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.

When it comes to beer, we talk a lot about hops, but what about barley? Aaron Goss of Carolina Malt House in Cleveland, NC was a hobby beermaker who started to malt his own barley for fun while obtaining his law degree and MBA from Wake Forest University. After he learned that almost all of the beer consumed in the Carolinas is made from barley grown thousands of miles away, this native of Rowan County, in the middle of the Carolinas' grain belt thought, "Why not here?" What has resulted in a few short years is the Southeast's largest malt house, serving brewers nine varieties of malts (and counting), all made from barley grown within 10 miles of the facility, not because locally grown food is trendy, but because Aaron is sure his neighbors are some of the most dedicated farmers in the world. Much of the machinery for the malt house was fabricated locally, the facility operates on green principles, and with its quickly expanding production, it's bringing fresh flavor to the glasses of local beer drinkers all over the Southeast.

Chef Ashley Boyd's self-written tagline on Instagram is "restaurant kid for life." She is the culinary director of 300 East in Charlotte, NC, the family business where she spent long afternoons as a child and later worked in various positions as age allowed. After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Ashley quickly returned to restaurant work and worked in spots in Chicago, Charleston and Detroit before coming home to Charlotte. In September 2015, she took on the pastry chef position at Heritage Food + Drink in Waxhaw, and during her two-year tenure at Heritage, the dessert program was recognized by Southern Living as one of the 10 best in the South. Ashley has been featured in numerous publications, including Food & Wine, and she is highly respected by her industry peers as not only an accomplished chef, but an inspiration and influence for the region's cuisine.

There is some delicious restaurant cooking happening in Charlotte, NC, and when I talk to many of the chefs responsible for it, more often than not, they point to Freshlist as one of their day-to-day partners making that possible. CEO Jesse Leadbetter was in sports licensing when he started growing his own food and it opened his eyes to the supply chain issues connecting Carolina farms to Carolina restaurants. So, he decided to build that connection. Freshlist is a food hub, started in 2014 to shift food production back to small-scale family farmers. Jesse and and his team, including director of operations and farm coordinator Erin Bradley, connect both home cooks and professional chefs to the products of more than 200 local farmers. Chefs (and those in Freshlist's delivery area) simply use an app to order fruits and vegetables from a variety of local farms, and then Freshlist delivers. In short, they've built a virtual farmers market,, and they're part of a growing number of food hubs in the country doing just this. But what happens at Freshlist and other food hubs isn't just about getting the right cantaloupe to the right chef -- it's about building community and strengthening it, one fruit and vegetable at a time.

When I first spoke with Chef Michael Toscano in 2017, he and his family were just getting settled in Charleston with the opening of Le Farfalle. Now, seven years later, the chef seems as if he's truly settled into a new rhythm between NYC and the Lowcountry. He and his wife Caitlin currently have four restaurants: the aforementioned Le Farfalle, da Toscano in New York's Greenwich Village, da Toscano Porchetta Shop in Charleston, and Fugazzi, a small spot inside Charleston's Revelry Brewing that serves what Michael calls unauthentic Italian-inspired American food. The last two are decidedly casual, a new turn for a chef that's been anything but when it comes to his career. He was a sous chef at Mario Batali's Babbo by the age of 21, was nominated three times for Rising Star Chef by the James Beard Foundation, and opened his first chef-owned restaurant, Perla, in 2012, which made Esquire's Best New Restaurants in America list. He's always pursued his passion for cooking, but now that passion is a team sport, where he looks to grow and support the rising stars in his own restaurants as well as the farmers he loves to work with. And one way he does that? By topping soft, crusty focaccia, fresh out of the oven, with all sorts of delicious things. 

