Restaurateur Jen Agg named her memoir "I Hear She's a Real Bitch". We chatted about her mixed reputation at one of her restaurants, Grey Gardens, in Toronto's Kensington Market. Hear her thoughts on being a successful woman in a food industry rife with sexism, misogyny and the bro culture.

I met chef Matty Matheson for this conversation at Parts & Labour in Toronto. He consults on menus when he's in town between Vice TV shoots that take him around the world. His show, Dead Set on Life, has made him a rising star. His TV antics and his recipe for fluffy pancakes have made me a fan.

Street nurse Roxanne Danielson and health promoter Kristen Ireland of the Inner City Family Health Team in downtown Toronto lead cooking workshops for men who are or have been homeless. I attended one of these uplifting, lively sessions at the 519 Community Centre and stayed for a delicious lunch of paella. It was a communal effort and a heartwarming time for all.

Jill, a restaurant server with an acting career, loves her job. It gives her a chance to observe the human condition, have fun and make good money. There are times, however, when guests behave badly and cause frustration all around. This is the real behind-the-scenes story from the front of house.

Chef Michael Lomonaco opened his steakhouse, Porter House Bar and Grill, in 2006. He was executive chef at Windows on the World on September 11, 2001 and survived by pure chance. He dedicates his work every day to the colleagues and friends he lost on that fateful day. Hear him talk about this and his love of cooking.

Mark Kenny, food procurement manager at the University of Guelph, is on a mission to put delicious, nutritious food on thousands of students’ plates. He works with local suppliers and uses the talents of chefs on campus. In addition, he coordinates group purchasing for colleges and universities across the country, thereby extending his mission nationwide.

4 million copies later, Best of Bridge cookbooks are a slice of Canadiana. Eight bridge-playing women friends in Calgary cooked up this idea in 1975. Now, three young ladies are carrying on the tradition with Best of Bridge The Family Slow Cooker. Julie, Elizabeth and I chatted about Classy Chicken, Christmas Morning Wife Saver and Hamburger Soup.

Shawn Adler's father is Jewish; his mother is Ojibway. His new restaurant in Toronto's Kensington Market features Indian tacos: fried bannock crowned with a selection of toppings. He's an upbeat, energetic young man with fingers in many pies.

Brooklyn NY residents Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz are the co-authors of The Gefilte Manifesto. They also operate The Gefilteria: an online service that sells their own brand of gefilte fish. Their mission is to redeem, reclaim and redo this much-maligned Jewish holiday food. And they succeed!

My conversation with Julia Child's great-nephew Alex Prud'homme focuses on her rise to stardom as TV's first celebrity chef. His new book 'The French Chef in America' picks up where their previous book 'My Life in France' left off.