This week on Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart talks with freelance baker Mackenzie Innis about the artistry, logistics, and emotional weight behind her beautiful seasonal cakes.

Mackenzie shares how she moved from fine dining pastry kitchens to building Ceres, a freelance baking business rooted in seasonality, local ingredients, florals, and deeply personal celebrations. She talks about turning clients’ food memories into wedding cakes, sourcing from New England farms, growing flowers in Somerville, and finding inspiration in bakeries, gardens, mythology, and community.

Catherine and Mackenzie also talk about the less-glamorous but essential parts of creative solopreneurship: email, bookkeeping, client communication, systems, structure, and managing a busy brain while running a business.

Plus, they get into Boston-area bakeries, wedding cake etiquette, edible flowers, slowing down, calming kitchen chaos, and why cake can still matter in complicated times.

Not From Concentrate is distributed by PRX and produced by Catherine Smart, with audio and video production by Kevin O’Connell. Associate producer: Allie Miller.

This week on Not From Concentrate, Catherine talks with Alex Fuentes, Head Chef of Special Projects at SingleThread Farm - Restaurant - Inn in Healdsburg, California.

SingleThread is known for its three-Michelin-starred restaurant, five-room inn, and deeply integrated farm led by Kyle and Katina Connaughton. But this conversation goes beyond the fantasy of wine country fine dining. Catherine and Alex talk about what it means to cook at the highest level without recreating the toxic kitchen culture that has defined so much of fine dining’s past.

They also dig into the practical lessons home cooks can take from SingleThread’s philosophy: reducing food waste, preserving seasonal produce, cooking with what is local and abundant, and using Japanese ideas like kaizen — continual improvement — to build more confidence in the kitchen.

Plus, Alex shares what inspires his creativity, why collaboration matters, and how to calm kitchen chaos when your brain is moving faster than your hands.

In this episode:

Guest: Alex Fuentes, Head Chef of Special Projects at SingleThread Farm - Restaurant - Inn
Host: Catherine Smart

Not From Concentrate is distributed by PRX and produced by Catherine Smart, with audio and video editing by Kevin O’Connell. Associate Producer: Allie Miller. Theme music by Kylie Daly.

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Can Fine Dining Be Kinder? Inside SingleThread with Alex Fuentes

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What can home cooks learn from one of the most celebrated fine dining restaurants in the country?

On this episode of Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart talks with Alex Fuentes, Head Chef of Special Projects at SingleThread Farm - Restaurant - Inn in Healdsburg, California.

SingleThread is a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, five-room inn, and working farm led by chef Kyle Connaughton and farmer Katina Connaughton. In this conversation, Alex and Catherine talk about the future of fine dining, what it means to build a more compassionate kitchen culture, and how SingleThread’s farm-first philosophy shapes everything from hospitality to food waste.

They also get practical: preserving seasonal produce, using creative constraints, cooking with what is abundant, and bringing ideas like kaizen — continual improvement — into the home kitchen.

If you’re interested in hospitality, wine country, modernist cuisine, farm-to-table cooking, or simply feeling calmer and more creative in your own kitchen, this episode is for you.

Listen to Not From Concentrate wherever you get your podcasts.

Distributed by PRX.
 Produced by Catherine Smart.
 Audio and video editing by Kevin O’Connell.
 Associate Producer: Allie Miller.

This week, Catherine sits down with cookbook author, photographer, and artist Jerrelle Guy to talk about her beautiful new cookbook, We Fancy.

Jerrelle first burst onto the food scene with her acclaimed debut cookbook Black Girl Baking, but success came with a cost. In this conversation, she shares how burnout, creative pressure, and the constant pursuit of "more" led her to rethink not just the way she cooked, but the way she lived.

Together, Catherine and Jerrelle discuss:

🍅 Why slowing down can unlock creativity
 ✨ The philosophy behind We Fancy
🥄 How small rituals can make everyday meals feel special
📚 The reality of writing cookbooks
🎨 Food as a form of artistic expression
👶 Motherhood, intuition, and trusting yourself
🧠 Why "just because you can, doesn't mean you should"

They also dive into Jerrelle's favorite recipes, including her famous Wednesday Sauce, tiramisu cheesecake, and the simple garnishes that inspired an entire cookbook.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed, creatively drained, or disconnected from the joy of cooking, this conversation is a reminder that abundance often starts with paying attention to what's already in front of you.

Food writer, recipe developer, and longtime meal-planning expert Meghan Splawn joins Catherine to talk about the emotional, practical, and very real work of getting a food budget under control.

After realizing her family had spent more than $32,000 in a year on groceries, dining out, coffee, Costco runs, and food in general, Meghan began publicly documenting her effort to cut that spending in half. In this conversation, she shares why tracking is the first step, how food spending can become tangled up with shame and identity, and why budgeting does not have to mean giving up good food.

Catherine and Meghan talk about impulse grocery buys, ADHD-friendly systems, low- and no-spend weeks, freezer meals, meal planning without perfectionism, and the joy of using up what you already have. They also get into the “sludge of shame,” unidentified frozen objects, pantry roulette, and why a plate of frozen dumplings and edamame can sometimes save the whole week.

