The Zest

We hope you’re thirsty, because this week’s guest is Julia Melucci of Monin . The global company creates flavorings for cocktails, mocktails, coffee drinks, milkshakes and more. Julia’s official title is beverage innovation manager. But she describes herself as an Oompa-Loompa in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. “I work in a sugar factory, and I play with sugar all day long,” says Julia, who works...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while the rest of us were experimenting with sourdough starter , the Bryon brothers were eating like kings. With restaurants shuttered, Nic Bryon had been laid off from his job as sous chef of Tampa’s Oak & Ola . But the Johnson & Wales grad put his culinary skills to work at home, where he quarantined with his brother Greg and Greg’s young family. The food, w...

You could call it the feel-good food truck. The St. Petersburg-based PB & Jelly Deli serves up sophisticated-yet-playful nut butter sandwiches that evoke memories of childhood. Better still, for every sandwich sold, PB & Jelly Deli donates a meal back into the Tampa Bay community. The nonprofit food truck is operated by volunteers from Radius Church in St. Petersburg, which started the ent...

Here at The Zest, we love to explore the foodways of Floridians past and present—including the people who weren’t treated like people. This week we learn about the food customs of enslaved workers who labored on Florida’s plantations, growing cotton, tobacco, sugar and other cash crops. Many of their culinary traditions are alive and well today, although they rarely get credit. “It is a marker of...

Moldy raspberries. Mushy avocados. That slimy bag of kale. When it comes to buying produce, too often our eyes are bigger than our stomach. Keeping fruits, veggies and herbs fresh starts with making a shopping list and being realistic about how much we’ll actually eat, says Tie Liu, PhD . Dr. Liu teaches in the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, and he’s passionate abo...

Whether you’re an aspiring food influencer or you just want to order with more savvy at restaurants, Charlie Crespo has some advice. The Miami-based food and drink writer’s work has appeared in publications including Pipette Magazine, Infatuation Miami , INDULGE Miami , Venice Magazine and more. In this conversation, Charlie offers practical advice for up-and-coming food writers. He also reveals h...

Dietician and nutritionist Wendy Wesley of St. Petersburg offers practical advice to get you cooking and eating more at home—which can benefit both your wallet and your waistline. Related episodes: 14 Tips for Cooking Faster at Home No Recipe? No Problem: How to Cook Using Your Intuition 20 Tips for a Better Hurricane Food Kit: Advice from Janet Keeler

Today we bring you a conversation with Chef Albert Youngman, culinary director for Disney's EPCOT Theme Park . He shares how his team creates globally inspired menus for EPCOT's restaurants, World Showcase of 11 countries and four annual festivals. Chef Albert also explains how cooking for a crowd has changed over his nearly two decades at Disney, and he offers advice for eating your way around th...

Here's a taste of what we're cooking up for the new year. Season 7 premieres on Jan. 5, and new episodes are released every Thursday.

The holidays mean food—and food waste. Today on our season 6 finale, we’ll meet a mother-and-son duo who are doing something about it while helping those in need. We’re about to meet a mother and son who are reducing food waste and tackling food insecurity in Northern Pinellas County. Ellen and Cameron Macleish [ma-KLEESH] are the cofounders of 360 Eats . The nonprofit turns surplus food into meal...

Stephanie Love’s philosophy on wine is simple: “Wine is for everybody.” Through her company, Epicurious One , the St. Petersburg resident offers wine education trips and other experiences. Participants praise her down-to-earth approach, including Stephanie’s wine-and-comfort-food pairings and her descriptions of wine as people with different personalities. In this conversation, Stephanie shares th...

For Deborah Keller of Tallahassee, the world is her oyster. After a 29-year career with The Nature Conservancy , Deborah turned her attention to sustainable shellfish. Nicknamed the OysterMom , she has been farming and selling fresh oysters for nearly a decade. In this interview, the conservationist describes the impact of climate change and hurricanes on oystering. She also explains the far-reach...

We always love digging into food history, so we’re excited to welcome back friend of the pod Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie . He’s an author and professor of history and foodways at Babson College outside of Boston. Among the courses he teaches is African History and Foodways. We always learn something from Dr. Opie, and he has the best stories.  In this conversation, he explains the African roots of...

