Chopped celebrity chef Marc Murphy spoke with us right after he returned from seven weeks feeding Ukrainian refugees in Przemysl, Poland with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen (WCK). Since the invasion of Ukraine, WCK’s Relief Team has been on the ground supporting families sheltering in the country as well as refugees in six countries with […]

Frances Moore Lappé published the groundbreaking Diet for a Small Planet in 1971, changing the way Americans thought about food policy and world hunger. A 50th Anniversary edition of this seminal work was released in 2021, adding to Lappé’s list of 20 cookbooks with the underlying theme of living democracy. “We have to think of […]

Born in Tijuana, Mexico, Reyna Montoya and her family were fleeing violence when they migrated to Arizona in 2003. She was in the 8th grade, did not speak English, was undocumented, and remembers feeling shame and anger at her parents for “bringing her to a place she didn’t like and didn’t belong.” It was traumatic. […]

“You can change people’s moods really fast with food.” This sentiment is at the heart of all that Greg and Subrina Collier believe. A husband and wife team behind six successful restaurants including Charlotte, NC’s-acclaimed Leah & Louise and the founders of the Bayhaven Food & Wine Festival, a three-day celebration of Black foodways, Subrina […]

In his more than 30 years in the industry, Chip Wade, President of Union Square Hospitality Group, has seen all sides of hospitality – from the kitchen to HR and real estate development. Throughout his career, he’s been a champion for expanding leadership diversity in the hospitality industry. “In our industry we are woefully underrepresented […]

On today’s very special episode of Add Passion and Stir, we speak with DC chef and restaurateur Erik Bruner-Yang, who was on the ground in Medyka, Poland with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen. World Central Kitchen is feeding hot, nourishing meals to tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees coming across the border. When we spoke with Erik […]

Stephen Satterfield is the founder and CEO of Whetstone Media and host of the critically-acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog. Satterfield is using education about the relationships of Black people with food and agriculture to inspire and galvanize. “Not seeing yourself as a part of a cultural narrative is deeply, deeply damaging,” he says. […]

As the daughter of a teacher, a teacher herself, and the former Chancellor of DC Public Schools, Kaya Henderson believes in the power of education. In this conversation, part of Add Passion and Stir’s ongoing Rebuilding series, Henderson recounts how she grew up in a household with an ethic of “to whom much is given much […]

Sharif El-Mekki is the founder and CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development, which is focused on revolutionizing education by dramatically increasing the number of Black educators. “People are naive enough to think that once you enter a school, racial bias disappears,” says El-Mekki. “If a Black child has a Black teacher, they have […]