Other episodes you might enjoy: 

Michael Toscano: Le Farfalle (Charleston, SC)

Craig Richards: Lyla Lila (Atlanta, GA)

Charcuterie boards are lighting up social media these days, but have you ever considered seafood charcuterie? According to a Johns Hopkins research study, nearly half of the US' seafood supply goes to waste, and there are few people in the food system who know how to counteract that. Enter Eric Montagne, a chef who is part of a growing number of culinary professionals changing that, applying their butchery skills and whole animal respect in a whole new, watery direction. At Locals Seafood in Raleigh and Durham, NC, Eric transforms what previously may have been discarded into delicious retail products, from bottarga made from NC mullet roe, to a tuna bloodline burger that has so far utilized more than 1000 pounds of tuna meat that would have been discarded -- and has been named one of the NC Triangle's epic burgers by Eater Carolinas. He previously worked with Chef Vivian Howard at the Boiler Room Oyster Bar, and was the executive chef at Raleigh's Standard Foods before joining Locals. This all is a full-circle moment for a Miami-born boy who grew up fishing in the Florida Keys and left to attend Johnson and Wales in Denver with beef on the brain.

Fancy dining isn't all fluff. At Wild Common in Charleston, SC, Orlando Pagán puts his culinary passion on the plate with every service. He left Puerto Rico after high school to attend Johnson & Wales in Miami, and following graduation, spent three years at the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove. In San Francisco, he cooked in a handful of acclaimed restaurants before leading the kitchen of Michelin-starred The Village Pub as executive chef. In 2017 Pagán relocated to the Lowcountry of South Carolina to join Sean Brock at McCrady's Tavern, and in 2019, he helped open Wild Common, where he leads the culinary program as executive chef and was recently nominated for James Beard Best Chef: South. In the midst of this illustrious career, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but his careful management of the disease and focus on team and family keep him strong in the job.

Visit Maison in Charleston, SC any night it's open, and there's a definite vibe -- one that pays homage to the best of classic Left Bank Parisian creativity without the slightest hint of nostalgia. That's a delicate balancing act, but Chef Vandy Vanderwarker accomplishes it through sheer will and his passion for a cuisine he's loved since he watched chefs on television as a child. He continued his interest in cooking throughout college, and when he graduated, attended The French Culinary Institute in New York. After working in a series of restaurants in New York City, he moved to Charleston where he refined his style, including as Chef de Cuisine at The Ordinary, then opened Maison three years ago. It's the home of sweetbreads with black trumpet mushrooms, galettes of shrimp and stone crab, and plenty of pomme frites, which I suggest ordering with a side of escargot. 

Although this show's focus is usually the American South, my own culinary borders -- and I suspect yours too -- are actually a lot more fluid. Today, I welcome you to explore that in conversation with two chefs from the recent Charleston Wine + Food festival who inspire me to be bold, have confidence, respect the reader and the guest, and always remember food is a language.  

Maryam Ghaznavi, the force behind Malika, South Carolina's first-ever Pakistani restaurant, and soon-to-be-opened Ma'am Saab, is bringing a taste of Pakistani culture and cuisine to the Lowcountry. She and her husband, Raheel, are expressing their culinary heritage with confidence and enthusiasm, and the results are nothing short of delicious. Also on the mic is Fatima Khawaja. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 2012, and after working in some of NYC's most iconic restaurants, is now the Test Kitchen Manager for Saveur, which means she's edited my work multiple times, and she's developing her own produce-focused column for the magazine. Together, they explore what it means to express cultural heritage through food from two unique perspectives, and I am joyfully along for the ride. Please note: So you can tell the voices apart, they introduce themselves at the beginning of this audio. 

Think an egg is just an egg? Think again. While professional cooks, and especially pasta chefs and bakers know the power of a perfect egg, most of the rest of us are still in the dark as to the differences between the ones on sale and all those other ones that are free range, or organic, or even gathered from a neighbor's coop. That was the case for Jeremy Storey too of Storey Farms on Johns Island, SC. He was a chef at Chicago's elite three-Michelin-star restaurant Alinea, and until he traded in his apron to become a farmer, he'd never considered what makes a perfect egg. That's been his mission these last eight years, and it's won him some of Charleston's most discerning culinary customers, including past guests Cynthia Wong of Life Raft Treats and Jason Stanhope of FIG. In fact, you'll see Storey Farms on many a Lowcountry menu, and even in my fridge. Once you have a Storey Farm egg, there's no going back.

