Bitefully

Immigrantly
Immigrantly
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What happens when a single bite unlocks cultural history, a buried truth, or a complicated family relationship? Bitefully explores the stories we inherit through food — the memories, migrations, traditions, and transformations that shape who we are. Host and MasterChef winner Claudia Sandoval traces personal food pathways back to culture, lineage, and land, revealing how flavor defines identity, recipes carry ancestral knowledge, and storytelling sustains community. From a grandmother's comfort dish to the street food that marked a first-generation immigrant's arrival, each episode is a journey through memory, heritage, and lived experience. Food opens the door — but the stories are what keep us at the table. New episodes every Wednesday, starting June 3rd. Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Love the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe to stay at the table. Follow along on socials: Instagram · TikTok · Twitter Support the show by subscribing to our channel on Apple: Immigrantly Uninterrupted Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com

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Episodes

  1. 14 hr ago

    Winis, Fig Leaves, y un Café Cometa

    This episode of Bitefully is a little different. It's a Spanglish episode, with the majority of the conversation en español, as Chef Claudia sits down with Chef Adria Marina to talk food memories, life on both sides of the border, and the experiences that shaped her. Prefer to follow along in English? The full video episode is available on YouTube with English captions. Adria es la mujer y Chef detrás de Georgina, uno de los restaurantes más reconocidos de Tijuana. También la hemos visto como juez en Top Chef VIP, MasterChef Celebrity Colombia y otros proyectos de televisión. Más recientemente, abrió las puertas de su nuevo proyecto, Café Cometa. Bilingüe y criada entre Tijuana y San Diego, Adria creció devorando tortillas recién salidas de la tortillería camino a casa, renegando de niña de la sopa de pollo y los sándwiches de atún de su mamá, que ahora pide para su cumpleaños, y comiendo un meatloaf que su madre hacía suyo con jalapeños y chipotle. Adria abre su archivo de memorias culinarias y nos lleva a los viajes de su infancia al Convoy District de San Diego, mucho antes de que el pho y el Korean BBQ se pusieran de moda, a los árboles de higo de su abuela y a aquel restaurante al aire libre que ella y su prometido apodaron "Café Cometa" mucho antes de que se convirtiera en un lugar real. Adria y Claudia hablan de por qué replicar una receta sin alma puede ser uno de los mayores pecados en la cocina, del viaje a Israel que dejó huella en el menú de Georgina y de lo que significa pasar ocho años viendo crecer un restaurante y, con él, a las personas que lo hacen posible. Y luego la conversación se pone verdaderamente seria: Trader Joe's como "happy place", mantequilla de maní crunchy vs. creamy y, por supuesto, el orden definitivo de las diferentes formas de los chocolates Reese's. Nuevos episodios cada miércoles. [ENGLISH] This episode of Bitefully is a little different. It's a Spanglish episode, with the majority of the conversation in Spanish, as Chef Claudia sits down with Chef Adria Marina to talk food memories, life on both sides of the border, and the experiences that shaped her. Prefer to follow along in English? The full video episode is available on YouTube with English captions. Adria is the woman and Chef behind Georgina, one of Tijuana's most well-known restaurants. We've also seen her as a judge on Top Chef VIP, MasterChef Celebrity Colombia, and other television projects. More recently, she opened the doors to her new project, Café Cometa. Bilingual and raised between Tijuana and San Diego, Adria grew up devouring tortillas fresh off the press on the way home, refusing as a kid to eat her mom's chicken soup and tuna sandwiches — which she now requests for her birthday — and eating a meatloaf that her mother made her own with jalapeños and chipotle. Adria opens up her archive of culinary memories and takes us back to childhood trips to San Diego's Convoy District, long before pho and Korean BBQ became trendy, to her grandmother's fig trees, and to that outdoor restaurant that she and her fiancé nicknamed "Café Cometa" long before it became a real place. Adria and Claudia talk about why replicating a recipe without soul can be one of the biggest sins in cooking, about the trip to Israel that left its mark on Georgina's menu, and about what it means to spend eight years watching a restaurant grow and, with it, the people who make it possible. And then the conversation gets truly serious: Trader Joe's as a "happy place," crunchy vs. creamy peanut butter, and of course, the definitive ranking of the different shapes of Reese's chocolates. New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Chef Adria Montaño on Instagram ⁠@adriamarina⁠.  Follow along on Instagram⁠ ⁠@bitefullypod⁠⁠ and⁠ ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠⁠ Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at ⁠Bitefully⁠ and subscribe to ⁠Immigrantly Uninterrupted ⁠for ad free episodes For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at ⁠info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. 12 Aug

