Kochleffel (From Let's Talk About Food) (Heritage Radio Network)

One of the great pleasures of collecting people's stories is that they often surprise you. You discover a gem just by asking a question, like how did you get come to food? Today, we talk to Megan Fales. Megan runs a perfect General Store called Anchor & Sail in the center of the seacoast village where I live. When I met her, she seemed lovely, and her food was impeccable. But I had no inkling that she came to our hamlet via a career at Martha Stewart and Comedy Central. Chalk it up to, "you just never know."

Image courtesy of Anchor & Sail General Store.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

If you count on HRN content, become a monthly sustaining donor at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

Coming Soon, from HRN: Because everyone has a food story. From our first mouthful of applesauce in front of​ ​our adoring family, to our first bite into a jalapeño pepper, and everything in between, food is at the heart of the human experience. We love it. We need it. Food is family and ritual. Fun and work. Sophistication and guilty pleasure, scarcity and overabundance. Food makes us ecstatic and sometimes crazy. Food delights and disappoints. Can you think of a connector that binds us together more universally or seamlessly than our shared relationships with food? That’s what we do in this podcast: Share entertaining, evocative, celebratory, complicated and funny food stories.

Subscribe now to get the episodes as they launch! (Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS). 

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Emily Broad Leib is a Clinical Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, the nation’s first law school clinic devoted to providing legal and policy solutions to the challenges facing our food system. 

When I first met Emily, she was just out of law school and just back from a stint working as a legal aid lawyer in the Mississippi Delta. As a young instructor at Harvard Law School, she was essentially being a friendly sort of mentor to small group of Harvard law school students who thought, huh, there's nothing happening with food law, and thought that should be rectified. Now she is one of the leading voices in the country – and even beyond – about all the ways food intersects with the law. But I’ll stop and let Emily tell the story instead of me. It's a great one.

Photo Courtesy of  Emily Broad Leib and Harvard Law School.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is Tamar Haspel. Tamar is a columnist for the Washington Post. Her column UNEARTHED focuses on the intersection of food and science. She's a force of nature -- and food. In High School she was awarded the Teacher's Pest Award for her incessant curiosity and willingness to challenge authority. Now she has a James Beard award to match.

Photo Courtesy of Tamar Haspel.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today we talk to David Waters, the CEO of Community Servings. Launched during the AIDS crisis, Community Servings has made and delivered over 9 million medically tailored meals to homebound people with severe and chronic illnesses. Waters, a true visionary, has been the navigator and the pilot for its growth. At 10, he was serving canapes at his mother's dinner parties. Now he feeds millions. 

Photo courtesy of @communityservings

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode we’ll hear from the President of the Greater Boston Food Bank, Catherine D’Amato and from Northeastern University’s Dining Director, Maureen Timmons.

Most of us are inspired to cook meals for those we love. And then, there are those who choose to feed the many. They are a different breed. Gracious, committed and generous. Why do they do it? 

To us, they are exceptional heroes, especially in this time when food insecurity is soaring, and supply struggles to keep up with crushing demand. We cannot allow hunger cannot be the new normal. For information on how to help, visit www.gbfb.org

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Have you ever wondered how a food delivery business gets going? All the logistics, and the headaches and uncertainty of matching farmers to food and the fresh food to your home? Erin Baumgartner is the CEO and Founder of The Family Dinner. While working as the Assistant Director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT, she left her job after a drink with her husband in a local bar made her believe that her back-of-the-cocktail napkin idea was worth betting on. Since then, she has received so many accolades and awards -- and is the presenter of an inspiring Ted Talk!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Some people – rare people – have the knack of seeing the curves of the future and inviting the rest of us on the journey. Greg Drescher, the senior advisor for Strategic Initiatives at the CIA, Culinary Institute of America, is one of those people. A more insightful job title would be culinary visionary. Our conversation was fascinating as he traces his career arc from one insightful peak to another. You’ll enjoy the journey. Let’s have a listen.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Happy Anniversary to us! And Thank You. Today we remember our very first show with chef Lydia Shire, chef Will Gilson, chef Jasper White and Annie Copps! They are all fun -- and remind why we need to get back to the live stage!

Photo Courtesy of Lydia Shire.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

We are gob-smacked to have her on our podcast. 

Her daily blog, “Letters from An American” is required reading for many of us. I wake up and read her first thing. Others, can’t get to sleep without taking in her incredible and seemingly effortless gift of putting the news of the day--no matter how distressing – into a un-stuffy, almost chatty, historical context. We know she’s been up til the wee hours writing it –with footnotes! Her podcast, Now & Then, is a joy. And her Facebook live lectures…don’t even get me started. The woman never sleeps. 

But––who knew she was a foodie? She cut her teeth making whoopie pies with her sisters in Maine. She’s an expert bread baker, the keeper of the family recipes…a lover of community cookbooks working on her own. In our conversation, she uses her uncanny insights to put food into a political, historical, and cultural context. Who knew that Popeye and Olive Oyl had an interesting origin story?

Photo Courtesy of Heather Cox Richardson.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

We are back to our roots with live events! In this episode you'll hear from three amazing women entrepreneurs. Each story is one of belief in self, grit, and creativity in a challenging world. First, we'll hear from Carlene O'Garro, CEO of Delectable Desires Pastries; next from Alicia Haddad, CEO of Alicia's Spice Co; and lastly from HamdAllah Modupẹ́ Olona, founder of Goodie Crunch. They're funny. They're honest. They are great. Let's have a listen.

HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we’re asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

These are the best kind of stories. Youth. Passion! Barbecue! Darren and Charlene Young moved to St. Louis from LA -- and Darren discovered a hidden passion for real, authentic barbecue. Charlene suddenly noticed that she missed the Filipino barbecue fests of her LA family and world, and so with an abundance of energy, and desire to make friends with new neighbors, they began hosting backyard Filipino barbecues. They were very popular! It morphed from backyard, to catering and on to sold-out pop-ups. Now, The Fattened Caf is a full-fledged company with its BBQ sauces and longganisa on sale online and at 67 groceries throughout the midwest. Who even knew that Filipino BBQ was a "thing"?

