The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters · American Public Media

828: Celebrating 30 Years: Live from Tampa!

·49 min·4 clips

Delia Colon reveals why Florida's explosive growth and 'spicy' residents make it a cultural melting pot.

Francis Lam opens the episode by sharing his personal 48-hour Tampa education: a Cuban sandwich at Boozy Pig where they raise their own hogs, tacos from Renee's Mexican Kitchen food truck, a cigar bar in a former cathedral, a meal at the Columbia restaurant which has operated for 120 years, and a pilgrimage to see where Tom Brady threw the Lombardi Trophy off a boat. The Splendid Table's 30th anniversary national tour has arrived in Tampa, and Lam welcomes Delia Colon, host of The Zest from WUSF, a podcast dedicated entirely to Florida food in all its forms from Cuban roast pork to alligators thrown through drive-thru windows. Colon begins by addressing why Florida produces so many extraordinary food stories and news events. Florida was among the least populous southern states in 1940 and is now the third most populous state in the country, with 23 million residents, 900 new arrivals daily, and 100 million tourists annually, most of them concentrated along the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Orlando to Daytona. The type of person willing to live with alligators, hurricanes, lightning, and sharks, Colon notes, is already a self-selected individual with a certain energy, and concentrating millions of them in a small geography produces a particular culture. The Cuban-Spanish influence on Tampa food is explored through the Columbia restaurant, opened in 1905, which remains one of the most beloved institutions in the city and preserves old-world Spanish and Cuban cooking traditions. The conversation touches on how Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood was built by Cuban and Spanish cigar workers in the late nineteenth century and how that immigrant food heritage still defines what is considered authentic Tampa cuisine. Colon discusses the diversity of Florida food beyond Cuban influence, including Caribbean, Haitian, Vietnamese, and Sephardic Jewish culinary traditions in various parts of the state. The live audience is noted throughout as Lam and Colon play off the crowd's recognition of local references.

As heard by us

Tampa comes through as a place where food, history, and community are moving together.

This live Tampa stop leans on food, place, and memory: a Cuban sandwich at the Boozy Pig, tacos from Renee's Mexican Kitchen, a family restaurant history lesson, and a close look at food access and the people behind it.

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If you want Tampa food stories with history and family legacy, press play now.

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