Each month on 103.7 FM WPVM, we craft an hour-long show shaped by music, essays, and interviews that explore food and beverage in the face of global change. Sometimes these essays and interviews are done weeks and months in advance. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit home in March 2020, we decided to capture stories in real-time.
Home Fried, our spin-off series, is a short audio interview series where we check in with makers from around the country and the globe to see how they are affected by and coping with the Coronavirus pandemic.
Home Fried is available online through through Soundcloud, or iTunes. Please subscribe, and check out these stories below.
HOME FRIED EPISODES
Episode 1: St. Louis musician Beth Bombara
Jon checks in with Americana rocker Beth Bombara on how her home town of St. Louis is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak and what kind of impact it is having on the music scene there. They also talk about and listen to selections from her new record Evergreen, and Beth gives some suggestions of records to keep you entertained during quarantine.
Episode 2: Asheville’s MANNA Food Bank
Jon talks to Kara Irani, the communications director for Western North Carolina’s largest food bank, MANNA. In the midst of this crisis, millions of American’s have lost their jobs. That can make it hard to keep food on the table. Places like MANNA are here to help. To get help from MANNA call their helpline at 1(800)820-1109 or to donate to pay it forward, head to mannafoodbank.org.
Episode 3: Freiburg, Germany with Katrin Dohse
We hop over to Freiburg, Germany, to check in with cook and Dirty Spoon artist Katrin Dohse on life in Germany under the COVID-19 lockdowns. Katja compares the German response to other nations in the EU, and explores the perils of being an expat in a time of crisis.
Episode 4: The Ripple Effect, with Mountain Xpress’s Virginia Daffron and Laura Hackett
Jon explores the ripple effect business closures have on one another in downtown Asheville, and talks with alt-weekly Mountain Xpress Managing Editor Virginia Daffron and Development Coordinator Laura Hackett about the recent layoffs and Xpress’ new vision to save indie journalism in a post COVID-19 world.
Episode 5: Los Angeles with Allison Sidhu of Foodal
Today we visit Los Angeles to talk with Managing Editor of Foodal, Allison Sidhu, about how to make the best use of those overstocked pantries during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Episode 6: Joe Marple’s March Sadness Sandwich Tournament
With everyone on edge and locked in their homes, chef Joe Marple devised a brilliant distraction: the March Sadness Sandwich Tournament. A Facebook based voting tournament among his friends, pitting America’s favorite sandwiches against one another. Grilled Cheese vs Meatball Hoagie, Patty Melt vs Fried Chicken, Pulled Pork vs the Bacon Egg and Cheese. People got really into it, and it was, oddly, just what many needed to not think about the world burning down outside.
Episode 7: NYC and Searching for Substance with Journalist Sam Thielman of Tow Center
Finding trustworthy news sources is already hard in the digital age, but throw a global pandemic into the mix and all hell breaks lose! Don’t worry, Sam Thielman, Editor at the Tow Center and contributor to NBC News and the Guardian, is here to help us sort through the media circus to try to find trustworthy sources. Follow Sam on twitter @samthielman.
Episode 8: Nashville with Sam Harlow of The Bad Signs
Today we head to Nashville to check in with Samantha Harlow, the lead singer of The Bad Signs. Between the band and her job at the famed bar Robert’s Western World, the shutdown has decimated Harlow’s work life. But she’s helping to launch a new startup in town, Two Broke Bartenders, to help out of work bartenders get back to work.
More Home Fried Episodes:
9 – Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Angela Hansberger
10 – What Coronavirus Feels Like with Catherine Campbell
11 – COVID-19 Survivor Stacy Moore
12 – The Future with Asheville Citizen-Times’ Mackensy Lunsford
13 – Greenville SC and a Pantry Raid with atHome Magazine’s Steph Burnette
14 – Feeding the Hungry with Food Connection’s Flori Pate
15 – Pantry Raid! with Chef Steven Goff
16 – Progress in Isolation with Asheville City Council Candidate Kim Roney
17 – Our Precarious Food Chain with BPR’s Cass Herrington
18 – Asheville Strong Update with Catherine Campbell
20 – The Asheville Hot Sauce Battle with Orange Peel’s Justin Farraby
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