Photo Courtesy of The Fattened Caf.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Joanna James is a filmmaker, non-profit founder, mom of three girls, and the daughter of Val James, who against all odds created a successful restaurant company. Joanna’s film entitled "A Fine Line" documents her mother’s struggles, and those of other well-known female chef-owners in the restaurant industry. It tells the story of the barriers, financial and personal, that women face in the food business. When I first saw the film, I understood it as a love letter to her mom. The film created shock waves, generating a lot of buzz upon release. Joanna is also the founder of MAPP Impact, a non-profit focused on mentorship and policy advocacy for women in the food & beverage industry.

Photo courtesy of Joanna James.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins is simply one of the great food authorities in America. She’s also one of the great storytellers, as you will hear. Nancy is the author of 8 books and counting and too many articles to count. From her two home bases in Tuscany and Camden, Maine, she teaches and writes about food topics all over the world. Her Mediterranean Diet Cookbook (now updated) is the benchmark book for the topic, as are her books on pasta and olive oil. Her work is singular: her trademark is deep research, detailed recipes, and often hilariously erudite commentary. This will be a two-part conversation. “Part Deux” will air later this season. For more information on the prolific NHJ, go to www.nancyharmonjenkins.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Mary Ann Esposito is a legend. She is the star of Ciao Italia, a PBS show she produces in New Hampshire. Syndicated nationally for 31 years, it's the longest running cooking show in America. She has written over a dozen books focused on Italian regional cooking, and at 81, she still leads cooking tours to Italy. Fascinating, feisty, and down-to-earth, I just love her. Let's have a listen.

Photo courtesy of John W. Hession.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Paul Sellew is the Founder and CEO of Little Leaf Farms. His "farm" occupies massive greenhouses in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and he expects that by 2026, he'll have 100 acres "under glass" and be able to offer sustainable crisp salad greens to over 50% of the American salad eating world. We'll all be crushing on Little Leaf's hydroponic and sunshine nourished salad greens. He's not the only one who believes in his success: Superstar Bono and his RISE Fund recently made a $300 million dollar investment in the company. That's a lot of arugula! Let's have a listen to Paul Sellew!

Photo courtesy of Adam De Tour for Little Leaf Farms.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Writer, chef, and mega blogger Phoebe Lapine’s new book CARBIVORE is a paean to the joys and the nerdy science of carbs. She trashes the no-carb revolution and replaces it with easy-to-digest science -- and wonderful to ingest -- recipes that work whether you are a yes-on-carb or no-on-carbs freak. After her own challenging health issues, Phoebe studied herself and how her diet affected her body, her moods, and her well-being. Who knew normal people would wear a continuous glucose monitor just for fun? It’s a fascinating conversation with a very smart woman.

Photo courtesy of Haley Hunt Davis.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Sally Sampson is an author, a healthy food champion, and a magazine publisher. 

When I first met Sally, I was wowed by her productivity­­–23 cookbooks and counting! But that was never the whole story for Sally. Eleven years ago, she had an idea for a non-profit cooking magazine, that would be fun and educational for families and Inspire them to cook!  She called the magazine: ChopChop the Fun Cooking Magazine for Families. it is a HUGE success.  Beloved by pediatricians around the world AND the James Beard Foundation––as well as parents and kids––Michelle Obama is also a big fan! Today she’ll tell us how a ninth-grader’s decision to become a vegetarian just might have launched an entire cooking empire. 

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

This is a story of bravery and purpose. If food safety seems like an abstract policy concept to you, you must listen to Darin Detwiler's story. When Darin's 16-month-old son Riley contracted E. coli at daycare, Darin's world turned upside down. In the decades since, Darin, a former US Navy nuclear engineer has dedicated himself to making sure that we all understand the true human cost of unsafe food practices. Listen and weep.

Photo Courtesy of Darin Detwiler.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Thea Engst is a seasoned author, a bartender, and a serious student of Tarot. In her fourth book, Spirits of the Tarot, Thea develops a cocktail recipe to match each Tarot card. It's fun stuff. Especially for true believers. We spoke with her about Tarot and how a bartender goes about developing signature cocktails.

Photo courtesy of Thea Engst.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Kathleen Finlay, the President of Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, in New York’s Hudson Valley has been a leader in the regenerative agriculture movement for most of her career. Now, as the president of Glynwood she is in a position to connect food and farming changemakers from all across the country and the world. Living – and loving it! – on a beautiful little farm in the Hudson Valley, it’s fair to say that Kat has become a national figure in the world of progressive agricultural nonprofits. A personal aside, it was Kat who first got me into the world of recording people’s first-person food stories. We recorded at festivals, at farms, and even at the American Museum of Natural History in New York! It was a blast! That’s where I learned that truly, everyone has a food story.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

We are thrilled that our very first guest on Kochleffel is none other than Joan Nathan, the doyenne, the epicenter of Jewish cooking. Joan is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and other publications. She is the author of twelve books, including Jewish Cooking in America and The New American Cooking, both of which won both the James Beard Award and the IACP Award, and King Solomon’s Table, which won an IACP Award and a Gourmand World Cookbook Award. She shares her time between Washington, DC, and Martha's Vineyard. We spoke with her as she was on book tour with her new memoir, My Life in Recipes. And what a life it is! We are so proud to call her a Kochleffel!

We are back to our roots with live events! In this episode you'll hear from three amazing women entrepreneurs. Each story is one of belief in self, grit, and creativity in a challenging world. Today we'll hear from Emily Mellgard, CEO and Founder of Fieldstone Kombucha, and then from Heather Yunger of Top Shelf Cookies. These are great stories of personal reinvention, personal fierceness, perseverance and adaptability in the challenging era of COVID. You'll be impressed and entertained by them both. 

HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we’re asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

In mid-Summer, although fully vaccinated, Michel and his wife Laurie got Breakthrough Covid after a business trip to Nashville. We had to postpone our original conversation, but when we did connect, Michel shared his experience with us. We were moved. And think you will be too.

Tune in for more from Michel on our next episode!

Photo Courtesy of Michel Nischan

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

If there were royalty in the food world, Michael Jacobson would be a king. Or at least a duke. As the co-founder of the Center for Science in the Public Interest––CSPI––he notched so many wins in protecting consumers that he made advocacy look easy. After more than 40 years at the helm of the CSPI, he is onto his next quest; creating a National Food Museum. We'd be wrong to bet against his success.

Photo courtesy of Michael Jacobson.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode features food writer and columnist, Mike Floreak –– and me, your host, Louisa Kasdon. We’ll each share a story about what happens when you love food. And your mother or mother-in-law could care less.

Mike Floreak on his mother-in-law, Mary:“Food was just one of the things Mary found disappointing. Like the people she met at Walmart. And my wife’s haircuts.”

Louisa Kasdon on her mother, Muriel Kasdon: 
“We used to tell people not to eat anything at my mother’s house. Not the cottage cheese with the blue scooped out. Not the tomato paste left over from the Depression…If she could have fed us Special K and frozen potpies from her favorite Jewish butcher every night, that would have been fine with her.” 

Photos by BJ Versoy

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Erin French is the owner and chef of The Lost Kitchen, a 40-seat restaurant in Freedom, Maine, that was recently named one TIME Magazine’s World’s Greatest Places and one of "12 Restaurants Worth Traveling Across the World to Experience" by Bloomberg. 

Her love of Maine and her palpable pleasure in sharing its delicious heritage with curious dinner guests and new friends alike, has garnered attention in outlets such as The New York Times (her piece was one of the ten most read articles in the food section the year it was published), Martha Stewart Living, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Food & Wine. In addition to too many wows to list, Erin has just published her memoir, Finding Freedom. 

I interviewed her at a webinar sponsored by Women Who Empower, a network of strong, creative, and innovative women and men launched by Northeastern University a decade ago. 

The aim of Women Who Empower is to bring together and inspire future generations through events, scholarships, learning, and entrepreneurship opportunities, to overcome disparities and biases, connect, and lead change in their communities and beyond.

Let’s have a listen.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is Corky White, Professor of Anthropology at Boston University. Although her focus is on Japan, Corky has a deep and fascinating focus on food – both as an academic pursuit and as globe-trotting food lover. Today’s episode is just that. A global trot through Corky’s life, food, culture, and the impact of her own heritage on why food is so fascinating. Her newest book, written with her son, historian Ben Wurgaft, is "Ways of Eating." We’ll get to that too – and stay tuned to learn about her grandmother’s rolling pin! Let’s have a listen!

Photo courtesy of Corky White.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Congressman Jim McGovern is our man in Congress. He represents Worcester, Massachusetts, but he really represents all of us who care about food. Not only is he the chair of the powerful rules committee, but he is lobbying for a White House Conference on Food & Nutrition. The last time that happened, Richard Nixon was president.

Photo Courtesy of Congressman Jim McGovern.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today, Henry Patterson, has decades of experience in the food business. Along the way, he has learned a thing or two about how to keep customers yours forever. But, right now, HPatt is off to a border town in Poland to cook for Ukrainian refugees with Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen. It's his present to himself for his 70th birthday. Let's hear how and why he is going.

Click here for Henry Patterson's GoFundME

Click here for World Central Kitchen.  You can also follow the hashtag #ChefsForUkraine

Are you a business owner? Become an HRN business member! For $500 HRN will shine a light on your work AND you will help sustain our mission to expand the way people think about food. As a thank you for this tax-deductible donation, your business will receive on-air mentions, social media posts, listings on our website and more. Go to heritageradionetwork.org/biz to become a business member today.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

This week we share two "food love origin stories". One from Celeste Croxton-Tate, a cook, author, and Boston Police officer. And one from me, because I too had to learn to love food.

Photo Courtesy of LyndigoSpice.com

If you count on HRN content, become a monthly sustaining donor at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode two of our favorite chefs, Lydia Shire and Will Gilson. Each will share a story of how far a chef will go for love -- or a recipe. 

Lydia Shire - How much do I want this recipe?

Lydia Shire is simply one of the country’s leading chefs. Named to every high honor in the culinary world, including becoming the first female executive chef at a Four Season’s Hotel. Lydia began cooking in Boston at 21, as a young divorced mother with three small children. Her story of her drive, ingenuity and skill is inspirational, allowing her to rise to become one of the first female Executive Chef at a Four Seasons hotel, and launching numerous restaurants in her hometown, Boston including Scampo where she shares the executive chef honors with her son. For more about Lydia Shire, visit www.scampoboston.com

Will Gilson - If this olive-skinned man who smelled like a pack of Marlboro cigarettes told me I needed this rice dish in my life, imagine if I could bring it back to the United States and use it to charm women?

Chef Will Gilson is one of Boston’s most energetic and talented chefs. Will is a two-time James Beard semi-finalist and Puritan & Company was listed on Bon Appetit’s “50 Best Restaurants” shortly after it opened in late 2012.His flagship restaurant, Puritan & Company, is expanding from one to three additional locations in Cambridge over the next year in a new and connected neighborhood at the intersection of Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston. Café Beatrice, an all-day café; Geppetto, a full-service Italian restaurant slated to open in 2021; and The Lexington, a cocktail bar and restaurant with a rooftop terrace. For more about Will, take a gander at his website, https://www.puritancambridge.com

Photo Courtesy of Bjversoy

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

When an icon and role model in food policy and food studies writes a memoir, after writing more than a dozen policy-heavy books --you might expect it to be serious. Even a little preachy. But you’d be wrong here. Marion Nestle’s telling of her life story is juicy and delicious. Eminently readable. In addition to her own journey, it is a surprisingly candid reflection about the difficulties of a serious and professional woman in academia coming of age in the 50’s and 60’s. Married at 19? Really Marion? She’s quite a woman and it is quite a tale. Let’s hear from Marion Nestle about her memoir – Slow Cooked.