This episode is for anyone who loves food, feels overwhelmed by food spending, or wants a calmer, more realistic way to cook at home.

In this episode:

When Indian food is on the menu at Catherine’s house, it usually means ordering dosa, saag paneer, and cauliflower Manchurian from a favorite local spot. But why do so many of us love eating Indian food while feeling intimidated to cook it at home?

This week, Catherine is joined by Auyon and Jyoti Mukharji, the son-mother duo behind Heartland Masala, for a warm, funny, and practical conversation about bringing Indian cooking into your own kitchen.

They talk about:

Whether you’ve always wanted to dust off your spice grinder or you’re simply curious to learn more about the depth and diversity of Indian cuisine, this episode is a delicious place to start.

Subscribe to the newsletter at catherinesmart.com for companion essays, recipes, and more from Not From Concentrate.

This week, Catherine chats with cookbook author, photographer, and recipe developer Alana Kysar about the rich, comforting world of local Hawaii food — and how she transformed some of Hawaii’s most beloved flavors into vegetable-forward recipes in her new cookbook, Aloha Veggies. 

They dive into the cultural influences that shape Hawaii’s culinary identity, and why dishes like katsu, laulau, poke, and plate lunches are about so much more than vacation food. Alana also shares what it’s like to photograph her own cookbooks, navigate the modern food media landscape, and build a creative career that spans blogging, writing, recipe development, and photography. 

Plus:

If you love food, Hawaii, cookbooks, creativity, or thoughtful conversations about cooking and culture, this episode is for you. 

Follow Not From Concentrate wherever you get your podcasts.

This week on Not From Concentrate, Catherine sits down with chef Spencer Horovitz , a 2025 James Beard semifinalist and the founder of Hadeem, a beloved California-Jewish Cuisine concept that's been popping up in San Francisco. 

But this episode goes far beyond food.

Spencer speaks candidly about living and working with ADHD in the high-pressure world of professional kitchens: the burnout, shame, impulsivity, time blindness, and sensory overload — but also the creativity, resilience, and self-awareness that ultimately helped him build a career that actually works with his brain instead of against it.

Catherine and Spencer talk about:

This is one of the most vulnerable and practical “busy brain” conversations the show has had yet — packed with insight for anyone navigating ADHD, creativity, burnout, or simply trying to make dinner without spiraling.

Find Spencer and Hadeem:

Subscribe to the Not From Concentrate newsletter at catherinesmart.substack.com for links to ADHD resources, recipes, and more from this episode.

In this episode, Catherine sits down with journalist and author of Bread and War Felicity Spector to talk about the role of food in one of the most difficult places on earth right now: war-torn Ukraine.

Since 2022, Felicity has been traveling to Ukraine to support grassroots food initiatives—from mobile bakeries feeding frontline communities to chefs creating restaurant-quality meals for soldiers. Her work captures something often missing from headlines: the resilience, ingenuity, and humanity that keep people going.

They talk about:

This conversation is honest, emotional, and unexpectedly hopeful.

Links & Resources

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This week, Catherine chats with cookbook author and food writer Anna Ansari, whose new book Silk Roads explores the rich, interconnected cuisines stretching from East Asia to the Middle East.

Anna’s path to food writing wasn’t exactly linear—she started as an international trade and customs attorney in New York before moving to the UK and finding her way into recipe testing, food writing, and ultimately cookbook authorship. In this conversation, she shares how her background in law, her Iranian-American identity, and her global perspective all shaped the book.

Together, Catherine and Anna unpack the idea of the “Silk Roads”—not as one single route, but as a vast network of trade, migration, and cultural exchange that still influences how we cook and eat today.

They also get into:

Plus, Anna shares her go-to strategies for sparking creativity in the kitchen—and calming the chaos when life (or dinner) feels overwhelming.

Whether you’re a cookbook collector, a curious home cook, or someone who’s ever felt intimidated by unfamiliar ingredients, this episode is an invitation to dig in with curiosity, playfulness, and zero pressure to be perfect.

Catherinesmart.com

Tune in to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

Not From Concentrate team:

Catherine Smart, Host/Executive Producer

Kevin O’Connell, Audio and Video Production

Allie Miller, Associate Producer

In this episode, Nina Gallant pulls back the curtain on the world of food photography: what actually goes into building a shot, how creative careers evolve, and what it takes to turn artistic work into a sustainable business.

balancing creativity with the demands of running a business, building community, and making work that people actually want to pay you for.

We also talk about:

Plus, Nina shares how she sparks creativity (in and out of the kitchen) and the small rituals that help her calm the chaos.

If you’ve ever wondered what goes into the images in cookbooks and magazines—or how to build a creative life that actually works—this one’s for you.

Sign up for the Not From Concentrate newsletter. Follow the Not From Concentrate podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Connect with Nina Gallant:

Nina Gallant’s website

Nina’s Instagram

Not From Concentrate team:

Catherine Smart, Host/Executive Producer

Kevin O’Connell, Audio and Video Production

Allie Miller, Associate Producer