The Zest

Home cooking without the hassle. If you’re longing for a taste of home but you find yourself ordering takeout again and again, then this conversation is for you.  Get ready to meet Ciji Castro, founder and executive chef of Domestic Gourmet . It’s a food and lifestyle brand inspired by the Palm Harbor resident’s Cuban and Puerto Rican roots. Domestic Gourmet’s oils, spices and recipes are designed...

Today we’re catching up with the co-hosts of America’s Test Kitchen . It’s the PBS cooking show that teaches us which cooking equipment and recipes are worth our time and money. Two years ago, ATK co-hosts Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison came to Tampa Bay for something they’d never really done before: a live on-stage event full of cooking tips, stories from the show and audience partici...

Vivian Aronson isn’t a regular mom. She’s a cool mom. As in, millions-of-social-media-followers cool. She’s also appeared on Good Morning America , The Drew Barrymore Show and in People magazine. Known on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook as “Cooking Bomb,” the Orlando resident gained fame sharing recipes that she learned growing up in Chengdu, China. In 2021 Vivian released The Asian Market...

Emmanuel Dunbar grew up hating coffee. Now, coffee is his life. Emmanuel owns Royal Diaspora Coffee Company , a cafe and community gathering place in Tampa. While Royal Diaspora is a proudly Black-owned business, Emmanuel’s customers are as diverse as the way they take their cup o’ joe. The Zest team visited Emmanuel at Royal Diaspora. In this conversation, he breaks down his love-hate relationshi...

She pours wine, and she pours into people.  Denise Marsh is a sommelier and certified wine specialist at Society Wine Bar in Tampa’s Ybor City historic district. And vino isn’t the only thing that brings her joy. She’s also passionate about empowering people—women in particular.  Denise does this through speaking engagements, international retreats and her book, Do It For Your SELFIE!: A Guide to...

Are you ready for some... spaghetti?

Supermarkets and big box stores are great. But nothing beats the feeling of shopping in a bodega . These small, often family-owned convenience stores are a fixture in New York City’s Latinx neighborhoods. In them, you’ll find everything from milk and lottery tickets to hot foods like empanadas and chicken with yellow rice. New Jerseyan Ivette Rivera wanted to bring the spirit of bodegas to her ado...

What does it take to grow confident, successful kids? To grow successfully, kids need a good foundation, nourishment and a lot of care—kind of like a garden. So when Tampa community activists Jeanette Bradley and Diana Kyle wanted to positively impact local schools, they decided to get their hands dirty. In 2018, the two founded SEEDFOLKids After School Garden Experience . The free program is the...

No gators on this menu. The writer Carl Hiaasen is best known for his satirical crime novels set in Florida. His 1993 novel Strip Tease was adapted into a movie starring Demi Moore. And the Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey is based on his 2024 book of the same name. Carl has written dozens of books for both adults and young readers. His latest, Fever Beach, involves “dark money and even darker motives,...

Where there's smoke, there's the Station Chef. Firefighters are heroes. And how do we honor our heroes? Often, it’s by baking for them. There’s just one problem: All those well-intentioned cookies and cupcakes we drop off at fire stations are adding up to less healthy firefighters—putting all of our lives at risk. That’s why Martin Lemay is on a mission to help our heroes stay healthy while enjoyi...

Plant-based picadillo? Say less! When Ellen Kanner went vegan in the 1980s, she couldn’t imagine buying oatmilk or plant-based cheese in a grocery store. Today, she says being vegan is easier than ever, thanks to restaurants and mainstream supermarkets accommodating the plant-based lifestyle. And the food writer is herself helping folks lean into eating vegan with her cookbook Miami Vegan: Plant-B...

For many of us, food is one of life's great pleasures. But what happens when that joy gets taken away, and can we get it back? When Mallary Tenore Tarpley lost her mother at eleven years old, she wanted to stop time. If growing up meant living without her mom, then she wanted to stay little forever. What started as small acts of food restriction soon turned into a full-blown eating disorder. Malla...

It’s our steamiest episode yet. But get your mind out of the gutter. We’re talking about cooking with steam. Earlier this year, The Zest teamed up with Adalay Interiors to host a cooking demonstration. Adalay is a kitchen and bath showroom in Tampa where you can see and even test out your dream appliances, countertops, flooring and wall coverings. Note: Adalay is a sponsor of The Zest.  One of the...

