In most cities, the phrase « food politics » might evoke images of grocery-store deserts or Bibb lettuce growing on a solar-paneled roof. But in Los Angeles, for Pulitzer-winning restaurant critic Jonathan Gold, it’s in a bowl of pho, or fish kidney curry, or an order of tacos calabacitas. « Food is political here, » he has said. « It plugs into the rhythms of the city and the world and engages all the important questions of social justice, health, diversity, and inclusion. » Above all, food is a way to navigate and communicate between the Southland’s countless, often disparate cultures and ethnicities—the breadth and depth of which are often poorly understood by outsiders …READ MORE