Edacious Food Talk for Gluttons

The very last Edacious podcast. Thx for the food, drink, laughter, memories. Thx for being a conduit Cville, RVA, DC and everywhere else me and my truck Serena went. Thx for the lessons. Be well, Remember to allow. Join me. Here's what next. It's EPIC!

This is it, y'all. The last Edacious episode. Which is also the first HAG episode. An ending which is also a beginning. Just like life. Thank you for the memories, the laughter, and the lessons. See you at hagthebook.com on August 22nd, 2020. Big Love, Big Love, Big Love. Allow, Allow, Allow.

Maybe the most important podcast I've ever produced. Addiction in restaurant culture. In an environment whose very premise is dedicated to serving others, how do we take care of ourselves without the emotional blankets of alcohol, drugs, sex, work, shopping, chaos, rage, you name it? How do we help each other remove those blankets and begin to feel and work through the complicated feelings that come with running and working in the food industry? How do we help our own? Ben's Friends is figuring it out. My conversation with Carrie Neal Walden of the Atlanta Chapter confirms we absolutely need this in Charlottesville. Sooner rather than later and you guys know why. No need to spell it out, if you know what I mean, you know what I mean. If you don't? Ask your local food industry professional, because until we start talking about addiction in restaurant culture, it will not get better. Our discussion topics are listed below. Also stay tuned for my very biased and giggly review of our local AquaFloat facility. It's pretty fucking epic and a much better tool than that after work shift drink. Addiction is a chronic disease, but if you have the right toolbox full of stuff, and some community that understands, it becomes just one more facet of the shiny diamond you are. Be well my friends. Big Love. Chaos. It's the new cocaine. Living in the present. Be here now. Don't "catastrophize" and predict a horrible future. You know how addiction ends. How about trying the other story? Aren't you curious? It's okay to say no and offer an alternative instead of saying yes all the time. It's okay to say yes, but not right this minute. Is restaurant culture different from other job cultures? Is it an Island of Misfit Toys? Setting boundaries. Parenting yourself. Restaurant culture and its peculiar habits, some that still exist. Why Ben's Friends is NOT AA. At all. A group of restaurant people that want to get and stay sober and they want to help other folks do the same. Not anonymous. Round table open-discussion format. Once a week meetings in 16 cities. Topic based peer-support discussion. What do you do if you're 2 weeks sober but your friends aren't? What boundaries do you set for yourself? What other industries could this model translate to? Handling your shit. To live sober, you've got to have connection. Anthony Bourdain Sean Brock Mocktails Food delivery system impacts everyone. We're all a hot mess. Shame is a useless emotion. Take it and turn it into something to help another person. It'll make you feel better. Sober Curious. What is it? Perception and Awareness. Being able to look at yourself from outside yourself.

Welcome to Episode 122! No guest this time because all y’all are running around like crazy people anyway. Putting up greenery and buying shit because you think if you don’t get Aunt Gladys a singing gingerbread man, she’ll give you the stink eye. You know what? She will anyway, save your money. DO YOURSELF this holiday. I see your gutter minds you dirty birdies, but I ain’t talking about bedroom eyes under the mistletoe. I’m talking about expectations and perceptions. What would YOU do if Christmas was the way YOU wanted it and not the way you THINK you wanted it? You’re allowed to do that you know. Pretend your life is a movie and you’re playing the part of you and if you win the Academy Award this year, that mythical SELF LOVE will finally materialize and throw itself about you like a fabulous new cashmere shawl. Why not? Nothing else has worked to this point. Or maybe it has but just hasn’t lasted long enough for you to notice. In any case, treating self-care as a game, and a movie and a pretend play, where you try out shit and see what works, is a damn sight better option than buying a bunch of bath bombs and wine. Your mind is occupied and OMG you might even have a little fun while you’re trying to fix that voice inside which says if you don’t have potato rolls on the table for Christmas, your neighbor will think you’re a whore. We talk about that in this episode. Take it easy my friends. No one is behind you with a clipboard ticking off your every imagined failing. You’re fine. We’re all a mess. Big Love. http://edacious.co/122

Authenticity, intuition, and perception in a world full of rigid expectations. Meet Heather Carlucci, medical intuitive, former NYC pastry chef and restaurant owner. All-around badass Glamazon. She did all the things in food: pastry, savory, consulting, teaching, appearances on Good Morning America and Iron Chef. You name it she probably tackled it with edacious-ness. But five years ago she made a huge change...because something told her there was something more. This is one of the most authentic conversations I’ve ever had on the podcast. A perfect representation of what I want this medium to be. The fact destiny brought me to a medium as the first guest of Edacious 2.0? Feels great in my soul. I can’t imagine a more tremendous beginning, and I’m so grateful to Heather for donating her time. One not to miss. Big Love everyone. Embrace your inner Woo-Woo. Just one way I stay edacious! Rabbit holes we traveled down: Authenticity Not Being Defensive Accepting all parts of yourself Zero fucks Cultural and societal expectations Restaurant culture now vs. 20 years ago Workaholics The importance of rest Trauma Work Ego Mind/Body Connection The importance of LANGUAGE (hard vs. challenging) Validation Does This Matter? We're All A Mess Fuck It! Ease

The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Edacious, as well as the What's Next. There will be food. There will always be food. What the hell happened? Find out in this "Catch-Up" episode. So much life, I had to take a minute. Not a bad thing. Reflecton and solitude are essential in order to love yourself. To know yourself. To know what works and what doesn't. When you act from your center instead of reacting to outside forces, the ripple effects, the connections created, are much more powerful. I needed that for myself and for my work which is also my art. I've also decided I fucking hate show notes so if you want to discover the magic of Edacious, you just better go on and hit SUBSCRIBE at the purple podcast app on your phone. Or not, makes no never mind to me. But I'm saving the writing for the book I just finished. That's on the podcast too. Stay edacious folks. Especially for yourself. I know it's hard. Pro tip: feel the feelings, don't BE the feelings. Trust me on this one. Big Love from Edacious, a true Connection Initiative.

What is The Farmer’s Shadow and why is it important in making a great wine? Welcome to a reflective, thoughtful conversation with Emily Pelton of Veritas Vineyard & Winery. In wine there is truth. Emily’s truth lies in this concept. Being present with the grapes on a daily basis, tasting, tasting again. Walking the rows. Taking the time and doing the work rather than trying to rush and fix mistakes later. Wine and how it grows over time both on the vine and in the bottle. The pride you feel when you look at a bottle you grew yourself, the product of many hands and many months of work and careful care. The grape farmer’s finished product. Just like a produce seller is proud of her prized tomatoes, a winemaker feels the same for her wine. As Emily says, wine isn’t just a product on the shelves, every piece is carefully curated before going into the bottle, just like a chef curates a plate of food. Taste varies among different years, but also among each individual row. It’s the winemaker’s job to taste constantly, sometimes daily. To be present to determine which row will be blended best depending on weather conditions, the age of the vine, and the current condition of the soil. Winemakers are grape farmers after all. How will this rainy year be salvaged? The news isn’t as dire as you think. Emily sees the challenge as a learning experience and she will use the knowledge she’s gained from past years to create something beautiful. California winemakers are actually jealous since most of the time they endure extremely dry conditions and water shortages. The grass is always greener and the winemaker has to be able to assess what they have rather than long for conditions on the other coast. Veritas is a family business with deep roots. Although working with family on a daily basis can be challenging, a major amount of trust is an important component. No micromanaging your daughter, your aunt, your brother because everyone has the same end goal. A business that started with a dream Emily’s parents had of owning a farm. A dream Emily followed when she gave up a career in infectious disease to move to Virginia where she quickly fell in love with grape farming and pursued a degree in oenology. Again, being present and aware to what your soul’s purpose needs to do. It’s not just wine! Veritas offers amazing food, a gorgeous space for special events, and The Farmhouse bed and breakfast with a prix fixe menu which changes depending on what is in season that day. Emily actually works closely with Chef Andy to create perfect pairings for each vintage. Again, an example of taking time. Being present. Not focusing on filling the space with weddings and loading up tour buses. Honesty and truth. Winery first. The rest is just extra. In this winter season of reflection, I can’t think of a better way to kick off 2019. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did creating it. In vino veritas.

Happy New Year! Welcome to a special edition of 3dacious, a bi-weekly compendium of the top 3 regional Foods I Forked, Cool Collaborations, and events I'm excited about, but will probably miss because I'm already snuggly in my recliner with a hot tea and a lapful of cats. This week? My Best of 2018. The top three of everything. Television that filled my heart with hope and made me guffaw, food I inhaled like a ravenous bear, and the best of the best in this year's podcast conversations. Stories of triumph and survival. Stories that showed me the strength of the human spirit, stories that made me cry, stories of community, and just damn good stories. It was hard to pick only three from so many folks who took time out of their busy lives to share, but here they are. If you had to pick just three to represent a year of great development and change, both in my world and the world at large, this would be a pretty stellar start. I rant about how well-meaning folks sometimes say stupid things, the importance of knowing your value even if your paycheck doesn't match it, and express wonder and gratitude about all the talent and magic happening in our amazing community. I hope wherever you are this holiday, that you're happy and well and understand that no matter what happens, everything will be okay. Because it will. Thank you to everyone courageous and gracious enough to share their stories and congratulations to all the winners. I'm so excited for what lies ahead. Because if 2018 was any indication, it's going to be tremendous. Be well. Do good. Big Love. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Support this podcast! Be Edacious! Patreon is EDACIOUS about supporting creators, helping each one achieve a sustainable income through monthly sponsorship. Thank you to my Edacious Sponsors, who donate so I can save up for a new desk and chair. Because currently, my ass is sitting on the floor ;) Help my back. Click the link. Subscribe. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait sometimes for days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute

Happy Holidays everyone! In this special episode of Edacious - Food Talk for Gluttons I go off-script. But no worries, there’s still food. Everything starts over food. When I was a young woman with big dreams, travel was a requirement. Still is. So I worked three jobs, saved some money, and lived on a friend’s couch in Glasgow until the only thing my bank statement showed was enough cash for fare back to the airport. I had a lot of time to write. To think. I brought my favorite books for inspiration, one of which was Paul Auster’s Moon Palace. My favorite book by my favorite author. In a fit of crazy WTF I wrote him a letter of gratitude. To my utter astonishment, he wrote back. My happy tears covered the note and to this day I still use his monogrammed notecard as a bookmark. The day my father told me over a very staticky, barely audible, public phone box line that my favorite author had taken the time to encourage me in my work was one of the happiest in my life. So this holiday, I want to share Auster’s brilliant storytelling with you. I first heard Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story in the movie Smoke, directed by Wayne Wang and written by Auster. Harvey Keitel does an amazing job. I can’t even pretend to approach that but it felt important this year to share my favorite Christmas story with all of you. To actually TELL a story. Out loud. Because all of the best stories are done that way. Oral storytelling is a lost art and one my father does so well and has all his life. This Christmas it felt important to do that too. To carry on family tradition. To use this podcast to share Daddy’s legacy, where a simple joke can take 20 minutes and involve standing up and using a lot of gestures in an attempt to bring the listener into the action. I hope I’ve done that here in some small way. If not, search Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story on YouTube and watch Keitel in action along with Wang’s brilliant direction. Couldn’t include Tom Waits in this, I’m probably already in trouble with the Copyright Police, but I hope you enjoy it wherever your travels take you. I wish you much peace, good food, and of course, heaps and heaps of BIG LOVE. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Support this podcast! Be Edacious! Patreon is EDACIOUS about supporting creators, helping each one achieve a sustainable income through monthly sponsorship. Thank you to my Edacious Sponsors, who donate so I can save up for a new desk and chair. Because currently, my ass is sitting on the floor ;) Help my back. Click the link. Subscribe. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait sometimes for days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute

So you’ve got a great recipe for Italian gravy and want to start a food business? Well, it’s way more than throwing it in a jar and sticking it on a grocer’s shelf. There are many hoops to jump through and tests to pass before that dream becomes a reality. Meet Yvonne Ham of Nona’s Italian Cucina. A story full of love, comfort, the safe spaces grandmothers create, and all the different forms heart health can take. This is not your typical pasta sauce folks. This is REAL ITALIAN GRAVY. What’s the difference? First taste and you’ll know. True Italian gravy is thicker, the cooking process longer and slower. Flavorwise? No comparison. The essence of tomato with an unctuousness, a comforting meatiness. But this sauce is vegan, gluten-free, allergen-free. Just San Marzano tomatoes imported from Italy, fresh herbs, and classic spices. There’s also sweetness, but no sugar here. That’s just supreme tomatoes expressing their flavors. The story behind Nona’s Italian Cucina is as great as the gravy. Yvonne learned the recipe from an Italian neighbor, a grandmother who acted as both friend and mentor while she and her military family were stationed in Naples. It was Yvonne’s first time abroad and she felt so out of her element, but Nona took her under her wing and not only taught her cooking but showed her how to navigate this new world. Nona became a part of the family and when The Hams returned 12 years later, Nona was there to greet them once more. Yvonne is now carrying on her tradition, feeding people and connecting to folks within her own community. Even though Nona is no longer with us, Yvonne knows she’s watching and guiding Yvonne with her blessing. And I know she’s just so proud. I first tried Yvonne’s gravy at The Charlottesville City Market, where she’s been sampling and selling and getting the word out for some time. Now she’s begun the next step of the journey. Store shelves. You can find Nona’s Italian Cucina at The Charlottesville City Market, The Spice Diva, Nourish Louisa, Market Street Wine, and Blue Ridge Bottle Shop in Crozet. What happens when you’ve just started your food business and a major health scare manifests right out of the blue? You keep going. This happened to Yvonne and her story is not only a tribute to her strength and resilience but also to her commitment to caring for people and her community by feeding them good food. Healing yourself, learning your own value, by connecting and caring for others. A deep soulful lesson for all of us and one we can all learn from. Part of that commitment is future initiatives with the American Heart Association, maybe a fundraiser or a consciousness-raising about advocating for your health and finding your voice. Working to eradicate food deserts. Cooking classes. Whatever Yvonne plans, count me in. She’s a beautiful human being with an amazing product I’m honored to promote and eat, as much as I can. Our lunch lasted almost 6 hours, a leisurely stroll of food and conversation in the true Italian style. Dolce Far Niente. The sweetness of doing nothing. An Italian way of life that everyone should get behind. Often. Happy holidays everyone. May your own table be as comforting and healing as this conversation was for me. Mille Grazie, Yvonne. Your gravy is amazeballs! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Support this podcast! Be Edacious! Patreon is EDACIOUS about supporting creators, helping each one achieve a sustainable income through monthly sponsorship. Thank you to my Edacious Sponsors, who donate so I can save up for a new desk and chair. Because currently, my ass is sitting on the floor ;) Help my back. Click the link. Subscribe. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait sometimes for days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute

Happy Holidays everyone and welcome to another episode of 3dacious, a bi-weekly compendium of the top 3 regional Foods I Forked, Cool Collaborations, and events I'm excited about, but will probably miss because I've already taken my Tylenol PM. This week? I rant about my hatred of cookie swaps and think aloud about smiling. Why women are told to do it, and not do it depending on the situation. Plus my recommendation for binge-watching over the holidays. A lovely, sweet sitcom from Australia called, "Please Like Me." Yes, folks, Edacious is WEEKLY. Because it’s never just about the food. Be well. Do good. Big Love. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Support this podcast! Be Edacious! Patreon is EDACIOUS about supporting creators, helping each one achieve a sustainable income through monthly sponsorship. Thank you to my Edacious Sponsors, who donate so I can save up for a new desk and chair. Because currently, my ass is sitting on the floor ;) Help my back. Click the link. Subscribe. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait sometimes for days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute

Why is the dishwasher the "a**hole" of the restaurant? Who is the Duner Lunar? Who is Lil’ Skittles? Just a few of so many vital questions we tackle in Episode 114 with Chef Laura Fonner of Duner's in Ivy. As you can see from the important issues listed, our conversation was lively and warm. Much like a visit to Duner’s, where since 1983 owner Bob Caldwell and his staff have served up warm food and ambience to locals and tourists alike. Only open Wednesday to Sunday. With a menu that changes daily. A place where a person can be a regular. A place where you feel taken care of. A true neighborhood establishment. A combination becoming increasingly unheard of in such a competitive food region. Their oldest waitress has worked 30 years. The rest of the staff have been there at least 15. Again, something unheard of in an industry where revolving doors are common. Why the longevity? One reason is Owner Bob, who allows kitchen staff to spread their wings, experiment, try out stuff. He trusts them. Which means their incredibly large menu changes on a dime. That yummy thing you ate 3 weeks ago? Laura probably doesn’t remember. This variety keeps staff from getting bored and it turns customers into regulars. Because it’s a different restaurant every night. Working in a kitchen takes a toll. There are 16-hour days. Backs get injured. There are scars and bad knees and plantar fasciitis. Laura almost died giving birth. She experienced terrible physical and emotional pain, but survived with a renewed sense of reflection and purpose, eventually finding solace in her work once again. Cooking on the line. Feeding people. All of it has made her a stronger person and a better chef. Laura shares this amazing story with me, speaking with such courage and vulnerability. I’m honored and grateful to have heard it. Part of Chef Fonner’s continued self-care is giving back to the community. Organizing weekly shelter meals through PACEM, working alongside Charlottesville Women in Food, has shown her that having your dream job, feeding people and hanging out with friends, can also be shared within a bigger arena. As Laura says, not all of us have a lot of time. But we all have a little bit. Put all those little bits together and you have quite a lot. Contact Laura Fonner at Duner’s if you’d like to help serve, or have a food or monetary donation. Let’s spread some of that upbeat feeling around as much as we can. Being around Laura’s energy for an afternoon helped me understand why she and her kitchen staff work so well together. Because it was all just so damn much fun. Cheers. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Support this podcast! Be Edacious! Patreon is EDACIOUS about supporting creators, helping each one achieve a sustainable income through monthly sponsorship. Thank you to my Edacious Sponsors, who donate so I can save up for a new desk and chair. Because currently, my ass is sitting on the floor ;) Help my back. Click the link. Subscribe. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait sometimes for days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute Be well. Big Love.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and welcome to another episode of 3dacious, a bi-weekly compendium of the top 3 regional Foods I Forked, Cool Collaborations, and events I'm excited about, but will probably miss because I'm in my jammies. This week? The Little White Party 2018, a restaurant with a milkshake that's a part of my DNA, a turkey pot pie to DIE for and I get all mushy about friendship and gratitude. Plus my recommendations for binge-watching over the holidays. Yes, folks, Edacious is WEEKLY. Because it’s never just about the food. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Support this podcast! Be Edacious! Patreon is EDACIOUS about supporting creators, helping each one achieve a sustainable income through monthly sponsorship. Thank you to my Edacious Sponsors, who donate so I can save up for a new desk and chair. Because currently, my ass is sitting on the floor ;) Help my back. Click the link. Subscribe. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait sometimes for days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute Be well. Big Love. What brand of special food porn is this? I guess you'll just have to listen, won't you? Wishing you health, pie, and BIG LOVE. Happy Turkey Day!

