Can small farmers survive the COVID-19 pandemic? NYC’s Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns chef and co-owner Dan Barber joins Billy Shore to discuss how the farm-to-table movement is especially vulnerable right now. “There’s a network of farmers that we’re connected to, whether you know it or not. That network has been shattered,” laments Barber. Left without a way to generate revenue, he fears many of these small, organic farms will declare bankruptcy. “These are the farmers that I most want to protect because if they leave us, a generation of knowledge leaves us, and I don’t think they come back,” he says.

Barber and Stone Barns recently started resourcED, selling food in boxes to give the 120 farmers that supply his restaurants a revenue stream. “We started resourcED in part to create a consciousness through education about the kind of people that produce our food… It’s an opportunity to build a kind of system that is more resilient,” he explains.

Listen to a critical discussion about the importance of supporting the small farmers who have been building a healthier food system.

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How will the COVID-19 crisis transform the restaurant industry? Dirt Candy chef and owner Amanda Cohen and host Billy Shore discuss how restaurants will survive the pandemic. Cohen says she and other chefs are struggling with reopening their restaurants after the crisis has passed. “How are we going to reopen? What am I reopening to? Who is going out? Who still has money to go out in this city? And who wants to go to a crowded restaurant?,” she asks.

She also stresses that the pandemic has clearly shown that the traditional business model for restaurants does not provide enough for workers. “If our workers need charity so badly, maybe owners weren’t doing this right in the first place,” wrote Cohen in a March 26th New York Times Op-Ed. She believes that the restaurant industry needs to make some changes to support higher wages and health insurance for its workers. “If we reopen the same way as we closed, we will have literally learned nothing,” she says.

Join us for this critical discussion about the future of the restaurant industry.

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How are food pantries responding to the COVID crisis? West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH) Executive Director Greg Silverman joins Billy Shore for a conversation about the impact COVID-19 is having on his work feeding New Yorkers on the street instead of in their food pantry. “Sometimes the best innovations happen when you have to make these things on the fly,” he notes. “COVID has, in a sense, pushed us forward on some of the ideas we were already hoping to do to reach more people.”

 The burdens are increased for both customers served by WSCAH and its staff. “It’s hard to navigate the social safety net as fraying as it is in America,” explains Silverman. “We’re also not used to having staff feel that they’re putting their lives on the line.”

 Listen to this important conversation with an anti-hunger activist and leader working around the clock at ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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How do we keep feeding food insecure kids and families during a pandemic? Stacey McDaniel, Anti-Hunger Initiatives Specialist and National Spokesperson for the YMCA of the USA, joins Billy Shore to explain the adaptations and collaborations the Y has undertaken to bring meals to more kids and families than ever before. “Nothing is more fundamental than making sure children have access to healthy meals. It hits all the areas children need nutrition to grow and thrive,” says McDaniel.

 Before the pandemic, the Y was operating 5,200 food sites that served 570,000 kids each year. Today, those numbers have grown significantly. “We know that the demand is increasing… we're seeing just astronomical rises in numbers. We see Y's where every day the number of meals are increasing and the need is increasing,” reports McDaniel. “God bless our school nutrition workers, they have never worked so hard in their lives. I think they are so underappreciated, but they are true hunger heroes stepping up right now all across this country.”

 Join us to hear how one of the foundational rocks of so many American communities is coming to the aid of so many kids and families during this crisis.

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The tragedy and terror of coronavirus struck close to home today upon learning that Chef Floyd Cardoz died of COVID-19 in the New York area yesterday. Floyd was not only a great chef but an amazing champion of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, and so many other humanitarian causes in the United States and India. All who knew him are devastated. He leaves a lasting legacy, some of which you can hear about in his own words on a podcast we recorded last year. We are reposting it as a tribute to Floyd and the goodness he inspired in all of us.

