Why Food?

Join us for a conversation with Abena Foli, who is the founder and co-owner of POKS Spices. Abena was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, where she lived until 2006 when she immigrated to the United States for her college education. Her passion for food comes from her farmer-father who taught her how to blend spices and to understand the culinary heritage of cooking authentic West African meals.Abena’s food science background and 10 years of corporate food industry experience exposed her to the white space in the food retail environment for West African flavors and foods. Leveraging her background, she started POKS Spices in 2016, developing Spicy Seasonings based on the West African Holy Trinity of chile, ginger, and onion. The mission of POKS Spices is to introduce the American home cook to West African flavors, and they have been featured on Good Morning Texas, The Dallas Business Journal, and Cuisine Noir Magazine.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with renowned chef and activist Reem Assil. Reem is a Palestinian-Syrian chef based in Oakland, CA, and owner of the nationally acclaimed Reem’s California in Oakland. The restaurant is  Reem’s California Mission in San Francisco, inspired by Arab street corner bakeries and the vibrant communities that surround them. Reem has garnered an array of top accolades in the culinary world, including back-to-back James Beard Semifinalist nods for Best Chef: West. She is a graduate of the competitive food business incubator program, La Cocina, business leadership program Centro Community Partners, and Oakland-based business accelerator program ICA: Fund Good Jobs. Before dedicating herself to a culinary career, Reem spent over a decade as a community and labor organizer, building leadership in workers and residents to fight for living wages, affordable housing, and a voice in their jobs and their neighborhoods. Reem sits at the intersection of her three passions: food, community, and social justice. She uses food to invoke the central virtue of her Arab culture ⁠— hospitality ⁠— to build a strong, resilient, and connected community. Photo Courtesy of Lara Aburamadan.If your food media diet is fueled by HRN, sustain the future of food radiol. Become a monthly sustaining donor at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Ariana Tolka, CEO and co-founder of Balkan Bites. They specialize in comfort foods such as burek, a flaky, stuffed phyllo pie that is a daily staple in the Balkans and the Middle East. After years of working for marketing and non-profit organizations, she found her calling—to share and preserve Balkan culture with authentic family recipes that have been passed down through generations.If you count on HRN content, become a monthly sustaining donor at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Bobbie Garbutt, live from Grenada! A 4th generation cocoa and spice farmer in Grenada, Bobbie didn't envision her career in agriculture. Kicking off working life as a production assistant for a fashion label in London, her curiosity about food systems led her to jump ship and start her own catering company before the pandemic brought it to a grinding halt.The extended time spent at home allowed her to rediscover the unique significance of her mother's family farm in the Caribbean. Now working in regenerative agricultural initiatives across East Africa and Grenada, she's on a mission to inspire a movement back to the land--through making farming prosperous by rewarding good growing.Celebrate HRN’s new look and invest in the future of food radio. Become a monthly sustaining donor at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Samah Dada! Samah is a New York City-based recipe developer, food photographer, and blogger behind Dada Eats. Drawing from her Indian heritage and inspired by the foodscapes of London, California, and New York, she is the host of Cooking with Samah Dada on the Today Show’s digital channel.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Margaret Nyamumbo, founder of Kahawa 1893. Margaret is a third generation coffee farmer and grew up on a farm in Kenya before immigrating to the USA. After earning her MBA from Harvard, she went on to work on Wall Street when she rediscovered her passion for coffee. She founded Kahawa 1893 with a mission to close the gender gap in coffee. In Kenya, over 90% of labor in coffee comes from women, but they aren't fairly compensated because they don't own the land. Kahawa 1893 coffee is roasted and distributed from San Francisco and the brand recently launched in Trader Joe's as the first Black & woman-owned coffee brand to launch in the grocery chain.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Preeti Mistry, acclaimed chef, author and speaker and two time-nominatee by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef of the West. They were the Co-Founder & Executive Chef of Navi Kitchen and Juhu Beach Club (both closed) as well as the co-author (with Sarah Henry) of The Juhu Beach Club Cookbook. Born in London and raised in the US, Preeti was a contestant on Top Chef Season 6 and has been featured in numerous publications including Food & Wine Magazine, NY Times, Time Magazine, Bon Appetit, SF Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Vogue India, Anthony Bourdain’s PARTS UNKNOWN on CNN and the new Netflix show Waffles and Mochi. They are also the host of the new podcast Loading Dock Talks. Since the pandemic, Preeti and their wife Ann Nadeau have been living in the Russian River, Sonoma County, California where they'e been making the best of it hiking in the redwoods, making lots of pizza and volunteering on local regenerative farms.