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The Business of Food with Steve AlexanderClaimedEpisodes
Episodes of The Business of Food
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In the 91-year history of Whitey’s Ice Cream in Moline, Illinois, Sweet Corn Ice Cream has never been one of its flavors. Until now. In the audio clip below, Annika Tunberg, vice-president at Whitey’s Ice Cream, and a third-generation family me
Shouts of “Blasphemy!” followed by the loud clanging of a bell are what happens when a customer orders ketchup on their hot dog at Michiganders Windy City Diner. Despite being 150 miles away from Chicago, the family-owned and operated diner bri
It seemed odd to WGN’s Steve Alexander that the dairy case of U.S. supermarkets contained so much butter and cheese made in Ireland. So, he asked Kate Saul, vice president of marketing at Evanston-based Ornua Foods North America, how it happene
A farmer — let’s call him Old McDonald, because we do not know his name or much else about him other than he farms in Kentucky — was prepping a field to plant corn. He had plowed and disked and as he was walking the field, expecting he might fi
In the audio clip below, Amundsen High School teacher Andrew Breen tells WGN’s Steve Alexander dozens of students have turned out for the Seeds of Change Garden Club since it was started last fall. The school has a huge campus of mostly lawn th
When Prairie Farmer Magazine posted notice of its “Favorite Farm Dog Contest,” Devin Bollman and Dalton Johnston decided they’d send in photos and a story about Kay, their one-and-a-half year old border collie. After all, she had become so good
Chicagoans have long loved their Italian Beef and the iconic sandwich gained worldwide popularity from the TV series “The Bear.” Years before the TV show debuted, a suburban chain, Beef Shack, upped the ante with its Cheezy Beef version of the
Sumaiya Vahora and Humera Roaf were teaching at the same Chicago school when they started sharing their dreams. Sumaiya wanted to own a bakery. Humera wanted to own a business that gives back to the community, especially women who were trying t
The Instagrammable tulips in the medians of Michigan Avenue are there by design. The chief designer is Kris Sorich, the Senior Landscape Architect at CDOT, the Chicago Department of Transportation. In the audio clip below, she tells WGN’s Steve
Farming is hard. Starting a farm from scratch is nearly impossible. Zemua Baptista dreamed of farming — something his father did in his native Angola. He says he “carpet farmed” as a boy, dreaming someday of being a real farmer. A state champio
Vivent Health / TPAN is hosting its annual fundraiser Dining Out For Life Chicago on Thursday, April 25. In the audio clip below, Lorraine Hayes of TPAN tells WGN’s Steve Alexander about some of the 20 restaurants who have committed a percentag
Chicago’s and WGN’s very own Orion “Big O” Samuelson is marking a milestone birthday on March 31st. It was 90 years ago on that date that “Little O” bounced into the world. He chose a spring blizzard to make his entrance on his family’s dairy f
When Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid announced on a podcast that Taylor Swift had made homemade Pop Tarts for the offensive line, the marketing team at Kellanova that promotes the brand knew they had been handed a gift. In the audio cli
Joe Reckinger said it’s the most wind he’s ever seen in his 66 years on the family farm west of Batavia on Seavey Road. On the night of February 27, 2024, what was later determined to be an F1 tornado flattened a barn built in 1882 when Joe’s g
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart tells WGN’s Steve Alexander in the audio clip below that he remembers the day Bruno Abate walked into his office and told him he had a vision and his life would not be complete if he did not give back and try to hel
Mike Builta grew up on an Illinois farm, was a proud member of FFA, and kept one foot in the furrow as he went off to the University of Illinois, earned a Master’s in Crop Science and went to work in agribusiness. He left home for his office at
Super Bowl may be the biggest eating holiday of the year, and it isn’t even an official holiday. Whether at a fancy high end party with lobster sliders or a small family get together with pizza, chips and guac, we Americans tend to overeat, and
In 2022, everything was going pretty well for Northbrook native David Grossman, the president and CEO of Epic Burger. When the chain struggled under its previous ownership, Grossman bought it in 2020 and gave it a reboot. Things were looking up
“A horse is a horse of course of course,” goes the old Mr. Ed TV theme song, and while a cow is a cow, it’s important for ranchers and farmers to be able to tell them apart. For more than a half century, ear tags with numbers and RFID transmitt
What better day for the grand opening of Daintry McFadden’s Wetzel’s Pretzels franchise in Oak Brook Center than MLK Day? After all, it has been her dream for decades. In the audio clip below, Daintry tells WGN’s Steve Alexander how she tried m
Illinois farmers depend on the Panama Canal, but there's a problem this year.
Lincoln Park mom shares her experience and gives a warning if taking the drug.
In the audio clip below, one of Santa Fizz’s elves helps out WGN’s Steve Alexander with some gift ideas for people who have “green thumbs,” or who want to have them. Jennifer Brennan, in addition to being an elf for WGN’s gardening guru Jim “Sa
“Queen Vino” is the title Chrishon Lampley gave herself as the founder and CEO of Love Cork Screw, a Chicago-based, Black-owned, woman-owned wine company. Her website also describes her as a “badass Black woman ” who started with next to nothin
In the audio clip below, Eric Olesen, president of O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander what the fluffy sweet-filled pastry is, how it started, how Racine became the center of the Kringle universe, and how it became a worldw
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