The, the couple with the golden touch, Andrew Dana and Dani Moreira, co-owners of nationally-hailed Timber Pizza and Call Your Mother bagel/deli shop, talk about how instinct and hard work shot both those concepts to the top of the industry in such a short time.

Join us!

Joining us on today’s show are three of the many who have helped to elevate DC’s dining rep to global status: Kathy Hollinger, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), Christianne Ricchi, chef/owner of DC’s legendary i Ricchi, and Grace Shea, a member of the family team that owns and operates the ultra-successful Lebanese Taverna restaurants. They’re talking the growth and blossoming of the regional dining out industry; challenges and opportunities facing its continued expansion and evolution and, of course, the RAMMYs, RAMW’s annual, “Oscars” gala celebrating the best of the best for 2019.

Join us!

First, Terry "TK" Harvey comes to us from Meridian, a diplomatic and global leadership institution that strengthens U.S. engagement with the world and accelerates collaboration through the exchange of leaders, ideas and culture. TK has worked with over 20 countries and to build sustainable relationships and connections across the diplomatic, government, and cultural sectors.

Next, Dana al Marashi, manager of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, speaks to us about the rich cultural heritage of the UAE, especially Emirati art. Under her direction, the Embassy of the UAE has arranged diplomacy programs through sports and the arts, working to highlight shared values between the UAE and United States.

Then, we can hardly sit still as Junious "House" Brickhouse, the Director of Next Level Dance Company, enlightens us about how he uses Hip Hop music and dance as international cultural exchange, how it facilitates conflict transformation programming, and nurtures entrepreneurial skill-building.

Finally, Jay Raman is currently assigned to Washington, DC as director of the Cultural Programs Division in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He is responsible for the State Department's global performing arts, visual arts, film, and humanities exchanges. He emphasizes to us the value of government investment in cultural diplomacy.

It is our distinct honor to bring together so many cultural figures with such beautiful and unique stories to tell. You won't want to miss it!

Nate has also been a producer and filmmaker with What Took You So Long since 2012 after working for TED and spending his earlier career as an entrepreneur in the technology and software industries. He has recently led film productions in Somalia, Haiti, Colombia, Panama, Uganda, Kenya, Iraq, and Liberia, working with clients such as UN Women, USAID, UNDP, and the World Bank, along with smaller NGOs. Nate has traveled throughout Africa with President Clinton, and was selected as a Gates Foundation “Change Hero”. In 2015, he completed a documentary on Haiti with world-renowned chef José Andrés, which he co-produced with National Geographic and PBS.

With all that to Nate’s credit, we knew that his multidimensional talents and pursuits would make for an engrossing hour of radio – and, they did!

Tune in to hear more!

Thomas opened Jack Rose in 2011, but he has been in the whisk(e)y & bar business for more than 20 years.
Considered one of the foremost authorities on whiskey in the United States, Thomas is often featured on judging panels, in whisk(e)y history documentaries and leading tastings across the country. Thomas is also an avid personal collector, with more than 6,000 bottles in his private collection.

Thomas is soon opening up a new restaurant and bar, The Imperial, in Washington, DC in mid-2019, and, since Foodie and the Beast are about to head for a week in Scotland, we thought it the prefect time to discuss whisky, whiskey and all of Bill’s endeavors with the man himself!

Cheers!"

One such issue is the impact and legacy of the Stonewall riots, also called Stonewall uprising, were a series of violent confrontations, between police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. The riots began in the early hours of June 28, 1969 and, as they progressed, an international gay rights movement was born.

Today on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast, we remember and honor Stonewall and what those turbulent days started and produced with several guests involved with celebrating and marking the riots’ 50th anniversary, including:

Sultan Shakir, executive director of SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders), an organization supporting and empowering LGBTQ youth in the DC area
Stephen Rutgers, director of sales and marketing for the Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest, LGBT newspaper, who is responsible for implementing the paper’s marketing, such as the Pride Pils can contest and Best of Gay DC Awards; graphic designer
Brandon Skall, CEO & Co-Founder, DC Brau Brewing Co. - This is the 3rd year DC Brau & The Blade have partnered to design specially wrapped cans for Capitol Pride
Graphic designer Maggie Dougherty, label designer for DC Brau’s 2019 Capitol Pride Pilsner
Christy Wallover, the Newseum’s exhibit writer, in to discuss the museum’s commemorative, Stonewall exhibit.

