Add Passion and Stir

Latest Episodes:

Obama’s Longest-Serving Cabinet Member on the Fight to Save Our Democracy Feb 13, 2019

Show notes

What is the backbone of our strength as a nation? In this episode from Washington DC, former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and The Salt Line chef Kyle Bailey sit down with host Billy Shore to discuss the economic vitality of our country. “We’re in a [global] competition for which system of government works best in a time of change. We always thought that once we won the Cold War… democracy was the best way to do it and everyone was going to see that,” says Vilsack. Bailey’s focus on sustainable seafood sourcing cooperatives aims to democratize food and support people whose livelihoods rely on fishing. “The idea was to cut a couple steps out of the supply chain to get the freshest and best fish, and it gets money back into the pockets of the actual fisherman,” says Bailey.

The guests discuss the impact of the current political disagreements around immigration, which affects the restaurant industry and many others. “Immigrant populations have historically done the jobs that are really hard. When we’re fearful, the whole American experience gets interrupted,” notes Vilsack. “Yeah, [democracy] is a little messy but eventually it gets the job done in a way doesn’t limit people’s freedoms and abilities.”

Get informed and inspired as these two guests share their thoughts about politics, sustainable food and agriculture.

Resources and Mentions:

· No Kid Hungry (nokidhungry.org): Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending child hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day.

· Tom Vilsack served eight years as the nation’s 30th Secretary of Agriculture under President Obama where he worked diligently to strengthen the American agricultural economy, build vibrant rural communities and create new markets for the tremendous innovation of rural America. Currently President and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), he provides strategic leadership and oversight of USDEC's global promotional and research activities, regulatory affairs and trade policy initiatives. He is on the Board of Directors of Feeding America, the nation’s largest anti-hunger organization. He also served two terms as the Governor of Iowa.

· Feeding America’s mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger. For more than 35 years, Feeding America has responded to the hunger crisis in America by providing food to people in need through a nationwide network of food banks. The national organization for food banks was established in 1979 as Second Harvest, which was later called America’s Second Harvest the Nation’s Food Bank Network. In 2008, the network changed its name to Feeding America to better reflect the mission of the organization. Today, Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization—a powerful and efficient network of 200 food banks across the country. The Feeding America network of food banks feeds 46 million people at risk of hunger, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors.

· The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) is a non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders. Dairy Management Inc. founded USDEC in 1995 and, through the dairy checkoff program, is the organization’s primary funder. USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service provides export activity support, and membership dues fund the Council’s trade policy and lobbying activities. USDEC’s mission is to enhance demand for U.S. dairy products and ingredients by securing access and assisting suppliers to meet market needs that facilitate sales.

· Kyle Bailey is chef and partner of Long Shot Hospitality. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Kyle Bailey has helmed kitchens from luxury resorts in the Caribbean to great restaurants in New York and DC, including Birch & Barley and Churchkey. He’s learned from great chefs, including Shea Gallante and Dan Barber, and mentored dozens of others, sharing his interest in and knowledge of sustainability in local food systems. Kyle was named “The People’s Best New Chef” Mid-Atlantic region in 2011 by Food & Wine.

· The Salt Line is part of Long Shot Hospitality (LSH), a Washington DC-based restaurant group led by Kyle Bailey, Jeremy Carman, Gavin Coleman & Paul Holder. The partners and their other properties (Sixth Engine, Town Hall, The Dubliner) are known for great atmosphere, reliable service, excellent food and an enjoyable vibe—the kinds of places you meet up with friends again and again. The Salt Line, creates a lively and welcoming experience of classic New England dishes influenced by the bounty of the Chesapeake.

· Dock to Dish is an international network of small-scale fishermen, marine biologists and sustainable seafood advocates working in teams from ports and harbors across North and Central America. They are collectively committed to making local, traceable, low-impact wild seafood accessible to organized groups of cooperative members through unique community and restaurant supported fishery programs. In June of 2017, The United Nations Foundation designated the Dock to Dish community and restaurant supported fishery model as one of the top breakthrough innovations that can scale to solve the ocean’s grand challenges.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The First Rule of Creating a Winning Culture: We Don’t Hire Knuckleheads! Feb 06, 2019

Show notes

How do you build and sustain a purpose-driven organization? Chef Joy Crump (FOODĒ and Mercantile) and HUNGRY Chairman Jeff Grass join Debbie and Billy Shore to talk about the entrepreneurial experience and the core values that drive their organizations. “Our core purpose is to make the lives we touch better - anything we do has to be better for everybody,” says Grass about how his company is elevating the office catering industry while creating new career paths and better pay for chefs. “Loving is management and kindness is part of what can give you structure and discipline. People respond to that,” explains Crump about what underlies the success of her restaurants in Historic Downtown Fredericksburg, VA.

