Speaking Broadly

Dana Cowin speaks with Bonnie Morales, the chef/owner of Kachka in Portland. From the art of toasting to the intersection between politics and restaurants, Bonnie reveals the many ways that being a child of Belarusian immigrants inspires her work—including the incredible family story that inspired her restaurant’s name. The first-generation American daughter of Belarusian immigrants, Chef Bonnie M...

Emma Bengtsson and Kristen Murray may have worked at NYC’s Michelin Star restaurant, Aquavit, a decade apart and currently live on separate coasts, but HRN host Dana Cowin finds the common threads in their extraordinary careers. Tune in to hear about their influential grandmothers and pastry chef beginnings. You’ll come away with a sense of what it takes to make dreams come true in the culinary wo...

After working intensely and successfully with star chefs like David Bouley and Michael Mina, Sarah Rich and her equally accomplished husband Evan decided to open their own place Rich Table in San Francisco. It was a dream come true, but a dream with an emotional as well as economic price tag when the two had to figure out how to run the restaurant and take care of a child. On this episode of Speak...

One night, after the fall of Vietnam, Reyna Duong's father woke up his wife and 11 kids as well as the rest of his tiny fishing village and orchestrated an escape across the water to Malaysia. Duong, now owner of Sandwich Hag in Dallas, Texas, brings that same compassion, urgency and sense of community to her exquisite walk-up Vietnamese restaurant. She's an outspoken advocate for "people with all...

In 2017, when she was just 26, Erin Schrode was chosen by super star chef José Andrés to spearhead his #ChefsForPuertoRico initiative being carried out by World Central Kitchen to help feed the island after Hurricane Maria. In this episode of Speaking Broadly, Schrode explains how, with no power, no water and no communications, World Central Kitchen prevailed, and brought nutritious, hot meals to...

After a decade of humanitarian work for United Nations, Ghanian-born, American-raised Selassie Atadika has returned to her homeland to become a chef activist. Through small steps, like launching a line of elegant chocolates and hosting pop up dinners in Accra using indigenous ingredients, she is generating huge interest in the foods of West Africa. Atadika is cooking dishes that have been passed d...

Success isn't a very good teacher. That's what chef Katie Button learned when she opened her second restaurant, Nightbell, in Asheville, North Carolina and it didn't take off right away. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Button talks about being primed for success by working for the world renowned chefs Jose Andrés and Ferran Adria before opening her award-winning first restaurant, Cúrate , as...

Preternaturally peppy, Gaby Dalkin talks to Speaking Broadly host Dana Cowin about how her parents helped make her a happy person and how she's infused that personality into her mega successful brand. Her most recent book, "What's Gaby Cooking: Everyday California Food," debuted at the #1 spot on Amazon and has remained there, a tribute to the do-able, enticing, bright, cheerful dishes, and the ra...

In 2017, after five years of running Take Root, an impossible-to-get-into 12 seat, Michelin-starred tasting menu only restaurant in Brooklyn, Elise Kornack and her wife Anna Hieronimous closed their doors and moved to 2 hours north to regroup, reconnect, get re-inspired and start again. Host Dana Cowin catches up with Kornack as she is on the verge of announcing her next project. Listen in to hear...

The Editor in Chief of the restaurant website Eater , Amanda Kludt, is setting the conversation around cultural topics in food that range from the serious (removing accused sexual harrasser chefs from Eater's site) to the silly (the DOH ban on activated charcoal to color food insta-black). Listen in to hear Kludt's take on today's trends as well as stories about her rise to be one of the most prom...

Co-founder of MPShift, Anna Polonsky launched one of the hottest branding, concept and design studio in the hospitality industry. She and her partner Amy Morris are credited with creating the defining look of the all day cafe with NYC's Gilda and De Maria and recently completed the logo for Danny Meyer's Tacocina. Polonsky grew up in a food-focused family in Paris and got to know the OG chefs like...

For Merritt Carey, the general manager of Luke's Lobster in Tenants Harbor, Maine, life-changing ideas just pop into her head. Like the time she was out jogging and realized she wanted to quit her job in publishing and become a sailor. Perhaps the more extraordinary thing is that she follows even her most outlandish instincts, which has lead to a fascinating life that includes being part of the fi...

