This week on Hot Grease, Nicole Taylor runs through the weeks food headlines and chats with Beatriz Beckford, school food coordinator for Brooklyn Food Coalition. Together, they discuss how parents can get more involved at the ground level in improving how their children eat at school and elaborate on the scale of feeding NYC children. Also tune in for a Hot Five on some must-attend food events! This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

"You have to get involved if you're unhappy with what's being served. NYC is the second largest purchaser of food next to the military. The way it trickles down into our schools varies school by school. It's important that people understand that and work on making changes on the ground, in the schools."

--Beatriz Beckford of Brooklyn Food Coalition on Hot Grease

Why are chefs so crazy? This week on The Morning After, Jessie Kiefer and Jen Tullock call up Scott Haas, clinical psychologist and author of Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant. Scott followed the restaurant staff at Tony Maws' Craigie on Main in order to learn the psychology of the restaurant kitchen. How did Tony react to the book, and why are kitchen staffers so good at leaving their emotions and problems at the door? Later, Jessie chats with Brady Konya and Ryan Lang of Middle West Spirits. Learn the steps of the distilling process, and find out how Brady and Ryan's history got them interested in distillation. Find out why Americans are so uniformed about vodka! Also, hear about Middle West's seasonal infusions. What's on the menu at Chardonnay's this week? Jessie and Jen are serving up some 90s-inspired bloody marys! This episode has been brought to you by Whole Foods.

"Restaurant cooking is diametrically opposed to what we do at home." [19:00] -- Scott Haas on The Morning After

"We love our food- not as an art, but as a craft." [33:10] -- Brady Konya on The Morning After

This week on Cutting the Curd Anne and special guest host Samia Khan spoke to Andy Hatch of Uplands Cheese, a seasonal grass-based dairy farm. Uplands is unique in a number of ways: it follows the "Alpine pattern" of milking, and its a place where cows harvest their own feed, spread their own manure, and give the farmer a bit of a break in the hard labor department. They've even crossbred nine different breeds of cows together to create their own breed of cow perfect for their style of farming. Tune in to hear the creator of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, easily one of the most famous farmstead cheeses, talk shop on HRN!