In building their teams, both guests are adamant about staying true to the culture they’ve built. “If we sense that you’re not kind or not concerned about the guest experience we won’t welcome you back,” says Crump. “Values and purpose are what help create a foundation for a good culture, and we focus a lot on our people and how to develop them,” notes Grass.

Learn from two purpose-driven entrepreneurs explaining why a focus on core values is the key to building a successful business.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Courage to Try: Cooking at Age 11, Conquering Hunger Jan 30, 2019

Show notes

How do we ensure dignity for people experiencing food insecurity? City Harvest Senior Director of Programs Kate MacKenzie and Gem chef Flynn McGarry sit down with Billy Shore in New York City to discuss how their passion for food drives their commitment to creating social change. “Through City Harvest, I’m able to work on making large-scale change, while also making sure people have food on their tables tonight,” says MacKenzie. A prodigy chef and restaurateur since age 11, McGarry understands the power of his celebrity to influence. “We’re going to do the restaurant, but in tandem we need to give back and try to be bigger than the space we’re confined in,” he explains. “

Both guests are passionate about solving food insecurity. “It’s not just about distributing more and more food to people who need it… it’s making sure it gets into their stomachs in a way that’s appropriate and desirable for them,” says MacKenzie about how City Harvest will help feed 1.2M food insecure New Yorkers this year. “Cooking for yourself is such an important skill. I know so many people in their 20s and 30s who don’t know how to make themselves dinner, which relates to this dependency on fast food,” says McGarry.

Share in this conversation that highlights how a passion for food motivates these guests to make an impact.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Can Drive Profit and Build Community Jan 23, 2019

Show notes

How can food and collaboration help build healthier communities? City Fresh Foods President and Founder and Foundation for Business Equity Executive Director Glynn Lloyd and PAGU chef Tracy Chang chat with Billy Shore in Boston about how and why community is a central tenet of their respective organizations. “It’s an ecosystem community approach to really help support an entrepreneurial class that’s necessary for their communities,” Lloyd explains about the Business Equity Initiative, which provides advisors, infrastructure subsidies and growth capital to help grow black- and Latino-owned businesses. Community is also central to Chang’s view of her restaurant. “We want to be here for the long run, so that means we need to listen to our community and be actively involved, and really take to heart the feedback we receive,” she says.

Both guests discuss the leadership qualities that are most important to achieve their goals. “You have to be open to doing anything and everything, and that requires a lot of positive thinking… I’m ready to receive anyone with a negative mood and turn that around,” explains Chang. Lloyd practices what he calls deep listening as a way to motivate people. “Do you really understand the world around you, the people you’re working with, what motivates them, and then put that back into where you’re going as an organization?,” he asks.

Listen and learn from two entrepreneurs who use their businesses to build both profit and community.

Resources and Mentions:

· No Kid Hungry (nokidhungry.org): Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending child hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day.

· Glynn Lloyd has been a pioneer in the field of transformative urban economic development for more than 25 years. He is the President and Founder of City Fresh Foods and is currently the Executive Director of the Foundation for Business Equity. The Foundation's first initiative is The Business Equity Initiative designed to scale up local Black and Latino enterprises in Eastern MA. Over the last few decades, Glynn has been involved in the local food movement, more recently in helping to establish The Urban Farming Institute (UFI). UFI has the mission of supporting urban residents in the production of their own food for improved health and community resiliency.

· Business Equity Initiative (BEI) was launched by the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation in April 2017 to mitigate growing inequality by combining business growth, supplier partnerships, and community transformative development as a means of addressing growing wealth and income inequality in Massachusetts. The Initiative is focused on growing enterprises of color by leveraging Eastern’s networks and philanthropic dollars as well as providing targeted, customizable growth tools including embedded trusted strategic advisors, operational support, growth capital, and market access to enterprises of color positioned for growth. This Initiative targets Black and Latino businesses because research shows that this is where the inequities and wealth gap is the greatest.

