why food

Join us for a conversation with Kim and Vanessa Pham, sisters and co-founders of Omsom, a new brand of Asian pantry staples. As first-generation Vietnamese-Americans and the daughters of refugees, Vanessa and Kim are reclaiming the cultural integrity of Asian cuisines too often diluted on grocery shelves in the ‘ethnic’ aisles and increasingly inaccessible in everyday life. The New York-based Pham sisters have tapped the talents of estimable, iconic chefs to exclusively collaborate on each starters’ formulations and recipes; beginning with a Southeast Asian line of three dishes from Vietnam, Thailand, and The Philippines. 

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Join cohost Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Simone Cormier, National Spice Coordinator for Allegro Coffee, a subsidiary of Whole Foods Market. Simone is a chef, writer, avid traveler and Whole Food's resident "spiceommelier"

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Join Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Loren Cardeli, Founder and President of A Growing Culture, an organization that promotes ecological agriculture across the globe. Loren believes the key to fixing our food system lies in giving farmers a prominent seat at the table–a seat that is currently threatened by the industrialization of agriculture. Through his work at AGC, Loren promotes farmer-led research, innovation, and knowledge sharing, helping farmers throughout the world create sustainable, self-driving futures. AGC is now working to expand the impact of this process of documentation and information exchange by creating the Library for Food Sovereignty (LFS)–an online platform for agrarian intellectual exchange that seeks to collectivize innovation and democratize farmer-led research. AGC’s goal is to create a living repository for and by farmers who will use their collective knowledge to reinvent our food systems, facilitating virtual connections to previously unreachable peers across the globe.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!

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Join co-hosts Vallery and Ethan for a very special conversation with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. Born and raised in Brownsville, Borough President Adams was drawn to a career in public service from an early age and had a 22-year career in the NYPD, rising to the rank of Captain. While in the NYPD, Adams was a leader of his fellow Black police officers and an outspoken critic of police violence. In 2016, while serving his first term as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, having lost vision in one eye and experienced significant nerve damage. Against the advice of his doctors, he decided to use a plant-based diet to treat his diabetes and was able to reverse the diagnosis in just a few months. Since then, Adams has been a vocal advocate of plant-based eating and food-as-medicine, and has implemented healthy eating programs across the borough.

In March, HRN began producing all of our 35 weekly shows from our homes all around the country. It was hard work stepping away from our little recording studio, but we know that you rely on HRN to share resources and important stories from the world of food each week. It’s been a tough year for all of us, but right now HRN is asking for your help. Every dollar that listeners give to HRN provides essential support to keep our mics on. We've got some fresh new thank you gifts available, like our limited edition bandanas.

Keep Why Food? on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. 

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Join Vallery & Ethan for a conversation with Auzerais Bellamy, pastry chef and founder of Blondery. Auzerais is classically trained pastry chef, the former pastry sous-chef at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery. She trained at Per Se and Daniel in New York and The French Laundry in Napa Valley before launching Blondery, her seasonal blondie collection. Blondery is a nod to her experience in fine-dining and her modest beginnings as a home baker.

In March, HRN began producing all of our 35 weekly shows from our homes all around the country. It was hard work stepping away from our little recording studio, but we know that you rely on HRN to share resources and important stories from the world of food each week. It’s been a tough year for all of us, but right now HRN is asking for your help. Every dollar that listeners give to HRN provides essential support to keep our mics on. We've got some fresh new thank you gifts available, like our limited edition bandanas.

Keep Why Food? on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. 

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Join cohosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Jennifer Crawford. Jennifer has been cooking non-stop their whole life, especially since getting sober in early 2018 and subsequently winning MasterChef Canada in 2019. They're a desk jockey turned food writer, chef, aspiring pro wrestler, and moon mist ice cream enthusiast. In their My Queer Kitchen online show and column with Xtra Magazine, they focus on the intersections of food, feelings, identity and courage.

In March, HRN began producing all of our 35 weekly shows from our homes all around the country. It was hard work stepping away from our little recording studio, but we know that you rely on HRN to share resources and important stories from the world of food each week. It’s been a tough year for all of us, but right now HRN is asking for your help. Every dollar that listeners give to HRN provides essential support to keep our mics on. We've got some fresh new thank you gifts available, like our limited edition bandanas.

Keep Why Food? on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. 

Photo Courtesy of Phototype.

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We're joined by winner of The Great American Baking Show, HRN host, and soon-to-be-cookbook author Vallery Lomas joins us to chat about her journey. Vallery talks us through her journey from lawyer to food personality. We discuss her upcoming cookbook and her advice around balancing editorial and sponsored content. The conversation turns to the current state of food media, discussing representation and the barriers that has contributed to a lack of diversity.

In March, HRN began producing all of our 35 weekly shows from our homes all around the country. It was hard work stepping away from our little recording studio, but we know that you rely on HRN to share resources and important stories from the world of food each week. It’s been a tough year for all of us, but right now HRN is asking for your help. Every dollar that listeners give to HRN provides essential support to keep our mics on. We've got some fresh new thank you gifts available, like our limited edition bandanas.

Keep The Feedfeed on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. 

Want to stay up to date on the latest The Feedfeed episodes? To hear more conversations with Jake Cohen, Julie & Dan Resnick and their guests innovating and disrupting Food Media, subscribe to The Feedfeed (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s Podcast Store and follow The Feedfeed on thefeedfeed.com and Instagram @thefeedfeed. Thanks for tuning in!

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support The Feedfeed by becoming a member!

