The Zest

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Potluck: Zest Staffers Reveal Our Favorite Cooking Hacks Sep 05, 2024

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Fall is busy for a lot of us, whether you’ve got kids back in school, a big work project to finish before the end of the fiscal year, or you’re trying to get your garden planted. Whatever your situation, the last thing you need is to stress about cooking.

Dalia and the Zest team recently met up remotely to discuss our favorite ways to save time, money and sanity in the kitchen. We all brought a few suggestions, like an idea potluck. In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Where we find less expensive spices
Where we go for meal ideas when we’re stuck in a dinner rut
How to make “single-use” appliances do double duty
What we cook when we’re super-busy and tempted to order takeout
Our favorite store-bought food items that are worth paying a little extra for
Tricks we’ve picked up over the years from pro chefs that make our home-cooked meals taste more like restaurant-quality
How we get members of our household to help in the kitchen
Plus more of our favorite gadgets, products, shortcuts and other resources

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Author & Restaurateur Randy Wayne White on Rum, Hot Sauce & His Latest Doc Ford Novel Aug 29, 2024

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Randy Wayne White is the author of dozens of novels set in Florida, including the fan favorite series about fictional marine biologist Marion “Doc” Ford. White’s latest Doc Ford novel is One Deadly Eye—as in, eye of the storm, just in time for peak hurricane season. The novel took him on a book tour that included stops at—where else?—Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille.

The restaurant, which White owns with two business partners, has four locations along Florida’s Central Gulf Coast. In June, the Terra Ceia resident stopped by the eatery’s location at the St. Pete Pier, where he’d come to do a reading and book signing. But first, he settled into a booth with Dalia for a chat.

Related episodes:

Conscious Cuisine: How to Choose Sustainable Seafood

20 Tips for a Better Hurricane Food Kit: Advice from Janet Keeler

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ “Cross Creek Cookery” Turns 80: Reflections from Food Writer Jeff Houck

Coming Aug. 29... Season 10! Aug 08, 2024

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Bonus Episode: Everything You Wanted to Know About Tea Jun 27, 2024

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If brewing your own beverage sounds like your cup of tea, then this bonus episode is for you. Back in March, we brought you an interview with Riverview resident Ginain Grayes of the website CookPraySlay and the podcast Cook the Garden. Today, we’re sharing an episode of Cook the Garden that we think you’ll enjoy.

In this conversation, Ginain chats with Nicole Wilson of Tea for Me Please. The New award-winning tea writer and educator shares tips for selecting and brewing your perfect cup of tea.

Do you prefer hot or iced beverages? Hit us up on Facebook or Instagram and spill the tea.

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We Think You'll Like Wendy Wesley’s New Podcast, St. Pete Eats Jun 13, 2024

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Dietitian, nutritionist and occasional Zest guest Wendy Wesley chats with Nanette Wiser about Wendy's new podcast, St. Pete Eats.

Related episodes:

7 Tips for Eating More at Home: Advice from Dietician/Nutritionist Wendy Wesley

For Young Adults—Especially Those with Special Needs —Cooking Skills Bring Independence

10 Tips for Cooking with Kids

Bonus Episode: Presidential Beverages with Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller May 30, 2024

Show notes

Earlier this season, we heard from Adrian Miller. Nicknamed the Soul Food Scholar, the Denver-based researcher has written several books on African-American culinary traditions, including Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue and The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas. His first book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship. He also appears in the acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.

Adrian visited Florida in February to headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival. The evening before the main event, he spoke at Collards After Dark at The Cuban Club in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood. In a conversation on stage with Dalia, Adrian shared tales from the latest topic to catch his interest—beverage preferences of U.S. presidents. We’re sharing that conversation here with you on the pod.

Adrian delves into which presidents made their own wine, which abstained and who drank confiscated booze during Prohibition. He also explores how wine is selected for White House state dinners, which first lady favored daiquiris and why all of this matters.

Related episodes:

Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller Will Headline the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival

Toni Tipton-Martin Celebrates African-American Chefs in ‘Jubilee’

Gabrielle E.W. Carter & Dr. LaDonna Butler on Food as Rest & Resistance

Dr. Fred Opie on the “Fascinating” African Roots of Florida Foods

From the Big House to the White House: Dr. Martha Bireda on Foodways of the Enslaved

Season 9 Finale: For Chef Inder Suryawanshi, Life’s a Beach May 16, 2024

Show notes

With the weather heating up and summer vacation so close we can almost taste it, let’s head to the beach for a sit-down with Chef Indrajit Suryawanshi. As executive chef of JW Marriott Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa, he oversees the resort’s main restaurants, Latitude 28° and The Deep End.

Chef Inder, as he’s known, grew up in Kundal, India. He learned to cook by watching his mom make dishes like butter chicken, eggplant curry and naan over a wood stove.

The Zest team met up with Chef Inder at the resort, which overlooks Clearwater Beach. The view from the suite was downright dreamy, and the Gulf of Mexico backdrop gets even more stunning when you head up to The Deep End rooftop restaurant. You can see photos on our Facebook and Instagram accounts.

In our conversation, Chef Inder explains how a sign—a literal sign!—led him to the hospitality industry and eventually to the United States. He also recalls his first time eating a cheeseburger in the U.S., and he shares what food he packs when he heads to the beach.

Related episodes:

The Ultimate Beach House Menu

Author Kristen Hare on Things to Eat in Tampa Bay Before You Die

Spirit of the Panhandle: Distillery 98 in Santa Rosa Beach Makes Oyster-Filtered Vodka

NFL Player-Turned-Entrepreneur Ian Beckles on Kava, Cutting Carbs and Cooking for Himself May 09, 2024

Show notes

In his 56 years, Ian Beckles has worn a lot of hats—and eaten a lot of good meals. In his profile on X, formerly Twitter, Ian describes himself as a “Former NFL Player & Entrepreneur Ambassador of all things Tasty in TB.” And that’s a pretty good way to sum it up.

The former Tampa Bay Buccaneer has his hand in a little bit of everything, including radio, podcasting, deejaying, magazine publishing and running his lifestyle brand, Dignitary, which he established in 2015. Ian’s latest venture is Dignitary Kava House. It’s an alcohol-free hangout spot in South Tampa that offers coffee, tea, CBD, kava, kratom and more.

The Zest team recently visited Ian at Dignitary Kava House to learn what exactly kava is and why he’s passionate about it. We also did a deep dive into how Ian’s eating habits have changed over the years.

Related episodes:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Chef Tracie Hartman on Feeding the Team, Pre-Game Ice Cream and Tom Brady’s “Very Disciplined” Diet

Chef Kenny Gilbert on Southern Food, Teaching Kids to Barbecue and Cooking for Oprah

Tampa Bay Rays Dietitian Courtney Ellison on Major League Meal Planning, Tips for Staying Hydrated and the Take-Out Food that’s a Home Run with the Team

Olivia Giesler of The Pearl at Water Street on Hospitality, the Michelin Guide and Being a Female Chef May 02, 2024

Show notes

This is a man’s world—or at least, a man’s kitchen. More than three-quarters of head chefs in U.S. restaurants are men, according to the Census Bureau. But Olivia Gielser has forged her own path in the male-dominated space.

Olivia is executive chef of The Pearl, part of downtown Tampa’s swanky new Water Street dining district. The gastropub opened in 2023, and it’s already earned a nod from Michelin’s Florida Guide.

The Zest team recently visited Chef Olivia at The Pearl to learn how she’s forged her own leadership style in the kitchen, how her Midwestern roots fostered her love of hospitality and how we can all cook smarter at home.

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Sarasota Magazine Food Writer Lauren Jackson’s Job Is Harder Than You Think Apr 25, 2024

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Food writer sounds like a dream job. And for Lauren Jackson, in many ways it is. As Eat & Drink Editor for Sarasota Magazine, Lauren spends her days marrying her culinary background with her passion for writing.

But being a food writer is about more than enjoying free dinners on the company dime.

Lauren recently joined Dalia in The Zest’s studio at WUSF for a conversation about what the job entails.

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