François Clemmons, Soul Food

François Clemmons is best known for playing Officer Clemmons on Mr Roger's Neighborhood from 1968 to 1993 and he shares the story of his life in a new book called Officer Clemmons: A Memoir. François tells James Beard Award finalist Rachel Belle about his special relationship with Fred Rogers, the first man who ever told him, "I love you." A resident of Vermont for decades, François' favorite foods are rooted in his family's southern upbringing. He got his local health food store to order him chitterlings and his favorite part of okra is its notorious slime. Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller joins the show to share the history of those African American dishes, many of which came over from West Africa during the slave trade. One of the most controversial and divisive southern dishes is cornbread. African Americans tend to put sugar in their cornbread, while white southerners scoff at sweetener, arguing that cornbread shouldn't contain a speck of sugar. North Carolina food writer Kathleen Purvis pops in to share what she learned while writing the article, "Why does sugar in cornbread divide races in the South?" 'Your Last Meal' is a James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast & has been the #1 food podcast on Apple Podcast several times. Each episode, award winning host Rachel Belle interviews a celebrity (Greta Gerwig, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jenny Slate, Betsey Johnson, etc) about what they would choose to eat for their last meal. Then, she digs into the history/science/culture of that dish with experts from around the globe. Don't let the name fool you, 'Your Last Meal' is not morbid! We use food as a catalyst to learn about people.