Will we be joined by robots in the kitchen? Dr. Alexandra Ketchum examines our fascination with kitchen computers, from the Jetsons' Foodarackacycle to the world’s first robot kitchen. Plus, celebrated food writer Claudia Roden shares memories from a life dedicated to the joys and history of Mediterranean cooking; Dan Pashman tells us how inventing a new pasta shape has changed his life; and we learn a recipe for a spiced-orange cake that uses shredded phyllo dough instead of flour.

Questions in this episode:

"I have a question about converting some of my older recipes from volume measure to weight measure."

"What’s the difference between Israeli yogurt and American?"

"My question is about lasagna. I notice you use no boil noodles. If I freeze it, should I bake it entirely before freezing it?"

"I made baked stuff scallops last night. What can I do to substitute for the butter?"

"I’m trying to increase the use of dried beans in my diet. I recently salted my cooking water before adding my beans and they came out great. Was that earlier advice wrong?"