Welcome to Finding Our Flavor, a podcast that wants to know: how does the food we grow up with help shape the people we grow up to be? Each week a special guest shares their food and their stories. Come for the tastes and the tales, leave with recipes, reminiscences and a reminder that much more connects us than divides us - and often it starts on a plate.

Hosted by broadcaster and fan-of-his-mom’s Indian cooking Rajesh Mirchandani.

“Food is one way we manipulate people,” says Dominican-American author Cleyvis Natera, whose debut novel Neruda on the Park tells of love and loss, family and food in the Bronx. In this episode, Cleyvis reveals she’s no fan of dessert - but explains why she can’t resist her mami’s habichuelas con dulce.

“I’m looking for a connection to my ancestors through food” explains Deb Freeman, food writer and host of the acclaimed podcast Setting the Table. In this episode, she shares the recipe for her treasured nana’s collard greens - made with a twist. And she explains how “there’s very little that African American hands have not touched when it comes to food in America.”

CBS News foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab has covered conflicts all over the world, and seen how food is a political tool and a great connector across tense boundaries. He shares a recipe that began his unusual culinary journey to emulate his mom’s South Asian cooking.

British Asian DJ Bobby Friction provided the soundtrack to a golden age for young British Asians - as they defined their own exciting hybrid culture, with music, food, and art at its center. But as a child, suffering racist abuse led him to reject his own South Asian food heritage. These days, he says, even though racism in Britain hasn’t gone away, Bobby’s found his flavor - and he can’t get enough of his mom’s shahi paneer.

Madhushree Ghosh describes her memoir Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family as a love letter to the country she left and to the country she now calls home. Based in San Diego, the Indian-American author squeezed writing around her day job as a biotech cancer specialist, a role where she also champions diversity and belonging. Here, she mixes science with art when she joins Rajesh in person to make naru - a Bangladeshi coconut treat.

“It was almost like my true roots were exposed by sharing this recipe with you,” says Malaka Gharib, NPR editor, cartoonist, and graphic novelist. Growing up in California with Filipino and Egyptian parents, she recalls being encouraged to “suppress the Filipino and Egyptianness so you could succeed in this country.” In this episode, she explains how she reconnected with her unique heritage - to find her flavor - and celebrate this delicious dish.

Who insisted spices were washed off their childhood food? Who struggled to learn English from kids TV? Who survived the pandemic by learning their mother’s recipes? Exciting, diverse guests share stories rich with recipes and reminiscences, tales and tastes of how the food we grow up with helps shape the people we grow up to be. Enjoy some second helpings in this bonus episode!