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Ederique Goudia, the Detroit-based chef and entrepreneur. Ederique Goudia is the co-owner and Executive Chef of Gabriel Hall, a restaurant and music venue dedicated to celebrating the food, music, and culture of New Orleans, in the West Village community of Detroit. She also co-founded In the Business of Food, a consulting agency for women and POC-led food businesses. Ederique’s commitment to a more fair, sustainable, and equitable food economy was the cornerstone for her launching Taste the Diaspora Detroit, a celebration of the contributions of African Americans to American cuisine. She also serves as Lead Chef for Make Food Not Waste Upcycling Kitchen, and on the Detroit Food Academy team, where she teaches Detroit youth about culinary entrepreneurship. Most recently, Ederique was one of 20 women selected for the James Beard Foundation's 2020 Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Fellowship, and is part of the inaugural class of the Detroit Free Press 2021 Food Fighters for her work in aiding those in our community through the pandemic.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Hetty McKinnon, author of the new cookbook, To Asia with Love. Hetty is is a Chinese-Australian cook and food writer, based in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of three other bestselling cookbooks: the best-selling Community, Neighbourhood, and the award-winning Family. Hetty is also the editor and publisher of multicultural food journal Peddler, and the host of the magazine’s podcast The House Specials. She is a regular recipe contributor to New York Times Cooking, Bon Appetit, Epicurious, ABC Everyday, and Food & Wine.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with journalist Larissa Zimberoff, author of the brand new book, Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley's Mission to Change What We Eat, from Abrams Press. Larissa covers the intersection of food, technology, and business, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Wired, and more. Larissa often presents on, moderates, and leads panels on food tech including at Stanford, reThink Food, Culinary Institute of America, and more. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Yao Zhao, founder of 50Hertz Sichuan Pepper. Born and raised in Chongqing, China, he is an economist and clean energy expert, and has worked in China, India, the Middle East, and currently in Washington DC. Yao started the company based on the belief that Sichuan pepper and its tingly numbing sensation will strike a chord with foodies everywhere. When Yao is not making Sichuan pepper oil, you'll find him trekking through the Pantanal in Brazil or along back roads in India, and pursuing his main hobby, scuba diving! Zanzibar, Okinawa, Strait of Hormuz, the Maldives, and Raja Ampat are many of his favorite spots.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Peter Reinhart, Chef on Assignment at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC. In addition to his role as a chef instructor in the Baking & Pastry program, Peter teaches a course on food media, and he is also the founder and executive director of the Johnson & Wales International Symposium on Bread. (www.breadsymposium.com) Peter is the author of 13 books on bread, food & culture, and is on a never-ending search for the perfect pizza. His books have won four James Beard Awards, and The Bread Bakers Apprentice not only won the Book of the Year award from the International Association of Culinary Professions, but also from the James Beard Foundation. The book was also recognized by the International Gourmand Cookbook Award in 2003 as the best baking book in the world.Peter is also the host of the video website, PizzaQuest.com, and will be hosting the new HRN series, Pizza Quest, where he will be interviewing some of the greatest pizza makers in the world, as well as artisans of all types.Subscribe now to get the episodes as they launch! (Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS). Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Rob Dunn, professor of applied ecology and author of the new book Delicious, about the ways that flavor has influenced human evolution. The book is a fascinating look at how humans have always thought about flavor, and how our search for delicious things to eat has supported our evolution, contributed to our diverse cuisines and cultures, and driven interactions with our natural and built environments.