PODCAST · arts
Florida Foodie
by WKMG and Graham Media Group
Food is part of our traditions and cultures, and it affects our health, our economy and all of our communities. So, Florida Foodie is giving you some food for thought, taking a closer look at what we eat, how we eat it and the impacts on Florida and what it means for everyone, everywhere.
Episodes
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Florida Foodie Taste Test: Squid-flavored chips
Central Florida is home to a wide variety of ethnic markets, offering scents and flavors from all around the world. While wandering the aisle of these shops, the variety of snacks could catch your eye and make you wonder, “What could that possibly taste like?” That is the premise behind a new...
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Austin’s Coffee is a Winter Park institution with an uncertain future
Jackie Moore hoped that her Winter Park business, Austin’s Coffee, would be something she could pass down to her children, but the cafe faces an uncertain future as the city looks to repurpose the land. “This was meant to be an investment in their future,” Moore said. “I just wanted to make sure…
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Brewlando went from unplanned venture to growing business
Shara Pathak never planned on owning a brewery, but her “soft heart” led her down this unexpected path. “I owned a building and had a tenant in there that was a microbrewery (Castle Church) and supported them through the infancy of their brand, which was approximately three years,” Pathak said.…
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Disney chefs offer tips and tricks for the perfect holiday feast
The holidays have arrived, which for many means a family feast is in order. To help everyone create the perfect spread, a pair of Disney chefs are offering their expertise. Executive chef John Prieto and sous chef Anthony Scott work in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, where they help feed...
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Butterfly Lifestyle helps feed Pine Hills community as need continues to grow
Shereece Mitchell-Sanchez has been working tirelessly since 2021 to help feed people living and working in the Pine Hills community. Mitchell-Sanchez runs a weekly food pantry through her nonprofit, Butterfly Lifestyle. Since she started the weekly giveaway, Mitchell-Sanchez has seen the demand…
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Cows ‘n Cabs celebrates Central Florida’s food scene while raising money for charity
Cows ‘N Cabs has raised more than $2 million for Central Florida charities since it got its start in 2011. The event was co-founded by David Larue, Executive Vice President at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, and John Rivers, the owner of 4 Rivers restaurant group. “My wife and I were talking about how…
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Earning a Michelin star opened new doors for Orlando chef Mike Collantes
Mike Collantes started his culinary career inside Orlando’s Fashion Square Mall, but he now counts himself among the exclusive ranks of Michelin-starred chefs. Collantes earned his Michelin Star in 2022 for his omakase restaurant Soseki in Winter Park. “After the Michelin Star, we’re seeing...
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Owner of The Hammered Lamb shares struggles of running a small business
Amid the pandemic and Orlando’s ongoing growth and development, Jason Lambert has been striving to keep his businesses running while also being a force for good in the community. “So 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic and trying to survive through the pandemic, I thought were the roughest years…
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Family traditions meet modern cuisine at Yao's
Yao’s Modern Kitchen is all about family. The restaurant is run by three siblings, George, Edward and Diane Yiu, along with their friends and past Florida Foodie guests Chris Chen and Phil Nguyen. The siblings grew up in Central Florida and wanted to combine their traditional family recipes with...
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Smile Ice Cream Company is spreading joy with frozen treats in Orlando
Glen Providence wears many hats as the leader of a nonprofit, the publisher of a small newspaper and the owner of his own ice cream company. In his day job, Providence is the head of Hebni Nutrition — an organization that offers help to underserved communities, giving them access to and education...
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Greenery Creamery, Sampaguita help people create core memories through ice cream
Marie Mercado had no plans of becoming a “professional ice cream lady.” She had her sights set on the stage. “I wanted to be an opera singer,” Mercado said. “I did perform. I did shows in New York. I moved to Japan, I did a couple of performances there. I was there for a year and then I was going...
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Caribbean Moonshine delivers tropical flavors with an eye towards history
Mike Webber and Steve Nichols did not originally plan on becoming moonshiners. The pair saw it as an opportunity when Florida decided to relax some of its craft distilling laws. “Florida changed their craft distilling laws in 2020 and relaxed them a little bit more in 2022 to match those of...
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Melao Bakery went from struggling business to must-stop destination
Edward Colón has been working in his parent’s business, Melao Bakery, since they first opened it in 2008, shortly after moving to Kissimmee from Puerto Rico. “The first years, we slept inside the store,” Colón said. “We had those foldable beds. We folded the beds, we put them in storage and we...