There's no getting around it. Smoke is in Carey Bringle's veins. He grew up in Tennessee and developed a love of barbecue at a young age, and he still remembers family gatherings at iconic places like Bozo's Hot Pit Bar B-Q and Lewis' Store. At 17, he lost a leg to cancer, but recovered from the disease, and after success for years on the competition BBQ circuit, celebrated his second chance at life by naming his restaurant Peg Leg Porker when it opened in Nashville in 2013. His Peg Leg Porker sauces and rubs, another restaurant, a new line of professional-grade home smokers, and Peg Leg Porker Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskies have expanded the bbq into a full-fledged brand, but Carey has not lost sight of building community over a great plate of barbecue cooked low and slow in the heart of Nashville, TN.

Chef Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, NC, always planned to be an artist. Growing up in Eastern North Carolina, Moore's family was always cooking, and soon Moore found himself cooking, too—as part of the 82nd Airborne. After the military, Moore used the GI Bill and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1994 and subsequently cooked in some of the most important kitchens of the past 20 years, including Daniel and Tru. When it came time to open his own place, he trained his artist's eye back on North Carolina and the simplicity of fresh caught, well prepared seafood. Moore has just been nominated James Beard Foundation for "Best Chef": Southeast, Discover awarded the restaurant $25,000 as part of its #EatItForward campaign for black-owned restaurateurs, and he's competed on Iron Chef America. Still, most days, you can see him at Saltbox, working to keep the tables clear, the kitchen humming, and the guests happy. His work is a study in technique and storytelling, set in an atmosphere that is part diner, part church fish fry, and all community gathering spot.

Sheri Castle was born in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, and she's always been at home in the kitchen and the garden out its back door. She wrote her first recipe at age 4, studied English at The University of North Carolina, and through the years has combined her passion and knowledge for cooking with an innate storytelling gift. She develops recipes for publications and restaurants, teaches at culinary schools, collaborates on books with chefs and personalities, she publishes her own books, and now hosts a television show, The Key Ingredient on PBS North Carolina. Sheri is a calm guide in the kitchen, and that comes from a rich foundation of research, contemplation, and curiosity. She is a scholar of Southern food among us, always inviting us to the table for a good meal.

Durham, NC is a kaleidoscope of small-town downtown charm that recalls a factory and farming past, mixed with Duke University, a progressive college and one of the foremost medical research campuses in the country. Add to that the fact that you can get out of town fast to rolling farmland or coastal destinations, and it's a great place to open a restaurant. Chef Matthew Kelly has opened four : Vin Rouge, Mateo, St. James Seafood, and Mothers & Sons, and in doing so has changed the way a city eats. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Kelly worked at The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia before moving to the NC Triangle in 2002. He's been nominated for four James Beard awards, and Mateo was on the list for Best New Restaurant in 2013. In April of 2019, a devastating gas explosion in Durham's Brightleaf District temporarily closed St. James, and then the pandemic hit, but his latest restaurant just reopened for the third time, and Kelly is as passionate about the business and the joy of restaurants as he's ever been. He's the guy who can inspire you to be a more adventurous diner, to take a chance to do what you love, and to put in the hard work to make it good.

Deborah Freeman is the creator of Setting the Table, a multi-award winning podcast exploring Black foodways and culinary history that in 2023 was honored by the International Association of Culinary Professionals as "Podcast of the Year." She's also a colleague in the food writing world, with contributions including to Eater, Condé Nast Traveler, and Garden and Gun, and is the food editor for Richmond's Style Weekly. We sat down via Zoom to talk about her most recent project, Finding Edna Lewis, a new docuseries for Virginia Public Media that explores the life of the Black female trailblazer who was a celebrated chef and author. As a proud Virginia native, Deb champions Virginia foodways and the power of personal history as a through line in food that can teach us about ourselves and connect us to our ancestors. It's something that Edna Lewis' work illustrates and the kind of work Deb is doing in the world, too; therefore, here's another Southern Fork sustenance conversation, diving deep into the foundational "why" when it comes to the power of food.

