Taste Radio

In his career as a chef, Roy Choi has broken all the rules and written a few new ones. But the award-winning food truck pioneer and restaurateur still respects some time-honored traditions. Take fermentation, for example. While fermented foods have become trendy in recent years, they’ve been a staple of Asian cuisine and been a constant presence in his cooking. It’s one of the reasons that a recent partnership with KeVita, which makes probiotic beverages, kombucha and drinking vinegars, was an easy decision. “In the home, I grew up with this whole refrigerator full of fermentation, and to me it’s just called food,” Choi said in an interview included in this episode. And while Choi’s disposition is more skater than spokesman, it’s been his deft ability to bridge the gap between counterculture and mainstream that’s made him such an appealing figure in the restaurant business and beyond. In our interview, Choi spoke about his influential role as a celebrity chef and his approach to working with brands, how Los A