Pineapple Radio

In the final episode of season 2, we’re speaking with trained chef and “Breakfast with Besser” host Elena Besser. This episode serves up a Pineapple favorite: the convergence of digital and food where Elena has long occupied the space. Elena shares her journey from kitchen to on-camera, her passion project “The Lineup,” her food trend predictions for 2021, and how she balances digital and personal life.

Claudette Zepeda is no stranger to the culinary spotlight. Having centered Mexican cuisine on shows like Top Chef and restaurants like El Jardín in San Diego, Zepeda pays homage to the food of her home, both the one she grew up in and the one she is building for her children. We’ll chat with Claudette about building an online cooking community, the culinary anthropology of her home city of San Diego, the balance of motherhood and her forthcoming concept, VAGA Restaurant & Bar.

Minneapolis, Minnesota has become an epicenter of social unrest and racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd. As the co-owner of two Minneapolis outposts, Hola Arepa and Hai Hai, Christina Nguyen shares with us what it’s like to operate establishments and uphold community during this radical time in history. We’ll dive into conversation with Christina about her favorite Vietanemese ingredients, what inspires her about the Twin Cities, and the importance of social consciousness within hospitality. Powered & distributed by Simplecast.

Over the last few months, the wine industry has been critiqued for being an elitist and exclusive industry. While some tastemakers are seeking to make changes as a result, others -- like Lauren Friel of Rebel Rebel in Somerville -- have been at the forefront of integrating intersectionality within the wine space. We’ll be speaking with Lauren about what it means to build radically-intentional concepts, opening a new space within the pandemic, and how she continues to challenge the traditional conventions of the wine industry.

COVID-19 has presented restaurant owners with several challenges, but also an opportunity to showcase resilience. We’re chatting with NYC’s Moonlynn Tsai, owner, and operator of Kopitiam, and Yvette Lepper-Bueno, proprietor of Vinatería, on how they’re using their respective restaurants as a resource to feed and fuel their communities.

Najmieh Batmanglij is "the grande dame of Iranian Cooking”. She’s spent the past 35 years cooking, traveling throughout Iran, and adapting traditional Persian recipes to tastes and techniques in the West. Her book Food of Life was dubbed “the definitive book on Iranian cooking” by the Los Angeles Times, and we couldn’t agree more. From her advice to dance while cooking (her favorite tunes are created or produced by her son Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend) and connect with others through food, Najmieh makes us feel right at home in her world of beautiful ingredients and delightful flavors rooted in Persian culinary culture.

In the studio with Holly Liss- a veritable social media magnate who built Goop and the Infatuation's social followings. She’s now growing her own company Enlisst where she leads social storytelling for her clients, such as Misi, sweetgreen, and other amazing brands we #pinefor in food, fashion and beyond. Tune in for her thoughts on the age of influence, how food and style intersect, and the next great social frontier.

In the studio with Camilla Marcus, founder of west~bourne, NYC’s all-day cafe we #pinefor and investor extraordinaire, chatting about launching social enterprises that last and funding other women-owned businesses, such as The Wing, Ramona and Great Jones

Here at pineapple we literally go to bed dreaming about breakfast. One of the highlights of our pineapple LA launch was waking up to LA's breakfast scene. In LA, breakfast is more than the most important meal of the day - it’s an opportunity to give gratitude for what we appreciate most about what's on our plates: the soil growing the delicious ingredients, the people harvesting the food, and the nourishment, flavor, and California bounty we all #pinefor. This episode in collab with Full Service Radio is a breakfast of champions--Caitlin Sullivan of Honey Hi, Ally Walsh of Canyon Coffee, and Nicole Rucker of Fiona--and broadcasted live in front of a 30+ person audience from The Line Hotel in Koreatown.

How sustainable is sustainable agriculture when it comes to economic and community needs in addition to environmental considerations? We discuss the founding of DC-based Three Part Harmony Farm, one of the only for-profit production farms in the district, and its mission to grow food for people, while challenging our assumptions on how urban farms should look and the role they play in our cities.

Staying curious about food is our MO at pineapple. Sometimes this means traveling to taste delicious food and drink. So, we invited explorer extraordinaire, Lane Harlan, who is also the genius behind Baltimore establishments WC Harlan, Clavel and Faddensonnen, to share how she plans trips--from Copenhagen's natural wine bars to Japan's sake spots to Oaxaca's markets & palenques--and honors the diverse cultures and traditions of what we love and consume here in the US and abroad.