Welcome to Episode 112 of Edacious and a conversation about success. How that doesn’t necessarily mean having your own show or managing a bunch of line cooks. Meet Chef Trish Clinton, chef for Zeta Psi fraternity at the University of Virginia. Yes, it’s a thing. Yes, I had questions. And yes, she manages a team but instead of checking mise en place, she’s guiding her group of 45 young men into being better, self-actualized individuals, using food as a starting point. “I’ve done tweezer food. I didn’t get the reward that I get from this.” I met Trish at one of the first Charlottesville Women in Food gatherings and was eager to find out what a typical day is like for a chef in charge of feeding 45 hungry young men every single day on a tight budget. How she has to make do, get creative, work with what she has in front of her. Make magic. Being a single mom, she uses a lot of the same skills. Her menus are planned to the penny. Just like a Mom with 45 kids needs to do. Trish is a self-taught chef who started her cooking career at the esteemed Blackberry Farm in Tennessee. Yes, you heard right. THAT Blackberry Farm. The story of how she went from baking dog treats in her kitchen to that multiple-award-winning-no-pressure restaurant is inspiring and a testament to her positive attitude. What’s it like to cook for a large group of people as opposed to being in a restaurant? Like catering but not. The math is different. The menu planning too. Trish does it all. Menu planning, budgeting, stocking, cooking. No sick days because if she doesn’t make the food, those boys don’t eat. “You are everything. You’re the dishwasher. You’re doing the inventory. It’s like running a small restaurant where you feed 90 people a day.” Food waste is a constant concern, something she uses as an example to teach Zeta Psi, who often have eyes bigger than their stomachs. Come-to-Jesus moments about the value of a food dollar happen on the regular. Trish is a Mom Away From Home, teaching Zeta Psi about food, laundry, even running a dishwasher because as part of her contract, the boys are responsible for cleanup. Every Fall there’s a new crop of boys who eat her out of house and home and need to be told where the “ON” button is. “I received a note from one of the parents that said, ‘You are the best Rent-A-Mom ever.’” And this ain’t fish sticks. How about roasted pork tacos with sherry pickled red onions, jalapenos, and a jalapeno cream sauce? Trish is teaching Zeta Psi not just food, but cuisine. “I specialize in Dude Food and stuff you’d want your Mom to make.” How has being a frat house chef made her a better mom? What about #MeToo? I’ll admit when I first heard what she did all I could picture was Animal House. We talk about this perception at length, and Trish’s answers are both surprising and incredibly enlightening. Bottom line? Those boys are in good hands. This week, Chef Clinton will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner for her boys, complete with stuffing, and pumpkin and pecan pies. We should all be so lucky. Thanks, Rent-a-Mom! May your Thanksgiving be as filled with delicious as theirs is going to be. Be well. Big Love. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Support this podcast! Be Edacious! Patreon is EDACIOUS about supporting creators, helping each one achieve a sustainable income through monthly sponsorship. Thank you to my Edacious Sponsors, who donate so I can save up for a new desk and chair. Because currently, my ass is sitting on the floor ;) Help my back. Click the link. Subscribe. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait sometimes for days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute Be well. Big Love.

Welcome to another episode of 3dacious, a bi-weekly compendium of the top 3 regional Foods I Forked, Cool Collaborations, and events I'm excited about. This week? An overnight wine gathering that was also a homecoming, a ceviche to die for, and a rant about why I'll never apologize for the number of books I own. Yes, folks, Edacious is WEEKLY. Because it’s never just about the food. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Welcome to a conversation about perception. Because whether you believe vinegar is a supreme condiment or an item best left to the depths of your dusty pantry shelves, whether or not you think all Norton wine should be vinegar, or whether you’re still under the perception acid is a secondary notion when it comes to flavor profiles, my talk with Jay and Stephanie Rostow of Virginia Vinegar Works is not one to be missed. And I cannot even believe I just typed out the words “flavor profiles”. But here, and rightly so, acid is a flavor that is king. It’s the brightness, the lightness, that extra kick at the back of your throat on top of a fatty dish heavy with butter, that zing which makes your taste buds cry out. Acid elevates every other flavor in a dish. I still say, “Gild the lily...” to myself when I spritz lemon juice or vinegar on just about every prepared dish in my kitchen, even though the source of the quote, a chef known for his Orange crocs, still turns my stomach. Because that’s what acid does. It adds gold to golden. It adds more to more. Virginia Vinegar Works vinegars are definitely more. Hand-crafted using the centuries-old Orleans Method at a small warehouse in Shipman, Virginia using wine the Rostows select themselves. Consciously and carefully, using their decades of winery experience. These guys understand terroir. They also understand in order to make great vinegar, you start with great wine. That particular conversation between producer and vintner sometimes requires a bit of counseling. After all, no craftsman wants to be told their wine isn’t just right. In the early days, phones calls often ended abruptly, but over the years, perceptions changed. Now vintners call them. And for good reason, because the Rostows just won four medals in their first competition. “You can’t make a really good vinegar out of a really bad wine.” Perception. Using face-to-face connection to sell rather than relying solely on big box stores. The Rostows do it all from production to bottling to selling, which helps tell the story of their business, something so important when you exist in a virtual sea of artisanal food products. “We don’t like to waste anything. It’s part of our business. If we can take some wine that isn’t going to make the grade for minor reasons, those are the wines we’re going to take...Those are the ones we’re going to work with...The vinegar that comes from that is going to be delicious.” How is a vinegar maker like a farmer? How does being married affect the business? Why is most balsamic vinegar you find in the store fake? What about their 2012 vintage? When will it be ready to taste? All this and more. Give a listen then get you some. Pour it liberally. Taste the terroir. Elevate your taste buds. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Welcome to another episode of 3dacious, a bi-weekly compendium of the top 3 regional Foods I Forked, Cool Collaborations, events I'm excited about, and as an extra special extra this week? My conversation with Lilia Fuquen of Virginia Humanities. I-Collective and UVA are partnering with Virginia Humanities to offer the 2-day symposium: Our Evolving Food System: From Slavery to Sovereignty. Which starts TOMORROW, October 17th. Two days of fun talks, roundtable discussions, cooking demonstration, and a lunch by Native American chefs using foraged ingredients and cooked with ancient methods. Now THAT'S both an event and collaboration not to be missed! Stay tuned next week for my conversation with Stephanie and Jay Rostow of Virginia Vinegar Works. Yes, folks, as of October 4th you will get your Edacious fix WEEKLY. New day, new digs, new attitude. Hope you’ll join me on the next leg of this journey of connection and community. Because it’s never just about the food. Stay Edacious! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Welcome! In this episode of Edacious, we meet a former magazine art director turned baker. A man who used the skills acquired in his old career to set the look, feel, and intention for his current one, creating a new community in the process. I became acquainted with Brian Noyes of Red Truck Bakery when I wrote about him a few years back for Unite Virginia magazine. Flash forward to a farm dinner at Caromont where we became fast friends. It was SUCH a treat to sit with this busy man and talk. About cake, pie, the people we've met, and what it means exactly to take that extra step of care, whether it's writing thank you notes to customers or making sure that cake on your plate is the best you’ve ever had. Brian’s attention to detail is so evident from the art on the walls to the sprinkle of salt atop the focaccia on my ham sandwich. Before we met he sent me a “How Do You Do?” cake! This level of curation makes every customer feel cared for whether they’re enjoying a Dutch streusel crumb apple pie at the shops in Warrenton and nearby Marshall or ordering a double chocolate cake to send to a loved one. I believe it stems from his previous career as an art director for the Washington Post, House and Garden, and Smithsonian magazines, among others, where an eagle eye is paramount to success. Red Truck has won accolades from Garden & Gun, The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, and countless others. With good reason. His Shenandoah apple cake brought tears to my eyes. And it’s not just pies and cakes. Both locations offer breakfast and lunch with muffins, biscuits, sandwiches and countless other goodies. His celebrated granola is the only cereal my picky friend will eat. I still dream about that sandwich and Brian’s chocolate cake is a constant request at family get-togethers. There are guaranteed future honors because the Red Truck Bakery cookbook comes out October 23rd! It’s a destination bakery. Folks travel from as far away as Florida. So the cookbook is not just about recipes, but a feeling. The story of a place. What it’s like to work and bake and live here in our part of the South. I cannot WAIT to make his okra pickles and pepper jelly and all the rest of the stuff that makes me loves Southern food the most. How did all of this begin? Flashback many years when Brian and his partner Dwight bought a farm, which of course needed a truck to make it complete. Brian found a beautiful candy apple red 1954 Ford F-100. Little did he know the seller was Tommy Hilfiger. To feed his creative passions, Brian started making jams, loaves of bread, and pastries, selling them at local farmer’s markets. When Marian Burros profiled his wares in The New York Times a small business quickly turned into a larger one with a readymade logo perfectly suited to the theme of “Rural Bakery”. Word spread quickly, so quickly they could barely keep up with demand. Brian found a space, some investors, and developed the look and feel for the bakery, of course making that beloved red truck the centerpiece. He eventually expanded to Marshall, adding a lunch counter to a historic mercantile space. It’s four times the size but once again, retains that homespun, friendly, country feel. All relating back to that red truck. His expertise is a result of his training at CIA, L’Academie de Cuisine, and King Arthur, all of which Brian completed while working as art director. Former President Barack Obama considers Red Truck’s Sweet Potato Bourbon Pecan Pie his favorite. A hand-delivered letter hanging in the shop says so. Robert Duvall cut the rope on the Marshall store. Tom Hagen and Sonny Corleone had lunch there once. Literally, half of The Godfather just eating sandwiches. Wow! You can order online for shipping through Goldbelly, but everything is baked and handled in Red Truck kitchens. Brian still looks at the orders himself, signs the card, and makes sure every order goes out perfectly. Which at Thanksgiving and Christmas can mean thousands of orders. He will only ship mincemeat pies because fruit pies don’t ship well. Pies and cakes are seasonal to keep it fresh. Ingredients like apples, peaches, moonshine, and sorghum are sourced locally and selected carefully. What happened when Brian agreed to made madeleines for Jacques Pépin and his daughter Claudine? What happened when his moonshine cake was profiled by The Today Show right before Christmas? What happens when weather threatens but you’re a nationally-recognized bakery with orders that still need to arrive on time? How do you keep your business going with skilled staff when you live and create in a small town? Is the revitalization of Warrenton and Marshall a blessing or a curse? Did Brian help art direct the cookbook? You’ll just have to listen. Then buy the Red Truck Bakery cookbook when it comes out October 23rd. Brian’s story has so much connection to it, how a chance meeting led to an opportunity, then another, and another. Just love that. Almost as much as I love that Shenandoah apple cake. Stay edacious! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

