Hungry w/ Jeff Gordinier

In 2015, Chef Rene Redzepi made the surprise announcement that he was shuttering his venerated Copenhagen restaurant Noma to search for new inspirations in hopes of finding reinvention. He reopened in 2018, but only after years of hopscotching the globe--Australia, Japan, Mexico and more--learning new tricks and running dining pop-ups. Acclaimed food-and-drinks scribe Jeff Gordinier, whose own life coincidentally was at a crossroads, tagged along and chronicled this four-year quest in the brand new book, Hungry. The book chronicles both men’s journeys of self-discovery and evolution.

Jeff’s thoughts behind some of the songs:

• Cat Power's "Sea of Love," for instance, is connected to the ukulele duo that performed that song at my wedding to Lauren in Santa Barbara, a scene that appears in the epilogue

• "Stoned Soul Picnic" is connected to the backyard barbecue of famous chefs in René Redzepi's Copenhagen courtyard

• "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is connected to Noma's Saturday Night Projects

• "Need You Tonight" is connected to the foraging race in Sydney, Australia (hence an Australian band)

• "Pack It Up" is connected to the end of the original Noma location & packing up all the gear