Join us for a fascinating, roundtable discussion.

Joining is are Spanish winemaker Ivan Lopez and legendary, DC restaurateurs, Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray. Ivan and his wife live in the shadow of the Pyrenees where they lovingly grow some of Spain’s most heralded grapes. Their Bodegas Claudalia wines are prized for their dedication to traditional winemaking and distinctive tastes and structures. And Ellen and Todd are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the opening of their signature, downtown DC restaurant, Equinox, that has led the way on tastes and food movements for these past, two decades. Equinox was among the first restaurants to focus on sourcing only sustainable foods and humanely raised animals. Today, the focus is on their newest program, “Not Wasted” – that is, not wasting any aspect of foods, including using technology from Cuisine Solutions (the world leader in sous vide techniques) to ensure that the excellent nutrition and tastes to be derived from vegetable cuttings (e.g., carrot stems, mushroom stems etc.) that in past have just been thrown away, have viable and delicious uses. Think of it as “snout to tail” for veggies!

Join us for two fascinating discussions!

The answer for you may be EMP 180, as it is for Industry Night host, David Nellis. Join him and his wife and EMP 180’s founders, nutritionists and other clients with real world weight loss and health benefits stories. Learn about the program, how it works, what you eat, health benefits and how it can change your food relationships for the better.

As well as being Blue Duck Tavern’s tea specialist, Christian is a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, so he is able to offer pithy parallels between the farming and production of wines and teas. Even better, he delivers incredible knowledge into the origins and history of tea varieties (Remember that all tea comes from the same plant and leaf – production techniques are what deliver such a range of tea types) and had tons to offer about the tastes and health benefits of the more than 30 varieties he serves at Blue Duck’s unique Tea Cellar, a one-of-a-kind, tea-centric experience here in DC.

Join us for a spot of tea, won’t you?

So, representatives of the Napa Valley Vintners Association were in DC , and we snared several for a deep dive into the association’s mission history, but also into the history and world of Napa Valley wine growing and, of course, some Napa Valley wines tastings! Joining us were Rex Stults, Senior Director of Industry Relations for the Napa Valley Vintners; Dawnine Dyer, Partner, Dyer Vineyard, a real-deal, longtime Napa Valley winemaker who spent 25 years as Winemaker at Domaine Chandon and a partner in the award-winning, Meteor Vineyard and Emma Swain, CEO at St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery: Emma Swain, CSW and CEO of St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery who also serves as the Board Chair for the Wine Market Council and is a board member of the Napa Valley Vintners.

If you’re serious about wine – or even if you not – this is a roundtable discussion not to be missed!

Cheers!

First, meet AJ Dronkers, a certifiable, DC “man about town.’ As associate publisher and digital editor of EdibleDC Magazine, he’s full of inside knowledge about the local food scene, especially when it comes to the regional bounty and diversity of foods to eb found at our many, local, farmers’ markets. But, he’s also an accomplished exercise devotee(make that, “maniac”) and night owl who’s got lots to tell about the single life in DC. You’ll want to hear what he has to say.

We also are joined by Sadie Kurzban, If the name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, the name of her booming business – 305 Fitness – surely will. At 29, Sadie already stands atop a booming, new wave of studios in DC, New York and Boston (and more on the way), featuring non-stop, dance-cardio workouts with live DJs and rhythmic light show. You dance, you sweat like crazy, you get fit and you have a blast at every workout. Sadie’s a ball of fire and a ball of energy, and you’re def going to want to hear how this savvy, Brown grad and entrepreneur got it going.

Join us!

First, Kiko Bourne hosts Lunch Agenda, a food systems education podcast right here on Full Service Radio. She’s also the Cooking & Gardening Teacher for kids at Mundo Verde, DC’s first “green” public charter school, and we’ll chat with her about her good works teaching kids about … good foods! Previously, she was head of marketing for the Capital Area Food Bank and marketing director for San Francisco’s Bi-Rite Market.