We care about where our food comes from, so what about our wine? Better yet, how does the way it was made affect the way it tastes, our preferences, and its impact on the food system? Picking out a bottle of wine can sometimes leave you with more questions than answers. What is the difference between organic, biodynamic, and natural wine? How can we learn more about the farming practices--VITICULTURE--by tasting? By the time we pull a bottle off the shelf, we might be more focused on getting out of the store rather than the story behind the grape. How do we answer the questions of what happens from grapevine to fine wine?

What does it mean to build a feminist business? This week’s show is all about starting and growing a sustainable, progressive business with Michelle Brown and Lela Singh - the mother-daughter duo behind the 23-year-old, DC-based tea house and pineapple's fave cafe, Teaism. In collaboration with Squarespace, we chat through the "Feminist Business" philosophy & principles from Jenn Armbrust of Sister, so that we may all work toward embodying new values, create new economies and experiment with new distributions of power in 2019 and beyond.

Talkin' style, identity, and values when it comes to food & media (plus the importance of setting the table, the value of curiosity, and inspiration) with the singular Julia Kramer. She's the deputy editor of Bon Appetit, and also a self-proclaimed bagel lover, Chicago hot-dog style enthusiast and the ultimate food trendsetter.

Soil is the bedrock of our food system. This week's show is all about the social and environmental impact of healthy soil, featuring Aria McLauchlan, co-founder of Land Core USA, an organization advocating for soil health policies and programs that create value for farmers, businesses and communities.

pineapple is all about community, so with that in mind we wanted to talk about the communities affected by the culture, history of Thanksgiving. The genocide of American Indians is well known to a certain extent: warfare, smallpox, and boarding schools have all contributed to the systematic erasure of Native people and culture. Today we’re discussing the history of orchestrated attacks on their traditional food systems with writer Maura Judkis and founder of Indigikitchen, Mariah Gladstone.

We're chatting body positivity- the movement for acceptance, and respect of all bodies, esp marginalized ones with body posi activists Ivy Felicia and Patrilie Hernandez. We'll learn all about what it means to dismantle harmful ideas about the size of our bodies and discuss the idea that that as women, our worth should not and must not be measured by the number on the scale.

Aperitif is all about the ritual of communal gathering, celebration, and being present with loved ones before a meal. We’re chattin with Rebekah Peppler - author of newly released Aperitif- a book dedicated to that very idea. Come for the discussion about the terroir, history, tradition of spirits, and stay for Rebekah’s go-to cocktail, the Lillet tonic.

Dorie Greenspan was a “foodie” before the term was coined. A New Yorker with an affinity for all things French, Dorie has a pulse on everyone and everything in the food world. Through her James Beard award-winning cookbooks and popular columns in The New York Times and Washington Post, Dorie proves that you can be an exceptional cook and baker (and that there isn’t much she can’t do). But what makes a “Dorie” recipe? In “the golden age of cookbooks” what makes hers such hits? On the show we chat with Dorie- our ultimate culinary inspiration all about her storied career, kitchen inspo, and favorite cooking techniques so we too can embrace a bit of Dorie’s spunk and spontaneity in our everyday.

Wine and food is our raison d'etre. So we're chatting with wine lovers Dana Frank and Andrea Sloenecker on the air to celebrate their new book Wine Food - all about the pineapple way to enjoy wine. And we mean, truly ENJOY it. Move aside wine, cheese and nuts! What we love about this book is that it’s all about matching that glou-glou to the rustic, casual, global food we all love to eat. In Wine Food, they deliver recipes for the pineapple woman to enjoy brunches, salads, burgers, vegetable dishes, picnics, weeknight dinners, and feasts with friends, all inspired by delicious, natural, ethical and affordable wines that go with them beautifully.

Chattin' about the power of heritage, alternative, landrace grains with Sarah Owens - a New York City based cookbook author, baker, gardener, and instructor. She’s a James Beard award winner for her first book Sourdough and recently released her second book Toast & Jam.

