Avi Pogel started cooking in commercial kitchens when he was 12 years old.  He's never stopped pursuing great tastes, flavors and the art of turning simple elements into delicious dishes. Today, he focuses on combining what's local and fresh with the best artisanal products available. 

In our KRUU cooking studio Avi is bringing fresh herbs from his garden and combining them with local eggs and potatoes (not local yet) to create his version of the classic Italian frittata or Spanish tortilla.  Also, he was busy picking mulberries last week so we'll try some of his jam.  Finally,  he's going to give us an on-air lesson in the three ways to create preserved foods-salting, canning, and live culture fermentation along with tastes of his labors. 

GREAT TASTE will journey all over the world on our next show. 

When we think of our fondest food memories what triggers the satisfaction?  Is it the memory of taste or smell?  It's probably a combination of both sensations plus texture and sight, but when we walk into a kitchen though, the smell of our favorite food cooking definitely hits us first.  Jacques Pepin, one of the most famous modern chefs said, "It's much more powerful when the memory of an event comes through the senses, particularly smell."

 Scientists who study these senses have concluded that when we eat 70%-90% of our "taste" experience is really an "aroma" experience.  Though the mouth has over a million cells designated to analyze tastes and send the information to our brains we really perceive only five distinct tastes-sour, salty, bitter, sweet, and umami.   The sense of smell is more primal and seemingly more complicated.

A new chapter gets underway this week in the weekly culinary adventures on GREAT TASTE.  We're going to highlight Ottumwa's best kept secret, the students attending Indian Hills Community College's Culinary program.  Starting this week and continuing the third Wednesday of each month students in the program will cook "live" in the studio and share their culinary knowledge and passion with us.

Every time I hang out with these kids I come away from the experience elated and energized.  Their enthusiasm fills the air plus I always learn many things listening to their discussions.  Oh yes, the food they make is really delicious.

Join us to celebrate National Farmers Market Week with several of our local growers and market administrators. 

Kathy will cook up a FM summer risotto during the show.

We're KRUU's GREAT TASTE, your weekly intimate hour with great food and fascinating food people. 

To write that Beth Howard loves pie is not telling the true story.  As we see it, she is a pie fanatic and that's good because Beth views pie as a means to making the world a more peaceful place.  She says, "Pie represents comfort, purity and simplicity, it's the perfect antidote to today's highly stressed-out world."

Beth is an Iowa native coming back to the state to judge 22 categories of pie-making beginning August 13 at the Iowa State Fair.  Whether it's apple pie, French silk, savory or oh-my it's peach pie, Beth will eat her way through hundreds of entries during the Fair's 10-day run.

Born in Ottumwa, Beth got her start baking pies in a most unlikely fashion.  Also, her pie fixation has helped her through some trying times.  Join us on this week's episode of Great Taste to hear about Beth's pie journey and how it's lead her back to the state of her birth.

Beth Howard, fresh from her stint as judge of 22 pie contests at the State Fair will be in town this Wednesday. We are very excited to have her as our "live" in-studio guest. She promised to come teach us how to make great piecrust and that's just what she is going to do. Founder of The World Needs More Pie, she's toting in all her pie-making equipment plus her special crust-rolling tablecloth. Kathy's got the flour, sugar and fruit. I'm bringing the butter and the toaster oven. We'll be making two pies--one apple and the other yet to be decided. This is definitely going to be a GREAT TASTE standout food moment. Tune In and learn how to make a terrific piecrust from the "pie baker to the stars." It's Beth, Kathy, and Steve Boss in the KRUU studio at 7:00 PM CDT or catch us in cyberspace at kruufm.com.

Not much can be said right now about this week's GREAT TASTE because we're doing a blind chocolate taste test during the show.  Fifteen studio slots have all been filled with our "listener tasters" and they will have a chance to evaluate the five or six different chocolates  before we reveal the details of each special bean.  Guiding us through the process in the studio will be Leonard Pitt, founder of the Berkeley Chocolate Club.  Get some special chocolate ready at home and taste along with us because you'll have the opportunity to learn exactly how to experience the bean and evaluate different qualities and characteristics.  A big "Thank You" to the At Home Store and Rosie Witherspoon who is providing the amazing chocolate we'll taste on the show.

Auguste Escoffier passed away in 1935, but his influence on food lives on.  His Le Guide Culinaire is still used as a textbook in many culinary schools where students learn the techniques and many of the recipes he popularized when he revamped French cooking in the early part of the 20th century.

Indian Hills' culinary program is based on learning French technique and two of the students, Ben Froah and Ben Millard, are going to pass on some of Escoffier's knowledge in our studio kitchen.  They'll walk us through cutting up a whole chicken (organic), and then teach us how to pan fry it, and make it look great, even though it is just fried chicken. 

