The Zest

It’s a meal so beloved that it counts as two meals. We’re talking about brunch. And for decades, no list of Tampa Bay’s best brunch spots was complete without Oystercatchers . Opened in 1986, the waterfront restaurant sits on the property of Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, overlooking Tampa Bay.  During the covid-19 pandemic, Oystercatchers’ legendary Sunday brunch buffet went away and stayed away. Until n...

You know Alton Brown from Food Network shows like Good Eats, Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen. Maybe you subscribe to his YouTube series, Alton Brown Cooks Food . Perhaps you’ve even caught one of his live shows, full of the scientific demonstrations and trademark humor that accompany Brown’s unique approach to food. But Brown says there’s still more to learn about him. After performing liv...

Call it a coffee shop with great food, or a restaurant with great coffee. For Jordan Hooten, Southern Grounds and Co. is, above all, a community gathering place. The Jacksonville-based franchise has locations throughout Florida, including one in downtown St. Petersburg that opened last year. Come for the coffee, then stay for breakfast, catch up on some emails, have lunch, grab drinks with a frien...

New York has pizza. Chicago has hotdogs. And Tampa has devil crab. Like so many aspects of life in the 813, our city’s iconic street food has ties to the cigar industry. Whether you grew up eating devil crab or you have no idea what we’re even talking about, you’ll develop a new appreciation for devil crab after today’s conversation. Our guest is historian and friend of the pod Rodney Kite-Powell...

Why do some people love cilantro, while others say it tastes like soap? How did Dubai chocolate take the world by storm? And how are scientists using A.I. to determine what we’ll crave next? Today we’ll learn the answers when we get a preview of the 4th International Flavor Summit, taking place March 16 to 18 in Orlando. The biennial event brings together leaders in the food and beverage science i...

Morning radio hosts are known for having hot takes. And for many people in Tampa Bay, morning radio means Miguel and Holly. Miguel Fuller and Holly O’Connor are the real-life besties behind the Miguel & Holly Show on Tampa Bay’s Mix 1007. FM. After hosting their show in Florida for many years, the pair moved the show to Charlotte, N.C. from 2022 to 2025. Now they’re back in the Tampa Bay, wher...

Eating peanut brittle is all fun ‘n games… until you chip a tooth. But you don’t have to worry about that with Psalms’ Gourmet Brittle , a small-batch confectionary started by matriarch Psalms Mack and her son, Carlton Owens.  Psalms learned to bake brittle in home ec class, and she later perfected her own version of the recipe. Hers is gluten-free, plant-based and most importantly, light and airy...

When you think of fancy food, what pops into your head? Maybe it’s white tablecloths, tuxedoed servers and a sky-high dinner bill. But for Jerrelle Guy , fancy is a state of mind. It has less to do with pretentious restaurants and more to do with taking time to nourish yourself, using what you have on hand. Guy, who was born in South Florida and now lives in Dallas, Texas, offers a blueprint for c...

One of our favorite events of the year is back. We’re talking about the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival . It takes place on Valentine’s Day in South St. Petersburg. (Be sure to stop by the WUSF Public Media booth at the festival to pick up some swag.) Chef Harris will also be in conversation with Dalia at Collards After Dark on Feb. 12, 2026. This year’s headliner Chef LaKisha Harris from Muskego...

Arthenia Joyner had had enough.  In February 1960, the 17-year-old could buy clothes at the F.W. Woolworth department store in downtown Tampa. But she was forbidden from trying them on first, in case she changed her mind and the garments went back on the rack where a white person would encounter them. And there was no way she could eat at the store’s lunch counter, which was for whites only. So wh...

Figuring out what to eat can sometimes feel like a relentless chore. And for people on the autism spectrum, mealtimes can be even more challenging—from food aversions to noisy restaurants to feeling ostracized because of what or how they eat. Today we’re digging deeper with the co-hosts of The Autistic Delicatessen . It’s a food podcast that centers the voices of adults with a neurodivergent persp...

You know it when you smell it. But how do you put into words the unmistakable, indescribable scent of guava?  And then there’s the taste: sour on its own, but irresistibly sweet in a guava-and-cream-cheese pastry or a pint of guava ice cream from Publix.  For a lesson in all things guava, we turned to historian Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center . In this episode, you’ll learn: The...

