The Least Offensive Way to Ask a Person's Ethnic Background?

During The Sporkful's live podcast taping exploring food and cultural appropriation, host Dan Pashman admitted he and his producer spent about 10 minutes trying to ask guest and comedian Michelle Buteau where her parents are from.
Watch our entire conversation: wny.cc/100JgY
Check out The Sporkful's series, "Other People's Food": wny.cc/100JmH