The usual "come on by and taste for yourself," isn't flowing easily from the computer keys (believe it or not, I am a reluctant food sharer), but "COME ON BY."

The salad on the left was an integral part of three dinners I had last week at Otto in the Venetian (formerly Enoteca San Marco and the same owners, Batali and Bastianich) on the Las Vegas strip. It was part of  my dining strategy to hold on tightly to any traces that still exist of summer foods. 

Roger Ebert's new book is an ode to the simple, but useful rice pot.  The book conveys his love and admiration for all the amazing dishes that can be easily prepared in this ancient cooking tool that's been adapted for the age of electricity.  But, the book is more than that.  It really can serve as a focal point for anyone who is looking to easily replace that "lost" feeling, when looking in the refrigerator, with the swagger of a confident home cook.  In a snappy style with a large dose of humor Ebert guides us quickly through the type of pot to purchase, breakfast foods, soups, and shortcuts (canned bouillion, instant soup, a can of stew) followed by comments and recipes from readers of his blog.  One of his main principles regarding the suggestions in the book is

Long before Bram Stoker popularized the use of garlic in his classic 19th century novel, Dracula, Romanians had been using it for centuries to repel evil in a variety of forms. 

The actual origins of the cultivated plant have never been clearly established though it's probable descendent is from the species, Allium longicuspis, which can be found in Central and Southwestern Asia.

But what really interests us about garlic is EATING it.  Contrary to its popular use in Italian/American restaurants as a main ingredient in almost any dish (read that as "all you can taste is garlic."), garlic is amazing as a subtle flavor element though it can take a leading role as in the classic pasta dish, aglio (garlic), olio, e peperoncino.  That's what Kathy will prepare in the studio along with bruschetta w/roasted garlic.

Indian Hills culinary students take over the GREAT TASTE kitchen in the KRUU studio for a basic sauce session.  We'll learn how to make velouté-the standard version with chicken stock and a vegetarian alternative.  That's just the start as we explore many of the riffs you can create from velouté, one of the four "mother" sauces of French cuisine as classified by Antonin Carême in the first half of the 19th century.  We can also thank Carême for that icon of kitchen fashion, the modern toque or chef's hat.

Charlie Schiller will guide us through the sauce making process.  We're happy to welcome him back after his recently completed internship at the Des Moines Embassy Club.  We'll see if he'll share any stories about what it was like to be "the intern" in a high-powered kitchen.

A quick look at any programming guide shows that cakes are a hot topic among the TV-watching public.  The airwaves are filled with a plethora of shows on several cable networks including Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, and Amazing Wedding Cakes.  There is even a popular blog called Cake Wrecks and the blog's creators have over one million twitter followers.

Limiting your chances of becoming the next feature on Cake Wrecks and delighting your wedding guests are better objectives when it comes to planning for the Big Day.  Finding the right baker and the most amazing cake are major tasks just behind the perfect dress in importance for many families as they plan a wedding.  It's not easy because there are bakers and there are BAKERS.

What a perfect combination-discussing the Italian language with noted author, Dianne Hales, and preparing Italian food in the studio.  Dianne's book, La Bella Lingua, published in 2009,  is a great read full of history about how the language developed, populated with insights into colorful characters like Petrarch, Julius Caesar, Boccaccio, St. Francis of Assisi, Lorenzo de Medici, and Brunelleschi and, the author's own  journey as she navigated the complexities of the language and culture. 

Since our show is Great Taste, we'll focus on the language as it relates to different styles of cooking, work our way through some typical food terminology found on Italian menus, and share a simple recipe for pasta with marinara sauce as it was made every Sunday by Kathy's Grandma Gulla. 

BREAKING NEWS JUNE 2, 2011:  COOKING WITH ITALIAN GRANDMOTHERS WINS THE JUDGE'S CHOICE AWARD FROM THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CULINARY PROFESSIONALS (IACP)

The show this week features a look at the wide variety of dishes that can make up a modern  Thanksgiving table.  We have guests galore starting off the hour with Jeanne Sauvage, author of The Art of Gluten-Free Baking blog.  Jeanne has been baking gluten-free for over 10 years, and will help you make a gluten-free dressing for the turkey and simplify the art of preparing a pan gravy. 

How about a raw foods holiday banquet?  Joining us again from the already snowbound state of Minnesota is Susan Powers, creator of rawmazing.com, and author of Rawmazing Desserts and Rawmazing Holidays 2010.  Susan's ever-evolving raw food philosophy might surprise you.

The studio is going to be hopping on the next edition of GREAT TASTE.  We'll celebrate the first night of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah by cooking latkes.  Latkes are one of my favorite foods.  Actually, I've never met a potato in any form that didn't look like it was begging for me to taste it.  But, there are latkes and there are latkes.  Those folks who think they can be baked and still bring honor to the name are dead wrong.  We'll be frying them up.  Stop by if you are around the studio or make them at home along with us.  Here's what you need to have prepared ahead of time-grated potatoes, minced shallot or onion, peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and a frying pan.  We'll put everything together.  Click the link for an excellent article to read that gives you the real info on making the best potato latkes.