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Caribe Royal Orlando looks to offer something for everyone’s dining preferences
David Hackett has spent most of his professional career working in resorts across the country and around the world, but he said Caribe Royal Orlando is his “home.” “I’m staying there. I mean, I love the property. I love the culture that we have there,” he said. Hackett has been at the boutique...
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Orange Blossom Candies & Cream embraces small-town charm
Tina Aldrich is a Florida native who chose to live in Montverde and open her business there because she knew it would keep its small-town charm. “When our daughter went to college, we went ahead and moved to our cabin in North Carolina,” she said. “Then when we moved back, I’m like, ‘I want to…
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Willie’s Bar-B-Que brings people from all over to a small Florida town
Willie’s Bar-B-Que has only been a part of Montverde for six years, but it has become a fixture in the small community. Willie Fulmore and his daughter, Tomeka Fulmore-Smith, have spent their lives working with food. Willie Fulmore opened his barbecue restaurant nearly 30 years ago, first setting...
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Top Hat Catering helps feed thousands of seniors
Chef Delaño Lambertclare has dedicated nearly two decades to helping seniors across Seminole County get nutritious meals for free. “I worked at the Swan and Dolphin for two and a half years and I wanted to shift and change (away from) corporate life,” Lambertclare said. After leaving the Disney...
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The Fry Shoppe is a passion project decades in the making
Wilson Santos has been thinking about opening a French fry-centric restaurant for years. “This concept is like decades in the making,” Santos said. “To be honest, I went to Amsterdam, the first trip was in 1994. I was doing a study abroad program in England and on the weekends, I would try to…
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Ghost Kitchen Orlando thrived during the pandemic and it's getting ready to expand
The pandemic was a trying time for people across the food service industry, but Jay and Johnny Nartowicz and their partner Colton O’Dwyer ended up opening the right business at the exact right time. They opened Ghost Kitchen Orlando in February 2020, just weeks before COVID-era restrictions…
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Hollerbach’s German Restaurant is a transformational force in Sanford
Christina Hollerbach is carrying on her parents’ life-long dream. “My parents always wanted to run their own restaurant and obviously my dad, being from Germany, wanted it to be a German restaurant,” she said. That dream became a reality in 2001, when her parents bought Willow Tree Cafe. The...
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Plate Above Catering helps keep Second Harvest’s Culinary Training program free for students
Chef Jill Holland found her path later in life when she went into culinary school at age 36. “It took a lot of soul searching to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up and now I just need to grow up,” Holland said. Holland worked in retail, real estate and was even a swim instructor for...
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La Maison Du Macaron brings a taste of Paris to Florida
Olivier Saintemarie was raised in Paris but he has spent a portion of his career bringing the flavors of the City of Light to Central Florida. Saintemarie has spent time working Chefs de France in Epcot but is now in the process of opening his own business in Orlando’s newly expanding Packing...
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Pine & Oak Tavern offers delicious food with a side of history
Pine & Oak Tavern sits inside the newly renovated Rio Pinar Golf course, but despite its new look, the walls are covered in history. “Arnold Palmer’s trophy is on the wall behind us and Lee Trevino is a champion here and Hal Irwin and a lot of the great old golfers. The history is just priceless....
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Central Florida roasters Barnie’s Coffee still going strong after 43 years
Barnie’s Coffee has gone through a lot of changes over its 43 years in business. The name comes from one of the founders of the business, Phil Barnie Jones. “He was an inventor himself,” said Shannon Wolfgang, director of marketing for Barnie’s. “And he was like, ‘You know what, no one’s doing...
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Big Taco aims to build a new Tex-Mex empire
Jake Wheeler is no stranger to the restaurant industry or Tex-Mex cuisine. Both have always been a part of his and his family’s livelihoods. “Back in 1995, (my dad) launched Tijuana Flats. In 2015, he sold it. So now we’re here and it’s my turn to take the reins and do something new,” Jake…
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Build My Burgers is ready to franchise, expand
Aly Lalani has poured everything into making his restaurant, Build My Burgers, a success. Lalani and his wife started looking into purchasing a franchise of an established business in 2018, but they could not find any options in their budget. “The ones that were reasonably priced, they did not…
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Couple behind Zymarium Meadery sees success with brick-and-mortar location in Orlando
It took Joe and Ginger Leigh more than two years to realize their dream of opening Orlando’s first meadery — a winery focused on making honey wines. The effort has seen the pair put in long hours. “It’s incredible. We’ve been doing 120-hour weeks for the past year,” Joe Leigh said. “It’s just the...