Photo Courtesy of Marion Nestle.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Lance Gould has a pretty terrific story to tell. He began as a journalist covering the UN and ended up working closely with Arianna Huffington, managing various sections for the Huffington Post. (He says only the Pope refused to take his call.) Now he is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brooklyn Story Lab (BSL), a media-strategy firm that teaches purpose-driven organizations how to be more effective storytellers, particularly around their SDG-related work. And quite a bit of his work revolves around world food issues. 

He was previously a journalist who held newsroom-leadership positions at The Huffington Post (Executive Editor), The Boston Phoenix (Editor in Chief), The New York Daily News (Deputy Managing Editor), and Spy Magazine. In 2016, Lance received a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award for his editorial work related to the SDGs. In 2017, Lance was named to the Leadership Council for the UN's Media for Social Impact Summit. He is on the Board of World Elephant Day and for four years has been a volunteer commissioner for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Commission on Education and Communications.

Photo Courtesy of Lance Gould.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is Scott Grabau, CEO of Tanimura & Antle, one of the world’s largest produce growers. I know, the phrase “large produce” stops you, passionate as you are about buying local and supporting Farmer’s Markets. But what if it turns out that large “Legacy Agriculture” has deep expertise to share? And what if a company that farms thousands of acres, ships to across the US as well as Asia and Europe––is also passionate about maintaining sustainable farming practices, and laser-focused on innovating and investing in what’s next to come in agriculture? Let’s have a listen to Tanimura & Antle’s CEO Scott Grabau, and how he educates us about Legacy Farming, or maybe just rattles a few of our prejudices. 

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is one of my favorite members of the culinary elite: Martha Rose Shulman, an award-winning author of more than twenty-five cookbooks, including The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking, The Very Best of Recipes for Health, Mediterranean Harvest: Vegetarian Recipes from the World’s Healthiest Cuisine (named one of the 6 best vegetarian cookbooks of the last 25 years by Cooking Light Magazine), Mediterranean Light, Provençal Light, and Entertaining Light. For eight years she wrote the feature entitled Recipes for Health for the New York Times. She has over 1,500 recipes featured on the NY Times Cooking website. Her food combines pleasure and health, drawing largely from the cuisines of the Mediterranean, inherently healthy cuisines with big flavors.

Photo courtesy of Martha Rose Schulman.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Dr. David Eisenberg is a visionary. Son and grandson of a baker, he breathed life into an international movement of Teaching Kitchens, hands-on kitchens where doctors and other health professionals could learn about why food matters. On the eve of a major conference of The Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, he talks to us about food, about his experience as the first US medical student in China, and about why he never wavered from his lifelong twin passions for bringing food and health into the medical mainstream.

Photo Courtesy of David Eisenberg.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

I have to confess to a long-term professional crush on Mike Moss, the intrepid New York Times investigative journalist who blew the lid off big foods’ research-based adeptness at engineering our Bliss Point–– finding the most exquisite balance of Salt, Sugar, Fat that renders us helpless faced with an open bag of Doritos. Or Oreo––or pick your poison. His new book, Hooked, unmasks the rigorous research used to addict us to ultra-processed food. He is such a trove of insight and knowledge that I couldn’t stop listening to him. I think you will feel the same. Let’s have a listen.

Photo courtesy of Dan Sheehan.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Matthew Martin is a remarkable man. A Lutheran minister who spent much of college homeless, he's managed to mobilize thousands of volunteers who come in to work on an "assembly line" in a local church to package meals that have fed over 39 million people over the past few years. This spring, over a million of the meals went to Ukraine.

Photo Courtesy of  Matthew Martin.

HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we’re asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

When Charles Hunter jumped the chasmic divide from NYC to Boston to helm City Winery, he never bargained for a pandemic. He came with a long resume in the hospitality business with everything from a stint at IHOP (he says the boysenberries are real) and owning and managing his own spots in NYC and NJ. If there is a poster boy for grit, graceful pivoting and dedication to first principles of making it all about the guest, it is Charles Hunter.

Photo Courtesy of Charles Hunter

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

John Yingling's story is a classic one-foot-in-front-of-other tale of entrepreneurship— how he started as a pizza delivery boy in high school in the 70's, made dough in high school, and decided to put a pin in Provincetown and opened up P'Town's first pizza shop on a shoestring. (This included bunking down in a graveyard for a rent-free bed.) His flagship Spiritus Pizza is still successful, as well as a string of other food ventures and owning much of the prime real estate in town.

Photo Courtesy of John Yingling.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Sara Baer-Sinnott is the President of Oldways, a nonprofit focused on improving public health through cultural food traditions and lifestyles. If you think you haven’t heard of Oldways, you are wrong. Oldways’ tentacles touch almost everything you think about food today. It was the organization that brought the Mediterranean Diet to the forefront, the champion of whole grains in food products – and the creator and convener of a wide swath of the “culinary community” inviting huge bands of chefs, writers, retailers and food producers from all over the world to gather together to revere and preserve the value and joy of artisanal food – in short…the Oldways.

Culinary folks from today's episode:
Rick Bayless
Madhur Jaffrey
Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Corby Kummer
Tim Lang
Elisabeth Luard
Marion Nestle
Maricel Presilla
Jeffrey Steingarten
Faith Willinger
Paula Wolfert
Naomi Duguid
Susan Loomis
Melissa Clark
Ihsan and Valerie Gurdal
Anya von Bremzen
Bobby Flay
Gordon Hamersley
Jessica B. Harris
Joan Nathan
Fred Plotkin
Martha Rose Shulman
Lynne Rossetto Kasper
Lorna Sass
Molly Stevens
Nora Pouillon
Barry Estabrook
Rux Martin
Annie Copps

Photo courtesy of Oldways.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

We talk -- or mostly listen -- to the remarkable Barton Seaver; recovering chef, prodigious advocate of all things seafood, TED talk alum, author of landmark books on American seafood (my favorite is For Cod & Country), and quite possibly the most eloquent speaker we've ever met!