We throw around a lot of the same jargon each Wednesday evening on Great Taste.  There's constant references to "kitchen empowerment"-as we urge the listeners to use their cooktops to fix fresh food.  We banter back and forth about CSA's, GMO's, organic, traceability, bio-dynamic, locavores, globavores, Slow Food, polyphenols, and a host of other food-savvy terms and topics.  What it comes down to is espousing a philosophy of healthy cooking and eating centered around using fresh, local foods. 

Being around Chef Gordon Rader, Program Director for Culinary Arts at Indian Hills Community College, is always a multi-faceted experience.  He is self-deprecating in a way that makes others feel at ease.  That's why he is a master at communication because once he has your attention, he holds it through a quiet sense of command that is backed by years of knowledge and experience.  During the past four years he has begun to change the culinary landscape of SE Iowa through his commitment to training top-level chefs in the college's French-technique based program.  But that is really only the smallest part of what he's accomplishing.  By opening the minds of young people to various cultures and culinary traditions, expanding the school's outreach through exchanges with Spanish educators, supporting local farmers, and various other initiatives, Chef Rader is one of the driving forces behind a regional culinary vision and culture that will provide support for the birth of numerous artisanal products, new restaurants, and specialty food sh

This week's show comes with a homework assignment.  Please read "Foodie Fatigue" by Christopher Borrelli prior to the show and be prepared to both laugh and do some head scratching.  The article appeared in the December 27 online edition of the Chicago Tribune and was forwarded to me by Great Taste listener Tom Kroupa.

Borrelli, who characterizes himself as "part of the problem," will spend some time on the phone with us from Chicago discussing his take on the frenzy surrounding many aspects of current food culture. 

It's hard to imagine what could top wandering New York's finest culinary bookstore where over 13,000 titles make stomachs gurgle and mouths water daily.  We're doing the next best thing which is talking with Matt Sartwell, manager of Kitchen Arts and Letters in Manhattan.  For more than 25 years the store has been a destination for chefs, authors, "foodies," and anyone interested in finding the right food book.  Its owner, Nock Wacksman, even has a strong Iowa connection.  He and his wife have been food judges at the Iowa State Fair for seven years.  Matt, who was an editor at Penguin Books before becoming a fixture at the store, will help us explore the best cookbooks of 2010, some current trends among publishers and the purchasing public plus discuss what books speak most clearly to different culinary interests.

Cole Porter's simple, but lovely song sung by Frank Sinatra is ringing in my ears while I write this post:
I love paris in the spring time
I love paris in the fall
I love paris in the summer when it sizzles
I love paris in the winter when it drizzles
I love paris every moment
Every moment of the year
I love paris, why oh why do I love paris
Because my love is here

We love the FOOD in Paris,  No surprise there.  Maybe you are planning a trip this year to that amazing city or possibly only dreaming of going.  Either way, you'll enjoy hearing the recent food exploits of Lonnie and Valerie Gamble during our next show. They returned a couple of weeks ago from a month's stay with Valerie's mom and shared their thoughts on how to eat well and not spend a fortune while talking with Kathy and me.

Indian Hills held its own internal culinary Iron Chef competition on Monday and Ben Froah's team reigned supreme. Ben's agreed to recreate the dish that put his team over the top.  What's for dessert?  A tropical delight; a welcome addition nearing the end of winter's weeks.

Two of Ben's classmates join us so we'll get an inner look at why culinary school from them.  Indian Hills students always bring their passion into the studio, and this week was no exceptiion.

Your road warrior host has just returned from stops in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Manhattan, Oakland, Ukiah, and Monterey.  I'll pass along the latest tips for great spots to eat if you are in any of those locales. 

Stop by for an after-dinner taste as we're broadcasting LIVE from the studio on Wednesday, listen to the stream at kruufm.com, or catch us on the rebound Friday at 7:00 am CST.  Anyone for a fish sandwich?

Want to get to know what drives a person to create the same thing over and over again until she's got it right?  Tune it to this week's Great Taste and listen to Christine Goodale.  This woman is a powerhouse plus an excellent cook.  Sure, she's got good genes coming from France, but it took perseverance to actually make the creations, you see as images on this post taste amazing.

Ah, tea.  It was a wonderfully entertaining, relaxing and informative hour spent with Dora Pollak recording this week's Great Taste.  The previous weekend I had been to Gong Fu tea in Des Moines twice, and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere while sitting on a tatami mat with family members and sipping green tea.  So I was ready to learn more when Dora brought her pot, teas, and delicious goodies for tea snacking into the studio.  The aromas and smells of the different teas we tasted were divine.  The tea eggs and scones were perfect partners.