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Central Florida woman went from stay-at-home mom to working cook, running her own cottage bakery
Kee Gainey spent 25 years as a stay-at-home mom before starting her culinary career. “I decided it was time for me to get back out there and I was like, ‘Well, what can you do? No one is going to hire you after this long You don’t have any experience,’” Gainey said. “And I was like, ‘Well, what…
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Love of anime inspires family-run Florida restaurant chain Soupa Saiyan
A family’s shared love of anime has grown in three restaurants serving up ramen, pho and other pan-Asian delicacies. Soupa Saiyan first opened its doors in 2016 at 5689 Vineland Road, near Universal Studios in Orlando. “It all started with my (brother-in-law),” Jimmy Chhun, the manager at Soupa...
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Crooked Can Brewing remains focused on Central Florida as it readies for big expansion
A trip to Denver led Andy Sheeter down a path that has him getting ready to move his business into a 40,000-square-foot brewery. I went on a ski trip with some friends. We were out in Breckenridge and then we were in Boulder, Colorado, and we went to a brewery,” Sheeter said. “And there were…
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Pizza hobby becomes nostalgic business for SoDough Square’s owner
Rob Bair is no stranger to the restaurant industry having already built two successful Central Florida chains, Gringos Locos and Tin & Taco. Now he’s building a third chain, but this time he is stepping away from the Tex-Mex cuisine that brought him so much success and moving toward a flavor of…
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Owner of Dancing Empanada ready to sell business he started out of trunk of his car
Daniel Mercedes Jr. started the business that would become The Dancing Empanda by selling food out of the trunk of his car. “I was looking for a little side hustle to do and I just remember grandma making the empanadas,” Mercedes said. “So that’s what I decided to do. So we talked about it and…
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Husband, wife behind Pho Wheels dish out Asian street food all across Central Florida
Vinnie Nguyen and his wife, Phi Phi Lam, started their food truck, Pho Wheels, so that they could have more time to spend with their children. “The hours and restaurants are just really long,” Nguyen said. “You go in — opening, you’ve done everything — by the time you go home, it’s almost…
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Owner of Winter Park’s Hen & Hog battles serious health issues while keeping his business open
A.J. Haines — the chef and owner of The Hen & Hog in Winter Park — has been relatively open about his health struggles. “The first time it hit — as far as the diverticulitis attack — it was a Tuesday morning,” Haines said. “(I was) like, ‘I don’t feel good. This is really hurting me today.’ I…
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Universal Orlando shows off impressive menus for Minion Café, Halloween Horror Nights
The chefs at Universal Orlando are looking to raise the bar when it comes to the food guests can expect to find at a theme park. “We really want to reinvent the thought of what theme park food is,” Ron Cope, executive chef of Universal Studios Florida, said. “We’ve really tried to elevate...
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Pandemic-induced boredom led to success of Central Florida bakery Stackd Brownies
Austin Blake started his business, Stackd Brownies, while playing around in the kitchen with his family. “COVID hit and that’s when everything kind of shut down,” Blake said. “Everything was not what was expected. So during that time, my parents were not doing much. I wasn’t doing much during…
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Owners of Orlando’s Kaya mix fun, fine dining and traditional Filipino meals
Jamilyn Bailey and Lordfer “Lo” Lalicon, the owners of Kaya, know that Filipino food is not normally associated with “fine dining,” they are looking to change that perception. “I think everybody and not just our parents, even our friends are doubtful, like ‘You’re opening a Filipino restaurant?...
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First Responder’s Coffee Company supports those who serve their communities
Brent Tucker, the owner of First Responder’s Coffee Company, dedicated much of his adult life to serving his country. “When 9/11 hit, I joined the military,” Tucker said. “I had no intention to join the military, but 9/11 hit, I was in the military on 9/27/01 — as fast as they’d let me in,” he...
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Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando sees a growing need for food assistance
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando, 2100 Lee Road, has been giving food to those in need for 45 years. However, the organization has never given out as much food as it has in 2022. “The amount of food going out of our establishment is record-breaking for us,” JFS president Phil Flynn said....
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Norman Van Aken went from blue-collar beginnings in the Midwest to fine dining in Florida
Norman Van Aken is not a native Floridian but his name is synonymous with the state’s cuisine. Van Aken lives in South Florida but has his restaurant, Norman’s, in Central Florida. Van Aken grew up in Northern Illinois. He knew from an early age that he loved cooking but did not realize that it...