It's the last show of 2021, so host Stephanie Burt takes a look back at some especially insightful interviews, then talks about trends that we can expect to continue in the new year. There are always stories behind the show, so she shares a few of her own here. 

Chef Kevin Mitchell of the Culinary Institute of Charleston in Charleston, SC, has professional interests that far exceed the confines of the kitchen. Disciplined and driven, he earned two degrees from the Culinary Institute of America and went on to hone his craft with hands-on experience at restaurants including Sun Dial in Atlanta, Seldom Blues Supper Club in Detroit and the MGM Grand Detroit Hotel. In 2008, he joined the faculty in Charleston as its first African-American chef, where he still teaches, but beyond the classroom, throughout the years, he's created special events that honor black culinary ancestors, been a SC Chef Ambassador, and now, along with Episode 65's Dr. David Shields, has co-authored Taste the State: South Carolina's Signature Foods, Recipes, and Their Stories. At 51, Kevin is as passionate as ever about scholarship, inspiration for the next generation, and the perfect way to debone a fish.

Around 2.5 million visitors make the trek to Hilton Head Island, S.C. each year, and a portion of those at least, have made it a family tradition to rent homes on the island for holiday gathering, which is a smart idea when sunshine and palm trees are the backdrop for Santa instead of snow. Andrew Carmines of Hudson's Seafood on the Docks (locally just referred to as Hudson's) has been a part of this seasonal rhythm his whole life, growing up on the island and in the family restaurant he now operates. Local fishing and shrimping boats dock right at the restaurant on Skull Creek, and Andrew farms local oysters, making Hudson's one of the freshest and most seafood-centric spots on the island. The breeze is fine, the drinks are cold, and there's plenty of seating on the patio with friendly service ready to share some Lowcountry flavors.

There is a lot of talk in professional kitchens these days about the power of mentorship, but for many of you outside those spaces, the stereotype of the angry, belittling chef still seems to stick. So today I remedy that, bringing you inside the kitchen to meet Tim Morton, a chef mentored by chefs who is now focusing on mentorship in his own career while still putting out seriously satisfying food at Frannie & The Fox located inside Emeline hotel in Charleston, SC. He originally moved to the city to open Mercantile and Mash for Indigo Road years ago, but before that he was the executive sous chef at The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, NC under the leadership of Steven Greene and previously Scott Crawford. He also spent time as chef tournant of Chicago's famed Alinea, so he knows his way around a fine dining kitchen, and now at Frannie & the Fox, a flaming hot wood-fired oven.

It's Hanukkah, and to celebrate this festival of light with a Southern accent, I asked Marcie Cohen Ferris to provide some insight into Jewish foodways in the American South. Her deep attachment to the study of place is rooted in her childhood in Arkansas. For over 40 years, she's studied, documented, interpreted, exhibited, taught, and written about the South, largely through its foodways, material culture, and the southern Jewish experience. As a professor emeritus in the Department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ferris is an editor for Southern Cultures, and her books include: The Edible South: The Power of Food and the Making of an American Region, Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South, and co-authoring Jewish Roots in Southern Soil: A New History. She has many more accolades to list, but to me, the most important one is personal. I discovered her work while an American Studies instructor myself, and it opened a door to a new path that today includes this very episode.

After a week of thinking about cooking turkey and a day of eating it, you might want to consider something else, so come with me to the Gulf of Mexico, where the sand is white and the seafood is plenty. This is the source of inspiration and menu items for Adam Evans, chef and co-owner, along with his wife Suzanne, of Automatic Seafood & Oysters in Birmingham, AL. Housed in a former mid-century warehouse, a table here has been one of the hottest in town since the restaurant opened in 2019. Adam started his career in Fairhope at The Grand Hotel, spent time cooking in some of the best kitchens in New Orleans, has worked as the executive chef of private events for Tom Colicchio's team at Craft in NYC, and was the opening chef of The Optimist in Atlanta for Ford Fry in 2012. Automatic Seafood & Oysters was a James Beard Foundation finalist for Best New Restaurant in 2020, and here he brings his passion for seafood back to his home state of Alabama.

