Hungry for History with Eva Longoria and Maite Gomez-Rejón

This week, Eva and Maite trace the layered history of Los Angeles through four places that reveal the city’s shifting identity: the Los Angeles River, Placita Olvera, Chinatown, and Boyle Heights. Long before freeways and concrete channels, the LA River sustained Indigenous communities and shaped the city’s earliest settlements. From there, they move into the heart of Los Angeles at Olvera Street, where questions of heritage and tourism collide. They explore the displacement and reinvention of Chinatown and end in Boyle Heights, one of the most culturally rich neighborhoods in the country, where Jewish, Japanese, Mexican, and Eastern European communities once lived side by side. Together, these places tell a larger story about migration, erasure, resilience, and the many communities that built Los Angeles.
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Maite is joined by artist Monica Martinez, the founder of Don Bugito, a pioneering edible insect business that blends design, sustainability, and food innovation. The conversation moves between industrial design and the realities of industrialized food systems, highlighting Monica’s work raising edible insects on an organic farm in Oakland, CA. They trace the deep culinary roots of insects in Mexico, explore flavor combinations grounded in memory, and how these traditions are being translated for U.S. audiences amid shifting cultural perceptions of food. The episode closes with a reflection on where insect-eating may be headed in the next 10 to 20 years.
Link to Don Bugito: https://www.donbugito.com/
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In this episode, Eva and Maite explore the long global history of eating insects—an ancient practice shared across cultures in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They unpack how insects have moved to the forefront of modern food conversations, reshaping what we consider food in a changing world. Along the way, they consider the nutritional power of insects as a rich source of protein and their growing role in sustainable food systems, offering a glimpse into the future of food rooted in deep tradition.
Link to Don Bugito: https://www.donbugito.com/
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Eva and Maite trace the evolution of the fair from holy day marketplaces to the grand World’s Fairs of the 19th and 20th centuries, where visitors encountered sensational visions of the future. Think electricity and dishwashers, but also popcorn machines, ice cream sundaes, and even tequila! Yet these spectacles were far from democratic: intellectual, artistic, and technological contributions from non-Western societies were often minimized or erased. Their influence eventually waned with the rise of the internet. Today, state fairs continue to gather communities around agriculture and tradition, while modern global expos increasingly focus on sustainability and the future of the planet.
The Current War: Director’s Cut (the final scene takes place at the Chicago's World's Fair)
https://www.amazon.com/Current-War-Directors-Cut/dp/B0833VRPDP
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Eva and Maite continue their burger series with the invention of the Happy Meal and the powerful marketing of fast food to families. Along the way, they spotlight the often overlooked contributions of women and trace the evolution of the burger from fast food staple to gourmet icon, including the rise of the smashburger. As the burger crosses borders, it transforms, absorbing local flavors and traditions. This episode reveals how one of the world’s most recognizable foods continues to evolve, reflecting the tastes, histories, and creativity of the people who make it their own.
Eva’s cookbook in Part 2 of Burgers:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/739587/my-mexican-kitchen-by-eva-longoria/
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