The Poor Boy Festival in New Orleans celebrates all of the cultural quirks of New Orleans, including the culinary ones. I was asked to moderate a panel with Winston Ho and Miss Linda Greene, aka, The Yaka Mein Lady. Unfortunately Miss Linda was unable to attend, so Winston and I waltzed our way around yaka mein and a few other very New Orleans topics.

It seems that Winston has found yaka mein in African-American communities around the country. Yaka mein was available in Chinese restaurants, although now it usually is not. It took place outside, so the sound quality isn’t perfect, and Winston powered through and really didn’t need any prompts from me. It is still worth the listen, especially if you care about yaka mein.

Winston Ho

Bella McDow grew up in America and in El Salvador. She is living in New Orleans these days and exploring her roots through baking. She is resolving the various tugs from different cultures by baking. She is learning the business through a special program and popup. Her company is SemitaMamita. I have eaten her semitas, and they are delicious.

She is just starting on her adult path in life, and she is off to a very culinary and very tasty start. The pastries are El Salvador, but fillings are distinctly New Orleans. 2 cultures in a well-balanced blend. Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Recreating her mother’s table inspired Melissa M. Martin to create the Mosquito Supper Club in New Orleans. Her first book, Mosquito Supper Club, reflected the recipes from her mother’s table. But Bayou: Feasting Through the Seasons of a Cajun Life, goes beyond those recipes. And the Mosquito Supper Club is expanding as other plans are unfolding. Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Olia Hercules has made a profound journey to the comforts of food. This episode from 2022 seems so apt today, that I am offering it again. Even if you have heard it before, you will hear new things in a second listening. Hercules is a Ukrainian journalist who has also lived in Cyprus and Italy and now England. She describes the comfort of food as a reminder of home and as a way to establish home. Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Marilee Bramhall and I discuss women vintners in France and Italy and her company, Iola Wines. We talk about the nuances of natural wines and simply the joy of wine at the table. Have you tasted natural wine? Do you only like big, bold wines or do you enjoy wine with food that is very specific to place? Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Be sure to look at her events and her wine club.

How to stay grounded in the world. How to remain connected to others. How to remain in the now when performing everyday tasks. We talk about this with Misty Bell Stiers and her new book, Light, Fire, and Abundance: Harness the Power of Food & Mindful Cooking to Nourish the Body & Soul.

Learn more about Misty, including other writing, by visiting her website.

Food has been used as a metaphor for sex and sexual attraction in many a song and play and movie. But in poetry it can mean even more. Andy Young uses food, and fruit in particular, in her poems.

Her newest collection is Museum of the Soon to Depart, published by Carnegie Mellon University Press. She is also a translator and teacher. We talk about and listen to her poems. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

I thought that you would enjoy this encore release from Julia Skinner.

Julia is doing so much - combining art, nature, and food - that it is good to be reminded how grounded she is. Listen to hear about all that she is doing making a life for herself in food and in other areas that interest her.