‘Connecticut treasure’ Faith Middleton is back to schmooze about food
Connecticut’s own Faith Middleton and her foodies are back “on the air” to schmooze about food.
Middleton, a retired, legendary and award-winning WNPR radio talk show host, has brought back her wildly popular “Food Schmooze,” this time in a podcast, “Faith Middleton’s All New Food Schmooze Party Podcast.”
As in the former radio show, the group dishes weekly, starting with a specific food topic and from there it’s spontaneous, engaging, fast paced, educational, fun conversation about all facets of food and recipes.
The offshoot topics are endless — culture, history, family, travel, shopping or anywhere else the gabbing takes them.
“I loved that all kinds of people were listening to the food show because food is universal… It’s everything,” said Middleton, who also had a popular general interview show on public radio.
Middleton’s big theme has always been the splendor of everyday food and “home cooks,” rather than the fancy stuff.
She recalls having a guest chef on the show years ago who, when describing a recipe, said it should start with making “rabbit stock.”
That’s the opposite of what food schmooze was about.
“Our show was about delicious,” she said. “We like food, interesting recipes. We’re not really interested in rabbit stock. We’re interested in what’s delicious.”
Her colleagues/friends co-hosting the podcast — are all easy laughers with areas of expertise — and their joy in doing the show is evident in their voices.
Middleton has the same soothing voice and gift for segue and conversation that she did during her decades in radio.
Middleton loves her home cook team
In addition to Middleton, who chooses the weekly topics, co-hosts are: Chris Prosperi, owner of Metro Bis, a fine dining restaurant in Simsbury, but more importantly to Middleton, a “home cook”; Mark Raymond, a wine expert who works for a wine importing company; retiree Jo-Ann Church, a “home cook” who used to live next door to Middleton in New London, and Carl Franklin, a foodie who has a podcast on reversing diabetes with a ketogenic diet.
Franklin, a software developer, also brings the all-important technical/digital expertise to the team.
“Honest to God, if I ever fell in love with a bunch of people, this is it, ” Middleton said of the crew.
Prosperi and Raymond are veterans of the original show, while Franklin and Church are newcomers.
Franklin started as the tech guy/producer this time around and joined as a co-host when invited by Middleton because he was a “foodie” and has the podcast about reversing diabetes with a ketogenic diet.
“I bring the low carb opinion,” he said.
Franklin said he grew up with his mom listening to Middleton’s shows and later became a fan as well, so in doing the show, he feels like he’s among, “Connecticut royalty.”
“I’m honored to have been welcomed to the group so effortlessly,” he said. “I was thinking, these are like Connecticut royalty.”
The group recently did two potato salad episodes in which he talked about a loaded baked potato salad he used to make with sour cream, bacon, cheese and onion, as well as low carb alternatives.
In addition to doing all the computer/social media work Franklin edits the podcasts.
They meet virtually to record the show, just under a half an hour and generally updated on Friday mornings.
He said they just started a campaign two weeks ago to let the public know Middleton’s back and already they’ve had more than 2,000 engagements on social media.
“There’s that outpouring of, ‘Wow, I’m so glad your back. I want to listen to this,” Franklin said.
In person Middleton is recognized all over the place by fans and she easily gets into conversations, asking them for dinner before you know it, friends said.
She was at WNPR for about 40 years, retiring in 2019.
Church, retired from a career in commercial property management, shared many meals with Middleton when they lived next door to each other in New London, where Church still resides. Middleton now lives in Guilford.
Middleton said Church is a wonderful “home cook,” and the two still laugh about the time they were enjoying a sirloin burger together and when they opened a container of Kimchee to top it, the product was bubbling because it was still fermenting.
“It’s a fun retirement gig,” Church said of the podcast. “We have so much fun. You’re not going to hear anything heavy.”
Church said the crew is “the most upbeat group of men” she’s ever met.
“They all love Faith,” she said.
They all also know how much she loves food, Church said.
Mark Raymond, an original Food Schmoozer, who works for a wine importing company, said the show was always “comfortable,” “easy” and “connected with everyone.”
Middleton is a key to making it all work, he said.
“I think her voice makes you feel comfortable,” Raymond said. “She has nice way about her. She always stays above the fray. You need that in life.”
Chris Prosperi, owner of Metro Bis, and a former recipe contributor to the Courant for 20 years, is known among his Food Schmooze colleagues for keeping it real, despite as Franklin puts it, being “one of those guys who can serve you an iron chef worthy dish.”
Franklin said he loves that Prosperi has no airs. He’ll come to Franklin’s pastrami party and if they run out of clean wine glasses Prosperi will just grab a plastic cup.
Middleton agrees, calling Prosperi a “home cook” as well as a chef.
“What I love, love, love, he’s not a guy to talk all about professional cooking,” she said. “He’s doing regular stuff.”
A top chef wo brings his skills as a home cook
Prosperi, a graduate of Culinary Institute of America, and who has done NBC cooking show spots for years, said the reality of “everyday cooking” was instilled in him by a former Courant cooking editor, including the reality of dishwashing, shopping and food prep time. Also, at home, there’s no staff to do it all, he said.
He’s all for home cook “cheating”, such as buying premade chicken stock, canned beans, pre- diced onion, celery, carrots and next day chilled rotisserie chicken that sometimes costs less than the cost of the chicken.
“I think its just different,” he said. Besides, he said, home cooking has love as an enhancer, he said.
Scratch and store bought chicken stock may taste different if you took a teaspoon of each side by side, but by the time you make a dish at home with all the other spices and ingredients, it won’t matter, he said.
Prosperi said the podcast works because, “We come from different angles on the same things.”
“Food is something we all have in common,” Prosperi said, noting even Raymond — the wine guy — has a pizza oven in his garage. “We all get along so well and we all have an amazing passion for food. We have a blast.”
He calls Middleton, a “Connecticut treasure,” who has a special personality and ability to engage.
“If you could bottle that you’d make millions” he said.
Middleton and a food show
When Middleton originally got the idea for the Food Schmooze show, WNPR didn’t bite, she said. She persisted and said she thinks the station finally agreed just to stop her from talking about it.
Aside from loving to eat, Middleton has an emotional connection to food through her Aunt Rose, who was a chef and housekeeper in a “very fancy house” in Farmington when Middleton was a child. She spent some vacations there, had a little stool by the stove and remembers guests coming in to compliment Rose on her cooking.
“They’d say, ‘This is such a delicious dish. Thank you for your work,”‘ Middleton said of her aunt. “She was just a gentle and amazing person.”
When she retired from public radio, Middleton said, she figured she would read and watch movies on television.
But she missed her team and after they got together socially, the idea for the podcast arose.
Some recent episode topics include: corn season, ribs in the slow cooker, asparagus, swordfish, hot dogs, Mediterranean cooking, and no pasta Italian dishes.
They also post recipes and other information related to the podcasts.
Middleton said she likes to cook, but decides when she wants to cook or order in and share with her dog, Bon Bon.
Right now they aren’t looking for advertisements or monetization.
“We’re more interested in having listeners. It isn’t about the money,” she said.
The new podcast can be found at faithmiddleton.com.