The Southern Fork – Details, episodes & analysis

In this conversation, dietician Olivia Myers shares her passion for Grocery RX, part of Lowcountry Street Grocery in Charleston, SC, which operates as food pharmacy and nutrition education arm. She shares her background in nutrition and food, the challenges of addressing food insecurity, and the transformative impact of GroceryRx on individuals' health and lives. The conversation also touches on the importance of community engagement and the future of the business amidst challenges in funding and administration, but with a sincere hope for building in the future. The work Olivia is doing in the South Carolina Lowcountry is grassroots but with a big impact.

The 2018 interview with Lindsey Barrow of Lowcountry Street Grocery: https://www.thesouthernfork.com/episodes/2019/8/9/ep-148-lindsey-barrow-lowcountry-street-grocery-charleston-sc

To keep up with Stephanie's work beyond the show, sign up for On the Menu with The Southern Fork, her free monthly newsletter that includes recent bylines, recommendations, and other fun tidbits. And for consistent visual peeks into the world of The Southern Fork, follow along on Instagram.

Andrew Zimmern has spent decades proving that food can be a powerful force for cultural understanding and social change. An Emmy-winning and James Beard Award-winning television host, chef and food advocate, he brings boundless curiosity and deep empathy to his exploration of global cuisine on his acclaimed shows, including the Bizarre Foods franchise, The Zimmern List, What's Eating America, Family Dinner, and Wild Game Kitchen. His work extends far beyond television into restaurants, publishing, and philanthropy, all driven by his conviction that shared culinary experiences can bridge divides and create lasting change.

His latest book is The Blue Food Cookbook: Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future co-authored with Barton Seaver. At the 2025 Food & Wine Classic in Charleston, Andrew and I sat down to dive a little deeper into ideas of sustainability and how the world's waters are a great framework to begin to delve into deeper discussions of sustainability.

To keep up with Stephanie's work beyond the show, sign up for On the Menu with The Southern Fork, her free monthly newsletter that includes recent bylines, recommendations, and other fun tidbits. And for consistent visual peeks into the world of The Southern Fork, follow along on Instagram.

I have a passion for sustainable seafood, and it's been both an important subject here on the show and the subject of many of my written pieces throughout the years. When I first interviewed Sammy Monsour in 2020, I discovered that we shared this passion, and I've watched as he has really blossomed into a chef leader on this front. Therefore, when I first heard that he and Kassady Wiggins, his wife and beverage director partner, wanted to write a cookbook about Southern seafood, I encouraged them to go for it. What has resulted is Salt & Shore: Recipes from the Coastal South, filled with stories, sips, and plenty of recipes and photographs that will make you long for sea breezes if you're missing them. It's a vibe, something that Kassady and Sammy excel at in their restaurants, which include the now-closed Preux & Proper in LA -- that gained a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2019 -- and Joyce Soul & Sea, also in LA where they teamed up with founders and operators, Prince and Athena Riley. Joyce was named a "Southern oasis in LA" by LA Times food critic Bill Addison, and the Carolina natives bring Southern flavors to both the food and beverage programs. They are living bi-coastal these days between LA and Charleston and dreaming of their next project. Me? After this conversation, I'm dreaming of hushpuppies, so I'm glad there are two recipes to choose from in their book. 

Other episodes you might enjoy: 

Sammy Monsour: Preux & Proper (Los Angeles, CA)

Eric Montagne: Locals Seafood (Durham, NC)

Trowbridge's in Florence, AL is a happy place. It's a place of cherries on top with extra whip cream, a menu of ice cream flavors readable from any seat in the house, children's eyes lighting up to the phrase "whatever you want," and a bowl of fresh bananas just waiting to be split. The stools and booths are a retro teal color, not because the owners are being nostalgic, but because they've been that color since they were installed last mid-century. Don Trowbridge remembers that era, and at 85, he still comes in every day to visit, assist, and enjoy the ice cream smiles. He grew up in this building on Court Street, once jumped off the O'Neal Bridge into the Tennessee River to impress some friends on a hot summer day, and spent years away working as a systems analyst, but ice cream and Florence always welcomed him home. He's the fourth generation, and his daughter Pam the fifth-generation, to tend to this 104-old business, a North Alabama summer staple.

"Supply chain" is a buzz phrase right now, but let's not forget that one, there isn't just "one chain," and two, that it's not a faceless thing -- it's people. Mark Overbay of Big Spoon Roasters in Durham, NC was inspired by the unavailable supply of peanut butter when he was stationed in the Peace Corps, and it led him down plenty of paths to sweet success. Big Spoon's philosophy is based on the belief that food matters when it comes to health, happiness, and the well-being of our planet, and that planet includes all those who are working to produce his product. Simply by doing what they love, the company, which Mark named in homage to his dad Gary, has created numerous product innovations, including being the first to incorporative creative ingredients --from chai spices to freshly toasted coconut -- in nut butter recipes, being the first to offer membership clubs, and currently still the only nut butter company with a completely transparent supply chain. Big Spoon Roasters is available in close to 800 US retail outlets, and Mark? He's still eating peanut butter on the daily. 

At this point, Chef Tim Hontzas of Johnny's Restaurant in Homewood, AL is used to mistakenly being called Johnny by folks who don't know him. His restaurant is proudly named after his grandfather, Johnny, who migrated to New Orleans in 1921 with $17 in his pocket and went on to open three successful restaurants in Mississippi, the last being his namesake. Members of Tim's family, including his father, opened Nikki's in Birmingham in the spring of 1954, but while it was always evident that restaurant work flowed in young Tim's veins, he left Alabama to work in other kitchens, including that of past guest and famed Southern chef John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, MS. Tim returned to Homewood to pay homage to his family's heritage by opening a new iteration of Johnny's Restaurant in 2012, and he describes it as a Greek meat-and-three. After four years as a Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef: South, this year he's a finalist for the awards next week in Chicago. The menu at Johnny's changes daily, the sweet tea is always freshly brewed, and if you don't get the moon pie banana pudding, don't tell anyone in Alabama because they'll stop trusting your judgment.

Stories abound everywhere in the culinary South, even tucked into business parks in Pelham, AL. That's where Alex Sherman and Jeff Daniels, who, along with the other members of the team of Non-Fiction Coffee, are changing the coffee scene for central Alabama. They view the supply chain from a bottom-up perspective, where producers are elevated and every contributor is seen as a stakeholder. See, in my world, where local food systems and farmers are often lauded, those doing the hard work of growing coffee in other countries are often dismissed, disenfranchised, and forgotten. Alex and Jeff are changing that in their corner of the world with every cup, not only training their wholesale cafe and restaurant clients how to brew exceptional coffee for their guests, but how the way it's produced matters. At Non-Fiction, the scent of freshly roasting some seriously good specialty coffee is just the beginning. 

If you're doing your first visit to Red Orchids China Bistro in Charleston, SC correctly, you'll walk in a guest and leave as a friend. Owners Kelly and Tony Chu, two-first generation Chinese Americans, fell in love sharing a single dream of opening a restaurant.  They opened Red Orchids in 2003, taking on family style Chinese-American cuisine in a city with a decidedly Southern palate. The restaurant has been voted Best Chinese Restaurant in Charleston City Paper's Best of Charleston for 19 years straight, and they're also the owners of Cirsea Craft Ice Cream, a premium by-the-pint ice cream company, which began when Kelly wanted to offer Charleston something more interesting than a fortune cookie for dessert. They are committed to the power of hard work and perseverance as much as they are committed to having fun together, and they're often a presence at special culinary events in the Lowcountry.

Chris Coleman was never far from Southern food. He spent summers on his grandparents farm in Mississippi, and was 14 when he started his first industry job at a local fish camp in a suburb of Charlotte, NC, working his way up through the ranks from busser to kitchen expediter. While a culinary student in Central Piedmont Community College's =, Chris took a job as a line cook at the McNinch House, one of Charlotte's most storied fine dining restaurants. He was quickly promoted to head chef at the age of 21, and he's continued to build on that success in the Charlotte region, now the chef and a partner at The Goodyear House in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood, and the recently opened Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails in nearby Rock Hill, SC. He brings technique and creativity to a local food sensibility, has supported area farmers and food producers throughout his career, and his cooking is familiar yet always with a twist, like the deviled egg toast topped with smoked NC roe I mention in this episode. I'm always interested in what he's going to cook next.

Forty-two miles south of Charleston, SC and home to a little more than 2,000 people, Edisto Island is a place where everyone knew everyone else when Emily Meggett was growing up. Today she calls it a "little slice of heaven," and says that when the side door is open, people know that there is food in her kitchen. And there is almost always food, as Miss Emily cooks "big," as she calls it, cooking enough to feed 8 to 10 people on the regular. She began cooking professionally in 1954, at now, at 89 years old, has published her first cookbook, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island. She's spent a lifetime cooking and sharing Gullah Geechie food, keeping its distinctive flavors alive and celebrated, all while raising ten children. She cooks with all her senses, and when she talks about cooking, she often uses her hands to demonstrate the method she's teaching you. It's beautiful, just like her laugh, especially when she sometimes refers to "butt's meat," her name for salt pork, one of her favorite flavoring ingredients.