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How will the restaurant industry survive the coronavirus? Chef Jason Vincent (Giant, Chef Special) joins Billy Shore from his home quarantine in Chicago to talk about the difficult decisions he’s had to make as a restaurant owner in these challenging times. Vincent believes the current crisis is putting a magnifying glass on long-standing problems like healthcare. “It's a tough lesson to have to learn in a terrible time, but lots of stuff needs to get fixed,” he says. He decided early on to keep providing health insurance to his employees during the shutdown. 

Vincent is concerned the pandemic may exacerbate mental health issues in the restaurant workforce. “This is when the raw nerve gets exposed… people who don't like being alone, being made to be alone. It gets touchy real fast,” explains Vincent. A father of two young girls, he also worries about what the crisis may do to the mental state of kids. “You see the crinkles on their faces when they hear the word coronavirus on the news. You see their pause after hearing about a ventilator,” he explains.

Join us for this deeply personal and important conversation with an employer, activist and father fighting to help others survive this crisis.

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In today’s timely episode during the COVID-19 crisis, celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern and Executive Director of Student Nutrition Services for the San Francisco Unified School District Jennifer LeBarre discuss the challenges for families and workers and the importance of a federal response. “This is nothing short of apocalyptic,” says Zimmern. “We are incredibly reliant on the federal government right now, at a point in time where many of us have felt a lack of leadership and a lack of empathy for the last couple years.” LeBarre explains how school meals are an essential service for over half of San Francisco public school students. “It is a day-to-day struggle,” she relays. “As this crisis continues, more and more families are going to have to rely on the national school lunch program.” 

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Can you have ‘good food for good?’ James Beard Foundation CEO Clare Reichenbach joins Billy Shore to discuss the role the culinary community plays in driving positive change through food. “Whether it’s celebrity or agency, [chefs] are trusted in a way that is unparalleled, and they literally can help shape public taste and opinion,” says Reichenbach. “I am so impressed by this community. There are so many calls on their time, but the generosity of spirit I see day in and day out is phenomenal,” she continues.

Reichenbach discusses in more depth some of the important issues facing the restaurant industry and the James Beard Foundation, including the #MeToo movement and gender equality. “There’s been a day of reckoning and I don’t see us going back from that… Culturally there’s been a good shift, but actually seeing that shift translate into systemic, structural change remains to be seen,” she cautions.   

Listen in as two leaders of influential food organizations talk about using the powerful currency of food culture to drive social change.

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What are the traits that make a great chef? DC’s new Maialino Mare restaurant Executive Chef Rose Noel joins Debbie and Billy Shore to talk about what it takes to succeed as a chef and a leader. “I’m cooking because I love cooking, so there is not really another option for me,” says Noel. “You don’t fall into this career by mistake because it’s not an easy thing to do… If you don’t love it, you don’t last long,” she continues.

Noel, a chef of Haitian descent described by Danny Meyer as a ‘quiet force,’ has broken barriers in an industry where women of color continue to be underrepresented and thinks more could be done to attract young people from minority communities. “You have to go into the high schools so people know that this is a real career that anyone can do. They have to see that it’s possible and see the path to get there,” she explains.

Enjoy this conversation with a young chef as she reflects on her influences, responsibilities and what drives her success.

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Is wheat the key to a healthy food system? One Mighty Mill co-founder Jon Olinto talks to Billy Shore about the history of wheat and the impacts freshly-milled and sustainably-sourced wheat can have on our health, agricultural systems and communities. “Everybody wants healthy local food systems. The true cornerstone of that is going to center around mills because wheat and flour have infiltrated nearly everything we eat,” says Olinto.

Olinto wanted to ensure that community revitalization was part of One Mighty Mill’s mission. Located in downtown Lynn, MA, it serves as healthy community resource as well as an economic engine. “You know you can’t fix everything at once. But when you start, if you hardwire some of this impact that you know you want to have, it creates a pathway for you to stay true to why you started,” Olinto explains.

Join us for this fascinating conversation with an entrepreneur who is helping to make people, communities and agricultural systems healthier.

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