OMG what?! Yes, it’s ANOTHER new segment here at Edacious that’s a reconfiguration of a newsletter I created last Spring. Instead of quippy-quip words it’s the-closest-I-can-manage-to-dulcet tones for your ears. Who am I kidding? I’m more Becky from Roseanne than Terry Gross. Nevertheless here it is, a bi-weekly compendium of the top 3 regional Foods I Forked or events I’m excited about (but probably missed because I’m old and tired), cool collaborations I can’t wait to crow about, and as an extra special cinnamon roll this week? That comment I made on Instagram. It’s all here in the October 4th edition of 3dacious. Stay tuned next week for my conversation with Brian Noyes of Red Truck Bakery in Warrenton and Marshall. Yes, folks, as of October 4th you will get your Edacious fix WEEKLY. New day, new digs, new attitude. Hope you’ll join me on the next leg of this journey of connection and community. Because it’s never just about the food. Who created the foods in the pictures? You’ll have to listen to find out. Stay Edacious! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to the 3dacious newsletter! - The Top 3 listings for food writing, events, and food I forked delivered weekly to your inbox with minimal fuss in a nice and neat to-go package. Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Tribute Work. With Much Grief and Gratitude. Yet another tribute. On September 16th La Taza closes its doors. They’ll be having a huge party to celebrate and I encourage you to get there as soon as your little feet can carry you. Because La Taza rocks. La Taza is badass. La Taza is a motherfucking motherlode of brunch and camaraderie goodness and I’m sad as hell that it’s closing. Because La Taza has been my go-to for coffee, breakfast, and deep soulful insights on a patio that is people-watching heaven for a decade. On a recent Saturday morning, the city market was a zoo. Panic attack inducing crowds of folks looking to stuff their maws with artisanal delights and stuff their tote bags with Sunday supper produce. But La Taza was quiet. Just the regulars. Eating, reading the paper, sipping coffee, discussing life’s big questions. Just how I like it. Just like this. It’s becoming so I’m writing so many obituaries for beloved restaurants I’m starting to feel like the Dave Attell of restaurants. Check out his Facebook page. You’ll see what I mean. Funny man, maybe the funniest comedian alive, but Lord, he’s worse than my grandmother with the death announcements! There I go. Digressing again. Trying to distract myself from the very real white privilege pain of losing another place where I’m a regular. I realize in the grand scheme of things, especially with a hurricane possibly barreling down on us, this doesn’t mean much. Or does it? When community spaces like La Taza close in favor of multi-unit condo high rises and newfangled restaurants with clever concepts from big corporate companies, what are we left with? Will these new places allow us to sit and stare at the street on a hot summer day? Contemplate our next steps? Or will they give us the side-eye and tell us to move along please, pay your check, because we have to turn this table now. Like now. Right now. How can community spaces, restaurants like La Taza, be a source of comfort and steadfast solace during difficult times? Places where you know the name of the waitress, you always order the same thing, and they don’t mind if you sit over your coffee afterward for three-plus hours? What are those places to you? Sure in coffee shops they don’t mind if you nurse a cortado all afternoon (ick, not sure why you do that, oh stop it monkey mind), but in restaurants? It’s rare. And becoming rarer. To me, during a time this summer when my whole world blew up in an instant, places like La Taza offered an oasis in the storm. A place where you know what to expect, you know what will happen, and you know you will be back. Often. Because it’s that sense of comfort that makes you a regular. In places like La Taza, I have business meetings, spend hours brainstorming in a notebook over a cheap cup of coffee, or just meet a friend to vent about the difficulties ahead. In places like La Taza, I come to life realizations, I share laughter with friends, pour over a challenging year ahead with someone very close to my heart, or just stare into space and watch the people walk by. Usually with dogs. It’s very Parisian actually. And Italian. In places like La Taza, with its Guatemalan cuisine diner service, I am allowed to celebrate the concept of dolce far niente. The sweetness of doing nothing. In places like La Taza I’m allowed to just be. I get that Melissa Easter is allowed to sell and close and move on with her life. BELIEVE me, today, on the cusp of making a huge life decision myself, I get this. People change. People move on. But I’m allowed to grieve a little bit. Yes, change is the only constant. All you can change is your attitude towards it. Your perception of it. I just hope the new owners will get to know the community first. Take a minute. Don’t shoehorn some glamorous concept into a space that has been a source of comfort and steady presence for so many. For twelve years. Get to know your guests, the folks who loved La Taza. I’m already worried upon hearing they’ll be expanding to the space next door. Which means they’ll have to fill more tables, which means they might have to turn them over quicker. And on and on and on. But I’m catastrophizing. Something else you do in grief. Perhaps this restaurant death hits me closer to home, hits me a little harder because I did find out about it so suddenly. While buying a soda in Belmont market with a friend the proprietor said, “Isn’t it a shame about La Taza?” And just like that, my steady anchor in my Summer Storm of Sudden Changes went poof. That’s gone too, Jenée. Surf the wave. Surf the wave of your life. Here’s the Hurricane Florence that will finally upend everything so you finally surrender. Ride it. And I promise things will settle down soon. You’ll find another La Taza. And when that one closes, you’ll find another. Because while this kind of restaurant isn’t always the most glamorous or the most desired when it comes to investors, there’s always a need for it. A place to gather for as long as you like. A place where folks ask after you. Like Castiglia’s in Front Royal, where the food is Italian, the chef is Mexican, and the Russian waitress Natasha always asks after me, my dad, and my sister, to Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, where I know I can always get the best chai milkshake on the planet and hide with my thoughts on their back patio, to Blue Ridge Country Store where they don’t mind if my salad is mostly giant hunks of fresh-roasted chicken chased down with a $2 cookie to Blue Moon Diner where they understand that I want extra extra extra powdered sugar on my brunch beignets please at no charge of course to Bodo’s where my order has become a holy catechism I recite by heart. Pastrami swiss on an everything with lettuce tomato mustard cut in half to go, please. The order may change a few cents here or there depending on the quality of the tomatoes but the order? I’m like a monk with a holy scroll. This order is in INK baby. Places like Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie where a to-go Bellissima cures all ills. Those of you who’ve eaten there know what the fuck I mean. These are the places I run to when I need a food hug. Not the places with $32 entrées and silly drinks and leather banquettes and the attitude that comes with them. Places I can no longer afford anyway. Yes, when I need help, I find comfort in the form of places I can metaphorically throw my shoes off in and toss all my cares in the corner to be picked up on my way out. Places like La Taza. They are important to communities. And it’s so important that we keep them. Thank you Melissa Easter and your entire staff. For feeding me. For the caffeination. For the hours spent staring into space deciding what the fuck it is I want to do with the rest of my life. For having enough coffee and avocado toast in me to realize I was staring into space and maybe I should just fake it til I make it, pretend like I knew what I was doing until I actually did. Not sure if it was the ambiance, or the food, or the great coffee that helped. I just know it did and for that, I’m forever grateful. May your future journeys be as comforting as La Taza was to me. Thank you. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: La Taza is having a party this weekend. You should totally go. It's the Last Dance people! Appalachian Food Summit. Also this weekend. Also in West Virginia. During a hurricane. Pray for them. Good food, good folks, great cause. Big Love for AFS! Oxford American's Profile of Robert Gipe. By Beth Macy, author of "Dopesick." You'd be hard-pressed to find a better author, a better conversation, a more serious epidemic than this one. What are you waiting for? Go read it! Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the Apple Podcast Gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to the 3dacious newsletter! - The Top 3 listings for food writing, events, and food I forked delivered weekly to your inbox with minimal fuss in a nice and neat to-go package. Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Navigating Hospitality. With Dedicated Food Folks. Welcome to a special episode, the second in a segment I like to call the Edacious Round Table. Instead of learning one person's journey, area Food Folks discuss a topic. The first covered #MeToo. Today we're talking hospitality. How do we traverse these waters in the stormy Age of Outrage? Are there folks just not allowed in the restaurant because of their choices? My co-hosts are Chef Laura Fonner of Duner's in Crozet and Chef Harrison Keevil who with his wife Jennifer runs Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen while also taking the reins at Commonwealth Skybar on The Downtown Mall. It's a volatile topic with many recent ties to this region. In February, Chef Scott Crawford refused service to a restaurant critic at Crawford and Son in Raleigh. In May, Boylan Heights was taken to task for their "No drugs, no thugs," policy which has since been discontinued. Then in June Sara Huckabee Sanders tried to eat at The Red Hen and we all know what happened there. Lines are being drawn and tempers are high. Are restaurants still safe spaces? Places of refuge for food and intelligent, thoughtful discourse? The employees of a restaurant can be family in the right situation. A chosen family. This is the case at Duner's where some employees have worked there for 30 years. Family and hospitality go hand in hand. All of us agreed family dinners and celebrations were so important growing up, setting the tone for the rest of our lives. Why is hospitality important? It can change a person’s day. It’s a gift we give to folks. Restaurant hospitality is taking care of you, feeding you good food, and making sure you leave happy. Can the restaurant remain a judgment-free zone? A safe space where you leave politics at the door and your only goal to be fed and fed well? Maybe socialize a bit? That’s what we’re here to work out. Over food of course. We all agreed a customer causing an outright disruption is a pretty simple problem to solve. The customer needs to be quietly handled. And shown the door. Hopefully without too much disruption. But what about someone in the public eye with extreme political beliefs who just wants to eat? We discuss the pros and cons of the various decisions business owners made in the past, then work out what we would do. Which isn't always easy. Choice is a privilege. It’s easy to choose to serve someone if you own the business, not so much if you’re washing dishes or scraping plates in the back for an hourly wage and no benefits. Think about this for a minute. Simple hospitality. Even at the Red Wedding, Walder Frey served the Stark family a meal before the knives started flying. We’re so divided. Hate begets more hate. Can’t we do the same with a smile? Take the hard road and make the effort to be nice. Being mean, showing them the door, is easy, being hospitable takes way more effort. Charlottesville is a crazy quilt of folks, from old hippies and punkers to Lulemon Moms to Farmington Fridas to Belmont Bettys, students, folks of color who have lived here for decades, or recently arrived as immigrants from far shores. Plus every Dad, frat bro, techie startup preppie and freshman student in flip flops just navigating Bodo's for the first time. We’ve always served them. Why wouldn’t we now? Be kind. Serve all. “Life is about dealing with the hard stuff, working through it, and making yourself a better person.” ---Harrison Keevil How do you navigate self-care in this volatile age? We spend a great deal of time discussing this, sharing tips, including two chefs working hard to create a better culture in the kitchen so folks will stay for more than a year or two. What works? Exercise is good. As is sleep. Good food. Which is hard when you spend all your time making it for others while navigating hate. Like we have to do this weekend if Nazis show up August 12th. We talk about this too, our preparations, our hopes. We all agree that what Brian Ashworth did last year when scumbags starting throwing the heil around Ace Biscuit was the very right thing. He showed them the door. Disrupt my place? Don’t need to see your face. “Customers do expect us to be superhuman. Remember, we’re humans just like you are. We have bad days too. And then we have to deal with your bad day.” ---Laura Fonner What two famous opponents just dined opposite one another at Duner’s without incident? Who is the Duner Lunar? Who do we all agree has the most important job in the kitchen? Listen to find out. I’m so grateful to these talented folks for sharing their day off as well as their thoughtful responses. I’ll remember this conversation for a long time. Be safe out there Charlottesville. Big Love. One of the most thoughtful conversations I’ve ever been a part of. Makes me proud to live in this town. Stay edacious. “I’m going to be at Commonwealth (August 12th). I’m going to be there to serve anyone who wants to walk through those doors...I hope people come out. I’m not scared. I’m going to do my job. I’m going to open the kitchen.” ---Harrison Keevil SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to the 3dacious newsletter! - The Top 3 listings for food writing, events, and food I forked delivered weekly to your inbox with minimal fuss in a nice and neat to-go package. Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Dairy Work. With Raw Milk. How can we get over our fear of all natural? Welcome to an episode where a city girl learns the difference between black cows and brown cows and we demystify all the imagined dangers around one of the healthiest beverages you can drink, raw milk. Meet Ben and Kristen Beichler of Creambrook Farm dairy in Middlebrook, Virginia. What are the health benefits of raw milk anyway? Are they legit or a product of its rarity, more legend than fact? It's proven raw milk has more vitamins because any beta-carotene, omega-3 and 6, and other nutrients the cow eats from grass ends up in your belly. Cows digest these nutrients way better than you, but you end up with the benefits. In fact, some lactose-intolerant folks can actually handle raw milk! To me, it tastes better. It's more satiating. It feels like a complete thing in and of itself. But some folks still don't buy it. They subscribe to old beliefs leftover from the turn of last century, not understanding the production of raw milk is a lost art. Something practiced for centuries. But urbanization brought dairies to cities. Cities are dirty which causes disease. In the 1920’s raw milk was outlawed and pasteurization ruled. It’s only been in recent years states have realized times have changed. Modern raw milk dairies are complexes of biology and chemistry. This milk is clean, safe, delicious, healthy, and handled with care. Creambrook has its own farm lab and every ounce is tested to the milliliter. "When we offer raw milk for the first time, folks smell it first. Is it going to bite me?" Raw milk at Creambrook is taken straight from the cow and chilled to prevent bacterial contamination. Conventional pasteurized milk is heated. But milk is delicate and the process kills most beneficial aspects while also having a detrimental effect on flavor. And milk does have a flavor profile. Much like wine or cider, this beverage has terroir, reflecting the grasses and herbs eaten by the cows who gift it to us. This flavor profile changes with every season since the cows are constantly grazing on different things. Not only can the flavor change seasonally, taste can change from day to day depending on whether the paddock has more clover, more chicory or just plain grass. The story Ben tells about how he and Kristen got started is inspiring and thoughtful. Sure it’s hard work, but for anyone interested in pursuing this career, so rewarding and important. Pro tip: Work in dairy before starting your own. A lot. Then do it some more. Because even if you think you know how hard it is to run a dairy farm? Double that. Then get help from everyone you’ve ever met. Find mentors. Ask questions. Do your research. And don’t turn your nose up at conventional dairy methods. These folks have done this work for decades, a lot longer than you, and they can be important mentors with an infinite well of knowledge to pull from. Ben is the first full-time farmer in his family for five generations. Starting was literally Ground Zero. He trained at Polyface Farm with Joel Salatin for a time, working with chickens, turkeys, pretty much every farm position you could think of before settling on dairy. He and wife Kristen have operated a dairy for six years now and are committed to providing the highest quality product possible. Raw milk straight from the cow to you. "If it’s your dream, do it." Did you know when Ben and Kristen purchase cows they have to adapt them to grass-fed living? It's very difficult to find cows who have been fed on grass only. Grains are tougher on digestive systems and cows can't talk (that we know of ;) so any problems have to be worked through before the Beichlers can use the cow on the farm. Sillage is very acidic while grass is more neutral. Cows have four stomachs, so each one has to make the transition to adapt from a pre-mixed high-octane diet to just simple green grass. This might sound unnatural but for cows who have only eaten one thing, a transition has to happen. It's similar to changing out the McDonald's to kale overnight. The body adapts to what it's fed. But you don't want to push it to the breaking point. It takes two years to transition a cow. Imagine having to do that as a new business owner! Taking that extra step while taking the chance that it won't sink your business. Courageous. How much grass does a cow have to eat every day? How can Ben and Kristen tell when a cow isn't doing well? What does a mad cow look like? Not one who's sick but one who’s mad because you overslept? Why do Jersey cows have the Diva Disease? What does he recommend for new dairy farmers? What must they do before “Buying the Farm” so to speak? How is a dairy farmer like a brewmaster? And how is the farm industry threatened by farmers aging out as well as all the new development going on? "Go support your local farmer." To enjoy Creambrook Farm raw milk, simply sign up for a herd share. Just like owning a piece of Google or Apple, you will own a portion of the herd. Milk is the dividend. Shares are offered full and half portions, billed every four weeks, with shares dropped off weekly at a multitude of drop-off locations all over the region. Get out to Farm Day. Sign up for a cheese class. Both Ben and Kristen are so friendly and charming. The perfect spokespeople for such a healthy, tasty product. When I look at my coffee now and raw milk isn't in it? I get frowny. It's good stuff people. Get you some! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to the 3dacious newsletter! - The Top 3 listings for food writing, events, and food I forked delivered weekly to your inbox with minimal fuss in a nice and neat to-go package. Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Catering is hard work. Chefs like Gabrielle Hamilton earned their stripes doing large corporate catering events and if you read her memoir, "Blood, Bones, and Butter," you know doing the job of caterer is no joke. There are long hours, unpredictable circumstances, and anxious customers hell-bent on having everything absolutely perfect. Ever watch Restaurant Wars on Top Chef? Well, a caterer builds a pop-up each time they do a job. Which can be multiple times a week in the busy season. How does the magic happen? Welcome to my FANTASTIC conversation with someone well aware of catering's triumphs and possible pitfalls. Meet Gay Beery of A Pimento Catering, a Charlottesville institution. "You build a restaurant for a night, and then you make it go away." Gay's life parallels Gabrielle's in many ways beyond food. Both women grew up in theatrical families with mothers who were dancers. Both fathers worked IN THE SAME CIRCUS! The story of how her parents met is one not to be missed. Gay credits her theatrical background with giving her the ability to perform Culinary Theater. A beautifully choreographed dance to make sure the food arrives hot and beautiful and perfect. No matter the location. Catering is theater and her employees are culinary actors and performers. At times it can be a circus. Many plates have to spin literally and figuratively in order for the magic to happen. And it's not just events! Gay also hosts once-a-month wine dinners at her beautiful space within The Glass Building. Phew! People sometimes complain about catering's cost. But imagine you take a group of folks to a restaurant. Now imagine that restaurant coming to you. Do the math. For an extra special event folks will remember, hiring a caterer beats plopping down a credit card at a restaurant hands-down. This is not, "Choose Beef, Chicken, Or Fish," catering. Gay and her team sit down with each customer, creating a unique menu from scratch based on the event itself, as well as their budget, wishes, and dietary needs. For those folks who can't tolerate gluten, Gail creates colorful, tasty dishes with vegetables, and REAL food folks can enjoy. No substitute flours or meats here people, because her beautiful vegetables and stunning crabcakes are something she's known for. "The jobs are like my babies." Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, or the ever popular wedding, any reason you have to do a gathering, A Pimento can work with you. Catering has changed so much over the years. In the past customers were pretty hands off giving the caterer carte blanche to create whatever they wanted. Now customers are much more knowledgeable and opinionated about food, beverage, even fabrics. With price points, design choices, and multiple menus, hiring a caterer can be daunting. How does Gay make the process easy? And what about customers who walk in the door, Pinterest in hand, with no idea that what they envision is completely impossible within their budget? Pro tip: no ice cream cakes or croquembouche in an unairconditioned tent in July, please. THAT story made me do the ugly laugh. #sadbouche "My guiding practice has always been to always put myself in the seat of the client. What would make the client happy? That's what I want to do. What would make me happy? What would I expect? That's my guideline. If we can't meet that, then something's not right." Like a restaurant, catering does have busier seasons than others. Mid-March through June is crazy. July and August can be busy or not, but come September things ramp up again. Back in the day when Gay was first starting out she actually closed for a few weeks every summer because it was so slow. But the wedding industry changed that for good. Now she works year round. She moved here from DC almost 30 years ago, bringing with her catering experience she'd earned at a fancy grocery store. Initially, she couldn't even make a living in food. But that has certainly changed dramatically. What does she think of the changes? When you're the pre-eminent caterer in Charlottesville and the 2nd most popular wedding destination on the East coast, you've got more work than you can handle. How does Gay find balance? You don't want to say no, but you don't want to overwhelm staff either. Again, like a restaurant, Gay has to weigh staff needs and her own high standards in order to produce the most dramatic event possible. "Catering is the land of Shit Happens. And you have to embrace that from the beginning and be up for that, or it really isn't for you. Because we are building a kitchen in a tent...Anything can happen, and it usually does." What does A Pimento do when there are epic challenges? How does Gay make sure the performance still appears flawless if someone flubs their lines? How does behavioral psychology come into play? Any good Bridezilla stories? Where does she source her products? Does A Pimento have a signature dish? How does she navigate and work with the other folks doing the events like planners and florists? And what are Gay's tips for throwing a party on a weeknight for no good reason? Because we NEED that right now! What are her thoughts on the new Charlottesville Women in Food group? How can we help the young women just starting out? We spend a great deal of time brainstorming how business owners can share experiences. As Gay says, there are many of us, "...who suffer in silence." We enjoyed a nice rosé from Corsica during our conversation with some clementines and shortbread while the sunlight poured through her floor-to-ceiling glass windows. I could get used to this. Sure hope there's a second course sometime. Cheers! Stay edacious! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: "Anything can happen and it usually does." - We couldn't remember how we knew this quote. Turns out we're showing our age! ;) The video that started it all. Watch what prompted Charlottesville Women in Food to get motivated to start their own Facebook group, which is quickly becoming a movement. Chefs With Issues. If you work in food and find yourself struggling, make your way here. Kat Kinsman is good people. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to the 3dacious newsletter! - The Top 3 listings for food writing, events, and food I forked delivered weekly to your inbox with minimal fuss in a nice and neat to-go package. Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Bourdain's Work. Or Once Again, We Must Be Speakers for the Dead. We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you a semi-regular segment here at Edacious. A segment where I rant about a food topic so much on my mind, it warrants its own episode. Anthony Bourdain can't be summed up in a soundbite or a quote. His body of work stands for his name. Nor will I add anything better than what's already been written or said. There are hundreds of Speakers better than me, including Mike Costello of 100 Days in Appalachia. Bourdain wasn't even my favorite food writer, but he was the door. The very first door I opened onto a world I knew nothing about and one I'm so glad I stepped through. I loved his work, honest, ballsy, gritty, truth-telling. Sentences with a heft that sat on the page like granite. I fucking loved the way he wrote, and what he stood for. Connecting over food. He did this every minute of every day. And he taught me to do the same. Bourdain believed when someone cooks you a meal, they are revealing something about themselves. I believe that too. Cooking or baking for someone else is the highest form of love there is. Which is why I chose a decade ago to honor the millions of folks who do so each and every day. And while I can't add anything to the conversation, I do talk about it. Wonder about it. And I urge you all to remember self-care. Maybe get off the phone once in a while, take a walk, see some stuff. Do some shit. Live your life. Preferably with periods of solitude in nature. Don't work so damn much. Maybe if Tony had, we'd still have him. Be well. Big Love. p.s. Did you snag a Bourdain book at my last food writing class? Check the flyleaf. It might be a signed copy ;) Don't say I never did nothin for ya... If you are feeling depressed or suicidal. Get help. Ask someone, even if they're a stranger. Don't deal with these feelings alone. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Weedeater by Robert Gipe - Author of Trampoline, Gipe's new illustrated novel is heartbreaking, truth-telling, and just downright hilarious. To say it reminds me of my upbringing is an understatement! Highly recommended. Also, check out his talk on the WMFA podcast with Courtney Balestier. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to 3dacious! - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

How do you sell vegan to the masses without the dogma? The Good Phyte. With No Diet Dogma Allowed. Welcome to Episode 101 and my conversation with Stacy Miller of Good Phyte Foods. Stacy became disgusted with overpriced, oversugared processed foods, especially snacks. Most are too caloric with high glycemic indexes but use wholesome packaging to build trust. There's a lot of green so it must be organic. Which fools folks who don't have time which we know is how big corporations get us. How could she create something healthy, yet so tasty eating it doesn't feel like punishment? Why not a healthy snack just as easy as those famous crackers shaped like fish? Something you can use when you've got a screaming 2-year-old and feel good about? How could she do that without pushing a lot of rigid dogma? How could she use local ingredients to create a 3-tiered bottom line? "When it comes to healthy eating, I'm just trying to provide an alternative." The result is Good Phyte Foods, a play on the word "phyto" which is Greek for plant. Crackers, granola, muffins, bars, and salads that not only taste like the naughty stuff but give you the energy you need to navigate these turbulent times. Seasonal ingredients in a shelf-stable product. A new concept I hadn't thought about but was eager to discover. Especially since my own experimentations with kale chips haven't been successful. Or tasty. How does Stacy navigate this special learning curve? Because there isn't fresh spinach in December. Or tarragon. What's the inspiration behind the Dar Bar? During a moment of HANGRY I bit into one at High Tor Gear Exchange and was hooked. Fig and lemon? Yes, please. Add in the Superstar Bar with vanilla and fresh rosemary, crackers with broccoli and garlic, and a granola that contains  BEETS AND CARROTS and you've just gained a loyal customer. I'm a diehard snacker, especially late at night. Now when the granola urge hits, I can feel just a bit better about burning the midnight oil. Let's not forget the SALADS. Stacy has just started selling these at local farmer's markets around town (details on her website) and her combinations which include local tempeh, purple asparagus, roasted golden beets, spinach, beet noodles, and vegan strawberry tarragon dressing are to die for. A big ass salad with an attitude. What challenges did she face in creating her fabulous raw bars? It's one thing to get a bunch of ingredients to stick together, but they have to taste good too. Not just interesting, but something you'll actually want to eat. How about her triple bottom line? Supporting local farms while creating a healthy, tasty product. Taking that extra step, creating consciously by choosing to use local produce. Kind of like eating consciously by choosing snacks that are good for you. Keeping specific data on the quantity and type of vegetables used and consumed the most so you can grow your business consciously as well. We spend a great deal of time talking about perception. The way you perceive your brand's image, story, and purpose might be very different from those of your potential customers. It's a learning curve we're both still surfing through and making a lot of discoveries as we go. Great topic for those of you starting your own businesses. Good Phyte Foods can be found all over town in places like Rebecca's, The Juice Laundry here and in DC, as well as The Organic Butcher in McClean. Interested? Contact her for a distribution form! She's got an online store, a monthly share program, and of course, the markets. Maybe to-go salads and vegan snacks at the markets is the lynchpin, the testing ground for whether or not a brick and mortar vegetarian restaurant can thrive. And maybe Stacy is our pioneer. In any case, I enjoyed this conversation even more than her Dar bar. Hope you do too. Cheers. Now go lighten up your summer with some clean eating! Be a part of Phyte Club! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to the 3dacious newsletter! - The Top 3 listings for food writing, events, and food I forked delivered weekly to your inbox with minimal fuss in a nice and neat to-go package. Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Why is Petit Manseng so vilified? Just one of the topics we discuss during this very special LIVE event recorded at Market Street Wine to celebrate its new owners, Siân Richards and Thadd McQuade, and the 100th episode of Edacious. This special partnership acts as both celebration of our two businesses reaching an important benchmark, and one of community, sharing, and learning. Four celebrated local winemakers join us to offer a special taste of two different varietals and to discuss the future of winemaking in Virginia: Corry Craighill of Sunset Hills Vineyard and 50 West Vineyards, Kirsty Harmon of Blenheim Vineyards, Matthieu Finot of King Family Vineyards, and Ben Jordan of Early Mountain Vineyards. How do winemakers decide what grapes to grow and exactly where on the land to grow them depending on wind, slope, elevation, soil, and amount of sunlight? Which sites and grape varieties make your best wines? How do we adjust to the terroir as winemakers, especially in terms of breaking from classical approaches set forth by other regions? What grapes are good for Virginia's soil? What grapes are winemakers discovering actually work surprisingly well with our dense clay and warm humid temperatures? What are some current trends in winemaking and where should we go in the future with our sites and grapes varieties? Where is the next great vineyard going to be located? Did you know a wine can turn into a completely different one depending on its serving temperature? King Family Vineyards Viognier is a great example because this small-batch wine tastes COMPLETELY different when it's cold than when it's served at room temperature, which can affect pairings. One restaurant even serves it with two separate courses! Fascinating. As Kirsty says, every year, every grape is an experiment. Winemaking is science. But it's also farming. Even if you use cloned grapes you depend on the amount of rain, the wind, the copious sunlight or lack thereof. Not sure what the cloned grape process entails? Listen to my exclusive clip with Matthieu Finot of King Family Vineyards available to all Patreon sponsors! Not a sponsor yet? Find out more here. For as little as $1/month you can ensure this community podcast stays edacious. Whether you're a wine newbie like me or a geeked-out expert this episode has something for everyone. Pour yourself a glass, find your favorite spot, and enjoy! One hundred episodes. Wow. That's a lot of talking. What was my favorite of the 100? You'll just have to listen to find out. See you in 101. All the wines we tasted are listed below. Every one of them is now available at Market Street Wine except for the Sunset Hills Shenandoah Springs Chard, which will be available at the winery this summer. Thank you to all of the attendees, winemakers, and to Siân and Thadd for allowing me to mark this milestone in such a badass way. Cheers! Blenheim Albarino Blenheim Sauv Blanc Sunset Hills Shenandoah Springs Chard Early Mountain Petit Manseng 2016 King Family small batch Viognier (orange wine) Lightwell Weird Ones are Wolves 2015 Sunset Hills Mosaic Red King Family Mountain Plains Red SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: My buddy and past podcast guest, Polina Chesnakova is on the FRONT PAGE of the Food Section in this Wednesday's Washington Post! Read her story then listen to our conversation. This young food writer is destined for great things, mark my words. Go Polina! Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Cake Work. With #MeToo Challenges, Baking Triumphs, and Spirituality. Does baking have a spiritual side? We explore this topic among others in Episode 99. Although anxiety-inducing for some, baking can actually be a way to calm yourself down and conquer your demons. Welcome to my conversation with Rachel Greenberg Willis of Cakes By Rachel! Rachel opened her shop in downtown Crozet in 2015, but she's been baking professionally for years. The story of how she found the shop is so quintessentially of this region I found myself shaking my head in wonder, and making a mental note to take this approach immediately. This person doing The Work of Food got her start at 18, studying at culinary school and cooking everywhere she could, eventually staging at a Michelin-starred restaurant in a small French town in the southwest of France and cooking for a white-water rafting company in the Pyrenees. What was that experience like? Short answer? IT'S A MUST-LISTEN. As is the story of an epic wedding fail that happened to a colleague. Wow. I'm still thinking about it. In Charlottesville, she cooked first at The Metropolitan with Vincent Derquenne and Timothy Burgess of Bizou and Thomas Leroy of The Market at Grelen, moving on to work with Gerry Newman of Albemarle Baking Company, a past podcast guest, as well as Harvest Moon Catering among others. What was the Charlottesville restaurant scene like back then? How has it changed? Are the majority of our restaurants for the folks who live here? Or the folks who visit? As is the story of so many bakers, Rachel got her start when a friend asked her to make a wedding cake. She'd made her own as well as some for Clifton Inn, so why not? It was while in the depths of designing that Rachel found her niche. Here was a place where she could do what she loved while at the same time expressing herself, using that artistic side that needed to come out, the side that was tired of making beef tenderloin the same way night after night after night. Here was where she could shine. Thank goodness she made the change because her cakes taste amazing and look like stunning works of art. Rachel is a strong proponent of shattering the myth wedding cakes aren't supposed to taste good and her chef's palate and unique flavor combinations reflect that. Believe me, with one of her cakes that myth has been obliterated.  You can choose flavor combinations from the brides who ordered them first or create your own special concoction from the ingredients listed. Me? I'll take the Alexandra: "Almond polenta layers moistened with cognac, filled with raspberry curd and Mascarpone cream. The layers can be iced with buttercream or left open and smothered with fresh berries. Gluten free!"