· City Fresh Foods is on a mission to make healthier communities by delivering fresh, wholesome meals to organizations throughout the Boston area, educating and advocating for more nutritious food choices, and building sustainable careers for our dedicated staff and local growers. City Fresh is a nationally recognized provider of affordable, high-quality whole meals, with a mission-driven business model that supports community development.

· Tracy Chang is the chef and owner of PAGU a Japanese Spanish fusion restaurant that bridges cuisines and cultures in Cambridge, MA. Chang’s love for the restaurant industry began at an early age at her grandmother’s Japanese restaurant in Cambridge. She furthered her craft at famed Japanese restaurant O Ya in Boston. She went on to study with Pâtissier Nicolas Bernardé at Le Cordon Bleu Paris and cook alongside Chef Martín Berasategui at his Michelin three-star restaurant in San Sebastian. After returning to Boston, she co-founded Guchi’s Midnight Ramen and joined the Harvard Science and Cooking program as a teaching fellow before opening PAGU in 2017.

· PAGU combines Japanese and Spanish cuisine to create a dining experience that is greater than the sum of its parts. The menu reflects the background and travels of chef Tracy Chang. The beverage list features wines from the Iberian Peninsula and Basque Country, Japanese sake, Spanish ciders and sherry, and more. In addition to offering delicious, soulful food, PAGU emphasizes health, sustainability and community.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can the Secret Sauce That Built a $6B Business Save Our Politics? Jan 16, 2019

Show notes

What do business and politics have in common in today’s climate? Panera Bread Founder and Chairman of the Board Ron Shaich and FoodCorps Co-Founder and CEO Curt Ellis discuss how responsible leadership can inform both business and politics and the central role that food could play. “One of the most powerful things we can do as leaders is first, tell ourselves the truth,” says Shaich. “The hardest part of making decisions is the uncertainty that occurs… You need to project the confidence to everybody to get them over the hurdle while you yourself are unsure.” Ellis describes a key leadership moment when FoodCorps began developing a whole new realm of business skills to address the supply side of school food. “The decision to say: ‘We believe we have the ability to get good at something we’re not yet good at’ was a real decision to put ourselves out there,” he believes.

Ellis sees the power of food in addressing political problems. “Food is this place where so many of the challenges that we must learn how to solve in our country intersect. Food is the place where social justice and racial justice meet environmental sustainability and public health,” he says. Shaich laments the problems created by short-term thinking in business and politics. “We need to examine why our politics has gotten so short term, so coarse and so ‘it’s my way or the highway,’” he says. “Unless we can solve that, we’re not going to be the country in the future that we’ve been in the past.”

Get inspired as two leaders who have found ways to change the world through food share their advice on leadership and making a lasting impact.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fake News and the Fraying Social Safety Net Jan 09, 2019

Show notes

What does fake news have to do with the Farm Bill? Former U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences Kevin Concannon and award-winning chef and cookbook author Hugh Acheson talk with host Billy Shore about the importance of public service, nutrition and basic cooking skills, and the recently passed Farm Bill. “I’m as pleased with the Farm Bill for what is not in it - some of these ‘poison pills’ so to speak - that really intended to just harm people,” says Concannon. Acheson connects the fights around important Farm Bill components like SNAP (food stamps) – on which 40M Americans depend, half of them children - to a larger trend in our society. “We no longer believe that the best natural resource we have is the next generation. These kids all deserve an equal chance within the most prosperous nation on earth,” he insists.

In his hometown of Athens, Georgia, Acheson developed a home economics program called Seed Life Skills to teach middle schoolers the basics of preparing healthy meals. “I think my duty in this life is to strip away the pretension about food and make people realize that we can all feed ourselves, we can feed those around us,” he says. As Under Secretary, Concannon visited one of the middle schools where the kids were growing, preparing and feeding meals to senior citizens in the community. “They had inculcated the knowledge and the values in these middle school kids and they were really committed. It was just wonderful to see it,” he observes.