The iconic Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q restaurant in Decatur, AL was founded in 1925, its classic neon sign still shining brightly today. Chris Lilly, a 4th generation partner, is now pitmaster, as well as the head of the restaurant's competition cooking team, a team that's won a record five Memphis in May World Grand Championships. I'd eaten Chris' cooking before at festivals, but we first connected personally at a Yeti store meet and greet, a company for which he is a sponsor. Alabama barbecue tradition has Big Bob Gibson in its bedrock, and Lilly has not only honored tradition but built on it with creativity, drive and respect for ingredients and the time it takes to learn the craft of cue. He was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2016, and we sat down after he fired up the pits for the first Holy Smokes BBQ Festival here in Charleston, SC.  

It used to be that food trucks were incubators for emerging talent, but the last few years, with real estate prices skyrocketing and a pandemic rocking everything, that's not always the rule. Caitlin Schumacher isn't an emerging talent -- she's an established powerhouse in the culinary scene. She grew up in Chapel Hill, NC and graduated from UNC with a French degree, but after she started working at Magnolia Grill, she fell in love with the energy of the kitchen and decided to pursue her pastry passion. From there she worked at the beloved 20th Century Cafe in San Fran and most recently 6 years as Executive Pastry Chef at FIG in Charleston, that is, until she got the chance to buy a food truck last summer. She's opened Girl Next Dough, a new business venture on four wheels with her dad John McCormick. She's crafting breakfast and bakery dreams, from country ham and parmesan puffs, to fresh bagels, lemon blueberry danishes, and apple buns.

In coastal Georgia, Matthew Raiford grew up breaking the dirt and trading squash for sweet potatoes, raising hogs and chickens, and only going to the grocery store for staples. After a military career then graduation from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Matthew returned to Brunswick, GA in 2011 to continue the traditions of his Gullah-Geechee heritage and to create an authentic farm-to-fork experience for locals. He is the former executive chef of Little St. Simons Resort and was the chef owner of The Farmer and the Larder in Brunswick. Certified as an ecological horticulturist, he runs Gilliard Farms with his sister Althea, a family farm first established in 1874. They're the sixth generation to cultivate the land, and no one has ever used chemicals to grow any crops on it. His first cookbook is titled Bress 'n' Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer.

Come with me to a valley in Eastern Tennessee filled with fresh mountain air and grass-filled pastures where cows wander and graze all day. This is the birthplace of the cheese of Sequatchie Cove Creamery, one of the South's foremost cheesemakers, whose Dancing Fern cheese wowed the American cheese community -- and beyond -- when it debuted in 2012. Located 35 minutes northwest from Chattanooga, this creamery is the brainchild of Nathan and Padgett Arnold, who work to capture the unique taste of this place through raw-milk cheese production, a passion that Nathan pursued when he left the cove to apprentice for a time in the Savoie region of France. I've been sampling their selections on Southern restaurant menus for years, and not only is it addictively delicious, it's produced through 100% solar power in a sustainable facility right on Sequatchie Cove Farm. You might never get the chance to make a visit this magical place, but one bite, and it's as if you can feel that mountain sun as it moves across the valley.

Roosevelt Brownlee lives on the curve of a quiet street in Savannah, GA, the tall stalks of okra in his vegetable garden just visible from the side drive. It's one of many such streets in the port city, and only a few minutes from the old City Market area where he spent his earliest years. But in between those two Savannah addresses, Roosevelt has traveled the world, from France to Africa, the Caribbean to Denmark, cooking for everyone from Muddy Waters and Stan Getz to Nina Simone and the Rothchild family. His fried chicken was famous in Europe, his family's red rice recipe honed and tweaked in chateau kitchens. With every deviled crab and pan of mac and cheese, he brought comfort and sustenance to jazz musicians hungry for a taste of home, and at the same time, introduced countless newcomers to the joys of good Southern cooking. Although he's cooked for much of the last two decades in Savannah kitchens, he's mostly retired now, though every so often you can see him at special events in the Lowcountry, big hotel spoon in hand, stirring a pan or a pot of something. If that happens, make sure that you get a taste of what he's cooking. Remember, it's the true stuff of legend.

