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

If you consider getting dinner on the table intimidating, or a chore, or sometimes you’re just too busy, Rachel Farnsworth offers a world of advice for saving money and cooking quickly. No meal planning for you. No making a grocery list for you. She does it for you, with a great depth of other resources on her website.

You can sign up for Cheap Eats and get an email with a weekly menu and shipping lists. This is not something you pay for. It is for you. And whether you use it all or in part, it can be quite a time and money saver.

We talk to Rachel about her website and her helpful ideas. Listen, it’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Listen here, on Heritage Radio Network, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

What do you do when you have allergies or special food preferences or restrictions? Can you eat out or must you prepare everything yourself? Can you trust the restaurant? That is where Foodini comes in. We speak with Dylan McDonnell, one of the company’s founders, about the solutions to these issues that Foodini addresses.

Listen! It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Ed Mitchell is the name that comes to mind when anyone says North Carolina barbecue. This is an encore broadcast of our podcast about his book, Ed Mitchell’s Barbecue.

The book was written by the pitmasters Ed and Ryan Mitchell with Zella Palmer.. In the book they tell their story. On the podcast we learn the story of the book as well as the journey into the 21st century.

Listen! It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

I don’t keep a gratitude journal of all of the wonderful and joyous things I experience every day. Tamar Adler does. And her new book, Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day, reveals her moments of awe and gratitude in the kitchen. Tamar is the award-winning author of An Everlasting Meal. (She was awarded by both the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals.)

She has cooked at Chez Panisse, Farm 255, and Prune. Formerly she was a New York Times Magazine columnist and a contributing editor at Vogue Magazine.

Her newsletter, The Kitchen Shrink, is on Substack.

Worried about the high price of food these days? Many people are feeling the pinch of grocery store prices these days. Carol Ann Kates has written a book , Grocery Shopping Secrets, filled with tips on buying and storing and using that food. The book covers fruits and vegetables and meats and fish and cheese. Everything in the grocery.

I am thrilled that the book has a wonderful index which makes it easy to find the answers to your questions. Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

This is a reference book that covers so many different foods. It covers seasonal foods all year round.