Listen to these two guests set the record straight about the lasting, positive impact of social programs that focus on our greatest natural resource - our children.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Keys to Organizational Success: Teamwork and Community Jan 02, 2019

Show notes

What are the common ingredients for high-functioning organizations? Lovin’ Spoonfuls founder and Executive Director Ashley Stanley and distinguished Boston chef and restaurateur Colin Lynch (Bar Mezzana and Shore Leave) join host Billy Shore to discuss their philosophies on building successful organizations and strong communities. Stanley recounts why she started Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a Boston nonprofit organization that rescues and distributes healthy, fresh food that would otherwise be discarded. “When you’re there with folks who have the same goals as you… you hear people talking about it in the office. ‘How do we make this better not just for our team, but ultimately for our end-users,’” she explains. Lynch, who was struck by the camaraderie of the kitchen at a very young age, believes his success derives from putting his employees in a position to succeed. “Our business is 100% about people, and the only way we can continue to grow and thrive and take care of our guests is if we continue to take care of the people that work for us,” he says.

Both guests talk about drawing strength from their communities. “Lovin’ Spoonfuls wouldn’t be here without it - fundraising for a non-profit is a challenging endeavor and in the beginning it really was anything we could do,” says Stanley about when Lovin’ Spoonfuls was getting off the ground. The organization now rescues about 70K pounds of fresh healthy food that feeds about 30K to 35K people each week. Lynch tells the story about a restaurant worker who was seriously injured in an assault and the response from the Boston culinary community to help him recover. “It’s a very comforting feeling to know if something happens to you, everyone will be there to support you in this community,” he maintains.

Join us for a conversation that gets to the heart of how to build successful organizations and the importance of teamwork and community.

Resources and Mentions:

· No Kid Hungry (nokidhungry.org): Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending child hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day.

· Ashley Stanley is the founder and executive director of Lovin’ Spoonfuls. She has created unparalleled awareness for food rescue, with dedication to addressing the significant consequences of food waste. In 2011 the Boston Business Journal named her an ‘Emerging Leader’. In 2012, Lovin’ Spoonfuls was a two-time winner of the Mass Challenge competition, which is the largest global start-up accelerator. In 2013 Ashley was selected as one of the BBJ’s 2013 ’40 under 40′, which recognizes Boston’s most innovative business leaders. In 2014, Ashley was recognized by The Boston Globe as a ‘Game Changer, and in Boston Magazine‘s ‘Power of Ideas’. She is one of Oxfam International’s Sisters of the Planet Ambassadors. A Fellow at The 2013 Nantucket Project, she’s also a member of TEDWomen, and a TEDx community speaker. She’s been featured on NPR, and written for The Huffington Post’s ‘ReClaim’ campaign.

· Lovin’ Spoonfuls is dedicated to facilitating the rescue and distribution of healthy, fresh food that would otherwise be discarded throughout Greater Boston and beyond. They pick up wholesome, perishable food from grocery stores, produce wholesalers, farms and farmers markets, and distribute it to more than 140 community nonprofits that feed hungry people across Greater Boston and MetroWest. Lovin’ Spoonfuls connects abundance and excess food with the food insecure men, women, children and families who need it most. Their timely rescue of food that has been deemed no longer salable — slightly bruised produce, dairy nearing its sell-by date, or perfectly good food products that are determined to be excess — provides meals to more than 30,000 individuals each week. Since 2010, Lovin’ Spoonfuls has rescued and distributed more than 8 million pounds of fresh, healthy food into the social service stream.

· Colin Lynch is chef and partner of Bar Mezzana located in Boston's South End. He received his Bachelor’s Degree at the Culinary Institute of America before settling in Boston and working at Chef Barbara Lynch’s flagship restaurant No. 9 Park. He was on the team there as she received her James Beard Award for “Best Chef Northeast” in 2003. Colin was then promoted to the role of Chef de Cuisine at No. 9 Park starting in 2004. During this time, as Chef Barbara Lynch expanded to the South End with B&G Oysters and The Butcher Shop, he helped her develop menus and the teams. In 2007, he became Executive Chef for the Gruppo, where he was responsible for the Gruppo’s entire Back of House operations, including menu development, training, quality control, and supervision of all the Gruppo’s restaurants’ Chef de Cuisines. He led the opening of Menton, which achievied Boston’s first Relais & Chateaux designation, was nominated by the James Beard Foundation for “Best New Restaurant” in 2011, named as one of the best new restaurants in the country by Esquire, and received The Boston Globe's first four-star review from food editor, Devra First. In June 2016, Lynch opened Bar Mezzana to rave reviews from local press and guests who praise the inspired crudo, handmade pastas, and warm hospitality. He recently opened his second restaurant, Shore Leave, in Boston’s South End.