Other episodes you might enjoy: 

Mashama Bailey & John Morisano, The Grey and The Grey Market (Savannah, GA)

Adrian Miller, Author and Soul Food Scholar

In the world of food and drink, we often need guides. I know I do, and that's also one of the most wonderful things about the culinary world -- if you approach with curiosity instead of a know-it-all attitude, there's so much to learn, and connection and community is just around the corner. Sarah Pierre, owner and operator of 3 Parks Wine Shop in Atlanta, GA, is one of the foremost guides and tastemakers for the growing focus on wine in the Southeast, and during the 9 years her store has been open, it's become a hub for education, all those feel good neighborhood and shop local vibes, and of course a hefty pour of fun events. Sarah graduated from Georgia State University with a science degree, but she always gravitated towards the hospitality industry and worked front of house and in management at many ATL standbys, including Bacchanalia with past Southern Fork guest Anne Quatrano. 3 Parks Wine has been named one of Wine Enthusiast's 50 Best Retailers in the US, and we talked after she led session at Gather Round festival at the Epicurean Atlanta hotel.

In the middle of Birmingham, AL sits the behemoth Sloss Furnaces, now a museum but once the tin man's beating heart of this industrial city. During that era, quick lunches soon became big business, and hot dogs quickly reigned supreme as Chicago restaurateurs made their way down the rail line to new opportunities. In 1947, Gus Alexander, a Greek immigrant, opened Gus's Hot Dogs in its current, original location. It's now the last remaining downtown hot dog spot, and owner Lee Pantazis, who honed his kitchen skills while working for the Yellow Bicycle, Satterfields, and Little Donkey, holds court daily, often prepping in the back for the grill guys as they perform a delicate dance up front of grilling, toppings, and keeping all those orders straight. Lee comes from a prominent Birmingham family and sees himself as caretaker of a uniquely local tradition. And he does like a good hot dog, chips, and Coca Cola in the glass bottle.

Chef Rob McDaniel is an Alabama native. He grew up in Hayleyville, graduated from Auburn, sharpened his cooking skills at 'Bama standbys Jim N' Nicks and Hot & Hot Fish Club, and was the longstanding chef of SpringHouse at Lake Martin. So a couple of years ago, when he told me he was opening a place of his very own in downtown Birmingham, named Helen after his granny, I knew it was going to be good, and I knew I had to visit. His passion for Southern foods, foraging, and sustainability informs his culinary style and is showcased through his dedication to simple recipes enhanced by flavorful ingredients. McDaniel is a five-time James Beard Foundation nominee for Best Chef: South , and he makes the best tomato pie I've ever had outside of the Carolinas. Taking a precise chef's eye to Southern classics is what he does best, and he's interested in his next chapter as restaurateur.

It's time to come clean here. When Delaney Oyster House opened a few years ago, I was prepared to dismiss it as part of a group of oyster bar openings in my home city of Charleston, SC. I just thought things were getting too saturated, and it was a trend that was gearing more toward tourist dollars than unique flavors. But from my first bite at Delaney, I knew whoever was behind the stove wasn't cooking for trends, but working from an artistic and very particular point of view. That person is Shamil Velasquez, a native of Puerto Rico and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY., whose tenure at Husk Greenville introduced him to South Carolina foodstuffs. He's passionate about sourcing, focused on teamwork, and with an island background, an expert on seafood. It's my favorite time of the food year -- oyster season -- and I can't imagine a better conversation partner to celebrate it, with a squeeze of lime, of course.

