The Main Course

This week on The Main Course, Patrick Martins chats with Todd Haymore, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, who tells listeners about all of the artisanal food and agricultural products coming out of the Old Dominion. Learn how their old world wines are turning heads globally and how an export mandate has helped spread products like peanuts and Virginia Ham across the nation and beyond. Find out what Virginias Finest is all about and how farmland is being lost at an alarming rate. Learn more about the Virginia Department of Agriculture here. Later in the show, hear a state of the union on trucking in this country from Larry Boukal of Cannonball Express. This program was sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards and Sons. Were spending a lot of time promoting our wine industry. Were the fifth largest wine producer in the country right now. Were trying to get these old world style wines in the global marketplace. Were blessed with having millions of acres of farmland in Virginia, but studies show that 100,000 acres a year are lost to development. Once those acres are gone, theyre gone. --Todd Haymore, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry I think taking the drivers off the road from 1-5am [is a bad idea]. Its the most efficient time for truckers to operate on the road. --Larry Boukal of Cannonball Express

Bristol Bay is our nations last great wild salmon fishery but may soon become our largest open-pit mine. Tune in to to The Main Course as Patrick Martins hosts a discussion about the negative effects that the proposed pebble mine would have on salmon fishing in Bristol, Alaska. Find out how sport fisherman and commercial fisherman are uniting to protect Bristol Bay against potential sulfide deposits, acid mine drainage and other threats to the surrounding habitat. Hear from Bristol fisherman Christopher Nicholson, chef Corwin Kave of the Fatty Crab empire, Michael Dimin of Sea2Table and Elizabeth Dubovsky of Trout Unlimited. Learn how you can help by signing a petition to President Obama at www.SaveBristolBay.org. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch. Britsol Bay is the site of the worlds greatest salmon run. Theres a tremendous threat from a conglomerate of mining companies who want to build a gigantic open pit mine right in the head waters of Bristol Bay. --Michael Dimin of Sea2Table on The Main Course Its rare to see commercial salmon fisherman and sport fisherman uniting over a common cause. --Elizabeth Dubovsky of Trout Unlimited on The Main Course The quality of product you can get at a price point you can afford to serve it as is very low...[Luckily], consumers are more educated now and are willing to pay more for something like wild salmon.--chef Corwin Kave on The Main Course

This week on The Main Course, Patrick starts the show by sharing some of Prince Charless inspired speech about agriculture and food systems, The Future of Food. Later on, Harris Damashek and Adam Sirois of Underground Eats bring their alternative dining experience work to the surface. Find out how they pull off their larger than life concept dinners and food events. Also, get a special invitation to Underground Eats by clicking this link. This program was sponsored by Cain Vineyard and Winery. Anything thats not going to a restaurant and ordering off a menu like you have a thousand times before is an alternative dining experience. --Underground Eats on The Main Course

This week on The Main Course, Patrick is joined by The Julia Child of Ireland, Darina Allen. Darina is an award-winning author and runs the world-renowned cookery school at Ballymaloe in County Cork, Ireland, which she founded with her husband in 1983. Tune in to learn more about the 12-week courses she offers at the school and why the first thing she teaches students before working in a kitchen is composting and seed sowing. Find out why nothing compares to Irish butter and hear Darina tell the fascinating story of her family history. Learn more about Darina, the Ballymaloe school and more here. This program was sponsored by Fairway Market. You dont have to go out of your way [to cook good food], just look at whats in your garden. You can make a great meal with just potatoes and cabbage. Take good ingredients, and its so easy to make it taste good. If you start with mass-produced food, then you have to be a magician. The first thing we show our students how to do is sow a seed. Its an important lesson, because they suddenly realize how long it takes something to grow. It teaches them to have a respect for the food. In Ireland we can grow grass like nowhere else in the world because of our climate. The quality of our butter is fantastic because of the grass feeding of the animals. There is a perception that farmers markets are more expensive. Look how much depends on the food we eat. We have to remind ourselves that our food should be our medicine, instead of buying bottles of pills. It doesnt have to be expensive, but you have to be able to cook. --Darina Allen on The Main Course

This week on The Main Course, Patrick Martins takes a break from food and recaps his recent honeymoon and rainforest adventure in Costa Rica. Hear about his experiences with sloths, macaws, tucans and more interesting wildlife. Hear from birdwatcher Jeff Davies about some of the interesting species in Costa Rica including the resplendent quetzal. Also tune in as Patrick chats with Alberto Solis Acosta of Costa Rica Descents, an adventure outfitter specializing in whitewater rafting. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch The best pineapples in the world are from Costa Rica. Brazil has more quantity, but ours are of higher quality. Rainy season is the best time to go rafting in Costa Rica. --Alberto Solis Acosta of Costa Rica Descents on The Main Course We were lucky enough to spot a resplendent quetzal in Costa Rica! --birdwatcher Jeff Davies on The Main Course

