Radio Cherry Bombe

“I’ve been incredibly surprised by where my career has taken me,” says Amanda Cohen, chef/owner of the vegetable-focused Dirt Candy restaurant in New York City. “I never would have expected it would take me to Congress.” Earlier this week, Amanda testified before the Small Business Committee of the House of Representatives on behalf of the Independent Restaurant Coalition. Amanda is part of the leadership of the IRC, which is  working to get Congress to pass the $120-billion Independent Restaurant Revitalization Fund. We talk to Amanda about her work on behalf of the 500,000 independent restaurants and 11 million restaurant workers in the U.S., as well as the steps she’s taking to keep her own restaurant alive. She also updates us on Lekka Burger, the Tribeca fast-casual spot she’s involved with, her thoughts on food media, and why she’s not moving back to her native Canada any time soon. 

Thank you to the folks at Breyer’s CarbSmart and Sonos for supporting today’s show. 

Also, tune in to find out why Brooklyn-based pastry pro and gelato enthusiast Maya Peredo thinks Lokelani Alabanza of Saturated Ice Cream in Nashville, Tennessee, is the Bombe. 

“I have for a very long time seen that the world was unjust,” said Ianne Fields Stewart, actor, activist, and founder of The Okra Project. “To me, the solutions seem simple.” Ianne, a Black queer nonbinary transfeminine New York-based storyteller, wanted to do something about Black Trans People experiencing a lack of community, family, and food insecurity. The result was The Okra Project, a collective that pays Black Trans chefs to make home-cooked, healthy, and culturally-specific meals. “The joy of looking at someone who’s cooking a meal for you, who’s chosen you, and to see a piece of yourself in them—there is nothing more beautiful and powerful,” said Ianne. The Okra Project has expanded to include cooking classes, grocery funds, and more, and Ianne’s big goal for the group is to one day have a brick-and-mortar location for its community. 

Ianne joins Chef Tiffani Rozier, the host of the Afros + Knives podcast, for a special edition of her show on Radio Cherry Bombe. All month long, Chef Tiffani will be speaking with Black women at the intersection of food and social justice about their life, their work, and their organizations. 

You can find Ianne on Instagram @thefreeactorvist and @theokraproject.com. Host Tiffani Rozier can be found at @cheftiffanirozier and @afrosandknives. Be sure to subscribe to and support Afros + Knives wherever you listen to podcasts! 

Thank you to the folks at Traeger Wood Fired Grills for supporting our miniseries. Visit traegergrills.com for more. Traeger has also made a donation to support Kia Feeds The People, an initiative by @kiacooks to fight hunger and food apartheid by supporting the Black and QTPOC community in Brooklyn.

Award-winning pastry chefs around the country have been furloughed or let go from their positions as restaurants struggle to deal with the ramifications of the coronavirus. “It doesn’t matter if you won a James Beard Award. It doesn’t matter if you are the most visible figure on a restaurant staff,” says Natasha Pickowicz. “At the end of the day, I think pastry in restaurants and fine dining restaurants is at a critical juncture.” Natasha, one of the most celebrated and visible pastry chefs in New York City and well-known for spearheading an annual Planned Parenthood bake sale, lost her job and has been busy processing and responding to the shifting realities around her. She and host Kerry Diamond talk about her two new initiatives, The Bake Sale Project resource-sharing platform, and the Never Ending Taste pop-up at Superiority Burger in NYC this weekend, as well as the success of the Bakers Against Racism project. 

Thank you to the folks at Breyer’s CarbSmart and Sonos for supporting today’s show. 

Plus, stick around to hear why Pooja Bavishi, the founder and CEO of Malai Ice Cream, thinks Padma Lakshmi is the Bombe!

Welcome to the first episode of the Afros + Knives mini-series on Radio Cherry Bombe, hosted by Chef Tiffani Rozier. Afros + Knives is a weekly podcast and media platform created by Tiffani that features Black women who work and lead in food, beverage, hospitality, food justice, and food media. “I launched Afros + Knives because I wanted to hear the stories of women who worked in food and look like me,” said Tiffani. “Over the past 15 years, I had always noted the absence of their voices.”

For the next four weeks, Tiffani will be talking to women at the intersection of food and social justice. Her first guest is Jocelyn Jackson, the creative force behind Justus Kitchen, an initiative dedicated to creating love and liberation over shared meals, and co-founder of People’s Kitchen Collective, the Oakland-based organization nourishing souls, feeding minds, and fueling a movement. Tune in to hear about Jocelyn’s organizations and the work they’re doing, her time in West Africa, and more.

Be sure to check out Afros + Knives wherever you get your podcasts and visit afrosandknives.com for more about Tiffani and the show.

Thank you to Traeger Wood Fired Grills for supporting both the Afros + Knives miniseries and the work of Kia Feeds the People. 

