
Easy Cook Bear
By Easy Cook Bear

Easy Cook BearDec 30, 2020

Gary Jaffe makes movies and muses on pleasure, pain, and persimmons
Gary Jaffe is a Brooklyn-based writer, filmmaker, and persimmon lover. He recently participated as a fellow in the 2020 Outfest Screenwriting Lab, a screenwriting contest and mentoring program to advance the visibility of LGBTQIA+ storytelling. He earned his BA in Theater Studies from Yale University.
Easy Cook Bear is a food and culture show about how we cook, connect, and create. Host Lee-Sean Huang and guests share stories, swap recipes, and explore the creative processes of people who make art, culture, food, music, and more.
Links to people/things referenced in the episode:
Japanese Dried Persimmon https://amzn.to/2KH1SiK
Shishito Pepper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shishito
Sectumsempra curse from Harry Potter https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Sectumsempra#:~:text=Sectumsempra%20was%20a%20curse%20invented,became%20one%20of%20his%20specialities
Persimmon Video by Li Ziqi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKIXHn3kDL0
Richard Linklater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Linklater
Kairos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos
Ichi-go ichi-e https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichi-go_ichi-e
Eminem, Lose Yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yhyp-_hX2s
Yugen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aesthetics#Y%C5%ABgen
Nesby Phips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nesby_Phips
Torimono http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=1024
Yasujiro Ozu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasujir%C5%8D_Ozu
Kakiage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakiage
Jiro Dreams of Sushi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiro_Dreams_of_Sushi
The Long Christmas Ride Home https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Christmas_Ride_Home
Joe Hisaishi https://open.spotify.com/artist/7nzSoJISlVJsn7O0yTeMOB
Uchiko https://uchikoaustin.com/
Omakase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omakase
Betsubara https://jpninfo.com/50578
Ursula K. Le Guin https://amzn.to/2KRghJ9
Gary on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garysjaffe/
Gary's IMDB profile and list of films: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8464073/

Jen Shoemaker turned a passion for cheese into a business to help her survive the pandemic
Artist and activist Jen Shoemaker started Krewe de Fromage, a cheese and charcuterie board and box delivery service in New York City, after she lost her union bartending job at a hotel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jen shares her story of growing up in New Orleans with Midwestern and Jamaican parents, leaving New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and trying to find her way in New York. In her journey, she made it to the top 10 in one of Chrissy Teigen's food art contests and also appeared on CNN to advocate for hospitality workers who have lost their jobs in the pandemic.
Easy Cook Bear is a food and culture show about how we cook, connect, and create. Host Lee-Sean Huang and guests share stories, swap recipes, and explore the creative processes of people who make art, culture, food, music, and more.
Links to people and things mentioned in the episode:
Krewe de Fromage: https://www.instagram.com/krewedefromage/
Theodore Roosevelt quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/theodore_roosevelt_100965
The Roosevelt Hotel in New York Closes: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/roosevelt-hotel-new-york-closing-trnd/index.html
Transcript of Jen’s interview with Poppy Harlow on CNN: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2003/20/cnr.02.html
Tony Chachere’s Red Beans and Rice: https://www.tonychachere.com/Red-Beans-and-Rice-P197.aspx
Basin Street Records: https://www.basinstreetrecords.com/
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton: https://amzn.to/3mGueXj

Kate Ray quit a career in tech to become a plant-based chef
Kate Ray (@kraykray) is a plant-based cook and former computer programmer based in Brooklyn. In this episode of Easy Cook Bear, Kate shares her story of how she got into the New York tech scene after college, and why she left to go to culinary school. She also shares her tips for making oatmeal and granola, and gives a gift suggestion for spicing up the holidays.
Easy Cook Bear is a food and culture show about how we cook, connect, and create. Host Lee-Sean Huang and guests share stories, swap recipes, and explore the creative processes of people who make art, culture, food, music, and more.
Links to people and things referenced in the episode:
Kate Ray on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kraykray
Kate Ray on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kraykray/
Exposé on Cloud Kitchens: https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/28/a-rare-glimpse-into-the-sweeping-and-potentially-troubling-cloud-kitchens-trend/
Archestratus Books + Foods: https://archestrat.us/
More about Lee-Sean futurecasting practice: https://foossa.com/future
Kate’s Holiday Gift Guide: https://tinyletter.com/kateray/letters/excellent-holiday-gift-guide
Fly By Jing: https://flybyjing.com/
Sze Daddy Chili Sauce: https://www.eighteightsix.com/shop/szedaddy-chili-sauce
Lao Gan Ma: https://amzn.to/3mqwtO5
Kate’s Lao Gan Ma Zine: http://lgm.kateray.net/
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking: https://amzn.to/38akoHQ

