The Zest

Today we’re geeking out on the details that can help your home-cooked meals taste more like restaurant-quality creations. For advice, we turned to Chef Dennis Littley, the food and travel blogger behind Ask Chef Dennis . Related episodes: How to Photograph Food Like a Pro How to Be a Food Influencer No Recipe? No Problem: How to Cook Using Your Intuition Conscious Cuisine: Chef Justin Timineri of...

As the war in Ukraine continues, meet a Ukrainian couple bringing a taste of their homeland to Florida. Oksana Petrova and her husband, Sergiy Petrov, own Oksa Cakes Bakery & Bistro in Flagler Beach. Oksana discusses her favorite Ukrainian delicacies and how the war has affected their business.  Related episodes: Talking Seoul Food with Miami’s 2 Korean Girls Halal Food 101 with Florida’s Hala...

If you've ever dreamed of starting a community garden, then you'll want to take notes on this episode. Just north of the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus is an urban oasis: Harvest Hope Park. The 7-acre park is a sanctuary for residents, with a playground, sports fields, fitness stations, walking trail, tilapia fishing pond and more. It all started eight years ago with the park’s first f...

Learn to simplify healthy eating with simple advice from Carly Paige of FitLiving Eats . The Orlando-based chef and cookbook author suggests easy recipe swaps and no-cook meal ideas. Related episodes: How to Snack Smarter Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies Florida Theme Parks Get Vegan

She’s the woman behind the men. Tracie Hartman serves as executive performance chef for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  In the off-season, Dalia stopped by the Bucs’ AdventHealth Training Center to chat with Tracie. In this conversation, Tracie discusses how she went from working in finance to feeding the Bucs, which players love junk food and whether Tom Brady’s diet is as strict as everyone thinks. R...

If you can’t stand the heat… then grab a glass of milk. We’re spicing things up with Michele Northrup, better known as the Saucy Queen. Whether you love spicy food, or you feel your mouth burning when you hear a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I think you’ll enjoy today’s conversation. Michele Northrup owns Intensity Academy hot sauce company and co-produces the annual I Like It Hot! Festival ....

Long before the Ritz-Carlton or the Four Seasons, there was the Tampa Bay Hotel. Railroad giant Henry Plant founded the hotel, which operated from 1891 to 1932 and served as a playground for the rich and famous. Today, the former Tampa Bay Hotel is home of the Henry B. Plant Museum on the University of Tampa campus. I stopped by the museum to learn who stayed there, what they ate and lessons their...

Get ready to fill up your calendar with some foodie field trips, because this week’s guest is Kristen Hare. Her book "100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay Before You Die" is now in its third edition—and many of the entries are food-related. There’s something for everyone, whether you live in Tampa Bay r you’re starting a list of places to check out the next time you find yourself passing through. I recen...

In Florida, there’s no shortage of Cuban bread, key lime pie or shrimp and grits. But eating well minus all the carbohydrates can get tricky. That’s where Dennis Perez comes in. The Oldsmar resident is the content creator behind Black Tie Kitchen . It’s a YouTube channel where he shares low-carb versions of his favorite foods—with a side of humor. Among his most popular recipes are pizza, ice crea...

Majorie Kinnan Rawlings’ memoir Cross Creek reads like a time capsule of life in rural Florida. Published in 1942, the book became an instant classic for its descriptions of natural beauty, farm life and 1930s race relations in the hamlet of Cross Creek, located between Gainesville and Ocala. Much of the book centered around food, so a natural follow-up that same year was Cross Creek Cookery.   To...

Florida’s official hurricane season is June 1 to Nov. 30. But things really ramp up during peak season , which is between mid-August and late-October, according to the Florida State University’s Florida Climate Center. So if your hurricane kit isn’t quite ready for a major storm, fear not. There’s still time to stock up on supplies. And when it comes to food, this week’s guest can help you think o...

For many of us, saving money at the supermarket is top of mind. So we reached out to Dr. Maria Portelos-Rometo , who teaches a variety of food-related classes at the UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County, including Grocery Shopping for Your Health . She has also written a series of blog posts titled Saving Money at the Grocery Store . In this conversation, Portelos-Rometo, offers advice for saving mon...

