710: You Need to Get to Charleston with Kultura⁠'s Nikko Cagalanan

This Is TASTE

Nikko Cagalanan is the chef-owner of Kultura in Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised in the Philippines, Nikko began cooking in 2017 while still working as a nurse, discovering that the kitchen offered the same sense of purpose—to nurture, care for, and bring comfort to others. In 2019, he moved to Charleston to fully pursue his passion for cooking and launched Kultura to great acclaim, including a James Beard Award nomination. It was a lot of fun having Nikko in the studio to talk about his journey to professional cooking as well as some exciting news from the world of openings. 

And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Hangover cures, Television: A Novel of Luck and Perfection are novels worth checking out, and Catskills love for Fellow Mountain Cafe and Matilda. Also: We like I Love LA a lot and props to sneaky donut masters Grayling Bauer of Sparrowbush Bakery and Zoë Kanan of Elbow Bread

Also check out: Charleston Isn't Ordinary with Mike Lata

Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More description

Nikko Cagalanan is the chef-owner of Kultura in Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised in the Philippines, Nikko began cooking in 2017 while still working as a nurse, discovering that the kitchen offered the same sense of purpose—to nurture, care for, and bring comfort to others. In 2019, he moved to Charleston to fully pursue his passion for cooking and launched Kultura to great acclaim, including a James Beard Award nomination. It was a lot of fun having Nikko in the studio to talk about his journey to professional cooking as well as some exciting news from the world of openings. 

And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Hangover cures, Television: A Novel of Luck and Perfection are novels worth checking out, and Catskills love for Fellow Mountain Cafe and Matilda. Also: We like I Love LA a lot and props to sneaky donut masters Grayling Bauer of Sparrowbush Bakery and Zoë Kanan of Elbow Bread

Also check out: Charleston Isn't Ordinary with Mike Lata

Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2026-01-02 40 min
Listen elsewhere

Available Results

Generated results are saved to your library for reuse and search.

No generated results are available for this episode yet.

Transcript

No transcript is available for this episode yet.
Sign in to generate a transcript for review.
Sign in

Chapters

No chapters available.