Self-Sabotage Work. Or Why Would You Knowingly, Purposefully Jeopardize Success? We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you a semi-regular segment here at Edacious. A segment where I rant about a food topic so much on my mind, it warrants its own episode. Welcome to self-sabotage folks. And yes, it does relate to food. Very well in fact. What is self-sabotage? Why does it happen? What can you do about it? How did depression and self-doubt cause my most recent bout with this annoying occurrence which unfortunately occurs fairly often? How did I cure my most recent bout? Have you experienced this? What did you do? I'd love to hear about it because I have a feeling most of us do this subconsciously on a regular basis, cutting ourselves off at the knee symbolically because somehow we feel we've gotten "too big for our britches".  In future episodes, I hope to discuss other topics like tipping, reservations, even what makes a great pizza. May you never experience what I just did. And if you do, may your resolve to overcome it be strong. And edacious. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Building Relationships. With Food Labels. Welcome to Episode 97 and a conversation with a food professional who travels under the radar. But if you've enjoyed food or beverage in Charlottesville, chances are you've seen her work. Meet Darcey Ohlin Lacy of Watermark Design. Darcey and her team specialize in labels and brand assets for food and beverage companies. Her clients include Veritas, Champion Brewery, Brasserie Saison, Jake Busching Wines, and The Barbecue Exchange. Darcey started her business a decade ago in a historic chicken shack in Belmont with no bathroom, heat, or air conditioning. An introduction to Michael Shaps from Michael Shaps Wineworks began a graphic design relationship with food and beverage that continues to this day. She and her design team of Jenna Thielges, Sean Raynor, and Sara Hade now share a space off of Preston Avenue, and the minute we began talking I started taking notes for my own dream studio space. Because the energy in her new space is so dynamic and creative. As is the work of Watermark Design. Some work is done digitally but most are hand-lettered, hand-drawn, hand-illustrated in pen and ink before being scanned into a computer. Old School. Darcey keeps each sketch and some even decorate the walls of the design studio. Her latest project is hand-drawn brand assets for a boutique hotel: menus, signage, and botanical drawings specific to the property. "Our job is about perception." There is a lot of collaboration during the design process. When designing a logo, for example, Darcey and her team collaborate with the client, and with each other over several iterations. Building that relationship, keeping communication open so the client is pleased and the product is the best it can be. What qualities make a terrific logo? We go into detail. Even touring the space of the business can determine what style the team decides to use. No aspect goes unexamined because a logo is forever. Does Watermark Design have a signature look? Darcey is adamant they don't because it's important to design for the client's style not your own. To do that you must focus on building that business relationship. Not just performing a cookie-cutter transaction. Just starting out? Support a local business instead of going on Fiverr for your logo. Darcey and her team can help you grow by building that relationship, working within your budget, creating a logo that is only yours and high quality. It's a part of the food industry that flies under the radar but is so important. Because if you can't catch someone's eye with a great label, your customer is going to walk right past and pick the shiny one over there. How do you discover that sweet spot and how does packaging fit into the mix? What are some of the hot trends in packaging and design right now? With technological advances in overdrive, this discussion was fascinating to a font nerd like me. As with everything fonts and graphics go through cycles. Which one is cycling back as we speak? Has she faced challenges being a woman-owned business? What advice does she have for women looking to start their own graphic design business? Is organic growth important? I implemented one piece of time management advice immediately. Darcey doesn't do many interviews, preferring to let her work and the work of the team to speak for them. So it was a real treat to meet her. And the way we talked? I have a feeling the conversation will continue. We'll probably trash talk football (Philly vs Pittsburgh) and we'll probably enjoy it with Watermark-labeled wine. Cheers! Thanks, Darcey! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Goat Snuggling - Every Saturday through Mother's Day, Caromont Farm will be snuggling goats and passing the hat as part of their DACA initiative to make sure their employees are safe. Come participate in this important community effort. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Navigating #MeToo. With Food Women. Welcome to a very special episode, the premiere of a new segment on the podcast I like to call the Edacious Round Table. Instead of learning one person's journey, area Food Folks discuss a topic. First up? Harassment and discrimination in Food Work with co-hosts Arley Arrington and Clare Terni. How has it affected Charlottesville? What can we do to change things? We dive in. Arley Arrington works at Whisk in Richmond. Previously, she lived and worked in Charlottesville as a server in various restaurants and as a baker at Brookville. She's also done catering for The Space and owns her baking business, Arley Cakes. She is a past podcast guest and her lemon raspberry birthday cake won a 2017 Edacious Golden Fork Award. Clare Terni has lived in Charlottesville for 20 years and has worked on and off in food since she was sixteen, mostly catering and working in restaurants. She currently teaches Anthropology at JMU and works as both a server and manager for The Whiskey Jar, as well as creating social media for Ten Course Hospitality. As Clare states so well during our conversation, gender roles are changing slowly. They are broader than they once were, but limitations still exist. Many back-of-house employees are men while front-of-house are mostly women. If women are in the back, they're often relegated to salads or pastries. How do we change that? Certainly not with one conversation. But maybe by talking about it, we get other people talking, writing, discussing, disagreeing, and finally, making necessary changes. Maybe we do that. There's a lot to discuss. The way women accept the self-destructive behavior, yelling, and machismo in the food industry because it's what we've always expected. The way smiling or not is seen by turns as a sexual invitation or a BITCH label. The way Mansplaining, inappropriate comments, inappropriate touching, subtle and not so subtle digs at our gender are disguised as jokes. We cover it all. Are women more motivated to start their own businesses because they want to create a better environment? What about the roadblocks they face when they do? What about race? When you're a woman of color in the South who owns a business, how does that affect EVERYTHING? How did Donald Glover's Atlanta fit into our conversation? How does Charlottesville and its current dynamic fit into this discussion? We spend a great deal of time and get very vulnerable and real on this topic. Which was scary as heck for this Southern white woman. And awesome and wonderful and it makes me proud to know these amazing women. Is building a loyal staff who stay for years the answer? Building trust among your employees? A dedicated human resource department? What about small operations who can't afford that? What about a server who might smile a bit more because it means the difference between $200 in tips and $500? Is crying on the job okay? What about women chefs who insist gender makes no difference? When you're the boss it's important to model the behavior you want your employees to exhibit. In my opinion, it can affect the ambiance, even the food. Not only the culture of your kitchen but the culture of your restaurant. We are not health professionals. Just three women who do the Work of  Food and have stories and opinions. If you feel you've experienced harassment on the job or in any aspect of your life, please reach out to someone. Tell them about it. Heck, reach out to me and tell me about it. I'm not sure who or where to direct you, but I promise if you reach out? I'll find out. You are not alone in this. Relistening to this episode helped me understand how very much I don't know. How blessed I am because of my privilege. There's still so much to learn. I'm not woke but I am aware and I look forward to any education I experience every day of my life. I didn't edit this down. It's very long. It's very important. So I hope you'll give it a listen. There is so much here. Thank you to these ladies who had the courage to get vulnerable and tell their stories. I hope by doing so we can shed some light on the very real issue that is occurring daily here and all over the world. Maybe by talking about it awareness will rise and eventually we'll have other issues to tackle around a table because this one will be nonexistent. In the meantime, tell me what you think. Cheers. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Why Food Writing Matters! - I'm teaching a course as part of the Tom Tom Founder's Festival! Come be a part of the fun! Tuesday, April 10th from 7-9pm at The Pie Chest. We'll talk food writing, do some fun creative exercises, give away huge amounts of food writing books, and eat pie. Lots and lots of pie. Don't miss this chance to GET EDACIOUS! Crowdfunded Pitch Night! - Come see me pitch as part of the Tom Tom Founder's Festival! Wednesday, April 11th from 7-9pm at The Jefferson Theater, 9 local folks and I will have 3 minutes to pitch our business for a chance to win $5K! The audience selects the winner. So come on out and GET EDACIOUS! Goat Snuggling - Every Saturday through Mother's Day, Caromont Farm will be snuggling goats and passing the hat as part of their DACA initiative to make sure their employees are safe. Come participate in this important community effort. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Cocktail Work. With History, Great Local Ingredients, and That Elusive Yummy Factor. Welcome to Edacious! In Episode 95 we talk with bartending master Micah LeMon of The Alley Light. Having enjoyed many a fine adult beverage up their back stairs it was great to finally sit down and chat about Prohibition, the evolution of bartending, current trends, and his new book, The Imbible. We talk a lot about the difference between good cocktails and great ones. Micah truly believes in striving to achieve that benchmark. That moment you take the first sip and proclaim your drink YUMMY beyond all measure. What makes a cocktail yummy? What doesn't? He takes me to school. The Doctor's Orders cocktail I sipped on through the entire episode was very yummy indeed. Micah's first book, The Imbible, is a labor of love and libation. Not only does it include history, recipes, and technique, but Micah provides basic tables so you too can become a Master Mixologist within the confines of your own bar cart. Micah will be mixing cocktails and offering up advice at The Spice Diva, Wednesday, March 21st from 6-7pm as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book. The Imbible is perfect for the beginning mixologist in that he takes classics like the Manhattan and the Daiquiri and shows perfect technique before offering suggestions as to how folks can create their own personalized beverages. Crawl before you can walk. And after some of these, you might be crawling. Micah's book shows you how, unlike those old recipe books which give you an ingredient list and leave you to your own devices. The Imbible acts as a bridge between old-school cocktails and the fancy 15-ingredient craft cocktails that are so prevalent today, although those old recipes are making a comeback at area bars, including The Alley Light, which makes a damn good classic daiquiri. Not from a machine. Served in a proper daiquiri glass. Gorgeous photos, cocktail history, technique, the components of a good cocktail and detailed tables in the back that help aspiring mixologists get started on their own programs. How does Mr. Potato Head fit into the equation? Buy the book! How did Micah become the pre-eminent Curator of Cocktail Knowledge in the Charlottesville area? His background is fascinating considering he was raised Pentecostal, which prohibits alcohol. How does the documentary Jesus Camp fit into his story? The SNL Church Lady? You'll just have to listen. It shocked me that someone so obviously good at what he does suffers from Imposter Syndrome as I do. We talk about that, including what methods we use to overcome it. How does he develop his recipes? What is The Dealer's Choice? How is a mixologist like a chef? Why is mentorship important? How did the book come about? And what about his recent bout with Tennis Elbow? Recorded in The Wine Room at the Alley Light while sipping a Doctor's Orders cocktail. Which worked so well I don't quite remember the last 15 minutes of the episode. What did I say? Give a listen! Micah will be appearing as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book on Wednesday, March 21st from 6-7pm at The Spice Diva. From the Book Fest website, "Micah will give a demonstration of various and sundry recipes from his cocktail guide, sharing anecdotes and wisdom from his years behind the bar at beloved local watering holes." Don't miss it! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Why Food Writing Matters! - I'm teaching a course as part of the Tom Tom Founder's Festival! Come be a part of the fun! Tuesday, April 10th from 7-9pm at The Pie Chest. We'll talk food writing, do some fun creative exercises, give away huge amounts of food writing books, and eat pie. Lots and lots of pie. Don't miss this chance to GET EDACIOUS! Goat Snuggling - Every Sunday through Mother's Day, Caromont Farm will be snuggling goats and passing the hat as part of their DACA initiative to make sure their employees are safe. Come participate in this important community effort. Ian Glomski of Vitae Spirits - This fine fellow is collaborating with Micah on creating an ABSINTHE. YES! Sign me up. No'lasses - Sorghum whiskey. It's quite delish. The Spice Diva - A one-stop shop for all of your fancy cocktail ingredients like bitters. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Revitalization Work. With conscious growth. In a bank vault. Welcome to Episode 94 and my conversation with Chef Joy Crump of FoodE and Mercantile in Fredericksburg. I was immediately taken with Joy when I met her during the Fire, Flour, Fork Women in Food panel where her thoughtfulness on the topic of running a kitchen stayed with me for hours afterward. We had this conversation inside FoodE, a converted bank building. In the vault of all places, which has excellent acoustics! Joy and her business partners were very conscious about keeping the original bones intact, using what was in place, rather than gutting everything and starting from scratch, hiring craftsmen to painstakingly restore every part and piece. Was there pushback from the community when she decided to renovate? How did her knowledgeable partner make the renovation process easier because of his background? How was this overhaul financed? If you're a woman, and even if you're not, Joy's story will CURL YOU HAIR. Make you angry. Galvanize you to take action on this International Women's Day. I'm still doing a facepalm. "You want to find that common ground where you're celebrating what has past and also giving new life to what's coming ahead. That's what preservation is." "We did so many things to keep the heart and spirit of the building while still celebrating it, and making it functional so that people can continue to enjoy it. I'm so proud to be in here. To be a tenant, to be a part owner, to have witnessed the process." Joy describes Fredericksburg as a community "Tumbling Forward". What does she mean by that? We discuss this in depth, especially since I feel Charlottesville is experiencing something similar. When Joy first started FoodE, all she knew was that she wanted to cook good food. The concept developed over time and only after the third restaurant opened, a brewpub called Six Bears And A Goat which recently opened in Stafford. As she states, once you have a group of establishments it behooves you to have some sort of uniform concept. Like Edacious, the one word she and her partners Beth Black and Jeremy Harrison kept coming back to was community. Places where anyone is welcome. Where folks can drop by anytime. "We want you to come in wearing jeans and flip-flops. We want it to feel like it's a place where you can walk by on Wednesday and happen to come in and get a great meal, not that you have to make reservations a month ahead...Fredericksburg has driven who we are and what our brand is and now we're trying to catch up and articulate it in other places we want to build." To build that customer relationship, Joy and her partners listened closely to concerns, revamping the menu, adding dishes people requested, removing others, and shaping the space according to the customer's needs. This promotes loyalty and customers who choose to spend their dollar at FoodE and Mercantile regularly. Because as she states so well, you don't pay the bills simply by having a good graduation weekend or a ton of weddings. The menu at FoodE is a fantastic mixture of "Naughty Food" (Joy's term) and healthy dishes, food that is clean. So after enjoying a melty pimento toast for lunch you can follow it up with a delicious winter greens salad and leave feeling sated and satisfied. "These are the best ingredients, prepared by the best chefs that we can afford at the most affordable price that we can offer. It's our version of gourmet. It's care and love for the ingredients." "I love fried chicken...(but) if you feel like when you walk out of here that you're SO FULL then you're probably not going to come back for a week or two until you're ready to have that feeling again...We were built on the guest who came literally two or three times a week. If a guest is going to come two or three times a week a) your menu has to change b) they've got to feel good when they stand up from the table and c) you can't overserve them...our portions are controlled...I'd rather see you twice at $10 a pop than once for $30." "My goal is to make you remember something and feel something different at the same time. I love chicken skins, but I've never had them on top of salad before. It should bring a memory and it should also be a new experience. That's what I try to do with literally every single dish. Elevate it by what you remember." Why is it important for Joy to be conscious about creating a healthy, nurturing, family environment in her kitchen? Why does being a social entrepreneur not only help give back but also revitalize an entire community, building relationships not only with customers but other business owners? Why is Whole Food Utilization important? How does she walk the delicate line between supporting local farmers and meeting her bottom line while keeping customers happy? How did Joy's Atlanta background inform her experience? Did her appearance on Top Chef Season 12 inform her cooking? We cover it all in this episode. Joy's energy and enthusiasm and thoughtfulness made me want to work with her on the regular. So well spoken. And her food? Phenomenal. Day trips to Fredericksburg are going to be a regular part of the rotation. I'll probably listen to this episode on the way there. Enjoy! Happy International Women's Day!

Edacious - Food Talk for Gluttons is three years old! It shows. Go ahead, listen to some of the earlier work. You'll hear the difference. When I started this project in 2015 I had no idea. No idea how to podcast, no idea what my goal was, no idea what would happen or if it would be worthwhile. I was afraid of so many things. But I showed up anyway. And WOW! I'm so glad I did. This podcast has not only been the most rewarding project I've undertaken in my life, it has changed me. How I see the world and how I approach relationships. Both with others and with myself. The people I've met, the stories I hear, the experiences I have all galvanize me toward doing more and doing it better. I'm so very grateful to everyone who took time out of their busy lives to sit face to face with me and have a conversation. This year saw many changes that will keep this podcast strong in its focus on community and on the stories of folks doing the Work of Food in our area. People edacious about what they do. Here is a quick and dirty rundown: Edacious gained a mentor. (Thanks Jay!) And a food writing student. (Thanks Annie!) I took a business course at CIC. I met my podcasting hero, Marc Maron. Edacious did its first live events. And its first rants. The first of many I'm sure. And its first moderated panel discussions focused around a topic. More to come! I judged probably my last food competition. Because my tummy is old and cannot handle trying 15 different types of fried chicken. Lordy! The newsletter got redesigned and went to monthly, from weekly. Have you subscribed? Edacious gained one additional Patreon sponsor! Edacious sold its first sponsorship ads! Would you like to advertise your event for only $25? Or purchase a package of EVERGREEN advertising over six episodes you choose yourself? Email me for a press kit! I posted our first Edacity blogs, which highlights food writing done in our region. Edacious became part of the TEEJ.fm podcast network hosted by WTJU. I was on the radio with host MC Blair. Best of all? Edacious hosted its first-ever fundraiser and live meet-and-greet, The Big Love Bakesale, which raised almost $700 for my BFF Scott Nichols, who is suffering from colorectal cancer, the 3rd most diagnosed cancer in men. An utterly life-changing experience for him. And me. Yeah it's a lot. Half the reason I'm writing it all out is: 1) I kinda don't believe it, and 2) If I ever find a chance to update my LinkedIn profile...which I haven't done for TWO YEARS I can use this list ;) Here are my favorites. The episodes where I was firing on all cylinders, where the conversations ran deep. I've included short clips of each as well as my own thoughts on why these talks left me feeling I'd moved monumentally forward on life's short trajectory. All my guests were terrific, but these five most closely represent this podcast's mission. To showcase our food community and give voice to the folks working hard to make sure we eat well. If there is one recurrent theme here it is community because whether it's a pig farm, a winery, a distillery, or someone who writes about food every one of the folks I talked to strive every day to make sure we are stronger together. Ninety-two episodes, hours and hours of conversation, and close to 40,000 downloads. I've learned so much. I'm filled to the brim with gratitude because without you, without this community, Edacious simply would not exist. Thank you. After three years of triumphs and missteps, Edacious is going along full-steam ahead with exciting new ventures and projects in the works. Before tackling all of them, I wanted to take a minute to look back. To reflect on a truly great year. Sure 2017 was no picnic, but here? It was good. All good. If you only listen to one episode, make it this one.

