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Can NC’s Foodie Culture Survive The Coronavirus? It’s Up To You

Forrest Mason Media

North Carolina is known for its barbecue and its bustling food scene. But the state’s restaurants and bars have grown quiet and empty over the last few months. Some eateries have been able to offer takeout, delivery or curbside pickup — but not all dishes work well in a box. 

 

 

Host Frank Stasio checks in on the state’s restaurants and bars with Matt Lardie and Jenn Rice. Lardie and Rice are both freelance journalists who write for Eater Carolinas. They share their reporting on how different establishments are adapting to take-away food and how chefs are trying to connect directly with patrons. Lardie explains how bars have been particularly hard-hit by the coronavirus, and Rice talks about how restaurants in smaller towns are making more money because their neighbors are no longer commuting to big cities for work.

Chefs from around the state share what they are doing now and how they are thinking about reopening. We hear from Ricky Moore, chef and founder of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham; William Dissen, chef and owner of the Market Place restaurant in Asheville, Haymaker restaurant in Charlotte andBilly D’s Fried Chicken at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro; Dean Neff, chef of the upcoming restaurant Seabird in Wilmington; and Katie Button, executive chef of Cúrate and Button & Co. Bagels in Asheville.

Paper to-go bags fill shelves with a person in a mask stands nearby looking at a clipboard.
Credit Tabletop Media Group
This is Chef Drew Smith, of ko.an in Cary, leading the ko.mmunity hub, a project bringing together local chefs and makers in Cary to give community members a one-stop-shop.

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Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other WUNC shows including Tested and CREEP.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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