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Ann Armbrecht, director of the Sustainable Herbs Program of the American Botanical Council, and author of the new book The Business of Botanicals. She is a writer and anthropologist (PhD, Harvard 1995) whose work explores the relationships between humans and the earth, most recently through her work with plants and plant medicine. She is the co-producer of the documentary Numen: The Nature of Plants, and the author of the award-winning ethnographic memoir Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home, based on her research in Nepal.Photo Courtesy of Terry Youk.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Alex Godin, founder of Lemontree, a non-profit that helps hungry people find free food. He started his career when he was still in high school–dropping out to raise $1M in venture funding for his first startup. Since then he's organized a celebrity telethon with stars like Herbie Hancock and Judd Apatow, an adult summer camp, and the internet's premier destination for hand-painted oil paintings of emojis.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Suresh Pillai and Carrie Dashow, the married co-founders of Atina Foods. They adapt traditional Ayurvedic recipes to incorporate global and locally available produce for their unusually delicious, fermented, and preserved condiments that help to balance your health and life. Based in Catskill, New York, Atina Foods' handcrafted condiments add flavor complexity in a simple spoonful to home-cooked plates throughout New York and beyond! Atina Foods Expands upon and evolves recipes from Suresh's traditional upbringing in Kerala, South India, the ancestral home of Ayurvedic health practices. Kerala is a place where one considers food as medicine and eating for health is a widely practiced custom. The vision of Atina Foods is to produce and share holistic food based on traditional knowledge systems using local produce when available, following the sacred wisdom of the ancients; that food is medicine and medicine is food.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Sue Bette, owner of Bluebird Barbecue in Burlington, Vermont. Sue is a James Beard Award-nominee and former educator who uses her restaurants to build a connection between food, health, and mental well-being. She is a member of the Leadership group of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, and the recent co-founder of Vermont Independent Restaurants, an emerging coalition to preserve and advance the VT restaurant industry faced with challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Andre Springer, Founder of Shaquanda Will Feed You. Andre was born in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, and is of Barbadian descent. Andre began performing in the streets and bars of NYC at the age of 20, with much of his art being the creation of his drag alter ego, Shaquanda Coca Mulatta. The body of Andre's work has been in performance, sculpture, and film. While manifesting his creative side he also spent 18 years in the restaurant industry as a waiter, bartender, manager, and maitre d'. Shaquanda’s Hot Pepper Sauce was created at Bushwig in 2014, a drag festival that happens every year in NYC. Shaquanda’s Hot Pepper Sauce can be found in specialty shops across the United States and most recently in whole foods at all the North East region locations. The brand was featured in popular food publications like Bon Appetite, Edible, Serious Eats, Delish, Buzz Feed, NY Times Gift Guide, and was a favorite in season 9 and 13 of the popular hit youtube series “Hot Ones”.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Nicole Januarie is a Director/Producer of Vallery's new series, Vallery Bakes Your Questions, on Food Network. Nicole partners with brands and individuals to assess how to creatively communicate their message through strong and impactful content. After more than a decade of ideating, strategizing, producing, and directing videos for multi-million dollar brands and start-ups, Nicole has learned what truly drives conversations and moves individuals to an emotional connection. It's not mastering the new flavor of the week; it's how well you connect with the beating-hearts of people you're trying to help and inspire, and how effectively you communicate your understanding of their needs back to them.The former Managing Partner and co-founder of 19th & Park Inc., and 2019 Adweek Creative 100 honoree, recently focused her attention on launching her own production company, Januarie 1st Inc. It's a full-service creative development and production company whose work includes commercials, television shows, branded content, and more. She's been featured in WWD, Forbes, ESSENCE, and appeared on the grand jury for the New York Festivals Advertising Awards and Adweek's Experiential Awards.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.

Join us for a conversation with Manal Kahi, co-founder and CEO of Eat Offbeat, a refugee-driven food company that delivers authentic eats & treats made by refugees who now call New York City home. Manal moved to NYC to pursue a career in environmental affairs, but the Hummus she found in grocery stores led her on a different journey. She founded Eat Offbeat to help New Yorkers discover authentic cuisines from around the world all the while creating quality jobs for talented refugees.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Why Food? by becoming a member!Why Food? is Powered by Simplecast.