The Zest: Recent Episodes

WUSF Public Media

Because it’s strange and beautiful and hot, people from everywhere converge on Florida and they bring their cuisine and their traditions with them. The Zest celebrates the intersection of food and communities in the Sunshine State.

If you've ever dreamed of hosting a food TV show, being a private chef or working in a high-end restaurant, then this conversation is for you—because today's guest has done all of that, plus a lot more, in his young career.

Get to know Chef Terrell Manning. The St. Pete native has experience as a private chef, food TV host, restaurant co-owner, host of the roadshow America’s Best Restaurants and more.

The Zest team met up with Chef Terrell at the Sorry Not Public co-working space in Tampa. In this conversation, he offers lessons from his culinary journey in his book The Love Languages of Food.

Related episodes:

Chef Hart Lowry Brings a World of Experience to Sarasota Restaurants
Sarasota Magazine Food Writer Lauren Jackson’s Job Is Harder Than You Think
Chef Kenny Gilbert on Southern Food, Teaching Kids to Barbecue and Cooking for Oprah

Super Bowl Sunday is a big day for football—and guacamole. But how much do you know about avocados—specifically the green variety, also called Florida avocados?

Today we’re doing a deep dive with Tom Siddons. He and his wife own Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm in the Everglades, where they grow and ship avocados, mangos and other tropical fruits. Tom also hosts the popular Sleepy Lizard YouTube podcast about their farm.

In this conversation, Tom shares why he got into the avocado business and offers tips for planting the best-tasting avocados right in your own backyard.

Thanks to Sonya Bryson-Kirksey for suggesting this episode. Who do you want to hear on the podcast? Send your Zest guest suggestions to: info@thezestpodcast.com.

Related episodes:

Florida Fruit & Vegetable Gardening 101
Super Bowl Chef to Showcase Florida Flavors
Conscious Cuisine: Edible Gardening Tips from Albert Risemberg
The Olive Grove Brings a Taste of Tuscany to Brooksville

Kiera Wright-Ruiz has an impressive resume: food writer with creds in The New York Times and Bon Appétit. Photographer for big-name brands including Taco Bell. Recipe developer for the Japan Times, The Kitchn and Food52. Picture book author.

We could go on.

But perhaps most impressive is the vulnerability Kiera displays in her latest work, My (Half) Latinx Kitchen. Part cookbook, part memoir, the book explores her multicultural roots through a lens of food. Between mouthwatering recipes, photos and illustrations are personal essays about her mixed heritage (her father is Ecuadorian, and her mother is Korean), father’s drug addiction, time in foster care and other personal subjects not usually found in a recipe book. The result is a work that will feed both your body and soul.

Dalia chatted with Kiera, who grew up in South Florida and now lives in Tokyo.

Related episodes:

Talking Seoul Food with Miami’s 2 Korean Girls
For Storyteller Natasha Samreny, Multicultural Family Dinners Set the Table for a Comedy Career
From Florida to France: Food Writer Jamie Schler on Cooking with Oranges, French Hotel Life and More

This week on The Zest Podcast, revisit Dalia's conversation with Toni Tipton-Martin. The renowned food journalist won James Beard Awards for her books The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks and Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking. Martin also serves as editor-in-chief of the Cook’s Country magazine and television show.

This conversation was recorded at the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival in 2020. (Yep, that 2020.) The episode was hand-picked for you by The Zest's brand manager, Alexandria Ebron.

Related episodes:

Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in ‘Jubilee’
Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller Will Headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival
Couples in the Kitchen: Robert & Alexandria Ebron

This season we're talking avocados, food sovereignty, Latinx identity and a whole lot more. New episodes are released on Thursdays. Listen wherever you're hearing this or at thezestpodcast.com.

Today, we’re dishing up a second helping of a conversion we enjoyed so much that we wanted to make sure you got a chance to listen, in case you missed it the first time around. If you’re a longtime Zestie and you remember this classic episode, we hope you’ll enjoy it even more the second time and of course share it with a friend.

Zest editor Andrew Lucas has such a fondness for key lime pie that he wanted to listen back to Dalia's conversation with Kermit Carpenter of Kermit's Key Lime Shop (formerly Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe).

Today we’re getting to know Ana Quincoces. Long before she was a cast member on The Real Housewives of Miami, she was an attorney and avid foodie.

The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Ana chats with Dalia about the latest of her four cookbooks, Modern Cuban: A Contemporary Approach to Classic Recipes.

Related episodes:

Miami Herald’s Carlos Frías on Cuban Coffee, Edible Iguanas & Winning the James Beard Award
Brenda Popritkin of ‘The Whet Palette’ on Her Favorite Miami Restaurants and Dining Out with Special-Needs Kids
How “Food Led the Way” for Cuban Influence in Tampa

New year, same us.

We could resolve to eat more kale, do 100 burpees a day or rein in our online shopping. But let’s be real… we’re not going to stick to any of that. Here at The Zest, we’re about adding joy to our life—especially if that joy comes in the form of food.

In that spirit, we’re kicking off 2025 by sharing some of our favorite gastronomic splurges—foods, restaurant meals, kitchen appliances and other things we think are worth going out of your way for. Maybe they cost a little more or require a bit more effort, but they’re worth the investment. Hopefully this conversation inspires you to create your own list of foodie goals.

For this conversation, Dalia Colón is joined by Zest team members Andrew Lucas and Alexandria Ebron. Plus Alex’s husband, Robert Ebron, stops by to tell us about a restaurant deal you won’t want to miss out on.

Related episodes:

Potluck: Zest Staffers Reveal Our Favorite Cooking Hacks
Food Hacks for Your Next Vacation from Travel Blogger Carrie McLaren
Author Kristen Hare on Things to Eat in Tampa Bay Before You Die

‘Tis the season for lofty resolutions. Maybe you’ve vowed to stop drinking alcohol, run a daily 5k or cut your takeout budget to zero and cook every meal at home.

Whatever your goals for the new year, Jo Bakal says to start small. Jo is a Tampa-based wellness coach and cookbook author who’s sworn off meat, dairy products and cane sugar. She even makes her own oat milk.

We can feel your eyes rolling already. But hear us out—Jo made these changes gradually, going from a steak-loving New Yorker to a plant-based Floridian. And her advice can help you evolve into the next version of yourself, whatever that looks like for you. Jo stopped by our studio in Tampa for a chat with Dalia. In this conversation, they discuss how there are two types of food, and why Jo’s wellness tools aren’t as “woo-woo” as they might initially sound.

Related episodes:

“The Sporkful” Host Dan Pashman on Pasta, Podcasting & Imposter Syndrome
Eat Better, Feel Better: Simple Swaps from Carly Paige of FitLiving Eats
Gabrielle E.W. Carter & Dr. LaDonna Butler on Food as Rest & Resistance
From Florida to France: Food Writer Jamie Schler on Cooking with Oranges, French Hotel Life and More

Head to Lakeland to hang out with Kadean and Laures Dockery. They're the husband-and-wife team behind Our Noire Kitchen. Noire is French for black, and yes, they are a proud Black-owned company. Kadean is the chef; Laures runs the business side and takes all the great photos you see on Instagram.

The pair run Our Noire Kitchen out of the business incubator Catapult Lakeland, and they travel with their food trailer throughout Central Florida for pop-up events, catering gigs and private chef services. Dalia caught up with the Dockerys at Catapult.

Related episodes:

Pasta Packs Co-Founders Nic & Greg Bryon on Pandemic Dinner Parties, the Flour Your Pantry Needs and Cooking While Black
Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller Will Headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival
Beef Chief: Black Cattle Rancher Huey Howard Reflects on the Racism & Rewards of His 6-Decade Career

For many chefs, the road to running a kitchen starts with culinary school. But Hart Lowry forged his own path, working in restaurants across the United States, Europe and Asia, convincing chefs to take him under his wing.

It worked.

Today, Hart is culinary director for Hi Hospitality Group, where he oversees five Sarasota-area restaurants: Speaks Clam Bar, Kojo, Bar Hana, Palm Avenue Deli and Central Park. Hi Hospitality Group’s newest project is Central Park St. Pete.

Hart chatted with Dalia about his unconventional path to chefdom, the fundamental differences between French and Japanese cooking and advice for elevating a home-cooked meal.

Related episodes:

Chef Mike Collantes of Michelin-Starred Soseki Modern Omakase on His 10-Seat Restaurant and a Hack for Making Better Sushi at Home
Why You Should Stop Haggling at Florida’s Farmers Markets
Chef BT Nguyen on How to Cook with Booze
Chef Johnathan Rodriguez on Finding Cooking Inspiration
Firehouse Chef Manny FD on Cooking for his “Second Family” and the Right Way to Extinguish a Kitchen Fire

Surviving breast cancer gave Rujel Buggs the motivation to eat right and exercise. It also gave her a new appreciation for comfort food—in moderation.

Moderation is the name of the game for Rujel, who shares healthy recipes and fitness inspiration on social media. But for holidays and Sunday dinners with family, she goes all out preparing Southern favorites like mac and cheese and peach cobbler pound cake. Rujel shares many of those recipes in her cookbook, A Taste from My Mother’s Kitchen: Southern Inspired Soul Food Recipes.

Dalia visited Rujel at home in Valrico and pulled up a stool at the kitchen counter. As they chatted, Rujel prepared lunch—a veggie-filled pasta salad. And for dessert? Peach cobbler. After all, everything in moderation.

Related episodes:

Sunday Supper Movement & Stress-Free Family Dinners
Janet Keeler on How to Create Your Own Thoroughly Modern Family Cookbook
Chef Kenny Gilbert on Southern Food, Teaching Kids to Barbecue and Cooking for Oprah
How to Prepare Restaurant-Quality Meals at Home: Advice from Chef Dennis Littley

This week, we’re dishing up excerpts from conversations related to Thanksgiving and the holiday season. First up, historian Andrew Batten discusses some of the food that might’ve been on the table at that first Thanksgiving meal in St. Augustine, and he explains why Florida is the birthplace of fusion cuisine. Then, Jacksonville media personality Yanira “Yaya” Cardona shares Puerto Rican holiday traditions that some Floridians practice. Finally, Chef Richard Anderson shares tips for lightning up traditional Thanksgiving foods.

Related episodes:

Here’s What Was Served at the Real First Thanksgiving
How Florida Became “the Birthplace of Fusion Cuisine”
How to Have a Puerto Rican-Style Holiday Feast in Florida
Exploring the Oxford Exchange & Recipes with Executive Chef Richard Anderson

Whether you’re eating rack of lamb or chicken wings, make it beautiful. So says Debbie Wilson-Berment, better known as Chef Sagajo. (The nickname is a mashup of her kids’ names.)

Based in Delray Beach, the private chef is the author of the cookbook The Sagajo Experience: Recipes for Lifestyle & Entertaining, which came out earlier this year.

Dalia chatted with Chef Sagajo. In this conversation, she shares how roots in Trinidad & Tobago influence her cooking, and she recalls how family dinners got fancier when she moved to Canada and then the U.S. And just in time for the holiday season, Chef Sagajo offers advice for elegant entertaining that won’t break the bank.

Related episodes:

Olivia Giesler of The Pearl at Water Street on Hospitality, the Michelin Guide and Being a Female Chef
Chef Johnathan Rodriguez on Finding Cooking Inspiration
Restaurateur Claudia Johnson on the Global Influences of Mexican Cuisine

It seems like there’s a coffee shop on every block, and they all offer more or less the same stuff. But one coffee company in Tampa is serving up much more than lattes and muffins.

Coffee Uniting People, or CUP, is a nonprofit coffeehouse that employs mostly people with disabilities. With three locations in Tampa, CUP teaches valuable life skills to folks who are too often overlooked for employment.

Dalia chatted with CUP barista Katie Huettel, along with CUP co-founders Greg and Laura Jones. In this conversation, the Joneses share why they started CUP and advice for business owners looking to hire and support employees with disabilities. Katie also explains how the skills she’s learning at CUP translate to the rest of her life. And the three of them share their favorite beverages and foods from the CUP menu.

Related episodes:

For Young Adults—Especially Those with Special Needs —Cooking Skills Bring Independence
Miami Herald’s Carlos Frías on Cuban Coffee, Edible Iguanas & Winning the James Beard Award
The Cuban Sandwich—Our National Treasure

Fabricio Zambrano is one of the most dapper men you’ll ever meet. Perpetually dressed in fitted clothes and a panama hat, Fab looks, well, fabulous.

But he didn’t always dress like this. Because he didn’t always feel like this. For most of his life, Fabricio wore oversize T-shirts to hide his 5-8, 300-pound frame. He subsisted mostly on fast food and did not exercise.

But after Fab hit a life-threatening rock bottom, the Clearwater resident revamped his habits. He adopted a plant-based lifestyle, started exercising and eventually lost half his body weight. Today, the 61-year-old grandfather is known around Tampa Bay as Fab the Vegan. Through Facebook, Instagram and countless media appearances, he shares his journey and offers inspiration for anyone looking to make changes.

Dalia first met Fab when they both appeared on an episode of Bloom about plant-based eating. They recently reconnected for a conversation about Fab’s health journey, advice for changing one’s eating habits and how to deal with friends and family who oppose your new lifestyle.

Related episodes:

Bonus Episode: Dalia’s New Cookbook, “The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook” Is Out Now!
Eat Better, Feel Better: Simple Swaps from Carly Paige of FitLiving Eats
Natalia Lima Veganizes Recipes from The Great British Baking Show

By Dalia Colón

Whether you’re a coffee fiend or you’ve sworn off caffeine, you’re likely to find a beverage you’ll love at Kahwa Coffee. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, the boutique coffee company specializes in—what else?—java.

But since starting Kahwa, owners Raphael and Sarah Perrier have expanded Kawha’s offerings—and its footprint. Today there are 18 locations; that’s one for every year Kahwa has been in business.

Dalia visited the Perriers at Kahwa’s headquarters in St. Petersburg. (Even the parking lot smells like coffee!) In this conversation, Raphael and Sarah share how they went from meeting in a cafe to leading their family and a coffee empire together. They also discuss how they keep customers engaged while drinking the same beverage day after day, trends in the coffee industry that have staying power and what they really think of Starbucks.

To see a video tour of the Kahwa roastery, check out our Facebook or Instagram.

Related episodes:

Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co.
Low-Carb Florida Life with Dennis Perez of Black Tie Kitchen
Miami Herald’s Carlos Frías on Cuban Coffee, Edible Iguanas & Winning the James Beard Award

What do the rapper Drake, basketball player Magic Johnson and countless Floridians have in common? They've all enjoyed a meal at Donatello in Tampa.

The Italian restaurant was started in 1984 by the late Guido Tiozzo, a native of Venice, Italy. Today, Guido’s son Gino Tiozzo is at the helm, balancing classic Italian dishes with customers’ ever-changing expectations.

This week, The Zest continues our celebration of Italian-American Heritage Month with a visit to Donatello. On a quiet morning, Dalia stopped by the dining room to chat with Gino. In this conversation, he reflects on the restaurant’s 40-year history, reveals the one dish he’ll never take off the menu and offers advice for cooking better Italian meals at home.

Related episodes:

Learn to Make Neapolitan Pizza
Couples in the Kitchen: Melissa Santell & Bryce Bonsack
Pasta Packs Co-Founders Nic & Greg Bryon on Pandemic Dinner Parties, the Flour Your Pantry Needs and Cooking While Black

This week, it’s our cheesiest episode yet. We’re heading to Cheeseology.

Located in a 125-year-old building in Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood, the shop offers cheesemaking classes, tastings, take-home cheeses and other local products for sale.

Dalia and The Zest’s brand manager, Alexandria Ebron, visited Cheeseology for a conversation with co-owner Kelly Hays. In this conversation, Kelly shares how a vacation inspired her and her husband, Paul, to open the shop in early 2024. She also goes over the basics of cheesemaking and how to choose a cheese you’ll love, even if you’re cutting back on dairy.

After their chat, Dalia and Alex stuck around for Cheeseology’s pizza class, in which they made mozzarella, used the cheese to make a pizza and then enjoyed their creation in Cheeseology’s cafe area.

Related episodes:

Learn to Make Neapolitan Pizza
“We Got Engaged up at the Milking Parlor”: Modern Dairy Farmers Sutton & Kris Rucks
Firehouse Chef Manny FD on Cooking for his “Second Family” and the Right Way to Extinguish a Kitchen Fire

Today’s episode was supposed to be a light-hearted conversation we recorded back in June with Dan Bavaro. He’s the owner of Bavaro’s Pizza, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. The restaurant has five Tampa Bay locations, along with a successful line of sauces. Back in June, Dalia caught up with Dan at Bavaro’s downtown Tampa location during lunchtime. In that conversation, Dan shares lessons from his 15 years in the Italian food business.

Then in September, Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast before continuing its path of destruction across the Southeast. Bavaro’s Clearwater location got hit hard.

So on Oct. 4, Dalia called Dan for an update on how he, his staff and the building were doing. They spoke over Zoom.

If you’d like to support Bavaro’s employees during this difficult time, you can buy a gift card. For every card purchased, 40 percent goes back to the restaurant’s employee fund for team members displaced from Helene. You can also donate to the GoFundMe that’s specifically set up to help the restaurant’s Clearwater team members, who will be out of work for the foreseeable future.

This episode takes place in two parts: the first recorded back in June and the other recorded on Oct. 4, 2024.

Note: The episode was produced on Oct. 7, 2024, as Florida residents were still recovering from Hurricane Helene while also preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Milton.

Related episodes:

Bavaro’s Brings Italy To Tampa Bay
For Chef Inder Suryawanshi, Life’s a Beach
Olivia Giesler of The Pearl at Water Street on Hospitality, the Michelin Guide and Being a Female Chef

When Dalia arrived at Giuliano Hazan’s home in Sarasota, the first thing he did was offer her a cappuccino and a plate of biscotti. She had eaten breakfast on the drive down from Tampa, so she was not at all hungry.

But when Giuliano Hazan offers you an Italian breakfast, you take it.

Giuliano is the only child of Marcella Hazan, the Italian-born food writer and cooking teacher who is credited with popularizing Italian food in the United States. Marcella and her husband, Victor Hazan, raised Giuliano mostly in New York City. When Giuliano moved to Florida’s Gulf Coast as an adult, his parents later followed. Marcella died in 2013; Victor still lives on Longboat Key.

While Marcella’s legacy lives on in her cookbooks, a documentary film and a Smithsonian project that’s in the works, Giuliano has established himself as an Italian cooking authority in his own right. The author of several cookbooks, he teaches Italian cooking classes on his YouTube channel, at his home in Sarasota and at his cooking schools throughout Italy, where he leads culinary tours with his wife, writer Lael Hazan. Forbes.com named their culinary excursions among its 5 Top Cooking And Foodie Vacations In Italy For 2019.

Dalia recently sat down with Giuliano at his kitchen table in Sarasota. Between bites of biscotti and sips of cappuccino, they discussed how his mother got her big break in America, his own career in Italian cooking and advice for making better Italian food at home.

You can read more about Giuliano Hazan in the fall issue of Forum, the magazine of Florida Humanities.

Related episodes:

Bavaro’s Brings Italy to Tampa Bay
“The Sporkful” Host Dan Pashman on Pasta, Podcasting & Imposter Syndrome
Sarasota Magazine Food Writer Lauren Jackson’s Job Is Harder Than You Think

DONATE TO THE ZEST

There was a time when theme park food meant hot dogs and giant turkey legs. But these days, amusement parks offer something for just about every palate, from gluten-free and allergy-friendly to kosher and halal.

If you’re vegan or leaning into a plant-based diet, you’ve got more options, too. And finding them is easier, thanks to the website and social media account Universal Orlando Vegans. It’s the brainchild of Shelby Castle, a vegan and Universal passholder.

On her website and social media accounts, Shelby documents vegan-friendly finds at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, CityWalk and nearby hotels. She also co-hosts the podcast Taste of Universal, which is under the umbrella of The Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast.

In our conversation, Shelby shares her favorite vegan foods at Universal Orlando around Central Florida. She also offers advice for transitioning to a vegan lifestyle.

Related episodes:

Vegan Boom at Florida’s Theme Parks
AJ Wolfe of Disney Food Blog
EPCOT Culinary Director Albert Youngman Brings a World of Flavors to Florida
“Happiest Plate on Earth” Podcast Hosts Dish on Disney Dining

DONATE TO THE ZEST

It’s the most delicious time of year at the Most Magical Place on Earth. We’re talking about the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival.

The annual event takes place through Nov. 23 at EPCOT’s World Showcase. That’s the area of the theme park whose architecture replicates a bunch of different countries. One minute you're taking a selfie in front of a replica Eiffel Tower; next thing you know, you’re climbing the steps of an Aztec temple in fake Mexico. Throughout the year, each “country” in EPCOT highlights its cuisine. But during the Food & Wine Festival, things get even more elaborate, with special kiosks featuring bespoke food and drinks.

Dalia recently attended the festival, as did her WUSF colleagues Leslie Laney and Mark Schreiner. In this bonus Zest episode, they’ll share their experience and offer tips for eating and drinking your way around the world.

Related episodes:

EPCOT Culinary Director Albert Youngman Brings a World of Flavors to Florida
Journalist Judith Smelser on Zoom Wine Tastings, Disney Sommeliers and How to Find Your Next Favorite Bottle of Wine
“Happiest Plate on Earth” Podcast Hosts Dish on Disney Dining
AJ Wolfe of Disney Food Blog

A lot of people we interview on the podcast come to feel like family. But this week’s guest actually is family.

Dalia is chatting with her stepdaughter, Ariel Colón, who is a 25-year-old professional basketball player.

Ariel has been playing basketball since she was in elementary school, which is when Dalia first met her. And she hasn’t stopped. She played throughout high school and college, and she now splits her time between pro teams in Lares, Puerto Rico, and Aveiro, Portugal.

Before Ariel headed back overseas, she and Dalia sat down at home to talk about the role food has played in her basketball career. In this conversation, she shares how her eating habits have evolved over the years, how her diet changes when she’s playing overseas and food advice for us mere mortals.

Related episodes:

Nutrition Tips for Young Athletes — And the Rest of Us
How Gatorade Went from Gainesville to Global Brand
Students Dish on Dorm Food, Shared Kitchens and Cooking in College
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Chef Tracie Hartman on Feeding the Team, Pre-Game Ice Cream and Tom Brady’s “Very Disciplined” Diet

DONATE TO THE ZEST

When Marques Clark was a kid growing up in St. Pete, he lived on food stamps at home and free lunches at school—in other words, low-quality food.

Now as an adult, Marques is on a mission to teach healthier options to kids, particularly Black children. So in 2014, he started YES CHEF Village. Short for Youth Enrichment Service (YES) Children’s Healthier Eating Foundation (CHEF), the program educates kids and their families about better food options through community dinners and other initiatives.

Marques, who also goes by the name Chef Omaka, stopped by The Zest studio in June 2024 to chat with Dalia Colón. In this conversation, Marques discusses his journey to a healthier lifestyle, the connection between nutrition and physical/mental health and the prevalence of food deserts in Black neighborhoods.

Related episodes:

10 Tips for Cooking with Kids
Lunchboxmafia: How to Make a Lunch They Can’t Refuse
Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller Will Headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival

DONATE TO THE ZEST

Fall is busy for a lot of us, whether you’ve got kids back in school, a big work project to finish before the end of the fiscal year, or you’re trying to get your garden planted. Whatever your situation, the last thing you need is to stress about cooking.

Dalia and the Zest team recently met up remotely to discuss our favorite ways to save time, money and sanity in the kitchen. We all brought a few suggestions, like an idea potluck. In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Where we find less expensive spices
Where we go for meal ideas when we’re stuck in a dinner rut
How to make “single-use” appliances do double duty
What we cook when we’re super-busy and tempted to order takeout
Our favorite store-bought food items that are worth paying a little extra for
Tricks we’ve picked up over the years from pro chefs that make our home-cooked meals taste more like restaurant-quality
How we get members of our household to help in the kitchen
Plus more of our favorite gadgets, products, shortcuts and other resources

Related episodes:

7 Tips for Eating More at Home: Advice from Dietician/Nutritionist Wendy Wesley
Food Hacks for Your Next Vacation from Travel Blogger Carrie McLaren
Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies

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Randy Wayne White is the author of dozens of novels set in Florida, including the fan favorite series about fictional marine biologist Marion “Doc” Ford. White’s latest Doc Ford novel is One Deadly Eye—as in, eye of the storm, just in time for peak hurricane season. The novel took him on a book tour that included stops at—where else?—Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille.

The restaurant, which White owns with two business partners, has four locations along Florida’s Central Gulf Coast. In June, the Terra Ceia resident stopped by the eatery’s location at the St. Pete Pier, where he’d come to do a reading and book signing. But first, he settled into a booth with Dalia for a chat.

Related episodes:

Conscious Cuisine: How to Choose Sustainable Seafood
20 Tips for a Better Hurricane Food Kit: Advice from Janet Keeler
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ “Cross Creek Cookery” Turns 80: Reflections from Food Writer Jeff Houck

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If brewing your own beverage sounds like your cup of tea, then this bonus episode is for you. Back in March, we brought you an interview with Riverview resident Ginain Grayes of the website CookPraySlay and the podcast Cook the Garden. Today, we’re sharing an episode of Cook the Garden that we think you’ll enjoy.

In this conversation, Ginain chats with Nicole Wilson of Tea for Me Please. The New award-winning tea writer and educator shares tips for selecting and brewing your perfect cup of tea.

Do you prefer hot or iced beverages? Hit us up on Facebook or Instagram and spill the tea.

Related episodes:

For Ginain Grayes of CookPraySlay & Cook the Garden, Growing Food Is a Spiritual Experience
Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co.
Conscious Cuisine: Composting 101 with Miami Compost Project

Dietitian, nutritionist and occasional Zest guest Wendy Wesley chats with Nanette Wiser about Wendy's new podcast, St. Pete Eats.

Related episodes:

7 Tips for Eating More at Home: Advice from Dietician/Nutritionist Wendy Wesley
For Young Adults—Especially Those with Special Needs —Cooking Skills Bring Independence
10 Tips for Cooking with Kids

Earlier this season, we heard from Adrian Miller. Nicknamed the Soul Food Scholar, the Denver-based researcher has written several books on African-American culinary traditions, including Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue and The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas. His first book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship. He also appears in the acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.

Adrian visited Florida in February to headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival. The evening before the main event, he spoke at Collards After Dark at The Cuban Club in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood. In a conversation on stage with Dalia, Adrian shared tales from the latest topic to catch his interest—beverage preferences of U.S. presidents. We’re sharing that conversation here with you on the pod.

Adrian delves into which presidents made their own wine, which abstained and who drank confiscated booze during Prohibition. He also explores how wine is selected for White House state dinners, which first lady favored daiquiris and why all of this matters.

Related episodes:

Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller Will Headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival
Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in ‘Jubilee’
Gabrielle E.W. Carter & Dr. LaDonna Butler on Food as Rest & Resistance
Dr. Fred Opie on the “Fascinating” African Roots of Florida Foods
From the Big House to the White House: Dr. Martha Bireda on Foodways of the Enslaved

With the weather heating up and summer vacation so close we can almost taste it, let’s head to the beach for a sit-down with Chef Indrajit Suryawanshi. As executive chef of JW Marriott Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa, he oversees the resort’s main restaurants, Latitude 28° and The Deep End.

Chef Inder, as he’s known, grew up in Kundal, India. He learned to cook by watching his mom make dishes like butter chicken, eggplant curry and naan over a wood stove.

The Zest team met up with Chef Inder at the resort, which overlooks Clearwater Beach. The view from the suite was downright dreamy, and the Gulf of Mexico backdrop gets even more stunning when you head up to The Deep End rooftop restaurant. You can see photos on our Facebook and Instagram accounts.

In our conversation, Chef Inder explains how a sign—a literal sign!—led him to the hospitality industry and eventually to the United States. He also recalls his first time eating a cheeseburger in the U.S., and he shares what food he packs when he heads to the beach.

Related episodes:

The Ultimate Beach House Menu
Author Kristen Hare on Things to Eat in Tampa Bay Before You Die
Spirit of the Panhandle: Distillery 98 in Santa Rosa Beach Makes Oyster-Filtered Vodka

In his 56 years, Ian Beckles has worn a lot of hats—and eaten a lot of good meals. In his profile on X, formerly Twitter, Ian describes himself as a “Former NFL Player & Entrepreneur Ambassador of all things Tasty in TB.” And that’s a pretty good way to sum it up.

The former Tampa Bay Buccaneer has his hand in a little bit of everything, including radio, podcasting, deejaying, magazine publishing and running his lifestyle brand, Dignitary, which he established in 2015. Ian’s latest venture is Dignitary Kava House. It’s an alcohol-free hangout spot in South Tampa that offers coffee, tea, CBD, kava, kratom and more.

The Zest team recently visited Ian at Dignitary Kava House to learn what exactly kava is and why he’s passionate about it. We also did a deep dive into how Ian’s eating habits have changed over the years.

Related episodes:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Chef Tracie Hartman on Feeding the Team, Pre-Game Ice Cream and Tom Brady’s “Very Disciplined” Diet
Chef Kenny Gilbert on Southern Food, Teaching Kids to Barbecue and Cooking for Oprah
Tampa Bay Rays Dietitian Courtney Ellison on Major League Meal Planning, Tips for Staying Hydrated and the Take-Out Food that’s a Home Run with the Team

This is a man’s world—or at least, a man’s kitchen. More than three-quarters of head chefs in U.S. restaurants are men, according to the Census Bureau. But Olivia Gielser has forged her own path in the male-dominated space.

Olivia is executive chef of The Pearl, part of downtown Tampa’s swanky new Water Street dining district. The gastropub opened in 2023, and it’s already earned a nod from Michelin’s Florida Guide.

The Zest team recently visited Chef Olivia at The Pearl to learn how she’s forged her own leadership style in the kitchen, how her Midwestern roots fostered her love of hospitality and how we can all cook smarter at home.

Related episodes:

Chef BT Nguyen on How to Cook with Booze
Michelle Bernstein’s Jewish-Latin ‘Mishmosh’ of a Life
For Pastry Chef Shayla “Chez Shay” Daniels, Life Is Bittersweet

Food writer sounds like a dream job. And for Lauren Jackson, in many ways it is. As Eat & Drink Editor for Sarasota Magazine, Lauren spends her days marrying her culinary background with her passion for writing.

But being a food writer is about more than enjoying free dinners on the company dime.

Lauren recently joined Dalia in The Zest’s studio at WUSF for a conversation about what the job entails.

Related episodes:

Meet Food Critic Helen Freund
Couples in the Kitchen: Melissa Santell & Bryce Bonsack
“The Sporkful” Host Dan Pashman on Pasta, Podcasting & Imposter Syndrome
For Ginain Grayes of CookPraySlay & Cook the Garden, Growing Food Is a Spiritual Experience

To get a gallon of the freshest olive oil, you could grab your passport, pack a suitcase and fly more than 5,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the Sunshine State to Tuscany.

Or you could drive to Brooksville—as in, Brooksville, Florida. The quiet Hernando County town is prized for its bike trails and camping sites. Brooksville is also home to The Olive Grove—yes, that’s the official name. It’s a property owned by husband and wife Cambren and Dede Davis.

The Zest’s host Dalia Colón and brand manager Alexandria Ebron recently visited The Olive Grove for a tour. As you’ll discover if you visit, olives are only the beginning. In addition to selling freshly pressed olive oil and other olive products, The Olive Grove is also an event space, concert venue, Airbnb and farm. If you’re lucky, you just might get to name one of the resident chickens.

The Davises’ property is among a growing number of olive groves in the Sunshine State. To learn more about the challenges and opportunities of olive oil production in Florida, check out Dalia’s article in the summer 2024 issue of Forum, the magazine of Florida Humanities.

Related episodes:

Conscious Cuisine: Rocky Soil Family Farm on How to Reconnect with Your Food
“Now Food Doesn’t Have to Travel”: Hyperlocal Agriculture with lemonGRAFT Founder Zach Correa
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Gardening 101

The transition from high school to college can come with a steep learning curve. For many students, it’s their first time juggling classes, laundry, roommates, a social life and all the rest without the help of Mom and Dad.

The changes can be particularly challenging for young adults with special needs. So in 2020, the University of South Florida established UMatter. It’s a program that gives extra support to students with intellectual disabilities, to help them succeed in college and beyond.

As part of the program, UMatter students at USF St. Pete recently took a six-week cooking workshop with nutritionist, dietician and occasional Zest guest Wendy Wesley. The classes were held in the kitchen of Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg. Students learned to cook simple, weeknight recipes that they can replicate at home; then they ate what they cooked. The class also covered topics like menu planning, food safety and label reading.

Dalia met up at the church with Wendy and one of her students, Taylor Moore. They discussed takeaways from the class, including recipe ideas for anyone living on their own for the first time.

The UMatter program is only available for eligible students. But Wendy offers small-group cooking classes that are open to the public. For details, contact Wendy through her website.

Related episodes:

14 Tips for Cooking Faster at Home
Students Dish on Dorm Food, Shared Kitchens and Cooking in College
Eat Better, Feel Better: Simple Swaps from Carly Paige of FitLiving Eats
How to Prepare Restaurant-Quality Meals at Home: Advice from Chef Dennis Littley

The New Testament Book of Matthew says, “Man does not live by bread alone.” But ask Nana Bonsu-Hammond, and she’ll tell you that without bread, she wouldn’t be the independent businesswoman she is today.

Nana is the owner and executive chef of Jax Bread Co. It’s a bakery and cafe on Jacksonville’s Southside.

Nana recently chatted with Dalia about the bread here in the United States versus overseas and why she says bread saved her life.

If you’d like to learn more about starting a cottage food business, then check out our previous episode on that topic.

Related episodes:

Zak the Baker Keeps It Kosher
For Pastry Chef Shayla “Chez Shay” Daniels, Life Is Bittersweet
Natalia Lima Veganizes Recipes from The Great British Baking Show
How to Start a Cottage Food Business in Florida: Lessons from the Lentil House

This week, we’re heading into the backyard of Ginain Grayes. The busy wife and mother shares family-friendly recipes on her website, CookPraySlay, and she hosts the podcast Cook the Garden. (Dalia was a guest on the 3/19/24 episode.)

Dalia visited Ginain at her home in Riverview for a tour of her garden and a chat at the kitchen table. In this conversation, Ginain shares how her native country of Suriname influences what she cooks, she offers creative uses for food scraps, and she shares why she views gardening as a spiritual experience.

Related episodes:

Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies
Fruit & Vegetable Gardening 101
Conscious Cuisine: Composting 101 with Miami Compost Project

You might have heard that Dalia wrote a cookbook. It’s called The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook, and it’s out today. It’s available through University Press of Florida, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers.

Dalia was recently a guest on Florida Matters, where she chatted with host Matthew Peddie about The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook and the latest season of The Zest. They also discussed advice for getting out of your weeknight dinner rut and tips for cooking with kids. We’re sharing their conversation here as a bonus episode.

Related episodes:

Janet Keeler on How to Create Your Own Thoroughly Modern Family Cookbook
Bonus Episode: The City of Tampa Needs Your Recipes for its Soulwalk Community Cookbook
Chef Johnathan Rodriguez on Finding Cooking Inspiration

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This week, we’re chatting with foodie podcaster and author extraordinaire, Dan Pashman.

Dan is the two-time James Beard and Webby Award-winning creator and host of The Sporkful, which he started way back in 2010, before many of us had even heard of a podcast.

The Sporkful is still going strong, and Dan is just getting started.

In 2021 Dan released cascatelli, a new pasta shape that he invented. Cascatelli went on to be named one of Time Magazine's best inventions of the year, and you can now buy it online and in stores across the country. Dan recounted his three-year journey to create cascatelli in the Sporkful series Mission: ImPASTAble, which the New York Times named one of 10 Best Podcasts of 2021.

And this week, Dan adds another feather to his cap: the publication of his first cookbook. It’s called Anything's Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes For Saucy People. The launch will be accompanied by a Sporkful series about the making of the book.

Dan is also heading out on a book tour, which swings through Florida on March 28. He’ll be Sanctuary of the Arts in Miami, in conversation with James Beard Award winner and former Zest guest Carlos Frías.

Dan chatted with Dalia from his recording studio in New York about the good, bad and ugly of writing a cookbook, his favorite outside-the-box pasta recipes and what he looks forward to eating when he visits Florida.

Thanks to this week's guest host, Chandler Balkcom.

Related episodes:

Miami Herald’s Carlos Frías on Cuban Coffee, Edible Iguanas & Winning the James Beard Award
Pasta Packs Co-Founders Nic & Greg Bryon on Pandemic Dinner Parties, the Flour Your Pantry Needs and Cooking While Black
How to Start a Cottage Food Business in Florida: Lessons from the Lentil House

Today we’re getting to know the hosts of another food podcast we think you’ll enjoy: Florida Foodie.

The show is produced by Orlando’s CBS affiliate, News 6 WKMG, and hosted by news anchor Lisa Bell and meteorologist/anchor Candace Campos. The ladies chatted with Dalia about Central Florida’s changing culinary landscape and their favorite places to eat.

Related episodes:

Chef Art Smith Talks Politics: “Fried Chicken Takes No Sides”
Food Blogger Ricky Ly on Orlando’s “Tasty Chomps”
“Latino Orlando” Author Dr. Simone Delerme on the Rise of Florida’s Hispanic Restaurants & Markets

Cuba may be only 90 miles from Florida, but for Brenda Popritkin, the food experience has been night and day.

After spending her early childhood on the island eating rationed eggs and rice, young Brenda moved to South Florida, where she discovered an abundance of steak, pastries and coffee windows.

Now as an adult, Brenda is the brains behind The Whet Palette. It’s a blog and podcast covering food and wine in the Miami area or wherever her travels take her.

Dalia recently chatted with Brenda about her favorite South Florida restaurants, the food trend she’s excited about and her first impression of McDonald’s hamburgers. She starts by explaining how being the parent of two kids with special needs led to her passion for fine dining.

Related episodes:

Chef Niven Patel and Mohamed Alkassar Had a Productive Pandemic
Miami Herald’s Carlos Frías on Cuban Coffee, Edible Iguanas & Winning the James Beard Award
Michelle Bernstein’s Jewish-Latin ‘Mishmosh’ of a Life
Talking Seoul Food with Miami’s 2 Korean Girls

This week we’re wrapping up our Couples in the Kitchen series with Darren and Danessa Domingo. The couple are the influencers behind the popular Instagram handle Food People Luv, in which they explore Tampa Bay’s diverse cultural cuisines.

Darren’s family is Filipino, and Danessa’s is Haitian. In this conversation, they discuss the foods they grew up eating, how a mission trip led to love and their favorite date night spots.

Related episodes:

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Advice from Norman Love
How to Be a Food Influencer
For Pastry Chef Shayla “Chez Shay” Daniels, Life Is Bittersweet

Pre-order Dalia's first cookbook, The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook!