It's almost Spring so it's time to eat baby artichokes that make their way here from California.  The best I've found are grown organically by T & D Willey Farms in Madera.  We've had them in soup, pasta, risotto, and braised.  Every day is artichoke day; at least for a short while.  Before we know it asparagus will arrive, and the flood that follows that amazing stalk.  That reminds me I still haven't ordered seeds for a number of plants.  Hmmm, better get on that.

The first KRUU fundraising dining experience is tastefully coming your way from The Mainstay Inn, 300 North Main Street on Wednesday, March 30th from 6:45-9:00 PM.

Experience a five-course Nepali dinner (vegetarian and non-vegetarian options) cooked by Chef Mangal Tamang, plus the fun of "LIVE" radio as we broadcast GREAT TASTE at 7:00 PM.

This elegant affair is designed to enhance not only your tastebuds, but Fairfield's grassroots, solar-powered community radio station, KRUU 100.1 FM. KRUU broadcasts its amazing array of diverse shows with the help of nearly 100 volunteers and relies on listener support to for operating expenses.

Here's how to get tickets to the Nepali taste extravaganza:  We have room for ONLY 22 guests. You have to submit a one-time bid to try and secure a ticket.One chance is all you get!

GREAT TASTE gets a bit scientific this week as we explore the role food plays in feeding the brain.  It seems funny that little attention is paid to this particularly important part of the physiology in the course of general food discussions.  We're always talking about how a particular food affects the functioning of other organs or usually conversing about the sensory titillations we experience when eating.  But, our brain serves as the central hub for everything that happens to us processing information through as many as 1 quadrillion synaptic connections.

If we are really taking care of physiological businesss we need to consider how to keep the brain in prime condition.  Rates of Alzheimer's disease are climbing dramatically, and some health experts believe that within the next 20 years one in every four adults in the US over 65 will contract the disease.  Perhaps the best strategy to combat brain-debilitating diseases is a routine designed to support the brain and its functioning?

Chef Mangal Tamang presents a dinner of typical Nepali food on our "live" broadcast from The Mainstay Inn this Wednesday.  Mangal is a Nepali native, graduate of the Indian Hills Culinary Program, and winner of an international cooking competition in Spain. 

The dinner is the first in our planned quarterly culinary extravaganzas that will serve as fundraisers for solar-powered and listener-supported KRUU. 

Here's what we'll be enjoying while you listen: [Click on the "Read More" link below]

 

  This week's show is one I have been looking forward to for months.  It took some major coordination to have all the proper players in town at the same time and available to share a treasured family recipe with our Great Taste audience.

I don't want to give away the story behind the formation in 1976 of the Bob Busch Cheesecake Company with its headquarters in Hawaii or how the company expanded and opened its own bakery in Venice, California.  You'll have to tune in as family members Lillian, Chris, Judy and Julia join us in the studio to share amusing anecdotes of cheesecakes past. 

Will they be bringing any cheesecake?  What do you think?  The famous recipe will appear on this blog post later in the week.

GREAT TASTE is LIVE from the KRUU studio Wednesday at 7:00 PM CDT and easily available in your home by clicking on Listen Live at kruufm.com for the stream.

Spring is here?  Well, close enough for us to showcase Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and the opportunities that abound locally and nationally.  The Asian greens pictured on this post come from a local CSA.  Asian greens are so simple and quick to serve plus they give a lot of nutrition back to us.  A fast and tasty method is to thinly slice some garlic and toss it into a pan that's been heated with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil.  Let the garlic soften over a medium low fire, but not brown.  After 2-3 minutes of cooking the garlic toss in the greens, hit them with a generous sprinkle of sea salt and use a tongs to mix them in the hot pan.  Cook until they are a bit wilted, but still maintain their bright color.  It only takes another 2-3 minutes.  Serve with a spritz of lemon or lemon zest on top and maybe a drizzle of olive oil.

We've got happy shots adorning this week's blog post. The little guy on the left is taking his life's work of pollinating seriously as he checks out the bloom on a Meyer Lemon tree. It's pretty easy to forget about the role that pollinators play in bringing food to our table. The bottom line is that without them most of the vegetables and fruits we eat wouldn't grow. Wanda Sandfire and Sean Johnson have aCatch us streaming at kruufm.com and tell your friends! website you can check out where the critical role of pollination played by a diverse number of insects, animals, and natural forces is explained.  Tune in as they help us understand and explain how we can contribute positively to the pollinator world.

