Hot Water Cornbread: Kentucky Food Radio

Chef Ouita interviews co-host Rona about the fantastic foods of the Bicol region of the Philippines, a distinctive cuisine of pungent, sour, coconut-creamy, rice-y vegetables and seafood, with fantastic seasonal tropical fruits. The foods that grow in the Bicol region make its cuisine extraordinary, just as the foods that grow in Kentucky form Kentucky cuisine. The two co-hosts make plenty of Kentucky-Bicol comparisons as they go.

Katie Ellis directs The Berry Center, which advocates for farmers, land-conserving communities, and healthy regional economies. She also heads a new Kentucky food enterprise, Home Place Meat. We talked with Katie about the first cooperative venture, now underway, to produce rose veal.

Rob and Diane Perez brought superior brand development and restaurant practices to Lexington, following Rob’s work with heavyweight national brands, including Hard Rock Cafe and Disney. Recently they have opened DV8 Kitchen, a social enterprise restaurant aimed at changing the lives of people recovering from substance abuse by offering second chance employment and encouragement. And, by the way, while producing delicious, crowd-pleasing foods. In this compelling episode, Rob tells us about...

This is a mind expanding session with Paul Vincelli, University of Kentucky Extension Professor and Provost's Distinguished Service Professor. Paul is a scientist with expertise in genetic engineering and commitment to sustainable agriculture.

Sam Fore created Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites, a popular tent-based pop-up, after friends simply could not get enough of her home-cooked food. She teaches wonderful cooking classes and makes wise presentations about cuisine and foodways. We talk with her just as she is heading into a bricks-and-mortar restaurant, with the blessings of food celebrity Padma Lakshmi (just after we recorded our show), and with a big set of big ideas on meshing Sri Lankan and Kentucky cuisine.

Brian Luftman founded American Farm Investors after leaving a successful career as a commodities trader in Chicago. American Farm Investors specializes in locating and managing grain-producing farmland for private investors. In part, "grain-producing" means corn grown for Maker's Mark bourbon. Brian is working with Patrick Madden in Lexington, Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville and partners in England to bring a new bourbon to life and help Britons develop a happy bourbon habit. "Never...

Janet Tietyen Mullins and Doug Mullins have formidable individual food credentials. Janet, a Kentuckian, is a professor in the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at the University of Kentucky, where her work with Cooperative Extension serves Kentucky families and farmers. Doug, from Illinois, serves as the first Chief Operating Officer for the Ouita Michel Family of Restaurants. In two different ways, as they pursue their two different careers in the world of Kentucky food, both...

Chef Tyler McNabb became chef at the fabled Holly Hill Inn in Midway, Kentucky before he was old enough to have a quarter-life crisis. Perhaps because, as he tells listeners in this podcast, he began cooking and entertaining with both his grandmothers in Cynthiana, Kentucky as a young child. His official bio declares him to be “one of the few lucky people who never struggled with knowing what to do with their lives.” Tyler inherited his grandmothers’ love of feeding people—along with recipes...

We wanted Travis Hood of Hood’s Heritage Hogs on Hot Water Cornbread for the longest time, even though we know how hard it is for farmers to make the long trek into town to our studio. When he came, he brought the extraordinary Lydia Hood with him, and so the wait was worth it. Travis educated central Kentuckians to the wonders of heritage pork, particularly Red Wattles. He left golf course management in Indiana and moved with an extended family to hilly Robertson County, Kentucky, to grow...

When Kristin Ingwell-Goode, Corporate and Foundation Relationships Officer at God’s Pantry Food Bank, grew up in Indiana, she grew a garden and started teaching herself to cook by stirring up cookies without using a recipe--or butter, in her first try. That early strong interest in food makes sense now, as Kristin works to make sure all Kentuckians have access to ample, good food.

Franklin County came to Lexington for this show in the form of two wonderful women, with lots of cheering on from host Ouita, who her reasons—and shares them during the show. Legendary farmer Lee Ann Jones began farming at Happy Jack’s Pumpkin Farm in 1996. She worked to establish the Franklin County Farmers at the same time, and has served as its manager for 22 years. Lisa Munniksma recently began serving in a new position as the Franklin County Farmers Market’s community engagement...

Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, at 34, is the youngest statewide elected official in the USA. He brought his young, fresh view on sustaining Kentucky’s agricultural economy to the WLXU studios. Listen to learn how Commissioner Quarles sees Kentucky growers distinguishing themselves in the worldwide agricultural economy.

Carolyn Gahn has acted, farmed for others and for her own family, founded food production companies and organized Kentucky farmers. She recently began a new position as Sustainability Manager for UK Dining Services, which Aramark manages. In this episode, Carolyn talks about her path into caring deeply about food and its provenance. She describes UK/Aramark’s goals for buying locally grown foods—a subject of ongoing interest in Kentucky’s food and sustainability community—and explains future...

We first featured African American White House chefs on Hot Water Cornbread in early 2016. Ouita’s research on enslaved chefs who served George Washington and Thomas Jefferson left us amazed and interested in more. This week we talk about new work by Adrian Miller, author of The President’s Kitchen Cabinet, and Michael Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene. These authors move forward our shared understanding of the leading role African American culinary professionals have played historically...

Cooking is good for so many reasons — except when it seems too unfamiliar or too hard. This week’s show concentrates on helping you form a cooking habit. Weeknight cooking requires very little special equipment, ingredients or techniques—or time—to be delightful and nourishing. We offer suggestions for cookbooks, recipes, and ingredients to form the basis of your family’s commitment to regular, frequent cooking.

Janice D’souza leads a remarkable life. In addition to work, family and civic commitments, Janice is dedicated to using Kentucky foods to cook the dishes of her native Mangalorean region of south India. In this episode, Janice describes what her family ate for breakfast, lunch, chai break and dinner as she grew up, and how she makes many of these foods now in Lexington, Kentucky. Janice and her husband subscribe to the Teal Tractor CSA. Cooking with vegetables she had never seen...

Melanie Blandford and Sherry Maddock met for the first time in the Lexington Community Radio studio when we broadcast this episode. Their meeting held magic. Listen as these two wonderful leaders toward new food systems talk about their connections to plants: they may be sister “plant empaths,” humans gifted with particular sensitivities to plants’ lives. In more traditional terms, Melanie Blandford is the Executive Director of Marketing for the Kentucky Deparment of Agriculture, and leads...

Three new food business leaders from the new food hall, The Barn at The Summit (at Fritz Farm) gather in the studio to talk about what they are doing: Florence Marlowe of Whiskey Bear, Josiah Correll of Pasture, and Dan Wu of Atomic Ramen. Get to know new food entrepreneurs in Lexington.

Harriet Dupree started a food business in college, and loved it so much she decided to go to culinary school after finding other work dissatisfying. For more than 28 years, her Dupree Catering set the standard for the finest catered food in central Kentucky. At the same time, Harriet launched other businesses and played heroic roles in charitable organizations. Listen as she talks about her favorite kinds of foods, some of her interesting clients, and other inside stories from a life of...

When Mick Jeffries shows up, fun always shows up, too. Especially when Mick’s topic, as in this show, is cocktails. Mick shares many of his hard-won tips and secrets: Ingredients that make the difference, how to make crucial ingredients at home, and ways to approach cocktails as intriguing tastes instead of booze bombs.