This week, we’re continuing our Couples in the Kitchen series with the pair who inspired the series. By day, Bryce Hudson is an artist and his husband, Ryan Ahmann, is a real estate agent. But at dinnertime, the couple turn into gourmet chefs, spending hours cooking together and posting the mouthwatering photos on social media.

Dalia sat down with the guys in the dining room of their century-old St. Petersburg home. The guys share why cooking elaborate meals is one of their favorite ways to spend time together.

Related episodes:

It’s Always Sunny at St. Petersburg’s Brick Street Farms
Conscious Cuisine: Edible Gardening Tips from Albert Risemberg
Behind the Scenes of the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival

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This week, we’re continuing our Couples in the Kitchen series with the ultimate foodie couple. Melissa Santell is a well-known Tampa food photographer, culinary marketing consultant and host of the podcast Sunday Sauce. Her boyfriend, Bryce Bonsack, is chef/owner of the Michelin-starred Rocca Italian Restaurant in Tampa Heights.

Dalia sat down with Melissa and Bryce in their living room to learn about the elaborate meal they cooked together on their first date, what they ate as kids and advice for hosting a dinner party.

Related episodes:

How To Photograph Food Like A Pro
Yelp’s Top 100 Florida Restaurants with Andi Perez
Straz Center’s Chef Edward Steinhoff Offers Advice on Cooking for a Crowd

This week, we’re continuing our Couples in the Kitchen series with a pair who both make their living in the food business. Stephanie Swanz is the founder of Empamamas inside Tampa’s Armature Works food hall. Her fiance, Felix “Bubba” Flores, is the founder of Wicked Oak Barbecue.

Dalia sat down with the power couple at their Tampa office, from which they run their culinary empire. Stephanie and Bubba recall how they met in the most Tampa way ever, and what the busy entrepreneurs and parents eat on typical weeknight.

Related episodes:

Why Boozy Pig Owner Andrew Tambuzzo Bought a Herd of Swine
How “Food Led the Way” for Cuban Influence in Tampa
How to Start a Cottage Food Business in Florida: Lessons from the Lentil House
How Spanish Settlers Brought Pigs to Florida and Started America’s Barbecue Craze

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we’re kicking off a series we’re calling Couples in the Kitchen. Each week this month, we’ll introduce you to a Florida foodie couple you oughta know. You’ll meet folks from the food world who are dating, married or engaged, from influencers to home cooks to professional chefs.

First up: The Zest’s own Alexandria Ebron. As brand manager for the podcast, Alex handles the website and social media. She also has a food, fashion and lifestyle blog called, The Frugalista Life. Alex’s husband, Robert Ebron, is an accomplished home cook.

The Ebrons recently joined Dalia in the studio for a conversation about the role food plays in their relationship. Alex recalls how being a hungry college student led to her meeting her future husband, Robert shares his favorite foods to cook at home for the two of them, and they each suggest a couple with whom they’d love to dine.

Related episodes:

Documentary Explores Tampa Bay’s Black-Owned Restaurants
“Son of a Southern Chef” Celebrity Chef Lazarus Lynch
Students Dish on Dorm Food, Shared Kitchens and Cooking in College
Bern's Steak House All-Access Tour

This week, we’re digging into the roots of soul food with Adrian Miller, better known as the Soul Food Scholar. After a career at the White House, the trained attorney set his sights on researching African-American culinary traditions.

Adrian is the author of several books on the subject, including Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue and The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas. His first book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship. You might’ve seen him in the acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.

Adrian is based in Denver, Colorado, but he’s coming to Florida in February to headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival. The event takes place, fittingly, on Presidents Day weekend. On Friday, Feb. 16, Dalia will host the Collards After Dark event, where Adrian will give a talk about U.S. presidents’ favorite beverages and cocktails. Then on Saturday, Feb. 17, Adrian will give a presentation about Black chefs in the White House.

Gearing up for his appearance in Tampa Bay, Adrian chatted with Dalia about his journey from attorney to food writer, Black chefs in the White House and what mainstream media gets wrong about soul food.

Related episodes:

Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in ‘Jubilee’
Gabrielle E.W. Carter & Dr. LaDonna Butler on Food as Rest & Resistance
Dr. Fred Opie on the “Fascinating” African Roots of Florida Foods
From the Big House to the White House: Dr. Martha Bireda on Foodways of the Enslaved

A generation ago, eating out was a special treat. But these days, Americans eat and drink a third of our calories away from home, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Splurging on foods laden with calories, fat, salt and sugar once in a while isn’t so bad. But doing so day after day can take a toll, says Shari Bresin, family and consumer sciences agent at the UF/IFAS Pasco County Extension Office.

So when Shari and her colleagues set out to update some articles on the organization’s website, one of the first they tackled was Make Eating Out a Healthier Experience.

As many of us set our sights on eating healthier in the new year, Shari chatted with Dalia about some of the article’s key takeaways. In this interview, you’ll learn keywords that indicate menu items to steer clear of, and words that denote better-for-you options. You’ll also learn small changes that can help you avoid overindulging.

Related episodes:

How to Snack Smarter
Eat Better, Feel Better: Simple Swaps from Carly Paige of FitLiving Eats
7 Tips for Eating More at Home: Advice from Dietician/Nutritionist Wendy Wesley

Today, we’re getting dinner inspiration from Johnathan Rodriguez. He’s the executive chef and food and beverage director for the dual-branded Aloft and Element Hotel in Tampa’s Midtown shopping and dining district.

Dalia met up with Chef Johnathan at Sal y Mar, the hotel’s rooftop restaurant and bar. In this conversation, he shares advice for coming up with new dinner ideas, how growing up in New York with an Italian mother and Puerto Rican father influenced his palate and his experience cooking for a certain famous family.

Related episodes:

America’s Test Kitchen Co-Hosts Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison on Small Plates, Hot-Weather Meals and the Kitchen Equipment You Don’t Need
Chef Kenny Gilbert on Southern Food, Teaching Kids to Barbecue and Cooking for Oprah
Conscious Cuisine: Chef Justin Timineri of Fresh From Florida Offers Ideas for Eating What’s in Season

A trip to Disney World will cost you upwards of $100 per person, per day—and that’s before you’ve eaten a single bite.

But with some expert knowledge, you can eat like a king—or perhaps, a Disney princess—and still have money left over for a pair of Mickey ears.

This week we’re chatting with Kristi Rada and Danae Allison, two of the co-hosts of the Happiest Plate on Earth podcast. Kristi is a Disneyphile, Danae works as a chef at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.

In this conversation, the ladies offer tips for saving money, time and sanity as you eat your way through the theme parks. They’ll also share their favorite Disney dining experiences and advice for guests with allergies or other special dietary needs.

Related episodes:

AJ Wolfe of Disney Food Blog
Vegan Food Boom at Florida’s Theme Parks
EPCOT Culinary Director Albert Youngman Brings a World of Flavors to Florida
Journalist Judith Smelser on Zoom Wine Tastings, Disney Sommeliers and How to Find Your Next Favorite Bottle of Wine
Food Hacks for Your Next Vacation from Travel Blogger Carrie McLaren
Disney Dining Tips and an Announcement from Robin

Today we’ll hear from someone who’s usually behind the scenes: Alexandria Ebron. As brand manager for The Zest, Alex handles the website and social media, among other things.

We’ll listen in on Alex’s conversation with her grandmother Marva Jones, who lives in Orlando. They talk about Marva’s childhood food memories and what she likes to cook now for the holidays. We hope this conversation inspires you to ask your loved ones about their traditions.

Related episodes:

The City of Tampa Needs Your Recipes for its Soulwalk Community Cookbook
Janet Keeler on How to Create Your Own Thoroughly Modern Family Cookbook
Food Memories of Latin America

While we’re cooking up new episodes of The Zest, we’d like to tell you about another podcast we think you’ll enjoy: Under the Influencer. It’s hosted by a brother sister-duo who are familiar names in the Tampa Bay area. Samantha Blowers, better known as St. Pete Sam, is a radio host on Magic 94.9 FM and 97X. Her brother, Max Blowers, is beverage director at Good Intentions, a popular vegan restaurant in St. Petersburg.

In this episode of Under the Influencer, Sam and Max are doing a deep dive into Publix. It’s a fun conversation, and we think you’ll agree.

Be sure to follow The Zest and Under the Influencer wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of The Zest will start up again in January.

Related episodes:

How to Save Money on Groceries: Advice from UF/IFAS Expert Dr. Maria Portelos-Rometo
Conscious Cuisine: Rob Greenfield on How to Live without Grocery Stores and Restaurants
Duke & Dame Whiskey Co-Founders Amani Macaulay and Chima Burey
Tips for Grocery Delivery Success

While we’re on our holiday hiatus, we wanted to let you know about another podcast we think you’ll enjoy. It’s called Tampa’s Table.

The podcast is produced by Visit Tampa Bay and hosted by Jeff Houck, who is a repeat Zest guest and co-author of The Cuban Sandwich: A History in Layers. The podcast is a companion to the Tampa’s Table Cookbook, which is now out in Vol. 2.

Be sure to follow The Zest AND Tampa’s Table wherever you get your podcasts.

The holidays are a great time to gather family recipes, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tell you about the City of Tampa’s Soulwalk Community Cookbook.

Tampa’s Soulwalk is a trail linking historic sites that tell the story of the city’s communities of color. The city is creating a companion cookbook, and they need your input. You have until the end of the year to submit recipes online at tampa.gov/soulwalk. Submission forms are also available at local libraries and City of Tampa community centers.

You don’t have to live within Tampa city limits to participate, and you don’t need to be Black, as long as your recipe reflects Black or African-American cuisine. Ida Walker and Tina Wright are part of the team behind the Soulwalk Community Cookbook, and they’re here to tell us more about it.

Related episodes:

Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin on Her Cookbook, “St. Pete Eats”
Janet Keeler on How to Create Your Own Thoroughly Modern Family Cookbook
Sunday Supper Movement & Stress-Free Family Dinners

Picture a time when there was no barbecued pork in Florida—when there weren’t pigs at all.

That was the scene more than 500 years ago. It wasn’t until Spanish settlers disembarked from their ships, along with the pigs they’d brought on board, that our state’s indigenous people ever laid eyes on hogs.

Kevin Kokomoor, Ph. D., details this history in his book La Florida: Catholics, Conquistadores, and Other American Origin Stories. In the book’s final chapter, Dr. Kokomoor argues that the barbecue we know and love today traces its origins to the merging of Spanish pigs and Native American cooking methods in the 16th century.

Dalia recently spoke with Kokomoor, a Florida native who teaches history at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. In this conversation, they discuss why Spaniards brought pigs to North America and the consequences for indigenous people. Kokomoor also makes a case that Thanksgiving has its roots in Florida, and he shares his favorite ways to enjoy barbecue.

It’s one thing to know how the sausage gets made. It’s another thing to buy the pigs that become the sausage. But that’s what former Zest guest Andrew Tambuzzo recently did.

Andrew is the founder and owner of The Boozy Pig Butchery & Kitchen in Tampa, which has locations in South Tampa and Davis Islands. In addition to selling pork products to the public, Boozy supplies meat to dozens of restaurants, hotels and other wholesale clients. To ensure the quality of his supply, Andrew recently purchased around 50 pigs of his own. They live on a farm in Pasco County.

Buying livestock for your restaurant may sound extreme, but Andrew comes from a foodie family. His late grandfather Giuseppe Tambuzzo owned Tip Top Grocery Store in Ybor City, and his cousin John Barbie’s Tip Top Canning Co. was featured on The Zest earlier this year.

Dalia met up with Andrew at the Boozy Pig’s South Tampa location as lunch hour was winding down. (They sat at a table that, moments earlier, had been occupied by former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. In this conversation, Andrew explains why buying the pigs was important to him, how pork products are made—buckle up for that!—and ways to make flavorful meals from less expensive cuts of meat.

Related episodes:

Tambuzzo Sausage Company & The Boozy Pig
How 4 Rivers Smokehouse Became King of the Barbecue
Summertime Grilling Tips for Your Best Barbecue Season Yet

Foraging food can be exciting: searching for provisions, maybe discovering some sweet berries or nutty salad greens you’ve never tried before. Eating wild plants is fun… but if you’re not careful, it can kill you.

So when we wanted to learn the basics of foraging in Florida, we called Roger L. Hammer. He’s an award-winning naturalist, botanist, nature photographer and survivalist instructor for the Discovery Channel reality series Naked and Afraid. He’s also the author of several books, including Falcon Guides’ Foraging Florida.

Before you go gorging on handfuls of leaves from your backyard, you’d be smart to heed Roger’s advice. He recently chatted with Dalia about guidelines for foraging legally, ethically and safely.

Related episodes:

Chef Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef
Conscious Cuisine: Rob Greenfield on How to Live without Grocery Stores and Restaurants
Third-Generation Beekeeper Derek Lewis on Food Pollination, Bee Hotels and the Value of the “Sophisticated Little Creatures”

A new exhibition at the Tampa Bay History Center explores what our state was like a century ago, from music and fashion to politics and social movements—including the banning of alcohol. It’s called Decade of Change: Florida in the 1920s, and it’s on view from Nov. 4 to July 14.

Dalia spoke with the exhibition’s curator, Brad Massey, Ph. D.

Related episodes:

History of Beer with Rodney Kite-Powell
Two USF Professors Offer a Crash Course in American Food History
Food Meets Feminism: UCF Professor Kimberly Voss on Newspaper Women’s Pages

When Huey Howard got into cattle ranching in 1963, JFK was president, the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA topped the music charts, and a white landowner could refuse to sell property to a Black man.

But that didn’t stop the Leland, Mississippi, native from becoming one of Florida’s few Black cattle ranchers.

Today, Huey and his family raise more than 400 head of cattle, and they’ve earned respect in Florida’s predominantly white beef cattle industry, in which African-Americans still account for only about 3 percent of our state’s beef producers. The family was even honored a few years ago during a parade in Immokalee.

Earlier this year, I met the 87-year-old at the Howard family’s ranch in Felda, about 30 miles east of Fort Myers. It was a sweltering afternoon, so we settled into the air-conditioned cabin of Huey’s gray Chevy pickup truck for a chat. Huey’s nephew Gerlad Howard was in the back seat.

Dalia spoke with Huey for the summer 2023 issue of Gravy Quarterly, a publication of the Southern Foodways Alliance. This episode’s audio comes from that conversation.

In this episode, Huey shares why he’s passionate about raising cows, his favorite way to enjoy Florida beef and how he managed to buy his first plot of land after all.

Related episodes:

“Burger Beast” Sef Gonzalez on Florida’s Best Hamburgers
“We Got Engaged up at the Milking Parlor”: Modern Dairy Farmers Sutton & Kris Rucks
Writer Heather McPherson on What You Don’t Know About Florida Food

Tampa’s historic Ybor City district is known for its nightlife. But just a few blocks away, you’ll find a bar that’s reminiscent of another time and place.

Bastet Brewing pays homage to the beer culture of ancient Egypt. And that’s the vibe you’ll get when you step inside, from the mural on the wall down to the smallest details.

Friends Huston Lett and Tom Ross opened Bastet in November 2020. Despite the ups and downs of the pandemic, they’ve grown the business into one of Tampa’s most buzzed-about watering holes. Bastet was even featured in the documentary One Pint at a Time about diversity in the craft beer industry. (Former Zest guest Latiesha Cook of St. Petersburg-based Beer Kulture also appears in the film.)

Dalia Colón and The Zest's web guru, Alexandria Ebron, recently visited Bastet for a tour. In this conversation, Huston and Tom explain the Egyptian roots of modern craft breweries and how their mutual love of cooking inspires the beers they create.

Related episodes:

Beer Kulture Raises the Bar for Diversity in Craft Beverage Industry
In Praise of Punch: Justin Gray on Your New Favorite Summertime Sip
Spirit of the Panhandle: Distillery 98 in Santa Rosa Beach Makes Oyster-Filtered Vodka

Stone crab claws are big business in Florida, worth an annual $34.4 million, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission—and that’s in an industry that works just half the year.

Few people understand the ins and outs of stone crabbing better than Kelly Kirk of Goodland. It’s a small fishing village in the southeast corner of Marco Island. Kelly and her family run Kirk Fish Company, a seafood processing facility and market that her grandfather Bud Kirk started in the early 1950s. Kelly is also co-director of the Florida Stone Crabbers Association, and she sits on the board of the Everglades Seafood Festival.

As she geared up for stone crab season, Kelly took time to chat with Dalia about what you can expect to pay for a pound of stone crab claws, how environmental changes affect Florida’s stone crab population and how she prefers to enjoy the delicacy.

To learn more about stone crabs, check out Dalia’s article in the fall 2023 issue of Forum, the magazine of Florida Humanities.

Related episodes:

Dive into Florida’s Spiny Lobster Season
Conscious Cuisine: How to Choose Sustainable Seafood
How Key West Lobsterfest Became Florida’s Premiere Crustacean Celebration

This week, we’re getting a lesson in cooking with booze. No, we’re not talking about enjoying a spirited beverage while you cook, although that can be nice, too. We’re talking about using a splash of alcohol to enhance a dish.

As chef and owner of three Tampa restaurants, BT Nguyen has found plenty of creative uses for beer, wine and spirits. Dalia recently sat down with the celebrated chef in the dining room of Restaurant BT. In this conversations, BT throws out plenty of ideas to try at home, including one that was a lightbulb moment for Dalia.

Related episodes:

Bourbon 101 with Nate Wilson
Firehouse Chef Manny FD on Cooking for his “Second Family” and the Right Way to Extinguish a Kitchen Fire
Rum Punch Rhyme: Your Recipe for “Happiness and Good Vibes in a Glass”

Orlando is stepping up its game. To outsiders, Central Florida might just look like a bunch of turkey legs and Mickey ice cream bars. But in the past decade, O-town has become home to some pretty top-notch eateries. And the powers that be are starting to take notice.

In 2022, the prestigious Michelin Guide began awarding stars to Florida restaurants. Among the first was Soseki Modern Omakase in the leafy Orlando suburb of Winter Park. The dining room has just 10 seats, and the Japanese-inspired, locally sourced dinner is always chef's choice.

That chef is Mike Collantes. In addition to owning Soseki, Chef Mike works as a restaurant consultant and interviews fellow chefs on his podcast, 86 The Podcast. In addition, he was recently a contestant on the cooking competition show Morimoto’s Sushi Master, which you can watch for free on Roku.

Chef Mike recently chatted with me about his decision to open an eatery with only 10 seats, the ripple effect of restaurant awards and a hack for sourcing better ingredients for your next at-home sushi night.

Related episodes:

Food Blogger Ricky Ly on Orlando’s “Tasty Chomps”
Are the James Beard Awards Snubbing Florida?
Yee Farms Brings Chinese Vegetables and a “Sense of Pride” to Boynton Beach
Writer Charlie Crespo on 3 Food & Drink Trends Coming Your Way in 2023
Chef Greg Baker on Mental Health: “It’s Okay to Not be Okay”

What if whisky didn’t make your throat burn? What if, instead, it tasted comforting and slightly sweet, like a candy your grandma might keep in her purse?

That’s the idea behind Duke & Dame Salted Caramel Flavored Whisky. It’s the brainchild of Chima Burey and Amani Macaulay, friends who met in New York and later moved to South Florida to see if their idea had legs.

Spoiler alert: It did.

The guys launched Duke & Dame in 2018. Today, you can order Duke & Dame in restaurants and on cruise ships. It’s on the shelves at Total Wine & More, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Walmart Liquors and now Publix, as of July 10. That same day, Oprah Winfrey featured the whisky on her O List, a roundup of products that have the media mogul’s blessing.

Dalia recently chatted with Amani and Chima. In this conversation, the guys share how they came up with the idea for Duke & Dame, their journey as Black entrepreneurs in the spirits industry and advice for what to do with the great idea you’ve been sitting on.

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Whether you’re just learning to cook for yourself or you’ve been staging elaborate dinner parties for years, you can always learn something from America’s Test Kitchen. The long-running PBS television show features recipes, equipment reviews and taste tests to help make cooking at home more efficient and enjoyable.

On Sept. 20, ATK co-hosts Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison will be in St. Petersburg for a live event at the Palladium Theater in downtown St. Petersburg.

Bridget and Julia recently chatted with me from their homes in the Boston area, where America’s Test Kitchen films. In this conversation, they share advice for aspiring TV chefs, their favorite hot weather meals and the common kitchen equipment they say is overrated. They also discuss the new ATK cookbook, The Complete Small Plates Cookbook.

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7 Tips for Eating More at Home: Advice from Dietician/Nutritionist Wendy Wesley
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How to Save Money on Groceries: Advice from UF/IFAS Expert Dr. Maria Portelos-Rometo

Harrison Holditch has heard the jokes: Florida Man, Redneck Riviera.

The Sunshine State, and the Panhandle in particular, are an easy target.

But Harrison and his brother-in-law, who own Distillery 98 in Santa Rosa Beach, wanted to make something their town could be proud of. (The distillery’s name is a nod to U.S. Highway 98, which hugs the Emerald Coast.)

So during the glass shortage of 2021, the guys got the idea for Half Shell Vodka. It’s a spirit made with Florida corn, filtered with Florida oysters and sold in a bottle made of recycled cardboard.

Harrison recently road-tripped from the Panhandle to Tampa Bay to spread the word about Half Shell Vodka. Dalia met up with him to discuss the inspiration for the spirit, Harrison’s commitment to repping the Panhandle and his favorite ways to enjoy the beverage. They chatted on the patio of the hotel where Harrison was staying, and as you’ll hear, it was an unusually windy afternoon.

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Monin Flavor Expert Julia Melucci: “I Play With Sugar All Day Long.”
Awww… Shucks! “OysterMom” Deborah Keller on the Importance of Sustainable Aquaculture

Learn how to create a family cookbook or recipe website.

Get a crash course in how to pickle and can your own food.

Pastry chef Shayla Daniels of Tampa offers tips and tricks to help us all bake better at home. She also shares her own bittersweet personal story.

The weather outside is frightful—that is, frightfully hot and humid. So this week, we’re getting suggestions for wines that pair perfectly with Florida’s sweltering summer.

It’s been called the Biggest Party of the Summer: This week, dig your claws into Key West Lobsterfest.

Before food influencers and YouTube chefs, there were the cooking gurus of the newspaper women’s pages.

Get to know one of the busiest guys in Florida’s culinary scene: Chef Kenny Gilbert.

We’re sliding into your podcast feed with our season 8 premiere: a conversation with Courtney Ellison, dietitian for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Here's what we're cooking up for season 8.

This week, we’re getting the dish on some of Florida’s best places to eat, according to Yelp—you know, the website and app where real people leave reviews of local businesses. You’ll find everything from dry cleaners and locksmiths to hair salons and gyms. And of course, restaurants.

Yelp recently released its list of the Top 100 Florida Restaurants 2023, as determined by users’ rankings and reviews. Not only does the list provide suggestions of eateries to add to your summer bucket list, but it reveals something about what’s trending in Florida’s food scene, says Andi Perez. Based in Orlando, she oversees Yelp’s community managers in the Southeastern U.S., including Florida.

Dalia recently chatted with Andi about what’s trending in Florida’s food scene, the ingredients of a good restaurant review and her favorite eateries that haven’t made the list… yet. In our conversation, Andi also spills the name of the food-and-drink spot she loves so much that she chose it as the venue for her wedding.

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How to Be a Food Influencer
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As the weather heats up, it’s the perfect time for tapas. Spanish-style small plates are unfussy, sharable and can be served hot or cold.

Dalia recently visited Ceviche Tapas Bar & Restaurant in St. Petersburg to chat with co-owner Lee Karlins and sommelier/beverage director Jackie Eash. In this conversation, Lee and Jackie describe how tapas are traditionally served in Spain, explain how tapas encourage conversation and suggest accompanying drinks. Throughout the interview, they also throw out lots of tapas ideas to try at home, including kid-friendly, plant-based and more.

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Today we’re getting a crash course in Florida’s cottage food industry from two people who’ve learned the ins and outs. Sharlay Smith is the owner and founder of the Lentil House. It’s a Jacksonville-based snack food company that she started after taking a class about cottage food businesses offered by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) in 2017. And Amarat "Amy" Simonne, PhD, is a professor and food safety specialist with UF/IFAS. In this conversation, you’ll hear the Lentil House story and learn next steps toward your own cottage food goals.

For information on cottage food courses, contact your local UF/IFAS extension office.

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Today, we get tips on cooking for a crowd from Edward Steinhoff. As executive chef at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Chef Ed oversees the property’s three restaurants, ensuring that hundreds of hungry theatergoers are fed before the curtain goes up. So he knows a thing or two about feeding the masses.

Whether you’re gearing up for a graduation dinner, Memorial Day cookout or other large gathering, Chef Ed’s advice will help you spend less time on food prep and cleanup, and more time enjoying your guests.

In this conversation, get tips for feeding folks with various diets on a budget, getting your guests to help you clean up without even realizing it and knowing when to hire help.

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Today, we’re exploring vegetables native to China with Roland Yee. Roland is the third-generation co-owner of Yee Farms, which his grandparents started after they immigrated to New York City and eventually made their way down to Florida.

Today Yee Farms sits on 1,000 acres in Boynton Beach. The family supplies bok choy, Chinese broccoli, winter melon and other veggies to Florida’s Asian and mainstream markets, restaurants, cruise lines and theme parks.

In this conversation, Roland tells the story of Yee Farms and explains how the challenges of farming have changed over the years. Then Roland and Dalia brainstorm ways to enjoy all those fresh veggies.

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“We Got Engaged up at the Milking Parlor”: Modern Dairy Farmers Sutton & Kris Rucks
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Toto, we’re not in Florida anymore. But we are talking about oranges—in the Sunshine State and across the Atlantic—with our guest Jamie Schler. Jamie grew up in Satellite Beach, on Florida’s Space Coast. After college, she moved to New York City before settling in France, where she and her husband own a small hotel.

Jamie balances hotel ownership with being a food writer and cookbook author. During the COVID 19 pandemic, she published the e-cookbook Isolation Baking. She’s also the author of Orange Appeal, a cookbook full of sweet and savory recipes showcasing the fruit that put her native Florida on the map.

Jamie chatted with Dalia from the hotel she owns, where she also lives. In our conversation, she shares her favorite ways to cook and bake with oranges, the differences between ingredients in the U.S. and France, and how the fantasy of running a French boutique hotel compares to the reality.

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In July 2019, Dave Matthews Band was coming to Tampa to perform a concert. Word got out that the band was searching for locally grown food to eat, as they do for every show. (They call it farm-to-stage.)

Nichole Dube worked a corporate job at the time, but she had recently attended a community gardening conference, so she set out to source the band’s food herself. She pulled it off.

That’s how the idea for Dube’s Mobile Market was born.

In this conversation, Nichole shares how a 2019 Dave Matthews Band concert led to her family’s business. She also explains the importance of eating locally, and she offers advice for encouraging kids to eat their veggies.

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Today we’re salivating over Mexican food and culture with Claudia Johnson. The Mexico City native is general manager of Grand Hacienda, a Mexican restaurant with a handful of Tampa Bay locations. Her latest project is Seaglass Tavern, which features elevated comfort food in Tampa’s Citrus Park neighborhood.

Dalia recently met up with Claudia inside Grand Hacienda’s 4th Street location in St. Petersburg. In our conversation, Claudia discusses the complexity of Mexican cuisine, including regional differences and the strong French influence—something I’d never really considered. She also shares how her business background influences her restaurants, and she explains how the minor Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo became such a big deal in the United States.

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Meet dairy farmers Sutton and Kris Rucks of Milking R Farm in Okeechobee. They discuss how the industry has evolved over the years, the challenges of being dairy farmers in a world full of milk alternatives, and how they got engaged in a milking parlor.

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This week, Emmanuel Washington Jr. answers our burning questions about life as a firehouse chef. Better known as Chef Manny FD (for fire department), the Miami native works for the Orlando Fire Department. In addition to being district chief, he’s also the resident chef at station 8, near Orlando International Airport. He’s demonstrated his culinary skills on cooking competition shows including Cutthroat Kitchen, MasterChef and Food Network Star.

In this conversation, Manny shares how being a firefighter has made him a better chef, the advice Alton Brown gave him that helps him cook faster and the right way to put out a kitchen fire.

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Get the buzz on beekeeping from St. Petersburg resident Derek Lewis. The South African native and third-generation beekeeper is active in the Pinellas Beekeepers Association. Derek explains the importance of bees as the world’s population increases, offers advice for new beekeepers and suggests ways to make any lawn more bee-friendly.

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In this conversation, Natasha Samreny shares stories from her multicultural upbringing; describes her favorite Ecuadorian, Italian and Lebanese foods; and offers advice for parents of budding comedians.

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We hope you’re thirsty, because this week’s guest is Julia Melucci of Monin. The global company creates flavorings for cocktails, mocktails, coffee drinks, milkshakes and more. Julia’s official title is beverage innovation manager. But she describes herself as an Oompa-Loompa in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

“I work in a sugar factory, and I play with sugar all day long,” says Julia, who works at Monin’s U.S. headquarters in Clearwater.

In this conversation, Julia explains how she combines data with her hospitality industry experience to determine which flavor will be the next big thing. (Monin’s flavor of the year for 2023 is hot honey.) She also discusses her participation in the elite bartending group Chilled 100, offers advice for bartenders and shares tips for creating your own signature drink.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, while the rest of us were experimenting with sourdough starter, the Bryon brothers were eating like kings.

With restaurants shuttered, Nic Bryon had been laid off from his job as sous chef of Tampa’s Oak & Ola. But the Johnson & Wales grad put his culinary skills to work at home, where he quarantined with his brother Greg and Greg’s young family.

The food, wine and music flowed. But the money didn’t. So in April 2020, the brothers combined Nic’s cooking expertise with Greg’s business acumen to start Pasta Packs.

Today Pasta Packs has a brick-and-mortar pickup location in South Tampa. In addition to selling ready-to-cook pastas and sauces, Pasta Packs offers classes, catering and in-home three-course dinners. Nic also teaches a free cooking class for kids called The Sauce, through University Area Community Development Corporation in Tampa.

Greg and Nic recently chatted with me about the challenges they faced along the way, tips for making better pasta at home and the reaction they receive as two Black men cooking Italian food.

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You could call it the feel-good food truck. The St. Petersburg-based PB & Jelly Deli serves up sophisticated-yet-playful nut butter sandwiches that evoke memories of childhood. Better still, for every sandwich sold, PB & Jelly Deli donates a meal back into the Tampa Bay community.

The nonprofit food truck is operated by volunteers from Radius Church in St. Petersburg, which started the enterprise in 2017 as a community outreach.

Dalia recently chatted with co-founder Amanda Clark about the food truck’s origins, some of the more unusual menu items and how to make better sandwiches at home.

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Here at The Zest, we love to explore the foodways of Floridians past and present—including the people who weren’t treated like people.

This week we learn about the food customs of enslaved workers who labored on Florida’s plantations, growing cotton, tobacco, sugar and other cash crops. Many of their culinary traditions are alive and well today, although they rarely get credit.

“It is a marker of our cultural identity,” says Martha Bireda, PhD, director of the Blanchard House Museum of African American History and Culture in Punta Gorda. (The museum suffered damage from Hurricane Ian and was closed at the time of our recording. Check the museum’s website for updates.)

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Moldy raspberries. Mushy avocados. That slimy bag of kale.

When it comes to buying produce, too often our eyes are bigger than our stomach. Keeping fruits, veggies and herbs fresh starts with making a shopping list and being realistic about how much we’ll actually eat, says Tie Liu, PhD.

Dr. Liu teaches in the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, and he’s passionate about reducing food waste. In this conversation, he addresses common conundrums like where to store tomatoes, how to stop bananas from browning so quickly and a better way to shop for herbs.

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Composting 101 with Miami Compost Project

Whether you’re an aspiring food influencer or you just want to order with more savvy at restaurants, Charlie Crespo has some advice. The Miami-based food and drink writer’s work has appeared in publications including Pipette Magazine, Infatuation Miami, INDULGE Miami, Venice Magazine and more.

In this conversation, Charlie offers practical advice for up-and-coming food writers. He also reveals his new favorite burger, croissant and under-the-radar restaurants in South Florida. Then he predicts some food and drink trends to look out for in this new year.

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Dietician and nutritionist Wendy Wesley of St. Petersburg offers practical advice to get you cooking and eating more at home—which can benefit both your wallet and your waistline.

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Today we bring you a conversation with Chef Albert Youngman, culinary director for Disney's EPCOT Theme Park. He shares how his team creates globally inspired menus for EPCOT's restaurants, World Showcase of 11 countries and four annual festivals. Chef Albert also explains how cooking for a crowd has changed over his nearly two decades at Disney, and he offers advice for eating your way around the world at EPCOT.

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Here's a taste of what we're cooking up for the new year. Season 7 premieres on Jan. 5, and new episodes are released every Thursday.

The holidays mean food—and food waste. Today on our season 6 finale, we’ll meet a mother-and-son duo who are doing something about it while helping those in need.

We’re about to meet a mother and son who are reducing food waste and tackling food insecurity in Northern Pinellas County. Ellen and Cameron Macleish [ma-KLEESH] are the cofounders of 360 Eats. The nonprofit turns surplus food into meals for the hungry and compost for gardeners. Cameron is the executive director, while Ellen is the executive chef.

Dalia met up with them at Kitchen 24, a commercial kitchen in Oldsmar where they store and prepare the food. In our conversation, Cameron and Ellen explain why food waste happens, what they’re doing about it and how you can reduce food waste in your own kitchen.

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What’s the Buzz About Florida Honeybees?
Conscious Cuisine: How to Choose Sustainable Seafood

Stephanie Love’s philosophy on wine is simple: “Wine is for everybody.”

Through her company, Epicurious One, the St. Petersburg resident offers wine education trips and other experiences. Participants praise her down-to-earth approach, including Stephanie’s wine-and-comfort-food pairings and her descriptions of wine as people with different personalities.

In this conversation, Stephanie shares the importance of supporting minority-owned vineyards, suggests wine to enjoy with chicken wings and offers advice for finding an affordable wine you’ll like.

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For Deborah Keller of Tallahassee, the world is her oyster. After a 29-year career with The Nature Conservancy, Deborah turned her attention to sustainable shellfish. Nicknamed the OysterMom, she has been farming and selling fresh oysters for nearly a decade.

In this interview, the conservationist describes the impact of climate change and hurricanes on oystering. She also explains the far-reaching economic impact of Florida’s oyster industry, recounts the bureaucratic red tape she encountered along the way and describes the serenity and stress she experiences on oyster harvesting day.

And of course, we had to ask Deborah about her favorite way to eat oysters.

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Chef Tenney Flynn’s Love Affair with The Deep End of Flavor

We always love digging into food history, so we’re excited to welcome back friend of the pod Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie. He’s an author and professor of history and foodways at Babson College outside of Boston. Among the courses he teaches is African History and Foodways. We always learn something from Dr. Opie, and he has the best stories.

In this conversation, he explains the African roots of Southern staples like watermelon, beans and rice, and Coca-Cola. He also details how enslaved Africans brought their farming techniques and cooking methods to America, and how Reconstruction-era politics led to racist food stereotypes that persist today.

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Zora Neale Hurston’s Foodie Life
Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in ‘Jubilee’
Two USF Professors Offer a Crash Course in American Food History

He’s a little bit foodie, and a little bit rock ‘n roll. This week, we’re catching up with musician-turned-MasterChef contestant Derrick Fox.

The Fort Myers native graduated from Estero High School and went on to enjoy a career as a drummer with the Naples-based rock band Later Days. After years of touring, Derrick recently put away his drumsticks in favor of his other passion: cooking. He now works as a private chef, splitting his time between Dallas, Fort Myers and Los Angeles—where he competed twice on reality cooking competition show MasterChef. In season 6, he was a runner-up. And in season 12, he tied for seventh place. While Derrick didn’t bring home the trophy, he parlayed his stint on the show into a podcast called A Bunch of Losers with Derrick Fox.

On his podcast, Derrick interviews also-rans from reality TV competitions while they all drink from mugs with a FOX emoji. At the end of each episode, he puts guests through a blind taste test—because whether he’s making music, competing on a reality show or dreaming up new creations for his dessert brand, Epic Mega Cookie Company, Derrick is a foodie at heart.

Dalia recently chatted with Derrick Fox, a.k.a., Derrick Peltz, about how his music career prepared him to be a chef, and what home cooks can learn from the MasterChef kitchen.

This week, we’re exploring the benefits of hyperlocal agriculture with Zach Correa, founder and CEO of lemonGRAFT. The Tampa-based tech platform allows neighbors to buy and sell home-grown foods.

Zach’s idea has been getting a lot of attention lately. Last year, Zach scored a fellowship with NPR’s How I Built This podcast. And you may have heard him back in July on WUSF’s Florida Matters. In our conversation, Zach explains how lemonGRAFT works and how buying local—as in, your neighbor down the street local—can lead to a more sustainable and equitable food system.

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It’s Always Sunny at St. Petersburg’s Brick Street Farms
Conscious Cuisine: Edible Gardening Tips from Albert Risemberg
Conscious Cuisine: Rocky Soil Family Farm on How to Reconnect with Your Food
Conscious Cuisine: Rob Greenfield on How to Live without Grocery Stores and Restaurants

Explore how Central Florida became a hotbed of Latino food businesses—and the cultural mashups that followed.

Learn how marketing tactics by housing developers led to an influx of Puerto Ricans to Orlando in the 1970s and '80s. What followed was a proliferation of restaurants, supermarkets and small food businesses targeting Latinos in Central Florida. Our guest is Dr. Simone Delerme, author of Latino Orlando: Suburban Transformation and Racial Conflict.

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Halal Food 101 with Florida’s Halal Food Guru

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.

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Conscious Cuisine: Chef Justin Timineri of Fresh From Florida Offers Ideas for Eating What’s in Season

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.

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Talking Seoul Food with Miami’s 2 Korean Girls
Halal Food 101 with Florida’s Halal Food Guru
Chef Alain Lemaire on Florida’s Haitian Cuisine
Lamb, Baklava & Family: Going Greek in Tarpon Springs
Chef Joe Isidori Wants You to Explore Florida’s Ethnic Food Markets

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 feature: Harvest Hope Community Garden.

Sarah Combs is executive director/CEO of the University Area Community Development Corporation, which oversees the garden. Derek Laracuente and Harvest Hope Community Garden volunteer.

Dalia recently visited with them to learn how to garden got up and running, challenges along the way and advice for anyone looking to start and sustain a community garden.

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.

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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.

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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.

This year’s event takes place Sept. 10 and 11 at the Largo Event Center. I visited Michele at her home in Tampa’s Northdale neighborhood to discuss her favorite ways to spice up a meal. She also also offered advice for introducing spicy foods to kids and for cooling down your mouth if things get a bit too intense. Speaking of intense, stick around for the taste test at the end of the episode. Thanks to Michele’s husband, Atlas Cortecero, for assisting with that.

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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 fancy-schmancy meals can teach us today. In this conversation, you'll hear from Lindsay Huban, Susan Carter and Melissa Sullebarger of the Henry B. Plant Museum.

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James Weldon Johnson’s Foodie Life
Grits, Gravy and Pie: Florida Cracker Cooking

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 recently visited Kristen at her home in Lithia, where she shared her favorites, from breakfast to burgers to what she called - quote - "the best Cuban sandwich of my life."

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Singing Praises for Neighborhood Stores
The Cuban Sandwich—Our National Treasure
Rum Punch Rhyme: Your Recipe for ‘Happiness and Good Vibes in a Glass’

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 cream and cheese biscuits. So put down that bread basket. Here are Dennis’s tips and tricks for a low-carbohydrate lifestyle.

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How to Snack Smarter
How to Be a Food Influencer
Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies

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 mark the cookbook’s 80th anniversary, food journalist Jeff Houck wrote about Cross Creek Cookery for the summer 2022 issue of Edible Tampa Bay. He recently visited our Tampa studio to offer his reflections.

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James Weldon Johnson’s Foodie Life
Grits, Gravy and Pie: Florida Cracker Cooking
Singing Praises for Neighborhood Stores

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 hit 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 outside of the soup can.

Friend of the pod Janet Keeler is the former longtime food editor for the Tampa Bay Times and current current freelance editor for the personal finance website The Penny Hoarder. So she knows a thing or two about prepping your hurricane food kit on a budget. Here’s the cheat sheet:

Take this seriously.
Assess your household’s needs.
Start now.
Do some reconnaissance.
Ban together.
Buy what you’ll actually eat.
Lower the bar.
Prepare for a power outage.
Think like a camper.
Grill what you've got.
Figure out where you’ll get your protein.
Beware of salty-sweet snacks.
Buy more water than you think you’ll need.
Shop the aisles.
Buy some last-minute produce.
Respect the power of comfort foods.
Remember non-food items.
Preserve hand-written recipes.
Prep for the worst.
Hope for the best.

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Cocktails for Hurricane Season
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Chef Judy Gallagher on the Lost Art of Hand-Written Recipes
Summertime Grilling Tips for Your Best Barbecue Season Yet
No Recipe? No Problem: How to Cook Using Your Intuition

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 money on groceries.

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Tips for Grocery Service Delivery Success
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Conscious Cuisine: Rob Greenfield on How to Live without Grocery Stores and Restaurants

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 subscription. So Terra knows just what to drink with a good beach read.

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Mermosa Founder Desiree Noisette Makes Wine – and History
Journalist Judith Smelser on Zoom Wine Tastings, Disney Sommeliers and How to Find Your Next Favorite Bottle of Wine
Conscious Cuisine: Husband-and-Wife Master Sommeliers Andrew McNamara and Emily Pickral on How Climate Change Affects Wine

Listen right here or at TheZestPodcast.com.

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 Travel. She specializes in family travel, having been on countless trips with her husband, Robert, and daughters Maggie and Molly, who are 13 and 11. But her advice applies to anyone. Wherever your summer travels take you, Carrie’s tips will help you eat better while saving time, money and stress.

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How to Snack Smarter
Disney Dining Tips
Alfresco Dining Tips from “Outdoorsy Diva” Lauren Gay
Lunchbox Mafia: How to Make a Lunch They Can’t Refuse

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 explains how punch made its way from India to the rest of the world. You’ll also learn tips for incorporating fresh Florida produce into your punch, how to keep beverages cold without them getting watered down—and the secret to a better nonalcoholic punch.

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T-Pain and Maxwell Britten Want to Mix You a Drink
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Rum Punch Rhyme: Your Recipe for ‘Happiness and Good Vibes in a Glass’

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" aircraft mechanic to self-sustaining gardener, composter, beekeeper and yoga instructor. He also offers tips for planting your own edible garden and advice for going green later in life.

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Florida Fruit & Vegetable Gardening 101
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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.

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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, highlighting the area’s multicultural influences.

“At the conclusion of the tour, the guests would often ask, “Where can we go to eat?” Lori recalls.

So in 2011, she launched Taste History Culinary Tours to showcase the lesser-known culinary histories of Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach and Lantana. To date, more than 10,000 people have embarked on her off-the-beaten-path excursions. Today, Lori offers an abbreviated version of the Taste History bus tour.

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How Florida Became “the Birthplace of Fusion Cuisine”
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Chef Allen Susser Brings Good Mango Mojo
How “Food Led the Way” for Cuban Influence in Tampa

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.

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How Florida Became "the Birthplace of Fusion Cuisine"
Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in ‘Jubilee’
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Celebrating Grande Dame Chef Edna Lewis
How “Food Led the Way” for Cuban Influence in Tampa
Chef Judi Gallagher on the Lost Art of Hand-Written Recipes
Writer Heather McPherson on What You Don’t Know About Florida Food

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.

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Meet Your New Favorite Holiday: Florida Craft Beer Day
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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 resistance, the ritual of drinking potlikker and much more.

Ms. Carter is a cultural preservationist and co-founder of Tall Grass Food Box. It’s a community-supported agriculture model that sources produce from Black farmers in her home state of North Carolina. She also hosts community meals on her family’s homestead in Apex, N.C. You may have seen in the Netflix docuseries High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.

Dr. Butler is founder and executive director of The Well for Life, a St. Petersburg space dedicated to mental wellness and self-care. She’s also a therapist and licensed mental health counselor.

The event was recorded on the evening of Feb. 18, 2022, in the garden of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg, before a diverse audience. The evening began with a screening of The Seeds We Keep, Carter’s short film about seed preservation and African-American land ownership.

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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 the 2006 Food Network Challenge Great American Seafood Cook-off. He also issues a challenge to help home cooks meal-plan like a chef.

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4 Rivers Smokehouse regional manager Nick West recounts the touching origin story, shares the latest barbecue trends and offers tips for your next cookout.

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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 female winemaker. In this conversation, Desiree shares how she went from a law career to creating a line of beverages inspired by her ancestors. She also discusses the challenges of being a young woman of color in the wine industry.

Food friends in Tampa Bay, there are still a few tickets left for WUSF Public Media's outdoor dining event, The Longest Table. The event takes place on Thursday, April 7, along the downtown St. Pete waterfront.

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Seafood is big business in Florida, with an annual economic impact of more than $400 million. That’s according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. So how do we make sure all this valuable seafood is sustainable? What are the best and worst fish to choose? The short answer is: It’s complicated. Here to offer guidance is Angela Collins. She’s a Florida Sea Grant Agent with the University of Florida IFAS Extension.

It’s spring break season—the perfect time to slow down and teach the kids in our life a thing or two in the kitchen. But first, Wendy Wesley is here to teach us adults a thing or two about cooking with kids. Wendy is a registered and licensed dietician and nutritionist based in St. Petersburg. In addition, Wendy is a mom, and she teaches classes for home cooks of all ages.

Foodie friends in Tampa Bay, get your tickets for WUSF's outdoor dining event, the Longest Table. It's the evening of Thursday, April 7 in downtown St. Petersburg.

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Plant City, in Hillsborough County, has bragging rights as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. Its farms produce millions of berries each year. In fact, Hillsborough County, where Plant City is located, produces about 15 percent of the nation’s strawberries and nearly all of its winter strawberries, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. But this wasn’t always the case. Today, we’ll learn how a single event more than 100 years ago changed everything. I recently chatted with Jennifer Morgan. She’s a public relations and media representative for the Florida Strawberry Festival, which takes place March 3 to 13 in Plant City. Jennifer explains how strawberries—and the festival—became such big business.

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You could call Chris and Kiona Wagner trendsetters. In 2019, before the COVID pandemic forced all of us to reevaluate our priorities, the couple decided to make a big change. They moved from bustling South Florida to the sleepy town of Monticello, just outside of Tallahassee. That’s where the Wagners run Rocky Soil Family Farm.

They sell their fruits, vegetables, herbs and eggs at local farmers markets. They’re also adding spaces for a bakery and farm-to-table dinners. Maybe you’ve been dreaming about quitting your 9-to-5 and living off the land, as the Wagners did. But trading traffic for tractors isn’t always easy. During their transition to rural life, the Wagners welcomed twin daughters who—while adorable—take up quite a bit of their time and energy. They also have a teenage son.

During the twins’ nap time, Chris and Kiona made time to chat with The Zest. In this conversation, the Wagners get transparent about how the fantasy of farm life lives up to the reality—and why, for them, it’s ultimately worth it. They also how we can all reconnect with our food without going off the grid. Chris starts by explaining how Rocky Soil Family Farm got its name.

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Winter is prime growing season in Florida. And each February, thousands of folks from across descend upon the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum to celebrate one crop in particular: collard greens. This year’s Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival is set for Saturday, Feb. 19 at the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg. There’ll be plant giveaways, nutrition seminars, a collard green cook-off and more. But the significance of the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival goes far beyond the leafy vegetables. The event attracts around 3,000 people of all ages and races to the historically Black neighborhood of South St. Petersburg, making it a celebration of diversity. Heading into the festival’s fifth year, Dalia chatted with festival cofounders Boyzell Hosey and Samantha Harris. Boyzell starts by explaining how the event came to be. Listen to the end to learn who this year’s headliner will be.

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Real talk—today’s episode won’t make you hungry. But it will make you think—about where your food comes from, and where it goes after you’ve eaten your fill. The eggshells, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable scraps… to us, it’s trash. But with the help of Mother Nature, you can turn your trash into compost treasure. You’ll reduce waste and have rich soil to grow your own food. Quinn Metoyer is the founder of Miami Compost Project. The organization teaches people how to grow their own food and waste less. In my conversation with Quinn, you’ll learn the benefits of composting, how to get started no matter where you live, and mistakes to avoid.

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If you’re gonna do an episode about Valentine's Day chocolates in Florida , then there’s just one man for the job—and not because his last name happens to be Love. Norman Love is the founder of Norman Love Confections, a Fort Myers-based candy company that specializes in chocolates that look as good as they taste. I chatted with Norman about how to choose chocolates for that special someone, somebody you barely know at all or just to treat yo’self. Norman also discussed how he got into the dessert biz and the challenges of running a chocolate company in hot, humid Florida.

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If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then that makes First Watch one of the most important restaurant chains in Florida. The Bradenton-based company has more than 430 restaurants in 28 states, and they’re all open for breakfast and lunch only. Eleni Kouvatsos is director of communications for First Watch Restaurant Group. She’s here with advice for how we can step up our at-home breakfast game. And Dalia had to ask Eleni why First Watch doesn’t serve dinner.

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For many of us, eating sustainably means remembering to bring our reusable bags to the grocery store. But Rob Greenfield wanted to go further. Much further. The sustainability, equity and justice activist has garnered a huge social media following with self-imposed challenges to raise awareness. Awhile back, he simplified his life down to just 44 possessions. Then there’s the time he rode his bike across the U.S. while bathing only in natural water sources like lakes and rivers.

In 2019, Rob embarked on what might be considered his most extreme feat yet: an entire year of growing and foraging all of his food in Orlando. No grocery stores, no restaurants, no takeout, no dinners cooked by friends. He says his weight didn’t change, and he stayed in good health.

Dalia caught up with Rob in Gulfport, just south of St. Petersburg, where he was staying with a friend. We chatted in the backyard over glasses of homemade kombucha. In this conversation, Rob shares how the yearlong experiment impacted his social life, the kitchen appliance he swears by and advice for how we can all eat a bit more sustainably. Dalia started by asking Rob why he decided to give up grocery stores and restaurants for an entire year.

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New episodes drop on Thursdays, right here in your podcast feed. You can find previous episodes, recipes and more at TheZestPodcast.com.

Wintertime is when many Florida fruits and vegetables are at their peak. So we think it’s the perfect time to catch up with Gail Eggeman. She’s co-founder and manager of the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market, where each week thousands of visitors shop for produce, craft items and a lot more. Gail chats about the market's early days, her food heroes and why bargain hunters like myself should stop haggling at farmers markets.

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Florida is home to more Puerto Ricans than any other state. This week, we’re exploring how many of Florida's Puerto Rican communities celebrate the winter holidays. From pig roasts to all-night parties to Puerto Rico's answer to eggnog, you'll want to incorporate these traditions into your next holiday gathering, if you don’t already.

Our guide is Yanira “Yaya” Cardona of Jacksonville. She owns Yaya Productions, a company that produces and markets events for Jacksonville’s Hispanic community. She's also the new morning show host the Jacksonville reggaeton radio station Flow 105.3 FM. You heard it here first!

When most people think of Florida, their mind conjures up images of beaches or Disney World—maybe alligators or the latest Florida Man headline. But there was a time when Florida was synonymous with one thing: citrus. Florida was the country’s leading citrus producer, outranking even California.

So, what happened? Yes, citrus greening is partly to blame. But that’s not the whole story.

For answers, today we’ll be hearing from The Zest’s web and social media guru, Chandler Balkcom. He’s a second-year grad student studying history at the University of South Florida. He’s also a former student of Dr. Gary Mormino, who is an author, historian and Professor Emeritus in the USF Florida Studies program.

Chandler asked Dr. Mormino to walk us through some of the key moments for Florida citrus, including its origins, how World War 2 led to the development of orange juice concentrate and Dr. Mormino’s predictions for the future of Florida’s citrus industry.

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These days, it’s widely recognized that the real first Thanksgiving took place in St. Augustine in 1565—a full 56 years before the Plymouth, Massachusetts, event that you probably learned about in school.

That first Thanksgiving banquet in Florida consisted of foods like venison, bean stew and hard biscuits. And while corn and pumpkin had their place on the table, they hardly resembled the cornbread stuffing and pumpkin pie we feast on today.

To learn how early Floridians used these and other dietary staples, I reached out to friend of the pod Andrew Batten. He's a board member for Florida Living History, a St. Augustine-based educational nonprofit. Andrew has a particular interest in Florida’s culinary history.

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Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co.
Chef Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef

Mamey, which opened in August 2020, is an island-inspired eatery, with menu items like Jamaican short rib empanadas, Key West pink shrimp taquitos and key lime cheesecake flan. Orno, which opened in October 2021, focuses on New American cuisine; think wood-roasted summer squash, grass-fed ribeye and Alaskan halibut.

The seemingly disparate menus have something in common. Both feature ingredients from Niven’s two-acre Homestead farm, Rancho Patel.

In this conversation, Niven and his business partner Mohamed Alkassar chat with Dalia about which vegetables are worth growing yourself and which are better to buy, how to create a restaurant that appeals to both locals and tourists, and why okra is underrated. The guys also lament a precious menu item that's gone missing, and Dalia speculates that their clam dealer may be up to no good.

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Here’s all you need to know about today’s show: On our website, one of the recipes that goes with this episode is titled Instant Ramen Upgrade Tips. Yep, today we’re exploring what it’s like to cook for yourself during college, or whenever you’re living on your own for the first time. Our talented and sweet intern, Lily Theisen, recently sat down with her fellow University of South Florida students Brilan Christopher and Kessid Vonderhaar to discuss the trials and tribulations, tips and tricks of feeding yourself when you leave the nest. Share this episode with the young adult in your life, or just enjoy being a fly on the wall and reminiscing about what you ate when you first struck out on your own.

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Let’s start with a classic: The Cuban sandwich. A soon-to-be-released book will explore its history and popularity around the world. University of South Florida Professor Barbara Cruz is one of the book’s co-authors. She was born in Cuba. And she says the sandwich has always been part of her life.

Besides the Cuban sandwich, what other foods did Tampa’s early Cuban residents bring with them? For answers, we turn to Andy Huse. He’s a librarian and archivist at the University of South Florida and an expert on Tampa food history.

Huse, Cruz and food writer Jeff Houck are co-authors of the upcoming book The Cuban Sandwich: A History in Layers.

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Singing Praises for Neighborhood Stores (featuring the hilarious Jeff Houck)
The Cuban Sandwich: Our National Treasure
Food Memories of Latin America
Café con Leche: Tampa History in a Cup

Grammy winner and Tallahassee native T-Pain is known for his collaborations, like All I Do Is Win with DJ Khaled, Good Life with Kanye West and Low with his fellow Floridian Flo Rida.

But T-Pain’s latest collab takes him out of the music studio and into the kitchen. It’s a book of cocktail recipes called… wait for it... Can I Mix You a Drink? 50 Cocktails from My Life and Career. T-Pain’s co-author is New York City mixologist Maxwell Britten. The James Beard Award winner chatted with Dalia about working with T-Pain and how we all can bring a little star power to the cocktails we mix at home.

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Can I Mix You a Drink?

In season 3 of The Zest, we spoke with Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie about his book Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food. In this week’s episode, Dr. Opie is back to shed light on the role food played in the life of another Harlem Renaissance-era Floridian, James Weldon Johnson. The Jacksonville native lived from 1871 to 1938.

Dr. Opie is an author and professor at Babson College outside of Boston. He explains how Jim Crow laws affected what Johnson ate, and how Johnson's eating habits were influenced by his time as a diplomat in Central America.

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How Florida Became “the Birthplace of Fusion Cuisine”
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Alain Lamaire is executive chef and co-owner of Sensory Delights Catering in Pembroke Pines. You may also recognize him from Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped. In this conversation, he discusses foods that reminds him of home, why Haitians eat pumpkin soup on New Year's Day and how to be a better ally to Florida's Haitian community.

Related episodes:

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How Florida Become “the Birthplace of Fusion Cuisine”
Chef Joe Isidori Wants You to Explore Florida’s Ethnic Food Markets
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Halal Food 101 with Florida’s Halal Food Guru

Most of the colorful lunches on Jenny’s Lunchboxmafia Instagram account are for her 12-year-old daughter, Jazzy. For a long time, Jenny traveled for work and wasn’t at home to prepare Jazzy’s lunch. So three years ago when Jenny changed jobs, she started making up for lost time by lovingly preparing lunches for herself, her husband and Jazzy. In this episode, Jenny shares tips for packing a better lunch, whether it’s for a family member or you’re investing in your own self-care. This episode is full of the inspiration we all could use right now.

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How to Snack Smarter
How to Photograph Food Like a Pro
14 Tips for Cooking Faster at Home

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, today we’re celebrating Florida’s Latin-American food cultures. We’re sharing an excerpt from a conversation titled Food Memories of Latin America. This Zoom discussion was part of Conversations in the Neighborhood: Let’s Talk about Food, a discussion series presented by Florida Humanities, the University of Florida’s Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, and the City of Gainesville. We’ll hear from educators, activists and home cooks about how their Latin American heritage influences the way they eat. We’ve edited the conversation for length and clarity.

The discussion was moderated by Margarita Vargas-Betancourt, the Latin American and Caribbean Special Collections Librarian at the George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida.

Panelists include:

Wanda Depaz-Ibanez, Puerto Rico native and retired co-owner of Emiliano's Bakery and Emiliano's Restaurant.
Linsey Derival, a Haitian-born Afro-Latina who spent her childhood in the Dominican Republic and adolescence in the United States.
Mariana Rodrigues, an activist who particpated in feminist and LGBTQ movements in Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, and Brazil.
Cecilia "CC" Suarez, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication (AEC) focusing on intercultural communication and global leadership.
Marisella Veiga, a Cuban-born writer, lecturer and home cook

Related episodes:

Taco Bus Founder Rene Valenzuela on Cinco de Mayo, His Life-Changing Accident & What’s Next
Miami Herald’s Carlos Frías on Cuban Coffee, Edible Iguanas & Winning the James Beard Award
Michelle Bernstein’s Jewish-Latin ‘Mishmosh’ of a Life

If you’re a longtime Florida foodie, then you can probably rattle off the names of some James Beard Award winners from the Sunshine State. The James Beard Awards started in 1990, to recognize the country’s best restaurants, chefs, food writers and others in the culinary world. A sprinkling of Floridians have been honored recently. But in the big categories like Best New Restaurant and Outstanding Chef, it’s been crickets. At least one food writer says that’s no coincidence.

Eric Barton is a Miami-based freelance journalist who writes about food for Flamingo, a Florida lifestyle magazine. He’s also a former James Beard Awards judge. In a Flamingo article, Eric cites a few reasons for the supposed snubs.

Eric is here to break down how the judging works, why winning this award is so important for restaurants in the first place and what can be done to make the contest more fair. He’ll also offer his picks for the best Florida restaurants that he says deserve a second look.

When you’re in Miami, it’s easy to find a Cuban sandwich… and wash it down with a cup of Cuban coffee. But Jennifer and Michele Kaminski were craving something different— more along the lines of the Korean food they grew up eating. So the sisters started a ghost kitchen. That’s a restaurant that’s available only for delivery and takeout. They called in 2 Korean Girls, and it’s generating big buzz in South Florida. I recently spoke with Jennifer and Michele about the foods that remind them of childhood and the role 2 Korean Girls plays in the movement to stop Asian hate.

Related episodes:

Chef Allen Susser Brings Good Mango Mojo
Chef Joe Isidori Wants You to Explore Florida’s Ethnic Food Markets

Over his career, Greg Baker worked his way up from teenage dishwasher to a six-time James Beard Award nominated chef. Greg is perhaps best known as the chef behind The Refinery, a popular farm-to-table restaurant in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood that he owned from 2010 to 2019 with his wife, Michelle Baker. He loves how a plate of food can make someone happy.

But for Greg and countless others in the restaurant industry, the work often has the opposite effect. Greg says it’s no coincidence that his industry is a breeding ground for serious issues, like mental health struggles, substance abuse and even suicide. In our conversation, Greg opens up about his own struggles and suggests ways to make things a little better, whether you’re a restaurant worker or customer.

If you enjoyed this conversation with Greg, then you may also enjoy these episodes:

Taco Bus Founder Rene Valenzuela on Cinco de Mayo, His Life-Changing Accident & What’s Next
Beer Kulture Raises the Bar for Diversity in Craft Beverage Industry
Chef Judi Gallagher on the Lost Art of Hand-Written Recipes

Dalia chats with Stephanie Bailes, president and executive director of Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville. The museum is named for the late Dr. James Robert Cade, a nephrologist (a.k.a. kidney doctor) at the University of Florida and the lead inventor of Gatorade.

Dr. Cade and his team developed Gatorade in 1965 as a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage designed to keep Gator football players hydrated in the Florida heat. Today, Gatorade is a multibillion-dollar division of PepsiCo whose impact extends far beyond the world of sports. ESPN even documented Gatorade’s history in its 30 for 30 series.

Related episodes:

Nutrition Tips for Young Athletes: And the Rest of Us
Super Bowl Chef to Showcase Florida Flavors
Take Me In to the Ballgame: How to Make Stadium-Quality Hot Dogs at Home

With COVID variants looming large, many of us are back to cooking at home. Some of us never stopped. And while we’re all for supporting local restaurants, ordering takeout everyday isn’t always in the best interest of our wallets—or our waistlines. So friend of the pod Wendy Wesley is here with some guidelines for stress-free cooking. We're talking no-recipes, use-whatever-you-have-on-hand cooking.

Wendy is a registered and licensed dietitian and nutritionist based in St. Petersburg. She believes anyone can cook a great meal, with just a few guiding principles and intuition. And yes, she knows that sounds kinda woo-woo. But whenever Wendy’s on the podcast, she brings such practical advice to help us eat healthier and actually enjoy the process. So we’re in good hands, y’all. Here’s Dalia's conversation with Wendy, which we recorded in the spring.

Related episodes:

14 Tips for Cooking Faster at Home
Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies
How to Snack Smarter
Chef Richard Anderson’s Tips on Fall Comfort Foods

And she always looks fabulous. Her Instagram account, @OutdoorsyDiva, is worth a follow for the outfits alone. We figured someone so glam probably enjoys some pretty amazing meals, even while she’s roughing it. So we recently spoke with Lauren about how she got into adventure blogging and how we can all eat better in the great outdoors.

Related episodes:

Fresh Florida Oysters
The Ultimate Beach House Menu
Summertime Grilling Tips for Your Best Barbecue Season Yet

In Miami’s artsy Wynwood neighborhood, there’s a colorfully painted building that has people lining up around the block. Customers wait patiently for bagels, guava-cheese pastries and other treats. But not on Saturdays. The bake shop known as Zak the Baker is a kosher bakery that closes every week for the Jewish Sabbath. But the owner, 36-year-old Zak Stern, is not as religious as you might think. So why would a self-described “non-religious Jew” open a kosher bakery in the first place? Zak explained during our recent conversation. He also shared why he trimmed his trademark beard and why he has no plans to expand Zak the Baker to other cities.

Hungry for more? Check out these related episodes from our house of carbs:

Is Bread Life? It is at Born and Bread Bakehouse!
Michelle Bernstein’s Jewish-Latin ‘Mishmosh’ of a Life
Sourdough 101

The Zest and Florida Matters podcasts are produced by WUSF Public Media.

You might call it the most magical food blog on earth. Disney Food Blog, along with its accompanying YouTube and social media channels, is the uber-popular destination for Disney food news. Want to know the best Disney World restaurant for vegetarians, or how to get a birthday cake delivered to your room at a Disney hotel? DFB’s got you covered. In fact, the blog offers news, reviews and photos of anything food-related at Disney’s parks, resorts, events, cruise ships and even movies. Dalia recently spoke with Disney Food Blog’s owner and executive editor, AJ Wolfe, for her best Dis ney World dining tips. AJ’s blog has no official affiliation with the Disney company, so she’s not afraid to tell you which dining experiences are beauties and which are beasts.

Related episodes:

Chef Art Smith Talks Politics: “Fried Chicken Takes No Sides”
Season 2 Finale: Disney Dining Tips and an Announcement from Robin
Vegan Food Boom at Florida’s Theme Parks

New episodes drop every Thursday, beginning Aug. 5. Listen in your favorite podcast app or at TheZestPodcast.com.

It’s our season 3 finale, and unlike most of this season’s conversations, today’s episode was not recorded from Dalia’s bedroom closet. We bring you a fascinating look into the role food played in Salvador Dalí’s life and work. We’re sharing a recording of a presentation by Peter Tush, who is curator of education of the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg. Peter gave the talk in April via Zoom as part of the Epicurean Delights series presented by Florida CraftArt.

Peter’s talk covers: eating, how food became symbolic for Dalí, cannibalism, edible architecture, digestion/excretion and the Dalí cookbook/dining. The Dalí cookbook Les dîners de Gala is available for purchase in the Dalí Museum store.

Related episodes:

Zora Neale Hurston’s Foodie Life
A Feast for the Eyes at Café Gala

In 2018, Chef Edouardo Jordan took home two James Beard Awards, including Best New Restaurant for his Seattle eatery JuneBaby. He was the first African-American ever to win in that category. But before Edouardo was history-making chef, the St. Petersburg native was a member of Boca Ciega High School’s class of 1998. He studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando and got his start at Mise en Place Restaurant in Tampa before moving out West.

But Edouardo still has strong ties to Florida, including a virtual appearance at the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival on Saturday, May 15. This year's festival will be a hybrid event of live and online experiences. Eduardo chatted with The Zest’s host, Dalia Colón, from his new hometown of Seattle, Washington.

Related episodes:

Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in ‘Jubilee’
Beer Kulture Raises the Bar for Diversity in Craft Beverage Industry
Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin on Her Cookbook, ‘St. Pete Eats’

As we head into Mother’s Day weekend, our guest is Derek Shaffer. And before you get all “What does a dude know about what moms like?!,” You should know that Derek is a bartender at CW’s Gin Joint in downtown Tampa. He’s seen plenty of moms order drinks, and he’s observed some trends about what they like. In our conversation, Derek shares ideas for treating Mom to a cocktail or mocktail hour that won’t leave her washing dishes on her special day. We also recognize that Mother’s Day can be painful for some people. If that’s your situation, then we hope this episode inspires you to honor someone else special, or just do something nice for yourself.

If you enjoyed this conversation, then we’d recommend these chasers:

Cocktails for Hurricane Season
Bourbon 101 with Nate Wilson
Sipping Sunset Gin at St. Petersburg Distillery
How to Make a Mocktail
Rum Punch Rhyme: Your Recipe for ‘Happiness and Good Vibes in a Glass’

If you're looking for some new snack ideas, you'll be glad that this week's guests are two family and consumer sciences agents from the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Kimberly Bragg-Armatrout is with UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County and Shari Bresin is with UF/IFAS Extension Pasco County. They’ve got lots of snack ideas to get us out of a rut, including snacks that are healthy, kid-friendly and perfect for Florida’s hotter months.

What are you snacking on? Take a picture and tag us on Facebook or Instagram @TheZestPodcast.

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Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies
Nutrition Tips for Young Athletes—and the Rest of Us
14 Tips for Cooking Faster at Home

The Florida State Fair will look a little different this year, due to the pandemic. But one thing remains the same: The food will be as over-the-top as ever. As usual, serving up your deep-fried favorites will be Jane Harris, better known as Mama Jane. She’s worked with The Best Around Concessions for more than 35 years. The Cape Coral-based company is owned by the McGrath family, and they have trailers selling everything from turkey legs to corn on the cob. But it’s Jane, who manages the funnel cake trailer, who’s become a media darling and fried dough virtuoso. Jane lives in Pensacola and travels to fairs across the U.S. and Canada about eight months out of the year.

I spoke to Jane as she revved up to hit the Florida State Fair in Tampa. It kicks off today and runs through May 2. In our conversation, Mama Jane shares how to recreate fair food at home, she offers an approximate timeline for when some of your favorite fair foods were likely invented, and we’ll brainstorm names for her latest fried creation.

Hungry for more? Check out these conversations that celebrate guilty pleasures:

“Burger Beast” Sef Gonzalez on Florida’s Best Hamburgers
Real-Life Willy Wonka: Meet Peter Behringer of Sweet Pete’s in Jacksonville

Judi Gallagher has a passion for preserving her family’s hand-written recipes. The Sarasota chef says cooking and baking have been therapeutic during some of the most challenging times in her life, including a tough childhood with her father who suffered from mental illness, a contentious divorce and her adult son’s debilitating health condition. So for Judi, her family’s hand-written recipes are more valuable than a pound of saffron or the rarest white truffles.

Judi is a chef, TV personality, entrepreneur and the author of Reflections & Recipes of Chef Judi. In our conversation, Judi shared the story of how she started baking as a young girl and advice for preserving your own treasured recipes.

You can read much more of Judi’s incredible life story in Dalia's profile of her. It appears in the summer issue of FORUM, the magazine of Florida Humanities.

Hungry for more? Check out these related episodes:

Zora Neale Hurston’s Foodie Life
Genie Milgrom: Recipes of My 15 Grandmothers
La Dolce Vita: Peach Cobbler, The New Pie & Edible Cookie Dough

Reflections & Recipes of Chef Judi

For some of us, eating halal food is about discovering our new favorite falafel cart. But for the nearly 2 billion Muslims around the world, halal food is a way of life. Regardless of which camp you fall into, the restaurant reviewer known as the Halal Food Guru wants you to have a place at the table. The Orlando-based blogger and YouTuber chatted about which foods qualify as halal, his picks for Florida’s best halal restaurants and how food can help create cultural allies.

Related episodes:

Food Blogger Ricky Ly on Orlando’s “Tasty Chomps”
Miami's Spice Guru on Flavors of the Middle East
Chef Joe Isidori Wants You to Explore Florida’s Ethnic Food Markets

Alcohol is a conduit for a lot of things. It can be a party starter. A truth serum. It could even be the road to a whole new career path. But for people of color, that road hasn’t been so smooth.

Latiesha Cook wants to change this. Along with her husband, Dom, Latiesha runs Beer Kulture. It’s a nonprofit headquartered in St. Petersburg whose mission is to make the craft beverage industry more diverse, equitable and inclusive. Beer Kulture uses scholarships, internship programs, job boards and community partnerships to, as its tagline says, “change the world one beer at a time.”

And the movement is getting national attention, in articles everywhere from the New York Times to Forbes to the industry website Brewbound. Latiesha recently spoke with The Zest about alcohol as a vehicle for social justice, how white people can be good allies and who she most wants to have a beer with. And of course, we had to ask her for some craft beer recommendations.

Related interviews:

Meet Your New Favorite Holiday: Florida Craft Beer Day
Brewing Local Honey Mead at Green Bench Mead & Cider
Journalist Judith Smelser on Zoom Wine Tastings, Disney Sommeliers and How to Find Your Next Favorite Bottle of Wine
History of Beer with Rodney Kite-Powell

When you picture a farm, what comes to mind? Acres of crops? Wide open spaces? Well, you’re about to meet a farmer who’s updating that image for the 21st century.

Shannon O’Malley is the co-founder and CEO of Brick Street Farms in St. Petersburg’s Warehouse Arts District. It’s a hydroponic farm that uses climate-controlled shipping containers to grow produce. In our conversation, Shannon shares why she and her husband Brad Doyle started Brick Street Farms, why many chefs prefer their kale to other brands and how Brick Street 5vegetables ended up in hundreds of Publix supermarkets.

Check out these related episodes:

Hacks to Help You Eat More Veggies
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Gardening 101
Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin on Her Cookbook, “St. Pete Eats”

Here’s something you may not have learned in history class: The original Underground Railroad traveled from North to South. For reasons our guest will explain, during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Spanish Florida offered refuge to people fleeing enslavement from British colonies.

So what does this have to do with food? Well, the mingling of Spanish settlers, free Blacks and indigenous people in St. Augustine led to some pretty unique ways of eating whose influence shows up on our plates even today. That’s why our guest, historian Andrew Batten of Florida Living History, says Florida is the birthplace of fusion cuisine.

For more Florida food history, check out these previous episodes of The Zest:

The Real First Thanksgiving
Zora Neale Hurston's Foodie Life
Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in "Jubilee"

If you want to get to Miami, you could head south on I-95. Or even faster—just go online and read the work of Carlos Frías. He’s the Miami Herald’s food and dining editor and a James Beard Award-winning winning writer. We'd argue that Carlos could also add “travel agent” to his resume, because his writing will transport you to Miami. He writes about the Magic City like only a South Floridian could, from heartfelt stories about the intersection of food and immigration, to the offbeat trend of eating iguana meat. And of course, coffee. Dalia recently chatted with Carlos about all these topics and more.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

La Ventanita podcast
Chef Michelle Bernstein interview
Jeff Houck interview
Cuban sandwich demo with Andrea Gonzmart Williams

Ricky Ly is a civil engineer by day, a food blogger by night and a 24/7 encyclopedia of Central Florida restaurants. Ricky runs the popular Orlando-area food blog Tasty Chomps. He also wrote the book on Orlando restaurants—literally. His book, Food Lover’s Guide to Orlando, was published in 2013, and he’s eaten at hundreds more Central Florida restaurants since then. In our conversation, the Orlando resident recalls how he got into food blogging, shares the latest restaurant trends and offers advice for aspiring food influencers.

As you’d expect, you’re going to hear a lot of restaurants mentioned in this episode. But don’t worry about writing down all the names. We have links to all the restaurants Ricky mentions at our website, TheZestPodcast.com.

For more on Orlando's food scene, check out these previous episodes:

Disney Dining Tips
From Disney to Downtown: Orlando's Best Restaurants

Food Lovers' Guide to® Orlando: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings (Food Lovers' Series)

Bryon White is a self-professed “plant nerd.” Growing up in New Smyrna Beach on Florida’s east coast, he got curious about the grove of yaupon holly bushes across the street from his family’s home. So about a decade ago, Bryon did what any plant nerd would do: He turned to books. He learned that yaupon is native to the American Southeast, and that indigenous cultures have been brewing it for thousands of years. So Bryon got his younger brother, Kyle, on board—and the two got cookin’.

Today, Bryon and Kyle White are the cofounders of Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co. Their tea comes in flavors like lavender coconut, citrus spice and Florida chai. Yaupon Brothers is one of a small handful of businesses marketing the caffeinated plant to folks who want an energy boost without the jitters that coffee sometimes brings. Bryon and Kyle have also worked with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Science to develop yaupon as a supplemental crop for farmers struggling with citrus greening. The brothers and their small staff operate out of Edgewater, just a few miles from where they grew up—and thousands of miles from Asia and Africa, where the majority of the world’s tea originates.

Bryon and Kyle chat with host Dalia Colón about the benefits of drinking yaupon, what it tastes like and how their company gives back to Yaupon’s Native American roots. You may hear some wine when Brian is speaking. That’s because he was calling in from a field in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he’s working on a yaupon-related project. More on that later.

If you enjoyed this conversation, then check out these related interviews:

Café con Leche: Tampa History in a Cup (season 1, episode 12)
Get Local with an Indigenous Cookbook (season 1, episode 25)

When you think of Florida foods, what comes to mind—maybe grouper sandwiches or key lime pie? What about the spices of Little Haiti or the Greek flavors of Tarpon Springs?

Chef Joe Isidori wants us to experience it all. The Michelin Star chef hails from the Bronx, New York, where practically every cuisine on the planet is just a subway stop away. Joe also gives props to Florida for its diverse cuisine, and he says our state’s ethnic grocery stores are home to some of the freshest, most exciting foods anywhere.

Joe’s love of global cooking is at the heart of his Mexican-inspired restaurant, Jotoro Kitchen + Tequila Bar. We spoke last fall, just days before the restaurant’s November opening in Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf dining and entertainment complex. If you listen closely, you can hear the crew bustling around during our interview. Joe reminisces about the foods of his New York Italian childhood, he shares why Florida’s food scene deserves respect, and he offers advice for navigating Florida’s ethnic food markets.

Want more international flavors in Florida? Check out these past episodes:

Miami’s Spice Guru on Flavors of the Middle East
Lamb, Baklava & Family: Going Greek in Tarpon Springs

Congratulations. You saw the title of this episode. You know it’s all about how to eat more vegetables. And you’re still here! We promise, it’s worth it.

Today we'll hear from two experts from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, better known as UF/IFAS. IFAS has county extension offices across the state, and they’re a great resource for growing and cooking healthy foods. Carol Leffler and Anne Yasalonis share meal-prep tips and even gardening hacks to help you eat—and actually enjoy—more vegetables. We’ll also talk about how to get kids on board with eating veggies and how to never throw away another bag of soggy salad greens.

For details on the hacks discussed in this episode, check out these conversations:

Florida Fruit & Vegetable Gardening 101
Pantry Staples to Help You Cook More Often

Dalia chats with Donnie Gallagher, founder of Florida Craft Beer Day and co-host of the podcast Craft Brews and Geek News. Donnie explains what makes Florida’s craft beer scene unique, offers advice for aspiring home brewers and shares why he believes the craft beer craze is just getting started. Then Dalia quizzes Donnie on ridiculous craft beer names to see if he can guess which ones are fake.

Thirsty for more? Check out these other beer-related episodes:

History of Beer with Rodney Kite-Powell
Craft Beer Tasting Explained

There’s no shortage of key lime pie joints in Key West—but we're pretty sure only Kermit’s Key West Key Lime Shoppe has been name-checked on Jeopardy! Dalia chats with the owner, Kermit Carpenter, about how he got into the business, what distinguishes his pies from the rest of the pack, what’s so special about key limes and his celebrity customers.

If you liked our conversation with Kermit Carpenter, then check out these other sweet interviews:

La Dolce Vita: Peach Cobbler, The New Pie & Edible Cookie Dough (season 1, episode 8)
Author Lucy Burdette Mixes Mystery & Key West Cuisine (season 1, episode 21)

So, a guy walks into a wine bar. Actually, for a good chunk of 2020, no guys or gals were walking into any wine bars in Florida—unless it was to pick up a to-go order for drinking at home. Today, Judith Smelser will explain why this matters.

Judith is the founder of Orlando Wine Blog and the wine columnist for Edible Orlando. She also holds a Level 2 Certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. Last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought Florida’s hospitality industry to a screeching halt, she started the podcast UnWineding to chronicle the effects on Florida’s wine-based businesses. She shares how wine bars got creative to survive, explains why Disney World is good for Orlando’s wine scene and offers suggestions for discovering your new favorite bottle of wine.

We recorded our conversation in November 2020, but we think you'll find that it ages well—kinda like a fine wine.

If you enjoyed this conversation with Judith Smelser, then check out these other interviews:

Talking and Tasting Florida Wines (season 1, episode 15)
Bourbon 101 with Nate Wilson (season 1, episode 7)

Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1891 near Montgomery, Alabama. But her name is practically synonymous with Eatonville, the African-American enclave in Central Florida that she considered home. Hurston wrote extensively about Southern Black life, both as an anthropologist and in her short stories, plays and novels like “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” One subject that appears in Hurston’s work again and again... is food—so much so, that my guest wrote a whole book about that.

Dr. Fred Opie is a professor of history and foodways at Babson College outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He also hosts a podcast, “The Fred Opie Show,” and he’s written a bunch of books—including Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food: Recipes, Remedies & Simple Pleasures. It details the role food played in Hurston’s life and work. And it’s a lens into Southern African-American foodways of the first half of the 20th century, complete with archival photos and recipes. Dr. Opie chatted with me about food customs during Hurston’s time, and lessons for today.

If you enjoyed this conversation about Zora Neale Hurston, then check out these related episodes:

Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in "Jubilee" (season 2, episode 2)
Chef Art Smith Talks Politics: "Fried Chicken Takes No Sides" (season 2, episode 19)

Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food:: Recipes, Remedies & Simple Pleasures (American Palate)

If you want to eat healthier in the new year, you’ve gotta eat more home-cooked meals. So says Wendy Wesley. She’s a registered and licensed dietitian and nutritionist in St. Petersburg. Wendy says the more efficient you are in the kitchen, the more likely you are to actually cook. She shares her list of 14 tips to help us do just that.

If you enjoyed this conversation, then check out our previous interview with Wendy Wesley about how to eliminate barriers that keep us from cooking at home.

If you love The Zest, please take a moment to rate and review it in your podcast app. This will help other listeners discover us. You can also keep up with us on Facebook and Instagram.

Earlier this year, the pandemic forced Walt Disney World to shut down for nearly four months. Since it reopened, many fans have been eager to return to the theme park—but not just for the rides and character photo ops. Wilma Norton has been visiting—and eating at Disney World regularly for more than 25 years. She also serves on planDisney—formerly the Disney Parks Moms Panel. Just before the shutdown, Wilma spoke with The Zest’s producer, Dalia Colón, about how Disney became a foodie's paradise. We've been holding the interview until now. In this conversation, Wilma offers advice for eating and drinking your way through Disney without sticker shock.

St. Petersburg Distillery is launching a new product, Sunset Gin—which they say is a gin that’s very specific to Florida, and that’s completely natural. Sales are soaring at the distillery, and expansion plans are underway. In the upstairs tasting room, Robin met up with Skip Ragan, Senior Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Public Relations; Master Distiller Warren Gardner; and Assistant Distiller Clara Robbins.

Zest contributor Janet Keeler talks with author Tamara Lush about how her love of intrigue and her coffee obsession-inspired Grounds for Murder. It's the first book in her Coffee Lover's Mystery Series and will debut on Dec. 8, 2020.

Florida is one of the nation’s largest producers of honey and is a hub for beekeeping, both commercially and as a hobby. Robin Sussingham speaks with bee expert Dr. Jamie Ellis about the threats facing Florida's honey bees, why beekeeping is an increasingly popular hobby, how to spot fake honey and more. This conversation originally aired in 2019 and is part of a reporting collaboration between The Zest Podcast and WUSF News.

There may be a lot to dislike about 2020, but on the positive side, lots of people have taken up gardening! This includes The Zest’s producer, Dalia Colón, who’s had her share of gardening fails in the past. But she’s ready to give it another try, with advice from Robert Bowden. He’s the executive director of Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando. It’s a 50-acre botanical garden that's home to thousands of ornamental flowers, fruit and vegetable plants. Bowden is also the author of Florida Fruit & Vegetable Gardening: Plant, Grow, and Harvest the Best Edibles. He spoke to Dalia about gardening do’s and don’ts, the best plants for beginners and what’s unique about gardening in Florida.

Florida Fruit & Vegetable Gardening: Plant, Grow, and Harvest the Best Edibles (Fruit & Vegetable Gardening Guides)

How do you become an expert on Florida food? Heather McPherson spent decades as food editor at the Orlando Sentinel. She’s an author and editor of several cookbooks showcasing Florida’s seafood and produce; she’s the publicist for the famous Floridian Chef Art Smith; and she lends her writing talent to the Florida Dairy Farmers, and to Edible Orlando magazine, among other venues. Plus, she’s an energetic advocate for Florida farmers.

Kanika Tomalin has a lot on her plate. She works under St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman as deputy mayor and city administrator, serving the city’s 270,000 residents. On top of that, Tomalin recently published a cookbook. St. Pete Eats is a collection of healthy recipes from some of the city’s best-known chefs— including a few from Tomalin’s own kitchen and one that pays tribute to her late husband, Terry Tomalin, who for years wrote a popular outdoors column for the Tampa Bay Times. The Zest’s Dalia Colón chats with Deputy Mayor Tomalin about what inspired her to write the cookbook, some of her favorite recipes and the best St. Pete restaurants you probably haven't tried.

There’s an old Jewish joke with a kernel of truth that’s supposed to sum up the Jewish holidays: “They tried to kill us; we won; let’s eat.” It’s an oversimplification of the very real connection between Jewish history, culture and tradition, and food.

Genie Milgrom of Miami had a life that was changed and shaped by that connection – even before she was aware of it. Her family escaped from Fidel Castro’s Cuba to Miami in 1960, and she was raised a devout Catholic. But as she recounts in her memoir “My 15 Grandmothers,” she always felt a mysterious pull toward Judaism. After much study and searching, her genealogical research led her back hundreds of years to her Jewish ancestors from a village in western Spain. She learned that although the terror of the Inquisition forced her family to practice Catholicism in the open, they carried their Judaism with them in secret, including their dietary customs.

Sef Gonzalez puts on food events and competitions, and he writes about hamburgers and other comfort food from his base in Miami. Nearly 80,000 burger fans follow his blog on BurgerBeast.com. Sef chats with Robin Sussingham about what makes a good hamburger and where to find the best burgers in Florida.

Talk about a sweet gig. Peter Behringer and his wife, Allison, are the couple behind Sweet Pete’s Candy in Jacksonville. This three-story shrine to sugar has bragging rights as the largest candy store in the Southeast. But running a candy business isn’t just about lollipops and chocolate bars. Pete recently spoke with The Zest’s Dalia Colón about the company’s rocky road to success. He also shared the latest candy trends and ideas for treats you can make at home.

Kevin Godbee and Lori Brown are the force behind StPetersburgFoodies.com. They’re the hosts of the St. Petersburg Foodies podcast; they’ve got lots of dedicated fans on social media; and their Facebook group, St. Petersburg Foodies Restaurant Reviews, boasts more than 14 thousand followers. Kevin and Lori are respected in the food scene because they get out into the community, they frequent the restaurants that they write about, and they eat with gusto! They gave us their personal recommendations for their favorite St. Petersburg downtown and beachside restaurants, plus revealed the winners of this year’s St. Petersburg Foodies Restaurant awards, chosen by their readers and listeners.

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Chef Art Smith has cooked for presidents and governors, the Dalai Lama and the royal family. He also spent a decade as personal chef to Oprah Winfrey; frequent appearances on her show made him a household name. Regardless of celebrity status or political party, Smith says nearly everybody has one thing in common: a love of Southern cuisine. He says comfort food helps us let down our guard and find common ground.

The two-time James Beard Award winner showcases his appreciation for Southern food at his Disney Springs restaurant, Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' Florida Kitchen. He also developed the menu for Splitsville, an upscale bowling alley in Tampa. Smith spoke to The Zest’s Dalia Colón from his home in Jasper, North Florida, where he lives with his husband, Jesús, and their four children.

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Allen Susser is a James Beard award winner, and one of the pioneers of a new kind of cooking that now seems foundational to Florida food. Floribbean cooking takes advantage of fresh, local Florida produce and seafood but adds elements from the Caribbean or Latin America. Susser calls it “the original farm to table.” He’s a well-known restaurateur and his restaurant, Chef Allen’s in Aventura, finished a 25-year run in 2011.

On a recent Facebook Live cooking demonstration, Chef Allen showed us how to make Pan Roasted Wild Shrimp Mango Mojo, and taught us some easy techniques for slicing and dicing mangos. He’s the author of “The Great Mango Book: A Guide With Recipes." His newest cookbook is “Green Fig and Lionfish: Sustainable Caribbean Cooking

For young athletes who are serious about their sport, granola bars and orange slices just won’t do. Bradenton is home to IMG Academy, a boarding school where elite middle and high school athletes live, study, train and of course eat. The campus also welcomes college athletes, pros and amateur adults. Jackie Barcal is IMG’s head of nutrition. She spoke with The Zest’s Dalia Colón about how to fuel young athletes and offered tips for the rest of us.

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Maybe you just spent two days perfecting a loaf of sourdough bread—and the picture you took just didn’t convey how delicious and perfect it turned out. Well, we can help you make those photos better. Our contributor Janet Keeler sat down with her husband, Scott Keeler, to talk about the nitty gritty of photographing food! Scott is a longtime photojournalist at the Tampa Bay Times. They worked together there when Janet was the food and travel editor. And their marriage has survived both that and her pandemic panic baking.

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In 2010, Stephen DiMare had just graduated from the University of Florida. It was the tail end of the Great Recession, and the job market looked bleak. But a chance encounter with a stranger gave Stephen the idea for what Floridians now know as The Hyppo Gourmet Ice Pops. Stephen opened the first store in his native St. Augustine. Today, The Hyppo has eight stores across Florida and is also available at many Publix supermarkets. Stephen chatted with Dalia Colón about The Hyppo’s origin story, flavors that didn’t make the cut and advice for creating your own ice pops to beat the Florida heat.

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What does a journalist who specializes in grocery store shopping do when a pandemic hits? Like many people, Kathy Saunders turned to grocery delivery services to protect her family’s health. For 16 years, Kathy wrote a column for the Tampa Bay Times that used a tasting panel to assess grocery store products. All those years of shopping and tasting are still being put to good use. Contributor Janet Keeler talked with Kathy recently to get tips on how to get what you want when someone else is doing the shopping.

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What's the perfect beach house menu? Nothing fancy, nothing complicated. But you'd want it to be good enough to share with friends.

For ideas, Robin talked to Mary Kay Andrews, a prolific novelist who grew up in St. Petersburg and whose more recent books have names like Summer Rental, Beach Town and Sunset Beach. Last year, she came out with The Beach House Cookbook: Easy, Breezy Recipes with a Southern Accent.

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The Beach House Cookbook

If you’re prepping for a cookout or seeking to recreate stadium-quality hot dogs at home, Mel Lohn can help. He’s the larger-than-life personality behind Mel’s Hot Dogs. This month marks 47 years that Mel and his wife, Virginia, have been operating the restaurant, which has become a Tampa institution. The Zest’s Dalia Colón spoke with Mel about the eatery’s early days and how to make a better hot dog at home.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

There's an official-looking decal on the fridge at work. It says: "Hurricane Evacuation Plan: Grab beer. Run like hell."

It's true! Before a hurricane hits, people do tend to stock up on alcohol. (Also strawberry Pop-Tarts, according to Walmart.) So this hurricane season, while we're out picking up batteries and bottled water, let's plan ahead and gather supplies for some festive-feeling, stress-reducing, storm-themed cocktails. For recipes, Robin spoke to Jeannie Weaver, owner and chief mixologist at Revival, a craft cocktail bar in downtown Lakeland.

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In 2019, Alexandria Jones set out on a mission: to interview owners of a handful of black-owned eateries across Tampa Bay. She turned those interviews into a half-hour documentary called A Soulful Taste: Exploring Tampa Bay's Black-Owned Food Scene. In February of this year, Alex uploaded the video to YouTube, where you can watch the film in its entirety. Alex often writes about food on her blog, The Frugalista Life. She’s also a freelance food writer for Creative Loafing. Those connections came in handy when it came time to select restaurant owners to interview for the film, as Alex explained to The Zest’s Dalia Colón.

Plus, lots of us have rediscovered the art of home cooking lately. Along with that, we've been reading a lot of recipes. The Zest's correspondent Janet Keeler offers some advice.

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Miami has Little Haiti and Little Havana. Orlando has Little Vietnam. And in Northern Pinellas County, you’ll find an ethnic enclave like no other: Tarpon Springs. In the late 1800s, Greek immigrants established the town’s sponge-diving industry. Today, visitors flock to Tarpon Springs not only to buy sponges but also to sample the authentic Greek food. Mykonos restaurant has been a Tarpon Springs institution since 1992. The Zest's Dalia Colón chats with the restaurant's founder, Andreas Salivaras, and his granddaughter, Nichole Pastis, about Greek food and being in business as a family.

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The Orlando area has been experiencing an explosion of great restaurants. When there are so many choices, the Orlando Sentinel's Foodie Awards can point you toward some interesting local places to try. Amy Drew Thompson is the Orlando Sentinel's multimedia food reporter, and 2020 was her first year of taking on the gargantuan task of singling out restaurants in 50 different categories.

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Avera Wynne spent 30 years as an urban planner—a good job that paid for his barbecue habit. This certified barbecue judge now has his own line of seasoning blends called Zest Coast. Avera talks about when to use gas and when to use charcoal, plus he gives us his number one tip for grilling like a pro. Robin also asked him where the name Avera comes from, and it turns out there’s a connection to North Carolina and the Civil War.

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Michelle Bernstein started cooking fusion food dishes long before “fusion” was a buzzword. The Miami chef, restaurant owner and TV personality made a name for herself combining flavors and techniques from her Latin-Jewish heritage. And it works. In 2008, the James Beard Foundation recognized her as the best chef in the South. In this conversation with The Zest producer Dalia Colón, Bernstein discusses how her Latin-Jewish heritage influences how she cooks, her favorite South Florida food trends and the restaurant meals she's missing during the pandemic.

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It’s time for melons and watermelons in Florida, which are in season right now. You’ll find them in the stores, and farmers are selling from roadside stands. Sweet corn is also in season, and is grown all over the state before making its way further north.

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What comes to mind when you think about original Florida cracker cooking? If you’re thinking biscuits and gravy, chess pie and dumplings, you’re on the right track. Joy Harris's new cookbook, The Florida Cracker Cookbook: Recipes & Stories from Cabin to Condo, celebrates her ancestors' down home cooking -- some of which was done in a Panhandle cabin with no electricity! The Zest contributor Janet Keeler spoke to Joy about the roots of Florida cooking.

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Have you found yourself wanting to bake bread while you’re quarantining? Christina Cann, owner of Gulf Coast Sourdough, says it’s a real thing. Hundreds of people have asked her for some sourdough starter over the last several weeks. Part of the reason is that so many people are baking bread that there’s been a run on instant yeast at the stores, and it’s hard to find right now. But sourdough uses wild yeast for leavening, and wild yeast are all around us. Christina says eating sourdough bread is like taking a bite of history.

You’ll find Christina’s recipe for sourdough bread on our website, thezestpodcast.com.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Rene Valenzuela is best known as the founder and former owner of Taco Bus. Rene’s life and career came to a standstill two years ago, when he was burned in a horrific kitchen fire. He says he learned a lot about himself during his recovery, and now he's ready for his next venture. This time he's teaming up with Jamal Wilson, owner of Hall on Franklin in Tampa, and expanding to Orlando. I talked to Rene about a lot of things – including his accident; the food from his home region of Mexico; and what to make for Cinco de Mayo!

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Toni Tipton-Martin is on a crusade. The food journalist and educator won a James Beard Award in 2016 for her book The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. Her latest work, Jubilee, is a collection of recipes from those antique cookbooks. In February, the Baltimore resident came to St. Petersburg to speak at the third annual Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival, held at the Carter G. Woodson African-American Museum. That’s where she sat down with The Zest’s producer, Dalia Colón.

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Every month, we’re focusing on what's fresh and what's growing in Florida. Robin will be talking to extension agents from The University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, known as IFAS, to tell us what we should be looking for -- and cooking with -- right now! This month: blueberries and squash. We've also got a delicious Florida squash casserole recipe on our website.

In the last couple of years, the harvest of wild caught oysters has gone down by half. But the amount of farmed oysters has doubled in that time. And there’s definitely a market demand for the shellfish, so aqua farmers are trying out more areas of Florida to grow oysters – outside of Apalachicola, which is where you usually think of oysters growing.

Brian Rosseger is one of these pioneering oyster farmers. Last year, He and his wife started their small business, Lost Coast Oyster Company, in Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve at the mouth of Tampa Bay. It’s a very labor-intensive process. Reporter Jessica Meszaros recently took a ride with Brian deep into the mangroves as he worked on his floating farm.

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On this bonus episode of The Zest , we speak to Chef Marcos Fernandez of Nineteen61 in downtown Lakeland.

Chef Marcos tells us why he thinks he's been able to keep busy while many of his fellow restaurant owners have had to close.

Season two of the Zest starts in mid April. But community is what we're all about -- and we're all craving some community right now.

So, I wanted to check in with you. Let you know we're here. We're cooking for our families, we're trying to keep our immunity up, we're trying to support our local restaurants. And food is still and always a huge part of our lives.

Today, I'm bringing you a conversation with Michelle Stark, the food and lifestyle editor of the Tampa Bay Times. Michelle's been writing about how to eat well, even when we're eating emergency supplies. She tells us the number one things we need to remember when we're stocking up on non-perishables.

We'll be back with more stories in the coming days -- stories that connect us. Because food brings us together. By the way, if you do have canned chickpeas in supply, we've got Michael Solomonov's recipe for 5 minute hummus on our website, TheZestPodcast.com.

And we'd LOVE to hear how you're doing, and how you're feeding yourself and your loved ones during this crisis. Let us know at our Facebook page.

Programming Note: From the kitchen to the field to the hive, The Zest Podcast has taken you north, south, east and west in Florida and the southern states. We’re going to take a break while we prepare our second season showcasing food and communities in the Sunshine State. We’ll return with completely fresh episodes just in time for WUSF’s Longest Table in St. Petersburg on April 16th. In the meantime, follow our Facebook and Instagram profiles for behind-the-scenes action, upcoming surprises and even a few bonus episodes. We appreciate all of our listeners and supporters of The Zest in helping make this first season a smashing success!

On today's show:

Here in Florida, it’s always milkshake season. The latest milkshake craze is the freakshake—an over-the-top milkshake topped with cake, candy and other goodies. This month, a popular Tampa bakery is serving up freakshakes for a cause that's extra sweet: to help children in foster care find a permanent home. The Zest’s Dalia Colón paid a visit to Julie Curry, who owns Bake’n Babes inside Tampa’s Hall on Franklin.

February marks the start of Carnival season, a time of street parties, parades, vibrant costumes and feasts celebrated by Catholic countries all over the world. And for many Caribbean nations, the quintessential Carnival drink is rum punch. Andrew Ashmeade owns the Jerk Hut, a Jamaican restaurant with four Tampa locations. Dalia recently stopped by Jerk Hut’s flagship location near the University of South Florida to learn a rum punch recipe so simple that there’s a rhyme to remember it.

While much of the United States is in a deep freeze, Florida is in peak growing season. That’s particularly true in Plant City, an agricultural enclave between Tampa and Lakeland that’s celebrated for its strawberries. Food blogger Danielle Rose knows just what to do with all the fresh produce that's in season now : she makes what she calls her Plant City Grove Stand Salad. Dalia stopped by Danielle’s home in Tampa for a lesson.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Dr. Steven Masley lives a pretty good life. He lives half the year in St. Petersburg, and then spends the rest of his time cruising the Mediterranean in his sailboat. He sails from port to port exploring the local outdoor markets, shopping for the freshest ingredients, and asking the experts -- the fishmongers and produce vendors -- about family recipes and the best ways to prepare the seafood, lean meat, vegetable or bean dishes. He compiled his research into his new book, The Mediterranean Method: Your Complete Plan to Harness the Power of the Healthiest Diet on the Planet.

Dr. Masley shared his recipes for White Fish Ceviche with Avocado, Mango, and Tomato; and for Pears Poached with Wine and Cinnamon. You can find them on our website, thezestpodcast.com.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Dayanny de la Cruz is the executive chef of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens—the site of this year's Super Bowl on February 2nd. As the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs prepare for a showdown on the football field, Chef D, as she's known, is busy prepping for her own role on Super Bowl Sunday: feeding everyone in the building, from fans and media to halftime entertainers and the athletes themselves. De La Cruz is employed by Centerplate, a company that handles food and beverages for hundreds of venues across North America and the UK. The Dominican-born chef is the first female to lead a Super Bowl's food program. She spoke to The Zest's producer, Dalia Colón, about what's on the menu for game day and how you can score a touchdown with your own Super Bowl party food.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Gasparilla started out at the turn of the 20th century as a sedate little music program. Then, organizers decided to throw in a pirate invasion to spice things up -- and boy, did they! Our guest says Gasparilla is like Mardi Gras without the Catholicism! Andrew Huse is an associate librarian at the University of South Florida in special collections and he also chronicles Florida food history.

When the Junior League of Tampa first published its Gasparilla cookbook back in 1961, the list of contributors reads like a who’s-who of Tampa’s social and business elite. We visited the Junior League’s headquarters on Davis Islands to chat with Stephanie Haas and Lora Hulse. Lora served as the Junior League's cookbook chair from 1973 to ‘74 and she talked to us about the cultural importance of this cookbook to the Tampa community.

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Jeff Houck is a former newspaper reporter and food writer at the old Tampa Tribune, and is now the marketing and public relations director for Columbia Restaurant Group in Tampa. Jeff has lately become enamored of local, mom and pop convenience stores around the Tampa Bay area, and has been documenting them in his own pithy, humorous style.

Isabel Laessig is the creator of Sunday Supper Media, a network that connects social media influencers with food and wine companies seeking publicity. Brands like Certified Angus Beef, Cabot Cheese and the Florida Strawberry Growers Association have enlisted Isabel’s team to promote their products. Her own Instagram page, @FamilyFoodie, has tens of thousands of followers. Getting paid to eat and post pictures of food sounds like a sweet gig—but aspiring food influencers should steer clear of the pitfalls, as Isabel explained to our producer, Dalia Colón.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Winter is citrus season here in Florida, and anybody with a Meyer lemon tree is looking for a way to use them all. One great use for lemons is the Italian liqueur Limoncello, and The Zest producer Dalia Colón got the scoop on that from Danielle Rose, who writes the Florida food blog Suwannee Rose. You can find Danielle’s recipe for Meyer limoncello on our website, TheZestPodcast.com.

Have you been thinking about cooking more at home, maybe as a way to eat healthier or save some money? Well, our next guest, Wendy Wesley, says that's an important goal for the new year. Wendy is a registered dietitian/nutritionist and the health education manager at the St. Petersburg Free Clinic Our contributor Janet Keeler talks with her about what she calls “barriers to cooking” and how to get past them.

We also asked some Florida food enthusiasts about what they are excited about in the upcoming year. How about you? What are you looking forward to? What would you like for us to cover, what stories would you like to hear in 2020? You can let us know on our Facebook page, or by writing me at Robin@thezestpodcast.com.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Best-selling author Rick Bragg was in town earlier this year to talk about his most recent memoir about his family, and about growing up poor in the hardscrabble back country of Alabama. He tells it through stories of food -- and the importance of a good meal in lives full of backbreaking labor and few pleasures. His book, The Best Cook In The World: Tales from My Momma's Southern Table, is also a loving tribute to his mother, Margaret.

How can a simple sandwich ignite so much controversy? Well, when it's the Cuban Sandwich, and we're in Florida, there is a bitter battle for the title of who had it first, and who makes it the best! Producer Dalia Colón spoke to Andrea Gonzmart Williams of the Columbia Restaurant, who doesn't think there any controversy at all. You can find the Columbia's Cuban Sandwich recipe HERE.

When Dan Bavaro packed up his wife and kids to move from New Jersey to Florida, he didn’t have his sights set on opening a New York-style pizzeria. Instead, Bavaro’s Pizza serves up Neapolitan-style pies, bringing a taste of Italy to its four Tampa Bay locations.

What was once a vacant lot is now an urban oasis. We take you to the St. Petersburg EcoVillage, a community garden whose mission is to reconnect people with nature. Dalia surveys the bounty with Emmanuel Roux, a longtime restaurateur who's using his food knowledge to educate the public about nutrition.

Ed Chiles is the son of the late Governor Lawton Chiles. He’s also the owner of several seafood restaurants, including the Sandbar on Anna Maria Island. Chiles's interest in local and sustainable food sourcing has led him to experiment with cooking one of the state's invasive species -- wild hogs. I spoke to him about some of the ways his restaurants' chefs have been utilizing wild boars from Shogun Farms.

Many well-known local restaurants swear by the sausages they get from The Tambuzzo Sausage company of Tampa. The butchery recently opened up its new location in West Tampa, alongside the company's cafe, "The Boozy Pig." Owner Andrew Tambuzzo says it's a new chapter in what's been a very old tradition for his family in Ybor City. He spoke with me in front of The Boozy Pig on Cypress street about changes in his new neighborhood and his business.

When Isabel Laessig's daughter left for college, she told her mom that the thing she'd miss most was their Sunday family dinner together. Eight years later,the Dunedin mother of four is the force behind #SundaySupper, a weekly virtual dinner party where foodies share recipes and inspiration for family meals. Laessig, also known as Family Foodie, reaches millions of people through social media, promoting her Sunday Supper Movement.

This week on the Zest, we get our families involved in showing off some holiday traditions. Dalia's daughter, Norah Colón, helps us make reindeer cookies; I'm following my father around as he makes smoked mullet; and WUSF reporters let us in on some treasured recipes.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

For Yaniv Cohen, his passion for teaching people about spices all started when his daughter was born nine years ago,. and he found himself wanting to give her a feeling for the tastes and aromas of his childhood in Israel. The Miami-based chef and caterer is spreading his knowledge online, where he blogs as "The Spice Detective," through classes on cooking with spices, and through his culinary outlet, Jaffa, in Miami's design district. His Hannukah latkes were influenced by his Iraqi grandmother -- and Yaniv tells us how to get that flavor.

His cookbook My Spiced Kitchen: A Middle Eastern Cookbook came out a few months ago.

You'll find Yaniv's recipe for his grandmother's Iraqi latkes and a recipe for baharat spice mix on our website, thezestpodcast.com.

This week, we take a tour of Cracker Country rural living history museum, where we explore the way pioneer Floridians cooked, and the kinds of dishes they made to celebrate the holidays more than a hundred years ago. Then, the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa is a huge operation, with five theaters, an arts conservatory and several restaurants. We talk to the chef who manages the culinary side of the Straz.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more . . . available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com

It's time to think about holiday gifts -- and of course, we're turning to cookbooks! Our correspondent and cookbook collector Janet Keeler offers gift ideas for cookbooks that can be enjoyed all year long. Then, from Walt Disney World to Sea World Orlando to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Florida’s biggest tourist attractions are rolling out hundreds of menu items that are meat-, egg- and dairy-free. We'll find out why these new vegan food offerings are aimed -- surprisingly -- at carnivores.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

You know how people are always complaining about how "buggy" it is in Florida? Well, if you can't beat them...eat them! We're stretching our palate to include some edible insects. Plus, we're taking another look at this country's first Thanksgiving. Historians say there's a good argument to be made that it happened here in Florida!

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

We had a great turnout for last weekend’s event at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm! We appreciate everyone who joined us to sample local honey, taste mead and participate in a live taping of The Zest podcast. To cap off our series on honey bees, Robin Sussingham interviewed apiary inspector Becky Dineen and urban beekeeper Josh Harris in front of a live audience.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Before they opened their renowned and upscale Bern’s Steak House in 1956, Gert and Bern Laxer dreamed about having an ice cream shop. More than a half-century later, the couple’s vision has come to life. We take you on a visit to Little Midway. Then, we get a little taste of Spain at the Dali Museum's cafe.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

When Natalia Lima went vegan eight years ago, she assumed she was destined for a lifetime of dull desserts. But soon, the St. Petersburg baker learned to whip up her favorite confections—minus the animal products. She now sells them at her Curious Cat Bakery. Natalia is even veganizing recipes featured on The Great British Baking Show and posting the delicious results on Instagram. Her version of one contestant’s lemon cake has all of the flavor with none of the dairy.

Plus -- The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg often gets attention for the masterpieces in its exhibition halls. Now, the MFA is making a buzz for what’s on its roof: beehives.The museum is an example of the urban beekeeping trend, enlisting Noble Nectar Apiaries to install and care for 20,000 to 30,000 bees on its rooftop. The MFA plans to sell the honey in its gift shop and use it as an ingredient at the museum café.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

When it comes to the threats to honey bees, environmental activists say pesticides are public enemy number one. But scientists say...it's complicated. Our special honey bee reporting project continues with a look at the many dangers faced by honey bees. Plus -- this pitmaster champ and food show veteran brings her star power to Tampa. We meet Lee Ann Whippen of the Deviled Pig restaurant.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com

This week, our honey bee reporting collaboration with WUSF News has us tasting the honey-based alcoholic beverage, mead! The brewer says it's about the most ‘local’ thing you can drink. And speaking of local foods, host Robin Sussingham talks to a Native American chef who says we should be able to identify, and cook with, all those indigenous plants growing right outside our kitchen door. Just don't call them weeds!

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com

We're continuing our special reporting collaboration on honey bees with WUSF news. This week we head to Lakeland's Born and Bread Bakehouse to try some honey-based pastries, and take a tour of an apiary at Florida Bee Farm in Clearwater.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Honey bees are in the national zeitgeist. They're a necessary part of our food supply, and they are under a lot of stress. In a special reporting collaboration between The Zest and WUSF Public Media news, for the next several weeks we're going to be taking a closer look at Florida's honey bees.

Honey bees are in the news a lot. But the news is mixed. It's hard to know how they're doing, exactly. To find out, host Robin Sussingham spoke with Dr. Jamie Ellis, Professor of Entomology and director of honey bee research at the University of Florida.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

We're taking a tour of the Tambuzzo Sausage Company! The family-owned enterprise has long provided housemade sausage to some of Tampa Bay’s most popular restaurants. And now its Tampa cafe, The Boozy Pig, serves up cut-to-order meats, bacons and sausages alongside sandwiches and other prepared foods. Go behind the scenes with Andrew Tambuzzo to learn how the sausage is made… literally.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

There’s something cooking in Key West, and we’re not just talking about the key lime pie! We’ll hear from the author of some murder mysteries for foodies. Plus, the executive chef of Tampa's Oxford Exchange restaurant tells us how to celebrate fall foods while it’s still hot outside. It might be 95 degrees, but it's almost fall, ya'll!

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Fall is almost here, but as usual, Florida didn’t get the memo. As the Sunshine State continues living up to its name, we’ve got ideas to get you through the seemingly endless heatwave, when you really don’t feel like cooking: Chef Tenney Flynn's smoked fish dip, Florida blogger Danielle Rose's easy mango ice cream and colorful mocktails from entertaining expert Krayl Funch. This week --- simple recipes packed with Florida flavor.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

Let's talk about some real Florida food! We’ll learn to make the Columbia Restaurant's signature 1905 Salad, which was actually invented in the 1940s. Then, fast-forward to 1961, when the Junior League of Tampa debuted its Gasparilla Cookbook, which included its prize-winning Florida Orange Grove Pie. And, we’ve got a conversation with celebrity chef Lazarus Lynch, who’s spreading the word about his Southern cuisine using a modern-day kitchen staple: social media.

Support for The Zest Podcast comes from Seitenbacher Brand Natural Foods, like Muesli cereals, oils, oatmeal, energy bars, gluten-free fruit gummies for the kids, organic coffee and more. Available in supermarkets, health food stores or online at Seitenbacher.com.

August is nearly over, but there’s still time to plan one last end-of-summer blowout bash. Today, we get barbecue advice from barbecue Hall-Of-Famer Ray Lampe, a.k.a. Dr. BBQ. And what’s for dessert? Our contributor Janet Keeler offers ideas from the cookbook Food 52 Genius Desserts. We’re talking meats and sweets on The Zest!

We’re talking to some of Tampa Bay’s favorite food personalities. Meet Helen Freund, the new restaurant critic for the Tampa Bay Times. Plus, blogger and social media sensation Isabel Laessig, a.k.a. Family Foodie, talks about her #SundaySupper movement, and offers advice for bringing the family together over a meal.

It’s been a South Florida icon since 1959. We’ll visit the legendary Robert Is Here fruit stand in Homestead. Plus: nice catch! Dive into the rules and recipes of Florida’s spiny lobster season.

We're taking Florida wines seriously! It might be one of the state's best kept secrets, but Florida wine-making is a billion dollar industry. There are dozens of wineries across the state, employing nearly a hundred thousand people, and Florida university research departments dedicated to viticulture. How can this hot, humid , fungus-friendly state support successful wine production? The Zest host Robin Sussingham talks to Vince Shook, president of Florida Orange Groves Winery, a tropical, berry and citrus winery; Chuck Hollweg, non-commercial hobbyist grape grower and wine maker; and Gina Birch, host of Grape Minds podcast from WGCU.

This week -- summer in Florida means our choice of local produce is getting kind of thin. We talk to the executive chef of Tampa’s Oxford Exchange and get his ideas on using summer fruits and veggies. Plus, we have a fascinating discussion with a philosophical mango expert, who explains why Floridians are enchanted with the fruit.

Edna Lewis helped define refined southern cooking for generations, and her cookbook from the 1970s, The Taste of Country Cooking, is considered an American classic. We talk about one of her newly reissued cookbooks -- and her legacy. Plus, you've been invited to dinner, but you can't show up empty handed. We've got some ideas for food gifts that anybody would love.

This week, we’re indulging in some of our favorites. We’ll hear baking tips from the author of Sister Pie, we’ll learn about the history of Tampa’s love affair with café con leche, and to cool off in these relentlessly hot days of summer, we’ll taste Tampa Bay’s craft beer scene. Sweets, suds and a jolt of caffeine, this week on The Zest.

She's a James Beard Award winner, protégé of Emeril Lagasse and the culinary innovator behind one of Tampa’s most talked-about new restaurants. Today on The Zest, a conversation with Chef Anne Kearney.

Jenna Bell, a dietitian and triathlete with a PhD in exercise physiology, offers a primer on how to improve your gut microbiome, and why it even matters. Fermented drinks like kefir and kombucha are all the rage, and foods like yogurt, kimchi and sauerkraut are earning serious respect. In a conversation with host Robin Sussingham, Jenna explains the difference between pre- and probiotics, weighs in on supplements and reveals what she eats --and when!

What’s the future of food? One prominent food writer says we’re heading to a time when we start seeing robots in the farm field and in the kitchen. A longtime wheat farmer says our future is our past...in the form of ancient grain. Also coming up on today’s show, for a Florida Fourth of July, our all-American food isn’t apple pie -- it’s the Cuban sandwich! We’ll find out how it’s done at The Columbia Restaurant.

This week, we’re living the sweet life. We’ll visit with the Junior League of Tampa to test out a peach cobbler recipe from The Gasparilla Cookbook. We’ll chat with the authors of The New Pie about ideas for updating the classic dessert. And edible cookie dough arrives in Tampa!

Barbecue season is in full swing, and we've got a fresh take on cooking with fire. Whether you're looking for a classic steak or an exciting vegetable dish, Chef Josiah Citrin is here to help you step up your grill game. Then, to wash it all down, our mixology lesson at Tampa’s Epicurean Hotel is sure to put you in good spirits. Happy Father's Day! It’s bourbon and barbecue, this week on The Zest.

Bern's Chef de Cuisine, Habteab "Hab" Hamde, guides us through the labyrinth that makes up the classic Tampa restaurant's back-of-house operation, from the massive kitchen to the pastry department -- and of course, the grill! Chef Hab even reveals his secret to grilling a great steak at home.

"Locally-grown” and “sustainable” are more than just catch phrases for our guests. Restaurateur Ed Chiles finds delicious uses for one of Florida’s invasive species, and Emmanuel Roux turned a vacant city lot into a productive—and educational—urban farm. We’ll also check in with Tampa’s new mayor, Jane Castor, to get the dish on her favorite local restaurants.

Jamal Wilson is the force behind the first food hall in Tampa, The Hall on Franklin, and he tells producer Dalia Colon that he was determined to do it differently. Plus, The Hall on Franklin is in an historic building, and the Tampa Bay History Center's Rodney Kite Powell talks to host Robin Sussingham about how those spaces with a backstory can affect the whole eating experience. Also on the podcast, writer Janet Reich Elsbach has written a guidebook to helping our friends, family and community through various challenges with the gift of food. Her book is Extra Helping: Recipes for Caring, Connecting & Building Community One Dish At A Time.

The Zest has international flavor this week! We take you to Hawke's Bay, the fruit basket of New Zealand, with an international cheese expert. We’ll taste-test a recipe for 5-minute hummus from the Israeli Soul cookbook. And Bavaro’s Pizza brings Italy to Tampa Bay. It’s wheels up on The Zest. No passport required.

Southern storyteller Rick Bragg talks with host Robin Sussingham about food, family, and his new memoir, “The Best Cook In The World: Tales From My Momma’s Southern Table.” Food, Bragg says, represents “our finer nature.” And he tells us why he takes the cooking of grits so personally.

Plus, on a humid evening in April,The Zest attended WUSF's signature event, Longest Table, an outdoor foodie feast in downtown St. Petersburg that offered a chance for Robin and producer Dalia Colón to ask local chefs what they like to serve when the weather heats up.

On today's podcast, producer Dalia Colón gets a lesson in mojito making from the fifth-generation owner of Florida oldest Spanish restaurant, the Columbia. We'll also hear from prominent food writer Laura Reiley about the Tampa Bay area's burgeoning food scene -- and how relatively cheap real estate makes it all possible. Plus, our cookbook reviewer, Janet Keeler, talks about the indispensable charms of a real, physical cookbook. And as the weather warms up, we do have adult beverages on our mind, as an historian takes us through the fascinating history of beer and brewing in Tampa Bay. Robin Sussingham hosts The Zest, which is a production of WUSF Public Media.

From food halls to fad diets, café con leche to coffee punch, host Robin Sussingham calls on Florida's experts to give us the dish. We get a lesson in making mojitos from a fifth-generation owner of Florida's oldest Cuban restaurant; and learn how to make the best peach cobbler from a Junior League president. And since we’re always hungry for more, we track down the best cookbook authors and culinary thought leaders around, because great food stories deserve to be told with Zest!