Food & Drink

In her book The Soul of Southern Cooking, Kathy Starr calls soul food "generous and earthy, like the people who created it. I'm not talking about small slivers of skinned chicken breasts surrounded by miniature carrots and radishes cut like roses. I'm talking about something to eat!" In Kansas City you'll never walk out hungry from one of this town's soul food restaurants or buffets. Classic southern cuisine like fried chicken, greens, macaroni and cheese, and peach cobbler are soul-soothing dishes. They may not be so good for your waistline, but they're nirvana for your spirit. Food Critic Charles Ferruzza, Emily Farris, Gloria Gale and Mary Bloch explore the best soul food of the city.

Kansas City has always been a great place for baked goods. Cakes, pies, cream puffs and breads have all been important to the growth of this town as a cosmopolitan and corpulent community. On this episode of Central Standard Friday Charles Ferruzza, Mary Bloch, Emily Farris, and Gloria Gale extend their forks to all parts of the metro to uncover the best bakeries offering the most decadent doughnuts, the crustiest baguettes, and the flakiest cinnamon rolls.

When you take bread off the table, what goes on yours? Award-winning cookbook author Joan Nathan has a few ideas.

As St. Patrick's Day approaches next week, the 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' t-shirts are getting pulled out of the closets and shamrocks will plaster the city. Kansas City has a special relationship with Irish culture that goes hand in hand with the city's narrative.