Photo courtesy of Barton Seaver.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Karen Katz is a veteran executive TV producer and writer with over 1500 hours of television programming to her credit. Her illustrious career includes producing for networks such as Food Network, Discovery Networks, HBO Family, and more. 

She has worked on competition, lifestyle, documentary, reality, children's TV, and music/variety programming both domestically and internationally. Karen was the executive producer of Emeril Live during its pinnacle, and experienced firsthand the whirlwind of excitement, chaos, and creativity that unfolded behind the scenes. Karen’s new memoir, "Getting Sauced: How I Learned Everything I Know About Food From Working in TV is a backstage pass into the enthralling world of early food television, seasoned with humor, heart, and a dash of culinary magic. I loved this book! 

Karen's upbringing in Long Island, where Lipton Soup Mix and orange juice reigned supreme in the kitchen, laid the foundation for her flavorful adventures. From humble beginnings to haute cuisine, her narrative charts a course from Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks to Michelin-starred delicacies, offering readers a taste of the glutton-to-glamour transformation that defined her culinary evolution. Let’s have a listen to Karen Katz!

Our guest today, author Anastacia Marx DeSalcedo, has a wonderfully curious mind. Her first book, The Combat-Ready Kitchen, explored the legacy and influence of military research on the foods we eat. (Who knew those bags of precut lettuce came from the Army?)  Her new book, Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse is just out. It’s a smart and slightly jarring argument that will shake up your preconceptions about nutrition, health – and yes, the benefits of exercise. Tough love for couch potatoes coming up!

Photo Courtesy of  Anastacia Marx DeSalcedo.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

A book that could change your life. Home Made author Liz Hauck decided to follow-up on an idea she hatched with her father just before he passed away: she would show up and make and eat dinner with the boys who lived in the group home where he worked. She did just that. For three full years, Liz showed up every week with bags of groceries and made dinner with the teenagers who lived in the home. The book is so well-written and inspiring that none other than the Times book review gave this first time author a rave. Read it here. 

Photo Courtesy of  Liz Hauck.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Her mother told her “Never Take Candy from a Stranger.”

Especially in Moscow. Darra Goldstein was a young Russian graduate student, working on a US trade show in the USSR in the 70’s when a seemingly sympathetic Muscovite offered her a bag of candy as a thank-you. It’s a great story. Darra is now an Emeritus professor of Russian at Williams college and the founding editor of Gastronomica, the Journal of Food Studies. 

Photo Courtesy of Darra Goldstein.

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

Today we talk to Kate Sullivan. She is the host of the PBS Series, To Dine For ––now in its third season. An accomplished television reporter, she crafted a fantasy job for herself – having a meal and a one-on-one conversation with visionaries at their favorite hometown restaurants. Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Norman Lear, Mark Cuban­­––and someone we all revere, chef Jose Andrés. In this episode we’ll eavesdrop on Kate’s own dinner with Andres in Barcelona – and how her hunch that bonding over a meal would make for great TV storytelling.

Photo Courtesy of Kate Sullivan.

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

New England lost one of the greats recently, Jasper White; chef, author, mentor, and trailblazer. He re-invented and re-invigorated New England cuisine and made it into a style of cooking that was a lot more than chowda' and lobster rolls. At 69, it was too soon to lose him. With great love and respect, and quite a bit of sadness, we re-broadcast a story he shared with us a few years back. Let’s have a listen to the great Jasper White!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today we talk with Cheryl Kiser, a longtime friend and the visionary behind Babson College’s Lewis Institute for Social Innovation. That’s a big deal. In case you did not know, Babson is the number one business school in Entrepreneurship in the world, and it has been since the rankings began some 20 plus years ago. Cheryl has inspired countless entrepreneurial leaders through her BabsonX course, From Corporate Social Responsibility to Social Innovation. She is also a great and committed food activist. She co-founded Food Sol, an “action tank” to bring together food entrepreneurs for conversations and actionable connections. Cheryl has a long-standing reputation as a “positive disrupter” and lives by the mantra, “Find a way to say yes.”

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is Lisa Ekus, founder of The Ekus Group, a literary agency specializing in “representing a world of culinary talent.” She has over 40 years of experience representing a wide selection of food personalities, writers, cookbooks, restaurants, and food products. The agency she founded represents more than 350 authors and works with numerous leading publishers worldwide. A sought after expert and agent, Lisa’s media training, which was featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” helps culinary professionals improve their media presentation, video, and interviewing skills, traveling globally to present seminars, workshops, and panels. She has hosted everyone from Julia Child to Emeril Lagasse in her kitchen and at her table. 

Lisa sees food as the common denominator that brings family and friends together, and she sits down for dinner as often as possible with her family, friends, and clients. Last, but not least, she also is the proud owner of more than 7,000 cookbooks. The Guinness Book of World Records just awarded Lisa the honor of holding the largest personal cookbook collection in the world. A Kochleffel of the first order! Let’s have a listen.

Today is a real treat for those of us with lock-down wanderlust. A married couple – Rachel Greenberger and Cristiano Bonino. Rachel is a 2020 Eisenhower Fellow working on Regenerative Agriculture and Food Systems – she was one of the creators of Food Sol – a thought leadership initiative for Food Entrepreneurs at Babson College. Rachel also works with her husband, Cristiano, on his Italian Tour Company Food.Stories.Travel. I love his voice – and couldn’t we all use a little escape to the countryside of Italy right now? Spoiler alert: There’s a lot of anchovies in this piece.

Photo Courtesy of FoodStoriesTavel.com.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Food photography is a marvel. Beautiful photos make me want to own the book, cook the dish, visit the restaurant, travel to the source. But how do you become a celebrated food photographer? You may not know his name, but you’ve been admiring his art for years in best-selling cookbooks, magazines, websites and more. Michael Piazza will tell us how he became a food-focused photographer, and why “it’s all about the light.”