    The Blossom Before the Fruit

    Chef Travis Swikard could have run one of the best kitchens in the world. Instead, he came home. Born and raised in San Diego, he left at 21 for culinary school in Vermont, then London, Paris, and New York, where he spent seven years with Daniel Boulud and rose to culinary director. But when the next step meant traveling as a corporate chef, he looked at his hometown and saw what everyone else missed: the best ingredients were already here. In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval sits down with the chef behind Callie and Fleurette to discuss his philosophy of serving local, hyperseasonal food. Along the way, they talk about the $110 chicken that takes twice as long to raise, why a plate of poached vegetables picked that morning is the best thing on his menu, and the importance of food pantries in San Diego, where 1 in 4 people don't know where their next meal is coming from. At its heart, this is a conversation about ingredients and the people behind them. For Travis, success was never about money in the bank. It's about knowing the story behind every dish and holding it to one question: would you feed this to your grandma? New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Chef Travis on Instagram @travisswikard and visit Callie and Fleurette in San Diego.  Follow along on Instagram ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. 5 Aug

    A Fat on Top of a Fat

    Award-winning food writer and Food Network judge Troy Johnson never wanted to write about food. A born-and-raised San Diegan, he came up as a latchkey kid in the '80s making pizza rolls and Top Ramen that smelled, in his words, like "MSG, salt, and self-love." As his mom likes to say, he didn't learn to cook out of passion but in self-defense. In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval sits down with her friend Troy to trace the memories and detours that made him: a childhood where food was survival rather than romance, a poetry degree that somehow became his sharpest tool on Food Network, and the leap from underground music writing to food writing, where he gave himself a culinary education one flashcard at a time. Together they dig into what it means to build something where you're from: why Troy refused to leave San Diego for LA or New York, how food is really just the entry point to story, and the origin of his 13-year partnership with Guy Fieri. Plus, the truth about what TV chefs actually make, and the definitive answer to the internet's biggest question: Does Guy Fieri actually eat? New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Troy Johnson on Instagram @heytroyjohnson and San Diego Magazine @sandiegomag Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes. For advertising inquiries, contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. 29 Jul

    No Bones About It

    Financial expert Pattie Ehsaei was born in Iran and left on the last plane out during the revolution — the start of a life spent moving, rebuilding, and refusing to rely on anyone but herself. She began working at 10, taking out neighbors' trash for quarters, went on to become a criminal prosecutor, and then fell into finance, where she found her real mission: teaching women that financial freedom is never just about money. In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval and Pattie trace their food memories back to her aunt Neshat's aromatic ghormeh sabzi, slow-cooked with bones for the marrow, the bone broth their cultures were sipping long before the wellness crowd discovered it, and a Persian spaghetti steamed over a crispy tortilla. Along the way, they talk about growing up broke, why 98% of domestic violence cases involve financial abuse, and how a separate bank account and a six-month emergency fund can be the difference between staying and getting free. At its heart, this is a conversation about options — the freedom that comes from being financially whole — and about the failures nobody sees behind the success. Because for Pattie, whoever controls the gold makes the rules, and she wants every woman to have the playbook. New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Pattie Ehsaei @duchessofdecorum and grab her book, Never Date a Broke Dude, here. Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes. For advertising inquiries, contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. 15 Jul

