What's it like to be the only person of color in a dining room? Vonnie and Fred are childhood friends and co-founders of The Black Forks, a site created to highlight voices of color in the food world from a millennial perspective. On today’s show we talk about the stereotypes that come with being a black diner, strip club food and how ‘clique-y’ fine dining can be.

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Today's guest is Chris Himmel, owner of three restaurants in Boston and CEO of Himmel Hospitality Group. From the time he worked his first restaurant shift at 12 years old, Chris has been obsessive about sourcing the best ingredients and creating great experiences for his guests at his restaurants. On today’s show we’ll talk about the changes we’d like to see in the restaurant industry and the importance of hospitality.

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Today’s guest is JULIA TURSHEN, prolific writer and the author of two cookbooks: Small Victories and Feed the Resistance. She hosted the first two seasons of Radio Cherry Bombe and has written for Vogue, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Saveur, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more. On today’s show we talk about Turshen’s approach to creating cookbooks and why it’s ok to make food political.

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Bani Amor is a queer travel writer, photographer and activist from Brooklyn by way of Ecuador who explores diasporic identities, the decolonization of travel culture, and the intersections of race, place and power in their work. They've been published in Bitch Magazine and Apogee Journal, among other outlets. On today's show we discuss how race and power impact travel narratives as well as dining and memorable dining experiences Bani has had while traveling.

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Today’s guests are Perla Nieves and Alysis Vasquez, best friends and the founders of Midnight Market, part food event part nightlife event that brings together a diverse group of food and drink vendors, music and literally thousands of hungry and thirsty New Jerseyans Perla has a background in film and Alysis has her own catering company called Chilltown Catering and has been a contestant on Chopped. Perla and Alysis, welcome to A Hungry Society!

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Today’s guest is Kwame Williams, chef and co-owner of Vital Dining in Montclair, New Jersey serving modern Caribbean dishes. He is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and was a participant in the James Beard Foundation’s Boot Camp focusing on food system policy and advocacy. On today’s show we talk about chef Williams’ path to owning a restaurant and what he hopes to see in Caribbean dining.

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Today’s guest is Trish Fontanilla, co-founder of BosFilipinos an organization that creates Filipino and Asian events in the Greater Boston area. Trish grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Boston working with Freight Farms which sells shipping containers that house complete hydroponic growing systems. On today’s show, Trish talks about the importance of dining in Filipino culture, what she hopes to teach diners about Filipino food at her pop-ups and how she feels when she hears food media call the cuisine she grew up with, ‘trendy’.

Tickets for the BOSFilipinos event can be found here.

Today’s guest is chef Galen Zamarra, James Beard award winner and owner of Mas Farmhouse in the West Village, a seasonal, farm to table restaurant that opened in 2004. Zamarra has an extensive fine dining background including being the chef de cuisine at Bouley Bakery when he was 24 years old. Today we talk to him about the changes he’s noticed in fine dining over the years, reopening Mas Farmhouse after a devastating fire last summer, and what he considers when creating dishes.

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Today’s guest is Nicole Taylor, cookbook author, food writer, and former host of the Hot Grease podcast on Heritage Radio Network. Her book The UpSouth Cookbook is part-cookbook and part-memoir telling the story of how Taylor used cooking to reconnect to her southern roots after she moved to Brooklyn. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Saveur, Cherry Bombe, Ebony magazine, and more. On today's show, we discuss Taylor's formative dining experiences, how she feels about the "food appropriation" discussion, and what she hopes to see more of in food media.

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trailer for A Hungry Society, a new podcast series from the Heritage Radio Network