Kochleffel (From Let's Talk About Food)

Happy Anniversary to us! And Thank You. Today we remember our very first show with chef Lydia Shire, chef Will Gilson, chef Jasper White and Annie Copps! They are all fun -- and remind why we need to get back to the live stage! Photo Courtesy of Lydia Shire. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member ! Let’s Talk Abo...

Hannah Howard is the author of two memoirs,  Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen   and  Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family . We loved both her books, beautifully written, clear on her struggle between loving food and wrestling with food issues and body image. She is funny, moving, smart, and when she writes about cheese, the earth stands still. We start this episode with Hannah reading fro...

We are gob-smacked to have her on our podcast.  Her daily blog, “ Letters from An American ” is required reading for many of us. I wake up and read her first thing. Others, can’t get to sleep without taking in her incredible and seemingly effortless gift of putting the news of the day--no matter how distressing – into a un-stuffy, almost chatty, historical context. We know she’s been up til the we...

Congressman Jim McGovern is our man in Congress. He represents Worcester, Massachusetts, but he really represents all of us who care about food. Not only is he the chair of the powerful rules committee, but he is lobbying for a White House Conference on Food & Nutrition. The last time that happened, Richard Nixon was president. Photo Courtesy of Congressman Jim McGovern . Heritage Radio Networ...

When Charles Hunter jumped the chasmic divide from NYC to Boston to helm City Winery , he never bargained for a pandemic. He came with a long resume in the hospitality business with everything from a stint at IHOP (he says the boysenberries are real) and owning and managing his own spots in NYC and NJ. If there is a poster boy for grit, graceful pivoting and dedication to first principles of makin...

You might think it’s obvious that the story of food, of cookbooks is central to understanding our culture and history. But it was not always so. Our storyteller today is Barbara Haber , a towering figure in making sure that “food,” and “women” and cooking were recognized as critical to the study of American Culture and American History. As curator of books at Harvard’s Schlesinger Library for more...

Michel Nischan grew up working on his grandparent’s farm in Missouri and developed a deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land. His passion for healthful cooking supported by a local sustainable food system propelled Michel to the front of the culinary scene. Michel expanded his work into the world of food equity when he founded the non-profit organization, Wholesom...

In mid-Summer, although fully vaccinated, Michel and his wife Laurie got Breakthrough Covid after a business trip to Nashville. We had to postpone our original conversation, but when we did connect, Michel shared his experience with us. We were moved. And think you will be too. Tune in for more from Michel on our next episode! Photo Courtesy of Michel Nischan Heritage Radio Network is a listener s...

Former Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick , is a major foodie. But you might not know that if you simply focused on his remarkable biography. Raised on the South Side of Chicago in tough circumstances, scholarship to a New England boarding school, graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, a senior member of the US Justice department, and a high-level corporate career – all before becoming the...

Sara Baer-Sinnott is the President of Oldways , a nonprofit focused on improving public health through cultural food traditions and lifestyles. If you think you haven’t heard of Oldways, you are wrong. Oldways’ tentacles touch almost everything you think about food today. It was the organization that brought the Mediterranean Diet to the forefront, the champion of whole grains in food products – an...

One of the great pleasures of collecting people's stories is that they often surprise you. You discover a gem just by asking a question, like how did you get come to food? Today, we talk to Megan Fales. Megan runs a perfect General Store called Anchor & Sail in the center of the seacoast village where I live. When I met her, she seemed lovely, and her food was impeccable. But I had no inkling...

This week we share two "food love origin stories". One from Celeste Croxton-Tate , a cook, author, and Boston Police officer. And one from me, because I too had to learn to love food. Photo Courtesy of LyndigoSpice.com If you count on HRN content, become a monthly sustaining donor at heritageradionetwork.org/donate . Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast . See Privacy Policy at https://ar...

Erin French is the owner and chef of The Lost Kitchen , a 40-seat restaurant in Freedom, Maine, that was recently named one  TIME Magazine’s  World’s Greatest Places and one of "12 Restaurants Worth Traveling Across the World to Experience" by  Bloomberg .  Her love of Maine and her palpable pleasure in sharing its delicious heritage with curious dinner guests and new friends alike, has garnered a...