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Join cohosts Ethan & Vallery for a conversation with Gaïana Joseph and Allegra Massaro, co-founders of Fuel the People, an organization in NYC and DC guided by the belief that food is the fuel for the revolution. They work to provide nourishment to protestors on the front lines, support local Black and POC-owned restaurants and businesses, and donate to local organizations who work tirelessly to support Black liberation. Allegra is a Philadelphia native currently living in Washington, DC. She’s a Bryn Mawr College alumna with a degree in Urban Planning & Development. A recovering financier, she now works in business ethics and conflicts management at an international law firm and is in the midst of the JD/MBA application process. Her quote to live by is, “Radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root.'" She is passionate about building community and ensuring that in the fight for justice and liberation, we never forget that joy is also a form of resistance. Gaïana Joseph is a New York native with her roots (and heart) in Haïti. She’s a Smith College alumna with a degree in Africana and French Studies. Somehow, that has brought her two very different careers in Business Process at Penguin Random House and now Project Management at a financial tech company. 
 

In March, HRN began producing all of our 35 weekly shows from our homes all around the country. It was hard work stepping away from our little recording studio, but we know that you rely on HRN to share resources and important stories from the world of food each week. It’s been a tough year for all of us, but right now HRN is asking for your help. Every dollar that listeners give to HRN provides essential support to keep our mics on. We've got some fresh new thank you gifts available, like our limited edition bandanas.

Keep Why Food? on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. 

Why Food? is powered by Simplecast.

 

Join cohosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Rochelle Oliver, founder and editor of IslandAndSpice.com, an online magazine about food, culture and the Caribbean.

HRN will be donating 10% of our membership drive proceeds from now until June 15 to the Philando Castile Relief Foundation. Visit heritageradionetwork.org/donate to make your gift.

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In the days after George Floyd’s death, cohosts Vallery and Ethan sit down for a conversation about the Black Lives Matter movement, the role of food businesses in making change, and opportunities for anti-racist education and accountability. As black squares cover our social media feeds and corporations release statements virtue signaling their alignment with activists, Vallery and Ethan ruminate on what meaningful change should look like and what trends are falling short. They discuss the importance of protest, the value in self-reflection, and why food businesses and media organizations hold a unique responsibility to be equitable and inclusive.

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Join Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Stephen Satterfield, cofounder of Whetstone Magazine. A self-proclaimed "origin forager, Stephen is a food writer, multimedia producer, podcast host (Point of Origin on iHeartRadio), and a sommelier in recovery.

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Join co-hosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Zaid and Haifa Kurdieh, owners of Norwich Meadows Farms. We'll discuss the long road to starting their farm, how they've grown (literally and figuratively) a market for rare and special vegetables, and how they've pivoted since COVID-19 shut down NY's restaurant industry.

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Join Vallery & Ethan for a conversation with Steve Sando, founder of Rancho Gordo. Steve's career has spanned radio, writing and restaurants before he found his way to launching Rancho Gordo. His business has a cult following and changed the way that Americans think about beans.

Image courtesy of Steve Sando.

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Join Ethan & Vallery for a conversation with Simran Bindra, co-founder of Kokoa Kamili. Kokoa Kamili, based in Tanzania, is one of the world's best cacao companies, emphasising ethical sourcing and exceptional beans. They supply many of the US' most highly regarded chocolate makers, including Dandelion and Raaka.

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Join co-hosts Ethan and Vallery for a conversation with Laurie Woolever, food writer and editor. For nearly a decade, Laurie was the right-hand to author, TV host and producer Anthony Bourdain, with whom she co-authored the cookbook Appetites. She co-hosts a podcast, Carbface for Radio, with Chris Thornton, will publish World Travel: An Irreverent Guide, a book co-authored with Bourdain, in fall 2020, and is currently at work on an oral biography of his life.

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Join co-hosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with the baker Bryan Ford (recorded pre-coronavirus, but so relevant today!) Bryan shares his story of leaving accounting to become a baker, incorporating his roots and family background into his breads, and some of the challenges of becoming a professional baker.

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Join cohosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Ori Zohar and...Ethan Frisch! Cofounders and Co-CEOs of Burlap & Barrel, the country's first and only comprehensive single origin spice company. Ori's career has taken him from advertising, to founding a Silicon Valley mortgage startup, to Burlap & Barrel, and Ethan's career path has gone from restaurant kitchens to the mountains of Afghanistan. We'll talk about how they launched Burlap & Barrel, their unique sourcing model and the challenges of building a food business in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Image courtesy of Burlap & Barrel

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Join co-hosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Priyanka Naik. Born and raised as a first generation Indian-American in Staten Island, she is a self-taught cook who entered and won the top prize on Food Network's Cooks vs Cons. Priyanka has been featured in GQ, works with several food brands and contributes to the largest digital food publishers including The FeedFeed and Tastemade.

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Join cohosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Ben Simon, Founder & CEO of Ben to Table, a food subscription service. After a career in political campaigns with Greenpeace, Amnesty International and Unicef, Ben launched an online food subscription company for avid home cooks. Listen in on his career story and how he's combined his interests in politics, environmental sustainability and food!

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Join Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Sufia Hossain, Founder & CEO of Silly Chilly Hot Sauce. Sufia left a successful career as a fashion industry executive after realizing the damaging impact of clothing manufacturing on the environment and communities around factories. She started making hot sauce in her home kitchen to share with her coworkers, and Silly Chilly Hot Sauce was born. She sources peppers from local NJ farmers to make unique, delicious hot sauces that are good for farmers and customers.

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