• For many Americans, Thanksgiving is synonymous with turkey. Hari Pulapaka, executive chef at Cress Restaurant in DeLand, calls Thanksgiving ‘America’s food week’. But he says the Thanksgiving feast doesn’t have to revolve around the turkey.
Read More »
• Do food and politics go together? Deland Chef Hari Pulapaka says after the president’s executive order on immigration he wanted to highlight the cuisine of the seven countries on the travel ban.
Read More »
• Although the Trump administration’s travel ban has been blocked by the federal court, it put a spotlight on America’s relationship with immigrants, perhaps nowhere more than in the restaurant industry, which depends heavily on immigrant labor. Restaurant industry leaders noted that 70 percent of their 12 million workers in the US are born abroad, and the importance of immigrant workers to our food supply chain can’t be overstated. According to the National Agricultural Workers Survey, 78 percent of agricultural workers are foreign-born. In response, chefs around the country vowed to celebrate the unique flavors of those seven banned nations. One such chef is Hari Pulapaka, owner of DeLand’s Cress Restaurant. Roughly a week after the ban was announced, Pulapaka tweeted, …
Read More »
• It’s Harvest season in Florida. Intersection visits the Tomazin family farm in Volusia County; Chef Hari Pulapaka cooks up some seasonal produce and talks about farm to table dining. And Fleet Farmers Michele Bumbier, Chris Castro and Clayton Louis Ferrara explain how they’re using bicycle power to link up a network of urban ‘farmlets’.
Read More »