Florida’s official hurricane season is June 1 to Nov. 30. But things really ramp up during peak season , which is between mid-August and late-October, according to the Florida State University’s Florida Climate Center. So if your hurricane kit isn’t quite ready for a major storm, fear not. There’s still time to stock up on supplies. And when it comes to food, this week’s guest can help you think o...

Today, we’ll get alfresco dining tips from Lauren Gay, better known online as Outdoorsy Diva . On her popular blog and social media channels, the Florida-based travel influencer shares her adventures, from hiking and horseback riding to kayaking and swimming with manatees. Since we first spoke with Lauren in 2021 , she has contributed to the Lonely Planet book Women Travel Solo , which even got a...

Beach season is also book season. So we're revisiting Dalia's conversation with Terra Dunham, owner of Book + Bottle in St. Petersburg. It's a combination bookstore and wine bar. Whether you're relaxing on the beach with a juicy celebrity memoir or getting lost in an audiobook as you chill by the pool, you'll get some great recommendations for book and wine pairings. This conversation was recorded...

She’s a familiar voice to thousands of us across West Central Florida. As the midday host for Tampa Bay’s NPR station, WUSF, Lisa Peakes keeps us company as we work, eat lunch, run errands, sit in the school carline or whatever else we happen to be doing in the afternoon.  Lisa reads the news, shares the weather report and tells us about local events, all in that friendly, soothing voice that’s be...

Earlier this month, The Splendid Table recorded a live episode all about Florida foods! Host Francis Lam and producer Erika Romero came to the New Tampa Performing Arts Center for an episode and meet-and-greet hosted by WUSF Public Media. If you're in West Central Florida, catch the broadcast on Sunday, June 29, 2025 at 2 p.m. on WUSF 89.7 FM . Or listen anywhere, anytime at splendidtable.org . Gu...

Juneteenth —June 19—commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It became a federal holiday in 2021, but early celebrations date back to the 1860s. Today, Americans observe Juneteenth with festivals, family and of course, food. So we invited influencer Kiva Williams, a.k.a. the Fun Foodie Mama , to share some of her favorite Juneteenth culinary traditions. In this conversation, the Wesle...

Orange juice is Florida’s official beverage. But you probably didn’t need us to tell you that. Ever since the Spanish introduced citrus to Florida in the late 15th century, orange juice has been synonymous with the Sunshine State. In fact, nearly all of Florida’s orange crop is used for juice. But how much OJ are people actually drinking these days? And how can growers combat citrus greening—a dis...

You know we love a good food-and-art crossover around here. (You may recall our conversation with Malaika Hollist of Arts Axis Florida.) So when we heard that Miami-based multidisciplinary artist Chris Friday had a food-related exhibition at the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design, we wanted to learn more. (Not to mention, June is N ational Soul Food Month !) Where We Never G...

By Dalia Colón It’s one thing to cook food. But talking about food on the radio takes a lot more than knife skills. And Francis Lam does it so well. Lam is a food writer, cookbook editor and host of the popular public radio program The Splendid Table . On June 1, he’ll be at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center for a sold-out live taping of the show. Ahead of his visit to Florida, Francis chatted...

As we say every week, this podcast celebrates cuisine and community in the Sunshine State. A fun way to foster community is to host a plant and seed swap. Not only will you get to know your neighbors, but you’ll come away with seeds and cuttings for your edible garden. Hosting the event doesn’t have to be intimidating or time-consuming. Here to show us the ropes is Ginain Grayes, founder of Cook P...

Pizza fraud, fried mullet masquerading as a bird and produce used as weapons. For Craig Pittman , it’s all in a day’s work.  Craig is a journalist and author of several books about the quirky side of our state. His latest is Welcome to Florida —or, for short, WTF. He also co-hosts a podcast of the same name. Many of these stranger-than-fiction stories involve food, so we invited Craig on the pod t...

There’s no shortage of Cuban restaurants in Florida. But one stands out for its commitment to the history and culture of Cubans of African descent. At Soul de Cuba Cafe in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, the decor includes dozens of framed family pictures—the ancestors of the restaurant’s founder and CEO, Jesús Puerto. On one wall, there’s a mural-size black-and-white photo from 1944 depict...