Baking Work. With New Normals. And Tons of Community Support. Welcome to Episode 92 and a conversation with a great writer and a dear friend. Polina Chesnakova of Chesnok blog first struck me with the level of expertise in her food writing and her enthusiasm for Charlottesville and its community members who do the Work of Food. After meeting her several years ago (when we both wrote for Our Local Commons), I discovered this enthusiasm is infectious. Polina is the Queen of Hustle. Food writing is just part of the equation. In her career, she's been a baker, a sous chef, created food programming for the Tom Tom Festival, taught cooking classes, even done some recipe testing. But what happens when an accomplished baker and writer loses the use of her hand because of disastrous circumstances? What happens when your whole world changes? We talk about it in this episode. Polina was in a serious car accident in December 2016. Her hand was badly maimed and for a time, she thought she'd lose it completely. Multiple hand surgeries saved the day, but the paradigm shift has also forced her to move back home to recuperate and figure out next steps. It's not like the movies folks. Healing is a long road full of little victories and major setbacks. Navigating your way through this New Normal can be challenging, frustrating, difficult. Potentially losing your livelihood is no joke, and Polina has moved through this period of her life with grace and aplomb. She credits a lot of this to the support of her family and the community of Charlottesville, who stepped forward in a big way, raising over $17K through a GoFund Me campaign set up by a friend, Kelsey. "It was tremendous. So many times it left me absolutely speechless...a lot of it was people I didn't even know...part of me felt like I didn't deserve it...with all of the political turmoil of the past year...it was such an outpouring of love and positivity it almost kind of gave hope for me. Humanity. There's a lot of bad in the world...but there's also as much if not more, good." Charlottesville was not only elemental to her recovery but an important part of why she works in food. Polina asserts more than once during the conversation, had she landed in a metropolitan city like New York, she wouldn't have had the connection and dynamic opportunity and collaboration that a town like ours provides on a daily basis. How is she doing now? What are her next steps? My opinion? Girlfriend needs to write a Georgian cookbook immediately because the dishes she describes and writes about on her blog sound phenomenal! What do Georgians eat and why is the cheese bread khachapuri having a moment? What does Chesnok mean in Russian? What are Pheasant's Tears? What are khinkali? And why are they made with a sense of urgency? Definitely, watch the video on her website where she makes them with her family. It's a hoot! Chesnok blog is one of the few newsletters I subscribe to because every entry is thoughtful, well-written, beautifully photographed. I always learn something. Worth your time in this busy world of ours. As is this fabulous episode. Enjoy! "Writing is a muscle you have to work out every day. If you're not writing it gets out of use...when I read other people's writing I try to pick up their style and the way they describe foods and memories and surroundings." "I've worked every position there is in a restaurant. It gives me a more well-rounded base of knowledge so when I go sit down to write about food I can pull from different experiences and viewpoints...I find that the best restaurant food critics are the ones who have such a broad background." SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Sara Moulton Speaks Out - Chef Moulton was on the podcast a while back. I thought she might have more to say on this topic! Amanda Cohen Speaks Out - She has worked in restaurants for two decades. And she's pissed. Fire, Flour, Fork Women in Food Panel Episode - We talk about this episode. It's a good one. But I'm biased. Rappahannock Restaurant - Get the mussels with blood sausage. Or the bourride. Jessica Fechtor's Book, Stir  - What happens when a baker loses her sense of smell? Grab the tissues. One of my favorite pieces of food writing.....EVER. Polina Chesnakova's blog about her hand injury - Grab the tissues. Molly Reeder - An accomplished illustrator. Her kitchen drawings are phenomenal. Honest Biscuits - My favorite place in Seattle. Art Stone is a dear old friend. That's in spirit, not in age. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Ghost Work. With Unparalleled Hospitality. Welcome to a conversation a long time in the making. I've wanted Chef Angelo Vangelopoulos of the Ivy Inn as a podcast guest since the inception of Edacious! Why? Because the Ivy Inn is a Charlottesville institution and one of my favorite places to eat. Chef Angelo? One of my favorite people inside or out of the food scene both for his humor, kindness, generosity, and his great positive energy. Spend 10 minutes with this guy and you'll discover his enthusiasm for food and life, in general, is contagious. This conversation was no exception. We talk about his journey in food and the importance of family and community to the restaurant's mission. We even discuss the little-known fact the Ivy Inn is HAUNTED! Love a good ghost story? Angelo has quite a few, including one that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. The Ivy Inn is located in a historic building from 1815. No surprise there. And what about that unparalleled hospitality? It begins the minute you step through the door. This is a family-owned business and Chef Angelo along with his wife Farrell treat each customer as a valuable guest. It's one of the few places where I trust the chef implicitly. When we walk in I don't even look at a menu. I just say, "Feed us!" The Ivy Inn is well-known as a place to celebrate life's milestones: weddings, anniversaries, birthdays. I still recall one 10-course feast a few years back. Which I still haven't quite recovered from. Angelo is classically trained and the food he serves reflects that. French and Greek influences, American flavors, but all of it cooked simply and well. His version of the gyro should be Charlottesville's signature dish. Just saying. "We don't follow trends very much. We just try to make good food." "The food is always fun...If all I had to do was just cook all day long every single day I'd be perfectly happy with that. But the whole...atmosphere of running a restaurant goes way beyond the food...there's a whole lot more to it...that's what burns people out." The Ivy Inn opened in 1973 and since 1995, has been a Vangelopoulos family-owned-and-operated business. One viewing of the video on his website cements that philosophy. He grew up in a restaurant in NOVA and every day Angelo and his friends would attend Family Meal so, from an early age, Angelo knew he wanted to recreate that atmosphere in his own establishment someday. "There should be a better word than staff...because they're not my family, we're not related....but they're much more than just employees or staff members...we've had a really good retention of people staying, some have stayed a very long time...it's a huge group effort...honestly without my people I could not do this...it's not nearly as important who is running the show as who is here each and every day." Then there's the Goat Roast. Created for local food professionals in order to give them a rare day off, this event has grown into a community-wide gathering. Now regular guests of the restaurant, area chefs, and anyone else who wants to attend meets at the restaurant for an event unlike anything I've ever experienced. José Andrés has been spotted and one year they started breaking plates until Angelo's mom put a quick stop to that nonsense. Everybody pitches in to help whether that's bringing wine or cleaning up. "Decide who you are, decide what you want to be as a business and stick to that. Don't jump and change course...to every complaint that anyone makes. If you're doing it right, and it feels right to you, stick to it...Be consistent." Then there's that generosity of spirit. Chef Angelo is so unbelievably big-hearted whether it's contributing to community fundraisers or coming forward to say, "How can I help?" when someone has an idea for an event. Simon Davidson of The Charlottesville 29 calls it "Vangelopolousity" a level of generosity that other restaurants can only hope to aspire to. One example? We'd barely started talking when he rushed to the oven and presented me with a freshly baked spanakopita. Not only the best in the city but the best I've ever had. I started to take a slice home and he shook his head and offered me the ENTIRE THING. I love my job. Why does Greek food not translate so well to restaurants? How important is local sourcing? What's it like to be the steward of a landmark like the Ivy Inn? Why are traditions like Family Meal and End of Shift Cocktail going by the wayside? How important are community events like Taste This! to the restaurant's mission? Is he a social entrepreneur? Are awards and recognition important? How is cooking like being a rock star? It's not what you think. Such a candid interview. Angelo gets vulnerable when talking about his father's hopes for him and his own hopes for his son. How challenging it can be to run a beloved institution while balancing the demands of having a family life outside the restaurant. I'm getting ready to pick my Top 5 for the 3rd Anniversary Special and something tells me this conversation might be a part of it. Cheers! Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Eating Out As A Dangerous Act. An Act of Trust. We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you a new segment here at Edacious. Created out of unfortunate circumstances. Mainly me passed out on the bathroom floor, cold tile on my face, trying to figure out how I can take a violent episode of food poisoning and make it a valuable topic for discussion. I'm an optimistic person. So even in situations as dire as this, I'm spinning my mind cogs. Trying to turn this into something that works. An experience to learn from. Welcome to the very first Blue Plate Special, a semi-regular segment where I rant, either alone or with a co-host, about a specific food topic. Today's subject? Food poisoning! How does it happen? Why do we never stop to talk about it? Thousands of folks serve other folks food every day in this country. A process which involves many steps to ensure the consumer doesn't get sick or even die while enjoying their favorite meal. A complicated process that when successful, goes unnoticed. Restaurants only get accolades when they win awards, or make serious mistakes. In today's Blue Plate Special I talk about how eating out at your favorite restaurant is, in actuality, a dangerous act, an act of deep trust on the part of the consumer. In purchasing a meal, you must trust that every person involved in that meal, from farm to plate to mouth, did their job and did it well. In this Age of Distraction, it's an act that has become even more dangerous. Have you experienced food poisoning? How did you deal with it? Did you tell them or not? Did you give the restaurant another chance? Shun them?  Did you warn others away or chalk it up to a bad day? Let me know! In future episodes, I hope to discuss other less violent but equally volatile topics like tipping, reservations, harrassment, even what makes a great pizza. May you never experience what I just did. And if you do, may your bathroom tile be cold, your bed warm, and your applesauce and Gatorade refreshing. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Here it is folks. My Golden Fork Awards for 2017! What did I eat that was noteworthy? A lot of stuff evidently. These are dishes so tasty I have to talk about them at length, even months after eating. Which is how I construct the list, the way I've done it since 2009. It’s not a perfect method, just my own. Let me know what you think. Do you agree? Disagree? What did I miss? 2017 was different. A lot happened. To me. To our community. I found myself reaching for foods that screamed "COMFORT" more often than not. I also found my memory ain't what it used to be. So when I ate something that fed more than just my stomach? I wrote it down. Sometimes I remembered to take a photograph. I did away with limits, so there are not 10 dishes or one that tops them all. It's not "Best Of" meaning all the other stuff I ate was subpar. Far from it. This is not a popularity contest. These are my opinions. This is about the folks in our community who do the hard work. The Work of Food. It's about Big Love. These dishes gave me Big Love and comforted me, all of us, at a time when we really needed it. I'm so grateful to everyone who granted me each and every memorable experience. Thank you for your continued support, suggestions, and comments. I'm honored and proud of our community. At the amount of food talent in our region. I’m beyond grateful for the opportunities my own version of the “Amsterdam Chess Club” has afforded me. 2017 in Edacious World? Not so bad. I took a class, gained a mentor and a student, did my first fundraiser, moderated several food panels, and met two of my heroes. I took my chosen vocation to the next level by just showing up. Doing what needs doing. In launching a podcast I’ve learned so much about our community, but even more than that I’ve gained insight into my own being which was entirely unexpected. The only resolution I’m making is to continue these connections. To do more with these conversations. To go deeper. It’s been a wild ride and one I hope you’ll continue to take with me in 2018. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May it be joyful, rewarding, and full of good food, experiences, and BIG LOVE! Best of 2017 Golden Fork Award Winners! (Photos Below!) Cocktail - The Coat Room, Left Field Manhattan. Beer - Champion Brewery, Shower Beer. Wine - Jake Busching Wines. All of them. Viognier in particular. Breakfast (a tie!) Blue Moon Diner. Anything. With Beignets. JM Stock Provisions, Tasso Ham Biscuit with honey and hot sauce. Lunch - Roots Natural Kitchen, The Southern. Dinner - The Coat Room. Will Bryant Curley and Reid Dougherty will treat you right. Dessert (a tie!) Spring Wine Dinner at Caromont Farm with Chef Harrison Keevil of Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen. Pound cake with strawberries, whipped cream. Brasserie Saison, Dark Chocolate Ice Cream. Takeout - Al Carbon. Burger - The Pub By Wegman's. Medium rare. With Cheese, Lettuce, and Tomato. Soup/Stew (a tie!) Soup - Justin Vesser's Pork Belly Consommé at the Soup There It Is! competition by WTJU. Stew - BBQ Exchange, Brunswick Stew. Fancy Pants Dish (a tie!) The Shack, Chef Ian Boden - Green gazpacho, peanuts, olive oil croutons, cherry olives. The Ivy Inn, Chef Angelo Vangelopoulos - Bite-sized gyro at Meals on Wheels Taste This! charity event. Sandwich - The Market At Bellair, The Jefferson. Bread (a tie!) MarieBette Café and Bakery, Olive Baguette. Orange Dot Baking Company, Rosemary Major Muffins. Snack - Mochiko Cville, SPAM Musubi. Treat - Gearhart's Fine Chocolates, Malt Caramels. Craving (three-way tie!) JM Stock Provisions, Cerdito Sausage. Carpe Donut, Apple Cider Donuts. The Spice Diva, Simon Davidson's Everything Bagel Spice. Cookie - The Pie Chest, Oatmeal Creme Pie. Brownie - Gearhart's Fine Chocolates. Cake - Arley Cakes, Lemon raspberry Birthday Cake. Cheesecake - Paradox Pastry. Pie - The Pie Chest, Chocolate Pie. Pastry - MarieBette Café and Bakery, Vanilla Cloud Bronut. Events (four-way tie!) Love Fest at IX. Wine Dinners at Caromont Farm. Cardinal Point Oyster Roast. Fire, Flour, & Fork Merroir Lunch with Gabrielle Hamilton. Edacious Golden Fork Hall of Fame - Dishes that have appeared on "The List" for 3 years or more. Congratulations! 2014 – BBQ Exchange - Smoked Turkey 2016 – BBQ Exchange - Lard Fried Chicken 2016 – Bodo’s Bagels - Pastrami and Swiss on an Everything with lettuce, tomato, and mustard 2017 – Paradox Pastry - Lemon Hand Pies 2017 – Pearl's Bake Shoppe - Plain Jane Cupcake 2017 – Whole Foods - White Pizza with lemon, arugula, currants, and mozzarella SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