Dr. Peter Lurie is the head of Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), arguably the most important defender of food safety and justice in the US. Lurie is the grandson of a South African female butcher and a South African egg seller. How did that form him as a warrior for social justice? Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Fo...

Kathleen Finlay, the President of Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming , in New York’s Hudson Valley has been a leader in the regenerative agriculture movement for most of her career. Now, as the president of Glynwood she is in a position to connect food and farming changemakers from all across the country and the world. Living – and loving it! – on a beautiful little farm in the Hudson V...

Today we talk to David Waters, the CEO of Community Servings . Launched during the AIDS crisis, Community Servings has made and delivered over 9 million medically tailored meals to homebound people with severe and chronic illnesses. Waters, a true visionary, has been the navigator and the pilot for its growth. At 10, he was serving canapes at his mother's dinner parties. Now he feeds millions.  Ph...

Today we talk with Cheryl Kiser, a longtime friend and the visionary behind Babson College’s Lewis Institute for Social Innovation . That’s a big deal. In case you did not know, Babson is the number one business school in Entrepreneurship in the world, and it has been since the rankings began some 20 plus years ago. Cheryl has inspired countless entrepreneurial leaders through her BabsonX course,...

Today we talk to chef Andy Husbands . Husbands now operates The Smoke Shop , a Boston-based emerging chain of BBQ restaurants. He’s a six-time cookbook author and–– importantly–– a Pitmaster. The co-founder of internationally recognized BBQ team which competed for 20 years and became the first non-Southern team to win the World Champions of BBQ Title at the Jack Daniels World Championship in Tenne...

Sally Sampson is an author, a healthy food champion, and a magazine publisher.  When I first met Sally, I was wowed by her productivity­­–23 cookbooks and counting! But that was never the whole story for Sally. Eleven years ago, she had an idea for a non-profit cooking magazine, that would be fun and educational for families and Inspire them to cook!  She called the magazine: ChopChop the Fun Cook...

Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway live on Ten Apple Farm in Maine with their three daughters. Margaret is a writer; Karl is a photographer. Once they decided to make Maine their home and raise their family on a goat farm, they went all in–––for Maine.  They were the two pillars behind the award-winning Maine Bi-Centennial Community Cookbook, published last summer.  The cookbook was a smash –over 2...

Today, we hear from Jenny Best. It’s a story of a top tier New York City ballerina, who conquered her own struggles with food, and then was gob-smacked when it came time to begin feeding solids to her own firstborn son. And that was even before the twins!  Jenny leaped into action and became the founder of a remarkable on-line information resource called Solid Starts.com. It’s a multi-disciplinary...

Nina Simonds is simply one of America’s culinary superstars. Trained in Taiwan in the 70’s by China’s culinary royalty, author of 11 cookbooks, former Asia editor for Gourmet, and reporter for the New York Times. So, it was a huge shock to her system that when she got Covid, it stole her sense of taste and smell. So far, it hasn’t come back.  Photo courtesy Nina Simonds. Let's Talk About Food is p...

As the Corporate Director of Exercise Physiology for the world-famous Canyon Ranch wellness resorts, Mike Siemens knows a thing or two about food. And health. And how the two go together. The good. The bad. and how we get back to post Pandemic health. His love for food began as a kid growing up in East Central Illinois, walking the fence row, searching for wild asparagus. Don’t know what “exercise...

Today we talk to Kate Sullivan . She is the host of the PBS Series, To Dine For ––now in its third season. An accomplished television reporter, she crafted a fantasy job for herself – having a meal and a one-on-one conversation with visionaries at their favorite hometown restaurants. Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Norman Lear, Mark Cuban­­––and someone we all revere, chef Jose Andrés. In this episod...

Today we are having a chat with my good friend, Charles Draghi --universally called "Chuck."  Chuck inhabits the rarified strata of top chefs in Boston, mentor to many, revered by diners at his restaurant Erbaluce, and lauded by the critics. Before all that, he was a chef in Boston's North End, one of the country's last Little Italys, where locals and tourists go for color and red-sauce flavor.  I...