Edacious - Food Talk For Gluttons

Writing Work. Rhubarb Love. And Hustle. Welcome to the first in a series of FOUR podcasts celebrating the Virginia Festival of the Book! In the next four days you will hear from the country's best and brightest when it comes to food writing. Today's episode? Food writer Sheri Castle, whose newest creation, Rhubarb, presents this misunderstood vegetable in a way it's never been discussed before. Sheri will be appearing at two events as part of the festival, including a talk I'm moderating, "Save Room! Cookbooks With a Sweet Tooth!" Event details are listed below. Sheri wrote her first original recipe at the tender age of four, mailing it off to a television show. But never once did she consider food as a job. Her goal was similar to that of most writers: get a PhD in English, write stories, become a professor. Instead she headed into the corporate world. But her bosses always had her writing. Then suggesting she bring in her delicious food for potlucks. So when she was offered a severance package she headed to

Gluten-Free Work. Welcome to a conversation about bread, community, and how one small business owner is trying to tie those two things together. Susan Weiner of Orange Dot Baking Company, with her gluten-free Major Muffins, wants to not only provide a delicious bread to folks suffering from celiac disease but also hopes to provide job training for folks in our community who so desperately need it. Betty Hoge of the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center recommended Susan and after speaking with her I'm so glad this recommendation came my way. We recorded in the conference room of the Community Investment Collaborative where Susan is a graduate, and I will be taking part in their next class series on developing a business. Can't think of a better place to talk about food, community, and doing it your own way. Programs like CIC can walk you through the nuts and bolts of starting a small business from the ground up. Aligning your lofty goals with the realities of running a successful business. Somet

Teaching Work. Defining Success. What does success mean in today's culinary world? How do you define it for yourself against industry expectations? Meet Chef Todd Grieger of Culinard, The Culinary Institute of Virginia College in Richmond, someone who knows the Charlottesville food scene quite well. Especially since he's worked in most of our restaurants over the past 20 years including Downtown Grille, Blue Light, Maya, C&O, Mas, Glass Haus, and Red Pump Kitchen. When Jeff Dion of Discover the East told me he knew Todd I immediately asked for his contact info. I'd loved his food at Red Pump and missed him when he fell off my radar. It was while at Red Pump that Todd came to some realizations. Namely, when you work your whole life to get to this point and it just doesn't work out, what then? Feeling a bit burned out, he took a teaching position at Culinard. In addition, cooks a few nights at Oakhart Social and chips in to help wife Jaclyn at BBQ Exchange Events & Catering. All the while deciding next

Edacious - Food Talk for Gluttons is two years old! Talking up a blue streak! This year saw many changes including a new website, merchandising, and a new sponsorship model that will keep this podcast strong in its focus on community and on the stories of folks doing the Work of Food in our area. People edacious about what they do. Here are my favorites. The episodes where I was firing on all cylinders, where the conversations ran deep. I've included short clips of each as well as my own thoughts on why these talks left me feeling I'd moved monumentally forward on life's short trajectory. All my guests were terrific, but these five most closely represent this podcast's mission. To showcase our food community and give voice to the folks working hard to make sure we eat well. If there is one recurrent theme here it is community because whether it's a beehive, a street festival, a hospital, or a pie shop every one of the folks I talked to strive every day to make sure we are stronger together. Sixty episodes, ho

Pie Work. It's challenging. Never-ending. When you make the product you sell the work never stops. Thankfully, for Rachel Pennington baking is a passion. As a result, not only has The Pie Chest on the Downtown Mall become a first-stop for lovers of all things pie, it has become a safe space. A welcoming place where folks from all different backgrounds can meet, talk, commiserate, and create an environment of good feeling and fellowship. The kind that used to exist before people were so bent over their smartphones. Here instead of capturing a moment with a photo friendships develop over the shared love of a dessert in pastry crust. Rachel came to baking entirely by accident. Bored with her current job, she answered an ad on Craig's List for a baker at The Whiskey Jar. The rest is history. When owner Wilson Richey approached her and suggested, "How about we open a pie shop?" Rachel went for it. With only an idea, a vision, and literally no business plan they spent months in development, getting the proper permi

  Here it is folks. My Golden Fork Awards for 2016! What did I eat that was noteworthy? A lot of stuff evidently. Here are the 10 dishes so tasty I remember them even months later. Which is how I construct the list each year and every year since 2009. It’s not a perfect method, just my own. Let me know what you think. Do you agree? Disagree? What did I miss? Thank you so much for your support, suggestions, and comments. I continue to be astounded and amazed at the amount of food talent in our region. I’m beyond grateful for the opportunities my own version of the “Amsterdam Chess Club” have afforded me. 2016 in Edacious World? Not so bad. I launched a new website, talked with some big names, judged the JBF book awards, won a pie contest. I took my chosen vocation to the next level by just showing up. In launching a podcast I’ve learned so much about our food community, but even more than that I’ve gained insight into my own being which was entirely unexpected. The only resolution I’m making is to continue the

Salt Work. Welcome to an episode that's a "Must Listen!" if you have an artisanal food product or you have any interest in starting a business. Meet Cass Cannon, owner of Peg's Salt, a delicious seasoning salt with a great story attached. Cass didn't set out to become a salt purveyor, but her journey has brought her here. And she's done her homework. Companies like hers are why I started Edacious in the first place. One of her most important tips is to tell your story right up front both on your website's homepage and as part of every sale. Who is Peg? She's Cass's mother who created her special salt, a secret blend of kosher flake and over 25 herbs and spices, back in the 1960's. Cass grew up outside Dayton, Ohio and her mother Peg was a terrific cook. A cook who found Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt lacking. So she created her own, giving it away to friends and family as gifts. Over time, folks began requesting her special salt blend when they ran out. Luckily, Cass got her mother to write down the recipe. And l

Chutney Work. How does a gentleman from Yorkshire who works in marketing for Dance Place in Washington, DC end up making and selling chutney? Like so many food journeys, this one is long and meandering but ultimately full of lessons, challenges, and great rewards. Meet David Hopper of Chutney Ferret Industries, my guest for Episode 57. David grew up in Britain way before English cuisine was coming into its own. Lots of beef. Lots of bland. Lots of brown sauce. Thankfully his gran was a stellar cook, creating gorgeous legs of lamb and pork with crackling skin. A very good thing. Why aren't there more butcher shops selling pork with the skin on here in America? I'm thinking that's something that needs to be remedied! We need suet too. Because you can't make good Christmas puddings without it! Speaking of Christmas puddings, what exactly are they? Another quintessentially British item, a sweet concoction of fruits, nuts, flour, breadcrumbs, eggs, suet, beer, rum, brandy, and spices steamed together slowly for fo

"Recipes for Real Life"-Work. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! In this episode we talk with Elizabeth Stark of Brooklyn Supper, a blog whose mission is creating simple, delicious meals with local, seasonal products. Even on a weeknight! You don't need a fancy copper pot or a million gadgets. These are recipes you will actually make. Recipes like Brown Butter Madeleines and Roasted Winter Squash Enchiladas. Some are her own while others are the work of fellow food writers promoting their cookbooks. Which is great because publishing houses increasingly rely on their authors to be their own marketing departments. Will she ever do one of her own? She's a bit on the fence. It's something Elizabeth would like to do but it's a strange time for publishing. How do you find a new audience while at the same time make something rewarding and lasting for yourself and your readers? Without gimmicks? It's a tall order when food trends run the show. I applaud her steadfastness in wanting to wait until "The Big Magic" happens. Al

Trying something just a bit different. It's a piece of food writing. But it's also a podcast episode. What do you call that? A Blogcast? I don't know. What I do know is I had great fun creating it and I hope you have just as much fun listening. Or reading. Your choice. Happy Thanksgiving. "That pie" recipe is below. Still not sure it deserved an award, but I'm trying to get used to it. Feeling incredibly grateful this November despite the world in which we find ourselves. We actually have a lot to be thankful for. You just have to look a little harder to find it sometimes. But it's there. It's always there. Cheers. Pie Anxiety and Self Sabotage. Plus a Recipe. Or how I finally learned to accept compliments and not sabotage myself every time I experience a tiny bit of success. I used to roll my eyes at Oscar winners. At the way they stumbled to the stage mouthing, “Oh My God,” acting like Bob Barker had just told them to come on down. Eyes a hazy daze as if they never expected this and they didn’t prepare anyt

Real Life Chef Work. "I'm Vivian. And I'm a chef." This is how Chef Vivian Howard starts off every episode of her Peabody award-winning PBS show, A Chef's Life. Being a chef is not glamorous. She wants you to know that. In each episode of the show she presents the real-life triumphs and tragedies behind what it takes to run a successful restaurant. That restaurant being Chef and the Farmer in Kinston, North Carolina which she owns with her husband artist Ben Knight. Owning a restaurant is hard work. A fire breaks out mere months after opening. A customer leaves a scathing review. A beloved sous chef leaves after being part of the kitchen family for years. Ingredients run out. People call in sick. You're cooking for 500 people and the organizers bring you a fryer the size of a saucepan. This is the "glamorous" life of a chef. Not everybody becomes a celebrity. As she says during the interview, "There are more of us than there are of them." Although lately, after four years of an award-winning television progra

GO TO HTTP://EDACIOUS.CO/053 TO PURCHASE THIS EPISODE! Revival Work. Welcome to Sounds of the Summit, a compilation of stories, music, oral histories, and regional food studies collected during the 2016 Appalachian Food Summit in Berea, Kentucky. Back in 2013 or thereabouts, an interesting discussion developed on Facebook. Did cornbread have sugar in it? Or not? There were enthusiastic supporters on both sides, so much so a few enterprising folks decided to create a Facebook group dedicated to Appalachian Foodways. Then someone, maybe food writer Ronni Lundy, suggested we meet and discuss this important issue. Maybe over food. And fellowship. And bourbon. And more food. With those words the first Appalachian Food Summit was born. That first year at Hindman Settlement School we had a church potluck, talked about heirloom seed saving, recorded oral histories, and listened to incredible bluegrass music. The following year saw us in Abingdon, Virginia at beautiful Heartwood, where Chef Travis Milton created a gou

Writing Work. Are West Virginia pepperoni rolls "just" bread and pepperoni? Or is it something more? Food as symbol of Appalachian identity, culture, and pride. Meet Courtney Balestier who used the word "just" as the starting point and focus of her talk at this year's Appalachian Food Summit in Berea, Kentucky where this conversation was recorded. Where most people see just a few ingredients, a simple food easy to dismiss, Courtney sees something ingenious and quite meaningful. Courtney is a James Beard-nominated fantastic new voice in food writing and her thoughts on the devoted followers of the pepperoni roll is a big reason why. Not only did it originate in West Virginia, it's the state food. But unless you grew up there you may not have heard of it. Once you've tasted one? Expect regular cravings. Like other regional favorites there are heated discussions as to what constitutes the proper roll. Cheese or no cheese? Sticks or medallions? No matter your preference, everyone agrees the bread must come from a

Sustainable Work. How does a newly transplanted chef ingratiate himself in what can be a challenging and certainly competitive market? How do you promote a fairly new restaurant when folks are still missing the one that was there before? Meet Chef Jeff Deloff of Threepenny Café who finds himself in this position. Threepenny has been open two years. So why don't more people know about it? What are the special challenges Charlottesville restaurants encounter when they open and how do they stay open? Further, how do you compete with the behemoth The Downtown Mall has become? West Main has its own special charms, but the fact remains when people visit they go to The Mall. Never fear, Jeff loves a challenge and has the stamina, passion, and dedication to overcome these obstacles quickly becoming a resounding refrain in a region like Charlottesville with its ever-growing development and parking difficulties. Threepenny has free parking but what about the rest? One solution is to participate in community events whic

Charlottesville Pie Fest is coming! Are you ready? In this BONUS episode we talk about this beloved competition that has occurred semi-annually in the Fall since 2009 to help area charities. This year's beneficiary is the Crozet United Methodist Church Food Pantry, a feeder for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Meet Brian J. Geiger and Marijean Oldham, Pie Fest founders and aficionados. Pie Fest began with the Pie Down. Back in 2008 during Twitter's infancy, someone innocently asked who made the best pie in Charlottesville. Marijean, of Jaggers Communications, insisted she did and Brian, The Food Geek, countered his was better. Within minutes judges volunteered and a contest was born. Which morphed into a Charlottesville pie revolution and a true grass-roots community event because the contest happened with only 10 days preparation and almost 100 people attended. Who won? You'll have to listen to find out! Both founders have deep food and pie backgrounds. Brian's site, sadly in semi-retirement, covers the scienc

Wine Work. Sometimes in my travels, I meet a person whose excitement and passion for what they do is so all-encompassing I decide I must talk with them immediately. Meet Erin Scala, sommelier at Petit Pois and Fleurie restaurants in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I met Erin during an incredible and completely unplanned experience at Fleurie during the Virginia Festival of the Book. Chef Nora Pouillion, Gail Hobbs-Page, and Martha Stafford invited me to dinner, so of course I said yes. When I observed Erin's enthusiasm for pairing wine with food, I asked her to be on the podcast right then and there. Erin came to the wine world unexpectedly when she started working in restaurants to support a burgeoning career as a drummer. Which ultimately brought her to Fleurie. One day she overheard the chef talking with the distributor about a wine that smelled of olives. This created a spark of interest. After tasting this wine paired with a tapenade, a passion was born. Soon after she was spending all of her extra time and

Bread Work. In France, the boulangerie or bakery is the epicenter of any great neighborhood. Folks stop in daily for fresh bread and pastries, sharing news of the day, making small talk, and commiserating over neighborhood issues. Not just a place to pick up simple, delicious food made with yeast, salt, and water but a gathering place. A community space. Meet Jason Becton and Patrick Evans of MarieBette Café & Bakery who are accomplishing the same thing in the Rose Hill neighborhood of Charlottesville, Virginia. MarieBette just won numerous accolades in the Best of Cville Awards, including "Best Pastry" and "Best Bakery". There's a reason everyone who visits me requests a trip to this great bakery and neighborhood family restaurant serving lunch and brunch. Not dinner because from the moment they started, Jason and husband Patrick made a commitment to be home in time to eat with their children, Marian and Betty, the bakery's namesakes. Jason started in advertising before heading to culinary school and wor

Community Work. Meet Juliet Wiebe-King, head of marketing and social media for East Bali Cashews, a division of Red River Foods. An entirely new type of company with a community-centric business model. Completely sustainable with zero waste and a tiny carbon footprint.  The ultimate in buy local. Gourmet cashew snacks as an economic savior? It's possible. Just ask founder Aaron Fishman. Bali? I'll admit, given my mission and region, when Juliet emailed I wasn't sure. I get a lot of emails from folks selling a lot of products. But then I looked at the website and watched this video. I knew I had to talk with her. Because it's an amazing story. A graduate of UVA, Juliet studied marketing and management and majored in anthropology. Hooray for humanities majors! She is now in charge of sales and marketing for East Bali and a perfect spokesperson to spread their mission of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Red River Foods is a leading importer of cashew nuts in the United States. All of their oth

Healing Work. It's pretty fashionable to be a chef these days. But it's not always about the $40 plate. It's also about the $5 plate and the hard-working chefs toiling to create fresh, healthy, and yes, DELICIOUS food in America's hospitals. Meet Chef Otis Sims and Executive Chef Denis Callinan of UVA Hospital Nutrition Services. Classically trained culinary professionals making sure patients, staff, visitors, and folks in our community are getting the very best, most flavorful, and healthy dishes possible. This is high-level cooking. Have you eaten at UVA Hospital lately? This isn't mushy potatoes, greasy pizza, and Jell-O squares. I'm talking made-to-order shrimp and grits, fried chicken, and barbecue smoked for 18-20 hours on-site! Chef Otis Sims and I talk about how he learned to cook from his grandmother before heading to Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte. "Chef O" as he's known to fans has cooked at Westwood Racquet Club and the Country Club of Virginia before arriving at UVA. He loves putting h

Bee Work Bonus! Experience an apiary through your ears! Last week in Episode 44, we met Amanda Welch of Grubby Girl. Bee farmer and charmer. This week, we're donning our suits and heading out into the field to check on the hives. Because beekeeping is not a weekend hobby. Bees live precarious and fragile lives these days. It takes a lot of work to keep the immune systems of bees thriving and the hives healthy. So if you've ever wondered what an apiary sounds like, join us! Follow along on our journey by using the photographs below. Or if you're listening in your car or on the treadmill, just enjoy the sounds of bees, birds, doggies and the occasional Spring breeze. Trust me, it's good for whatever ails you. I walked away from this experience feeling like I'd just taken a 2-hour meditation class. Favorite parts? I learned what a bee "traffic jam" sounds like. Whether bees are calm or agitated, you can really hear the difference. Did you know each queen has a name? Beatrix was my personal favorite. After taking