The Zest

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Bonus Episode: The City of Tampa Needs Your Recipes for its Soulwalk Community Cookbook Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

The holidays are a great time to gather family recipes, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tell you about the City of Tampa’s Soulwalk Community Cookbook.

Tampa’s Soulwalk is a trail linking historic sites that tell the story of the city’s communities of color. The city is creating a companion cookbook, and they need your input. You have until the end of the year to submit recipes online at tampa.gov/soulwalk. Submission forms are also available at local libraries and City of Tampa community centers.

You don’t have to live within Tampa city limits to participate, and you don’t need to be Black, as long as your recipe reflects Black or African-American cuisine. Ida Walker and Tina Wright are part of the team behind the Soulwalk Community Cookbook, and they’re here to tell us more about it.

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How Spanish Settlers Brought Pigs to Florida and Started America’s Barbecue Craze Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

Picture a time when there was no barbecued pork in Florida—when there weren’t pigs at all.

That was the scene more than 500 years ago. It wasn’t until Spanish settlers disembarked from their ships, along with the pigs they’d brought on board, that our state’s indigenous people ever laid eyes on hogs.

Kevin Kokomoor, Ph. D., details this history in his book La Florida: Catholics, Conquistadores, and Other American Origin Stories. In the book’s final chapter, Dr. Kokomoor argues that the barbecue we know and love today traces its origins to the merging of Spanish pigs and Native American cooking methods in the 16th century.

Dalia recently spoke with Kokomoor, a Florida native who teaches history at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. In this conversation, they discuss why Spaniards brought pigs to North America and the consequences for indigenous people. Kokomoor also makes a case that Thanksgiving has its roots in Florida, and he shares his favorite ways to enjoy barbecue.

Why Boozy Pig Owner Andrew Tambuzzo Bought a Herd of Swine Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

It’s one thing to know how the sausage gets made. It’s another thing to buy the pigs that become the sausage. But that’s what former Zest guest Andrew Tambuzzo recently did.

Andrew is the founder and owner of The Boozy Pig Butchery & Kitchen in Tampa, which has locations in South Tampa and Davis Islands. In addition to selling pork products to the public, Boozy supplies meat to dozens of restaurants, hotels and other wholesale clients. To ensure the quality of his supply, Andrew recently purchased around 50 pigs of his own. They live on a farm in Pasco County.

Buying livestock for your restaurant may sound extreme, but Andrew comes from a foodie family. His late grandfather Giuseppe Tambuzzo owned Tip Top Grocery Store in Ybor City, and his cousin John Barbie’s Tip Top Canning Co. was featured on The Zest earlier this year.

Dalia met up with Andrew at the Boozy Pig’s South Tampa location as lunch hour was winding down. (They sat at a table that, moments earlier, had been occupied by former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. In this conversation, Andrew explains why buying the pigs was important to him, how pork products are made—buckle up for that!—and ways to make flavorful meals from less expensive cuts of meat.

Related episodes:

Tambuzzo Sausage Company & The Boozy Pig

How 4 Rivers Smokehouse Became King of the Barbecue

Summertime Grilling Tips for Your Best Barbecue Season Yet

Foraging Food in Florida: Do’s and Don’ts from Naturalist Roger L. Hammer Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

Foraging food can be exciting: searching for provisions, maybe discovering some sweet berries or nutty salad greens you’ve never tried before. Eating wild plants is fun… but if you’re not careful, it can kill you.

So when we wanted to learn the basics of foraging in Florida, we called Roger L. Hammer. He’s an award-winning naturalist, botanist, nature photographer and survivalist instructor for the Discovery Channel reality series Naked and Afraid. He’s also the author of several books, including Falcon Guides’ Foraging Florida.

Before you go gorging on handfuls of leaves from your backyard, you’d be smart to heed Roger’s advice. He recently chatted with Dalia about guidelines for foraging legally, ethically and safely.

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Chef Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef

Conscious Cuisine: Rob Greenfield on How to Live without Grocery Stores and Restaurants

Third-Generation Beekeeper Derek Lewis on Food Pollination, Bee Hotels and the Value of the “Sophisticated Little Creatures”

Speakeasies, Smuggling and “Spotty Enforcement”: Prohibition in 1920s Florida Nov 02, 2023

Show notes

A new exhibition at the Tampa Bay History Center explores what our state was like a century ago, from music and fashion to politics and social movements—including the banning of alcohol. It’s called Decade of Change: Florida in the 1920s, and it’s on view from Nov. 4 to July 14.

Dalia spoke with the exhibition’s curator, Brad Massey, Ph. D.

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Beef Chief: Black Cattle Rancher Huey Howard Reflects on the Racism & Rewards of His 6-Decade Career Oct 26, 2023

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When Huey Howard got into cattle ranching in 1963, JFK was president, the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA topped the music charts, and a white landowner could refuse to sell property to a Black man.

But that didn’t stop the Leland, Mississippi, native from becoming one of Florida’s few Black cattle ranchers.

Today, Huey and his family raise more than 400 head of cattle, and they’ve earned respect in Florida’s predominantly white beef cattle industry, in which African-Americans still account for only about 3 percent of our state’s beef producers. The family was even honored a few years ago during a parade in Immokalee.

Earlier this year, I met the 87-year-old at the Howard family’s ranch in Felda, about 30 miles east of Fort Myers. It was a sweltering afternoon, so we settled into the air-conditioned cabin of Huey’s gray Chevy pickup truck for a chat. Huey’s nephew Gerlad Howard was in the back seat.

Dalia spoke with Huey for the summer 2023 issue of Gravy Quarterly, a publication of the Southern Foodways Alliance. This episode’s audio comes from that conversation.

In this episode, Huey shares why he’s passionate about raising cows, his favorite way to enjoy Florida beef and how he managed to buy his first plot of land after all.

Related episodes:

“Burger Beast” Sef Gonzalez on Florida’s Best Hamburgers

“We Got Engaged up at the Milking Parlor”: Modern Dairy Farmers Sutton & Kris Rucks

Writer Heather McPherson on What You Don’t Know About Florida Food

Egyptian-Inspired Bastet Brewing in Tampa Brings Beer Back to Its Roots Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

Tampa’s historic Ybor City district is known for its nightlife. But just a few blocks away, you’ll find a bar that’s reminiscent of another time and place.

Bastet Brewing pays homage to the beer culture of ancient Egypt. And that’s the vibe you’ll get when you step inside, from the mural on the wall down to the smallest details.

Friends Huston Lett and Tom Ross opened Bastet in November 2020. Despite the ups and downs of the pandemic, they’ve grown the business into one of Tampa’s most buzzed-about watering holes. Bastet was even featured in the documentary One Pint at a Time about diversity in the craft beer industry. (Former Zest guest Latiesha Cook of St. Petersburg-based Beer Kulture also appears in the film.)

Dalia Colón and The Zest's web guru, Alexandria Ebron, recently visited Bastet for a tour. In this conversation, Huston and Tom explain the Egyptian roots of modern craft breweries and how their mutual love of cooking inspires the beers they create.

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A Renewable Delicacy: Talking Stone Crabs with Kelly Kirk of Marco Island’s Kirk Fish Company Oct 12, 2023

Show notes

Stone crab claws are big business in Florida, worth an annual $34.4 million, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission—and that’s in an industry that works just half the year.

Few people understand the ins and outs of stone crabbing better than Kelly Kirk of Goodland. It’s a small fishing village in the southeast corner of Marco Island. Kelly and her family run Kirk Fish Company, a seafood processing facility and market that her grandfather Bud Kirk started in the early 1950s. Kelly is also co-director of the Florida Stone Crabbers Association, and she sits on the board of the Everglades Seafood Festival.

As she geared up for stone crab season, Kelly took time to chat with Dalia about what you can expect to pay for a pound of stone crab claws, how environmental changes affect Florida’s stone crab population and how she prefers to enjoy the delicacy.

To learn more about stone crabs, check out Dalia’s article in the fall 2023 issue of Forum, the magazine of Florida Humanities.

Related episodes:

Dive into Florida’s Spiny Lobster Season

Conscious Cuisine: How to Choose Sustainable Seafood

How Key West Lobsterfest Became Florida’s Premiere Crustacean Celebration

Chef BT Nguyen on How to Cook with Booze Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

This week, we’re getting a lesson in cooking with booze. No, we’re not talking about enjoying a spirited beverage while you cook, although that can be nice, too. We’re talking about using a splash of alcohol to enhance a dish.

As chef and owner of three Tampa restaurants, BT Nguyen has found plenty of creative uses for beer, wine and spirits. Dalia recently sat down with the celebrated chef in the dining room of Restaurant BT. In this conversations, BT throws out plenty of ideas to try at home, including one that was a lightbulb moment for Dalia.

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Bourbon 101 with Nate Wilson

Firehouse Chef Manny FD on Cooking for his “Second Family” and the Right Way to Extinguish a Kitchen Fire

Rum Punch Rhyme: Your Recipe for “Happiness and Good Vibes in a Glass”

Chef Mike Collantes of Michelin-Starred Soseki Modern Omakase on His 10-Seat Restaurant and a Hack for Making Better Sushi at Home Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

Orlando is stepping up its game. To outsiders, Central Florida might just look like a bunch of turkey legs and Mickey ice cream bars. But in the past decade, O-town has become home to some pretty top-notch eateries. And the powers that be are starting to take notice.

In 2022, the prestigious Michelin Guide began awarding stars to Florida restaurants. Among the first was Soseki Modern Omakase in the leafy Orlando suburb of Winter Park. The dining room has just 10 seats, and the Japanese-inspired, locally sourced dinner is always chef's choice.

That chef is Mike Collantes. In addition to owning Soseki, Chef Mike works as a restaurant consultant and interviews fellow chefs on his podcast, 86 The Podcast. In addition, he was recently a contestant on the cooking competition show Morimoto’s Sushi Master, which you can watch for free on Roku.

Chef Mike recently chatted with me about his decision to open an eatery with only 10 seats, the ripple effect of restaurant awards and a hack for sourcing better ingredients for your next at-home sushi night.

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