Radio Cherry Bombe

“I feel cooking is my zen practice,” says Jun Lee . “My meditation.” Jun is the surfer, cook, and environmentalist who founded the beauty line Eir NYC . Several years ago, while recovering from a surfing injury, she started cooking in a monastery in Upstate New York and learned how to be present and still in the kitchen. During her time there, she started making healing oils and balms and came up...

Kristen Miglore spends her days searching for genius—genius recipes and genius cooks, bakers, and pastry chefs. As the creative director of the Food 52 Genius franchise, she’s responsible for sussing out the most brilliant stuff around and sharing it with the Food 52 community via her Genius column and her two cookbooks, Food 52 Genius Recipes and Food 52 Genius Desserts. Kristen was hired by Food...

On this special Thanksgiving episode of Radio Cherry Bombe, we are skipping the turkey talk to discuss something a little sweeter: Pie. Guest host Jessie Sheehan chats everything from childhood to cream cheese with Lisa Ludwinksi, the founder, owner, and head baker of Sister Pie. After years of living in New York City, Lisa decided to take her skills back to her home in Detroit to pursue her passi...

Michelle Johnson, aka The Chocolate Barista , wants to change the coffee world. She fell in love with the caffeinated beverage as a child, sneaking snips from her mom's mug of Maxwell House, and today she is the leading voice for inclusion and diversity in the specialty coffee scene. She shares everything from her professional experiences to her Barista Jam playlists on her blog, and earlier this...

As a child growing up in Okinawa, Natsume Aoi, the executive pastry chef at Morimoto in New York, was a picky eater interested only in dessert. Her cooking lessons began at the age of four, watching her grandmother make red bean paste and mochi dough. She went on to become a classically trained pianist who taught and performed throughout New York City, but found herself at a professional crossroad...

Julie Mountain and Dana Noorily call themselves the Thelma and Louise of Granola. (Minus the driving off the cliff part, of course). After the two left their high-pressure New York City careers to start families in the Connecticut suburbs, they found themselves craving something more. They wound up launching a granola company that today has expanded into a thriving business that includes six “mode...

Molly Yeh is one of the most upbeat people we know. She collects sprinkles from around the world and creates some of the most joy-filled fusion food we’ve ever heard of, like scallion pancake challah bread. Need we say more? The Food Network loves all her positivity, too, and tapped her as its latest star. The second season of her show, Girl Meets Farm, will begin Nov. 11th. Molly joined host Kerr...

How does one go from women’s studies major to baking the cutest cakes imaginable? You’ll have to ask Lyndsay Sung, also known as Coco Cake Land. After she was gifted a KitchenAid as a wedding gift, Lyndsay’s baking obsession was born and she started working her way through the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. Today she spends her days making magic out of buttercream. Best known for her cakes with c...

Chef Nina Compton is heating up the New Orleans food scene with her two hot spots: Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro. She competed in the New Orleans season of Top Chef, fell in love with NOLA, the country’s most colorful city, and decided to stay. Journalist Rochelle Oliver interviews Nina for today’s Radio Cherry Bombe and they talk about Nina’s native St. Lucia, Caribbean cuisine, and l...

Yes, she does! Elle Macpherson woke up a few years ago and realized she needed to update her wellness routine. "I said, 'I’m doing what I’ve always done and its not working anymore,'" she recalled. "When I think about that, I'm like 'Duh!'" The revelation led to the founding of WelleCo, a wellness brand specializing in plant-based elixirs packed with vitamins and nutrients. The...

Is an adventurous spirit something you’re born with? It is nature, nurture, or a little bit of both. Today, we talk to three women going boldly through life. First up, Sarah Glover, the author and chef behind Wild Adventure Cookbook, a gorgeous new book that is a gutsy celebration of life, food, and the outdoors. Joining her is Luisa Brimble, the photographer responsible for all the lush photograp...

When the universe handed Jenny Goodman lemons in the form of a failed food truck in Brooklyn, she didn’t sulk for very long. Instead, she realized she needed more business acumen and decided to get her MBA. Today, Jenny is the cofounder and COO of Tilit NYC, high-quality workwear for chefs and civilians alike. Jenny joins us to talk about her early days in the industry as a waitress at Commander’s...

We don’t talk beauty advice very much on Radio Cherry Bombe , but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to speak with Ayurvedic expert Shrankhla Holecek. She’s the founder and CEO of beauty startup Uma (and janitor, too, says the hands-on exec). Shrankhla is also part of a family that’s been farming and crafting the world’s finest organic oils for almost 800 years. She believes that a beauty practic...

