How many of the foods you eat every day have roots in Native American foods and traditions? A lot more than you might realize, so start counting and testing your family and kids now!

In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely share a list of indigenous foods, along with their history, traditions, and, yes, even spiritual connections, that influence your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and holiday celebrations today.

A few key things you’ll learn in this episode include:

1. The secret of the Three Sisters – corn, beans, and squash weren’t just crops; together they created a complete protein system that nourished communities long before “vegetarian nutrition” was ever studied in labs.
2. Forgotten Native recipes – from Cherokee venison meatloaf (poya) to early cornbread and Johnny Cakes, discover dishes you may not know had indigenous roots.
3. Spiritual traditions of food – ghost suppers, spirit plates, and powwows reveal how meals were seen not just as nourishment, but as sacred connections to ancestors and community.
4. Modern revivals of indigenous cuisine – from Minnesota’s Owamni restaurant to fry bread recipes passed down through families, Native foodways are making a powerful comeback today.

This episode of Family Tree Food & Stories you can test your own knowledge of how much Native American food history, indigenous cooking traditions, and stories of resilience offers up some wisdom from the past.

👉 What’s NEXT? How you can help us and others.

Feeling hungry for more than just food? Go make your favorite fall recipe—or better yet, call someone and ask about their comfort food memories. And don’t forget to share this episode with friends and family. Because as Nancy and Sylvia always say… every dish has a story—and every story is a feast.. and it’s all better when shared! 🍽️💬

🎧Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
• Instagram Story updates 📸
• Facebook Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍
• TikTok: Family Tree Food Stories
• 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia!: Leave us a voicemail
• You can send us a DM on

Ever wonder why mac and cheese, beef stew, lasagna, or even a slice of fruitcake creates cravings in the fall? In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May & Sylvia Lovely dive into the cozy world of comfort foods—and trust us, there’s a lot more to it than just wanting that warm brownie or an extra spoonful of mashed potatoes on your plate!

Nancy and Sylvia aren’t just talking about our favorite go-to comfort recipes. They’re sharing some of the reasons why certain foods bring back some of your best memories, and why our bodies actually need comfort food when it gets cold. In this episode, you learn about ghost recipes – don’t worry, they’re not creepy or scary memories and stories of traditional Sunday sauces, and apple dumplings made with Mountain Dew (yes, really!). You’ll also go back in time to those old-fashioned church cookbook finds that have become dinner-party showstoppers— we promise you’re in for a treat with this episode.

🍂Key Lessons & Takeaways:

🔍Comfort food activates that involve all five senses. Sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste all come alive when you’re cooking and eating fall favorites like stew, chili, and roasted pumpkin.

🔍The science behind your cravings. Cold weather and less daylight lower your serotonin and body temperature—so hearty meals help warm you up and boost your mood.

🔍How Ghost Recipes connect us to the past. Old family dishes, even if half-remembered, tell stories of loved ones and keep traditions alive in powerful ways.

🔍Comfort food looks different for everyone. From Yorkshire pudding and burnt marshmallows (for an 8-year-old Girl Scout), to chili or a lasagna made by a well-known pasta machine inventor, each dish has personal meaning.

🔍Fall cooking is about slowing down. Scratch recipes, simmering pots, and food memories all invite us to be present, take the edge off our hectic schedules and lives, and teach us how to be present with ourselves and those we love and care about. We suggest you give it a try one weekend to rediscover just how relaxing it can be in your own kitchen.

🎧 What’s NEXT? How you can help us and others.

Feeling hungry for more than just food? Go make your favorite fall recipe—or better yet, call someone and ask about their comfort food memories. And don’t forget to share this episode with friends and family. Because as Nancy and Sylvia always say… every dish has a story—and every story is a feast.. and it’s all better when shared! 🍽️💬

Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
• Instagram...

This week, we’re talking about foods you probably wouldn’t expect to get too excited about: mushrooms. However, those funky spongy fungi have stories, secrets, and flavors that will give you something different to talk about at your next dinner table conversation.

In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely become the Fungi Gals (ha, ha, seriously!) and share fall comfort foods, mushroom myths, and a few “did-they-really-just-say-that?” moments.

👍Here are a few extra hints of what you'll learn in this episode:

• The true story of the mushroom that sold for over $300,000
• Why Nancy’s new puppy, BB, could turn into the best hunting nose in FL for these dinner treats.
• How a mushroom helped a widower through his grief.
• Why pigs got fired as truffle hunters.
• How a mushroom turned into a serious multi-million dollar side hustle

If you love a good fall recipe, a weird-but-true food story, or want to feel a little more grounded this season (pun intended here), this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories is for you.

