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Submit ReviewLess than $2. That’s how much the Santa Ana Unified school district can afford to spend on one student’s lunch each day. The $14 billion budget of the National School Lunch program stretches thin, and school nutrition workers are often the target of kids’ complaints. Reporter Jessica Terrell explores the cultural figure of “the lunch lady,” and how students and workers lose when bureaucrats focus on cost over care.
This episode includes an annotated transcript with links to sources used in the reporting. This podcast was created by editors at The Counter and produced by LWC Studios. It is made possible by grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
When Katy was working in the Bay Area in her early 20s, she would have given the Michelin Guide 3 stars, because those were the restaurants she felt like she had to work to learn about the most innovative and interesting food. How has that changed?
In this last episode of our fourth season, Katy and Rachel dig into the history, the data, and the money behind the Michelin Guide in the U.S. with help from Krishnendu Ray (professor at NYU) and Beth Forrest (professor at the CIA). By the end of the research, Katy and Rachel had very different ratings for the Guide than what their 24-year-old selves would have given it. What about you?
Guests:
Beth Forrest
Krishnendu Ray
Articles mentioned and other resources:
Telly Justice and Mike Sheats worked together at Five & Ten in Athens Ga., where Justice worked her way up to chef de cuisine and Sheats was an AM chef. Once they started their own projects, the chefs knew that the strict brigade system, codified by Georges-Auguste Escoffier more than a hundred years ago, wouldn’t be the right fit for their businesses. “In the kitchens that Mike and I came up in, there was not much room for challenging anything,” said Justice. For both Justice and Sheats, the rigidity of the structure left no room for mistakes and little room for being themselves.
Telly is now chef/co-owner of HAGS, a small tasting menu restaurant in New York City “by Queer people for all people,” and Mike, with his wife Shyretha, runs The Plate Sale, a pop-up inspired by community events like plate sales, barbecues, and fish fries in his hometown of Athens.
This conversation was recorded as a chef-to-chef conversation for the Plate Magazine print edition. You can read an edited version of this conversation (and see some awesome pictures!) in their magazine here. But a less edited version of the conversation is here for your listening pleasure.
Guests:
Telly Justice
Press:
Mike Sheats
The Plate Sale | The Crowdfunding Campaign | Instagram | Email
Press:
Resources:
The United States is the top producer of corn in the world, yet only 40% of that corn is destined for someone’s plate. The industrialization of corn in the Americas is a story of colonization, appropriation, and capitalism. But there are also stories of people finding ways to celebrate biodiversity, culture, and history through great corn products.
In this episode, we talk with Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate and Wendy Downing, 2 of 3 co-owners of Three Sisters Nixtamal, an organic and traditional masa maker. We also talk with Angel Medina, co-owner of Repùblica and Co, a Mexican-forward restaurant group.
Guests:
Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate & Wendy Downing
Angel Medina
Resources:
To read more about what we talked about in this episode:
Welcome to the Copper & Heat audio tasting menu. This 6-course experience takes you through dishes from pivotal points in the history of the modern tasting menu.
Vote for us in the first inaugural Signal Awards! We were nominated for a Signal Award in the Food & drink category, and we need your help! Vote for us for the Listener’s Choice Award at the link above.
Guests:
Beth Forrest
Sam Yamashita
His piece on the Japanese Turn | His books | His faculty bio
Krishnendu Ray
The courses:
The articles mentioned in this episode:
More resources:
Is culinary school worth the investment in terms of money and time?
This is a question posed by hundreds of thousands of people as they enter the culinary field. Is it worth spending the money to go to culinary school when I can just work my way up in the industry?
Culinary schools have long been more of a trade school to train potential cooks in the culinary field. However, in the ‘90s, the Culinary Institute of America put in a concerted effort to professionalize the career of chef, and therefore give more value to their school, by educating their students on more than just technical skills.
But as the systemic and cultural pitfalls of the restaurant industry have become more apparent in recent years, people are leaving the industry in droves, and even fewer are looking to enter. So as more culinary schools close their doors, how do educational institutions answer the question - is culinary school worth it?