Justin Severino is a four-time James Beard Foundation award nominee for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic and a 2015 and 2014 winner of FOOD & WINE’s “The People’s Best New Chef Mid-Atlantic” and chef/co-owner of Cure, a neighborhood restaurant in Pittsburgh dedicated to local sourcing and seasonal cooking with an urban-Mediterranean influence, and nearby Morcilla, an award-winning Spanish restaurant serving pintxos and family-style dishes. His new spot, The Larder at Larimer, a collaboration with Scott Smith at East End Brewing Company, will open in early 2019.

Severino is a great interview. He’s a skilled whole animal butcher who brings an extensive charcuterie program and flavors of an Italian-American upbringing to his menu. In 2012, Cure was named one of the “Top 50 Best New Restaurants” by Bon Appétit magazine, so you know he’s quite a chef! Since opening, Morcilla has been chosen by Pittsburgh Magazine as the “2016 Best New Restaurant.” Bon Appétit ranked it #4 in the country in the annual “Best New Restaurants” issue, and it was nominated for a 2016 James Beard Foundation award in the “Best New Restaurants” category.

Tonight, we tackle subjects of consuming interest: The cosmetics industry and the products it manufactures. What’s in what they tell us? How do cosmetics products work? Aer the ingredients good for – or harmful to - our skin?

Most people don’t think about their skin as one of their body’s essential organs, but it is. And men and women alike use all sorts of product and slather all sorts of “stuff” on their Faces and bodies to look and feel better.

What’s in all that stuff, why and what does it really do?

In with us today are Melanie Benesch a legislative attorney with the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an activist group specializing in research and advocacy in the areas of agricultural subsidies, toxic chemicals, drinking water pollutants and corporate accountability. With her is Carla Burns, and EWG research analyst with a focus on cosmetics and personal care products.

Join us!

A case in point: DC’s Tudor Place, originally founded by Thomas and Martha Peter. Ardent Federalists, they hosted politicians of that persuasion at Tudor Place in the early 19th century (They were so patriotic, they named their daughters Columbia, America, and Britannia). At Tudor Place, one was likely to come across tipsy congressmen getting intoxicated on apple toddy served from a Mount Vernon punch bowl; BBQ, early 19th Century-style (Tudor Place has one of the earliest extant smokehouses remaining in the District (1795); vintage Madeira (Tudor House has on display several bottles of historic alcohol in the Tudor Place collection including bottles of Madeira wine from the 1840s; early 19th Century, “Farm to Table” practices and … much more!

Joining us on the show is Grant Quertermous, curator at Tudor Place Historic House & Garden and former assistant curator of collections at James Madison's Montpelier. Grant offers an instructive look back at 19th Century hospitality, Peters Family-style, and also clues us and you into how you can visit Tudor Place and attend their Landmark lecture series, other members-only Events, Tudor Nights and Behind the Scene Tours and other family events.

Enjoy!

Schindler’s basic thesis is that our bodies are pretty much the same as they were when humans first walked upright and that we’re designed to operate no differently than our ancestors did, when it comes to utilizing prehistoric and traditional technologies (tools), especially as they relate to food acquisition, processing, storage, and consumption. He believes that the better understanding of prehistoric life made possible through the archaeological record and a practical understanding of the technologies that created it can contextualize our place in the world and help provide answers to many of the issues facing us today, especially when it comes to our diet.

He’s a huge, proactive advocate of traditional foodways and constantly seeks new ways to incorporate lessons learned from his research into the diets of modern humans. His outlook on food has revolutionized the way in which he and his family eat and he attributes much of the health his wife and three children enjoy to the nutrient dense hunted, gathered, and fermented foods that comprise a significant portion of their diets.

This was a truly mind-blowing interview – join us to get your own mind blown and some good advice for how to start eating like a human again!

We first met Scott and Becky in 2009, when our broadcast, food and wine variety show, Foodie and the Beast, only recently had launched and when Scott and Becky we just brewing their first batches of rye. Now 10 years later, Catoctin Creek, the first legal distillery in Loudoun County, VA since before Prohibition, produces Virginia's most awarded whisky, Roundstone Rye, and Scott and Becky are on the show to talk about the trials, tribulations and soaring success they’ve experienced.

