The Southern Fork

In this conversation, Trey McMillan of Lowcountry Oyster Company shares insights into the world of oyster farming, discussing the significance of location, the transition from fishing to oyster cultivation, and the crafting of the Lowcountry Cup oyster. He emphasizes the challenges and learning experiences in the industry, the importance of sustainability, and the unique flavor profiles of oysters. If you dream about a...

What makes a restaurant make one of Stephanie's best of lists? Well, it is always an equation of passion and details that come together behind the scenes and feel effortless during service. Merci, located in Charleston, SC, ended up being one of her most exciting restaurant visits of 2025, so in this conversation, co-owners Courtney and Michael Zentner delve into the importance of community relationships and their event production ...

Just over the South Carolina state border from Myrtle Beach is Calabash, North Carolina, a small commercial fishing town that's been known for generations, especially for its shrimp. For many beach goers, including many in my family, a trip to the beach wasn't complete without a visit to a fish camp in Calabash. In this conversation, lifelong Calabash resident Chef and Captain Bob Taylor shares insights about his life ...

For this "treat filled" Halloween conversation, Kaitlin Bryant and Mark Ekstrom, co-owners of Auspicious Baking Co. in Savannah, Ga., share their journey from humble beginnings to running a successful bakery with two locations, a wholesale business, and a full-service restaurant, Bread & Butter. They discuss their passion for baking, the evolution of their craft, and power of a just out of the oven chocolate chip cooki...

Tucked into a modest brick building beside the train tracks at the intersection of Bull and Victory in Savannah, Georgia is Late Air. In this conversation, Colin Breland and Madeline Ott, co-owners of Late Air, discuss their journey in establishing a unique dining experience in a city whose culinary community is popping with creativity. They share insights on the importance of intentional dining, the evolution of their...

St. Helena is a storied South Carolina sea island and the epicenter of the rich cultural heritage of the Gullah Geechee community. Morning Glory Homestead is a family-run micro farm on the island, and through the work of farmers Tony and Belinda Jones, the stories of the island become rooted in the very land from which they spring. This discussion highlights the importance of sustainable farming, community education, and the preser...

Within Sushi-Wa's small restaurant in Charleston, SC, there is a joyful sense of peace, anchored in an unlikely friendship where Kazu Murakami and Chris Schoedler have forged a schedule that allows them to joyfully show up to work and enjoy life outside of it too. This conversation explores the intricate world of sushi making, delving into the cultural influences, the joy of culinary exploration, and the significance o...

I have a passion for sustainable seafood, and it's been both an important subject here on the show and the subject of many of my written pieces throughout the years. When I first interviewed Sammy Monsour in 2020, I discovered that we shared this passion, and I've watched as he has really blossomed into a chef leader on this front. Therefore, when I first heard that he and Kassady Wiggins, his wife and beverage directo...

When I first spoke with Chef Michael Toscano in 2017, he and his family were just getting settled in Charleston with the opening of Le Farfalle. Now, seven years later, the chef seems as if he's truly settled into a new rhythm between NYC and the Lowcountry. He and his wife Caitlin currently have four restaurants: the aforementioned Le Farfalle, da Toscano in New York's Greenwich Village, da Toscano Porchetta Shop in C...

Deborah Freeman is the creator of Setting the Table, a multi-award winning podcast exploring Black foodways and culinary history that in 2023 was honored by the International Association of Culinary Professionals as "Podcast of the Year." She's also a colleague in the food writing world, with contributions including to Eater, Condé Nast Traveler, and Garden and Gun, and is the food editor for Richmond's Style Weekly. We sat down vi...

Roosevelt Brownlee lives on the curve of a quiet street in Savannah, GA, the tall stalks of okra in his vegetable garden just visible from the side drive. It's one of many such streets in the port city, and only a few minutes from the old City Market area where he spent his earliest years. But in between those two Savannah addresses, Roosevelt has traveled the world, from France to Africa, the Caribbean to Denmark, coo...

One of my greatest quiet joys is cooking from a well-written cookbook on a weekend night, music on the bluetooth and new scents and tastes filling the kitchen. My favorite cookbook that I've cooked from this year is Latinisimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Country of Latin America by Sandra Gutierrez. Sweeping in its scope, it is an encyclopedia of the home cooking of Latin America today, and each of the hundreds ...

Columbia, SC's Main Street architecture still has much of the charm of a mid-century movie set. There are jewelry stores, restaurants, hotels, and gift shops in buildings that range from the turn of the 20th Century to modern day. Tucked in among the hustle and bustle is Lula Drake Wine Parlor, which eight plus years ago was just another dusty building awaiting renovation. Now it is a gilded lily that comes alive at ni...

Charlotte, NC is one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in the United States. While the city has always looked forward, it was actually founded before the American Revolution and the site of the first US Mint. But in the past two decades, the intense growth and the addition of a light rail system have brought immense changes citywide. In the middle of it all, the Nguyen family has been feeding its community, on...

Over more than half a century as an editor at Knopf, Judith Jones became a legend, nurturing future literary icons such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Tyler, and John Updike. But although I was an English major, I first learned of Judith Jones years later, when I realized that Edna Lewis, M.F.K. Fisher, Claudia Roden, Madhur Jaffrey, James Beard, and, most famously, Julia Child, all had the same editor -- her. Judith celebrated...

Rice was South Carolina's first great agricultural staple. Before the American Revolution, it had already made South Carolina the richest of the 13 original colonies, and Charleston one of the richest cities in the world.  But it did so on the backs of enslaved skilled laborers, most of whom had been kidnapped from the rice growing regions of West Africa. For hundreds of years, they and their descendants built earthwor...

Shaun Brian Sells started life in a two-person tent surrounded by plantation ruins in the flats of Coral Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands. It was in that environment where his love for cooking began– by roaming and foraging through the valley, fishing off his dad's sailboat and cooking for up to eight siblings at a time. Those challenges became the source of his inspiration. At Cudaco on James Island, SC, he brings that inspiration...

Adrian Lipscombe is a native Texan, a chef, an urban planner, and a civic activist, though she prefers the term catalyst. In 2016, she moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin and opened Uptowne Café, a gathering place and a space for her to explore the synergy behind her Southern upbringing, Midwest ingredients and African American culinary history. In 2020, she founded the 40 Acres Project, which seeks to preserve the legacy of...

Although Charleston, SC, has changed a lot, it is still one of the cities in the US with a decidedly European feel. Many parts of it are very walkable, there are cobblestone alleyways and al fresco dining, and lingering over a meal is absolutely encouraged. One of the best places to linger this time of year -- or anytime really -- is Malagón Mercado y Tapería. Juan Cassalett is the executive chef and co-owner, and alth...