.   Become a Cascade PBS member and support public media! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle - Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame. Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from Bridget Everett, star of the HBO Max show Somebody Somewhere, singer, comedian and cabaret performer.   In this fast and fun lightning round, Bridget sends host Rachel Belle into a spiral of jealousy by revealing her go-to New York City grocery store; struggles to pronounce the name of her favorite cake (Rachel can’t pronounce it either!); and together they discuss a Midwestern delicacy: St. Louis sushi, which is nothing like its Japanese namesake.   Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle - Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame.  Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bridget Everett’s last meal takes us to New Orleans’ second oldest restaurant, where Creole and Italian cooking collide into a cuisine called (you guessed it) Italian Creole! The owner of Pascal’s Manale, Dickie Brennan, joins the show to talk about the special menu and the restaurant’s long history.   Bridget performed her delightfully raunchy cabaret act for years before landing the lead role on HBO Max’s Somebody Somewhere (and she still performs it!), but she made a living working in restaurants. We talk about the highs and lows of her 30-year restaurant career, and when she was able to quit. And she tells host Rachel Belle how she learned to cook on national television.   Both Bridget and her character on Somebody Somewhere love ordering “French toast for the table” at The Chef, a diner in Manhattan, Kansas. Is French toast actually French? We learn its origin story from Max Miller, host of Tasting History.  Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle - Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame.  Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Leftovers, never-before-heard audio from actor Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere), author of the new memoir Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success.   Jeff talks about visiting the real-life cafes featured in Somebody Somewhere, what he thinks of the Swedish food he grew up eating and why he never ever throws a dinner party.  Listen to Jeff Hiller on Your Last Meal! Watch Rachel’s Cascade PBS TV show The Nosh with Rachel Belle - Season 2 out now! Sign up for Rachel’s (free!) biweekly Cascade PBS newsletter for more food musings! Follow along on Instagram! Order Rachel’s cookbook Open Sesame.  Support Cascade PBS: https://secure.cascadepublicmedia.org/page/133995/donate/1/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.