I met this week's guest, Andrew Pitz, several weeks ago at Wheatsfield, the co-op in Ames.  Andrew was promoting his Sawmill Hollow Family Farm's two varieties of aronia berry wine.  Immediately, I was struck by his passion for not only the little purple berry that is packed with high concentrations of anti-oxidants, but his ideas about land stewardship, natural healing, and the importance of sharing that knowledge to enrich both people and planet. While I listened, I tasted the wines which were very pleasing and will especially appeal to folks who don't like the tannic quality inherent in many grape wines. 

We're going somewhere we've never dared venture before on this week's show-Taiwan.  I don't know how you feel, but my normal thinking about Asian restaurants is "I must be missing something."  So many of them serve the same food found on menus that look almost exactly the same, and read like they all came from the same copy machine.  Rumors always abound, from those in the know, that the best Asian food is only a language barrier away in many spots.  I know that to be true, sort of.  Many years ago, my wife and I walked into a spot in San Francisco I had carefully researched prior to beginning our trip.  The place was huge and completely filled.  We were the only Caucasians, the menu was not in any language I could read, and no one admitted that they spoke English.  I said "vegetarian" to our waiter and we had an amazingly satisfying, delicious and unknown meal.  In January I was in the Philly suburbs and spotted a place while cruising online that purported to serve "real" regional Chinese specialties if you ordered off the non-English part

Crème brûlée is one dessert I can never pass up when it appears on a menu at a great spot.  The velvety feel of the custard provides a sensual treat for my mouth while the crunch of a perfectly caramelized sugar top adds that fun extra textural dimension.  I think a simple infused vanilla bean flavor is my favorite.  That's, of course, if all the elements come together properly.  There's a lot that can turn the dish into something not quite special, which is why it's always fun to continue the search for the perfect rendition.  Little did I think that journey might add a new chapter in the GREAT TASTE kitchen in our KRUU studio.

It's almost impossible to pass by any location that features magazines without being bombarded by stories about the latest and greatest dietary triumphs.  From "Seaweed-eating Grandmother loses 175 pounds-Gives Birth to Triplets at 65," to "You can Stay Slim, Smart, and Supple eating 5000 calories/Day," we are obsessed with different types of consumptive behaviors.  With all the attention on food and diet it's even possible to conclude that the information available is easily understood and consumers can make intelligent choices without any problems.  Unfortunately, that doesn't play out in reality since the United States has one of the highest obesity rates in the world among industrialized nations and close to 25% of children and teenagers in this country are either overweight or obese.

DON'T MISS THIS SHOW!

Kathy and I taped an interview with Marion Nestle.  The hour is packed with timely information as we discussed the current outbreak of E. coli in Germany, MyPlate, and a host of other issues.  If you are not familiar with Marion, check out her bio (from her website) below.  She has been an outspoken voice in the area of food politics for many years and plays a key role in the "food revolution" along with Michael Pollan, Eric Shlosser, Alice Waters, Fairfield's own Francis Thicke, and many others.

Her blog can be found here.

Saturday, June 18 Fairfield turns red, green and white as we celebrate the best of Italia during the All Things Italian Street Festival.  On Great Taste we honor the food heritage of Italy with a little in-studio cooking done by our resident Sicilian, Kathy DuBois.  Also, we'll tell you about the pastas we'll be making at the At Home Store on Saturday afternoon.  Dick Deangelis, the godfather of the affair, will drop by to fill us in on all the festival details including the dishes that will be available on the piazza.

Micro-brews are continuing to expand their niche in the beer end of beverages.  We have an interesting micro-brewery almost on our doorstep-Peace Tree Brewing Company in Knoxville.  With luck we'll talk to the brewmaster (if his son's little league team loses on Tuesday we're on for sure, if they win there is another game on Wednesday so we have to hope his mobile signal works from the ballpark) and get the crazy story of how with a little smoke and mirrors the company was created and is putting out some delicious brews.

We have an amazing show lined up for you this week.  Our first guest Taggart Siegel is the director of Queen of the Sun:  What Are the Bees Telling Us?  Taggart was the acclaimed director behind the recent documentary The Real Dirt on Farmer John which told the true story of John Peterson, a farmer near Chicago who through a series of misfortunes ended up developing a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that serves 1200 families.  

Another delicious show is set for this week's version of Great Taste.  Barbara Yeager joins us in the studio.  Normally, she resides in Boulder, Colorado where she's engaged in creating all organic raw cacao bites with names like Heart Throb, Cosmic Mint, and Naked.   Her Life Openings chocolates are made without dairy, soy or gluten and sweetened with a low glycemic agave.

We've been talking about doing a two week vegan/raw food challenge for months, and now it's time.  We've assembled a great team to help those of us who are going to need a lot of hand-holding (#1 on that list is your show host), otherwise we'll be reaching for the cheese among other foods .  Check out their credentials below, and join us on Wednesday for all the details of how you can participate in this great Great Taste event.