As a Brooklyn mother of two boys, a non-practicing lawyer and a reformed actor, Jessie Sheehan at age 38 offered herself up as an intern at Baked, a neighborhood bakery. A short time after being put to work bagging granola, she found her bliss among the rainbow sprinkles. "This," she thought, "feels like home." Thus began her third career baking, recipe testing and development. Sheehan now creates...

California-born Nancy Singleton Hachisu went to Japan in 1988 in search of sushi and stayed for love. Over these past three decases she's become an expert in the cuisine of her adopted homeland. For her latest book, Japan: The Cookbook , Hachisu spent years cultivating relationships with those who understood the traditions of Japanese cooking, from nuns to grandmothers. Listen in to this episode o...

Angela Dimayuga's style is entirely original, boundary-busting and holistic. Dimayuga, now Creative Director of Food & Culture at The Standard Hotels, is best known as the Executive Chef of Mission Chinese Food in NYC, but her true calling is that of tastemaker, community builder, artistic collaborator, and queer advocate. On this episode of Speaking Broadly , host Dana Cowin discovers how the...

There are similarities between being a Research Associate focused on genetically-engineered yeast and being the Executive Director of a food media non profit. That's what host Dana Cowin discovered as she interviewed Caity Moseman Wadler of Heritage Radio Network, who has held both positions. On this episode of Speaking Broadly , Wadler explains that tenacity, search for workable solutions, accept...

Chef Adrienne Cheatham has worked behind the scenes at stellar restaurants including Manhattan's temple of haute cuisine Le Bernardin and Harlem's rockin' Red Rooster. After getting to the finale on Top Chef , she's come out from the kitchen to share her voice and her nuanced, evolved vision of Southern food at her pop-up, Sunday Best. Listen to this week's episode of Speaking Broadly to hear host...

Veronica Garza, a sixth generation Texan, grew up as the middle child in a large, close-knit Mexican-American family. So when Veronica was dealing with the effects of a debilitating trio of autoimmune diseases, her four siblings and both parents joined her on a journey to wellness. They all changed their diets, and shared joyous grain-free meals. The only thing that was missed were tortillas! A le...

After years of being a renowned culinary expert, Eugenia Bone threw herself into the intense world of microbial science to write her latest book, Microbia: A Journey into the Unseen World Around You . She went back to college at age 55, and embraced the challenge of being an old student with unfamiliar material. It was, she said, a profound lesson in humility. On this episode of Speaking Broadly ,...

In a moment when there's lots of conversation about diversity, food activist Ashtin Berry is committed to helping define a language to understand equity in hospitality and sharing how to take that next step into action. On this episode of Speaking Broadly , Berry reflects on how she pushed past her anger to find her own voice in order to fight the inequity and injustice she saw around her in the h...

Taylor Lanzet is young, queer and an advocate for food system change and inclusivity. In college, Lanzet helped run a CSA-styled program for students and faculty, including funding "shares" for low-income customers. Now 24, Lanzet sources millions of pounds of vegetables for the Dig Inn restaurant group where she's the Director of Supply and Sustainability. On this episode of Speaking Broadly , La...

Martha Hoover, founder of Patachou Inc. in Indianapolis, has spent the past 29 years building one of the most successful and innovative restaurant groups in the country. Recently named Eater 's Restaurant Empire Builder of the Year, Hoover joined Speaking Broadly host Dana Cowin at SXSW for the first ever live broadcast of the show. Together they talk about the power of following your intuition, b...

As the host of Munchies ’ The Hangover Show , Cara Nicoletti makes creative and restorative food for comically hungover friends. Nicoletti is also a fourth generation butcher with the delightfully original recipes for vegetable-heavy sausages. What's surprising is that she's neither a heavy drinker nor a carnivore. Tune in to this week's episode of Speaking Broadly to hear how kindness and caring...

When Vallery Lomas won season 3 of The Great American Baking Show, she was ecstatic. To prevail over the other competitors, she dug deep inside herself and found a strength and talent she didn't know she had. Not only was she proud of herself, but she was also proud to be a role model for other African American women. And then, months later, she learned the season would never air because of sexual...

Christina Lecki worked side-by-side with star chef April Bloomfield for seven years at three different Ken Friedman-owned restaurants before becoming executive chef of Brooklyn's Reynard last year. In this podcast, Lecki comments on sexual harassment, improving kitchen culture and using one's own fear as a motivator. Listen in to also hear what she's learned from some of the best chefs in the worl...