Cooking

Bikram Vaidya grew up in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and ran a pub there for years before coming to the U.S. to get a culinary arts degree at Western Culinary Institute/Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, Oregon. Vaidya later went on to teach at Le Cordon Bleu and was a founding member and lead instructor at the Oregon Culinary Institute. For the last 15 years he has been dedicated to cataloguing the cuisines of his homeland. Vaidya has trekked across Nepal and spent time staying with families to learn their recipes and the cultural traditions behind their ingredients. Viadya’s new cookbook, “The Mystic Kitchens of Nepal,” came out a few months ago.

Thanksgiving cooking could mean hours in the kitchen - and it can be stressful, managing timing or different dietary needs. Do you have menu questions? Or tips for pulling off a successful meal for family and friends? OPB “Superabundant” contributor and food writer Heather Arndt Anderson joins us to answer your questions.

James Beard-award winning chef Naomi Pomeroy, whose restaurant Beast was one of the food establishments that contributed to Portland’s rising stature as a culinary center in the 2000s, drowned Saturday night in the Willamette River.

The hospitality industry is the second largest business sector in Oregon, but to keep the industry growing, you need skilled workers. Oregon ProStart trains more than 4,000 high school students for culinary careers.

A University of Oregon professor’s weekly Zoom hangouts developed into a quarantine cookbook supporting food justice.

What makes Thanksgiving special for food and drink purveyors around Oregon? Nostalgia, tradition and gravy.