Extra-interesting point: Becky Harris is the distillery’s chief distiller – not too many women play with that title in what is traditionally a boys’ sandbox. So listen in to hear what it took for this chemist-turned-distiller to create Virginia’s most successful rye whisky.

Among Virginia’s most prominent wine producers is Tarara, located in Loudoun County. For 30 years this year, Tarara has produced exceptional wines from its own grapes and those of neighboring vineyards. And for the past 12 years, Tarara’s award-winning winemaker has been Canadian Jordan Harris (Canadian? Yup! They make wine there, too!).

Jordan is in with us on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast with tastes and talk of his path from “What am I gonna do with my life?” high school kid to celebrated winemaker; Tarara’s exceptional varietals, and if how, as winemaker, he and his farm are responding to and learning to work around climate change that, for example, brought record-setting amounts of rain to Northern Virginia last year.

It’s a fascinating and (for us!) tasty show. Join us!

Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast host Gladys Abi-Najm, Grace Abi-Najm Shea and their brother, Dany for a deep dive into the story and the glory of DC’s fabulous, Lebanese Taverna. Launched by their dad and his kids, it started as a one-stop, suburban pizza and sub shop in the ‘70s and has grown into an 11-restaurant chain stretching across DC, Maryland and Virginia with more coming. And, on the way to today’s success, Lebanese Taverna brought Mediterranean cuisine center stage in the DC area and helped make “hummus,” “kibbeh” and “labneh” household words and refrigerator “must haves.”

Join us for a deep dive into the Lebanese Taverna success story and to live vicariously as we taste some truly awesome, Lebanese wines!

Noel Brockett, a lover of all things Georgian and the man in charge at Georgian Wine House, a Maryland-based import company founded by Georgian wine enthusiasts in 2005, joins us with tastes and talk of Georgian wine culture, its over 500 indigenous grape varieties and both its ancient qvevri (pronounced, “k-vevri”) skin-contact and modern wine-making techniques.

Join us!

Our guest is Ran Nussbacher, cofounder of Shouk: Voted Washington D.C.'s Best Fast Casual Restaurant, Shouk’s healthy, Israeli-inspired fare has a huge following, because Shouk’s food is not just flavorful, it’s also world-changing. Convinced that eliminating animals from our plates is the only sustainable way forward, Ran and his team have set out to change our eating habits, one pita at a time. Having been inspired by the markets and lively food of his native Israel, Ran and Shouk are getting us to eat our veggies, and love it.

Tune in to find out how Ran and Shouk plan to change how we eat, by making plant-based food that people crave!

Phil is an attorney, writer and cocktail historian and a founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans who manages the Museum’s D.C. cocktail seminar program. He has presented at events such as Tales of the Cocktail (since 2004), the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, San Antonio Cocktail Conference, Arizona Cocktail Week, Miami Rum Renaissance, the International Rum Festival, and many others. He has also presented multiple times for Smithsonian Associates in Washington, D.C., and has done events for the Washington Shakespeare Theatre, the Hemingway Society, the International F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, the University of Louisville Cocktail Conference, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and many other notable institutions.

In particular, Phil is an authority on the life and favorite drinks of Ernest Hemingway, and has presented on this topic before the Smithsonian and Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at the Hemingway Home in Key West, in New Orleans, and elsewhere around the world. His book, To Have and Have Another – A Hemingway Cocktail Companion, (Penguin Press, 2012, 2d Ed. 2015), has received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post (twice, in 2012 and again in 2015), Chicago Tribune, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, Garden & Gun, Kirkus Reviews, HuffingtonPost.com, and many others, and remains a best seller in several categories.

Phil’s second book, The Manhattan: The Story of the First Modern Cocktail (with recipes) was published in 2016, by Sterling Epicure. Phil is also a contributing author for the Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails to be published in 2019, and is a contributing columnist for The Daily Beast.