I apologize for the moments of bad audio...tried like heck to fix it! Any gurus out there? I'm all ears! Literally. After hours of battle, the headphones have melded themselves to my head! Quick, Healthy Dinner Work. With Slow, Conscious Growth and Balance. Welcome to Episode 88! In this conversation, I speak with Eric and Leslie Benz of Hunter Gatherer Dinners. Shelf-stable meal kits that are convenient, quick, and produced locally. Dinner kits seem a trend that's here to stay, but unlike big box companies such as Blue Apron, when you purchase a Hunter Gatherer Dinner you know exactly how and where your kit is created. And unlike those other companies, most of the packaging is biodegradable. Hunter Gatherer Dinners can sit in your pantry until you need them, the perfect dinner solution on those nights when you come home exhausted. The Benz's develop the recipes, source the ingredients, and package each kit with care by hand. Each kit contains everything you need to create a delicious, healthy main dish and side. All you add is your favorite protein. Every ingredient is premeasured and the label contains not only a shopping list but clearly numbered steps so even a novice can put a tasty, healthy meal on the table in 20-30 minutes. With Hunter Gatherer Dinners if you can count, you can cook. Partner a kit with your local CSA share! Or something like Meat Club from JM Stock Provisions! Or produce you pick up at the farmer's market! Each kit fits well with your favorite protein and most of the side dishes are ancient grains like farro, quinoa, and wild rice. Hunter Gatherer Dinners are all low fat, some are gluten-free, while others can be easily adapted for vegetarians. Even the black beans in the Bonanza Chili have been pre-cooked then dehydrated to cut down on prep time. They also make the perfect gift! Consider a young couple getting married and just setting up house, or a student heading off to college. How about a housewarming gift, something easy to prepare while you unpack your kitchen? And a terrific Christmas gift for all the hikers and campers and hunters on your list. Or even the gift of convenience for yourself during a hectic holiday season. In a world where there never seems to be enough time, reaching for an overprocessed pre-prepared meal is an easy choice. But eating this way long term can cause serious health issues and high medical bills. Eating clean is not only essential to good health but in this day and age, it's becoming an act of resistance. Food as medicine. As a former cancer survivor, Eric Benz understands this. With Leslie they have created a kit marrying both ideas. Clean eating plus convenience. Origins of the name? We are all hunter gatherers. As conscious consumers, we hunt and gather ingredients to make healthy meals for ourselves and our families. Especially if you have special dietary needs like paleo, vegan, or gluten-free you are hunting and gathering every time you shop. The Benz's are foodies from the west coast as well as passionate advocates for the outdoors and its health benefits. Hunter Gatherer Dinners was started because they wanted to take their passion for food and create something together. Leslie handles the graphic design, Eric handles logistics. Both collaborate on recipe development and brainstorming. To get the word out, they use a face-to-face approach. Converting one customer at a time to their cause. Which means demos. Lots of them, including the Charlottesville City Market. And Whole Foods for the time being. We talk about Amazon's acquisition and what it might mean for small businesses who use this high-traffic location to spread the news about their products. Community events like Tomtoberfest and teaching events through the Boys and Girls Clubs also help, not only with marketing but getting young folks cooking and eating with awareness. Future plans? Buying an RV and traveling the country, managing the business from the road. Blogging and videos and social media from campgrounds and RV parks around the country. More boots on the ground advertising, converting customers one camper at a time. How do you manage your time, prioritize, when there's only the two of you while at the same time growing your business? Is it more important to chase the big boys like Whole Foods or should you focus on getting your product into smaller, local markets? How did they develop their recipes? We talk about it all. The organic movement has been around since there have been hunters and gatherers. Convenience foods which made their appearance at the beginning of the 20th century moved our focus but that focus is definitely curving back around. Now eating clean is an act of resistance against big corporations and big agriculture and the Benz's are proud to be a part of that. Hunter Gatherer Dinners are available at most of your favorite local stores, at Whole Foods, Ellwood Thompson, on Amazon, on Etsy, and on their website. These kits are big on taste when you're short on time. Get yours today but not before listening to this wonderful conversation. Cheers! Hunter Gatherer Dinner Kit Varieties: Seared Steak or Venison with Red Wine Chocolate Sauce and Wild Rice with Cranberries Cedar Plank Game Hen with Porcini Quinoa Pilaf Cedar Plank Pork Tenderloin with Farro Risotto Cedar Plank Salmon with Moroccan Couscous and Sultanas Chicken Curry with Jasmine Rice Rio Grande Taco Mix with Ancho Black Beans Stuffed Acorn Squash with Wild Rice and Porcini Mushroom Bonanza Chili SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Dinner Work. With Lots and Lots of Community Effort. Welcome to a very special Thanksgiving episode! In this season of gratitude, I'm feeling very grateful for so many things, both personal and professional. What better way to celebrate that gratitude than with an event by the community for the community. Farm dinners at Caromont happen twice a year, at the beginning of the season to celebrate new growth, and at the end to celebrate harvest. Ceremonial beginnings and endings. All food is locally sourced and prepared by Food Folks who live and work in this region. They've become so popular I often see the same faces around the table, smiling, sipping wine, and introducing the newbies to the magic that is Caromont Farm. So when cheesemaker Gail Hobbs-Page asked me to record the event I did a happy dance. After listening to the results? I did another. And felt very grateful I captured this moment with sound. This Thanksgiving, as you travel and cook and take deep breaths because your Uncle Raymond said something idiotic, I hope you'll take a moment to be grateful for the things you have, rather than spending time dwelling on the things you want. After experiencing the 3rd Annual Farm Dinner at Caromont once again through audio, I find I have very much indeed. I wish you peace, joy, BIG LOVE, and extra stuffing. Happy Thanksgiving! Speakers you will hear in this episode: Gail Hobbs-Page - Farm Dinner Host and owner of Caromont Farm. Ian Boden - Chef of The Shack in Staunton, Virginia. Corry Blanc - Blacksmith at Blanc Creatives. Vu Nguyen - Of Blanc Creatives. Brian Noyes and Dwight McNeill - Of Red Truck Rural Bakery. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: BBQ Exchange - Order their smoked turkey for the holidays like I did. You won't regret it! Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Kitchen Work. With Badass Women. Welcome to a very special episode! In this season of gratitude, I'm feeling very grateful for Richmond's Fire, Flour, & Fork festival. Not only did it land me my dream podcast guest, Gabrielle Hamilton (episode up now!), but I was asked to moderate a Women in Food panel with some of the top names in our industry. Women in Food. Every festival seems to do this. It's not like when you sign up for your breakout sessions you see a panel called, Men in Food. Is it necessary? Has the conversation been exhausted? Yes and no. As you will hear in this episode recorded just two weeks ago all of our panelists, while somewhat tired of being asked the same questions, feel the conversation must continue, particularly in light of the recent allegations against chefs like John Besh. Who are our panelists? Chef Joy Crump of FoodE and Mercantile in Fredericksburg, Virginia and Season 12 of Top Chef contestant, Kerry Diamond of Cherry Bombe, the new Cherry Bombe cookbook, and Radio Cherry Bombe, Chef Kristen Kish, Season 10 winner of Top Chef and author of the cookbook, Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques, and Chef Jessica Wilson, who will open her restaurant Grace in the Chimborazo neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia next spring. We discuss the dynamic between men and women in the kitchen, the disparity between gender images projected by the industry and the market's expectations, recipe development, core values and goals, sexual harassment, and much much more. As I said in my last episode, so much happens when you choose to just show up for your life. Enjoy! Speakers you will hear in this episode: Joy Crump Joy is the co-owner and Executive Chef of FOODE and Mercantile in Fredericksburg, Virginia. A graduate of the Art Institute of Atlanta’s Culinary Arts program, Joy specializes in researching and preparing locally grown, and organic foods. Her career began in Los Angeles working as the caterer and event planner for the President of Capitol Records. At the same time, she worked on private events for Warner Bros. Television. In 2005, Joy relocated to Atlanta where she studied under Chef Bradley Rouse, head chef for The Atlanta Hawks while working on her degree. After graduation, Joy began cooking at Woodfire Grill as an apprentice to Chef Micahel Tuohy. Joy appeared in Season 12 of Top Chef last fall and her signature Chicken & Waffles won the Virginia is for Lovers Culinary Madness Challenge in April. Kerry Diamond Kerry is the co-founder of Cherry Bombe, an independent, bi-annual magazine examining the inexplicably intertwined worlds of food and fashion and host of the weekly Radio Cherry Bombe podcast. Kerry has worked for Women’s Wear Daily, Harper’s Bazaar, Lancome, and Coach just to name a few. After falling in love with a chef, she helped him open 3 restaurants, all in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Cherry Bombe the cookbook is a collection of recipes and stories from 100 of the most creative and inspiring women in food today. Kristen Kish Kristen was born in Seoul, South Korea, adopted at the age of 4 months, and grew up in Michigan. After attending Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago, she worked for Michelin star chef Guy Martin of Le Grand Véfour at his Boston restaurant. She then worked for Barbara Lynch in Boston, first at Stir, and then at Menton, a Relais Chateaux restaurant which she ran when she was 29. Barbara became a mentor, suggesting she might want to audition for Top Chef. She did, winning Season 10. Kristen has co-hosted the series 36 Hours on The Travel Channel and her first cookbook, Kristen Kish Cooking, is a celebration of her taste buds, focusing on classic techniques. As she says, “Once you know the basics, from braising to pickling, smoking to searing, you can bend them to your will.” Jessica Wilson Jessica has worked with, been taught by, and inspired and motivated by chefs such as Julia Child, Gabrielle Hamilton, Missy Robbins, and Job Yacubian. She’s always been surrounded by the culinary arts from her early years growing up on a farm in Vermont to working with culinary historians to foraging on morning walks to her first job as a dishwasher at age 14. Wilson’s two-decade career has taken her from Vermont to Florida to Massachusetts, and on to success in the East Village and Brooklyn in New York. Her resume includes time at Prune and A Voce, and most recently turns as executive chef at Goat Town and the Michelin-recommended Dear Bushwick. Jessica is now poised to open GRACE in Richmond, a neighborhood garden-to-table restaurant with an emphasis on fresh, sustainable, local, and affordable. The green space of the double lot will be a seasonal garden, providing for the restaurant and a morning community market. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Foggy Ridge Cider - Owner Diane Flynt is stopping cider production, but continuing her important work growing cider apples for area cideries. Get the Final Call while it's still available! Then rent her garden cottage. Heaven on earth. Tim & Sarah Gorman, Cardinal Point Winery - Just amazing wine. Listen to their episode! Laurie Colwin - Great cookbooks, full of story. Laurie left us way too early. Edna Lewis's A Taste of Country Cooking - The gold standard when it comes to intertwining recipes and story. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Dream Guest Work. With Just Showing Up. Welcome to a very special episode! Back in February 2015 when I started this podcast, I spent a great deal of time figuring out my core values. Face-to-face interviews? Check. Community focus? Check. Dream guest? That one was easy. Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune in NYC is #1 on my laminated list, both for her otherworldly food but even more so for her panache with food writing. Ever since I devoured her Mind of a Chef episodes and her memoir, Blood, Bones, & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, I've been praying to the podcast gods to somehow, some way talk with this woman who writes likes I want to write and cooks the food I want to eat. In this episode, I traveled to Merroir in Topping, Virginia to record her event with Chef Dylan Fultineer of Rappahannock in Richmond - a lunch completely foraged in and around the restaurant. Oysters, rockfish, trout, and greens. Softshell crab and sweet potatoes. Hyperlocal and cooked simply over a grill. With minimal ingredients, so the main one shines through. Around 50 people attended this event as part of Richmond's 4th Annual Fire, Flour, & Fork festival which is quickly becoming one of my favorite food gatherings of the year. Listen and you'll see why. Picture a perfect 80-degree sunny day, no humidity or wind, with only the seagulls, lapping water, and crunching oyster shells underfoot and the happy smiles of other diners as your companions. Gaze at the pictures in my Facebook album as you listen. It's almost as if you are there. Speaking with Chef Hamilton was a dream come true, a major career highlight. Great things happen when you choose to show up for your life. In the second half of the episode, hear Chef Hamilton speak with Kerry Diamond of Cherry Bombe as part of Gabrielle's keynote address at Fire, Flour, & Fork. Topics include women in the kitchen, the challenges of being a chef, mentoring and what that means, and Gabrielle's new book, a memoir. Pictures are on my Facebook profile. It's charming and funny and thoughtful and only cemented my belief that Gabrielle Hamilton is the ballsiest, most badass chef and writer around. Enjoy! From the Fire, Flour, & Fork website: "Gabrielle is the chef/owner of PRUNE, which she opened in New York City’s East Village in October 1999. PRUNE has been recognized in all major press, both nationally and internationally, and is regularly cited in the top 100 lists of all major food magazines. Gabrielle has made numerous television appearances including segments with Martha Stewart, Mark Bittman, and Mike Colameco and was the victor in her Iron Chef America battle against Bobby Flay on The Food Network in 2008. Most notably, she won an Emmy for her role in Season 4 of the award-winning PBS series Mind of a Chef. Gabrielle has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, Bon Appetit, Saveur, Food & Wine, Afar, Travel and Leisure, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Elle, and House Beautiful. Her work has been anthologized in Best Food Writing 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2013. Gabrielle was nominated for Best Chef NYC in 2009 and 2010 by the James Beard Foundation and in 2011 won the category. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, which has been published in six languages and won the James Beard Foundation’s award for Writing and Literature in 2012. She won her third James Beard award in 2015 for her piece “Into the Vines” published in Afar. Most recently, she wrote the cookbook, Prune, featuring 250 recipes from her East Village restaurant. She is a monthly columnist for The New York Times Magazine and is currently at work on her next book, a memoir, to be completed in 2018." Speakers you will hear in this episode: Wendy Wyne - Marketing & PR Director, Rappahannock Oyster Company Patrick Oliver - Farm Manager, Rappahannock Oyster Company Susan Winiecki - Co-Founder and Co-Manager, Fire, Flour, & Fork Dylan Fultineer - Chef, Rappahannock Gabrielle Hamilton - Chef, Prune Bryce Carson - Fire, Flour, & Fork Volunteer Kerry Diamond - Cherry Bombe SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Restaurant Unstoppable - Thank you, Eric Cacciatore, for having me on your podcast! Tim & Sarah Gorman, Cardinal Point Winery - Listen to their episode then buy your tickets to the 14th Annual Oyster Roast. This weekend! Fire, Flour, & Fork - Richmond's BEST food event. One of my favorites. Cherry Bombe - Where fashion meets food. With a huge shot of feminism to boot. Cherry Bombe cookbook - Get you one! It's glorious. Rappahannock River Oysters - Oh yeah baby. The best. Order them online! Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Bay Work. With Oysters. Welcome to my conversation with Travis Croxton of Rappahannock Oyster Company, who, along with brother Ryan, has helped bring the long and storied tradition of Virginia Chesapeake Bay oysters back into the spotlight. From one small grill at Merroir in Topping, Virginia these brothers have built a restaurant empire, one that's growing all the time. From RockSalt in Charlottesville to their newest addition Rapp Session in Richmond, Rappahannock Oyster now has eight restaurants, including one in Los Angeles that opens in November. World domination is officially underway. The Croxtons are 4th-generation oyster farmers, going back to the 1800's. The story of his family's agricultural origins was fascinating and made me grateful these two brothers are carrying on such an important legacy. Their logo was created using the signature of one of their ancestors and the paperwork for the land grant for the oyster farm hangs in one of their restaurants. A terrific idea, including story into your business. What advice does he have for new business owners? Listen to learn more! For decades the Virginia oyster was nothing but a myth. Overfishing and bad farming practices had driven them almost to extinction. In New York they are extinct. Those fancy New York Blue Points? They come from Virginia and have since the 1800's. Luckily, good farming practices have brought these beauties back and it's a good thing. Oysters are excellent filters. Farming them keeps sediment in place and creates a biodiverse ecosystem. They act as an environmental cornerstone much like coral reefs. When oysters were overfished the bay became incredibly polluted with dead zones where the sun couldn't penetrate which meant many fish died. Today, if you visit the Croxton's farm, the water is so clear you can see straight to the bottom. "I tell people, we have the cleanest waters in the country, especially the Rappahannock. There's no town, no city on it, it's all forested." A working oyster farm like Rappahannock includes long lines, lead lines, and underwater cages, each one holding about 2,000 adult oysters, which mature in about 18 months to two years. A tumbling process hardens the shell and makes the cup deeper for a meatier oyster. Once mature, oysters are brought in for husbandry, separation into size and class. Other farms use floating cages but the Croxtons are cognizant of homeowners who'd rather not have their bucolic view of "The Rivah" spoiled. This farm not only produces a delicious product but provides jobs to folks in an area that desperately needs them. On farming: "We're doing it in rural, economically challenged areas...just recently it dawned on us that we're actually creating a lot of jobs and good work tracks for people...if they show up on time for a year or so we put them on salary and give them benefits, and give them a career path. It's not just food benefits, and health benefits to the Chesapeake but the local economy...A lot of kids go to college and never come back...we're trying to reverse that trend." Oysters have their own Merrior and Rapphannock's are no exception. The minerality of river flows down from the Blue Ridge add taste, as does the salinity of the ocean. The type of algae they eat affects taste. All of this impacts flavor and the water conditions impact the hardness of the shell and the way it's shaped. Like wine, there isn't just one oyster variety. Chincoteague oysters are going to taste dramatically different from river oysters because of merroir. Dramatically different flavor profiles they can showcase to chefs interested in their product. On their beginnings, "We need to not only resurrect our Rappahannock farm, but we need to showcase a couple of other (oyster) locations and show the world that we are the Napa Valley of oysters." The story of how they got chefs interested is downright mythic. They looked up the best restaurant in New York according to Zagat, and arrived at Le Benardin with a cooler between them. Chef Eric Ripert became an instant fan and began serving Rappahannock oysters in his restaurant. "We had our first sales in the #1 restaurant in the country at the time. And we had no idea what we were doing...to this day chefs like Jen Carroll tell us, 'I remember when you guys walked into our kitchen. You guys were dumbasses!' We didn't even know how to shuck oysters back then." Chefs have been key to getting the word out. Each chef at every Rappahannock Oyster Company restaurant is so talented, many nationally renowned, and all of them put their own special twist on how they prepare these beauties. If you've had the Lambs and Clams at RockSalt or the Oyster Bourride at Rapphannock, you certainly know what I'm talking about. How can you shuck an oyster without cutting off a finger? What's the best way to store them? What is a spat?  How do oysters spawn? Has consumption changed over the centuries? Are oyster farms affected by weather? Hurricanes? What are the origins of their famous Lambs and Clams? Did you know each restaurant makes this dish but does it a little differently? All the more reason to visit every restaurant in the Croxton kingdom. The next time you travel down to "The Rivah" and take in its crystal clear beauty, thank an oyster. Then get yourself to one of the Croxton restaurants. You can enjoy oysters there and even pick some up to take home! They also sell them on their website. Whether they're raw, roasted, grilled, steamed, fried, or in a stew, it's good stuff. This episode made me SO hungry! Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Bashir Khelafa - The owner of Bashir's Taverna is in dire need. Please give early and often. Fire, Flour Fork - I will be moderating a panel on Women in Food at this event next week, hopefully interviewing Gabrielle Hamilton as well, fingers crossed. Get your tickets now! Caromont Farm Dinner - This event was stupendous. I will be airing a special episode profiling it Thanksgiving Day. How do you know it's Thanksgiving in Charlottesville? Record a voice memo with your name, where you're from, and why you know it's Thanksgiving. Mail it to me and you just might hear yourself on the podcast! Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

"You have to learn from your mistakes. But don't dwell on your mistakes." Reimagining Work. With Labneh. And Wine. Welcome to Episode 83 of Edacious and a conversation with a restaurateur who has a chance many folks don't get. A second chance to open his restaurant in a new space. What does this mean for his staff? His customers? His bottom line? Meet Justin Ross of Parallel 38, a gentleman and scholar who had the courage to get vulnerable and real about the effects a closing, then a reopening has on the hearts, minds, and spirits of everyone involved. Recorded on August 1st when only a few regulatory papers lay between him and a grand opening. Anyone who's ever opened a restaurant can certainly commiserate with this sense of anticipation. I spoke with Justin early on in Edacious history so it was intriguing to converse at this stage of the restaurant's development. Parallel didn't close due to lack of business, in fact, the last two weeks of service there wasn't an empty seat in the place. Because now, as then, Justin's primary focus is on the customer, making sure each one is treated not as a commodity but as a guest. Giving them the best dining experience possible. On guests: "We're there for them. Whether you're front of house or back of house. If they don't come to the building, there's no reason to be there. We need to make sure we take care of them even before they walk through the door. Anticipating their needs." "There are going to be people you cannot please. And maybe noone pleases those people. But I think part of what we are here to do is to find out how...Every single one of those customers should be a learning experience." The old spot in Stonefield presented challenges. The new spot, in the old L'Etoile space on West Main, presents new ones. We talk about the delicate navigation involved in overcoming obstacles with regard to the customer base, parking, kitchen size, square footage. As in real estate, location is key. The new space is much smaller. How do you go from airy to cozy? What do you have to change? We talk about it. "We never want to force our concept into a space. We want to find a space that fits whatever concept we have in mind. We saw that space and we fell in love with it. We thought it was the perfect spot for Parallel...The building has a lot of charm to it...It's an old building. It's really amazing to go into a space that has been a restaurant for 35, 40 years...and put our mark on it. I think people are going to be wowed by all the differences inside." I've seen the new space and it's terrific. The outside patio has been doubled and somehow, the interior seems bigger! There's a gorgeous wall-sized wine rack at the top of the stairs, clever lighting, judicious use of barrels, and the bar downstairs promotes lingering. I haven't even mentioned the gorgeous walls, stripped to bare brick, covered in graffiti-style murals. Pair that with all of your favorites some old, some new, those amazing cocktails and that great wine selection, and the new Parallel 38 looks to be a great addition to the West Main Street restaurant corridor. One thing that hasn't changed? The concept. Food and drink served mezze style, tapas, small plates, originating from countries that lie along the 38th parallel. Sourcing? Most of it locally, like pork from Autumn Olive Farms, a past podcast guest. What about the menu? Johnny Garver heads up the kitchen once again and yes, all of your old favorites are here, including some new ones. During Friends and Family Night, we inhaled ALL of the spreads (I love you, labneh!) and enjoyed grilled octopus, fried sardines (YUM!), and lamb skewers sous-vided to perfection. The flatbread is now made to order and while some menu items have disappeared I spied the same blistered shishitos, charcuterie, salads, and that awesome pork belly Parallel. The sauce on it is new and I like it even better! On the menu: "You'll probably see less pizzas. You'll probably see some pastas but not to the extent we had to there...We're going to balance our menu based on who's coming to the restaurant but we just think we have the opportunity to be a little more adventurous in our menu now...Our menu will probably we a bit more rustic, a bit more approachable, but with some really fun things." What role did the Stonefield folks play in his grand reopening? What lessons did Justin learn? What perfect storm had to happen for him to reopen so quickly? Why does it say, "No finished products!" in his hiring ads? Why does it say "Busboy" on his business card? Will Parallel have the same great barrel-aged cocktails and wine? How will all of the Main Street development affect Parallel? What is Justin's favorite unsung hero wine region? Can we please bring back the Main Street Festival? And what piece of advice does he give new business owners? What must you be willing to do and not do? "Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. Surround yourself with people smarter than you." If it's one thing I took away from this conversation it's how important it is to thank your host, your server, your bartender if you've had a tremendous eating experience. Because you never know. The next time you go to make a reservation your favorite spot might be closed. You'll be left reminiscing about all the good times you had. This is a tough business and restaurants "fail" (note the quotes) because of a myriad of reasons. I absolutely loved Parallel 38 in its old incarnation. When I learned of its closing I wrote a heartfelt thank you post and paid my respects, thinking his place had met the fate of so many other beloved establishments in Charlottesville. Whether its the location, the challenges, or the persnickety nature of the customer base, many restaurants just don't make it. When I discovered it would reopen? After finishing my Happy Dance I contacted Justin. Welcome to a very special episode and one I know I will remember and return to time and again. Get your tissues. You'll need them. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Thank You Parallel 38 - Remember to appreciate your favorite restaurants while they're still open. Justin was on the podcast in its infancy! This is Charlottesville - Sarah Cramer Shields has created something wonderful here! Lovefest! Between Parallel 38 and L'Etoile on Facebook Just Showing Up - Episode 25. Dirtwoman was on NPR - Dirt's dirt and dirt don't hurt. RIP Donnie Corker. Virginia Distillery Company - On October 21st, VDC will release it's Cider Cask Finished Highland Malt Whisky! Caromont Farm Dinner - This October! Ian Boden from The Shack is the chef this go round. I'll be recording. It will sell out. Get your tickets now. Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! Leave a review about Edacious! - Click the link, then "View in iTunes" then "Ratings and Reviews". Whether you think it's great, or not so great, I want to hear from you. I might just read your review on the air! Whoa! #famousforahotminute This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

