Heritage Radio Network On Tour

Seth Cripe of Anna Maria Fish Company gives an acceptance speech as a winner of the Fish Category at the Good Food Awards. Cortez, Florida native Seth Cripe is a self-described bottarga nerd and celebrated Napa Valley wine maker, who several years ago began making his own American bottarga right here in his hometown.

Damaris Ronkanen of Cultura Craft Chocolate gives an acceptance speech as a winner in the Chocolate Category at the Good Food Awards. Chocolate has been a part of Damaris’ story in some form or another for most of her life. When she was a kid, she would visit her grandparents in Mexico where her grandma made the best champurrado (chocolate atole) and mole sauce in town. It was dishes like these that made Damaris passionate about food and cooking.

Courtney Mailey of Blue Bee Cider gives an acceptance speech at the Good Food Awards. Blue Bee Cider, Virginia’s first urban cidery, received a 2017 Good Food Award for its Harvest Ration reserve dessert cider.

Nadia Hubbi of Sweet Pillar gives an acceptance speech as a winner in the Good Food Awards Pantry category. She is the founder of Sweet Pillar & Co., a California-based company selling chocolate covered dates and traditional ma’amoul cookies artfully crafted in the same way her Syrian grandmother used to make them.

Clay Oliver of Oliver Farm gives an acceptance speech as a winner in the Oils Category at the Good Food Awards. The Oliver Farm located near Pitts, Georgia in Wilcox County is a family owned and operated working farm. Since 2012 the farm has been recognized by the state of Georgia for being a centennial farm; a farm owned by the same family for 100 years or more. Originally purchased in 1903 by Daniel Henderson Watson, the farm is currently owned and operated by the fifth generation of the same family.

Shakirah Simley of Bi-Rite Market speaks at the Good Food Awards.

Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth and environmentalist leading the fight to protect tribal land claims and preservation, speaks about the importance of protecting traditional plant breeds, such as wild rices, and waterways, including her work against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Caity interviews Alice Waters, chef/founder of Chez Panisse and creator of the Edible Schoolyard program, and Cal Peternell, Chez Panisse chef and award-winning cookbook author. Topics include: Edible Schoolyard, grassroots change in the food movement, and Manoomin wild rice, on the menu at Chez Panisse in partnership with Honor the Earth and supporting the Water Protectors at Standing Rock.

Entrepreneur, environmentalist, and philanthropist Nell Newman, a pioneer in sustainable agriculture and founder of Newman's Own Organics sits down with Caity (over wine and charcuterie) to discuss the Good Food Awards, what it means to be a sustainable food producer today, and how to support sustainable economies in the future.

Heritage Radio Network and Full Service Radio were at the scene at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Food History Gala as chef Rick Bayless was presented with the second ever Julia Child Award from the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. HRN Producer-at-Large Jack Inslee spoke with chef Rick Bayless and Eric W. Spivey, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Julia Child Foundation. Tune in to hear how Julia influenced Rick's career and what the award means to him!

from the Julia Child Foundation website:

Many Americans may know Rick Bayless from winning the title of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters, beating out the French and Italian with his authentic Mexican cuisine or from his highly rated Public Television Series, Mexico–One Plate at a Time, which wrapped its 11th season. In 2012, Rick was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Best Culinary Host.
Rick has written nine cookbooks. His second book, Mexican Kitchen, won the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook of the year award in 1996, and his fourth book, Mexico–One Plate at a Time won James Beard Best International Cookbook of the Year award in 2001. Fiesta at Rick’s spent a number of weeks on The New York Times' bestseller list.
Rick’s side by side award-winning restaurants are in Chicago. The casual Frontera Grill was founded in 1987 and received the James Beard Foundation’s highest award, Outstanding Restaurant, in 2007. The 4-star Topolobampo served its first meals in 1991. The wildly popular, LEED GOLD-certified, fast-casual Xoco has been around since 2009, serving wood-oven tortas, steaming caldos, golden churros and bean-to-cup Mexican hot chocolate. Rick’s quick-service Tortas Frontera have changed the face of food service at O’Hare International Airport, while Frontera Fresco has brought Frontera flavors to several Macy’s stores and Northwestern University. In May 2016, Rick opened Leña Brava and Cruz Blanca Cervecería.
His award-winning Frontera line of salsas, cooking sauces and organic chips can be found coast to coast.
Rick and his staff established the Frontera Farmer Foundation in 2003 to support small Midwestern farms. Each year, grants are awarded to farmers for capital improvements to their family farms, encouraging greater production and profitability. To date, the Foundation has awarded nearly 200 grants totaling nearly $2 million. In 2007, Bayless and his team launched the Frontera Scholarship, a full tuition scholarship that sends a Mexican-American Chicago Public School student to Kendall College to study culinary arts.
In 2007 Rick was awarded Humanitarian of the Year by the IACP for his many philanthropic endeavors. Rick has received a great number of James Beard Award nominations in many categories, and he has won seven: Midwest Chef of the Year, National Chef of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year, Who’s Who of American Food and Drink, Best Podcast, plus two for his cookbooks. The Government of Mexico has bestowed on Rick the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle–the highest decoration bestowed on foreigners whose work has benefitted Mexico and its people.
Rick recently played a sold-out 5-week run on stage at Chicago’s Looking Glass Theatre, where he created “Cascabel” – offering theater goers the story of a meal, told through flavor, memory, song, dance and amazing physical feats.