JUST PUBLISHED – His newest book, A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris, is a look at the amazing era of Paris during that amazing decade, through the lens of the cocktails that were enjoyed by the writers, painters, poets, dancers, musicians, and other artists who flocked to Paris during the 1920s. 50+ authentic and easy to make recipes, anecdotes, excerpts, vintage ads and photos

It's a great listen – plus, we’re drinking a lot of cocktails, so you can enjoy them , too, albeit vicariously!Paris during the 1920s. 50+ authentic and easy to make recipes, anecdotes, excerpts, vintage ads and photos

But Bulgaria?

You bet. In fact, it is arguably true that winemaking was invented in what now is Bulgaria 6000 years ago. And today, some of the world’s finest – and best priced – reds, whites and rosés come from Bulgaria’s Thracian Valley. To learn more about that, our guest, G&B Wine Importers’ CEO Robert Hayk, will get you as close as you can get to a wine tasting on the radio. He’ll also offer fascinating primer on the terroir that produces these unique wines, their varied taste profiles, how they are produced and about where to find them at truly amazing prices in restaurants and wine stores across Greater DC.

It all happens right here, on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast!

Наздраве! (Cheers! in Bulgarian)

Yet, every night, millions of kids go to bed hungry. Debbie Shore, co-founder of Share Our Strength, leads an organization that has raised millions to feed millions across the past several decades. She hasn’t done it alone. Among those helping her are some of the nation’s top chefs, who give of their time, talents and resources to help fight child hunger in America.

Debbie Shore joins us tonight on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast, along with Top Chef alum and award-winning chef, Bryan Voltaggio of Volt and Family Meal.

Joining us are Devora Kimelman-Block, Founder & CEO of KOL Foods meat; Emily Landsman, who handles marketing and operations for KOL Foods and KOL’s media relations specialist, Zoe Schaeffer, from the Rodale Institute, to discuss a range of topics, including:

KOL’s and Rodale’s 411s
Grass-fed meat, pastured poultry (turkey/heritage chicken). What do the terms mean?

How and why is grass-fed better for animals. What about grain?

What makes grass-fed meat healthier for people?

What makes meat kosher?

Regenerative agriculture. A net-positive return on the environment. What is it? How does it work?

Fair labor practices. Worker fairness and farmer crisis –
Food certifications – organic, regenerative. What do they mean for small farms, big farms?
Problems with labeling and usage of terms, little real regulation means some companies can skirt the truth. (“Natural” and “grass finished” for example.)
Why do people think regenerative and organic systems are better for the planet? Does it really heal the earth?
Can regenerative/organic scale up to save agriculture? Save the world?

Join us!

That said, we thought we’d go back to craft brewing’s roots and take a deep dive into the subject with folks who came from and know the homebrewing scene cold. Joining us on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast are:

President Michael Stein and CEO Peter Jones OF Lost Lagers, the premier beverage research firm in D.C. Michael and Pewter help us experience history through beer, recreating extinct ales and lost lagers with some of the best breweries in the country and teaching homebrew classes at The Hill Center in Southeast DC. Michael has served his historic beers at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Food History Program and serves as beer historian at DC Brau Brewing Company, LLC, the first production brewery in DC since 1956. Peter is a certified beer judge, and longtime homebrewer who also is Education Chair for the DC Homebrewers Club, Peter has taught a variety of topics and techniques for brewing novices through experts.

Also joining in is Sara Bondioli, current president of the DC Homebrewers club and a co-founder of the club's women's brewing group, HOPS.

The conversation is scintillating, as always, and the homebrews we taste are beyond good. Listen in!!!

Home to Julia Child’s kitchen, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will host its fourth annual, Food History Weekend, November 1-3, 2018 —it’s a multifaceted festival consisting of four distinct events. Culinary leaders, researchers, practitioners, and scholars will inspire museum visitors to understand the history of food in America and the role we all play, individually and collectively, in shaping the future of food.

Across three days, Smithsonian’s Food History Weekend will explore the history and changing dynamics of regional food cultures in the United States. How have regional foodways expressed their place? Who and what shape regional identities? How are new ideas about regions reviving, shaping, and reshaping food in America. Participants for the 2018 weekend include Aarón Sánchez, Jessica Harris, Edouardo Jordan, Sean Sherman, William Cronon, Janice Marshall and many more! Events and activities include cooking demonstrations, hands-on learning, dynamic conversations, and Smithsonian collections, a black-tie gala, dance performances and last, but hardly least … beer history!