"Cheese wins. Always." ---Sara Adduci, Feast! Cheese Work. With Extra Cheese Please. Welcome to Episode 82 and my conversation with cheesemonger Sara Adduci of Feast! Sara worked front of house at various restaurants for 26 years. At a certain point she was moonlighting as a photographer. It was during a shoot for the wedding of a wine and cheese shop owner that her new career was born. She began working at Julia Battaglini's Secco Wine Bar in Richmond, spending all her earnings on cheese. It was an edacious romance with an extra aged gouda that set her on the path to learning everything there is to know about fermented milk. How did she educate herself? Tasting! Taking notes afterward. Reading books. Sara just returned from a 6-week whirlwind cheese tour through Europe. An educational summer abroad began with a 2-week internship at L'Amuse Fromagerie in Amsterdam. She even spent time on an island of sheep! An island where Dutch folks bring livestock to graze and people and cars are forbidden. From there she traveled to Sicily,  Spain, and France, including a visit to a comté producer. Sara got to see the caves where hundreds of wheels sit quietly aging, gathering the nutty, buttery flavors that good comté is known for. Sara got to hand-select a wheel to bring back to Feast!, the shop in Main Street Market where she plies her wares. They even carved her name into it. It's at the shop now. Go get you some before it sells out! Her education shows. Sara has competed in The Cheesemonger Invitational multiple times, winning a bronze medal in 2016. What are some of the paces the judges put her through? We talk about it. At Feast! Sara is given carte blanche to order whatever cheese she thinks will sell, a balancing act of educating folks on new and strange cheeses but also catering to their tastes by including old favorites. There are some cheeses Sara loves that folks just don't like. Price is also a factor with some cheeses just being too expensive to offer on a regular basis. "There are some things that are a little obscure, a little different, but that's part of the joy of being a cheesemonger is really being able to introduce people to things they aren't familiar with. Explaining where it came from, how it was made, who made it, why it's so good, what you can do with it. That really is for me the best part of doing what I do." Cheesemaking is a 24-7 job just like farming. Folks who do it are not in it for the money but for the love of the craft. "If you ever spend 24 hours on a working cheesemaking farm, you will understand completely why cheeses cost what they do. It's a job that never ends. They do it because they love it not because they're making a huge amount of money." "I'd rather spend $5 on a small piece of cheese made by people that you know about and you know how they raised their animals and you know how they make their cheese and you know how much they care about it as opposed to a $5 huge piece of cheese from a supermarket that's made in a commercial factory with milk that's pooled from who knows where?" Exactly. One of the goals of Sara's summer abroad was to learn how smaller producers can stay successful, creating artisanal products without the danger of going out of business. Is it community support? Agritourism? What is the magic formula for success in cheese? How do all the components come together so you can create cheese the right way? Every single time? The culture of cheese is different in Europe as well. People eat more of it for one thing. It's rare to sit down at a meal where you don't find a little bit of cheese to nibble. How do we translate that culture to American tastes? Caring for good cheese is vital as well because it can easily pick up flavors in your fridge. Make sure you slice off a tiny piece of the outside before serving so you have a "clean face". Wrap it in parchment, not plastic. Cheese needs to breathe. It's also important to serve it at the right temperature. Luckily, a good cheesemonger like Sara can walk you through everything and it never has to be an intimidating experience. Just talk to her! Tell her about your event even if the event is Tuesday Night. Tell her what you like to eat and she can direct you to a new favorite or a better version of an old one. Are there cheesemongers who are lactose intolerant? What cheeses are best for those suffering from this condition? What cheese can you throw into the rice cooker to infuse it with flavor? How do you ship a giant wheel of cheese from Europe anyway? How do American cheesemakers dance through the many regulations placed on cheese production? What are the Cheesemonger Feats of Strength? Listen to find out! I've followed Sara's photography on Instagram for years. First met her during a Farm Dinner at Caromont, Gail Hobbs-Page's querencia of goat cuddling and excellent cheese. How appropriate! Give this episode a listen. Then get yourself to Feast! and load up on some good stuff. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Five Finds on Friday - Sara Adduci's choices were so creative! And delicious. Concert for Charlottesville - Did you see it? Wow. Taste This! - A wonderful fundraiser for Meals on Wheels. Help Puerto Rico - Please. Please. Please. Caromont Farm Dinner - This October! Ian Boden from The Shack is the chef this go round. I'll be recording. It will sell out. Get your tickets now. WTJU Jazz Marathon - Donate early and often. Gabrielle Hamilton - My podcast dream guest. My favorite chef, restaurant, and food writer all in one. Keep your fingers crossed I get to talk with her sometime very soon! She will be appearing as part of Richmond's Fire, Flour, Fork. Get your tickets here. Foggy Ridge Cider, Dugspur, Virginia - Not just great cider, Diane's Garden Cottage is heaven on earth. Chordify - Learn to play an instrument within minutes! I did. Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Wine Work. In The Car. Dirt and Stuff With Jake. Welcome to Episode 81, a conversation with a former goth slash punk rock frontman, a gentleman who has spent years making wines of place. Now he’s producing his own artisanal wines using the very best selection of grapes from vineyards he helped design. The results? Extraordinary. Meet Jake Busching of Jake Busching Wines. Jake grew up in Minnesota on a farm. Singing in a band as a teenager, he made his way to Richmond, Virginia where he ended up working in food at a Holiday Inn. A huge shock to a boy from the midwest. A place where he learned the value of food and its culture. Musicians and food. A match made in heaven. So many folks on this podcast got their start this way. How did wine appear? As with so many great stories, he met a girl, eventually landing in Charlottesville. A chance meeting with the owner of Jefferson Vineyards set him on his path. Initially, he initially took over farm management duties. Then Chris Hill, the Vineyard Manager, needed someone to fix stuff. He also needed help laying out a new vineyard. Michael Shaps happened to be the winemaker. The planets aligned back in 1997 at the birth of a new Virginia industry and a winemaker was born. “The farm boy in me was like the seasonality of this totally makes sense to me. Grow a crop, harvest the crop, turn it into wine. Wow! From an agricultural perspective that sounded like sign me up! This is a freak show of really interesting people!” He also found his tribe in wine, a cast of characters passionate and creative about wine without the snobby attitude. A little more rock and roll than classical symphony. Different from the early days of Napa, grape-wise, but with the same edacious feeling. Growing grapes in Virginia is never a sure thing where rain and humidity always threaten harvest. This gamble adds to that attitude of we’ll give it a shot and hope for the best. When you do get a great harvest? It’s that much sweeter. Farming Virginia grapes is also very different than in Europe where folks spend decades learning their dirt and the best grapes that grow in it, transitioning that knowledge into making wine with a team of experts including a chemist, farmer, and vineyard manager. “In Virginia a lot of our wineries…there’s a lot of money being spent in Virginia. There’s not a lot of money being made in Virginia. The wine industry is agriculture. It’s a hard thing to do. There’s a lot of wineries for sale.” Jake spent years learning how to grow grapes for various vineyards, including Jefferson and Horton. There’s a reason they call him The Dirt Guy. When he got the call from Pollak to design one from the ground up? Yes please! He applied his viticulture there, his wine growing skills. There’s a difference. Growing grapes means you’re trying to grow as many as possible. An agricultural crop. Growing wine means you’re growing the best bottles you can. There’s a reason he calls his business Jake Busching ARTISANAL Wines. A journey that began as a grape grower, eventually moved to wine grower, then on to vineyard manager, and now to winemaker. Area vineyards trust Jake, allowing him to choose which rows of grapes he wants to use to make his wines. For example, at Honah Lee Vineyard, Jake selected a certain row of grapes because they lay on a gentle south-facing slope of land. A beautiful place with a great view. A perfect site for perfect fruit. And what about those wines of his anyway? Jake currently has four in rotation, including his F8 and his Orphan which he just released with a big tasting at Tavola. He makes wines of place. Transitioning away from that, Jake wants to remain a relevant winemaker under his own artisanal label. In limited quantities, 50 cases at a time. His 2015 Viognier sold out. With good reason. It’s gorgeous. After tasting it, I went to his site and bought ALL the wine. Pair that with expert design from Watermark? You’ve got all the hallmarks of a truly great emerging wine collection. “Legacy is weird. That’s a hard thing because I’ve been building legacy for other people for 20 years. It’s hard for me to swallow that pill and say okay it’s time to put yourself on a pedestal because that’s not something I’m comfortable with at all. And so how do I do that without losing the sense of who I really am? I really want to make wine. I love it. I absolutely love it.” Jake sells his wine as an independent winemaker. Without a vineyard or a tasting room or a winery. He’s a winemaker with a need for a creative outlet. So he does it for other people. His career as a consultant began when Michael Shaps stepped in to help Pollak. Now they make wine for 16 area wineries. They also consult with wineries from everything from dirt to vineyard design. In this way small startups don’t waste grape harvests learning how to make wine. “Growing grapes is capturing sunlight, interpreting dirt through a grapevine, and having an expression of a place come out in a glass of wine. That’s what we do.” “It’s pretty easy to grow grapes and make wine. You’re not necessarily going to make any money at it, but you can do it…Selling wine is a whole different ballgame. Finding the right people to do that is critical.” Agritourism is crucial in Virginia because at the end of the day a winery is a grape farm. They have to sell their crop and they have to do it on-site. Folks don’t want to come out and buy wine when it’s raining, but that’s when it’s not busy! Every winery has a great view and there are so many producing quality vintages. So get out there. These days, Jake spends most of his time in the car, visiting up to 10 vineyards a day. His broad knowledge means he can look at your dirt, your vineyard design, your grapes, and tell you what you could do better to build a sustainable business. All that time spent in the car is good for me because he has plenty of time to listen to Edacious! When I started two years ago it was the food folks who showed up first and Jake is no exception. I hear from him regularly with suggestions for guests and improvements to content and audio. That kind of community support keeps me going, so it was a thrill to finally sit and talk with him. What happens when wineries win awards for vintages that Jake and Michael made? What’s the first thing Jake looks at when someone asks him to design a vineyard? What essentials does he teach in his wine course at PVCC? What is Man Church? What is Tannat? Listen to find out! The episode was recorded right before grape harvest, the busiest time of wine season which is happening RIGHT NOW! So send all our local winemakers your blessings for good sunny weather. The introduction was recorded on the front porch of the Garden House at Foggy Ridge Cider. Thank you, Diane Flynt, for the wonderful accommodations and lovely garden vegetables, cider, and eating apples.  Interested in escaping to a rural country retreat without television or Internet? CHECK OUT MY PICTURES AT THIS LINK and rental information on her website.  Heaven on earth! Go stay there and take some of Jake’s wine with you. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Vintage: The Winemaker's Year - watch a clip! The Coatroom - Make a reservation. Now. Will Curley will treat you right. Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