For most of the year, Abby Cheshire teaches culinary arts for Florida Virtual School. And when school lets out, she works her summer job.  But she’s not delivering groceries or leading arts and crafts at daycamp like many teachers. The Brevard County native works as a chef on a private yacht. She shares her high-seas adventures with her more than 1 million TikTok followers, who know her as Abby in...

This bonus episode comes courtesy of our friends at Florida Matters Live and Local .

This bonus episode comes courtesy of our friends at Florida Matters Live and Local .

Happy new year! If you’ve resolved to eat with more intention, then you’ll love these two things: First: Cookbook author and former Zest guest Kerstin Decook has a cool offer exclusively for Zest listeners. On Jan. 3, 2026, at 11 a.m. EST, join the free, live online event New Year, Fresh Flavors: How to Cook for Yourself with Confidence and Joy. Register here. Secondly: If you’re leaning into a pl...

What do you get when you put two foodies in the same room with a microphone? Tampa’s Table ! It’s a podcast produced by Visit Tampa Bay and hosted by friend of the pod Jeff Houck . The show explores Tampa Bay’s food scene with chefs, restaurant developers, food influencers and—recently, Dalia Colón. So take a seat at the table, and enjoy this bonus episode. 

On the season 12 finale of The Zest Podcast, the team offers their hot takes on holiday foods. Executive producer and host Dalia Colón is joined by editor Andrew Lucas and brand manager Alexandria Ebron. From traditional family favorites to which holiday dishes are overrated, things are heating up in the Zest kitchen.

Picture this: you roll through a bright blue gate onto a sprawling property lined with ancient oaks, lush gardens bursting with color and a quiet pond where a few friendly farm animals wander by. Live music drifts through the air, tropical flowers spill across the outdoor tables, and before you is a Caribbean-inspired feast that looks almost too beautiful to eat. Welcome to Spice Society Supper Cl...

Once the holiday hoopla fades, we all need something delicious to look forward to. Luckily, we’ve got just the thing: the Tampa Oyster Festival . Happening Jan. 10, this event checks all the boxes. It’s outdoors during Florida’s best weather. It’s packed with fresh seafood, live music and the kind of friendly crowd that makes you glad you came hungry.  Bonus: It all supports a great cause— Framewo...

A table for one can be fun! This holiday season, we’re doing things a little differently around here. While everyone else is stressing over 20-pound turkeys and complicated side dishes, we’re celebrating the joy of cooking for one. Kerstin Decook is the author of several cookbooks, including Dinner for One: One Pan, One Plate, One Happy Belly . She’s here to show us that a solo meal doesn’t have t...

For many folks living in the inner city, meal options are limited to what they find in nearby convenience stores and fast food joints. But imagine if every city block contained a community garden teeming with fresh vegetables. That’s the vision of Asha Walker. She’s the founder of Health in the Hood . It’s a Miami-based nonprofit that’s tackling food insecurity with urban gardens, food distributio...

It’s one of the highest-ranked food shows on Apple Podcasts. Nope, we’re not talking about The Zest —although we hope we’re first place in your heart.  The podcast in question is Walk-In Talk , founded and hosted by Carl Fiadini of Lithia. Coming from a foodie family and having spent decades in the food industry, Carl pivoted during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Now, instead of selling food, he sells st...

Call it the best of both worlds. Cheeky’s is a seafood restaurant and raw bar that opened earlier this year in St. Petersburg. It has the convenience of the city’s walkable Grand Central District, with the breezy vibe of a beachfront eatery. The restaurateur behind Cheeky’s—a.k.a. Cheeky himself—is Nate Siegel. He also cofounded the popular Willa’s restaurant and adjoining Willa’s Provisions coffe...

Many of us would like to eat more farm-fresh foods, but we don't have the time, space or expertise to produce it ourselves. That’s where FarmPixie comes in. FarmPixie is a free online marketplace that steers you to fresh, local products like meat, eggs, bread, honey, bath items and more. Founder Kim Kenney owns a small family farm in Dade City. She visited our studio at WUSF Public Media on the US...