Speaking Broadly

Newly christened Outstanding Pastry Chef in America by the James Beard Foundation, Kelly Fields of Willa Jean in New Orleans, credits a sassy, sarcastic non-cook as being her champion, her savior and her inspiration. Her grandmother, after whom her restaurant is named, supported her when she came out, and encouraged her to pursue other choices that were not popular with her Southern family. Before...

"Indian-ish," from author Priya Krishna and her mother Ruti, is the definition of an American cookbook. It chronicles the easy-to-make recipes of Krishna's upbringing as the Texas-born daughter of Indian immigrants who fell in love with their adopted state and also traveled extensively. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Krishna describes her mother's seemingly superhuman ability to do it all, h...

Thirty-seven breakfast tours in 4 countries and 8 states over 4 years. 380 international breakfast recipes in a brand new book . With this kind of exhaustive research and first hand experience, Speaking Broadly guest, Emily Miller is qualified to be called the world’s foremost expert on the first meal of the day. Listen in as creative Miller talks about the most ubiquitous breakfast (cereal—both h...

“I don’t want to feel myself explode.” After a bus carrying her and a rap group went off a cliff and crashed 40 feet below, that was Zahra Tangorra’s first thought. Now, thirteen years later, this horrible accident feels “like an opportunity.” Tangorra used her settlement to fund a career change from visual merchandiser in retail to first-time restaurant owner in Brooklyn. Her place, Brucie , was...

Nini Nguyen feels her younger brother's presence in everything she does even though he passed away tragically and swiftly at the age of 27. Growing up, Nini and her brother went shopping at farmers markets in New Orleans, made meals for their Vietnamese immigrant parents, and fantasized about the future. One of his last wishes was for Nini to pursue her dream of being on Top Chef. When she compete...

Jennifer McDonald is determined to provoke conversations about racism and sexism, and she's doing it in an unusual way: by making wine in Wichita, Kansas. A black child adopted by white parents, McDonald grew up in a small town in Nebraska, hyper-aware of race issues yet never daunted. She was a track star, a success in her HR job, and an award-winning home winemaker. But after her life got disrup...

The moment that The Culinistas founder Jill Donenfeld was ready to give up, to start over and open a restaurant in Malibu, was the moment that her business was saved. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, listen in as Donenfeld explains how one networking dinner led to a game-changing partnership that reinvigorated her and allowed her to commit whole-heartedly to her business. Before that, Donenfel...

After a very successful 30 year career in restaurants, Heather Carlucci lost her passion for the business. So she took a big step: she came out of the woo closet, and shared that she was a lightworker—a medical intuitive (she works with doctors on diagnoses) and psychic. For the last 7 years, she's been a full-time medium. Listen in to this episode of Speaking Broadly to hear how Heather compares...

One month after opening the New York outpost of her Houston restaurant Pondicheri , Anita Jaisinghani got the horrific news that her husband had stage 4 cancer. Her daughter, Ajna Jai, dropped everything and took over the NYC restaurant's day-to-day operations. And after their immensely challenging year, Jaisinghani and Jai are looking ahead to bringing even more meaning to their work. On this epi...

When she finally healed from multiple surgeries, got a life-threatening infection under control, and emerged from the haze of years of intense pain, Valerie Gordon thought of one word: Toffee. An enthusiastic baker since childhood, she wanted to create a business around this crunchy, beloved sweet. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Gordon tells host Dana Cowin about baking her way to comfort wh...

Bravo’s Top Chef fan favorite, cookbook author and TV host, Carla Hall is known for her vivacious personality and warmth. In her latest book, Carla Hall’s Soul Food , other aspects of this culinary star emerge: the connection to her roots in the South as well as her desire to highlight extraordinary African-American cooks and farmers. In a far-ranging conversation on Speaking Broadly, Hall discuss...

For Nasim Alikhani, co-owner of the Iranian restaurant Sofreh in Brooklyn , cooking both allows the world outside to disappear, and to make lost worlds re-appear. It is the thread that ties together her childhood in pre-Revolution Iran, her 20s in New York when she was a student and nanny trying to make ends meet, and now her life as a restaurateur. On this uplifting episode of Speaking Broadly, A...

World-renowned author and negotiation facilitator Priya Parker grew up shuttling between her mother's Indian, liberal, incense-filled Buddhist-Hindu-New Age household and her father's American, meat-eating, conservative, climate-denying one. Not surprisingly, she never knew exactly where she belonged. Parker channeled that childhood discomfort into a powerful mission: to make people experience a s...

Holly Whitaker was at one time addicted to alcohol, pot, and cigarettes. She was bulimic, depressed, tried to get help. But the services that existed—the clinics and AA—weren’t right for her. Six years ago, she finally hacked her way to her own recovery. Now she’s founded a company called Tempest that is reinventing rehab for a new generation. Whitaker's plan makes recovery affordable, accessible,...

This week, we're delighted to share a bonus episode from our Heritage Radio Network sister program, Inside Julia's Kitchen . Dana was recently the guest on the show for their 2018 season finale. In this excerpt of the show's 2nd half, Dana and host Todd Schulkin discuss Dana's experiences making Speaking Broadly, and Dana shares her "Julia moment." If you like what you hear and you want to explore...

Do you sip your tequila neat? If you do, there's one woman you'll want to know about: Bertha González Nieves. A true believer who thought tequila should be treated like a fine cognac, González Nieves founded Casa Dragones in 2009, right as this country was experiencing the Great Recession. She sold one product and one product only, a $275 Casa Dragones Juven, for the first 5 years of the company's...

Two sisters on a mission to share the stories of their Caribbean ancestors, Michelle and Suzanne Rousseau correct common misperceptions around Jamaican food and culture in their stunning new cookbook, Provisions. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, they talk about the women who reached out to them from beyond the veil to urge them on, like their great great grandmother, Ma Briggs, who worked her...

For Boston star chef Jody Adams , stepping away from Rialto , her award-winning restaurant of more than 20 years, was harder than she'd anticipated, especially as it was combined with her sister's progressing cancer and, ultimately, untimely death. "I went into a dark place," says Adams. Listen in to this episode of Speaking Broadly, to hear how Adams pulled herself out into the light, her new res...

Kim Malek filled out a Small Business Association plan in secret. The idea of telling anyone her dream of opening an ice cream shop in cold and rainy Portland, Oregon, just seemed too hard. Now Salt&Straw is an empire with 17 stores across the country, including one at Disneyland, partnerships with companies like Alaska Airlines, and an investment from Danny Meyer and others. On episode 79 of...

When chef Jenny Dorsey creates culinary experiences, she wants the conversation to be about a whole lot more than the food. With projects such as the experimental pop up dinner series, "Wednesdays", and her "It's Disgusting" lunchboxes campaign, Dorsey wants people to be courageously present: to shed their inhibitions, open up to new and uncomfortable ideas, and ultimately leave the meal more empa...

Jasmine Crowe's first solo efforts at addressing the problem of hunger involved cooking for hundreds in her home kitchen in Atlanta, and bringing the food to the people. Since then she's found a way to scale up her charitable work by creating a for-profit company, Goodr . The business provides an online solution to match excess food from restaurants to institutions who share the meals. On this epi...

Victoria James started working in restaurants when she was thirteen, dropped out of college at nineteen, became the youngest sommelier in the U.S. at twenty-one, and is currently the Beverage Director and a partner at Cote Korean Steakhouse in NYC. Her trajectory has been fierce and fast and her love of wine has kept her reaching further. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, James tells host Dana...

Eden Egziabher’s journey has taken her from war-torn Ethiopia to the streets of New York City to become the first Eritrean-Ethiopian female food truck owner. From her bright yellow truck, Makina Cafe , she serves 'Habesha' food, a term that eliminates the distinctions between Eritrean and Ethiopian tribes and celebrates unity. Tune in to hear Eden talk about the genesis of her popular food truck i...

As a star chef in Portland, Oregon, Jenn Louis won industry awards including Food & Wine Best New Chefs, published two successful cookbooks and competed on Top Chef Masters. Then, in an instant, she became better known for a very public arrest for domestic abuse. On Speaking Broadly, Louis reflects on that excruciating time—the pile up of misperception, accusations and frustration—and how she’...

On the eve of publishing her 13th cookbook, Everyday Dorie, food world guru Dorie Greenspan talks about the joys of creating recipes with a little surprise twist, and delighting the home-cook by taking the familiar and turning it into something delicious and new. Tune in to hear Greenspan talk about how the idea for a beloved cookie recipe came to her in a dream, the irresistible intricacies of le...