Poppy Tooker

Is a career in food the right choice for you? On this week’s show, we’re exploring culinary careers from all angles. We begin by looking at two educational food programs in New Orleans. First, we’ll meet members of the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute’s first graduating class along with their instructor, Chef Alison Vines-Rushing. NOCHI offers a fast track into professional kitchens, awarding a professional degree in just 100 days.

Since 2015, Louisiana Eats has called the Southern Food and Beverage Museum home. Now in its eleventh year, SoFAB showcases culinary highlights of 15 Southern states and Washington D.C. It's more than just a museum, though. It’s also an active part of New Orleans' food and beverage world, with a state-of-the-art kitchen where cooking classes are regularly held and budding entrepreneurs try their hand at launching new food businesses.

Cuba and New Orleans are tied together in many ways, from our Creole flavors to our laid back attitude – but maybe most of all, in our music. Later in this episode we’ll meet veteran travel agent Alina Fernández. She's a Cuba native and president of Cuba Travel New Orleans, a company that specializes in organizing legal trips to Cuba. She helps explain the new travel restrictions and tells us about the trip she's organized for the Havana Jazz Festival in January 2020 (cubaneworleans.com)  Back in December of 2015, Louisiana Eats host Poppy Tooker had the opportunity to join the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on their landmark visit to Cuba for the Havana Jazz Festival. Over the course of a week there, Poppy took excursions into the countryside to learn about tobacco production and the art of cigar making, dined in delicious paladares, and toured markets and organic farms.

The humble little honey bee is one of the most important players in our ecosystem. On this week’s show, we circle the globe in pursuit of a honey of a tale. We begin right here in our own backyard at the Audubon Zoo. While more exotic creatures may be what draw the crowds, both native and European honey bees can be found bumbling around the zoo's grounds. Curator Dominique Fleitas gives us a tour of the Pollinator Garden and shows us the hives she helps maintain in the Louisiana Swamp Exhibit.

On this week’s show, we speak with three James Beard Award-winners to explore the history and culture of African American cooking and learn how African flavors are inspiring new dishes today.

Whether your dietary concerns are based on weight loss, muscle gain, or heart health, there's so much information and professional advice out there that it's hard to know who to believe or what to eat. On this week's show, we hear from the experts on everything from the current diet du jour, keto, to omega-3 supplements.

On this week's show, we meet some people who are working hard to make your weekend brunch an unforgettable experience. We begin with Jennifer Weishaupt, founder and CEO of the Ruby Slipper Restaurant Group. The Ruby Slipper Café has prospered and multiplied in a way that Jennifer and her husband Eric could never have anticipated when they opened their very first Mid City location in 2008. She tells us about her ever-expanding breakfast and brunch empire, now serving hungry diners in locations across four states.