Lilah Raptopoulos

Culture journalist. Food history detective. Lover of dolma. Greek, Armenian. Writing a book on taste + cultural memory.

I was most recently a travel editor at the Financial Times (US editor of FT Globetrotter), covering food, culture, art and more in cities across America.

I hosted and co-produced FT Weekend’s flagship culture podcast, Life and Art, for five years.

I write culture stories.

 

Life and Art’s archive, wherever you listen

Say hi on Instagram

I asked Eli Zabar to teach us how to make a sandwich. A hall of fame episode imo, with a person who helped define American taste. Tips include proportion, generosity, salt, and taste everything in the supermarket if it looks good!!! Thank you for yo
Some big, bittersweet news. In early January, Life and Art is coming to an end. At this point I mostly have general mush feelings about what an immeasurable honor it has been to host this podcast through its different iterations, starting as Gris&rsq
An absolute honor to write this piece!!! Go see the Met’s employee art show, which opens Monday. The staff there is one of the most creative, weird, delightful collection of humans in this beautiful town. The piece is in @ft_weekend’s p
In tomorrow’s @fthtsi: Eli Zabar and his iconic shop @eat.nyc, which turned 50 and got a beautiful refresh from @ch_herrero. I spent some time there with Eli, his wife Devon and their son Oliver, and we talked a lot about what makes a perfect p
On making the defense of democracy thrilling, with the great historian Simon Schama. 🎧 Life and Art podcast, link in bio
This week, a memorable episode about what we want from restaurants now, with a chef that doesn’t talk like a ‘chef’ but like a real person, @victoriablamey of @eatblanca. A lot of fine dining restaurants feel outdated these days,
Last night Larry surprised me with 3 tickets to the first game of the WNBA finals at Barclays: for me, my sister and my niece Athena. It was the best early birthday gift: our team, @nyliberty vs Minnesota Lynx. The game was memorable and happy and we
Today’s episode is with the trailblazing @asmakhanlondon, chef and owner of @darjeelingldn who has zero reservations about dropping truth bombs about fine dining kitchens. Here are some photos of us onstage at the @ft_weekend festival last week
Writing this profile of the @bronxdocumentarycenter was an honor. One of the best reporting experiences of my life. I want more people to know about it — and the algorithm only cares about photos of my face, so you might need to ‘like&rsq
When the FT asks you to explain brat and @charli_xcx, and you consider it international diplomacy to accept. Link in bio, free to read

Read my writing here.

Recipes die every day. Very occasionally, they come back to life

 In Turkey, Cambodia and beyond, recipe hunters are resurrecting lost cuisines.

armenia.jpeg

Finding my Armenia, a century after the genocide

Personal essay: I am half Armenian. My grandfather and great grandparents survived the Armenian Genocide. Like many in the diaspora, my family had never made the trip to Armenia. In September, we went. It was moving, delightful, complex. So I wrote about it.

Live interview with poet Natasha Trethewey

September 2020

Lilah talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey at the FT Weekend Live Festival.

 

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