Why Food?

Join cohosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Chef Hannah Wong of Van Da, a modern Vietnamese restaurant in NYC's East Village. Before beginning her culinary career, Hannah was a Fulbright scholar and editorial assistant at Harvard University Press. After switching gears and returning to school to pursue a culinary degree at Johnson & Wales, she worked at Daniel Boulud’s dB bistro Moderne and Gramercy Tavern before being tapped to help run the kitchen at Battersby. She has also appeared on Food Network’s Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay. Since 2017 she has been the Executive Chef of Real Food Catering. In March, she and owner Yen Ngo opened Van Đa, a modern Vietnamese restaurant in the East Village. It received one star from Pete Wells in the NYT and was recognized as a Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide.

The holiday season is all about food and community. There’s no better time to show your support for food radio by becoming a member! Lend your voice and help HRN continue to spreading the message of equitable, sustainable, and delicious food – together, we can change minds and build a better food system. Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate  today to become a crucial part of the HRN community.

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Join cohost Vallery for a conversation with Janet McCracken and Joseph Hernandez. We discuss how to balance our time and energy as freelancers, while still working on larger projects that are important to us. 

Over the past 20 years, Janet McCracken has served as an editor, recipe developer, and recipe tester at a variety of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Bon Appetit, and Rachael Ray Every Day. She believes in the zen of pie-making, that ice cream is the perfect food, and that sharing a meal with family and friends is the finest way to spend any part of the day.  She splits her time between NYC and Connecticut. 

Joseph Hernandez is an award-winning freelance editor and writer. He previously served as the deputy editor of food and dining at the Chicago Tribune, senior travel editor at Thrillist, and most recently as senior editor at SevenFifty Daily, overseeing coverage of the wine and spirits industries. A proud Chicagoan, he resides in Brooklyn home with his husband and hedgehog.

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Join cohosts Vallery & Ethan for a conversation with Benjamina Ebuehi, Quarterfinalist of the Great British Baking Show and author of the new cookbook The New Way to Cake. We discuss Benjamina's previous career in education, her competition on the Great British Baking Show and her more recent work, both on the book and with the social enterprise Luminary Bakery.

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Join cohosts Vallery & Ethan for a conversation with Denise Woodard, founder of Partake Foods. Denise had a career with huge corporate food companies but when her young daughter developed serious food allergies, she decided to launch her own allergen-free line of cookies. Tune in to hear Denise's story, and how she wound up with Jay Z as an investor in her company!

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Join co-hosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation about alternative paths to food media. Our guests this week are Majed Ali: law school graduate, amateur baker and winner of the 2018 Saveur Blog of the Year, and Rachel Gurjar: former marketer and Test Kitchen Manager at thefeedfeed. We'll talk about their career paths, translating recipes across cultures and cuisines, and the role of new media in teaching people to cook.

Join Heritage Radio Network on Monday, November 11th, for a raucous feast to toast a decade of food radio. Our tenth anniversary bacchanal is a rare gathering of your favorite chefs, mixologists, storytellers, thought leaders, and culinary masterminds. We’ll salute the inductees of the newly minted HRN Hall of Fame, who embody our mission to further equity, sustainability, and deliciousness. Explore the beautiful Palm House and Yellow Magnolia Café, taste and imbibe to your heart’s content, and bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences and tasty gifts for any budget at our silent auction. Tickets available now at heritageradionetwork.org/gala.

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Join cohosts Vallery and Ethan for a conversation with Klancy Miller and Rochelle Oliver. Klancy is a pastry chef and cookbook author, and her book is Cooking Solo: The Fun of Cooking For Yourself. Rochelle is a journalist and the editor of IslandandSpice.com, an online magazine covering Carribbean cuisine. They'll share the stories of their careers in (and out) of food media and discuss the state of food writing today!

Join Heritage Radio Network on Monday, November 11th, for a raucous feast to toast a decade of food radio. Our tenth anniversary bacchanal is a rare gathering of your favorite chefs, mixologists, storytellers, thought leaders, and culinary masterminds. We’ll salute the inductees of the newly minted HRN Hall of Fame, who embody our mission to further equity, sustainability, and deliciousness. Explore the beautiful Palm House and Yellow Magnolia Café, taste and imbibe to your heart’s content, and bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences and tasty gifts for any budget at our silent auction. Tickets available now at heritageradionetwork.org/gala.

