Terry Gross

Hal Needham worked as a Hollywood stuntman for over 40 years. He details some of his most death-defying feats (and why he can't stand modern special effects) in his memoir, Stuntman!

Marilyn and Alan Bergman have been writing irresistible songs together for 50 years, putting words in the mouths of singers like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and Barbra Streisand. Here, the Bergmans discuss some of their favorite tunes and their many years making music together.

In a 1989 interview, Julia Child describes the first meal she had in France in 1948 — the start of her lifelong love affair with French cooking. With her signature combination of gusto and charm, Child would spend the rest of her career guiding American amateurs through the intricacies of French cuisine.

What's the difference between wooden and plastic cutting boards? When should you throw out frozen fish? Harold McGee, an expert on the science of food and cooking, untangles these kitchen mysteries and more in his Keys to Good Cooking.

In How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science, Russ Parsons answers alll sorts of food science questions, including why meat browns, why sauces emulsify and how frying is different from roasting.

Food writer Ruth Reichl famously went undercover to review restaurants for The New York Times. In a series of interviews on Fresh Air, she discusses her formative food experiences, her restaurant reviews and her tenure at Gourmet magazine.

Americans consume more bananas than apples and oranges combined. Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, gives us a primer on the expansive history -- and the threatened future -- of the seedless, sexless fruit.

Would you eat a steak grown in a laboratory? Science writer Michael Specter examines the progress scientists have made in developing test-tube meat. "Depending on what your definition of any sort of life is, this is as fundamental as any animal is," he says.

Two years after opening his award-winning Chicago restaurant Alinea, chef Grant Achatz was diagnosed with tongue cancer. He describes losing and regaining his taste in Life, on the Line. "My palate developed just as a newborn," Achatz says. "i don't recommend it, but I think it made me a better chef."

Director Brad Bird decided to cast comedian Patton oswalt as the film's leading rat after watching him perform a stand-up routine about a steak restaurant. He says Oswald, a serious foodie himself, was "perfect for Remy."