By the way, it's going to be easy and fun.  No stress.  The first week will consist of a vegan diet transitioning to a raw diet in the second week of the challenge.  Many menus and recipes will be provided, but you will need a few things:

Blender
Food Processor
Your own copy or borrow from a friend the following books:
Ani's Raw Food Essentials by Ani Phyo
Veganamicon by Moskowitz and Romero
Both books are available in electronic editions

12 Indian Hills Culinary students along with the director of the program, Chef Gordon Rader, returned this week from two weeks in Spain.  They spent the mornings learning Spanish, cooked all afternoon and enjoyed excursions to wineries, restaurants, and farms while basking in an atmosphere overflowing with the red carpet treatment.  They are all going to crowd into the studio and give us the chance for some vicarious thrills while relating some of the trip's significant happenings on this week's GREAT TASTE.

The program they participated in is part of a larger cultural and educational exchange created by Rader and his Spanish counterpart, Fernando Perez of Escuela do la Cocina International in conjunction with the Univ. of Valladolid, University of Salamanca and the Royal Academy of Gastronomy of Spain.  One objective of the program is to have year-round classes for high school and college students, farmers, producers, and anyone involved in the world of food.   These classes would be held in both Spain and the states.

It's been a very interesting two weeks for me as I started the Challenge a little earlier than our Great Taste listeners.  Those of you who tuned in for the introductory show a couple of weeks back know how skeptical I was.  Several times I said there was no way I could stand drinking my breakfast (smoothies) every morning.  I needed something substantial that I could chew.  OK, I don't.  What a revelation.  I love the smoothies.  They make me feel alert.  My need to snack has been tamed.  I can happily say I was wrong.  Now, does that mean I've been converted to vegan/raw foods?  No, but I do plan to continue integrating a lot more raw food into my daily diet.   For my physiology, it seems to work.  That's all I can really say plus I like the clean flavors (and I've lost some weight). 

I would be very interested to hear from all our Vegan/Raw Challenge participants.  What did you do, learn, experience?  Let us know by sending an email to:  greattaste@kruufm.com.

Kathy and I are back in the studio this week with a "live" show.  I've been on the road enjoying meals in Las Vegas, Chicago, and Philadelphia.  One thing I finally realized is that I would make a very poor food critic.  A food critic does visit a restaurant several times (or should) before putting into print what, in some markets, determines a spot's success or eventual boarding up.  After and between those visits there are numerous other establishments that have to be subjected to the scribe's palate.  It's a never-ending story of moving on and not going back until it's time to do another review. 

I knew it was a sign that Great Taste is right in tune with what's happening in America when I read an article in the NYT Monday entitled, "Preaching a Healthy Diet in the Deep-Fried Delta."  It seems that the National Baptist Convention is planning to have "health ambassadors" in every member church by September 2012.  Some churches have even established "No Fry" zones in their kitchens.  Frankly, this is great news as it's critical that organizations with influence on family life take an aggressive approach to educating their public about eating well.

Our guest this week, David Lee Sheng Tin, is a health coach and lifestyle consultant. who has developed the Blissfully Fit course.  He asserts that, "Bliss is a state of complete joy and/or happiness.  When you are blissful you feel contentment and serenity.  For Bliss to be maintained 24/7 a state of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being has to be present."

Garlicpalooza returns to the Fairfield Farmer's Market, Saturday, September 3 as the focal point for the annual Hometown Harvest fundraiser. Tanya Webster, the event coordinator, and Kim Keller from Hometown Harvest are our in-studio guests for the first half hour.

Some of the dishes you might experience at Garlicpalooza (made almost entirely with local produce) feature garlic from roasted to raw on bruschetta, and in a marinara sauce.  Kathy and I are making a gazpacho with an infused garlic/mint olive oil plus look for salsa, a garlic potato soup and much more. Plus, there will be lots of speakers so don't miss it.

We move to the West Coast for the second half of the hour to visit with Kacie Ioparto, the energy behind She Sells Seaweed.  Kacie recently moved from harvesting seaweed on the coast of Maine to Mendocino where she's learning about new varieties of the vitamin-rich plants.  What she said about her current swimming hole resonated with me:

"Each time I move to a new place it is song and work that make me feel at home. There are a few women that help us dry our seaweed who also love to sing. You’ll be happy to know that your seaweed is serenaded as it is thoroughly inspected and hung to dry."

It's been a couple of months since I started incorporating more raw foods into my diet as a result of our vegan/raw challenge on Great Taste. I'm definitely not on the "this is amazing and you have to do it" bandwagon for raw foods, but I have noticed significant and positive ongoing beneifits from the adjustments I made. 

Breakfast turned out to be the focal point for me.  My routine went from eggs, toast, cheese, and other standard American fare to fruit smoothies or whole fruits and manna bread.  That switch has meant less cravings, elimination of snacking before lunch and more mental clarity.  Because of those results and a determination to eat lighter and add a raw element at lunch and dinner I've also lost some excess body baggage.