Photo Courtesy of Michael Piazza.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Journalist and essayist Alice Feiring was proclaimed “the queen of natural wines” by the Financial Times. Feiring is a recipient of a coveted James Beard Award for wine journalism, among many other accolades. She has written for newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, New York magazine, Time, AFAR, World of Fine Wine, and the beloved winezine, Noble Rot. Her previous books include Natural Wine for the People; Dirty Guide to Wine; For the Love of Wine; Naked Wine: Letting Grapes Do What Comes Naturally; and her controversial 2008 debut, The Battle for Wine & Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization. Alice lives in New York and publishes the authoritative natural wine newsletter, The Feiring Line. Visit her online at TheFeiringLine.com.

Photo Courtesy of Alice Feiring.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

It’s not hard to fall in love with chefs. But Josh Lewin of Juliet in Somerville, and Peregrine in the Back Bay––is special to me. I’ve been privileged to watch him grow and prosper – from bistro cook, to executive chef, to pop-up entrepreneur, to an award-winning chef-owner whose idea of the purpose of a restaurant is as much about social equity for the staff, as it is about excellence in the food. We recorded this conversation in late winter of 2022 when the new improved and enlarged Juliet was getting ready to open. First, let’s hear the unusual back-story of how Josh Lewin got his cooking chops.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

If you have a wall of cookbooks (like I do) but only ever crack open a few–help is at hand. Jane Kelly is the founder of Eat Your Books, a service that lets you search your own library to find the perfect recipe. She was an executive in the music and TV world in the UK, and then, she had an idea....

Photo courtesy of Eat Your Books.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode features our friends, chef Jasper White & chef and author, Annie Copps. They’ll each share a cranky yet funny story about food and friendship––and sealing the deal over a wonderful meal. 

Jasper White - How A Cranky Diner Became My Best Friend

Chef Jasper White is credited nationally with reviving and re-inventing the regional traditions of New England Cooking. He spent much of his childhood on a farm near the Jersey Shore and credits his love of good food to his Italian grandmother. 

In 1983 Jasper's Restaurant opened on Boston’s historic waterfront. Both Chef and restaurant received numerous awards and were featured extensively in national and local media. In 1990, Jasper was given the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Northeast. Jasper took time to spend with his three young children, as well as write two cookbooks: Lobster at Home (Scribner 1998) and Fifty Chowders (Scribner 2000). His first book, Jasper White's Cooking from New England, had been published in 1989.  All three books received various awards and critical acclaim. 

In 2000, Jasper White surprised people. He opened Jasper White's Summer Shack, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Where Jasper's Restaurant had been quietly elegant and formal, Summer Shack is a loud, energetic clam shack.  – a Mecca for seafood lovers. After more than 45 years in the hospitality and seafood business, Jasper has recently hung up his apron and retired. He now lives most of the year in Cape Cod with his wife, Kathleen, and dog, Buster. 

Annie Copps - Singles Awareness Day

"Valentine’s Day can be a real clunker for a single person. Twenty years ago I made the mistake of going out for Sunday brunch the morning after Valentine’s Day. You’ve heard of a marijuana haze? This was a post-coital haze. Everyone else in the restaurant had just rolled out of bed with their partner. That’s when I decided to start Singles Awareness Day."

Annie is a chef, cook author, writer, cooking teacher and TV and radio personality. In addition to cooking at many restaurants, she has been the food editor of Boston Magazine and Yankee Magazine. To learn more about the irrepressible Annie Copps, visit www.intellibelly.net

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

If you enjoyed our last episode with John Piotti, we have good news!  Heritage Radio Network is producing a monthly show hosted by John.  The show is called No Farms No Future, the podcast of American Farmland Trust.  The show will dig into the issues facing farms and farmers today.  We all need to eat, and as a result, we all need to know what faces the folks who raise our food.  Today we are proud to premiere the very first episode of No Farms No Future.  

For more than 40 years, American Farmland Trust (AFT) has fought to keep farmers on their land, promote environmentally sound farming practices, and protect U.S. farmland. At a time when independent farmers and ranchers face ever-increasing financial and climate challenges, AFT works nationwide with them to help create innovative solutions for a sustainable food system. 

In this opening episode of No Farms No Future, American Farmland Trust, and the Food Voice, AFT president and CEO John Piotti explains how reversing the trend toward fewer local farms and declining soil health is critical to preserving our food supply and the planet. You’ll also meet two farmers—one at the end of a career and one who is just beginning—who show how ingenuity and collaboration can brighten the future, one farm at a time.  

You can find No Farms No Future on Heritage Radio Network, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Be Sure to Subscribe, so you don't miss an episode.  (Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify| RSS).

Resources:

Feature story on Sandy Gordon and Gordon Farms

Post and video featuring Sandy and Josh

To learn more about American Farmland Trust go to farmland.org. 

Episode photo by Shawn Linehan

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Former Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, is a major foodie. But you might not know that if you simply focused on his remarkable biography. Raised on the South Side of Chicago in tough circumstances, scholarship to a New England boarding school, graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, a senior member of the US Justice department, and a high-level corporate career – all before becoming the Bay State’s first African-American governor. Twice. And just last year, a run for the US Presidency. If there’s a testament to how talking about food is the great leveler, the great ice breaker, our conversation with Deval Patrick is it!

Image courtesy of Deval Patrick.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Michael Crupain is an MD, an MPH, a passionate wellness advocate, and a terrific cook. When we first met, Michael was at Consumer Reports, which he then left to become the medical director of the Dr. Oz show (wow!). And now after 7 years there, he's writing fabulous cookbooks!

Photo courtesy of Michael Crupain.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today we talk to chef Andy Husbands. Husbands now operates The Smoke Shop, a Boston-based emerging chain of BBQ restaurants. He’s a six-time cookbook author and–– importantly–– a Pitmaster. The co-founder of internationally recognized BBQ team which competed for 20 years and became the first non-Southern team to win the World Champions of BBQ Title at the Jack Daniels World Championship in Tennessee.

