Why Food?
Do you daydream about dropping everything and opening a restaurant? Have you always wondered what it would be like to start your own line of condiments? So many trailblazers in the food world actually started their careers in entirely different fields. How did these folks decide to hit the brakes, start over, and become inspiring the chefs, entrepreneurs, farmers and activists they are today? Hear their stories and learn how you too can fulfill your food dreams. Join cohosts Vallery Lomas and Ethan Frisch on Why Food?
If you made a leap of faith to work in the food industry and want to share your story, please get in touch at [email protected].
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 49 minutes
- Episodes
- 176
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2021
Episode 57: Dana Pollack: From Magazine Photography to Atypical Macarons
Dana launched her macaron bakery out of a small test kitchen in New Jersey at the age of 30 after leaving her job as a magazine photo editor to pursue a culinary degree. When Dana started applying he…
00:50:19 |
Fri 28 Sep 2018
Episode 56: Suzanne Cupps: From Corporate HR to Executive Chef
Suzanne Cupps is the Executive Chef of Untitled and Studio Cafe in the Whitney Museum of American Art. Born and raised in South Carolina, Suzanne spent summers on her grandfather’s farm, but dodged h…
00:49:34 |
Thu 20 Sep 2018
Episode 55: Pooja Bavishi: From Public Policy to Ice Cream
Pooja’s interest in cooking started as a child in North Carolina, watching the early versions of cooking shows on television and then trying to recreate the recipes in the kitchen herself. Though she…
00:59:42 |
Thu 13 Sep 2018
Episode 54: Nigel Sielegar: Beautiful Design and Beautiful Desserts
Nigel Sielegar is an web designer who on a whim decided to open a stand at the Queens Night Market, selling traditional Indonesian coconut desserts with his cousin. Within one year of launch, Moon Ma…
00:53:53 |
Thu 16 Aug 2018
Episode 53: Loren Brill: Baking Up A Better-For-You Cookie
Loren Brill was a young college graduate working as a yoga instructor when her world was turned upside down: she had cancer, Hodgkin's Lymphoma to be exact. After the shock wore off, she sprung to ac…
00:51:33 |
Thu 09 Aug 2018
Episode 52: Elena Liao: Brewing Up NYC's Best Oolong
Elena Liao knew something was missing. She had been in merchandise planning at some of the nation's best retailers for almost 10 years, but she didn't feel captivated by her work. As she looked for s…
00:58:40 |
Tue 07 Aug 2018
Episode 51: Joseph Yoon: From Managing Musicians to Cooking with Bugs
Joseph Yoon started his career in music but decided to pursue his love of cooking and became a private chef and caterer. It was while catering an exhibition with an artist friend that he cooked with …
00:56:07 |
Tue 31 Jul 2018
Episode 50: Garrett Oliver: From Rock Band Manager to Iconic Brooklyn Brewer
Garrett Oliver is the Brewmaster of the iconic Brooklyn Brewery and a world-renowned expert on beer, but few people know that he started his career as an international rock band manager and music pro…
00:55:17 |
Thu 19 Jul 2018
Episode 49: Kerry Brodie: From Nonprofit Communications to a Nonprofit Restaurant
Kerry Brodie started her career in nonprofit communications before deciding to pivot to pursue her love of cooking. While in culinary school, she realized she could use the skills she was learning to…
00:47:51 |
Thu 12 Jul 2018
Episode 48: Raquel Jacquez Sharp, Halima Marega & Isatou Sohona: Healthy Food Education from a Teacher and her Students
Raquel Jacquez Sharp is an educator and activist around healthy food and the Communication and Partnerships Manager at the Sylvia Center. Join Raquel and two of her students, Isatou and Halima (both …
00:54:55 |
Thu 28 Jun 2018
Episode 47: Julian Plyter: From Classical Music to Ice Cream Sandwiches
After working for several years in classical music, Julian decided to enroll in culinary school to pursue a lifelong passion for pastry and baking. He worked in some of NYC's best kitchens, eventuall…
01:01:00 |
Wed 27 Jun 2018
Episode 46: Yuan Ji: Bringing Beautiful Mezcal from Oaxaca to New York
Yuan Ji is a former anti-trust attorney whose love for Oaxaca (and its mezcal!) inspired her to launch Erstwhile Mezcal. She's partnering with master mezcaleros in Oaxaca whose families have been mak…
00:56:20 |
Wed 13 Jun 2018
Episode 45: Matt Gallira & Jimmy Warren: Bringing Festival Fare to New Heights
So far on Why Food?, we've talked to many food entrepreneurs about taking the leap from their former careers into food and beverage -- but what if you’ve already launched a successful, growing food b…
00:51:37 |
Thu 24 May 2018
Episode 44: Yana Gilbuena: Uniting the World Through Kamayan Dinners
50 Meals in 50 States. To most people, this seems a crazy idea; to Yana Gilbuena, a passionate Filipino chef who had just been laid off from her full-time furniture design job, it was just the kick s…
00:48:23 |
Thu 17 May 2018
Episode 43: Dario Wolos: Serving Up Mexican Spirit from a Volkswagen
In the summer of 2005, Dario Wolos joked to his friends he would start a taco shop inside a Volkswagen, or "combi" as the locals called it. The name "Tacombi" was dreamt up, then promptly forgotten a…
01:01:11 |
Thu 10 May 2018
Episode 42: Carolina Santos-Neves: Doing Good with Good Food
Carolina Santos-Neves started in data entry at epicurious.com but found herself spending more and more time thinking about the elaborate meals she was cooking for her friends. After several years, sh…
00:54:18 |
Thu 19 Apr 2018
Episode 41: Chi Bui: Uniting Chocolate and Olive Oil with Sustainability
Chi Bui led many lives before her current one in chocolate. Her well-to-do Vietnamese family fled their home city of Hue after the war; her parents lost everything immigrating to the U.S., but ultima…
00:53:42 |
Thu 12 Apr 2018
Episode 40: Kristin Canty: Fighting for the Right to Farm
When Kristin Canty's young son developed severe allergies, she found relief by feeding him raw milk. She couldn't have known that would start a lifelong mission of advocacy and activism through filmm…
00:49:18 |
Tue 10 Apr 2018
Episode 39: Meet Your Co-Hosts: Jenny Dorsey & Ethan Frisch
This episode, we're taking a fun approach to (re) introduce ourselves - by each taking half an hour to interview the other host! First up is Ethan Frisch, Founder of Burlap and Barrel. Ethan started …
00:54:02 |
Thu 29 Mar 2018
Episode 38: Scott Norton: Bringing Personality and Charm to Condiments
Scott Norton began making ketchup in his college apartment almost 10 years ago. It was 4 years after Malcolm Gladwell wrote that Heinz could never be overthrown - but Scott didn’t buy it. So he and h…
00:58:01 |
Mon 26 Mar 2018
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