Award-winning author Jessica Theroux kicks off our show this week.  Jessica was on the show last year talking about her book, Cooking with Italian Grandmothers.  In May the book won the coveted International Association of Culinary Professionals 2010 Judge's Choice Award.

We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to meet amazing people regularly because of the Great Taste radio program.  Through solar-powered KRUU we get to bring those folks into your home or car or wherever you may happen to pick up the stream.

 Right from the beginning of our conversation with our guest this week, Lucy Lean, Kathy and I felt like we had met a kindred spirit on many levels.  Lucy is a mother, wife, farmer's daughter, former editor of edible Los Angeles, blogger, photographer, a food judge for the Gordon Ramsay Fox hit TV show Masterchef, and the author of Made in America:  Our Best Chefs Reinvent Comfort Food.  The book features 100 recipes from chefs located all over the country and with varying cultural backgrounds.  The diversity of personalities and Lucy's vision of adapting 20th century regional comfort food recipes to today's ingredients and techniques makes for an engaging read and amazing recipes.

How about this for a gig?  Travel around the USA interviewing chefs about their favorite foods, tools, music, etc. and sharing staff meals with the owners, chefs, and the rest of the restaurant's crew in preparation for writing a book that includes recipes for those dishes.  That's what Marissa Guggiana did and her latest cookbook, Off the Menu-Staff Meals from America's Top Restaurants, is the result.

The book showcases her visits to 51 restaurants through more than 80 recipes.  Each restaurant is profiled along with its owners and chefs.  One of the most interesting sections in each profile is the Escoffier Questionnaire.  "The Escoffier Questionnaire," Marissa wrote, "was inspired by my conversations with chefs from across the United States... Like the more famous–currently–Proust Questionnaire, the questions are designed to elicit short responses that are long on meaning."

The ability to prepare a quick meal is not only a measure of kitchen skill and comfort, but many times comes down to what ingredients do you have in the fridge and pantry.  If you want to make a quick soup or coax flavors from veggies sautéing on top of the stove, then a court bouillon can help make that happen. "Court bouillon" or "briefly boiled liquid," is a mixture of water, salt, wine or vinegar, and vegetable aromatics, cooked together for 30-60 minutes...," according to Harold McGee, the author of On Food and Cooking.  One English reference from 1685 mentions a "courbolion" and this same type of liquid with basically identical ingredients has been used in French cooking for several centuries. 

Most of us are familiar with bouillon cubes, but court bouillon is much different.  It's simple to prepare and the culinary crew from Indian Hills will provide the instructions plus fix  some broccoli amandine using the liquid.

Inspiring is the essence of our show this week.  We'll talk to two people committed to making our country a better place through educating and introducing practical programs involving healthy food and food nutrition into public and private school systems.  Please tune in to find out about this tremendous organization that evolved from the international organization, Slow Food.

I'm always thinking about food which is why this little excerpt from author A. A. Milne is one of my favorite quotes:  "'When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,' said Piglet at last, 'what's the first thing you say to yourself?'
"'What's for breakfast?' said Pooh.  'What do you say, Piglet?'
"'I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?' said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.  "It's the same thing," he said.

-A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)

Our guest on this week's show, Matt Bardin, is the co-president of HighFiveLabs. His company creates "apps" those fascinating bits of software that help perform daily miracles on your smart phone and tablet.  HighFive has done Honeydo, the searchable To Do list, Smart:Vocab, a tool for expanding vocabulary and performing well on standardized tests, and Mario Cooks, one of the best cooking apps available.  The app contains over 60 recipes and five hours of video so you feel like Mario is your personal culinary instructor.  (I feel better about having the app Mario instruct me, rather than the Mario portrayed in Bill Buford's book, Heat.)  Mario Cooks is very easy to use and provides many extras including a guide to Italian wines and cheeses. I'm very much looking forward to learning from Matt how the development of the app took place.

We've got some Mexican treats planned for the tasty part of the show.  I suppose it should have been Italian.  Oh well.  Come by if you are in the neighborhood and can forgive us our trespasses.

Thanksgiving comes once a year.  Too bad there is always such a mess that's created during the furious preparation for that quintessential "eating" holiday.  All that cooking and baking takes plenty of measuring cups, bowls, the Cuisinart and other items. The good news is all the deliciousness that comes out of that mess.  

Truth is cooking always means cleaning. Good cooks clean as much as possible as they move from one step of preparing a meal to the next.  The results are the cooking area is less cluttered, prep goes quicker, and the final cleanup is less grueling.  Or if you are lucky to live in a multi-person household, perhaps "kitchen rules" work in your favor?  If you cook, you don't have to clean.  I love that one.  Unfortunately, it doesn't always hold up.