I’ve been privileged to watch Andy morph from being a sort of enfant terrible to becoming an incredible force in in the Boston culinary scene. Andy is a person of immense management talents, as well as food talents. He could have gone in a million different directions. How did it become food?

Photo Courtesy of Smoke Shop

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

The redoubtable Marion Nestle is the closest I can come to a modern-day Joan of Arc, rallying us for decades against private and public institutional forces as she advocates for good food, sensible nutrition, and responsible public health. Author of fourteen seminal books, and hundreds research papers, Op-Eds, and collaborations, Marion Nestle founded NYU’s department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health, where she trained––and most importantly––inspired an army of scholars and activists. A most-respected watchdog of our corporate food culture, she can be counted on to tell the unvarnished and occasionally “unsavory” truth about food and health, corporate food business, and the politics behind it all. 

Occasionally controversial, but always right on target, Marion Nestle is the first call for journalists when they need reliable, smart explanations of anything having to do with nutrition, food, or health. She says, “I get in trouble a lot because I say what I think.” You can follow her daily blog foodpolitics.com.

Photo Courtesy of Bill Hayes.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

“It was as though somebody had poked a hole in the hull of a ship and we were sinking.”

Chef Jody Adams is one of a very few chefs in town whose first name alone makes her instantly recognizable. Like Cher. Or Barack. Jody is a rock-star chef-owner with more than 30 years of success. She’s earned every national accolade including numerous James Beards, Food & Wine, Top Chef). Jody Adams is a formidable leader — a major force in the food world­­––championing female chefs, feeding the hungry, and taking a leadership role in getting the embattled restaurant industry government help during the COVID crisis. I asked Jody Adams, how a young woman from a gentle New England background, became a nationally acclaimed chef.

Photo Courtesy of Ken Rivard and Jody Adams.

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

A Conversation with Frank Lowenstein of RARE. Rare is the largest non-profit you've never heard of, and for 50 years it has been focused on using Behavioral Change to nudge people towards Sustainability all over the world. Now, RARE comes to the US. Frank, a lifelong environmentalist, talks about what we can do at the individual level to mitigate climate change.

Photo courtesy of Frank Lowenstein.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our conversation with food media baron Chris Kimball was a hoot. Although he produces his own Milk Street podcast and radio show (carried on over 200 radio stations) he was willing to come on our show. He’s wry man with amazing energy and a boundless entrepreneurial spirit. Founding Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Magazine, America’s Test Kitchen––and now Milk Street––not to mention his seven books (and counting!) –– have all been centered around food and food media. An empire builder of the first order, we asked him “Why Food”?

Photo Courtesy of  Milk Street Kitchen.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today, we hear from Jenny Best. It’s a story of a top tier New York City ballerina, who conquered her own struggles with food, and then was gob-smacked when it came time to begin feeding solids to her own firstborn son. And that was even before the twins! 

Jenny leaped into action and became the founder of a remarkable on-line information resource called Solid Starts.com. It’s a multi-disciplinary and very comprehensive website that offers parents guidance as babies take their very first bites and begin the journey towards a healthy and joyful life with food.

Photo Courtesy of Jenny Best.

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

It began as a B-School class project. Our guest today is Kirsten Saenz Tobey. Kirsten co-founded Revolution Foods in 2006 while in graduate school at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Both she and her co-founder Kristin Richmond needed a project of a B-School class they were both taking. They bonded – and soared over the idea that school food could be both crave-able and healthy. Their school project became Revolution Foods, a California based B-Corp to build lifelong healthy eaters by making kid-inspired, chef-crafted food accessible to all. 

From its start in Oakland, California, Revolution Foods has gained national recognition for its innovative approach to school food. Revolution Foods, now over $100 million in revenue, serves over 1 million healthy, affordable meals per week and is the leading school food provider in California. Let’s hear from Kirsten!

Photo courtesy of Kirsten Tobey.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Welcome to Kochleffel, a special series about the remarkable contributions of Jewish women to the world of food. 

Every good Rom-Com starts with a “Meet Cute” story. And what could be cuter than a first date story that revolves around food? In this episode we share two: a cheese-infused one from Sarah and Chris Blackburn, who met, married and are now the publishers and editor of Edible Boston; and one from Dena and Noah Kowaloff. This one features an unlikely star: broccoli. Let’s have a listen.

Photo Courtesy of Bethany Versoy

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is Irene Li. And my god, is she a powerhouse. A six-time James Beard Nominee for Rising Star Chef, plus, Zagat’s 30 under 30, Eater’s Young Gun and so much more. She has now become one of the shining stars and entrepreneurs, a true community leader in the culinary space around Boston and beyond––especially noted for her huge heart and nimbleness in our post-covid food world. The youngest of three siblings who founded Mei Mei, a Dumpling FOOD truck (that’s oversimplified by many leagues), like a contestant in an obstacle course, Irene Li is leaping over barriers as she grows.

Photo Courtesy of Michael Piazza.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

The best thing -- and the worst -- thing about food businesses is that it seems so easy to begin one. And it is not. Our guest Jack Barber and his brother Max started Mainely Burgers over 10 years ago as green college kids looking for summer jobs. Now they are full-fledged entrepreneurs. Bravo to them!

Photo Courtesy of Jack Barber.

Are you a business owner? Become an HRN business member! For $500 HRN will shine a light on your work AND you will help sustain our mission to expand the way people think about food. As a thank you for this tax-deductible donation, your business will receive on-air mentions, social media posts, listings on our website and more. Go to heritageradionetwork.org/biz to become a business member today.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today we are having a chat with my good friend, Charles Draghi --universally called "Chuck."  Chuck inhabits the rarified strata of top chefs in Boston, mentor to many, revered by diners at his restaurant Erbaluce, and lauded by the critics. Before all that, he was a chef in Boston's North End, one of the country's last Little Italys, where locals and tourists go for color and red-sauce flavor.  It's where Chuck served up the kinds of dishes unheard of in this traditional iconic Italian neighborhood. The restaurant was called Marcuccio's. And yes, there are a few gangsters involved.