Our adventures in the world of women and wine continue with Helen Johannesen of Helen's Wines--her eponymous shop in LA. She's also the wine director of Jon & Vinny's restaurant group, e.g. Kismet, Animal, Petit Trois, etc. She's got taste, style and values when it comes to the wines she enjoys and she's here to share that passion and intel with pineapple.

What do masterful storytelling, world-renowned female chefs and progressive agriculture all have in common? Our friend Abby Fuller, an award-winning documentarian and the youngest and only woman director of our fave Netflix show Chef’s Table. From Chef Ana Roš’s kitchen in Slovenia to a regenerative cattle farm in Virginia, Abby highlights critical issues in our food system by filming the most highly acclaimed chefs, farmers and activists who are changing the way we eat. We chat with Abby to hear all about how women are transforming filmmaking, farming and food and what we can all do to create a better food system and world with the power of our voice.

Beauty as wellness is all about body positivity, womanhood & food. We chat with Cindy DiPrima Moirsse & Kerrilyn Pamer, founders of CAP Beauty all about their content, products, and community, plus we'll dig into the juicy things like - what does beauty truly mean anyhow? How do we truly embrace wellness in ourselves and others while fighting impossible beauty standards, a fatphobic society, and body image challenges? How can we embrace a more inclusive wellness culture - with diverse races, bodies, genders, ages?

We're chatting with Julia Sherman of Salad for President all about where food and art intersect. Through Julia’s history growing up with artists, studying and practicing art, and ultimately finding her artistic expression through salad, we experience food in wholly new way. From living with Benedictine nuns clad in denim habits, to constructing gardens on the rooftops of venerable art museums, Julia reminds us that we are all creative. We don’t need to study art history or master the art of French cooking to express ourselves. We #pinefor her because she encourages us to find the artists within ourselves by stealing ideas, breaking the rules, finding the magic in the everyday, and simply creating.

Today on our show we’re chatting with one of our heros, Jessica Koslow. She’s the girl behind Sqirl - aka the restaurant at the forefront of the California cooking renaissance--food that is both virtuous, delicious and oh so seasonal. Bacon lovers and vegans obsess over it equally and there’s always something new to dig into. We love Sqirl, we love her cookbook “Everything I want to Eat”, we love her jams, and her swag. And we’re honored to chat on the air to chat about her style, identity and values through food.

Our fave subjects include wine, wellness, creativity, and style. This episode is all about just that. We chat with Carlie Steiner, co-owner & beverage director at Himitsu - an offbeat & whimsical Japanese inspired joint with an inspired wine & spirits menu. We learn more about Carlie's background, and of course her style, identity and values around wine. Plus, at the end of the show we learn more about the experience around wine with a junk food x fine wine pairing session.

We talk culinary appropriation, sovereignty, pride and power today with two guest we #pinefor Sunyatta Amen and Krystal Mack. When we think about food, it’s easy to fall back comfortably into feelings of nostalgia, of sharing and savoring. But what happens when your traditions are taken by others that profit from them? We’re at a moment when kimchi is referred to as “trendy” and a “Best Barbecue” roundup doesn’t include any black people, and a chopped cheese (which are those NY bodega chopped hamburger sandwiches) are sold for ten bucks at an upscale supermarket. On the other hand, food can of course, build bridges. By learning the cuisines of others, we see through the lens of a culture we’ve never looked through before. Yet, if we exploit the food and those who create it for our own gain, we decidedly burn those bridges. So, where do we draw the line?

We're chattin' all things ice cream with Victoria Lai of Ice Cream Jubilee and Rabia Kamara of Ruby Scoops. In true pineapple fashion, this conversation goes beyond the surface of our fave frozen confections. We cover a large swaths of topics all through the lens of sweet treats like food freedom, collaboration over competition, sourcing & the supply chain, employment & labor, innovation and creativity, and representation in the ice cream biz.

We chat with Colu Henry and Domenica Marchetti on the topic of pasta, because there’s much more to it than meets the eye. There’s power, resistance and a herstory to pasta. On this episode we’ll dig into vast range of dishes plus the role of women in pasta-making and embracing a riots not diets lifestyle, always.

