Rachel Belle
Photo credit Renee McMahon
Rachel Belle is the Seattle-based creator and host of Your Last Meal, a James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast that has been the #1 Food Podcast on Apple Podcasts. She is Editor-At-Large at Cascade Public Media, Seattle’s PBS affiliate, and writing a cookbook for Sasquatch Books, out Fall 2024. Rachel spent 20 years as a broadcast news reporter and radio feature reporter, winning the Edward R Murrow Award for Best Radio Feature, before leaving her job in November 2022 to pursue the podcast full-time.
Describe your show in 10 words or less.
Celebrity interviews about last meals + history, culture or science behind those dishes.
Okay let’s get this out of the way: what would your last meal be?
In this moment, I’d like an-all-you-can eat shrimp cocktail tower with billions of cold, plump shrimp, raw oysters I plucked off a Washington state beach and shucked myself, a Matchless Made Hazy IPA, grilled homemade sourdough bread rubbed with garlic and slathered with salted butter and a chocolate milkshake for dessert.
Which of your guests had the best last meal?
I love the last meals that are less about how tasty a food is and more about a story or a memory. Jack Johnson wants sauteed vegetables because it’s what he and his wife ate when they were broke 22 year olds, spending months traveling around Europe living in a van. Jewel wants bear biscuits made with bear lard; what she ate growing up on a homestead in Alaska. Lake Street Dive’s drummer, Mike Calabrese, wants chocolate covered pretzels because they remind him of the babysitter he had a crush on as a little kid. John Waters wants a single leaf of arugula so that he’ll be a tidy corpse.
Which of your guests had the worst?
There is no such thing as worst! A person’s last meal tells you something about who they are and I don’t believe in the concept of a food being gross or weird. But there is a last meal that is picked most often, so I get a little disappointed when someone chooses it! Mostly because it’s hard to find new angles on the same food after it’s been chosen 10 times. The most popular last meal is a steak dinner.
I love how your show isn’t just interviews, but sprinkled with history and facts. What’s something cool you’ve learned in your research?
Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry, has no sense of smell and can hardly taste. That’s why their ice cream is famously chunky – he needed texture to enjoy it! I’ve learned about the history of wedding cake, that breakfast cereal was invented to keep people from masterbating (!), about the existence of Mexican-style sushi in Sinaloa and the history of Jamaican food. I interviewed the designer who created Lady Gaga’s infamous meat dress (it was made from skirt steak!) and the guitarist from Warrant, who told the story behind the 1980’s hit song “Cherry Pie.” It goes all over the place!
Does podcasting about food all the time make you hungry?
Even before I started the show, seven years ago, I was always down to eat! But when I’m working on an episode, I’ll obsessively crave the food we’re focusing on. I’ve eaten a lot of tomato sandwiches thanks to Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam, know how to make a Banoffee Pie thanks to Top Chef’s Gail Simmons and made chicken parm because of Zach Braff.
Hot tip?
Go big: if you want to book a famous guest, or someone you really admire, do your research, find their publicist and send a pitch email. If you never send the email, they can’t say yes. Celebrities usually only want to talk when they’re promoting something, so keep your eye on what’s coming out and strike in advance of the release!
Self-care ritual?
Not checking social media or email while on vacation.
Thanks, Rachel!