    Velveeta Cheese Dreams

    Chef Susan Feniger has spent more than four decades building one of the most beloved culinary partnerships in America: Border Grill, City Café, and a restaurant empire stretching from Las Vegas to the new Burbank Airport. But her food story starts much smaller — on a step stool in Toledo, Ohio, licking the fudge paddle while her mom worked her magic. Chef Claudia Sandoval has admired Susan's career for years, and in this episode, she asks about the moments that aren’t Googleable: the green file box holding three generations of handwritten recipes, the first restaurant with no stove and two hibachis in the parking lot, and the Velveeta creation that just might deserve a comeback. Together, they dig into what it means to feed a city when it needs it most: Feed Folks, the commissary kitchen serving thousands of meals a day to food-insecure Angelenos, the culinary program Susan championed at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and the World Central Kitchen call that turned her team into first responders, during COVID and again during the LA wildfires. Because for Susan, food is the best communicator there is. And if you have a voice, it's your responsibility to use it. New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Chef Susan @susanfeniger and World Central Kitchen @wckitchen on Instagram. ⁠Susan Feniger. Forked⁠ is streaming now. Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes. For advertising inquiries, contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Would you let your Tía pick your next date? On TIA'S CHOICE, the new YouTube dating show, three New York Tías grill four potential dates — and the lucky single gets zero say in who she ends up with. Subscribe to TIA'S CHOICE on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/@TiasChoice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. 8 Jul

    Chorizo in the Middle

    Chef Chris Valdes was born into a family restaurant in Miami. Before he could do homework, he was watching his mom stuff a five-hour boliche with chorizo, walking the dining room alongside his dad, and getting what he calls his "pre-training" in the family business of catering to others. In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval sits down with her friend Chris to trace his strongest food memories, starting with the day a 10-year-old home alone flipped to Emeril Lagasse on TV, took $20 to the supermarket, and made his first arroz con pollo. Along the way, they talk about manifesting your future and why chefs plate beautifully for everyone else but happily eat plain white rice. At its heart, this conversation is about what it really means to be a chef: cooking with your soul for the people you love. Because for Chris, food is therapy. It's the purest form of love you can offer yourself and everyone at your table. Sixteen years into catering and eleven years on TV, his next chapter is simple: remember why you started. New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Chris Valdes on Instagram @chefchrisvaldes Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes. For advertising inquiries, contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Would you let your Tía pick your next date? On TIA'S CHOICE, the new YouTube dating show, three New York Tías grill four potential dates — and the lucky single gets zero say in who she ends up with. Subscribe to TIA'S CHOICE on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/@TiasChoice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. 24 Jun

    Matriarchs and Moonshine

    Chef DuVal Warner grew up in Danville, Virginia, surrounded by strong women, Southern cooking, and a community rich with history. From his Aunt Margaret's legendary mac and cheese to his Aunt Shanita's smoked neck bones and collard greens, food was always home. In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval sits down with Ranch 45's Chef DuVal to talk about the memories that shaped him: what Juneteenth meant to his family long before it became a federal holiday, the life lessons the Marine Corps gave him that he brings into every kitchen, and the right way to make Southern mac and cheese and potato salad. A man connected to his family, his community, and yes— his moonshine. New episodes every Wednesday. You can find DuVal on Instagram @chefduvalwarner and at San Diego’s Ranch 45 @ranch.45 Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer, Theme Music, & Editor: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes. For advertising inquiries, contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. 17 Jun

    No Rocks in the Beans

    She made history as the first Native American and Mexican American woman to win a televised cooking competition, but Chef Pyet DeSpain's food story doesn't start with a garden or a grandmother's recipe. It starts with struggle meals. Government commodities. A childhood spent moving from city to city. And a grandfather in Kansas City who put a bowl of beans in front of her and made her feel like she had the most important job in the world. In this episode, Pyet joins Chef Claudia Sandoval to talk about the foods that were handed to their communities and the ones they're reclaiming. For Indigenous communities, Pyet says, food was never just nutrition — it's about rootedness. This conversation is about what happens when that connection gets severed, and what it looks like to find your way back. New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Pyet on Instagram @chefpyet and grab her cookbook, Rooted In Fire, here.  Follow along ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and find Chef Claudia ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ on Instagram Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes. For advertising inquiries, contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  9. 10 Jun

