manjula varghese

The story of the food on your plate is more than just the recipe. In KQED’s new food history series Beyond The Menu, host Cecilia Philips interviews chefs, authors, and other experts to dig up surprising facts on the cultural pathways of popular dishes.

Now streaming on KQED Food YouTube & PBS Video

A regional Emmy nominated five-part video series enriches the reparations debate and, most importantly, provides enlightenment on why reparations are a necessary tool to achieve equity. The series explores how the perpetual influence of chattel slavery — disparities in education, health, wealth, and more — impacts the lives of Black people in California. It will delve into the history of the reparations movement in America, while also exploring a part of California history that is rarely discussed: the hostility toward Black settlements, and how thriving Black communities were systematically torn apart and turned into ghost towns. KQED’s viewers will be introduced to the nine-member task force and, as part of the lead-up to the release of the task force’s landmark final report this summer, viewers will meet people who have been digging for reparations for decades.

Take a moment and watch the full series on KQED News YouTube channel.

Northern California Emmy winning episode for digital series “If Cities Could Dance,” produced for KQED PBS Bay Area. Take a moment and watch the full series on KQED Arts YouTube channel.

Gabriel Mata came to the US as a child with his Mother. He shares with us his story of learning that he was undocumented and the fears that surrounded his status in this country. As a dancer, his art reflects on his status as an undocumented American and a DACA recipient.

Publication: The San Francisco Chronicle, 2018

Created for the Emmy nominated video column "The Regulars."

United Playaz program coordinators David Monroe, Krystal Morales and Will Ramirez reflect on their upbringing and the choices they made as youth, which eventually lead them to working in youth violence prevention.

Published: San Francisco Chronicle 2019

Nominated for an Emmy in 2020

Despite a dire diagnosis of bulbar-onset ALS, Bernie Dalton finds a way to fulfill a lifelong dream of making an album.

Publication: The San Francisco Chronicle 2018

Emmy winner in the Human Interest Category 2019.

Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik uses food to tell the stories of migration. She is an artist, writer, educator that cooks with the People's Kitchen Collective, which she helped establish with two other found members. They began collectively cooking and sharing meals and the history surrounding food served at the meals through community dinning in shared spaces in Oakland since 2011.

Publication: The San Francisco Chronicle 2018

Created for the Emmy nominated video column "The Regulars."

Cannabis activist Lynnette Shaw has been working to legalize medical use marijuana for the past twenty years. Shaw is the founder of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana (MAMM). All of her dedicated work to advocate the benefits of marijuana has earned her the name the godmother of ganja.

Publication: The San Francisco Chronicle 2018
Created for the Emmy nominated video column "The Regulars."

You can almost smell the malt fermenting as we take you on a visual immersive journey inside Anchor Brewing Co. based in San Francisco. In this gorgeously produced video we learn about the 170 year old history of the brewery and the craft and tradition that can be traced back to the California Gold Rush. Touted as America's first craft brewery, Scott Ungermann, the third Brew Master at Anchor Brewing Co. since 1965, still makes beer the way they did when the brewery began. He shares the unique history of the company, their specialized process in brewing beer, and how this unique tradition sets them apart from the rest, resulting in its prominence as a craft beer.

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle 2018

Residents of San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood open up and share how COVID-19 has impacted their lives.

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle 2020

Chef and co-founder of Komaaj Food Group, Hanif Sadr shares with us the important role that nature and climate have on Northern Iranian food. He explains how he wants to bring this regional Iranian food to the Bay Area and how the traditional Nowruz or Iranian New Year table spread known as Haft-sin/Haft-seen inspired his new and refreshing salad recipe.

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle 2020.

After Gregg Cassin was diagnosed with HIV, he faced a tough decision on how to respond to this new chapter in his life. In the most recent episode of The Regulars we follow Cassin as he shares his emotional journey of facing his HIV diagnosis and how his fear led him to create a community to support each other and this eventually led him down the path of being an AIDS counselor.

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle 2019

Nominated for an Emmy in 2020.

The Steinle family reflects on the circumstances surrounding the death of their daughter Kathryn Steinle. Steinle was shot and killed on Pier 14 in 2015. The family discusses the last two years as the resulting trial comes to a close.

Jose Inés García Zarate was found guilty by a San Francisco jury of illegally possessing a gun. He was acquitted of all other charges.

Publication: The San Francisco Chronicle 2017

Emmy winner in the Breaking News Category 2018.

In the latest episode of The Regulars we meet Peter Oboyski the assistant director and collections manager at the Essig Museum of Entomology, where he is in charge of taking care of over five million specimens that are preserved and kept in their archives. Oboyski, shares with us on where his love for entomology began. He also talks about the insights he gains from studying insects on islands and the implications it may have on climate change and the secret to discovering the world of insects that we often overlook.

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle 2019

Publication: PBS News Hour 2017

Everyday people have the greatest stories to tell. The Regulars provides a platform for those stories and the fascinating characters that make up the Bay Area.

David Hegarty has officially been playing the organ at the Castro theater since 1978. As the senior organist at the theater Hegarty has played on a variety of organs such as the Mighty Wurlitzer, which was rented to the Castro theatre back in the '80s. When he found out that the theater might loose the Wurlitzer, Hegarty made it his life mission to bring a world class concert organ to take its place. He is still in the process of raising funds to make this dream a reality.

To learn more visit castroorgan.org/CastroOrgan/Home.html

Publication: The San Francisco Chronicle 2017

Created for the Emmy nominated video column "The Regulars."

A decade-long battle for housing rights came to an end on the night of August 4th, 1977, culminating in a night of violence which lead to the infamous eviction of the International Hotel in San Francisco. The eviction essentially ended Manilatown, a subsection of Chinatown which housed elderly Filipino and Chinese bachelors. Over the next 17 years the remaining I-Hotel advocates fought to have the land returned — and succeeded. The Manilatown Heritage Foundation building, which is located where the I-Hotel once stood, is a bittersweet testament of housing rights still plaguing San Francisco and the Filipino community that once thrived there.

Publication: The San Francisco Chronicle 2017

Publication: KQED 2016

Publication: KQED 2016

Publication: New York Times 2016

Commissioned work 2015.

Publication: New York Times 2016

Publication: Science Friday 2014

Pubilcation: New York Times 2016

Nonprofit commissioned work 2014.

Commissioned work 2014.

Personal project 2013.

Looking back into family ancestries to uncover hidden identities and forgotten secrets.

Commissioned work BYUtv 2012.

Chante Wouden: Faith and Miracles is the story of a two time cancer survivor who discovers that her battle for life is not over. After struggling with and overcoming cancer twice by the age of 17, Chante thought that life had dealt her all her bad cards, that is until she finds herself in the hospital once again at the age of 27. Having to look death in the face, Chante reflects on her youth and how far she has come.

Publication: BYUtv 2008.

Reserved to Fight is a documentary film that follows four Marine Reservists of Fox Company 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines for four years. It documents their deployment, their return home from Iraq combat in May 2003, and their reintegration into civilian life.

Publication: PBS 2008-2012, America Reframed 2013 -2015, Amazon 2019.