The Zest

WUSF
WUSF
  • 4.5 (10)
  • Arts
  • Updated Weekly

Because it’s strange and beautiful and hot, people from everywhere converge on Florida and they bring their cuisine and their traditions with them. The Zest celebrates the intersection of food and communities in the Sunshine State.

  1. 3d ago ·  Bonus

    Car to Table: Meet Tampa's 'Hoodbachi God' (from The Bay Blend)

    The Zest has been nominated for best podcast. Vote now! Our colleague Sky Lebron introduces us to Steve Smith, a.k.a. the Hoodbachi God. Hear how Smith turns the trunk of his car into a hibachi dining experience.  Thanks to our pals at The Bay Blend for sharing this conversation.

  2. Jul 16 ·  Bonus

    Robin Greenfield Is Foraging All of His Food for a Year (from The Bay Blend)

    Rate and review The Zest wherever you're listening to this episode! Our colleague Gabriella Paul catches up with environmental activist and friend of the pod Robin Greenfield. Find out why he's once again sworn off grocery stores and what he's eating instead. Thanks to our pals at The Bay Blend for sharing this conversation. The feature is introduced by Susan Giles Wantuck.

  3. Jul 9 ·  Bonus

    Where Are They Now? Chef René Valenzuela of René's Mexican Kitchen

    This summer, we're checking in with some past Zest guests.  René Valenzuela is the founder and former owner of the popular local chain Taco Bus. He owned several restaurants in his native Monterrey, Mexico, before moving to the United States in 1995. In 2018, Chef René was badly burned and nearly died after a gas explosion in his food truck.  Chef René chatted with The Zest’s original host, Robin Sussingham, in 2020. And in June 2026, host Dalia caught up with him at a picnic table at his René's Mexican Kitchen food trailer on Tampa’s bustling Nebraska Avenue, adjacent to Southern Brewing & Winery. Thanks to our friends at Florida Matters Live & Local for sharing this conversation.

  4. Jun 25 ·  Bonus

    Bonus: Join “Retro Recipes” Author Bobby Hicks and Dalia Colón at Tombolo Books

    “Retro food” can mean different things to different people. For today’s kids, it’s the Jell-O Pudding Pops and vintage Pizza Huts of their parents’ childhood. For Bobby Hicks, retro means tuna noodle casserole, chicken Kiev and gelatin rainbow cake—the food of his parents’ and grandparents’ heyday. But retro recipes are more than a list of ingredients. They’re a feeling. During the pandemic, Hicks shared this nostalgia with a growing number of social media followers who watched him make these sentimental dishes, providing a much-needed sense of comfort. And now he’s captured that feeling in a new cookbook. It’s called Retro Recipes: Vintage Dishes with a Modern Twist.  We caught up with Hicks, who grew up on a farm in Central Florida and now lives in South Florida. In this conversation, the content creator and self-taught private chef discusses how to modernize retro meals for the 21st century, staples of a vintage kitchen and which recipes should stay in the past. Want to hear more from Bobby? Catch him in conversation with Dalia at Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg on June 30. Get event details here.

  5. May 28

    Restauranteur Billy Dec Explores His Filipino Heritage in the PBS Documentary “Food Roots”

    When our elders pass away, too often their recipes die with them.  In recent years, this reality really began sinking in for actor and restaurateur Billy Dec. So Dec, the son of a white father and Filipina mother, decided to travel to the Philippines to find his last living maternal elders and learn his ancestral recipes. He brought along a film crew, and the result is the new PBS documentary Food Roots. We met up with Dec at Sunda Tampa, the Southeast Asian restaurant he owns in Tampa’s Midtown district. In this conversation, he discusses what his journey taught him about himself, his struggle to fit in as a “Waisian” kid growing up in Chicago and the rising popularity of Filipino cuisine.

  6. May 21

    Inside Tampa’s 5-Star Bar Scene with The Tampa Edition’s Nihat Çam

    A hotel bar is much more than a place to grab a drink while you’re on vacation or traveling for work. It’s about connection, relaxation and rituals as old as mankind. A really good hotel bar will even attract the locals.  That’s the case at The Tampa Edition, a five-star hotel located on downtown’s bustling Channelside Drive. Throughout the hotel’s bars and restaurants, service is as important as what’s in the glass. Ensuring that hospitality is the Tampa Edition’s director of bars, Nihat Çam. We sat down with Çam at the hotel’s Punch Room speakeasy. Over virgin hibiscus cocktails, he shares how his Turkish upbringing and global travels led him to this role. Çam also shares the latest trends in alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks and discusses the larger role that hotels play in society, as detailed in his book. It's called Bar Culture: Hospitality, Hotel Bars and Spirits.

  7. May 14

    Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters President Roberto Torres on the Grind Behind the Grind

    It’s not about the coffee. Owning a coffee shop is about connecting with people. So says Roberto Torres, president of Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters. What started as a local coffee concept has grown into a company with eight locations across Tampa, including a presence in Tampa International Airport. We met up with Torres at Blind Tiger’s Ybor City location. In this conversation, Torres shares his journey from being an accountant in his native Panama to owning one of Tampa Bay’s most revered local brands with his business partner, Luis Montanez. He also pushes back on the romanticized idea of owning a coffee shop and explains how entrepreneurship is like a classic video game.

  8. May 7

    Seminole Tribe Nutrition Coordinator Karen Two Shoes: From Diabetes to Dietitian

    How do you eat healthy when it feels like the system is set up for you to fail? For indigenous Floridians, it’s become especially challenging to eat the foods that sustained their ancestors for thousands of years. Having been pushed off of their land, given ultraprocessed government foods and finding their surroundings polluted, many members of Florida’s Seminole Tribe wrestle with lifestyle-related health issues. Karen Two Shoes knows this all too well. After being diagnosed with diabetes, she decided to make some changes. She lost 80 pounds and went back to school to become a registered dietitian.  Today, Two Shoes works as nutrition coordinator for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, helping her fellow community members reclaim their health by incorporating traditional Seminole practices into the 21st century. Two Shoes chatted with Dalia about her own health journey and how she’s inspiring others.

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About

Because it’s strange and beautiful and hot, people from everywhere converge on Florida and they bring their cuisine and their traditions with them. The Zest celebrates the intersection of food and communities in the Sunshine State.

Information

  • Channel
    WUSF
  • Creator
    WUSF
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    331
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 WUSF Public Media. University of South Florida. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Zest

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