And hey, don’t be surprised if you start eyeing your backyard for mushrooms and thinking, how much can I sell this one for?

👉 Listen, share, and discuss this episode with family and friends. Together, let’s keep alive the promise to “Never Forget”—and to remember that every meal tells a story, and every story is a way to heal.

Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
• Instagram Story updates 📸
• Facebook Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍
• TikTok: Family Tree Food Stories
• 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia!: Leave us a voicemail
• You can send us a DM on Facebook.
• 🎧 Subscribe now and never miss a bite or a good story.

About Your Award-Winning Hosts: Nancy May and

Fall is more than a season—it's a reminder to preserve what matters, from seasonal foods to family recipes passed down through generations. In this richly layered episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, hosts Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely share forgotten preservation techniques, Appalachian food lore, and hands-on kitchen wisdom from past generations.

You'll also hear about Sylvia's learned to revive a drunken raccoon, the FDA's ban on sassafras, and some inspiration for pickling and canning.

From colonial fruit-flavored shrubs and handcrafted root beer to salt-cured smokehouse hams, brined turkeys, and green beans also known as leather britches— we hope this episode will give you some new ideas, recipes, and tools for your own fall season harvest.

You’ll also hear and learn about:

• Shrubs and Colonial Drinks – What They Are and how to make these trending drinks for yourself.
• Traditional Appalachian Smokehouses and Backyard Smokehouse Pits: Learn how to create a makeshift smokehouse and enjoy a smoked Thanksgiving turkey sooner, without waiting.
• Brining & Pickling: What’s hot and trending, and what not to do.
• Simple Dehydration Techniques: in your own oven and kitchen.

Even if you only have a high-rise windowsill herb garden, this episode will give you tools, resources, and ideas on how preservation is about more than just food.

👉 Listen, share, and discuss this episode with family and friends. Together, let’s keep alive the promise to “Never Forget”—and to remember that every meal tells a story, and every story is a way to heal.

Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
• Instagram Story updates 📸
• Facebook Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍
• TikTok: Family Tree Food Stories
• 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia!: Leave us a voicemail
• You can send us a DM on Facebook?
• 🎧 Subscribe now and never miss a bite or a good story.

About Your Award-Winning Hosts: Nancy...

How did America come together in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks? And why did food—from cornbread to clam chowder—become a powerful symbol of comfort, resilience, and remembrance?

In this special Family Tree Food & Stories episode, we reflect on the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and the extraordinary ways people found healing through food. From community kitchens in New York serving first responders, to small-town stories of family meals and final requests, this show explores how 9/11 changed America forever—and how sharing food helped us grieve, unite, and honor those lost, yet never forgotten.

✨ Key Takeaways from This Episode

1. How Chefs brought communities together after 9/11
2. How Cornbread Has Become a symbol of resilience
3. Patriot Day and Ways You Can Help Others
4. Communities give thanks
5. Things you can do in remembrance and service

On this September 11 Patriot Day, Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely ask you to take a moment to reflect and ask:

• What food brings you comfort when the world feels uncertain?
• How can you honor 9/11 with an act of kindness, service, or remembrance?

👉 Listen, share, and discuss this episode with family and friends. Together, let’s keep alive the promise to “Never Forget”—and to remember that every meal tells a story, and every story is a way to heal.

Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
• Instagram Story updates 📸
• Facebook Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍
• TikTok: Family Tree Food Stories
• 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia!: Leave us a voicemail
• You can send us a DM on Facebook?
• 🎧 Subscribe now and never miss a bite or a good story.

About Your Award-Winning Hosts: Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely are the powerhouse team behind Family Tree, Food &

Could the food on your plate become a deadly weapon? In this week’s episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy and Sylvia stir up the darker, and questionably juicy side of food culture, history, and culinary revenge—where poisoned banquets, chef scandals, and real-life true-crime stories collide. If you’ve ever wondered about the powerful, sinister-looking side just placed on your plate, this episode is a feast you won’t want to miss.

From poisoned pies to power plays in the kitchen, this episode blends food history, true crime, and mystery storytelling into a conversation that’s as chilling as it is entertaining.

Key Lessons Learned: 👇

• Food plots revealed from ancient Roman kitchens
• What if the first “witch trials” weren’t about magic at all—but about dinner gone deadly wrong?.
• What might happen when you send your meal back to the kitchen? Yikes!
• The dark side of the kitchen and # MeToo scandals
• Agatha Christie's recipe for a perfect mystery and why we still "eat it up" today.
• What arsenic has to do with bread and WWII prisoners.
• and much more!

Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia

👇Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
• Instagram Story updates 📸
• Facebook Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍
• TikTok: Family Tree Food Stories

!: Leave us a voicemail You can send us a DM on Facebook?

🎧 Subscribe now and never miss a bite or a good story.

About Your Award-Winning Hosts: Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely are the powerhouse team behind Family Tree, Food & Stories, a member of The Food Stories Media Network, which celebrates the rich traditions and connections everyone has around food, friends, and family meals. Nancy, an award-winning business leader, author, and podcaster, and Sylvia, a visionary author, lawyer, and former...

Who do you think shapes the way we eat, cook, and talk about food today? Well, you'll find some of the answers in this episode of Family Tree, Food & Stories, as co-hosts Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely reveal the history of food writers and critics—from the Mesopotamian food writers who carved their stories on clay tablets to the story behind how Michelin stars come about and are funded and can make or break a restaurant.

Nancy and Sylvia also put the spotlight on legends like Jacques Pépin, who turned down JFK’s kitchen to revolutionize American cooking, and Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, whose Hamptons shop grew into one of the most beloved food brands in the world. You’ll also hear how Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet and former New York Times critic, transformed food reviews into unforgettable personal stories.

Food writing isn’t just about recipes—it’s about preserving traditions, capturing culture, and connecting us to family and history through ink and ingredients. Whether you’re a cookbook lover, foodie traveler, a faithful listener of the show, or a wannabe food blogger and critic yourself, this episode will be one to learn from and savor. We promise.

1. The origins of food writing — from 1750 BC recipes to witty ancient Greek food stories.
2. The rise of iconic food critics like Craig Claiborne, Ruth Reichl, and how their reviews changed dining forever.
3. Why Jacques Pépin’s career choice (HoJo’s over JFK!) shaped American home cooking.
4. The story behind Michelin stars — and how they became a global badge of food tourism and prestige, and how they're funded - it's not what you think.

Nancy and Sylvia hope that you enjoy this episode of Family Tree Food and Stories. If you do, please subscribe today so you don't miss the release of all future shows. And don't forget to share the show with your friends and family because "Every Meal Has a Story and Every Story is a Feast."

Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon
• Instagram Story updates 📸
• Facebook Family Tree Food Stories GROUP👍
• TikTok: Family Tree Food Stories
• 👇Share Your Story With Nancy & Sylvia!: Leave us a voicemail
• You can send us a DM on Facebook?
• 🎧

In this episode about “Bars and Pubs,” your Family Tree Food & Stories Podcast hosts, Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely, raise a frosty pint and share some of the most timeless traditions, history, colorful characters, and personal stories that make bars, pubs, and taverns the cornerstones of many small towns and community family life so rich.

From famous corner bars like Cheers in Boston and the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, to local favorites with a rich heritage, this episode blends history, humor, and personal stories and reflections on lives well lived. Listeners will hear about Prohibition-era origins, the role of German immigrant beer culture, and how pubs often doubled as family gathering spaces. The conversation also touches on homebrewing adventures, quirky bar names, and the enduring appeal of pub comfort food.

In addition, Nancy and Sylvia share personal conversations with bartenders who remember every order, travelers who created instant friendships and the new tastes moving towards non-alcoholic beer and mocktail culture—a trend led by Gen Z. You’ll also learn about the agricultural roots of beer, from hop farming in New York and Washington State to the backstory behind IPA bitterness and Belgian monk brews.

Whether it’s a dark and warm Irish tavern, a cozy New England pub, or a quirky roadside dive bar, “Bars and Pubs” shows how these places have become a part of lives, legacies, and legends, and the archive of tradition, storytelling, and warm human connection.

5 Key Learning Points:

1. The Importance of Key Historic Bars & Taverns – Discover the stories of iconic spots like the Cheers bar in Boston and the 10th-oldest tavern in the world, the White Horse Tavern.
2. Their Cultural Impact and Significance – Learn how pubs, especially in German-American and Irish traditions, have long been community hubs for celebration and connection.
3. Emerging Drink Trends – Explore the rise of non-alcoholic beer, mocktails, and premium brews as tastes shift across generations.
4. History of Agriculture & Brewing – Understand the role of hop farming in the U.S., from New York’s past dominance to Washington State’s modern leadership.
5. Importance of Social Storytelling – See how conversations over a pint can spark lifelong friendships, creative breakthroughs, and the preservation of local history.

Pull up a barstool and join the conversation! 🍺

Listen to “Bars and Pubs” on the Family Tree Food & Stories Podcast and discover the traditions, flavors, and friendships that make pubs more than just a place to drink. Subscribe now, share with friends, and tell us—what’s your most memorable bar or pub story?

Additional Links ❤️

• Book: My Family Tree,...