For many of us, summer is reading season. Whether you’re indulging in a beach read or delving into something meatier on a plane ride, a good book goes great with a drink. So to kick off season 6, we're chatting with Terra Dunham, who owns Book + Bottle . It's a combination bookstore/wine bar in downtown St. Petersburg. The shop’s Readers and Drinkers Circle is a quarterly book and wine pairing sub...

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It's our season 5 finale! After this week, The Zest will go on hiatus for about a month as we work on new episodes—and, let's be honest—do some traveling. We're hoping you'll get a well-deserved summer vacation, too. So we've invited travel guru Carrie McLaren to share her best food-related travel hacks. Carrie lives in Jacksonville, where she runs the website and social media accounts Carrie On T...

Summer means graduation season, pool parties and backyard barbecues. In other words… we’re gonna need more drinks! So today we'll hear from Justin Gray , Tampa Bay chapter president of the United States Bartenders' Guild. Justin makes a case for why punch is the perfect beverage for your summer get-together. Justin makes a case for why punch is the perfect beverage for your summer get-together. He...

Albert's small front and backyards are like a modern-day Garden of Eden, lush with fruit and vegetable plants, 10 bee hives for honey and an impressive composting setup. Albert even grows plants to make his own medicines. His sustainability efforts earned him the title of Gulfportian of the Year from the local newspaper, The Gabber. Today on The Zest, Risemberg shares his journey from "miserable"...

Dharma Southern Kitchen is a plant-based comfort food restaurant chain with locations in Orlando, Sanford and Tampa. Founder Shaun chatted with The Zest's Andrew Lucas about how his Army-brat childhood influenced his career as a chef, the growth of vegan food in mainstream culture and why vegetable-forward options have always had a place at the Southern dinner table.  Related Episodes: Vegan Boom...

Palm Beach County has a reputation for being swanky: high-end boutiques in Delray Beach, fancy restaurants along Worth Avenue in West Palm and the like. But Lori J. Durante wanted to showcase a different side of Palm Beach County—one that featured history with an emphasis on the contributions of underrepresented groups. So in 2004, Lori began conducting bus tours in her hometown of Delray Beach, h...

In this conversation, Yacovazzi and Irwin share how food helped early Americans shape the country's identity, the role of food during wartime and what food can tell us about America's labor force.  We'll also learn the origin of Meatless Monday, why canned food is underrated and which food gets their vote for the most American of all.  Related episodes: Here’s What Was Served at the *Real* First T...

In our conversation, the Tampa couple share how climate change and the pandemic changed consumers' drinking habits, their favorite local restaurants for wine and advice for aspiring sommeliers. Related episodes: Talking and Tasting Florida Wines Bern’s Steak House All-Access Tour Journalist Judith Smelser on Zoom Wine Tastings, Disney Sommeliers and How to Find Your Next Favorite Bottle of Wine Co...

This week, we’re bringing you something a bit different. Collards After Dark is an intimate evening of food and conversation that precedes the annual Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival.  At this year’s event, Dalia facilitated a discussion between Gabrielle E. W. Carter and Dr. LaDonna Butler about the healing power of African-American culinary traditions. We also discussed seed-keeping as a form of...

Chef Timineri's  job is to help consumers understand what’s growing in Florida and how to incorporate it into our diets. From a test kitchen in Tallahassee, Justin creates recipes and cooking videos showcasing Florida produce, seafood and beef. In this interview with The Zest Podcast, he shares some of his favorite summertime meal ideas, offers advice for cooking with kids and recounts how he won...

4 Rivers Smokehouse regional manager Nick West recounts the touching origin story, shares the latest barbecue trends and offers tips for your next cookout. Related episodes: New Ways to Barbecue Bern’s Steak House All-Access Tour Get to Know Pitmaster Lee Ann Whippen Roll Up Your Sleeves for Some SERIOUS BBQ at DR. BBQ! Summertime Grilling Tips for Your Best Barbecue Season Yet The Art and Legacy...

Mermosa Wines is a mermaid-themed beverage company based in St. Petersburg, with a product line that includes ready-to-drink mimosas and other sparkling wines. The brand is sold in 16 states, available in stores like Walmart, Target, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Total Wine and others. Desiree Noisette is the company’s founder, president and "head mermaid.” That makes her Florida's first Black fema...