To follow the individuals and organizations mentioned in this episode on Instagram, visit @afrosandknives @cheftiffanirozier @justuskitchen @peopleskitchencollective @kiacooks @traegergrills @cherrybombe

Catina Smith was looking to create a sisterhood of Black chefs in Baltimore when she had the idea to launch a calendar to raise money and awareness. The photographer came up with the name and a movement was born. Today, Just Call Me Chef is a close-knit group that highlights and uplifts Black women chefs through professional networking, mentorship, and more. We sat down with JCMC founder Cat to hear about her plans for expanding nationally, her vision for a “historic” Just Call Me Chef conference in 2021, and what’s next for her life and career. Cat’s worked in “every crevice of culinary,” as she describes it, and she’s about to give birth to her third child! Listen for ways that you can help Just Call Me Chef achieve its goals and mission. Visit justcallmechef.co for merch and donation options and to be notified of the upcoming membership enrollment.

Thank you to the folks at Breyers CarbSmart and Sonos Move for supporting today’s show. You folks are the Bombe!

Stick around to hear why Tracey Tisdale-Richardson, co-founder and CEO of Lillie’s of Charleston, thinks Kardea Brown, host of Food Network’s Delicious Miss Brown, is the Bombe!

Top Chef recently crowned Melissa King the winner of Season 17 after an epic showdown in Italy. As a returning finalist from Season 12, Melissa competed among the fiercest group of All Stars yet. She snagged both the $250,000 prize and the Fan Favorite award. It was a powerful moment for Melissa, a freelance chef and proud representative of both the LGBTQ+ and Asian-American communities. Melissa joins us to talk about her win, how she’s changed in the six years between her two Top Chef appearances, and how she’s building her business with intention and community in mind. We also talk about those small-batch sauces of hers that sold out in literally two minutes.

Thank you to Breyers CarbSmart for supporting this episode.

Plus, tune in to hear why Akua Kyerematen Nettey, the founder and CEO of Berry Bissap, thinks her mentor and food biz wiz Allison Ball is The Bombe!

Photo by Nicole Weingart/Bravo

The restaurant industry almost broke Pastry Chef Paola Velez during the early days of her career, but her passion, drive, and sense of self worth have won out time and time again. Over the past two weeks, Paola, on furlough from her job at Kith/Kin in Washington, D.C., has channeled her energy and optimism into a project called Bakers Against Racism. This humble bake sale, founded by Paola, Pastry Chef Willa Pelini, and Chef Rob Rubba, was meant to give professional and home bakers a way to join the fight for Black lives, but it has exploded into a global phenomenon, with chapters around the world and sales underway on five continents, 17 countries, and more than 41 states. Tune in to hear about Paola’s life and career, and how both have turned her into a passionate activist who uses baked goods as a vehicle for protest.

Stay tuned to hear why Auria Abraham, founder of Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen, thinks chef Airis Johnson is the Bombe.

Today, we’re celebrating Cha McCoy, Cherry Bombe’s new Beverage Director. We’re dipping into the archives for Cha’s two appearances on Radio Cherry Bombe. First, you’ll hear her powerful talk from our 2019 Jubilee conference, titled “I Am More Than Moscato,” which covers discrimination in the hospitality and beverage industry. For the second half of the show, we’re revisiting her 2018 Radio Cherry Bombe appearance, which was our number one show of that year. Cha was named to the Cherry Bombe 100 and the Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 for her work creating accessible tasting room experiences, The Communion, and she is the founder of the grassroots project, United We Taste, which brings together beverage professionals from around the world. Cha has made it her mission to make the wine world a more inclusive and diverse place, and to celebrate a variety of producers, products, and regions. We’re so thrilled to have Cha join our team, and we hope you are too. Cheers to Cha.

Thank you to the folks at Breyer’s Carb Smart and Cypress Grove Cheeses for supporting this episode of Radio Cherry Bombe.

We’re not airing an episode of Radio Cherry Bombe today. Instead, we’d like you to take the time you spend listening to our show and seek out new voices, in particular food podcasts by Black women. Some suggestions: Afros + Knives by Tiffani Rozier, The Food Truck Scholar by Ariel Smith, the Pro Food Maker Podcast by Mercedes Gosby, A Hungry Society by Korsha Wilson, and Dinner for One by Sutanya Dacres. There are many, many others and we’ll be seeking them out and listening as well. If you know of other Black female-fueled food podcasts, please share them on social media and tag Cherry Bombe so we can learn and share as well.

“I know that when I go back to ‘working normally,’ I will not live the same way that I used to,” said Kristen Kish, reflecting on the past few months. “I’ve learned an incredible amount… just by being still.” Kristen is the winner of Top Chef Season 10, author of Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques, and the executive chef at Arlo Grey in The Line Hotel in Austin, Texas. Radio Cherry Bombe host Kerry Diamond caught up with her to hear how she’s doing, what she’s cooking up, and her takeaways on Mental Health Awareness Month and Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, as both come to a close. 

Thank you to Breyers CarbSmart for supporting this episode. 

And find out why singer-songwriter, event producer, and hospitality professional Hillary Capps thinks Nicole Jardim, author of Fix Your Period, is the Bombe.