We're drinkin’ wine, all the freakin’ time. Why? Because it’s 2018 and we do what we want. On this topic, we’ve got some questions...everything from... what is natural wine anyway? To how do we decipher all the info on wine bottles? To What’s going on with sexism and racism in the wine industry? To answer those q’s we’ve got Marissa Ross- she's the author "Wine. All The Time.", a gem of a guidebook to casual & confident drinking. She who also happens to be Bon Appetit Magazine’s wine editor (nbd) and our personal wine hero. Why? Because she’s really f***ing funny and is the poster child of approachable wine sippin’--aka #rosstest. She certainly got me interested in wine and huge part of why pineapple loves natural wine...let’s make the hashtag #pineforwine happen y’all...cool? We’ve also got Julia Coney on the air -she is one of our favorite DC-based wine writers & wine enthusiasts. Not only is she a wine expert, she’s an outspoken advocate for more women of color in wine. She writes about the need to break the the glass ceiling in wine, esp. for women of color who experience a tremendous lack of representation and inclusion. And we couldn’t agree more. Also, she pairs wines with HBO Insecure episodes, which is pretty much the greatest thing EVER.

We’re talkin jams- food and music that is! Two subject areas, inextricably linked in so many ways. First, the experience of eating is in no way just about the food. It’s about the atmosphere too, and in a very real way, music can completely change our dining experience. There’s research that music can even change the way we taste! And then there’s the phenomenon of former rock stars turning to the food industry. What is it about music aficionados being interested in food? Chefs are starting bands. Musicians are tweeting what they eat. Producers have food blogs. And as we all know, chefs are the new rock stars. On this episode we chat with cowboy-sul musician, Odetta Hartman & founder of Dim Sum Media, Farrah Skeiky about the many ways in which we can use music express ourselves through food.

As women who love food, it’s important to look beyond our plates and fave restaurants and also learn how to feed our food system awareness and activism. Food Justice underpins all food issues, and so we must educate ourselves about food’s connection to our community’s health, prosperity and wellbeing. DC Greens writes on Food Justice: “To advance food justice is to recognize and address the structural inequalities in our food system. The work of creating a just food system shifts power and knowledge to community members so that they can exercise their right to grow, sell and eat healthy food at all times.” So on that, we chat with Chloe Marshall of the Capital Area Food Bank and Food Equity Council Communications Chair in Prince George’s County and Laine Cidlowski of the DC Food Policy council on how we as consumers, activists, citizens can create a more equitable food community- whether that’s by purchasing, voting, organizing, or creating.

There are so many entrepreneurial women and wantrepreneurial women in the pineapple community striving to create or grow their amazing businesses. Good ideas are the starting point, but execution alongside financial sustainability and profitability are key. Moreover, as the pineapple community knows well, women’s relationship with and identity in food has evolved majorly in the last few decades--heck, even in the last few years. We’re no longer just homemakers or consumers, but rather we’re creating the next generation of amazing food companies--from restaurants, to packaged goods, to farms. More of us are in leadership positions than ever before and we’re hustling to establish/grow businesses big and small. This episode we'll explore how we empower women to "take care of business" such that we are set up for financial success and can scale our businesses. Covering the fundamentals of your financials to seeking investment, we'll explore how to unlock the food businesswoman in us all. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week, we're chattin' all things community, and accessibility around good food. Our guests are Alison Roman - former food editor with Bon Appetit Magazine, and a current best selling author of her cookbook Dining In. You may know her from the chocolate chip shortbread cookies that have gone completely viral on instagram. And Melissa Jones, an edible activist, environmental advocate, and the founder of FoodTalksDC- an online platform that collects and shares food stories spotlighting people of color. Through FoodTalks, Melissa has celebrated and promoted stories from black and brown communities and shared empowering narratives that stem from the land. Both Melissa & Alison manifest the art of hospitality, and leverage the power of food as a community connector. Join the convo as they chat about the importance of food memories, their love of Detroit, and the power of creating accessible food experiences for people we love.

This episode on pineapple radio discusses Food Freedom - an idea that we learned from Lee Tilghman, of @leefromamerica. For most women, our identity with food is complicated and wrapped up in some difficult emotions, like shame or obsession- especially in the instagram age where your constantly being told what to eat, what we should look like, and how your life needs to improve. It begs the question- how far should we go with the concept of wellness? And what are the ways that we as a community can combat some of the exclusivity we experience in the wellness space in terms of race, class and gender? We chat with Samantha Attard of Happy Healthy Human & Lina Salazar of Live Well on these questions.