Romy Gill was getting ready to sell her jewelry to finance her first restaurant. As an immigrant to England from India—and a woman—she was finding it very difficult to get a bank loan, but they didn't know Romy Gill. After a BBC feature, she not only got the loan to open Romy's Kitchen, but went on to become a frequent and beloved presence on the radio and TV throughout the UK, write a stunning new cookbook, Zaika, on vegan Indian cooking, and become a mentor to people in the industry who have long been marginalized. While she was in New York City in mid-February, before COVID-19 lockdowns, Gill sat down with her friend Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman to talk about her journey, how cooking has helped her cope after her mother's death, and her dreams to the show she dreams of doing with her dad. (edited) 

Buy Zaika 

https://www.amazon.com/Turmeric-Romy-Gill/dp/1841883050/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=fwpodcastromygillzaika0520-20&linkId=6592d85bb29598be2a8aea04e2fb0076&language=en_US

The F&W Pro Guide to Coronavirus: What Restaurants Should Know

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/coronavirus-restaurant-guide-fwpro

The F&W Pro Newsletter

https://www.foodandwine.com/newsletter-sign-up

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Paola Velez was listening to the James Beard Award finalist announcements hoping for the chance to cheer on some friends and colleagues. She was gobsmacked to hear her own name called out in the Rising Star Pastry Chef category. No one else was surprised. The Kith/Kin dessert master is revered and adored not just for her culinary chops, but also for her thoughtful, forward-thinking, and generous leadership—every day, but especially in times of crisis. Velez spoke with Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman about opening up the kitchen doors to more people of color, dealing with anxiety, and what it really means to serve your community.Learn more about Paola

https://www.instagram.com/smallorchids/Upgrade your chocolate chip cookies

https://www.foodandwine.com/cooking-techniques/chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe-upgrades The F&W Pro Guide to Coronavirus: What Restaurants Should Know

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/coronavirus-restaurant-guide-fwpro The F&W Pro Newsletter

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Buy some doughnuts at Doña Dona https://www.serenatadc.com/donadona

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For months, Food & Wine's Restaurant Editor Khushbu Shah spent every waking (and sleeping) second scouting out restaurants across the United States and Puerto Rico to assemble the 2020 class of Best New Chefs. Just a very short time after her final flight, restaurants all over the country closed their doors—some temporarily and some permanently—as social distancing regulations set in and the coronavirus pandemic threatened the lives and livelihood of millions of hospitality workers. On the day before the BNC 2020 class was announced, Shah spoke with Senior Editor Kat Kinsman to explain what went into her extremely rigorous decision making process, and why she believes that this group of chefs holds the future of restaurants in their very capable hands.Meet Food & Wine's Best New Chefs 2020

https://www.foodandwine.com/chefs/food-wine-best-new-chefs-2020The F&W Pro Newsletter

https://www.foodandwine.com/newsletter-sign-up

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There's a good chance that The Joy of Cooking is somewhere in your orbit, whether it's a vintage edition handed down through your family, a copy bestowed upon you when you moved away from home, or even the newest version that came out at the end of 2019. What many people may not realize is that JOY has been a family enterprise since Irma Rombauer published the first edition in 1931. Now, with more people cooking at home than ever before, it's the perfect time to get to know Rombauer's great-grandson John Becker and his wife and co-author Megan Scott, who spent years stewarding the family's legacy into the modern era. Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman sat down with the couple in a hotel room in Santa Fe, New Mexico while they were still working on the book to talk about the pressures of expectations, their methods for testing and updating thousands of recipes, how they decided what to keep and what to leave to the past, and how they made it look like the America of today.Ode to Joy

https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/books/joy-of-cookingThe Joy of Cookinghttps://www.simonandschuster.com/joyofcookingThe F&W Pro Newsletter

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When it became evident that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to hit New York, Trigg Brown had some tough decisions to make. As the chef-partner of Win-Son and Win-Son Bakery in Brooklyn, he was listening closely for guidance from authorities, but it was slow in coming and he did what he thought was best for his team—including setting up a fund to protect people who were ineligible for help from the government. Brown took time from his intense schedule of prepping for delivery service and being the parent of a newborn to talk with Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman about valuing the people who do the toughest jobs in a restaurant, getting sick himself, and how he distributed the cash to people in an equitable way.  Win-Son Worker Fund

https://venmo.com/Win-SonMore about Win-Son

https://www.foodandwine.com/fwpro/undocumented-restaurant-workers-win-son-coronavirusThe F&W Pro Guide to Coronavirus: What Restaurants Should Know

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/coronavirus-restaurant-guide-fwproThe F&W Pro Newsletter

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Even before COVID-19 laid waste to the industry, mental health and addiction were issues that disproportionately affected hospitality workers. Now with a staggering segment of the population laid off and most people isolated from the routine and people they relied on, things are more dire than ever before. After the overdose of one of her employees soon after the pandemic struck, Ellen Yin of the High Street Hospitality Group joined forces with Gia Vecchio of Foxglove Communications and A Better Life Therapy to offer free Mental Health Series for the Hospitality Industry webinars geared toward the particular needs of people who work in service. Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman spoke with Yin and Vecchio about the decision to do this, and how they're taking care of themselves and others during this difficult time.You can register for the complimentary webinars at the link below, and they will be held on Mondays at 12 ET through May 18. Please follow @forkrestaurant and @abetterlifetherapy on Instagram for continued information on the series. Contact Gia Vecchio at [email protected] with any questions.Workshops, Meditation, and Therapy Support for You

https://abetterlifetherapy.com/mental-health-workshop-seriesMental Health Series for the Hospitality Industry GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mental-health-workshop-seriesHigh Street Hospitality Group

https://highsthospitality.com/Foxglove Communications

https://www.foxglovecommunications.com/The Food & Wine Pro Guide to Mental Health and Sobriety Resources

https://www.foodandwine.com/fwpro/the-food-wine-pro-guide-to-mental-health-and-sobriety

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Some people are just called to a life of service, and Rachael Ray gratefully counts herself among them. When the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation, she didn't have to think twice. She built charity into her business from the very beginning so that her brand would financially support the care and feeding of the people who need it most—as well as the animals who are keeping so many of us from capsizing right now. Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman spoke with Ray about how her non-profit The Yum-o! Organization combined efforts with The Rachael Ray Foundation for a collective $4 million dollar donation for COVID-19 relief efforts, why politicians should take their turn working in restaurants, and how people can look for joy in these uncertain times.

The Yum-o! Organization

https://www.yum-o.org/

The Rachael Ray Foundation

https://www.rachaelrayfoundation.org/

The F&W Pro Guide to Coronavirus: What Restaurants Should Know

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/coronavirus-restaurant-guide-fwpro

The F&W Pro Newsletter

https://www.foodandwine.com/newsletter-sign-up (edited) 

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On a recent press call with the Independent Restaurant Coalition, Bronx-raised chef Kwame Onwuachi pointed out the painful truth that a tiger at the Bronx Zoo was able to get a COVID-19 test, and yet the human beings in his home borough don't have access to that care and are getting sick and dying at a rate much higher than those in Manhattan. The 2019 Best New Chef spoke with Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman about the work the IRC is doing to save restaurants, what he is doing to stay afloat, and why communities of color are being so disproportionately affected by this pandemic.

The Independent Restaurant Coalition 

https://www.saverestaurants.com/

Kith/Kin Staff Support Fund

https://www.gofundme.com/f/kithkin-staff-support 

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John Winterman got fired from his first restaurant job in 1986, and he's been in love with the industry ever since. He honed his appetite for fine dining under the stewardship of Charlie Trotter and Gary Danko, ascended the ranks in Daniel Boulud's empire to become maitre d' at the flagship Daniel, then joined forces with Drew Nieporent's Myriad Restaurant Group to open the 2015 James Beard Best New Restaurant Award-winning Batard as managing partner. Francie—Winterman's first independent venture with chef Chris Cipollone—was set to open its doors in mid-May of this year when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entire industry to a screeching halt. Food & Wine Senior Editor Kat Kinsman got on a call with her longtime friend to talk about the unseen workers who power our whole food system, what needs to change to support them, and if there's still a future for white tablecloth dining.

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