September is Virginia Spirits Month! Celebrate with all of your favorites. Preferably while listening to this episode. Spirit Work. With Community Changes. Welcome to Episode 80 and the very first recorded after the events of August 12th. Meet Ian Glomski of Vitae Spirits, a former UVA professor of microbiology who decided to take his knowledge and apply it to the science of distilling. With fabulous results. Edacious is about community, so we begin with how August 12th affected Charlottesville, including disturbing events that happened right next door the day after. The fact this happened in summer, the slowest season for business, didn't help. At all. What then? We talk about it, as well as the challenges faced by our community as all sorts of changes, good and bad, happen when the town you live in has its moment in the national spotlight. We're used to being named the Prettiest Little Town That Ever Existed. How do we handle this new label? How do we move forward consciously, with awareness and compassion? And how do we embrace revitalization when the very concept looks different depending on your perspective? Ian's love of microbes began early, college in fact, when he discovered while he couldn't legally drink beer, he did have the ingredients to make it. A microbiology class improved his technique. A Ph.D. followed soon after. Eventually Ian became a professor at the UVA School of Medicine, but his passion for fermentation never waivered. Pair that with a family background in wine and a job which no longer fed him emotionally and you've got the perfect equation for a new life path. A boutique distillery focusing on making the best possible spirits money can buy. "There's a certain level of scientist in me where I try to control variables as much as possible, but you can only control so many things and there's a certain amount of intuition that I've developed...in the three-plus decades that I've been doing fermentation." Vitae Spirits was founded in 2015 and in only two years has made a name for itself, winning medals for its Modern Gin and Platinum Rum. Their tasting room is sleek, modern, yet insanely comfortable. A place right in town to tuck in and enjoy some tastings, maybe even a cocktail. Right next door to an awesome barbecue spot. But it's off the beaten path in the burgeoning neighborhood of Rose Hill. What are Ian and his team doing to get folks there? How are his mission and vision different from those of corporate distillers? "This was in my business plan...we want to maintain authenticity as best as possible...my ideal way of growth is essentially word of mouth. That has to be promoted in a lot of different ways...I'll never be buying an NFL football spot even if I could afford it because...I want it to feel like a garage band situation where people recognize us as their own private, personal thing. That means we have to keep in touch with our customers." One method is using story. When Ian pours you a tasting of Golden Rum, you are being served by the man who made it. When he travels to festivals and restaurants selling his wares you are looking in the eyes of the man who spent hours developing the nectar in your mojito. He oversees every step of the process from fermentation to bottling. That's huge. That use of story is elemental to good business growth. Incorporating a good logo by Convoy and beautiful bottle artwork by Lara Call Gastinger continues the story, sealing the deal. “There’s a really long history of alcohol being associated as a medicine or with a medicine…the distillation process was discovered by Muslim alchemists…the alchemists were looking for an elixir of life…they put wine in an alembic still, a colorless liquid came out…they put a pear in it and the pear never rotted…they interpreted that as that liquid was infusing life force.” The process of distilling rum, gin, and liqueurs is very different from creating bourbon or whisky. We discuss the ingredients as well as the process. Like those spirits, you have to jump through the same state and federal bureaucratic hoops. It's an incredibly long and challenging series of events. We talk about it, as well as some of the ways our Commonwealth is making it a bit easier which should result in a spirits boom similar to the ones we've seen with wine and beer. "For our rums we use the highest grade molasses..it's more like an evaporated sugar cane juice...sometimes referred to as sugarcane honey...it's super sweet and flavorful in the positive sense...we have almost completely uncooked evaporated juice so we don't get a lot of those bitter sulphery aromas..." Did you know there was a distilling "incident" in Woolen Mills in 1983? What is carrot vodka? What's the difference between grape vodka and grappa? Can you make rum from sorghum? What liqueur collaboration is in development with a local coffee roaster? What local citrus does he use in his orange liqueur, one you may not know about? Could absinthe happen in Virginia? What research did he do before starting? We cover it all! Are you a home bartender with no outlet for your passion? Create a cocktail using Vitae Spirits! Entries are due September 4th. Details below and on the Vitae Spirits website. You can find Vitae Spirits in many Virgina ABC stores and its cocktails in many local restaurants. Maps for both can be found on the website. Of course, you can also visit the tasting room, take a tour, enjoy a specialty cocktail, and purchase a bottle to take home. Ian founded Vitae the same year as Edacious. In my early days, I recorded at In a Flash Laser which just happened to be upstairs. It's been so rewarding to see Vitae's development. To finally see the finished tasting room just yesterday when I recorded? Wonderful. Get yourself there ASAP and enjoy all of your favorite local craft spirits as part of Virginia Craft Spirits Month. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Jake Busching Wines - The most recent "Food I'm Forking". Get you some! It's that good. Help Our Charlottesville Community Recover - Please consider donating to this cause, supporting victims of last weekend's violence. Thank you. Resist. Persist. - Brian Ashworth of Ace Biscuit and Barbecue clashes with Nazis in his restaurant on Sunday. Eater has the story. Bravo Brian! When Scientists Give Up - Why did Ian become a distiller? Read on! Great article. Montedomaine Petit Verdot Grappa - a Virginia-made grappa, pulled from ABC shelves due to low sales. Come on Virginia! Grappa is great! Spirits Lab - Forage sounds amazing. I will be searching for this one immediately! Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” ---Marianne Williamson Resistance Work. With Persistence, Resolve, Resilience, and Magic. Welcome Friends, to a special episode of Edacious. Because it is not business as usual in our town of Charlottesville, Virginia this week. Now is not the time to speak of the latest greatest cocktail invention, nor to promote the latest brewery opening or wine dinner. Now is the time to celebrate all that is good about Charlottesville, to remind ourselves despite the hatred that visited us over the weekend, when all is said and done, we are magic. We are greater than the sum of our parts. When our community decides to come together for a common cause with Big Love behind it, there is nothing that can stop us. Our resolve, our resilience, our persistence, and our magic will be the ingredients that point the way and keep us grounded. It's why I started this podcast. I looked around the community where I live and said, "Wow, folks need to know about this. Immediately. There is magic here." In this episode, I talk about Community Magic and the good folks who make it happen for us each and every day in our stores, on our farms, in our offices, in our fields, at our restaurants and kitchens. Folks whose passion is food but who know that food is just a starting point for so many other greater discussions and events and moments of connection. I'm convinced food is the great equalizer, the thing we all do, the thing each and every one of us can connect on. If you can just get someone from the other side of the fence to break bread with you, amazing things can happen. It's why I'm here. It's why I will continue to use this podcast to broadcast magic. Go in peace friends. Break bread. Practice self care. Get strong. Because this is only the beginning. Big Love. #Charlottesville #CvilleStrong #LoveisLove #YallMeansAll Charlottesville Makers of Magic Mentioned During This Episode. There are SO many others near and far I didn't get to. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for keeping our Charlottesville community strong as well as your own, wherever you may be. Kristin Adolfson of Still Point Press Design Angie Akey of Moxie Salon Brian Ashworth of Ace Biscuit and Barbecue Heather Balmat, trademark lawyer Jason Becton and Patrick Evans of MarieBette Café and Bakery Bellair Market MC Blair, radio host Laurie Blakey of Pearl's Bake Shoppe Jake Busching, winemaker Sheri Castle, food writer Polina Chesnakova, food writer Sara Cramer Shields and Andrea Hubbell of Our Local Commons Travis Croxton of Rappahannock Oyster Company Nancy Carter Crump, food historian Will Curley of The Coat Room Cville Coffee Simon Davidson of The Charlottesville 29 Victoria Dunham, chef Tim Edmond and Daniel Potter of Potter's Craft Cider Feast! Liz Finklestein, Piefest volunteer Jeanne Frey of Treat Yourself Right Massage Tim Gearhart of Gearhart's Fine Chocolates Grit Coffee Craig Hartman of The BBQ Exchange Martin Herbert of Small Potatoes Sales and Marketing and an Edacious Patreon supporter Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm Cheese Betty Hoge, Small Business Development Center David Hopper of Chutney Ferret Industries Phyllis Hunter and Will Harville of The Spice Diva Integral Yoga Java Java JM Stock Provisions Michele Jones of Pasture, Flora, Comfort Tami Keaveney of Tavola and The Cicchetti Bar Harrison and Jennifer Keevil of Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen Market Street Market Milli Joe's Susan McCulley, Nia Instructor Christopher Morris, photographer Mudhouse Coffee Gerry Newman of Albemarle Baking Company Rachel Pennington of The Pie Chest Jenny Bandy Peterson of Paradox Pastry Rebecca's Natural Foods Allie Redshaw Wilson Richey of Ten Course Hospitality Matt Rohdie of Carpe Donut Shenandoah Joe's PK Ross of Splendora's Gelato Bill Smith of Crook's Corner Hunter Smith of Champion Brewery Dawn Story of Farmstead Ferments Ian Thomas and Marlene Steiner of Virginia Distillery Company Timbercreek Market Angelo Vangelopoulos of The Ivy Inn Justin Vesser, PieFest and Soup There It Is! contest winner Amanda Welch of Grubby Girl Brian Wimer of IX Park and Lovefest Cynthia Woodring, yoga instructor SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Help Our Charlottesville Community Recover - Please consider donating to this cause, supporting victims of last weekend's violence. Thank you. An Open Letter - Local food writer Simon Davidson responds to a GQ piece about August 12th. An Eyewitness - Local graphic artist Kristin Adolfson, who designed this very website, was a witness to the violence last Saturday. Here is her account in The New Yorker. Resist. Persist. - Brian Ashworth of Ace Biscuit and Barbecue clashes with Nazis in his restaurant on Sunday. Eater has the story. Bravo Brian! A Mother Grieves - Huffington Post speaks with Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer who tragically lost her life in last weekend's violence. Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Meat Work. Whole Damn Animal. In this conversation meet James Lum III and Matthew Greene of JM Stock Provisions. Our very own whole animal butchery right here in Charlottesville, Virginia. Third partner Hunter Hopcroft of the Richmond outpost couldn't join us, but no worries. We had enough butcher talk to go around! I always ask the question, "Who should I talk to next?" at the end of each Edacious conversation. When you get to four or five saying, "Talk to JM Stock!" you take the hint. These guys are the real deal. They're doing the work, not just presenting an image to promote an image or make money. Every "Beef Day" they're in the back breaking down entire animals. Autumn Olive Farms, a past podcast guest, delivers whole pigs, Free Union Grass Farm delivers ducks, and River Oak Farm brings chickens just to name a few. Synchronicity and happenstance played a big part in the decision of these two Winchester natives and former restaurant professionals to open a butcher shop. How were they trained and what did it involve? We talk about it as well as how their Kickstarter campaign played a big part in their future success. Watch the video. The end is the best thing ever LOL! "It was really cool. It was a great experience. It was very moving to see that many people step up and show their support for what we wanted to do and Matt and I as individuals and the future of sustainable food. We had donors from Houston, Texas and San Francisco. It was cool to see that." ---James Lum III JM Stock takes on interns every six weeks, one day a week, a renewable contract based on performance. They start out doing grunt work. If they can handle it, then comes the education. A great way to not only spread the gospel but discover untapped talent here in our area, creating jobs as they go. Half of their staff has graduated from the intern pool but that also means half just can't cut it. Literally. "There is very little that is glamorous about it. Being a butcher is as blue collar as it comes. It's as blue collar as welding without the permanence of it. You could say that we're artisans but it's a term that is widely overused. We have a skill set that most people don't have. We believe what we do is super important. But it's not glamorous. It's a lot of hard work." ---Matthew Greene "Part of our job is making it seem lovely. Which could be part of the problem." ---James Lum III "The goal is to make what we do seem cool because in order for us to be successful we need people to care about what it is that we're doing. I think that that's true for most businesses...what we're doing is for the good of the community." ---Matthew Greene It's a conundrum. How do you get folks to care without making them too queasy about where their meat comes from? How do you survive the pushback from vegetarians and others who think it's gratuitous and disrespectful to show a whole hog being broken down online. It's a delicate dance between education and not respecting the animal for the sake of Instagram and a dance these two gentlemen navigate very well. One look at their social media can tell you that. We discuss this dance. Educating folks about why talking to your butcher and finding out where your meat comes from is an important aspect of being an educated consumer. It's not a luxury, but a new way of thinking that's actually an old way. Not just picking up the vacuum-packed pound of ground beef but TALKING to the butcher, finding out where that beef came from. Maybe letting him talk you into a new-t0-you off cut of meat like beef neck, which is delicious, easy to prepare, and tastes better than your momma's pot roast. In sourcing locally and supporting sustainable agriculture is often seen as "hippy-dippy" or elitist, particularly in Charlottesville. But as Matt says so eloquently, part of JM Stock's goal is to support local, sustainable agriculture even in an area where real estate costs are high which means the cost to produce said animal is higher. That doesn't mean it has to be fancy, or only for the rich, or for those folks who consider themselves homesteaders. It should and can be for everybody. "Our constant goal is to make it (sustainable agriculture) more and more approachable to everybody...especially for those in their late 20's and early 30's who are just starting to figure out what it is they care about as far as feeding themselves and feeding their families." ---Matthew Greene How do you make a visit to the butcher less intimidating? We talk about that at length. Ideally, it should be no more fear-inducing than talking to your pharmacist, your hairdresser, or your barista. JM Stock knows interaction is key and keeps that goal in mind with every guest. Greeting every customer, engaging with them, getting to know them, asking questions, offering advice. When you have 80+ varieties of sausage alone, it helps when you feel comfortable enough to converse! "The initial contact and initial engagement is the most important part of finding out with each particular customer what their personal preference is and making it an experience that is tailored to them." ---Matthew Greene What is the first rule of Meat Club? To talk about it! A true CSA for meats. When you sign up you get a box of old favorites as well as new cuts with instructions and recipes on how to prepare it all. A great way to discover cuts you didn't even know you loved. As someone who gravitates to the same ol' same ol' this CSA peaked my interest immediately. In fact, I started shopping for a basement meat freezer like my Grandaddy had! JM Stock sources beef from Grayson Natural Farms, Wolf Creek Farm, and Deep Rock Farm. Pork comes from Autumn Olive Farms. Ducks come from Free Union Grass Farm, and chickens and turkeys come from River Oak Farm. Lamb arrives from Meadows Pride Farm. What happens when the animal arrives? We discuss the process, as well as why Beef Day is their favorite thing ever. Can they tell if a cow was spring-processed or winter-processed just by looking at the meat? Do they ever "shop" for beef by looking at the cows grazing in the farm fields they visit? What are their favorite cuts and ways to prepare it? What is the Curse of Richmond? Is the Richmond customer different from one in Charlottesville? Who has the nickname Beef Neck? You'll just have to listen to find out. Did you know JM Stock has breakfast biscuits with their award-winning Tasso ham each and every morning? Specialty sandwiches on the weekend? One of the most extensive collections of beer, wine, and cheese in the area? Produce? This isn't just a butcher shop folks, but a 7-days-a-week farmer's market, a place to visit daily, to talk, converse about meat, and pick up whatever delicacies you need to feed your family. This episode only solidified my commitment to eating meat that is humanely raised and sustainable, which makes it the most delicious you'll ever taste. Give a listen then get you some. I recommend the Cerdito sausage. Instant Best of 2017 contender. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Whisky Work. Without the E. It's a twofer on Edacious! In this episode, we hear from Marlene Steiner and Ian Thomas, both of Virginia Distillery Company in Lovingston, Virginia. Today's podcast is another chance to educate everyone on the American Single Malt spirit category and on Virginia Distillery Company who are making waves, collecting awards as they do. In March VDC was named the Best American Single Malt Whisky at the World Whiskies Awards, presented by Whisky Magazine. When their own single malt, distilled right here in Virginia, is ready in 2019? I've no doubt the medals will continue to roll in. Founder Dr. George Moore was a native Irishman and successful entrepreneur whose passions were Virginia and whisky. He raised his family here because it reminded him of Ireland and spent his life marrying his passions, working to establish a true whisky distillery in Virginia. Son Gareth and his wife Maggie carry on that tradition with VDC. First up? A complete tour of the process and a conversation with Distillery Director Ian Thomas. My favorite part? The Cask Room full of aging whisky. The minute you walk in you're hit with a wall of lovely smells, wood, oak and aging alcohol with hints of vanilla and caramel. Air so thick and redolent if you breathe through your mouth you can taste it. I never wanted to leave! "There's something about this industry where it's not quite instant gratification. You have to have a good bit of patience when making good whisky. There's something about walking into a space like that and seeing a sea of 7-800 casks resting and waiting...It fills me with joy." ---Ian Thomas How do you know when whisky is ready for bottling? Who makes the final decision? Sensory analysis and training your palate is a huge part. The distillers train themselves, but also take a wide-open approach involving a tasting panel made up of folks in the brand department, production, and on the corporate side. Even folks working as Guest Experience Managers get a say. The distillers take that data, reference it, and make some decisions. Ian hails from Memphis, Tennessee where he studied Biology. Beyond distilling, Ian and his team are working hard to promote American Single Malt Whisky as a viable, respected, clearly-defined product. "We're working hard with the American Single Malt Commission...to drive home this defining category of American Single Malt...We're really striving to help push this category...and get it defined...As a consumer, you always want to know what it is that you're purchasing...it's very much about knowing truly, if this is a single malt, there should be nothing blended into it." ---Ian Thomas  Does single malt reign supreme? Are blends better? We discuss both schools of thought. There is true skill to blending consistently and a couple of different approaches. But a truly great single malt can be a beautiful thing as well. Both require their own unique talents. Whisky, like wine, has terroir. VDC's whiskies use raw materials and water from Nelson County. They're barrel-aged in Virginia, making it a true Virginia whisky, distilled in Virginia with Virginia resources. This is whisky without the "e" folks. "To us bourbon is kind of a swear word, and really defining the difference between those categories and those types of whiskies...To us it's who we are. We're rooted in that tradition...owning it and making it ours. Our process is here stateside as an American whisky. It's a blend of old world meets new world, and kind of our spin on it." ---Ian Thomas Climate also plays a huge part in terroir. Whisky distilled here will taste different from one created on Islay or in the Scottish Highlands. Barrels are made of wood which is porous. They expand, contract, and breathe with every change in temperature and humidity, affecting the maturation process and taste. Climate data sensors live in every warehouse and minute information is constantly collected. The more data you collect, the more you learn the effects of climate, honing those a bit better to the maturation process. What does it mean to have a background in yeast? What is Ian's favorite part of the fermentation process? Give a listen! Next up we speak with Brand Director Marlene Steiner about more "Front of House" subjects like cocktails, distillery events, community initiatives, and of course The Virginia Whisky Experience Tour, a hands-on interactive educational foray into the origins of whisky right here in Nelson County. My favorite part? The antique alcohol still a generous neighbor donated to be a part of the tour. One very similar in appearance to ones mentioned by my Nelson County born-and-bred granddaddy. Another part? A presentation on the effects of Hurricane Camille which devastated this county back in 1969 and actually changed agricultural regulations, causing Nelson to become wet in more ways than one. Another natural disaster, forest fire, threatened the distillery just last Fall, but thankfully first responders were able to save the business. Nothing was damaged and neighbors stepped up, allowing firefighters onto their property to backburn, minimizing damage. VDC responded by creating their Nelson County First Responders Single Barrel, partnering with local coffee roaster Trager Brothers on this project, and all proceeds were donated to Nelson County First Responders. "We were just really happy to give back a little bit of love to our first responder teams...we had so many local teams that were on site very quickly...you just think about the amount of energy these people put in because they're all volunteers and so they're spending time away from family and friends. They're so community driven...we're really just so grateful for that...just their support and everything they did to help us...what better way to give back...we make whisky and we make good whisky." ---Marlene Steiner The response was so great VDC now plans to do a charity cask every year. Taking potential disaster as an opportunity for community growth. What's better than that? Another part of caring? Sustainability. Spent grain from the distillery is given to Early Dawn dairy farm for use as feed. Extra CO2, a natural part of the brewing process, is funneled out naturally. An extra step not many other distilleries take. Another aspect is the Partner Program, working with local wineries and cideries like Grace Estate and Potter's Craft Cider (a past podcast guest) to trade barrels, which add flavors to whiskey, cider, and wine depending on the barrel used. As Brand Director, Marlene creates awareness, enthusiasm, and loyalty for the product. She helped construct the Visitor Center, the tour, works in product development, and keeps the team well-staffed and well-educated on hospitality. It shows. Unlike some places, this isn't a pour and go operation. You always feel welcomed and very knowledgable about what you're drinking. VDC is working to make sure their story gets out even if you're enjoying VDC in Boston or Chicago. Why is story important to a brand? What ABC restrictions have caused VDC to create amazingly creative cocktails, furthering the reach of their brand? Listen to learn more. When the VDC single malt is finally ready in 2019? I'll be there. Virginia Distillery Company is always an enjoyable, unique experience. From CEO Gareth Moore all the way down to every Guest Experience Associate you can see the enthusiasm and passion for their product. Everyone is friendly and eager to show you why the VDC Virginia Highland Malt Whisky is stellar. You can find Virginia Highland Malt Whiskey at your local ABC store or at the distillery. Get a gorgeous gift basket with a rose gold shaker. Grab some friends and join The Cask Society. Try the whisky-infused chocolates at Gearhart's (a past podcast guest). Stay tuned for their Whisky Tiki event later this summer. But not before listening to this fantastic episode. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Wine Work. With Oysters. Welcome to Episode 76 and a laugh-filled conversation over wine with siblings Tim Gorman and Sarah Gorman of Cardinal Point Winery. Cardinal Point was the first winery The Hubby and I visited upon moving to Charlottesville a decade ago. Their November Oyster Roast remains my favorite food-related event. One which constantly inspires my food writing, including this humorous anecdote which continues to get reactions and comments even years later. The seeds for what would become Cardinal Point began way back in 1986 when their dad, Paul Gorman, put in his first grapes, selling them statewide. Tim and Sarah tended vines as teenagers with Tim taking over as Vineyard Manager shortly thereafter. In 2002 Paul's dream of an established winery was realized at a time when there were no others nearby. Veritas and Afton followed soon after and the seeds of a true agritourism destination on Route 151 in Nelson County were planted. Cardinal Point is a true family-owned business, a family which includes the fine folks hired to keep the vines shipshape. Folks who work tirelessly to grow the best product. Many of whom have been with Cardinal Point for years. "The idea of opening our own winery was attractive because you're stabilizing a commodity that otherwise is totally perishable. Grapes will break down the second you pick them up." ---Tim Gorman These days Tim is not only Vineyard Manager but also Chief Winemaker, one of the few in the area who does both. As a lawyer, Sarah handles legal issues, tasting room duties, as well as managing the many events and weddings which occur onsite, including summer concerts and the incredibly popular Oyster Roast. Projects like their Wine Cooperative, plus new varieties like their Hopped Chardonnay make sure the winery stays successful. Summer is an extremely busy time, both for events and its growing season. We walk through the seasons of a winery. What needs to happen and when. Did you know birds, deer, and squirrels threaten grapes? Such is life at a winery, essentially a grape farm. A lot is determined by weather. Praying for rain and hoping the rain stops. If you recall, 2016 was abysmal with over 40 straight days of showers. How does 2017 look? Pretty promising. Keep your fingers crossed. Knock some wood. As recently as a few years ago, Route 151 in Nelson County was a rural route of farms, churches, and pastoral views. Now it's a tourist destination of wineries, cideries, breweries, orchards, and farms. A true agritourism mecca. Tim is one of the founders of Nelson 151, a group of business owners in the area who hope to use their strengths to not only market more efficiently but make sure development stays within reason. How important is tourism to business in Nelson County? Extremely. Small wineries don't make enough in volume to make their mark on a national level, so getting folks to come try Cardinal Point is paramount. Without agritourism, many of the farms and wineries in the area wouldn't be able to continue using their land for agriculture. Tourism dollars help the community. It's a double-edged sword certainly, but Nelson 151 realizes that, keeping it in mind as they make decisions affecting its citizens. How does the threat of a pipeline affect things? We discuss the possible ramifications. Tasting at the winery is way better than standing in a wine shop, looking at a row of bottles, and choosing blind based on arbitrary scores which don't matter anyway. At the first sip, you immediately realize Tim's approach to winemaking is a little different. When he heard a lot of folks couldn't handle a bold tannic red, he worked to develop a softer one that's easier to drink and tastes wonderful. His Rockfish Red is a lovely blend of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot and goes great with burgers and pizza. It's a European approach with wine as a dinner beverage rather than a sacred only-to-be-corked at special events rare precious jewel. How did he develop his newest creation, a hopped chardonnay? Something that's never been done before? Sure it sounds gimmicky. But it's also extraordinary. A wine expert recently declared it, "A great expression of chardonnay." The highest compliment. "I buy by the numbers just like anybody else...but now the numbers are silly...they're just everywhere...and it usually means you're getting this boring supermarket 92." ---Tim Gorman Tim's process is fascinating a great combination of science, inspiration, inventiveness, and using what you already have readily available. Working with the land rather than against it. This is a Virginia-based winery with Virginia-grown grapes with Virginia-based winemakers who can explain why the 2016 tastes different than the 2015. No big corporations or importing done here. No big investors wondering why there isn't more consistency year to year. None of the typical white-to-red lineups of varietals like you see at corporate wineries. Again, working with terroir rather than catering to big corporate demands. "That's definitely the difference between an Ernest and Julio Gallo and a Cardinal Point. If we can develop a wine simply because it gives us more tank space? We'll do that." ---Sarah Gorman What does it take to run a family-owned business? Does every family dinner turn into a board meeting? How do they relate to the slew of awards Cardinal Point has garnered, most recently the 2017 Monticello Cup? How big a factor is terroir? How does Virginia terroir differ from other regions? Is it recognizable as a region? Why do so many ex-punk rockers now work in food? What is the story behind the statement, "These are my credentials," which appears on every bottle? We cover it all. "One thing we we're not going to do is re-enter the 2014 Clay Hill Cab Franc which did very well...we'll enter it for one season...we're trying to win a medal to help us sell that wine...but we're not trying to just keep getting awards." ---Tim Gorman "You're here to taste. You tell me which one you'd give a medal to...When you come into our winery, the last thing I want you hear you ask about is the medal...I want you to taste...if the Green is your gold medal, then buy it. It's your palate, everybody tastes (wine) differently." ---Sarah Gorman "They do change each year...this is farming...we're dry farmers, we don't even have irrigation...vintages matter, especially in Virginia...it matters in the good regions...what I like is I don't have to be beholden...I don't have to be that person making Budweiser that has to be the same every time." ---Tim Gorman We recorded this conversation in the Cardinal Point farmhouse which is available to rent. Did I mention the saltwater pool? We talk beer, hops, and even delve into the subtleties of Charlottesville roller derby. Not only is Cardinal Point the first winery I visited, it's also the first one I've talked to on the podcast! This conversation was dear to me not just because Green is my favorite summer wine but because my Critzer family originated and flourished right there on Route 151 where Cardinal Point is located. So traveling there felt like going home in more ways than one. Enjoy this episode then crack open a bottle or two of Green or your other favorite wine from Cardinal Point. We sure did! Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Rent a Farmhouse - It's at a winery. It has a saltwater pool. What more reason do you need? Green - It's my favorite varietal at Cardinal Point. So much so I wrote about it. The Wild Vine - We discuss Todd Kliman's book and how it relates to Virginia terroir. Burnley Vineyard - All of us blanked on the name of this fantastic vineyard near Gordonsville! I blame the wine. Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Pig Work.  Welcome to Episode 75 and a conversation with folks who aren't just giving lip service to food raised in a pure, unprocessed manner, but walking the walk by carrying on a respected tradition of raising heritage Ossabaw and Berkshire pigs humanely in a natural, sustainable way. In a setting that wouldn't have looked unusual hundreds of years ago. Meet Clay and Linda Trainum of Autumn Olive Farms! The Autumn Olive tree and the farm's namesake is native to Virginia, very edible, and high in lycopene. Pigs and goats happen to love it. When Linda and Clay re-established his father's land back in 2008 it was covered in it. The solution? Put Boerbok goats to work. Boerbok is a great and healthy meat source in addition to being a terrific lawnmower and the Trainums used this natural brush clearer to not only free up land but also as the very first source of revenue for the farm by selling their clearing services as well as the meat. Resourcefulness at work and a great example of farming ingenuity. "If you can raise some cows and you can pay your taxes every year, you’re a successful farmer. I don’t accept that." The farm's origins are rooted in a need for a healthier way of living. The Trainum's house in North Carolina was completely overrun with mold, making every family member sick. Linda started to read up on healthy eating. Her veterinary technician background led her to study more sustainable meat sources. She discovered pigs raised outdoors have the second-highest levels of Vitamin D in the world behind cod liver oil. Then a chance presentation of Ossabaw pigs at the Frontier Culture Museum led the Trainum's to purchase their first breeding sows. The farm is a glorious example of natural breeding methods, with entire ecosystems dedicated to the craft. My tour, on the back of an ATV no less, saw me rumbling through pastures of ryegrass as well as pine and oak forest. These are for foraging, and so the pigs can keep cool during humid summers. In the winter months, shelters are moved to sunny areas to capture south-facing light. The pigs move about as they please, even banding together to move 500-pound shelters if it's not to their liking. Good quality hay grown on-site is harvested for food and bedding. Everything is done naturally. No heat lamps here. Farrowing is all natural as well, which means newborn piglets are more susceptible to nature’s cycles including weather and hungry, sometimes rabid foxes which are becoming more prevalent thanks to global warming. "I think history is going to judge us harshly...our grandchildren are going to look back and say what was wrong with you all that you so willingly partook of that product raised that way. And it won’t be defensible. It’s not a defensible position. You don’t have to spend much time with pigs to realize there’s a serious responsibility." What struck me? There are close neighbors surrounding this farm. If you've done any traveling in our region, you've smelled an industrial hog farm, probably from miles away. Not so at Autumn Olive where the smell is minimal and the neighbors not only stay on the lookout for wanderers but complain about closing the windows in winter because they can't hear the pigs. And yes, some of the pigs are pets. Sparkles is official Tour Director. But this is a working farm and understanding that is an important part. Raising heritage pigs is certainly an honorable method, but also very time consuming, involving more steps as well as a lot more money. Which makes it more expensive. Currently Autumn Olive only sells whole animals to restaurants. And while that can seem a detriment, it’s actually a plus because chefs understand quality and are willing to seek them out and pay for it. "We told a chef one time, he’s like, do you have pork? Well, do you serve bird? On the menu? The difference between a crow and a quail is a profound difference. Within the breeds of pigs there are profound differences…and flavor profiles and texture and mouth feel and fat composition…muscle fiber length. All of that is there." Like any farm, Autumn Olive has seasons and labor you have to do depending on the weather so the pigs can stay happy and healthy. This is a family business, and sons Logan, Luke, and Tyler are committed to continuing the legacy. The day I visited they were headed out for an overnight Maryland delivery. On a heritage pig farm, the work never ends. "The seasons certainly have a bearing on what we do and how we do it...in the summer months pigs usually eat less...the meat is a little bit different in the warmer weather...it's kind of a slower pace...and we're managing issues of clean water and temperature-related things." You can find Autumn Olive products all over our region, including places like Threepenny Café and JM Stock Provisions. It's good stuff people. Forget "The Other White Meat" this pork is colorful with beautiful marbling and an extraordinary flavor. This is pork with TERROIR. You can taste what these pigs have been eating: autumn olive branches, acorns, walnuts, as well as many other naturally-occurring plants on the farm. A true Virginia pork, bred here, on food sources from here. "Healthy food sells. But delicious really sells." How can you be sure the product you’re buying is natural and sustainable? How does Autumn Olive do what they do while making sure the restaurant can offer their product at a fair price point? We talk about it. How did the Trainums meet? It’s the ultimate meet-cute and a story you’ll really enjoy. This talk is near and dear to my heart, not only because I love pork, but Autumn Olive Farm lies a stone's throw away from my own family farm in Dooms, Virginia. As a teenager, my grandaddy would drive us out to "The Land" to show us the ground he worked for decades before moving to town to work at Dupont. To be able to revisit this area as a middle-aged woman with her own entrepreneurial spirit? Priceless. Enjoy the ambient sounds of talkative Berkshire pigs at the end of the episode! Then go get you some at several area restaurants in Charlottesville, Richmond, Maryland, and DC. Details on their website. Cheers! SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Nadjeeb Chouaf - Our very own "NaCheese" just placed THIRD IN THE WORLD at the Mondial du Fromage in Paris, becoming the first American to do so. Congratulations Nadjeeb! Caleb Warr - Chef Warr has left Tavola for greener pastures on Cape Cod. Are there pastures on Cape Cod? Hmmm. We wish him well, and thank him for being on the podcast! Lovefest Tickets! - Brian Wimer has put together an EPIC 2-day festival celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, with many events leading up to this weekend's festival. Get your tickets, then come meet me! I'll be roaming the crowd, gathering audio, pressing the flesh, asking questions, generally being edacious. John Hernandez of Mi Terra Farm - This young man is doing his part to teach folks about sustainable, grass-fed beef. Walking the walk when it comes to eating healthy and helping those who can't afford it. Pig Tales - Did you know pigs have personalities? Learn all about eating sustainable pork, and hear the story of a beloved neighborhood pig who could recognize faces and voices. A great read! Foodwaze - Do you know where your food comes from? Use this website to learn! Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B colon cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Share! Donate! No amount is too small. Thank you and BIG LOVE to everyone who donated and shared the Big Love Bake Sale and Big Love Birthday! Next up? Tee shirts! Look for them soon. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to. Subscribers get new episodes instantly, while non-subscribers have to wait a few hours or days depending on the iTunes gods. Never miss a chance to be edacious! Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.