Join Patrick Martins on this weeks episode of The Main Course as he sits down and chats with Scott Boggs of Crown Maple Farm. Tune in as they wonder what counts and doesnt count as fast food. What makes Olive Garden any different than McDonalds? Should Chinese food be considered fast food? What are some new accessible restaurant models that could replace fast food as we know it? Also listen as Scott explains his role at Crown Maple Farm and his history at The French Laundry. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch. Right now, were [Crown Maple Farm] the one of most technologically advanced Maple Syrup farms in the country. Now youre seeing a lot of smaller cities and towns that are realizing how important it is to source locally. --Scott Boggs of The Breslin and Crown Maple Farm on The Main Course

This week on The Main Course, Patrick sits down and chats with the head chef of The Fat Radish, Nicholas Wilber. Nicholas talks about the vegetable-first approach he takes at the restaurant and how an incredible cabbage can stand up next to a heritage pork chop. Learn about his football tailgate cooking tradition with Bradford Thompson and hear everybodys Super Bowl predictions. Also hear what Patrick and Nicholas think about farmers markets, Paula Deen and the locavore movement. This episode was sponsored by White Oak Pastures. Even with a dish like our pork chop, the focal point is the vegetable. Organic was a trend that caught on. If people start caring more about sourcing products and farmers markets, youll get better products that dont have to travel so far to get here. --Nicholas Wilber of The Fat Radish on The Main Course

On a lively episode of The Main Course, Patrick Martins is joined by chef and friend of the show Shanna Pacifico, who has just announced shell be leaving Back Forty for Back Forty West, and Zak Kell chef du cuisine at Community Food and Juice. Tune in for a conversation on everything from the culture of destination restaurants to the process of changing venues as a chef. Hear what Shanna expects from her new gig and why shes so obsessed with the cumari pepper right now. Listen as Zak explains what makes his catch of the day so important to him and how he had to make adjustments coming from Clinton Street Baking to Community Food and Juice. This program was sponsored by Fairway Market. Photo 1: Shanna Pacifico, Photo 2: Community Food and Juice The new space [Back Forty West] has three floors, a basement, the main floor and a prep kitchen upstairs. Im in for a challenge. For me, a lot of times its about recreating a dish I grew up with. Im hoping that people go back to carnal eating. --Shanna Pacifico of Back Forty West on The Main Course Anything at any point should be appetizing. The meat should look good off the truck, while Im grinding it, when its on the grill, etc. --Zak Kell, chef du cuisine at Community Food and Juice

This week on The Main Course, Patrick takes listeners to San Francisco with three very important players in the sustainable food movement out West. Hear from Shelley Lindgren, Chef David Taylor of A16 Restaurant and Kip Ramsey, farm to table coordinator of Farmstead. Find out how Bay Area dining differs from The Big Apple and discover what it takes to run a successful Southern Italian food and wine program. Sicilian wine and southern dishes may have been overlooked 20 years ago, but the team at A16 has helped dramatically change the perception of this regionally driven cuisine. This program was sponsored by Cochon555. As somebody once told me, the most important ingredient is often the one you leave out. --Chef David Taylor of A16 Restaurant on The Main Course The hospitality you get in Italy is something we try to re-create at A16. Its our interpretation at being as authentic as you can. Theres always more than one wine option to pair with a dish. Shelley Lindgren of A16 Restaurant on The Main Course

On a special edition of The Main Course, Patrick Martins sits down with food titan Michel Nischan to celebrate his week as guest editor on Food Republic. Tune in to hear a spirited conversation about our food system and the various ways in which we can improve it. Should Wall-Mart be criticized or embraced for going green? How can subsidies be re purposed to promote local and fresh produce? Find out some of the sustainable companies and restaurants that inspire Michel and learn more about everything from Victory Gardens to the role shareholders play in sustainable food. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch. A lot of subsidies that have been given to processed foods give the products an unfair price advantage which is why you can buy fast food much more inexpensively than fresh produce, which we should have 5 servings of a day. In 1949, at least half of the fresh food consumed in the United States came from victory gardens. Then it became more convenient to buy from supermarkets. The only way to get returns at the level shareholders expect is to drive down the cost of goods and labor. Im not freaked out Wall Mart saying they want to go green. Im cautious, but if they put 1-2 million dollars a year into food access issues and trying to make local more affordable you have keep an eye on it. --Michel Nischan of Wholesome Wave on The Main Course