Call it a coffee shop with great food, or a restaurant with great coffee. For Jordan Hooten, Southern Grounds and Co. is, above all, a community gathering place.The Jacksonville-based franchise has locations throughout Florida, including one in downtown St. Petersburg that opened last year. Come for the coffee, then stay for breakfast, catch up on some emails, have lunch, grab drinks with a friend, stay for dinner and then squeeze in a workout with your run club. And if you’re us, record a podcast.So Hooten is right. SoGro—as the cool kids call it—is anything but a grab-and-go coffee spot. On a bustling Friday morning, the Zest team settled into a table for hot drinks and a chat with Jordan.

New York has pizza. Chicago has hotdogs. And Tampa has devil crab.Like so many aspects of life in the 813, our city’s iconic street food has ties to the cigar industry. Whether you grew up eating devil crab or you have no idea what we’re even talking about, you’ll develop a new appreciation for devil crab after today’s conversation.Our guest is historian and friend of the pod Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center. Of course you’ll learn all about the history of devil crab and how it’s made. In addition, Rodney shares his own passion for devil crab—an affinity that only a born-and-bred Tampanain could feel—and reveals his favorite local spots to find it.Do you say “devil” crab or “deviled” crab? Let us know on Facebook or Instagram.

Why do some people love cilantro, while others say it tastes like soap? How did Dubai chocolate take the world by storm? And how are scientists using A.I. to determine what we’ll crave next?Today we’ll learn the answers when we get a preview of the 4th International Flavor Summit, taking place March 16 to 18 in Orlando. The biennial event brings together leaders in the food and beverage science industries; it’s also open to the public. To register, click here.One of the presenters is Yu Wang, Ph.D., associate professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). In this conversation, Dr. Wang answers our burning questions about flavor, discusses how she’s working with Florida’s citrus growers to produce better-tasting fruit and explains how to break up with your favorite junk food.

Morning radio hosts are known for having hot takes. And for many people in Tampa Bay, morning radio means Miguel and Holly.Miguel Fuller and Holly O’Connor are the real-life besties behind the Miguel & Holly Show on Tampa Bay’s Mix 1007. FM. After hosting their show in Florida for many years, the pair moved the show to Charlotte, N.C. from 2022 to 2025. Now they’re back in the Tampa Bay, where they debuted at No. 1, with a renewed love of all things Florida—especially the food.The radio veterans recently visited our studio at WUSF. They discussed what breakfast looks like when their workday starts at 4:30 a.m., the North Carolina foods they want to see more of in Florida and the Tampa Bay restaurants they couldn’t wait to get back to. Then they offer their hot takes on everything from air fryers to Uber Eats, including an opinion they say could get them run out of town.

Eating peanut brittle is all fun ‘n games… until you chip a tooth.But you don’t have to worry about that with Psalms’ Gourmet Brittle, a small-batch confectionary started by matriarch Psalms Mack and her son, Carlton Owens. Psalms learned to bake brittle in home ec class, and she later perfected her own version of the recipe. Hers is gluten-free, plant-based and most importantly, light and airy. No need to have your dentist on standby.Psalms started out baking brittle as holiday gifts for family and friends. With a nudge from Carlton, she turned her hobby into a business. Today, the two run a brick-and-mortor location in South Pasadena. They also sell brittle at markets across Tampa Bay and on their website with flavors like peanut, cashew, mixed nut, almond chocolate and hot honey pecan. You can even buy brittle-infused popcorn, ice cream, spice rub and coffee.The Zest team visited Psalms and Carlton at the Psalms’ Brittle storefront. In this conversation, they recall how Carlton talked Psalms into starting the company. They also offer advice for working with family and share why being a Black-owned business feels especially sweet.

When you think of fancy food, what pops into your head? Maybe it’s white tablecloths, tuxedoed servers and a sky-high dinner bill.But for Jerrelle Guy, fancy is a state of mind. It has less to do with pretentious restaurants and more to do with taking time to nourish yourself, using what you have on hand.Guy, who was born in South Florida and now lives in Dallas, Texas, offers a blueprint for creative everyday fancy moments in her new cookbook. It’s called We Fancy: Simple Recipes To Make The Everyday Special. Her previous cookbook, Black Girl Baking: Wholesome Recipes Inspired by a Soulful Upbringing, was a 2019 James Beard Award finalist.Dalia recently caught up with Guy, who juggles the titles of cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer and new mom. In this conversation, Guy offers simple ways to elevate home cooking and shares why her job is harder than it looks.

