Hey, Mil Street listeners, we're taking our show on the road. Please join us for a special live taping of Melk Street Radio at the Art of Cheese Festival in Madison, Wisconsin.

We'll be at the landmark Orphium Theater on Saturday, September 27th. I'll be hosting cheese trivia, taking your cooking questions with chef Tori Miller, handing out samples of some of the best cheese in the state,

and my favorite part, even get my fortune read with a block of cheese. You will not want to miss

that. Tickets are on sale now at artofcheasefestival.com one more time,

art of cheesefestival.com, and we'll see you there.

This is Milk State Radio from PRX.

I'm your host, Christopher Kimball.

In 2015, chef McKinney Howell took a sabbatical from her vegan food empire to cook for Stevie Wonder on tour.

Today, we discuss her unique take on vegan cooking and what she learned

during her year on the road. Oh, I learned how to cook. I learned how to be a really good cook.

I was a chef when I left here and I was a little bit fancy. But after I left that tour, I could

teach you how to be vegan for the rest of your life if that's what you

wanted, having all of the good things of life.

Also coming up, Adam Gopnik and I discuss food and literature, and we learn Croatia's

secret to perfect cabbage rolls, but first it's my interview with historian and writer Nadia

Bernstein.

Nadia, welcome to Milk Street.

Thank you so much for having me, Chris.

We're talking about one of my favorite topics, which is the food industry in America,

going back to the beginning of synthetic flavors in the 19th century.

So let's get into the weird history.

Sure. Castorium, I don't know if I pronounced that properly, but I read that. I always fell

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