Guests:
Krishnendu Ray
Beth Forrest
Hanalei Souza
Her website | Instagram | the-book.html">Her book
Annika Altura
Kiah Fuller
Resources:
To read more about what we talked about in this episode:
Meat in the U.S. has had a complicated history which in recent years has spurred on the resurgence of interest in whole animal butchery and neighborhood butcher shops. But even as meat prices have risen, how have the people working behind the counter been affected?
In this episode, we speak with 2 butchers who have had very different careers within the world of butchery. There’s Edgar (he/him), whose career includes 20 years at Texas Roadhouse and 5 at Belcampo Meat Co. Then there’s HJ (they/them), who has worked all over the country including Blue Hill at Stone Barns, The Meat Hook in Brooklyn, and now co-owns Pasture PDX, a small craft butcher shop, in Portland, OR with their business partner Kei.
Guests:
HJ Schaible (they/them)
Edgar Cisneros (he/him)
Resources:
To read more about what we talked about in this episode:
This episode is supported by BentoBox and Clover. To learn more about their all-in-one platform for websites, online ordering, world-class point-of-sale, and payment solutions, check out getbento.com/better.
As cooks and others from the restaurant industry leave traditional jobs to strike out on their own, what does it mean for the craft of cooking?
Food is an inherently sensual thing. Sure, it needs to look visually appealing, but that doesn't necessarily say that you are good at the craft of cooking. Does it taste good? Does it smell good? As social media becomes increasingly essential to growing a food business, how does that affect the people working in food every day and how they approach their craft?
In this episode, we're talking to 3 different people who work in food and the different ways they use social media – and how social media has affected their identities as food professionals.
Guests:
Chris Martin (she/her)
Her website | Instagram | Reddit
Hanalei Souza (she/her)
Her website | Instagram | the-book.html">Her book
Devan Rajkumar. (he/him)
His website | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
Resources:
To read more about what we talked about in this episode:
The video clips in this episode come from:
This episode is supported by BentoBox and Clover. To learn more about their all-in-one platform for websites, online ordering, world-class point-of-sale, and payment solutions, check out getbento.com/better
In this re-release of the first episode of our second season, we’re going to Boise, Idaho to talk with the team at Kin Restaurant. In a small city that’s growing and changing rapidly, what does a small, fine-dining, tasting menu restaurant do to not only educate diners on the value of good food but also educate their employees about the value of themselves as restaurant workers?
You can find KIN:
This episode is supported by BentoBox and Clover. To learn more about their all-in-one platform for websites, online ordering, world-class point-of-sale, and payment solutions, check out
.
How have chefs and the restaurant industry contributed to the near-extinction of abalone, the prized mollusk often associated with fine dining?
Indigenous tribes up and down the coast of what is today California have been eating abalone for thousands of years. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the influx of non-native folks led to the hunting, fetishization, and overconsumption of abalone. From San Francisco bohemians who were inspired by its beauty to Japanese fishermen making a business out of exporting it back home, the rapid decline of the abalone population led to the government instituting a ban on abalone fishing. In this episode, we explore the various forces that led to the near-extinction of abalone and how the government ban has criminalized the millennia-old culinary customs of indigenous people like Hillary Renick, a Pomo-Paiute woman who has risked jail time and fines in order to keep those food traditions alive.
TW/CW - we discuss the trauma associated with the colonization of the United States and topics such as genocide and gun violence.
Guests:
Ann Vileisis (she/her)
Hillary Renick (she/her)
About Hilary | The High Country News Article | TEDxArchivorium with Hillary
Doug Bush. (he/him)
Cultured Abalone Instagram | Buy Cultured Abalone
Resources:
To read more about what we talked about in this episode:
The video clips in this episode come from:
This episode is supported by BentoBox and Clover. To learn more about their all-in-one platform for websites, online ordering, world-class point-of-sale, and payment solutions, check out getbento.com/better
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