One of our favorite events of the year is back. We’re talking about the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival. It takes place on Valentine’s Day in South St. Petersburg. (Be sure to stop by the WUSF Public Media booth at the festival to pick up some swag.)Chef Harris will also be in conversation with Dalia at Collards After Dark on Feb. 12, 2026.This year’s headliner Chef LaKisha Harris from Muskegon, Michigan. She is the owner of Soul Filled Enterprises, which includes a restaurant and catering business.She’s also a decorated member of the American Culinary Association and became the first African-American woman to receive the Presidential Medallion from the organization in 2025. She is also a collaborator on the James Beard Award-winning documentary film Coldwater Kitchen, which follows the culinary program at the Lakeland (Michigan) Correctional Facility and explores themes of rehabilitation.Chef Harris recently chatted with Dalia. In this conversation, she discusses how following her own path helped her cook up success. You’ll also learn the surprising origin of fried chicken and why Chef Harris says the most authentic form of soul food is actually vegan food.

Arthenia Joyner had had enough. In February 1960, the 17-year-old could buy clothes at the F.W. Woolworth department store in downtown Tampa. But she was forbidden from trying them on first, in case she changed her mind and the garments went back on the rack where a white person would encounter them.And there was no way she could eat at the store’s lunch counter, which was for whites only.So when young Joyner’s peers planned to stage a series of sit-ins to peacefully protest the policy, she jumped at the chance to participate. By September of that year, a total of 18 department stores in Tampa had desegregated lunch counters.The Tampa Woolworth store closed in the 1990s. Today, a historical marker stands on the site of those history-making sit-ins.The events are also chronicled in the documentary Triumph: Tampa’s Untold Chapter in the Civil Rights Movement. You can watch the film for free at wedu.org/triumph.Joyner went on to be an attorney, a Florida State Senator and an icon in Tampa’s civil rights history. There’s even a library named for her.We recently visited Joyner at her office in Ybor City, where she still practices law.

Figuring out what to eat can sometimes feel like a relentless chore. And for people on the autism spectrum, mealtimes can be even more challenging—from food aversions to noisy restaurants to feeling ostracized because of what or how they eat.Today we’re digging deeper with the co-hosts of The Autistic Delicatessen. It’s a food podcast that centers the voices of adults with a neurodivergent perspective. Dalia met the show’s producer and co-host, Larrnell Cross, at a podcasting workshop in Tampa. In this conversation, Dalia and Larrenell are joined by Autistic Delicatessen co-hosts Shalese Heard and Candi Carpenter. (Other co-hosts include Nikko Gomez, Melissa Pappas, Rachel Ann Harding and former co-host Oni.)In this conversation, Larrnell, Shalese and Candi share: Why food is a natural conversation starter for people with or without autism Why some people on the autism spectrum have aversions to certain foods or food textures. How restaurants can be more inclusive Whether you’re on the spectrum or you love someone who is, settle in for this candid conversation.

You know it when you smell it. But how do you put into words the unmistakable, indescribable scent of guava? And then there’s the taste: sour on its own, but irresistibly sweet in a guava-and-cream-cheese pastry or a pint of guava ice cream from Publix. For a lesson in all things guava, we turned to historian Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center.In this episode, you’ll learn: The fruit’s role in the creation of modern Tampa, which is nicknamed The Big Guava. Why Ybor City’s iconic Guavaween festival became a victim of its own success. Why the guava industry remains small but mighty. So grab a pastelito and a cup of café con leche, and settle in for this enlightening conversation.

For most of the year, Abby Cheshire teaches culinary arts for Florida Virtual School. And when school lets out, she works her summer job. But she’s not delivering groceries or leading arts and crafts at daycamp like many teachers. The Brevard County native works as a chef on a private yacht. She shares her high-seas adventures with her more than 1 million TikTok followers, who know her as Abby in the Galley.And now she’s sharing her recipes, too. Chef Abby’s new cookbook is Passport to Flavor: 100 Global Dishes You can Make Anywhere. And she literally means anywhere. When she’s aboard the yacht, Abby is limited to working with whatever food and equipment she has on hand. Abby recently chatted with us about the highs and lows of cooking on the high seas.

This bonus episode comes courtesy of our friends at Florida Matters Live and Local.