He’s a little bit foodie, and a little bit rock ‘n roll. This week, we’re catching up with musician-turned- MasterChef contestant Derrick Fox. The Fort Myers native graduated from Estero High School and went on to enjoy a career as a drummer with the Naples-based rock band Later Days . After years of touring, Derrick recently put away his drumsticks in favor of his other passion: cooking. He now w...

This week, we’re exploring the benefits of hyperlocal agriculture with Zach Correa, founder and CEO of lemonGRAFT . The Tampa-based tech platform allows neighbors to buy and sell home-grown foods. Zach’s idea has been getting a lot of attention lately. Last year, Zach scored a fellowship with NPR’s How I Built This podcast. And you may have heard him back in July on WUSF’s Florida Matters . In our...

Explore how Central Florida became a hotbed of Latino food businesses—and the cultural mashups that followed. Learn how marketing tactics by housing developers led to an influx of Puerto Ricans to Orlando in the 1970s and '80s. What followed was a proliferation of restaurants, supermarkets and small food businesses targeting Latinos in Central Florida. Our guest is Dr. Simone Delerme, author of La...

Today we’re geeking out on the details that can help your home-cooked meals taste more like restaurant-quality creations. For advice, we turned to Chef Dennis Littley, the food and travel blogger behind Ask Chef Dennis . Related episodes: How to Photograph Food Like a Pro How to Be a Food Influencer No Recipe? No Problem: How to Cook Using Your Intuition Conscious Cuisine: Chef Justin Timineri of...

As the war in Ukraine continues, meet a Ukrainian couple bringing a taste of their homeland to Florida. Oksana Petrova and her husband, Sergiy Petrov, own Oksa Cakes Bakery & Bistro in Flagler Beach. Oksana discusses her favorite Ukrainian delicacies and how the war has affected their business.  Related episodes: Talking Seoul Food with Miami’s 2 Korean Girls Halal Food 101 with Florida’s Hala...

If you've ever dreamed of starting a community garden, then you'll want to take notes on this episode. Just north of the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus is an urban oasis: Harvest Hope Park. The 7-acre park is a sanctuary for residents, with a playground, sports fields, fitness stations, walking trail, tilapia fishing pond and more. It all started eight years ago with the park’s first f...

Learn to simplify healthy eating with simple advice from Carly Paige of FitLiving Eats . The Orlando-based chef and cookbook author suggests easy recipe swaps and no-cook meal ideas. Related episodes: How to Snack Smarter Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies Florida Theme Parks Get Vegan

She’s the woman behind the men. Tracie Hartman serves as executive performance chef for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  In the off-season, Dalia stopped by the Bucs’ AdventHealth Training Center to chat with Tracie. In this conversation, Tracie discusses how she went from working in finance to feeding the Bucs, which players love junk food and whether Tom Brady’s diet is as strict as everyone thinks. R...

If you can’t stand the heat… then grab a glass of milk. We’re spicing things up with Michele Northrup, better known as the Saucy Queen. Whether you love spicy food, or you feel your mouth burning when you hear a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I think you’ll enjoy today’s conversation. Michele Northrup owns Intensity Academy hot sauce company and co-produces the annual I Like It Hot! Festival ....

Long before the Ritz-Carlton or the Four Seasons, there was the Tampa Bay Hotel. Railroad giant Henry Plant founded the hotel, which operated from 1891 to 1932 and served as a playground for the rich and famous. Today, the former Tampa Bay Hotel is home of the Henry B. Plant Museum on the University of Tampa campus. I stopped by the museum to learn who stayed there, what they ate and lessons their...

Get ready to fill up your calendar with some foodie field trips, because this week’s guest is Kristen Hare. Her book "100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay Before You Die" is now in its third edition—and many of the entries are food-related. There’s something for everyone, whether you live in Tampa Bay r you’re starting a list of places to check out the next time you find yourself passing through. I recen...

In Florida, there’s no shortage of Cuban bread, key lime pie or shrimp and grits. But eating well minus all the carbohydrates can get tricky. That’s where Dennis Perez comes in. The Oldsmar resident is the content creator behind Black Tie Kitchen . It’s a YouTube channel where he shares low-carb versions of his favorite foods—with a side of humor. Among his most popular recipes are pizza, ice crea...