Join us and our guest from the Smithsonian, Paula Johnson, a curator responsible for the food technology and marine resources collections and is the project director and co-curator for the exhibition, “FOOD: Transforming the American Table, 1950-2000.” Theresa McCulla, a noted historian dedicated to the American Brewing History Initiative at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and Ashley Rose Young, food historian at the National Museum of American History where she is the program developer and host of “Cooking Up History, ” a monthly cooking demonstration featuring a guest chef.

Tonight on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast, join us and our guest, celebrated chef and restaurateur Mike Friedman, of DC’s equally as celebrated Red Hen and All-Purpose restaurants.

Yes, we talk about Mike’s background. Yes, we delve into the origins and nexus points of Italian and Jewish cuisine (and their true, geographical nexus point: New Jersey!), but we’re also tasting some of Mike’s finest dishes, and, well, for us, that’s almost as much fun as talking with Mike. Almost. OK, pretty close!

Have a listen!

Founded in 2004, Cheesetique is a leader in driving accessibility to cheeses that are both rare and delish. Jill joins us today with tastes and talk of the wonderful world of cheese.

Named 2015 Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) and selected as a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic award in 2016, Vic is no newcomer to success. Albisu’s first restaurant, Del Campo, was an upscale South American grill in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. In 2013, it was named a Best New Restaurant by Esquire magazine. In 2014, Washingtonian magazine called Del Campo “Washington’s best steakhouse.” Before pursing independent ventures, Albisu served as celebrity chef Laurant Tourondel’s executive chef at BLT Steak in downtown D.C. While at the helm, Albisu cooked for President and Mrs. Obama and led the restaurant to earn several accolades, including RAMW's Power Spot of the Year in 2012.

Outside the kitchen, Albisu is a member of the American Chef Corps, a network of chefs who serve as resources to the Department of State. In 2015, Albisu competed on Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay and bested the host and grill master with his signature dish, steak & eggs. Albisu has appeared as a guest judge on Telemundo’s Top Chef Estrellas and the FOX TV series Hell’s Kitchen.

Join us for a truly delicious conversation with one of DC’s – and America’s – great chefs: Victor Albisu.

Danny and Scott join us to talk about Chi-Ko’s origins, its inner workings viz a viz a “regular restaurant, growing the concept to take on both coasts and about their newest concept, Anju.

Enjoy!

Our guests today for a special edition of Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast were Michael Ellis, International Director of the Michelin Guide

And Kyley McGeeney of Mission Michelin, who actually dined in all 110 restaurants honored in the 2017 Michelin Guide.

And … we picked up a delicious scoop: Patrick O’Connell, famed chef/owner of The Inn at Little Washington, who is celebrating his and the Inn’s 40th anniversary this year, has something more to celebrate – The Inn at Little Washington’s third Michelin star! – putting it in VERY prestigious company, among the few restaurants in the US and around the world with that coveted third star, the highest honor bestowed by Michelin on the world’s great restaurants.

Join us to hear all about it!

Mitch is a trailblazing food entrepreneur who introduced the East Coast to Haagen Dazs ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s, Dove Bars and more in the ‘70s. And Mitch and Debra are founders of what now are four, Central Farm Markets located in suburban Maryland and Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. Debra and Mitch’s mission is to provide a professionally managed community venue, where customers can purchase high quality, locally grown fresh and prepared food, and to support agricultural innovation, green practices and sustainability. Each market supports its local community with activities, events, food donations and programming that help to educate, give back and fight hunger.

But wait … there’s more. Mitch and Debra also are founders and owners of MeatCrafters, salamis, cured meats and sausages made for charcuterie lovers everywhere. MeatCrafters skinny salamis are especially popular (They’re low card, low calorie and high in taste!) and can be found, along with their other products, at stores like Whole Foods.

Their story – and the many good deeds they do to help feed the area’s most needy – are a great listen! Join us!