You never know when something will capture your imagination and change your path forever. Lou Thomann was an ex-rice trader and historic building restorer living in Savannah, Ga. when he he decided to join a nature tour on Ossabaw Island, and that was the day he learned about Yaupon Holly, a native caffeinated plant known and revered by indigenous tribes but mostly forgotten in collective modern culture. Lou's life changed that day. He's now an expert on the yaupon holly, a farmer of it, and an evangelist for it, from speaking at the Atlanta Botanical Garden to developing programming at the Georgia Native Plant Society, and he's one of co-owners, along with his wife Lori Judge, of Yaupon Teahouse + Apothecary in Savannah, Ga. It's the storefront for the massive farming, research, and propagation operation centered on the native plant that has helped write Lou's next chapter.

With Labor Day behind us, a bit of a break in the high humidity, and college football on the television, it's evident that fall temps are around the corner. This time of year, my mind doesn't turn to pumpkin spice, it turns to all things pasta. Craig Richards of Lyla Lila in Atlanta, Ga. is a true pasta professional, having learned the craft under the renowned Lidia Bastianich, working with her and her restaurant group in Kansas City and Pittsburgh before moving to Atlanta to cook at La Tavola. From there he eventually became the Executive Chef of Ford Fry's St. Cecilia and the VP of Culinary for that restaurant group, honing his pasta making skills and unique cooking point of view every step of the way. Lyla Lila is the first restaurant of his very own, and it welcomes diners with a warm hospitality and plenty of pasta deliciousness. Come back into its kitchen with me, and learn all the specifics about the art, and the science, of my favorite fall food.

There is a magic picnic basket on this show, a fantastical idea of a dream meal, and I struggle to recount how many of my 240+ guests have included a dish from Frank Stitt. Let's just say it's more than a few.. Writer Charles Gaines in Garden & Gun called him the Godfather of Southern Cuisine, and this James Beard award winner has built a dynasty of dining delight in Birmingham, AL with Highlands Bar & Grill, Chez Fonfon, and Bottega. A studious youth, he turned his philosophical eye from studying Plato to learning from Alice Waters, Simca Beck, and Richard Olney, not to mention Jeremiah Tower, but he's still as delighted at seasonal produce coming in the kitchen door as he;s ever been, the rotation of the culinary calendar a deep well of inspiration. That enthusiasm weaves its way through his restaurants, his staff, and the dishes that are crafted, and the idea of a restaurant as revelry, as reverence, and as a respite is perhaps Stitt's true philosophy shining forth. 

In times like these, it's good to go back to the garden, and with school back in session, that's exactly where some children in Birmingham, AL are headed. Jones Valley Teaching Farm is located in the city's downtown, and its patchwork of small, urban farms within a single community is reshaping the stories and futures for those nearby. Amanda Storey is the Executive Director of the farm, where she's been an enthusiastic advocate, volunteer, and employee for 10 years — four of which have been spent in her current role. Her passion for the connection between food and community began in her early career, and like me, she sees food through the lens of the people it touches. In a place where weeds once grew in abandoned lots, Jones Valley Teaching Farm is growing hope and imagination for a different future.

Brian Hart Hoffman is a force. Co-president and chief creative officer of Hoffman Media, he oversees the editorial planning and brand direction for all publications and books. He's written three books and is a frequent guest on morning shows, but during my recent visit to Birmingham, AL, we focused on his Bake from Scratch magazine since he was hosting the Southern Baking Retreat. Just as he encouraged me as a fledgling podcaster, he encourages a love of baking and community in so many people who cross his path. His enthusiasm is infectious, and his thirst to be a better baker is ever with him, and I'm happy to call him my friend.

