It’s the return of a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. It’s available on the TASTE YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe and check out the video version of this podcast. Every couple of weeks, Matt Rodbard invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole.

On today’s episode, we have an amazing conversation with Jaya Saxena. Jaya is a correspondent at Eater, covering many topics including labor, queer food culture, and “why American potato chips are so boring.” She also serves as the series editor for the Best American Food and Travel Writing anthology, which has a new edition edited by Bryant Terry dropping in the fall.

In this great episode, we talk about Jaya’s career writing about the world of food, including her memorable piece for Eater, “The Food That Makes You Gay.” We also go over some recent stories and play the game “What would you pitch 1997 Graydon Carter?” That is, Jaya considers her dream no-budget reporting assignment.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.

Featured on the episode:

• Thomas Keller asked me to leave the French Laundry [SF Chronicle]

• We’ve All Been In Thomas Keller’s Courtyard [Substack]

• The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now [New York Times]

• The Food That Makes You Gay [Eater]

• The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025