Recent Episodes

 

Dwight Furrow, the author of American Foodie: Taste, Art, and the Cultural Revolution, talks about the philosophy of food. We discuss everything the impact of everything from automobile to Alice Waters to the Slow Food movement have shaped the way Americans think about food.
 
 
 
 

 

Inbal Baum, the Founder of Delicious Israel, joins us to talk about where foodies should eat when they travel to her country.

• Shakshouka is a popular dish in Israel
• Israeli Breakfast is a distinct and important meal
• The modern cherry tomato has roots in Israel
• Tel Aviv and Jerusalem top the list of cities you should visit
• Beach season runs from April to October
• Rosh Hashana is a great time to visit Israel
• When you visit Tel Aviv, go to the Carmel Market, the Levinsky Market
• Try the date syrup, Silan

 

 

Food for Thought

• Q: After pita bread, what is the most common food used to “wipe” humus?
• A: Raw onion.

 
 

Out of the Frying Pan

• Favorite Spot for Outdoor Dining: Milgo & Milbar
• Favorite Place to Buy Spices: Cafe Arma in Levinsky Market
• Herbs to Try: Za’atar and Hawaij (in Yemenite Coffee)
• Favorite Winery: Sphera
• Favorite Place for Dessert: The Malabia
• Favorite Food Experience for Kids: Max Brenner
• Chef to Watch: Eyal Shani
• Dish to Try at Different Places: Shakshouka and sabich

Bennet Jacobstein, author of The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine, talks to us about what foodies can find at different baseball stadiums around the country.

• Hot dogs and sausages are not the same thing.
• The quality of ballpark food was elevated in the 90s as new stadiums were built and food television shows took off.
• Stadiums have highlighted regional foods.
• Gordon Biersch‘s founder Dan Gordon introduced garlic fries at Candlestick Park in 1994.
• The song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was written in 1908.
• The Yankees replaced Cracker Jacks at one point, but brought it back after a public outcry.
• 

  San Francisco Giant Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries

  Veggie Happy spearheaded the movement to get veggie dogs sold at ballpark stadiums.

• Andrew Zimmern has a stand in the Minnesota ballpark.
• Rocky Mountain Oysters are bull testicles.
• “The Big Six” are the food companies that service the major ballparks.
• As you go from ballpark to ballpark, try the hot dogs at each to see how they’re done differently.
• Proceeds from Bennett’s book go to Second Harvest Food Bank.

 

Food for Thought

• Q: In what year were Cracker Jacks first served at a baseball game?
• A: 1896 in Atlantic City.

 

Out of the Frying Pan

Here’s what Bennet recommends you try at each ballpark:

• Yankees Stadium in New York City: Chicken and Waffles.
• Fenway Park in Boston: Lobster Roll and a cuban sandwich.
• Wrigley Field in Chicago: Chicago-style hot dog with Vienna beef.
• Turner Field in Atlanta: Boiled peanuts.
• Marlins Park in Miami: Cuban dishes.
• Safeco Field in Seattle: The Ivar’s hot dog (with fish) and cream cheese hot dog.
• Nationals Park in Washington D.C.: A cauliflower hot dog and presidential cupcakes.
• 

  Chicago White Sox Chicago-Style Hot Dog

  Busch Stadium in St. Louis: The BBQ.

• Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles: Tommy Lasorda Spumoni ice cream.
• AT&T Park in San Francisco: Crab salad, lamb sausages, and Gordon Biersch garlic fries.

Try a Food Tour

More in this Country

Taste Trekkers was able to launch because of the generous support of our initial Kickstarter campaign. We know what it’s like to be aspiring entrepreneurs, so we are returning the favor spotlighting some of our favorite food and travel Kickstarter projects. -Seth
 
Ken Stringer studied geology and worked for an environmental consulting company. After 12 years, he traded in his rocks to work as an information technology defense contractor. Although his job has changed over the years, his love of food and all things spicy has remained constant. We talked to him about his Kickstarter campaign, Ken’s Pepper Works Artisan Hot Sauce.
 

1. You make three hot sauce flavors. Can you tell us about them?

 
Gladly. My sauces are called Red Thunder, Island Sunshine and Rio Grande Mud. I like the idea of having names for sauces. It’s much more fun and creative to call a sauce Island Sunshine than, say, Pineapple Habanero Hot Sauce. It’s also fun to have a sauce tag line, which I list below. When creating the sauces I wanted three distinct flavor profiles that did not overlap, thus providing a variety of uses and appealing to a wide range of tastes.
 

Red Thunder is sweet, smoky and tangy. The main players are carrots, ginger, honey, red bell peppers, red onion, tamarind, lime juice, brown sugar, and of course, the stars of the show, red habanero and chipotle peppers. Think BBQ, pizza, wings, pasta, Asian food, beef, pork, chicken and just about anything. The heat level is medium-hot. Tag Line: Red thunder will light up your taste buds!
 