Set in the rolling Appalachian, their farm is home to a pampered flock of sheep and lambs that frolic and nibble in fields of bluegrass, white clover, wild flowers and seasonal grass pastures, while munching on free-choice hay bales throughout the winter months. Why’s that matter? Because their 100% natural diet and free-range lifestyle yield meat that is lean, firm, tender, delicate and pink, free of hormones, antibiotics, herbicides and insecticides. And meat that is prized by some of the most famous chefs in the world, past and present. In fact, John and Sukey reach jump-started their business by meeting the exacting standards of the Watergate Hotel’s legendary, Chef Jean-Louis Palladin, and they’ve been on a roll ever since, working with renowned chefs such as Dan Barber at Blue Hill, William Telepan of Telepan and Annie Quatrano of Baccanahlia in Atlanta.

A very talented cook herself, Sukey Jamison has created a line of hand-prepared lamb dishes, which include a Lamb Stew created in collaboration with the late, great Jean-Louis Palladin and Sukey's award-winning Lamb Pie.

Don't be sheepish about joining us for this scintillating hour of conversation with two of America’s eminent sheep farmers.

Also in with Allison is Christopher Peli, a CORE Job Captain. While at CORE, Christopher is involved in many diverse project types from hospitality to urban design, renovation and new construction. He is currently pursuing his architectural license.

Today we’re talking about design trends … DC’s emerging neighborhoods …. CORE’s work at DC’s fabulous new Wharf … what goes into working with developers and creative people – chef/owners and restaurateurs, that is – to understand their wants, needs and visions for new spaces and then to translate all that into seamlessly flowing, innovative interiors that augment and compliment the vision, the menu and more.

Our guests include Lauren Shweder Biel of DC Greens, which uses the levers of food education, food access, and food policy to advance food justice in the nation’s capital;

Beverley Wheeler of DC Hunger Solutions, which seeks to create a hunger-free community and improve the nutrition, health, economic security and well being of low-income, DC residents, and Philip Sambol of

Good Food Markets, a mission-driven grocery dedicated to developing retail solutions that work in, and for, food desert communities.

In with us today from Cuisine Solutions to with tastes and talk of sous vide and Cuisine Solutions are Chef Delian DiPietro and Chef Consultant AJ Schaller.

Our guests today on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast just prior to the event included a cultural mélange of fascinating participants from Bangladesh, Ghana and the Philippines.

In tonight with Foodie and the Beast are Sarah Van Dell, founder/CEO of Plum Relish, a D.C.-based hospitality-tech startup inspired by Sarah’s years of dreading the "sad desk lunch,” and Kingsley Onyechi, the company's director of partner services and operations. Listen in on a great chat that ranges from entrepreneurship to standing up a new catering model to … huge success and big investors, all the while delivering delicious food to quality-starved office workers.

Tonight’s show features nothing less than the Legends of Wine: La Caravelle Champagne’s Rita Jammet and Maison Joseph Drouhin’s Laurent Drouhin, the founder’s grandson and Director of Sales for the winemaker’s U.S. and Caribbean Markets. Both are world-class, world-renowned winemakers whose vintages are prized for their subtle boldness, their rich flavors and their award-winning, universal appeal.

Join us for tastes and talk of some of the world’s finest wines with two of the world’s leading winemakers, only on Industry Night with Foodie and the Beast.

Also joining us is renowned winemaker Jean Claude Riefle, the proprietor of the Grand Cru Steinert vineyard, overlooking the village of Pfaffenheim in northeastern France. Six generations have built the family's winemaking tradition since it began in 1850, and Steinert’s wines are prized the world over for their distinctive, refined tastes.

Together, we’re taking a deep dive into how urban food desserts (meaning the closest grocery store is several miles away, and residents’ only nearby shopping options are convenience stores that don’t carry any fresh produce or other, good-for-you-foods) can be transformed into productive, economically successful urban farms, year-round!

RAMW has a lot of “hot button” issues on the table, ranging from the upcoming RAMMY Awards gala in June (RAMW’s version of the Oscars, honoring the local industry’s top restaurants, chefs, staff, vendors and more) all the way to Initiative 77, DC’s highly controversial plan to scrap tipping and raise restaurant workers’ minimum wages. Sounds like a good idea, but … many in the restaurant industry, from owners down to staff, are opposed to it for some very good reasons that make cents. (Yes, we spel