Kitchen Curious with Vivian Howard

Vivian reclaims root vegetables as comfort food icons. With nutritionist Christine Byrne, she browses Walmart’s produce aisle, exploring roots’ colors and health benefits. She visits a lab where chef Jenny Brûlé develops instant sweet potatoes, then heads to her church kitchen to elevate hummus with raw beet relish and wow meat lovers with a decadent multi-root gratin.

Vivian reclaims root vegetables as comfort food icons. With nutritionist Christine Byrne, she browses Walmart’s produce aisle, exploring roots’ colors and health benefits. She visits a lab where chef Jenny Brûlé develops instant sweet potatoes, then heads to her church kitchen to elevate hummus with raw beet relish and wow meat lovers with a decadent multi-root gratin.

Vivian explores fat’s misunderstood role in the kitchen, from saved bacon grease to salad toast with olive oil. At the grocery store with Christine, she breaks down cooking oils, storage tips and fat myths. In California, a visit to Corto reveals what makes great olive oil and how olives compare to other crops amid climate change. Back home, Vivian fries fish in peanut oil with a bold mayo smear.

Vivian uses pasta to explore a global tradition: stretching small amounts of meat into meals. Nutritionist Christine Byrne helps her weigh whole grain pasta’s value while Dan Pashman joins Vivian for a noodle crawl in Charleston featuring meaty spins on classics. She returns home to make a couple of pantry-friendly dishes.

Vivian gives beans and rice the credit they deserve as affordable, shelf-stable staples. With Christine at Piggly Wiggly, she explores dried vs. canned beans and rice varieties, learning why together they form complete proteins. She visits Tidewater Grain's rice revival in Oriental, NC, suggesting bean crop rotation. A Bojangles stop inspires her pinto bean, sausage and rice bake.

Vivian celebrates cast iron skillets—from scouring antiques with Warren Brothers to touring Charleston’s Smithey Ironware. She debunks cleaning myths, compares cast iron and carbon steel, cooks shakshuka, and bakes a cornmeal-blueberry coffee cake—honoring cast iron’s enduring role in American kitchens past and present.