    Yogurt, Eggplant, and a Deep-Fried Oreo

    Charlie Boghosian, better known as Chicken Charlie, came to America at 11 from Damascus, Syria, with his family, a produce store, and a work ethic that never quit. What started as a 14-year-old's summer job turned into a 30-plus-year career feeding tens of thousands of people a day across California's county fair circuit. Oh, and somewhere along the way, he invented the deep-fried Oreo. In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval and Chicken Charlie trace their food memories back to the dishes that made them: a mother's fried eggplant stuffed into pita with fresh yogurt and tomatoes, the Armenian and Middle Eastern cooked on the stove, and the accidental cookie that launched a food empire. Along the way, they talk about what it means to feed 20,000 people a day, why the county fair is a world unlike any other, and why the best things in life — like deep-fried Oreos — are sometimes just sitting on the counter waiting to happen. This episode is in partnership with the San Diego County Fair. Learn more at sdfair.com New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Chicken Charlie's on Instagram @chickencharlies Follow along on Instagram ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu | Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin | Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes. For advertising inquiries, contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  10. 3 Jun

    Frijoles con Ketchup

    Actress Angélica Celaya grew up straddling borders: Tucson and Mexico City, Spam sandwiches and slow-cooked pozole, margarine and manteca. On screen, she's played everyone from Spanish-language telenovela heroines to unapologetic women on English-language TV. In this debut episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval and Angélica trace their food memories back to the dishes that shaped them: a father's refried beans eaten with ketchup, a mother's pineapple upside-down cake, and the kind of flour tortilla you can only get in Sonora. Along the way, they talk about cooking for their family at 12 years old, what it means to feed people from your most honest place, and why the best thing you can do, in food and in life, is be the weirdo at the table. New episodes every Wednesday. You can find Angelica on Instagram @angelicacelaya1 Follow along on Instagram ⁠@bitefullypod⁠ and ⁠@chefclaudiasandoval⁠ Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. If you like what you hear, write a review at Bitefully and subscribe to Immigrantly Uninterrupted for ad-free episodes For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  11. 26 May

    Introducing Bitefully

    What happens when a single bite unlocks a buried truth or a complicated family history? Bitefully is a new podcast hosted by Claudia Sandoval — the first Latina winner of MasterChef — tracing personal food pathways back to culture, land, and the stories traditional food media rarely tells. With guests spanning hospitality, entertainment, wellness, and beyond, every conversation is real, raw, and deeply human. Food opens the door — but the stories are what keep us at the table. New episodes every Wednesday, starting June 3rd. Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What happens when a single bite unlocks cultural history, a buried truth, or a complicated family relationship? Bitefully explores the stories we inherit through food — the memories, migrations, traditions, and transformations that shape who we are. Host and MasterChef winner Claudia Sandoval traces personal food pathways back to culture, lineage, and land, revealing how flavor defines identity, recipes carry ancestral knowledge, and storytelling sustains community. From a grandmother's comfort dish to the street food that marked a first-generation immigrant's arrival, each episode is a journey through memory, heritage, and lived experience. Food opens the door — but the stories are what keep us at the table. New episodes every Wednesday, starting June 3rd. Host & Executive Producer: Claudia Sandoval | Producer: Shei Yu I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Theme Music: Lou Raskin | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art: Mike Fennessy Love the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe to stay at the table. Follow along on socials: Instagram · TikTok · Twitter Support the show by subscribing to our channel on Apple: Immigrantly Uninterrupted Bitefully is an Immigrantly Media Production. For advertising inquiries, you can contact us at info@immigrantlypod.com

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