A few years ago in 2015, I first worked with Matthew Peddie for a special WMFE series called Little Vietnam in Orlando – it was a fun program, commemorating the Vietnamese American community in 40 years since the fall of Saigon – one of the first if not only series on this subject.
This past week Chef, culinary educator and Food Network star Emily Ellyn; Global Cooking School CEO and founder Hari Pulapaka; myself, Tasty Chomps food and restaurant blog publisher Ricky Ly; and Orlando Weekly restaurant critic Faiyaz Kara joined WMFE’s Matthew Peddie on the show Intersection for a conversation about what makes the culinary scene here unique, and the latest food trends in Central Florida.
It was a bittersweet and slightly pungent outing, as this was Matt’s last episode of Intersection with WMFE – he is joining WUSF’s Florida Matters show as host, a show about tough issues, highlights little-known stories from our part of the world, and provides a greater perspective of what it means to live in the Sunshine State, and so finally after many years of twitter back and forths – we finally had our durian tasting with Matt at the station and bid our farewells to Matt.
Faiyaz brought the goods and we brought the taste buds – it was a fun time had by all, though we did have to make sure to sanitize thoroughly afterwards to avoid offensive after smells. I think we may need to make #durianforall a real thing – maybe a durian tasting challenge for Orlando’s restaurants is in the foreseeable future? Let us know your thoughts!
Wishing Matthew Peddie all the best on his new endeavors!!!
Read and listen to the story here: https://www.wmfe.org/food-culture-and-identity-in-central-florida/197657