Our show this week deserves a critical listen by anyone concerned with the future of the food we grow and consume. 

We'll talk with the Executive Director of Slow Food International, Paolo Di Croce, who is also the President of the Committee for Terra Madre.  Terra Madre is the arm of the international Slow Food organization comprised of an "...extensive network of people working towards the creation of a good, clean and fair model of food production and consumption. Joined together in food communities, the network brings together sustainable farmers, fishers and food producers with cooks, teachers involved with school garden and canteen projects, academics, researchers and experts, students and other youth." 

Opening a restaurant at any time is an expensive proposition.  When money is in tight supply as in today's marketplace, it becomes even more of a challenge.  In a November 8 article, "To Raise Cash, Restaurants Turn to the Crowd," New York Times writer, Glenn Collins , reported on a number of creative ways restaurateurs are finding funds while avoiding the common path of taking on big investors.  The popular web funding platform, Kickstarter, is one avenue, relatives might respond to a plea to make a dream happen, and other community-based approaches that include loans and memberships have been tried or are in the works. 

We are cooking LIVE in the studio TONIGHT!

Terrific show on tap with the Indian Hills Culinary students.  We're making latkes, Mexican hot chocolate, and there will be some cookies and more. 

Happy Holidays to All!

The last Great Taste show of the year provides a look back at 2011 from two very different perspectives.  First, we'll speak with Danielle Nierenberg, director of the Nourishing the Planet project.  Nierenberg is a well-known expert on sustainability and livestock.  The project she oversees, "...assesses the state of agricultural innovations—from cropping methods to irrigation technology to agricultural policy—with an emphasis on sustainability, diversity, and ecosystem health, as well as productivity. The project aims to both inform global efforts to eradicate hunger and raise the profile of these efforts.

"Kombucha flavored soda alternatives pose threat to Coca-Cola and Pepsi."  Well, I think this story is only in an early phase of development, but if you sometimes have a craving for a bubbly beverage that goes well with popcorn, look no further than Shaktea Kombucha.  For the most part, I have my soda (or pop depending on where you grew up) attachment licked, but I have to admit that last year I went on a Mexican Coke binge for several weeks.  A number of pounds later (that exact number will remain confidential), and well-caffeinated, I broke off the relationship. Now, with Shaktea in my life I have no need to rekindle it.

After a two-week road adventure, the Great Taste crew is back in the studio with a live show this week.  This Wednesday it's the monthly Indian Hills Culinary student invasion, plus the director of the IHCC program, Chef Gordon Rader, is bringing a very special guest.   Get ready for dessert whipped up in the studio by Chef Julian Arranz of award-winning father and son pastry team extraordinaire Raul and Julian Arranz from Valladolid, Spain.  Julian is at Indian Hills for a month working with the students as part of a culinary educational exchnange.  In addition, he has been meeting with area high school students, and conducting classes at the Des Moines Area Community College (DMAC). You can take a look at Chef Julian’s work on his website using the following link.

Enthusiastic and adventurous cook and eater, Keith Dixon, had to make some changes in his kitchen habits after the birth of daughter, Gracie.  Keith's culinary and parenting odyssey is chronicled in Cooking for Gracie:  The Making of a Parent from Scratch.  There are plenty of trying and triumphant moments in this memoir of the evolution of a couple from when Gracie makes her first appearance five weeks premature to the end of her first year, plus scattered throughout Keith shares recipes, including the one found at the end of this blog post. We'll talk with Keith, a New York Times writer and novelist, about some of the memories that he chronicles in the book.  Also, we'll find out how life (and cooking) have changed since the addition of another child.

Molly Aronica, Restaurant Editor for The Daily Meal joins us in the second half of the show.  Molly and the staff of the popular internet site have their pulse on the food world.  I'm very excited to announce that she has agreed to do a regular monthly stint on Great Taste, and bring our listeners the top culinary news and trends from around the globe.  Check out the following links for some of the stories we're going to feature on the show:

http://www.thedailymeal.com/50-most-powerful-food-folk-america
http://www.thedailymeal.com/decade-super-bowl-food-bets
http://www.thedailymeal.com/americas-best-wings
http://www.thedailymeal.com/super-bowl-xlvi-50-reasons-eat-drink-party
http://www.thedailymeal.com/diy-chicken-wings

Resident chef Liz Peralta will add her kitchen sense to all the conversations.  Also, Curt Goudy, one of the Indian Hills culinary students, will introduce a new KRUU program called Quick Bites.  Whew, I think that's about it.  Drop on by or drop into the show via the web on our live stream beginning at 7:00 pm central time. 

You can catch all the excitement from previous Great Taste shows by checking out  the KRUU archives.  Each show is available to listen to or download.  Be sure to share them with your friends, and have some fun kitchen adventures.