On today's THE FOOD SEEN, Aliya LeeKong brings her multi-national home (Indo-Pakistani, Tanzanian, Trinidad, Hong Kong) to the forefront through her video series, Exotic Table. Though she travels to far off lands like Turkey, Goa, and South Africa, she also finds flavor inspiration here Staten Island where a band of grandmothers run the kitchen at Enoteca Maria. Aliya is also the Culinary Creative Director at Junoon, a restaurant highlighting South Asian cuisine, where she blends spices as she does cultures. This episode was sponsored by Fairway Market.

On this episode of Hot Grease, Nicole Taylor is interviewing two cookbook authors! First up is Terry Hope Romero who recently wrote the ethnic vegan companion, Vegan Eats World. Tune in to hear Terry talk about the diversity of the Queens population, and how it influenced her vegan cooking. Hear about the importance of accurate spice blends when cooking in a specific ethnic style. Creator of the Meatless Monday phenomenon Kim O'Donnel calls in to talk with Nicole about her new book, The Meat Lover's Meatless Celebration. Listen in to hear why factors like the economy and conscious consumption are altering the way that Americans view and eat meat. You don't want to miss the first Hot Grease of 2013; tune in! This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.

"Living in Queens has really changed my approach to food, especially vegan food." [1:25] -- Terry Hope Romero on Hot Grease

"People are coming to this conversation from many different angles, but we cannot ignore our budgets and the increasing prices of food... industrial meat is becoming more and more expensive." [15:15] -- Kim O'Donnel on Hot Grease