Island Sunshine is both sweet and savory. The sweet comes from pineapples, oranges, honey and brown sugar. The savory comes from carrots, ginger, garlic and red onion. The heat comes from scotch bonnets and red habanero peppers. Island Sunshine pairs well with chicken, pork, seafood, pizza, mac & cheese, Asian dishes and many other foods. The heat level is medium-hot. Tag Line: Island Sunshine is the perfect marriage of pineapples and scotch bonnet peppers. Say “I Do” to Island Sunshine!
 
Rio Grande Mud is a savory Mexican style sauce. It is earthy, smoky and complex. The cast includes dried guajillo, de arbol and chipotle peppers with red habaneros for heat. Roasted garlic is in no short supply and undertones of chocolate and coffee add balance and complexity. Rio Grande Mud is excellent on beef, pork, poultry, BBQ, steak, eggs, chili, sandwiches or anything south of the border! The heat level is medium. Tag Line: Transport yourself to Mexico with Rio Grande Mud. Ole!
 

2.  What are artisan hot sauces, anyway?

 
“Artisan” is a term used to describe something that is hand-crafted in small batches and implies higher quality than a mass-produced product. For example, many popular hot sauces on the market +today contain ingredients like potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfide, artificial flavorings and dyes and are made in several thousand gallon batches. My sauces consist of ingredients such as pineapples, oranges, carrots, honey, and red onion and are made in small 70-gallon batches. These sauces are gluten free and do not contain preservatives
 

 

3. You say, “I believe in flavor first, not vinegar.” What does that mean?

 
Vinegar is the main ingredient in many popular hot sauces. Tabasco is 70% vinegar. This is great for preservation and sometimes the extra acid is nice. But I generally don’t want to dump flavored vinegar all over my food. Too much overwhelms the food. Balance is needed. My sauces contain +around 20% vinegar. You will taste the other ingredients first but there is enough vinegar for a long and stable shelf life. Think about a sauce you recently enjoyed in a restaurant. Did it taste like vinegar or was it balanced? That’s my goal: balanced, bold and complex.
 

4. How did you start making hot sauce?

 

I find cooking to be therapeutic and have always loved spicy food. I began growing chile peppers about eight years ago and five years ago the two passions met and never parted. I started creating chile sauces from my harvest and eventually tried to reproduce my favorite hot sauce, Tiger Sauce. That sauce ended up being Red Thunder, although it is now very different from Tiger Sauce. Friends and family raved and encouraged me to sell them. Eventually I listened and now I am on Kickstarter trying to crowd fund my product launch. It’s funny how life moves along.
 

RELATED: How well do you know the St. Louis food scene? Take our quiz and find out.

 

5. How much are you trying to raise, and what will you use the money for if you succeed?

 
I am trying to raise $10,000. Most of the money will go to the co-packer, who will produce three 70-gallon batches of hot sauce. The remainder will go to labels, pallet shipping and Kickstarter fees. Successful funding will enable me to produce enough hot sauce to provide all backers with their rewards. My plan is to have 25% of product returned to backers and sell another 25% within the first 3 months to grocery stores, farmers markets and tradeshows. The remaining 50% will be sold over the next 6-9 months and provide enough funds to make a second run.

 

Ellen Sevier is the owner of Music City Bites and Sites food tours and a native Nashvillian. She can either be found showing off Music City, U.S.A. to people from around the world, or traveling around the world to see what other interesting foods and cultures she can experience for herself. And, if one is available, you can bet that the food tour is the first thing she does when visiting a new town.
 
 

1. What foods is Nashville known for?

 

There are two things Nashville can claim for its own when it comes to food. The first one is the Goo Goo Cluster, which just so happens to be the world’s first candy bar to combine multiple ingredients. The Original Goo Goo is made of roasted peanuts, milk chocolate, caramel and marshmallow nougat, and was developed in 1912 by the Standard Candy Company. The Supreme Goo Goo uses pecans instead of peanuts.
 
And the Peanut Butter Goo Goo, my personal favorite, is made up of roasted peanuts, milk chocolate and a thick layer of peanut butter. When asked about the name of their candy bar, the Standard Candy Company said that their candy bars are so good, people ask for them from birth (goo-goo, goo-goo). Get it?
 
In the past few years, Nashville has also become known for starting the “hot chicken” phenomenon, which is crispy fried chicken spiced at various degrees of hotness that will have your tongue wishing it could take up permanent residence in your glass of sweet tea. Some of the most popular places to get hot chicken in town are Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack and 400 Degrees Hot Chicken.
 

RELATED: Everything you need to know about food tours.

 
 

2. What neighborhoods should foodies visit when they come to Nashville?

 

Nashville has neighborhoods-a-plenty featuring all kinds of wonderful restaurants. Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the “most foodie” hotspots and eateries in town, but this is by no means a comprehensive list.

