Join Us At The VPR Cafe

Clockwise from top left: Ric Cengeri,
Melissa Pasanen, Sally Pollak,
Candy Page

The VPR Café is a new weekly feature that’s all about Vermont food and the people who grow it, prepare it, and love it.  Every Sunday morning, we’ll take you behind the scenes with stories from the farms, kitchens, and eateries that comfort our souls and connect our communities. 

Hosted by VPR’s Ric Cengeri, The VPR Café is produced in collaboration with the Burlington Free Press.  Ric talks with Free Press feature writers Candace Page, Sally Pollak and Melissa Passenen.

Ric is an omnivore in the truest sense of the word.   “I never met a food I didn’t like.”  Food is always an adventure for Ric. “When I look at a menu and I see something new or unfamiliar – that’s what I order,” he says.  Ric's rotating guests also have extensive experience reporting on food, farms, cooking and the Vermont food economy:

• Candy Page, who retires in April, has spent more than 30 years at the Burlington Free Press covering all angles of Vermont politics, government, and lifestyle.
• Melissa Pasanen is a freelance writer for the Free Press and food editor for Vermont Life Magazine.
• Sally Pollak is a feature writer for the Burlington Free Press.  She writes on a variety of issues including the Savorvore series.

In our first visit to The VPR Cafe on Sunday, March 3, Candy Page gives us a taste of the new international grading system for maple syrup.  We'll also hear what Candy learned about cooking with maple syrup when she spent the day with Ginger Isham in her kitchen at the Isham Family Farm in Williston.

You'll hear all new programming Sunday mornings beginning at 10:40 with 99% Invisible.  This weekly feature, produced by Roman Mars, is about the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world.  The VPR Cafe is at 10:45, followed by insights from VPR commentators.

We hope you'll join us at The VPR Café and let us know what you think!

UVM Libraries Maple Community Cookbook.