Dylan Uscher bakes, knits, tells jokes, does UX design, and got called fat by Whitney Houston when he had cancer as a child
Dylan Uscher is a UX designer based in Boston, who previously ran a fashion business. He's also a baker, stand-up comedian, and cancer survivor. Dylan opened up about how he turned his passions into a decade-long career, which he ultimately left to pursue a new career in UX design. Besides cooking, baking, and career transition stuff, Dylan also shared his trick for chocolate chip cookies and opened up about his love for Maangchi, Margaret Cho, and Helena Bonham Carter.
Easy Cook Bear is a food and culture show about how we cook, connect, and create. Host Lee-Sean Huang and guests share stories, swap recipes, and explore the creative processes of people who make art, culture, food, music, and more.
Links to people and things referenced in the episode:
Cooking Korean Food with Maangchi: https://www.maangchi.com/
Croquembouche: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquembouche
The Great American Baking Show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_American_Baking_Show
Meet Carmen Keels, Music Teacher and Home Baker Extraordinaire in West Harlem: https://www.thekitchn.com/the-way-we-eat-music-teacher-carmen-keels-22987497
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brown-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies
The Crown: https://www.netflix.com/title/80025678
Dylan's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylanjuscher/

Jaime Sunwoo's play about SPAM uncovered family stories from North Korea
Jaime Sunwoo wrote a play about SPAM. Yes, the canned meat product that brings out all kinds of conflicted, polarizing reactions in people. Specially Processed American Me, Jaime's play, helped open up conversations about her own family's escape from North Korea during the Korea War. Jaime also talks to Lee-Sean abut her new audio piece about Q-Anon, shares her simple family recipe for spicy soy chicken, and more.
Easy Cook Bear is a food and culture show about how we cook, connect, and create. Host Lee-Sean Huang and guests share stories, swap recipes, and explore the creative processes of people who make art, culture, food, music, and more.
Jaime Sunwoo is a Korean American multidisciplinary artist from Brooklyn, New York. She creates multimedia performances in galleries, theaters, and public spaces. Her works connect personal narratives to global histories through surreal storytelling. She studied art at Yale University, and is an alumni of The Laundromat Project for socially engaged art. She is currently a Ping Chong & Company Creative Fellow.
Links to people and things referenced in the episode:
Jaime Sunwoo: https://jaimesunwoo.com/
You Are The News Now by Jaime Sunwoo and Matt Chilton: http://www.pingchong.org/nocturnein2020/infamy-artists-js.html
Specially Processed American Me: http://speciallyprocessed.com/

Richard Morgan shares how he writes stories about food
Richard Morgan chats with host Lee-Sean Huang about growing up in a British Palestinian immigrant family in Washington DC, the opportunities and challenges of our current cosmopolitan food moment, recovering from COVID-19, how he approaches food writing, and more.
Richard Morgan is the author of the memoir Born in Bedlam and a freelance writer whose work has been published by The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York magazine, AFAR, The Awl, BBC, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bon Appétit, CNN, Condé Nast Traveler, The Economist, ESPN The Magazine, Esquire, Fortune, GQ, Los Angeles magazine, National Geographic, NBC, NPR, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, Slate, Travel + Leisure, Vice, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Wired, and others. His assignments have sent him to a research station in the Arctic, wool farms in Australia, gay bars in Cuba, pizza contests in Italy, the refugee camps of Palestine, a rainforest treehouse in Peru, the foodie capital of South Korea, the oldest magic shop in Spain, foraging forests in Sweden, olive oil wrestling matches in Turkey, the Royal Family’s hatters, and Brooklyn. As much as he can, he lives in New York.
Easy Cook Bear is a food and culture show about how we cook, connect, and create. We share stories, swap recipes, and explore the creative processes of people who make art, culture, food, music, and more.
Links to things referenced in this episode:
Gather Journal: https://gatherjournal.com/
Why are we so bad at imagining the food of the future? https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-are-we-so-bad-at-imagining-the-food-of-the-future/2015/04/17/deb2d296-e3ef-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html
Tomato Ramen Is the Noodle Innovation We Need Now: https://www.grubstreet.com/2019/08/where-to-find-tomato-ramen-in-nyc.html
David Chang's Domino's Pizza Order: https://www.foodandwine.com/news/david-chang-stephen-colbert-favorite-dominos-pizza
Inside New York City’s Chinese restaurant crisis: https://fortune.com/longform/lunar-new-year-nyc-chinese-restaurants/
In This Dinner Series, Chinese Food Is at Home Worldwide: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/dining/chinese-food-lucas-sin-junzi-kitchen.html
New York City’s First Cheesecake Factory Is the Slice of Suburban Bliss We’ve Been Missing: https://www.grubstreet.com/2016/10/new-york-citys-first-cheesecake-factory-is-open-in-queens.html

Antonius Wiriadjaja makes meals into face masks
Lee-Sean interviews Antonius Wiriadjaja, an artist and educator who cooks meals and turns them into face masks for his Instagram project @foodmasku. Antonius was born in Jakarta, raised in Boston, and is currently based in New York City.
Easy Cook Bear is a food and culture show about how we cook, connect, and create. We share stories, swap recipes, and explore the creative processes of people who make art, culture, food, music, and more.
Links to people and things referenced in the episode:
FoodMasku: https://www.instagram.com/foodmasku/
NY Times "5 Art Accounts to Follow on Instagram Now": https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/arts/design/instagram-art-accounts.html
Antonius's personal website: https://resume.antoni.us/
ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program) at NYU: https://tisch.nyu.edu/itp
How I Survived a Gunshot to the Gut: https://gunsurvivor.antoni.us/
Merche Blasco: https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/mercheblasco/
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo: https://www.gabebc.com/
Krewe de Fromage: https://www.instagram.com/krewedefromage/
Julie & Julia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_%26_Julia
Baldor Food: https://www.baldorfood.com/
Seamore's: https://www.seamores.com/