Photo Courtesy of Chris Glionna

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network, support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member! 

Let's Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

You might think it’s obvious that the story of food, of cookbooks is central to understanding our culture and history. But it was not always so. Our storyteller today is Barbara Haber, a towering figure in making sure that “food,” and “women” and cooking were recognized as critical to the study of American Culture and American History. As curator of books at Harvard’s Schlesinger Library for more than 30 years, she collected more than 16,000 cookbooks plus the papers of notables like her friend, Julia Child, and argued (controversially!) for the recognition of Culinary History as a serious academic departments, now all over the country. . If you don’t yet know who Barbara Haber is, prepare to be amazed.

Photo Courtesy of Barbara Haber

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

A 14 year old Minnesota boy wanted a motorcycle. He got a job as a dishwasher and it launched a stellar culinary career. We talked with Mark about himself, his outlook on the future of restaurants, and where the CIA is headed next.

Photo courtesy of Mark Erickson.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Hannah Howard is the author of two memoirs, Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen and Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family. We loved both her books, beautifully written, clear on her struggle between loving food and wrestling with food issues and body image. She is funny, moving, smart, and when she writes about cheese, the earth stands still. We start this episode with Hannah reading from her first book, Feast. You will love her crisis in the cheese cave. What a writer!

Photo Courtesy of Michelle Chin.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Dr. Peter Lurie is the head of Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), arguably the most important defender of food safety and justice in the US. Lurie is the grandson of a South African female butcher and a South African egg seller. How did that form him as a warrior for social justice?

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Dan Michaud "Ron, Jade Valley and the Power of Place" 

When his soon-to-be stepfather Ron rolled into teenage Dan’s mother’s house in an orange Fiat convertible. They began a thirty-year conversation. Dan’s tribute to “Ron who gave me Shakespeare, Miles Davis, and winter picnics” (plus a killer recipe for Beef Stroganoff).

Alvin Crawford "The Luckiest Guy"

Family dinners are not always happy moments. Our storyteller, Alvin Crawford, with his father remembers his dinners with his father as stressful rituals, more of an inquisition than a time to come together around food. Alvin, now a non-profit executive, recounts how he survived those meals and grew to understand, if not accept, his father’s intensity. And, ultimately, to learn how to enjoy meals with his own young family. 

Photos Courtesy of BJ Versoy

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Nina Simonds is simply one of America’s culinary superstars. Trained in Taiwan in the 70’s by China’s culinary royalty, author of 11 cookbooks, former Asia editor for Gourmet, and reporter for the New York Times. So, it was a huge shock to her system that when she got Covid, it stole her sense of taste and smell. So far, it hasn’t come back. 

Photo courtesy Nina Simonds.

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is Claire Cheney, the founder and owner of the renowned Curio Spice Company. Curio is a mission-driven spice company, importing spices sustainably and directly from growers all over the world. 

Claire has an obsession for spices, which she discovered in her early travels to South East Asia. She is “the blender in chief” -- she selects the spices, and she unleashes her incredible sensory abilities to create unique spice blends. We were curious how Claire learned to trust her “nose” and her palate. How did she know she was special?

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

As the Corporate Director of Exercise Physiology for the world-famous Canyon Ranch wellness resorts, Mike Siemens knows a thing or two about food. And health. And how the two go together. The good. The bad. and how we get back to post Pandemic health. His love for food began as a kid growing up in East Central Illinois, walking the fence row, searching for wild asparagus. Don’t know what “exercise physiology” is? Have a listen and Mike will explain.

Photo Courtesy of Mike Siemens & Canyon Ranch.

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

Michel Nischan grew up working on his grandparent’s farm in Missouri and developed a deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land. His passion for healthful cooking supported by a local sustainable food system propelled Michel to the front of the culinary scene. Michel expanded his work into the world of food equity when he founded the non-profit organization, Wholesome Wave, whose mission is to inspire underserved consumers to make healthier food choices by increasing affordable access to fresh, healthful fruits and vegetables. His vision was to catalyze a meaningful shift in food commerce to support local farmers, retailers, and food entrepreneurs through purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables in their home communities.

Author of three cookbooks and a director of the Jacques Pepin Foundation, Chef’s Collaborative, CIA Advisory Council, Modern Farmer, Good Food Media Network, The National Young Farmers Coalition, and the ReFresh Working Group. The James Beard Foundation honored him with the 2015 Humanitarian of The Year. To learn more about Chef Nischan, follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and visit www.chefnischan.com  For more about Wholesome Wave visit www.wholesomewave.org

Photo Courtesy of Michel Nischan

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway live on Ten Apple Farm in Maine with their three daughters. Margaret is a writer; Karl is a photographer. Once they decided to make Maine their home and raise their family on a goat farm, they went all in–––for Maine. 

They were the two pillars behind the award-winning Maine Bi-Centennial Community Cookbook, published last summer. 

The cookbook was a smash –over 200 recipes from Maine-ers of all stripes, chock full of people, family, and all things Maine. Margaret Hathaway tell the story of how a community cookbook published in the heart of the Pandemic came to be the heart center of the state.Karl, a true Maine-r, will chime in with his own story of growing up Jewish in Maine with his great grandmother, Sadie the Kosher Caterer AKA"Cookie Nana"
 

Photo Courtesy of Karl Schatz.

Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is John Piotti, the president and CEO of American Farmland Trust, the nation’s leading non-profit dedicated to protecting farmland, promoting sound farming practices, and keeping farmers on the land. How did a kid growing up on Nantucket Island, hoping to design sailboats, end up in Maine (and now in Washington DC), and become laser focused on preserving rural life and the livelihood of America’s farmers?

Photo Courtesy of American Farmland Trust.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Our eminent panel--Congressman Jim McGovern, Marion Nestle, Michael Jacobson, Dariush Mozaffarian, and Kirsten Tobey felt there's room for optimism that this conference can and will have a lasting impact on our American food system. Listen in and see if you agree.

Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.