• Downtown/Sobro/The Gulch: The Capitol Grille, Etch, The Farm House, Flyte World Dining & Wine, Husk, Watermark and The 404 Kitchen, Arnold’s Country Kitchen, Yazoo Brewing Company
• Germantown: City House, Rolf & Daughters and Silo
• East Nashville: Lockeland Table, Margot Café & Bar, The Pharmacy and The Treehouse
• Midtown: Hattie B’s, Midtown Cafe, Patterson House and The Catbird Seat
• 12 South: Josephine, Epice, Las Paletas, Sloco and Burger Up

 
 

3. What can people expect on your food tours?

 

On a Music City Bites & Sites tour, people should expect to get more than just a food tour. In fact, I call it a “food and cultural” tour, because, in addition to the food, I throw in a good bit of history, entertainment, cultural awareness, architecture and other fun trivia.
 
The tour is three hours long and covers about two miles. There are five tasting locations on the tour and one unforgettable cultural stop, which many people tell me was their favorite part of the tour. This is not a stuffy tour, so everyone should expect to laugh and have a good time.
 
Although there are some tastings that would be considered more “foodie” than others, all of the cuisine is approachable. The restaurants chosen for the tour are purposely “off the beaten tourist path.”
 
Each tasting location was chosen for a specific reason, and most of them for more than one – the specialty food, the owners’ backgrounds, the connection to Nashville, the history behind the restaurant buildings, etc., and all of the tastings are, of course, delicious. There are two alcohol tastings on the tour of just a few ounces each, and while many people are full at the end of the tour, some still crave more.
 
Tours run on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and can be booked online at www.musiccitybitesandsites.com or by calling (800) 979-3370.
 
 

4. Where should we eat if we hope to spot some celebrities?

 

Although I have yet to spot a celebrity while eating (although I have seen a few while shopping around town), I understand that Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have been seen multiple times at Peter’s Sushi & Thai in the Brentwood area, (just outside of Nashville) and that Taylor Swift likes to go to San Antonio Taco Co. in Hillsboro Village (by Vanderbilt University).
 
I’ve also heard that Vince Vaughn was seen at The Southern (SoBro), and that Reba McEntire and Ronnie Dunn both were seen (though not together) at Tavern (Midtown).
 
Other than that, there are so many celebrities, especially of the country music variety, in town, that one could probably see one almost anywhere, but you have to be pretty good at spotting them, because they all tend to dress down here, so they look a lot like everyone else.
 

RELATED: What is food tourism?

 
 

5. Are there any Nashville chefs that we should keep our eyes on?

 
The chef that I’ve seen written up and talked about the most lately is Tandy Wilson of City House. He was a finalist for the 2014 James Beard Award for “Best Chef: Southeast.”
 
Margot McCormack of Margot Café & Bar and Tyler Brown of Capitol Grille were also named as semifinalists in the same category.

KC Barbecue Tours simply began with married couple, Karl and Bethanie Schemel’s, years of love for Kansas City barbecue. After years of sampling the various Kansas City barbecue options the couple realized that Karl’s past experience on his dad’s Chicago boat guided tours and Bethanie’s exposure to Kansas City barbecue, could unite to provide a bus guided food tour of the best barbecue in the world. Karl and Bethanie’s hope is that each guest will leave the tour with the same love and appreciation for Kansas City barbecue that they have.
 

1. What makes Kansas City barbecue different from other styles of barbecue?

 

Kansas City is like the melting pot of barbecue, but our prized possession is burnt ends. While Texas boasts their brisket served “dry”, Carolina prides its pulled pork with vinegar based sauce, Memphis serves up “dry” or “wet” pork ribs with a vinegary mustard based sauce, Kansas City perfects it all with a sweet & peppery tomato based sauce either served over the meat or offered on the table to be added.
 
Meats are smoked over various woods and served with a tomato based sauce. Each barbecue restaurant in KC has their own unique method of prepping, smoking and serving their meats.
 

RELATED: All about Memphis BBQ interview here!

 

2. What can people expect on your barbecue tours?

 

Guests of our bus-guided tours can expect to get a full belly of barbecue with a little history on the side.
 
Each of our tours visits big-name, historical and hidden-gem barbecue joints in the Kansas City area. We also give guests some time to see Kansas City as we travel from restaurant to restaurant pointing out historical landmarks along the way.
 

3. When it comes to barbecue, what do we need to know about side dishes?

 

Typically the top choice for KC Barbecue side dishes is the beans, which usually have a smoky flavor with hint of sweetness in them. However, depending on the restaurant the beans may not be the standout side dish.
 

RELATED: 5 Unique BBQ experiences in Atlanta.

 

4. What places should beer lovers check out while in Kansas City?

 
If someone is looking for brew to go with their barbecue, they can check out our ‘Cue & Brew Tour. If someone is just wanting the brew, without the barbecue, some great places to check out would be: KC Bier Company, Boulevard Brewery, 75th
 

5. Give us some barbecue trivia.

 

• Q: What are the most common woods used to smoke beef & pork meats?
• A: Oak & Hickory. These are considered the king & queen of smoking woods.

 

• Q: How many barbecue restaurants are in Kansas City?
• A: There are over 100 listed barbecue restaurants, with new restaurants popping up every year and roadside stands that come & go.

 

• Q: Has Kansas City style barbecue sauce always been sweet?
• A: Nope. Kansas City style sauce actually started as a peppery sauce and has been sweetened up over the years.