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‘I’ve sacrificed for this place:’ Owner of Alex’s Fresh Kitchen fights to keep dream alive
Alex Diaz is constantly pushing to make his restaurant, Alex’s Fresh Kitchen, a success. “It’s my baby. It’s my dream, you know, and I do anything for it. I’ve sacrificed for this place,” Diaz said. Diaz opened his restaurant in 2019 at 1015 State Road 436 in Suite 109 of a strip mall in...
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Owners of Orlando-based Sus Hi Eat Station chain look to serve fun with every meal
A sense of fun is very important to Robert and Teresa Ly and that value is a big part of their business, Sus Hi Eatstation. The importance of fun and food helped the two hit it off, in both their romantic and business partnership. “Our core values also aligned. We love to have fun. We love…
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Chef Art Smith went from living in rural Florida to the heights of the culinary world
Chef Art Smith is known across the country and around the world for his cooking, but he started out his life in the little-known, rural town of Jasper, Florida. “Seventh generation — and I’m the only family member on my father’s side that actually left the state and I’m the only chef among all…
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Owner of Brothers-N-Arms BBQ brings Marine skills to his Central Florida food truck
Joel Dawson, owner of Brothers-N-Arms BBQ, has cooked meals in some of the most extreme situations a person can imagine. “I was in Afghanistan — was on the border of Pakistan,” Dawson said. “We’re in the chow hall and... an RPG went off, shook the whole building. It was so intense that it blew…
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Eric Godfrey followed a winding path from comedy to opening Bacon King USA
Eric Godfrey has a long and varied resume that starts in the world of stand-up comedy and leads to his gourmet bacon business, Bacon King USA. “In college, I did stand-up comedy,” Godfrey said. “I’m living in Charlotte, North Carolina and so I started stand-up comedy. I was in college and working...
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Phat Ash Bakes expands a year after opening Orlando brick-and-mortar shop
Ashley D’Acunto and her husband Israel Erazo have not slowed down since they first opened Phat Ash Bakes three years ago in the middle of the pandemic. In March 2022, the pair moved into their brick-and-mortar bakery, 912 N. Mills Ave., and since then, have partnered with Foxtail Coffee Co. “We…
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Jeff’s Bagel Run aggressively expanding in Florida with help of new business partner
Jeff and Daniel Perera opened their bagel business out of their home kitchen in 2020 and less than three years later they are hoping to have eight brick-and-mortar locations open within the next six months. The rapid expansion is being made possible by the couple’s new business partner, Justin...
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Winter Park’s Swine & Sons keeps evolving as it grows
Swine & Sons looks very different today than it did when it first opened in 2015. “We opened up in April of 2015 and the thought was to be this provisions place and have this meat counter, and then do some sandwiches,” said chef Alexia “Lexi” Gawlak, the owner of Swine & Sons. “And we were…
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Q’s Crackin’ Crab serves up ‘soulful seafood’ in Cocoa Beach
Quinisha “Q” Bredwood took a big risk opening her restaurant, Q’s Crackin Crab & Seafood Kitchen, in Cocoa Beach right at the height of the pandemic. “We found a building at the end of January (2020) and then we were negotiating our lease from January to February,” Bredwoood said. “And we were...
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Smoke & Donuts is a sweet, savory creation of husband and wife duo
Chef Ian Russell and his wife, Juliana Peña, could not agree on whether to open a donut shop or a barbecue restaurant. So, like in any good relationship, they compromised and decided to try both, creating Smoke & Donuts. “We had no idea that the response was going to be what it was,’ Russell…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Food is part of our traditions and cultures, and it affects our health, our economy and all of our communities. So, Florida Foodie is giving you some food for thought, taking a closer look at what we eat, how we eat it and the impacts on Florida and what it means for everyone, everywhere.
HOSTED BY
WKMG and Graham Media Group
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Florida Foodie have?
Florida Foodie currently has 148 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Florida Foodie about?
Food is part of our traditions and cultures, and it affects our health, our economy and all of our communities. So, Florida Foodie is giving you some food for thought, taking a closer look at what we eat, how we eat it and the impacts on Florida and what it means for everyone, everywhere.
How often does Florida Foodie release new episodes?
Florida Foodie publishes regularly with 148 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Florida Foodie?
You can listen to Florida Foodie on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Florida Foodie?
Florida Foodie is created and hosted by WKMG and Graham Media Group.
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