Melissa Hemsley and Anna Jones want you to eat happy. What does that mean? It’s cooking for yourself, not beating yourself up about what you eat, and indulging in seasonal produce. Melissa and Anna, two of the most beloved members of the British Bombesquad, join us to talk about everything from royal weddings to marriage proposals that never happened to their joyous new cookbooks. Melissa’s is cal...

Everybody who meets Jessie Sheehan wants to be her friend. She’s a brilliant Brooklyn-based baker, mom, and runner who makes some of the best treats you’ve ever tasted. (Have you tried her chocolate rugelach? Then you know what we’re talking about.) Jessie’s newest cookbook, The Vintage Baker , is out now and it’s a celebration of the vintage recipe pamphlets she has collected over the years. Jess...

She started cooking at the age of 17 and now runs her own restaurant empire in one of the most competitive markets in the country. Traci Des Jardins joins us to talk about her illustrious career and how things are going at her–count them–seven spots in San Francisco: Jardiniere, Mijita Cocina Mexicana, Public House, The Commissary, Arguello, TRANSIT, and School Night. Traci has been cooking for de...

Christine Barone and Daina Trout represent a new kind of CEO: one who cares about the bottom line as much as she does her customers’ well-being. Christine is the CEO of True Food Kitchen, a “conscious casual” restaurant chain featuring a menu of tasty, healthy fare based on Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory food pyramid. Oprah Winfrey recently invested in the fast-growing company, which today in...

They’re the daughters of immigrants and the daughters of chefs. So it’s no surprise that Maiko Kyogoku and Emily Yuen got into the restaurant business. These two women are the team behind Bessou, one of the most charming restaurants in New York City. Maiko, whose family had a Japanese restaurant on the Upper West Side for 30 years, is the owner, and Emily, who hails from Vancouver, is the executiv...

Jen Pelka wanted to open a Champagne bar in San Francisco, but first she needed to raise $650,000. So she came up with a unique investment strategy: organize an all-female investment group. Thirty-three women wound up taking part and The Riddler Champagne Bar opened its doors last year. Hear how Jen went about finding her investors and what advice she has if you’re looking to fund your next projec...

Laurel Gallucci wasn’t going to let an autoimmune disease hold her back when it came to baked goods. She was on a restrictive diet and decided to start experimenting with ingredients like almond flour, coconut oil, and maple syrup. She shared a chocolate cake creation with her friend Claire Thomas of the blog Kitchy Kitchen and the two decided to launch Sweet Laurel, a specialty bakery and blog. T...

So many of us are still grappling with the loss of Anthony Bourdain, writer, TV star, and globetrotter. He touched so many lives as he showcased the world and its humanity through the lens of food. Helen Rosner, contributing writer at The New Yorker, shares her experience interviewing him over the years and explains what inspired the title of her article, "Anthony Bourdain and the Power of Te...

The most iconic voice in food radio, Lynne Rossetto Kasper hosted The Splendid Table for 21 years, bringing us conversations with everyone from Anthony Bourdain and Julia Child to listeners who would call in for advice about baking, Thanksgiving turkeys, farmers market ingredients, and more. Lynne shares her journey from Jersey girl to public radio personality, and explains how her best-selling co...

Imagine having to stay on top of the entire New York City food scene? That's only part of Nikita Richardson's job as a staff writer at New York Magazine's Grub Street. Nikita also has to track the trends and issues shaping the food world as a whole. She's tackled such subjects as why there are so few black restaurant critics to empowering immigrant restaurant workers with English language classes....

Edna Lewis changed the perception of Southern food and remains one of the most influential American chefs ever. A new book, Edna Lewis: At The Table With An American Original, celebrates her life and contributions through essays written by important figures on the Southern food scene, including Chefs Mashama Bailey and Vivian Howard. Three friends of Cherry Bombe gathered at the recent Charleston...

Chef Stephanie Izard has been a Top Chef, an Iron Chef, and a Food & Wine Best New Chef. She runs three of Chicago’s hottest restaurants: Girl & the Goat, Little Goat Diner, and Duck Duck Goat in Chicago. She’s a mom, wife, dog owner, and sunny human being. And now she’s author of Gather & Graze, a new cookbook filled with craveworthy recipes, from Pork Belly Frittata to Miso-Buttersco...