Let's Talk About Food

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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