Kochleffel (From Let's Talk About Food) – Details, episodes & analysis

We are thrilled that our very first guest on Kochleffel is none other than Joan Nathan, the doyenne, the epicenter of Jewish cooking. Joan is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and other publications. She is the author of twelve books, including Jewish Cooking in America and The New American Cooking, both of which won both the James Beard Award and the IACP Award, and King Solomon’s Table, which won an IACP Award and a Gourmand World Cookbook Award. She shares her time between Washington, DC, and Martha's Vineyard. We spoke with her as she was on book tour with her new memoir, My Life in Recipes. And what a life it is! We are so proud to call her a Kochleffel!

Welcome to Kochleffel, a special series about the remarkable contributions of Jewish women to the world of food. 

We talk -- or mostly listen -- to the remarkable Barton Seaver; recovering chef, prodigious advocate of all things seafood, TED talk alum, author of landmark books on American seafood (my favorite is For Cod & Country), and quite possibly the most eloquent speaker we've ever met!

Photo courtesy of Barton Seaver.

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A 14 year old Minnesota boy wanted a motorcycle. He got a job as a dishwasher and it launched a stellar culinary career. We talked with Mark about himself, his outlook on the future of restaurants, and where the CIA is headed next.

Photo courtesy of Mark Erickson.

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Have you ever wondered how a food delivery business gets going? All the logistics, and the headaches and uncertainty of matching farmers to food and the fresh food to your home? Erin Baumgartner is the CEO and Founder of The Family Dinner. While working as the Assistant Director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT, she left her job after a drink with her husband in a local bar made her believe that her back-of-the-cocktail napkin idea was worth betting on. Since then, she has received so many accolades and awards -- and is the presenter of an inspiring Ted Talk!

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Paul Sellew is the Founder and CEO of Little Leaf Farms. His "farm" occupies massive greenhouses in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and he expects that by 2026, he'll have 100 acres "under glass" and be able to offer sustainable crisp salad greens to over 50% of the American salad eating world. We'll all be crushing on Little Leaf's hydroponic and sunshine nourished salad greens. He's not the only one who believes in his success: Superstar Bono and his RISE Fund recently made a $300 million dollar investment in the company. That's a lot of arugula! Let's have a listen to Paul Sellew!

Photo courtesy of Adam De Tour for Little Leaf Farms.

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A Conversation with Frank Lowenstein of RARE. Rare is the largest non-profit you've never heard of, and for 50 years it has been focused on using Behavioral Change to nudge people towards Sustainability all over the world. Now, RARE comes to the US. Frank, a lifelong environmentalist, talks about what we can do at the individual level to mitigate climate change.

Photo courtesy of Frank Lowenstein.

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Joanna James is a filmmaker, non-profit founder, mom of three girls, and the daughter of Val James, who against all odds created a successful restaurant company. Joanna’s film entitled "A Fine Line" documents her mother’s struggles, and those of other well-known female chef-owners in the restaurant industry. It tells the story of the barriers, financial and personal, that women face in the food business. When I first saw the film, I understood it as a love letter to her mom. The film created shock waves, generating a lot of buzz upon release. Joanna is also the founder of MAPP Impact, a non-profit focused on mentorship and policy advocacy for women in the food & beverage industry.

Photo courtesy of Joanna James.

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Thea Engst is a seasoned author, a bartender, and a serious student of Tarot. In her fourth book, Spirits of the Tarot, Thea develops a cocktail recipe to match each Tarot card. It's fun stuff. Especially for true believers. We spoke with her about Tarot and how a bartender goes about developing signature cocktails.

Photo courtesy of Thea Engst.

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If you have a wall of cookbooks (like I do) but only ever crack open a few–help is at hand. Jane Kelly is the founder of Eat Your Books, a service that lets you search your own library to find the perfect recipe. She was an executive in the music and TV world in the UK, and then, she had an idea....

Photo courtesy of Eat Your Books.

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