I had one of the best fried fish sandwiches I've had in a long while recently at Shabazz Seafood in Savannah, Ga. Whiting is fried crispy hot to order, and it's sandwich with a stellar reputation in Savannah.  But, this take out spot that opened its order window in 1989 hasn't been known much outside the city until recently. That all changed when it was featured this year on Netflix's Fresh, Fried, and Crispy, and that happened because Kalifa Shabazz, who grew up working with her parents after school, found a place for herself in the business and a calling for her new profession when she began doing social media for the restaurant. Mom and Savannah Alderwoman Estella Shabazz and dad Yusuf Shabazz are community leaders, and Kalifa's already thinking about how she can support the community further. 

One of my greatest quiet joys is cooking from a well-written cookbook on a weekend night, music on the bluetooth and new scents and tastes filling the kitchen. My favorite cookbook that I've cooked from this year is Latinisimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Country of Latin America by Sandra Gutierrez. Sweeping in its scope, it is an encyclopedia of the home cooking of Latin America today, and each of the hundreds of recipes is approachable and very doable for a cook like me. I'm not surprised. Sandra -- who grew up in Guatemala City but has lived in Cary, NC for decades -- is the former food editor of the Cary News, an historian, professional cooking instructor, and author of four cookbooks, including this latest. She is considered one of the top national experts on Latin American foodways, and she has a heart for the home cook. Sandra has been awarded the Les Dames D'Escoffier M. F. K Fisher Grand Prize Award for Excellence in Food Writing, and her work has been recognized as part of the permanent FOOD exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. 

Other episodes you might enjoy: 

Southern Fork Sustenance: Talking Cookbooks and Editor Judith Jones with Author Sara Franklin

Diego Campos: CAMP, Modern American Eatery (Greenville, SC)

Paw paw season is almost here. From late August through October, the largest native fruit to North America -- and growing in many parts of the South -- begin to ripen. These fruit are in the custard apple family and are enjoying a culinary renaissance, and so to learn more about these wild edibles, I turn to Sara Bir, the author of The Pocket Paw Paw Cookbook, just released with beautiful illustrations and plenty of ways to utilize your foraged fruit. Sara is a chef, writer, and self professed plant nerd. Her book, The Fruit Forager's Companion won a 2019 IACP Cookbook Award. She's a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, an editor for the website Simply Recipes, and her work has been featured and Saveur, Lucky Peach, and Paste Magazine, as you'll hear, and she always leaves me inspired to read more, cook more, and get out in the natural world more. 

What does it mean to really have a culinary collaboration? Circumstances prompted Chefs Brandon Carter and John Benhase to join forces in a kitchen as the world was asking "What does the future of restaurants look like?" Their spot, Common Thread, is attempting to answer that question with every service. Located in Savannah, GA, in an 1897 home that was once the gift of a Prussian hat seller to his second wife, inspired work by architect Kevin Rose realized a modern restaurant vision without disregarding its original bones and nooks and crannies, and made it into a setting for the two chef's love of hyper-local, hyper-seasonal cooking. That's the same idea that Carter cooks from at FARM Bluffton, the small-community sister to this restaurant in Bluffton, SC. Benhase, who cooked under Chef Ford Fry in Atlanta before moving to Savannah to helm Starland Yard, brings a steady organizational and ultra-creative hand. This restaurant is all about relationships -- with the seasons, with the producers, with the guests, and with the team -- and that focus is something that is only going to get stronger.

In the world of creativity, writing like yourself, playing music like only you can play it, or cooking from a true place and point of view inside yourself -- that's the sweet spot. We're all chasing that and even when we find it, we have to find it again every time we sit down to create, which is part of the frustration and part of the fun. Shuai Wang cooks from just such a place, a culinary intuition that straddles two cultures. He met his wife and business partner, Corrie Wang, at New York City's Chez Sardine, where he was chef de cuisine and she worked front of house. They moved South, eventually opening Short Grain food truck, from which Shuai was nominated for Rising Star Chef in 2017 by the James Beard Foundation. Now he and Corrie own and operate Jackrabbit Filly in North Charleston, S.C. Named after Shuai and Corrie's Chinese zodiac animals, the restaurant serves heritage-driven New Chinese American cuisine in a fun, friendly neighborhood environment. It's quirky, it's busy, and oh so delicious.