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Join co-host Vallery Lomas for a special conversation with Aaron Hutcherson, a writer, editor, and recipe developer based in New York City. He obtained a master's degree in finance and worked on Wall Street when he decided to take the leap and start an evening and weekends culinary program at the French Culinary Institute. He now works for Robert Parker Wine Advocate and MICHELIN Guide US producing digital content and helping manage social media for both publications, maintains a recipe blog, The Hungry Hutch, Saveur Blog Awards 2019 nominee, and contributes to a variety of other publications on a freelance basis. Previous employers include Tasting Table, Food Network, Food Arts, and more.

Join Heritage Radio Network on Monday, November 11th, for a raucous feast to toast a decade of food radio. Our tenth anniversary bacchanal is a rare gathering of your favorite chefs, mixologists, storytellers, thought leaders, and culinary masterminds. We’ll salute the inductees of the newly minted HRN Hall of Fame, who embody our mission to further equity, sustainability, and deliciousness. Explore the beautiful Palm House and Yellow Magnolia Café, taste and imbibe to your heart’s content, and bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences and tasty gifts for any budget at our silent auction. Tickets available now at heritageradionetwork.org/gala.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Hutcherson.

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Join co-host Vallery Lomas for a special conversation with former attorneys, Nisha Vora & Jessie Sheehan, as we celebrate our 100th episode! These three women all turned in their pant suits and legal pads to focus full time on food writing, Instagram and publishing cookbooks.

Nisha Vora is a cookbook author, food blogger, and food photographer. After graduating from Harvard Law School and working as a lawyer for four years, she launched a career in her dream world of food by creating RainbowPlantLife, a popular vegan Instagram account, blog, and YouTube channel. Nisha is a Californian at heart but has lived in New York City for the last seven years, where she resides with her partner in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Jessie Sheehan is a cookbook author, food writer, recipe developer, and baker. She is the author of The Vintage Baker (one of the Washington Post’s best cookbooks of 2018) and the co-author of Icebox Cakes (both published by ChronicleBooks). She has contributed recipes/and or written for Rachael Ray Everyday, the Washington Post, Better Homes & Garden,Yankee Magazine (October 2020), Epicurious, Food52, FineCooking, TASTE, Chowhound, Yummly, and Spruce, among others. She blogs atjessiesheehanbakes.com and can be found on Instagram at @jessiesheehanbakes. She likes layer cakes with lots of frosting and cookies that are thick and chewy. Oh, and she has a soft spot for chocolate pudding. She lives in RedHook, Brooklyn, with her husband and two boys, not far from her beloved Baked, the bakery where she got her start.

Join Heritage Radio Network on Monday, November 11th, for a raucous feast to toast a decade of food radio. Our tenth anniversary bacchanal is a rare gathering of your favorite chefs, mixologists, storytellers, thought leaders, and culinary masterminds. We’ll salute the inductees of the newly minted HRN Hall of Fame, who embody our mission to further equity, sustainability, and deliciousness. Explore the beautiful Palm House and Yellow Magnolia Café, taste and imbibe to your heart’s content, and bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences and tasty gifts for any budget at our silent auction. Tickets available now at heritageradionetwork.org/gala.

Photos Courtesy of Jessie Sheehan and Nisha Vora

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Join cohost Vallery for a conversation with Kanchan Koya. Kanchan has a doctorate in Molecular Biology from Harvard Medical School and training from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. While studying DNA repair as a PhD student, Kanchan’s lab began studying the cancer-fighting powers of curcumin, the active compound in the ancient spice, turmeric. This sparked Kanchan’s interest in the science-backed health benefits of spices, which she had grown up enjoying on a daily basis in India. Upon becoming a mother, she founded Spice Spice Baby, a platform dedicated to shedding light on the healing potential of spices, demystifying them for a global audience, and inspiring their use in food for the whole family. Kanchan’s recipes are original, eclectic, nutritious, and packed with spice. She is part of the Creators Program at Buzzfeed Tasty creating recipes and digital content for a global audience of millions. Kanchan recently launched the Momlightpodcast and platform helping mothers feel their best using cutting-edge science based food and life style changes.

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Join cohost Ethan Frisch for a conversation with Monica Lozano and Daniel Reza. They're partners and the cofounders of La Rifa Chocolateria in Mexico City, working with Mexican cacao farmers to reclaim their country's ancient traditions of eating and drinking pure chocolate. Hear their stories of starting and building the company, building relationships with cacao farmers in southern Mexico and changing the way that modern Mexican citizens engage with their past.

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