The Trip

Somewhere in a hotel room in central Moscow, steps away from a frenzied nationalist Victory Day rally, Nathan shares a mini-bar white wine with writer Alexa van Sickle and talks about her sorta-homeland Austria. Her epic roadtrip story, Farewell to the Alps, took her across her country in search of beer, wine and booze. Along the way there is plenty of thinking about nationality, belonging, doctored wine and subpar whisky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Niki Nakazawa's path took her from the northeastern US to Mexico City to Oaxaca, from art to food and now to Neta, a mezcal brand devoted to supporting small producers. She talks with host Nathan Thornburgh about the future of mezcal and why Mexico is a great place for hustlers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Paulina Garcia grew up in Saltillo, in the north of Mexico. But when she and a group of friends began looking in their early 20s for a life with a bit more meaning and mission, they ended up in Oaxaca, in Mexico's southern mountains, baking and canning and pickling and generally breaking the Internet with their beautiful food. In this episode, Paulina talks mushroom tea, coyote skins and how her group of Norteños ended up so far from home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Samin Nosrat grew up in Southern California, hearing plenty about the flavors of Iran. But her path took her to another country, Italy, where her perspective on cooking and living changed forever. In this episode, Nathan shares a bottle of Italian amaro with Samin in a corporate conference room, way too early in the morning, as they talk about cocktails, careers, and Samin's gorgeous new Netflix show Salt Fat Acid Heat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Nicole Choi's mother went through a bruising round of chemotherapy in Maryland, she craved nothing more than an old postwar Korean cornbread. Nicole set out to recreate it for her. Read her essay on R&K. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Asya Khramchenkova is an owner of the legendary Bar Khroniki in Saint Petersburg, As such she's the best person we can think of to talk about the borderlands between Finland and Russia, their culture, and their alcohol. She sat with host Nathan Thornburgh in the Leningrad Documentary Film Studio with a few swiped shot glasses and together they drank their way through smoked apple cider, heavy California-style IPA beer from Karelia, and caraway spirits that will knock you off your barstool. Listen for the conversation and for the Russian contact high. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first episode of The Trip after the death of his partner Anthony Bourdain, host Nathan Thornburgh communes in a squatted Beverly Hills hotel room with two people who knew Bourdain well: chef José Andrés and Roads & Kingdoms co-founder Matt Goulding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A conversation with foreign correspondent Anup Kaphle about his favorite foods growing up in Nepal, and why his parents refuse to cook them anymore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Roads & Kingdoms co-founder Matt Goulding had one last chance to win over the Spanish girl he was hoping to date. So he hopped in a car with her father Angel, drove south for six hours to the cave community where Angel grew up, helped slaughter a pig, and met Chacho, The rest is history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Crispy, spicy, crunchy." The very hungry writer Saba Imtiaz talks with equally hungry host Nathan Thornburgh about how the KFC Zinger Burger became a breakout hit in her native Karachi and why zinger is now a generic term for spicy chicken sandwiches throughout Pakistan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join foreign correspondent Mitch Moxley on a hunt through Havana for a pre-Revolutionary Cuban porn star whose enormous, umm, talent made him the stuff of legend. Superman, as he was known, appeared in Godfather II, was the object of Graham Greene's obsession, and was both victim and symbol of the amoral mafia-run hedonism of Batista's Cuba. And then, Superman just disappeared. Mitch Moxley unspools myth from legend on his way to finding the only known evidence of Superman's, umm, gift.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They call it the Turning of the Bones: a joyous, drunken festival in Madagascar that keeps the dead close to the living. War correspondent and photojournalist Jacob Russell brings humor and heart to this story from the ceremony and what it taught him about his own family's response to death and grief. Also: lots of drunken trumpet playing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first episode of The Trip, R&K editor Cara Parks casts a skeptical eye on her colleague's self-indulgent voyage of hallucinatory discovery through the Amazon. Turns out, she may have a point. Music by Dan the Automator, podcast artwork by Edel Rodriguez, introduction by Anthony Bourdain, hallucinations by Nathan Thornburgh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An early look at The Trip, a new podcast from Anthony Bourdain's partners at Roads & Kingdoms, an online journal of travel, food and politics. Hosted by foreign correspondent Nathan Thornburgh, each episode dives deep behind the scenes of a reporting trip somewhere in the world, from Havana to the Himalayas, from jungle hallucinogens to Andalusian cave cooking. Get ready for the ride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices