Speaking Broadly

Through her profound connection to her people and land in Apex, North Carolina, cultural preservationist Gabrielle Eitienne shares the importance of place and the power of archiving the wisdom of your community. Says Eitienne: "I was working in the food industry, I was doing pretty well. I had just gotten a really cool job offer and was climbing this ladder that on paper looked really good to me. I also felt that the real work that...

Seeing people adversely affected by not planning for more resilient futures, both in the face of climate change and in the face of inevitable economic change, has shaped Briana Warner's entire career. From working with the US Foreign Service as an undergrad to now running Atlantic Sea Farms, Bri has sought out solutions today that will make for a better tomorrow. Right now she's throwing all of her energy into growing kelp with the...

Lindsay Hoopes went from working with Kamala Harris on tough cases to taking over her father's Napa Valley winery, which is a job twist she never saw coming. As the CEO at Hoopes Vineyard, she's navigated challenges as complex as those she encountered as a lawyer back in San Francisco. When the 2017 fires blanketed the grapes with smoke, Hoopes had to choose whether to compost the year's crop or find a way to save it. Her move to s...

Chicago chef Beverly Kim has forged a path marked by independence and an acute sense of fairness. Growing up, she heard murmurs of disappointment from her traditional Korean parents about not being born a boy (her name was already picked out: David). Beverly set out for culinary school to prove her worth and worked in some of the best restaurants in Chicago including Charlie Trotter's. It was there that her sense of fairness was aw...

Humble, powerful, visionary hotelier Mary Celeste Beall shares her unique perspective on grief, growth and parenting six years after her beloved husband Sam died in a tragic ski accident. Beall took over running the legendary Blackberry Farm resort and has navigated how to stay true to Sam's legacy while creating a vibrant future that includes an exciting new venture, Blackberry Mountain.

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Effusive, funny, game-changing, Rose Previte is an award-winning restaurateur who has expanded our knowledge of international street food at Compass Rose as well as with Caucasian, North African, and Middle Eastern dishes at Maydan. She shares details of her highly anticipated new projects including Go There Wines, which highlights the wines of lesser-known wine-making regions including one of her favorite places on earth, Georgia:

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"I worked 16+ hours a day and still had to go home and work because I have a family. So there wasn't enough time for me to sustain myself as well as do all the things for all the people. And I realized that one day while walking to work. I never will forget it. I sat down at my computer around 7:30 in the morning and started to read emails. I got to one from my boss and I started a new thread titled "Resignation." This is how Chris...

Rose McAdoo uses desserts to tell bigger stories. From making crepes on a volcano summit while backpacking solo through Africa, to decorating cakes with men serving sentences for life without parole, to creating a self-portrait dessert on an icy precipice in Antarctica—Rose uses sugar to understand the depths of human connection. Hired to cook at base camp at McMurdo Station, the United States Antarctic scientific research station,...

Artist, activist, founder of C.U.R.B., Candace Thompson will change the way you see the natural world around you—if you're ready to pay attention. Candace's trained looking and researching includes an appreciation of spontaneous urban plants, known to many of us as weeds. "Those plants are the ones that are adapting to be able to survive and some of them are wild crop cousins to the plants that we eat everyday. Like black nightshad...

Shenarri Freeman's vegan soul food at Cadence has lit up New York City—her rolled, fried lasagna was a classic from day one. Yet her success was unexpected. Freeman left a restaurant job in Times Square during the pandemic and was ready to quit the industry altogether when fate intervened and she got a job which led to a series of life-changing events. Listen in to learn about the power of serendipity, the magic of remedial herbs, ...

Through her successful catering company, Great Performances, Liz Neumark has become a powerful advocate for social justice issues in NYC. Listen in to hear how Liz stepped up to help the city feed homebound elderly during the pandemic; launched The Sylvia Center to teach kids about food and cooking; and is steeping herself in issues important to the Bronx community after moving her headquarters there.

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Chef and author Zoe Adjonyoh is one of the most vocal and visible advocates for Ghanaian food. This position made her uncomfortable for a long while. At the outset, as a third culture kid in London with an Irish mother and Ghanaian father, she even asked herself if she was appropriating her own culture. She only had a small repertoire of dishes she learned from her reticent dad. Eventually a trip to see relatives in Ghana cleared u...

Decadence has gotten a bad name, and Claire Olshan is ready to rehabilitate it. Olshan launched DADA Daily to "make you feel great about snacking, about eating, about entertaining, about being decadent on a daily basis." Listen in as she shares how she went from reluctant art gallery salesperson to founder of a game-changing fashion retail shop (Fivestory) and most recently to creator of a maximalist lifestyle brand. How maximal, y...

In part four of the Speaking Broadly coffee series, Boss Barista podcaster Ashley Rodriguez shares her thoughts on aspects of the coffee industry that deserve more attention: past-crop coffee, pay transparency for farmers and baristas, why the coffee narrative is centered on do-gooder American importers, along with clever tips on how to make latte art and pull the perfect espresso. Listen in for insights from a barista with a broad...

For part three of the Speaking Broadly Coffee series, host Dana Cowin talks to Rupa Bhattacharya, the head of content for Cometeer, a newly launched company that sources beans from revered roasters (like the godfather of specialty coffee George Howell), makes a strong brew, then flash freezes it in tiny recyclable aluminum capsules. Is this the future of coffee? Listen in to hear about how Cometeer creates a startlingly consistent ...

In part 2 of the ongoing coffee series, host Dana Cowin speaks to Malaysian-born Chi Sum Ngai, co-founder of Coffee Project New York. Cowin asks a lot of questions about coffee basics and gets an education in return—no surprise since Ngai not only runs several coffee shops and a roastery, but is also a quality expert (a certified Q grader, which is kind of like being a Master Sommelier except for coffee) and helps run a training ce...

Inspired by the proliferation of great coffee, Speaking Broadly host Dana Cowin kicks off a short series on the Third Wave and beyond with Helen Russell, co-founder of Equator Coffees. Helen launched Equator in 1995 with Brooke McDonnell, her partner in life and business from their home in Marin County, CA. Passionate and entertaining, Helen talks us through the recent history of coffee in the U.S., discusses the role of sourcing a...

High on the Hog is an extraordinary documentary that is destined to re-shape our understanding of the African American influence on food in this country. Based on Dr. Jessica B. Harris's book of the same name, the Netflix series is essential, honest, moving, painful and joyful. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Karis Jagger and Fabienne Toback, the show's producers, give listeners behind the scenes insight into the production; f...

Yasmin Khan, a long-time human rights activist, is the author of Ripe Figs, a book focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean — part travelogue, part cookbook, part meditation on the notion of borders in the 21st century. On the pod, we discuss the refugee crisis, what we can do as individuals and as a society to address the issues, and reasons for hope. "I've really grown to understand that there isn't some kind of (new) refugee crisis...