The restaurant industry is hard. Margins are tight. Costs always threaten to become out of control. The workers work nonstop in a stressful environment, whether front of house or back of house. They aren’t highly paid. And the stress may take its toll. And in addition to the mental health issues facing restaurant workers, the economy and the whims of weather, politics, and what’s hip, make job security precarious. But it is out of your control. What do you do when you cannot stand the stress or pay your bills? You can call Southern Smoke for assistance. Southern Smoke is a 501(c) (3) organization which supports restaurant workers.

We talk to Southern Smoke Foundation founders, Lindsey Brown and Chris Shepherd.

Lindsey Brown is a former marketing and communications expert who is now Executive Director of Southern Smoke.

Chris Shepherd is a James Beard Foundation award-winning chef and entrepreneur and tv personality.

You can listen to more about Southern Smoke from Kat Bill at Tip of the Tongue Episode 295: Southern Smoke.

What does a young man with undiagnosed ADHD and dysexia do with his life? With the help of loving parents Bobby Stuckey is a founder of the James Beard Foundation award and Michelin-starred Frasca Hospitality Group. He is also a master sommelier and cookbook author. He is a long-distance runner. He is a man who has embraced the hospitality industry and been rewarded for it. We talk about his journey and his work. Listen! It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

For those who hate vegetables, those pesky green things on your plate can be more than a nuisance. They are turn you off to even the best of food. Heidi Herman is such a person, trying to be healthy and eat her veggies despite hating the taste of vegetables. She grew with an Icelandic mother who found the array of vegetables available in the US to be not only perplexing, but a disappointment.

Now she is trying to make vegetables palatable to the vegetable averse. And she is trying to reach adults, not just children. Her book, Hidden Vegetables Cookbook: 90 Tasty Recipes for Vegetable-Averse Adults, is full of recipes for those who share her aversion. And I can attest to the fact that her recipes are delicious even to the vegetable lover.

Listen! It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Heidi Herman