· Bar Mezzana brings the simplicity and beauty of coastal Italian cooking to a sleek, vibrant space at 360 Harrison Avenue in Boston. Aperol spritzes, an award-winning crudo menu, and a career steeped in pasta making are highlighted by genuine, warm service and hospitality. Led by Heather Lynch and Beverage Director Ryan Lotz, Bar Mezzana’s wine program showcases a thoughtfully curated selection of varietals to pair with Chef Lynch’s food, with both widely loved bottles and lesser-known (but equally enjoyable) discoveries. Shore Leave is a tiki bar and restaurant in Boston’s South End. It is an interpretation of a tropical escape through the lens Boston’s rich dining scene.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Luck and Moral Obligation Dec 27, 2018

Show notes

Is being fortunate an obligation to help others? Host Billy Shore travels to Portland, Maine to chat with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo and pastry chef and restaurant owner Ilma Lopez (Piccolo, Chaval) about the good fortune that has propelled their careers and how they use their talents to create social impact. “Successful people don’t like to talk about how important luck is… Luck does have a large part to do with success,” says Russo. Lopez agrees that being in the right place at the right time helped her career advance, and her habit is to give back when something fortunate happens to her. “The more blessings we have in our lives, the more we have to give. Every time something good happens to us we have to give something out,” she believes.

The guests discuss whether social responsibility is more important than ever given our current political climate. Russo and Lopez agree it comes down to using our strengths. “Storytelling is about empathy… and that is an act of moral imagination. I use my time to make myself heard on moral issues,” says Russo. “We talk at the restaurant ‘Is it really meaningful what we’re doing or should we really be doing something else? What if we close the restaurant and go down to the border and try and feed these kids?,’” asks Lopez. However, she concludes that helping neighbors and local charities can ultimately be just as valuable.

Share in this thoughtful conversation among people who see social responsibility as a basic human instinct as well as a moral obligation.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Leading a City Back from Despair: The Community Leaders Who Rebuilt Boston Dec 19, 2018

Show notes

How do we rebuild trust in our institutions and leaders? Executive Vice President, Communications and External Relations at Brandeis University Ira Jackson and Boston chef and restaurateur Chris Coombs (dbar, Boston Chops and Deuxave) weave a powerful narrative about social responsibility, entrepreneurship and urban renewal with host Billy Shore. Jackson, who was Chief of Staff to Mayor Kevin White in 1970’s Boston, vividly describes the urban decay that defined the city at the time and the racism and violence that erupted over the school bussing program. “A whole generation of students was lost. The notion that 44 years later, today Boston would be the kind of tolerant, inclusive, hip, young city that it is, is a story of redemption,” he says. Coombs relates his own experience of becoming chef and partner of dbar, a restaurant that was built on a commitment to diversity and inclusion. “When you talk about stories in the mid 70’s, the amount of progress we’ve been able to make as a city and a country in very short amount of time is incredible. But progress only happens if you’re committed to making it.

Coombs, who owns four restaurants and employs hundreds, has intentionally built social responsibility into his organization, focusing on family homelessness and hunger. “As we grow, it makes me realize how much it’s about imparting culture and vision and letting your team share that with others,” he says. Billy Shore asks Jackson what he has learned from a career that has spanned the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors. “Part of the moral of the story is we can’t do this on our own and government shouldn’t do it for us, so we need public/private partnerships and collaboration,” he believes. However, he is concerned that trust in our leaders and institutions has almost completely eroded. “I think you have to rebuild it locally - people have to see and touch and feel the impact they’re having because they don’t trust somebody far away,” concludes Shore.

Listen to this conversation between two dynamic storytellers as they discuss urban renewal and revitalization through the lens of their personal experiences in the city of Boston.

Resources and Mentions:

· No Kid Hungry (nokidhungry.org): Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending child hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day.

· Ira Jackson is executive vice president, communications and external relations at Brandeis University. He provides leadership for Brandeis' relations with the community, government, businesses and other institutions locally, nationally and globally and assists the president and others in advancing and communicating Brandeis' intellectual and institutional contributions. Jackson has held senior positions in government, business and academia. In government, he served as chief of staff to former Boston Mayor Kevin White and later as Massachusetts Commissioner of Revenue under Gov. Michael Dukakis. In academia, he served as senior associate dean of Harvard's Kennedy School and director of its Center for Business and Government. He also served as president of the Arizona State University Foundation, dean of the Peter Drucker School of Management at the Claremont Colleges, and dean of the John W. McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies and vice provost of the University of Massachusetts Boston. In business, for a dozen years Jackson was executive vice president of BankBoston. He has also played leadership roles in a number of civic initiatives, including CityYear, the Boston Foundation, the New England Holocaust Memorial and Facing History and Ourselves. A graduate of Harvard College, he received his MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School and graduated from the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

· Brandeis University is a medium-sized private research university with global reach dedicated to first-rate undergraduate education while making groundbreaking discoveries. Its 235-acre campus is located in the suburbs of Boston, a global hub for higher education and innovation. Its faculty are leaders in their fields, as passionate about teaching and mentorship as they are about pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Brandeis students are motivated, compassionate, curious and open to exploring new and challenging experiences. It is a community rooted in purpose, guided by its founding values, poised to lead in education and research in the 21st century.

· Chris Coombs is chef and co-owner of Boston Urban Hospitality which owns dbar, Deuxave, and Boston Chops. Coombs graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York and worked under award-winning chefs in Massachusetts and then Virginia. He returned to Boston and in 2006 and created Boston Urban Hospitality with business partner Brian Piccini. In 2010, Coombs opened his first restaurant, Deuxave, in Boston. Coombs’ cuisine at Deuxave is strongly rooted in the nouvelle techniques of contemporary French cuisine, married with the splendor of American ingredients in a refined setting. Since then, Coombs’ success has grabbed the attention of both local and national media, including an appearance on Food Network’s “Chopped” and recognition by Food & Wine magazine as a candidate for “The People’s Best New Chef in New England.” In early 2013, Coombs and Piccini debuted his third concept, Boston Chops. The urban steak bistro has been named one of Food & Wine magazine’s “Best New Steakhouses” and won Best Steakhouse 2015 from Boston magazine’s coveted Best of Boston awards. In 2013, Coombs was named “30 Under 30” for chefs by Forbes Magazine’s and Zagat. He was also named the Massachusetts Restaurant Association’s “Restaurateur of the Year” for 2015.

· Boston Urban Hospitality currently owns and operates four restaurants in Boston--Deuxave, Boston Chops (South End and Downtown) and dbar. It is made up of a team of passionate hospitality professionals who believe in seasonal, sustainable, and local food and value a work environment where passion produces excellence. From focusing on exceptional service to cooking heartfelt and exciting meals to remember, Boston Urban Hospitality scrutinizes every detail that goes into orchestrating unforgettable culinary experiences.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Living Longer, Living Better and Rediscovering our Humanity Dec 12, 2018

Show notes

What did we lose when we became a generationally segregated society? Encore.org President and CEO Marc Freedman and celebrated chef Stephan Pyles join hosts Debbie and Billy Shore to talk about aging well and how to make a lasting impact in the world. “An important part of purpose in later life is connecting in ways that flow down the generational chain and that nurture the future that we won’t even see,” explains Freedman about why Encore.org bringing older and young people together to solve social problems is a rare approach in this time of ‘age apartheid’ in our society. Chef Pyles describes how a recent trip to India impacted his perspective on life as he ages. “It made me understand that I’m just a person living in the moment and have to be a part of all that’s around me… I’ve gotten closer to my humanity the older I get,” he reflects.

Freedman cites research about how older people who connect with younger generations are much more likely to be happy as those who fail to do so. “This idea of connecting the generations is about so much more than efficiency, it’s about humanity and something fundamental in the human experience,” he says.

Chef Pyles has found this in his own career, fondly remembering the influence Julia Child had on him as a young chef. “I remember how important it was when she took an interest and told a story…I learned so much from her and I’ve tried to return that gift to the people that I’ve mentored,” he says.

Get inspired by this conversation that offers keen insights into how we can leave a lasting legacy for future generations.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected