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More than 60,000 Austinites work in the city’s food industry. A local nonprofit wants to help these food workers get health insurance. We’ll tell you about their work.
Peaches from Fredericksburg may be harder to find because of yet another warm winter. We’ll have more from the Texas Hill Country.
An Austin food influencer is moving from the small screen to the bigger screen with his new show, highlighting immigrant-owned eateries across town. We’ll hear about what he’s learned by going inside the kitchen.
And FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off tomorrow. Our soccer/fútbol expert will have some teams to watch and a local connection on the Canadian national team.
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] More than 60,000 Austinites work in the city’s food industry. And a local nonprofit wants to help these food workers get health insurance. We’re going to tell you about the work that they’re doing. And peaches from Fredericksburg may be harder to find because of yet another warm winter. More from the Texas Hill Country. That’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:28] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:33] Plus, an Austin food influencer is moving from the small screen to the big screen with his new show, highlighting immigrant-owned eateries across town, what he’s learned by going inside the kitchen. And World Cup 2026 kicks off tomorrow. Our soccer slash football expert will have some teams to watch and a local connection to the Canadian national team. More about these stories coming up next here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, you are listening to Austin Signal. This is community powered public radio KUT news. It’s Wednesday the 10th of June. I’m your host, Jerry Kihono. We are glad to be part of your day. Around 65,000 people work in Austin’s food industry and many of those servers, chefs, and food prep workers make low wages and they don’t receive benefits like health insurance. KUT’s Olivia Aldridge reports a local non-profit wants to change that.
Olivia Aldridge [00:01:38] Every morning at Brentwood Social House, there’s a glimmering case full of fresh-baked bread and pastries. What customers don’t see is all the heavy lifting that made it happen. Lead baker T Nguyen says slinging around all that flour and sh-
T Nguyen [00:01:52] sugar isn’t light work.
Olivia Aldridge [00:02:03] Up before dawn five days a week to start the morning bake. She says she loves the work, but it is physically taxing. And up until recently, she was putting off regular checkups because she didn’t have health insurance. She said her health plan was pretty much just crossing your fingers.
T Nguyen [00:02:20] Sick, will I be okay?
Olivia Aldridge [00:02:22] Stuck with like a huge bill, is it gonna break me? That changed this year after she was accepted to a pilot program through Good Work Austin, a nonprofit with a mission of improving conditions for local food workers and businesses. Good Work, Austin partnered with the local publicly funded organization, Central Health to cover insurance premiums for a small cohort of food workers in 2026.
Kara Hanaoka [00:02:44] It’s a really tough industry to work in and our city kind of depends on that industry.
Olivia Aldridge [00:02:50] Hanaoka.
Kara Hanaoka [00:02:50] Is the executive director of Good Work Austin. Like, we’re known as this food city now. We’re known for our Michelin stars, and that’s our tourism, and in turn, our sales tax, and in term, that’s what funds our city government.
Olivia Aldridge [00:03:03] Hanaoka sees a lot of parallels between Austin food workers and Austin musicians, two groups that are integral to the city’s culture, but may struggle to keep up with the cost of living.
Kara Hanaoka [00:03:14] A lot of times musicians are, you know, they don’t have a stable employer, they’re kind of bouncing around, and a lot of time food workers are really similar like that.
Olivia Aldridge [00:03:22] But musicians in Austin have an established resource available, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, or HAM, which provides insurance premium assistance for thousands of people each year. This served as the model for Good Work Austin’s Health Care Access pilot. It started small, with just 25 participants. To qualify, they had to make less than $31,300 per year. That’s the federal limit to qualify for something called the Advanced Premium Tax credit. Which offsets the cost of marketplace health plans for low earners. Pilot participants enrolled in insurance from Sandero Health Plans, Central Health’s marketplace insurance option. They received the tax credit, and Central Health paid for the balance of their premiums. Moving forward, Hanaoka would like to expand the pilot to make these benefits available to more people. She also wants to brainstorm ways to support people who make too much money to qualify.
Kara Hanaoka [00:04:14] Quite a few people who applied for the program made a little bit too much. It’s a lot of people that are in that 40 to $45,000 range that are just kind of being.
Olivia Aldridge [00:04:26] Soon, that group could include Ti Nguyen. Last year, her income was low enough to qualify for the pilot, but she’s since picked up a second job to bring in some more money.
T Nguyen [00:04:36] I’m going to get the most use out of it I can right now, get like all my physicals done while I have this free healthcare because I won’t be broke enough to qualify next year.
Olivia Aldridge [00:04:46] Anaoka already has some ideas about other ways to support healthcare access in Austin’s food industry. One is a proposal for the city to create a tax rebate program for food and beverage businesses that invest in healthcare access, paid leave, and living wages for employees. She’s also already looking ahead to year two of the pilot. She briefed the Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board on early takeaways from the program this week, and will present to Central Health later this month. I’m Olivia Aldridge in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:18] When mid-May rolls around, Texas peach lovers descend upon the hill country. The area around Fredericksburg is famous for its peaches, and they’re best enjoyed as close to harvest as possible. In recent years, though, the peaches have been harder to get your hands on because of a series of small crops. Texas Standard’s Michael Marks has more about that story.
Michael Marks [00:05:42] At their farm stand outside Fredericksburg, Eckhardt Orchards has all kinds of local produce for sale. Watermelons, squash, jalapenos, tomatoes, but the peaches are the big drop.
Marlene Russell [00:05:54] I’ve been coming here since I was a little girl to Fredericksburg to buy peaches.
Michael Marks [00:05:59] That’s Marlene Russell, she drove 100 miles from her home in Fort McCavet on a clear Thursday morning to get Fredericksburg peaches. She likes to stock up so she can eat some, free some, and make cobblers too.
Marlene Russell [00:06:11] If it’s a big crop, sometimes I make three or four trips down here.
Michael Marks [00:06:16] But it’s not a big peach crop in the hill country this year. In a kitchen that smells like coleslaw and cobbler attached to the farm stand, Diane Eckhart says the small harvest is due to a warm winter.
Diane Eckhart [00:06:29] The piece that we were lacking this year to have a full crop was the cold hours, the chill hours, we were marginal on them.
Michael Marks [00:06:39] Diane is part of the third generation of ecarts to grow peaches in the hill country. After the first frost of winter, she and other growers start counting chill hours, generally defined as time between 45 and 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Diane Eckhart [00:06:53] Particularly January and February, is when we get the majority of our colds. We want those nice, cloudy January and February days.
Michael Marks [00:07:03] Too few chill hours in the winter means the tree won’t bear much fruit in the spring.
Larry Stein [00:07:08] So that’s been the big struggle the last three years is we just haven’t had the cold weather.
Michael Marks [00:07:14] That’s Larry Stein, professor and horticulturalist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He’s been studying Texas peaches for 40 years. Stein says that year after year of minimal chill can stress trees long-term. It can impact fruit quality as well as quantity.
Larry Stein [00:07:32] Low chill peaches are elongated and they don’t necessarily develop full quality like a typical peach would.
Michael Marks [00:07:40] The hill country became a peach mecca because it has the right soil and climate. The winters were cold enough without freezing too frequently. A layer of clay under a sandy loam helped carry the trees through droughts. Earlier growers could rely solely on rainfall to water their trees. That’s harder to do now with drier weather. Eckhardt orchards now irrigate some of their crops to supplement rainfall. Behind the stand, in a small orchard, Diane points out trees with skimpy branches.
Diane Eckhart [00:08:11] This is a variety that did not set real well this year. This is Dixieland. So there’s very, not a whole lot of fruit on these trees.
Michael Marks [00:08:20] Eckhart has some peaches for sale. Availability will vary as different varieties ripen throughout the summer. The day I was there, you could buy an eighth of a bushel, about six pounds, of crimson lady peaches, for $29. Drought and warmer winters may make it harder to grow peaches. But Eckhart, has no plans to stop.
Diane Eckhart [00:08:41] For my generation, I was gifted with it. I didn’t have to buy this land. And it’s a gift that it grows, wonderful thing. So that, just like you can’t ignore that. You kind of feel like you gotta do what the land does best, you know?
Michael Marks [00:08:55] She’s going to plant some new crops for the fall in order to make up for the small peach harvest including pumpkins, okra, and blackberries. I’m Michael Marks for the Texas Standard.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:06] Thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal here on KUT News. This is listener-supported public radio. We’ve got more show for you coming up after this break. Welcome back, this is Austin Signal. Ever been to a spot around town where you take a look at the menu and you want to eat, well, just about everything that they have? Well, luckily for our next guest, part of his job affords him the chance to do that very thing. From social media food influencer to Austin PBS docu-series host, David Douglas’ new show premieres today on Austin PBS and YouTube. It’s called David Eats Everywhere. David, welcome to Austin Signal! Hey, thanks for having me.
David Douglas [00:09:59] It’s great to be here.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:59] We’re glad to have you and we’re excited to learn more about your show as we understand It’s about six episodes in this first season taking a look at several well-known Austin eateries But tell us more about you in case our listener might not be familiar You’ve got two hundred thousand followers on Instagram where you review food already Why did you want to make the jump from the tiny screen to the big screen?
David Douglas [00:10:20] Yeah, I mean, I love talking about food on Instagram. I think it’s a perfect format for basically giving you the rundown of a place and saying, hey, let’s go there this weekend. That’s what most people, I would say, do with my videos. They check it out. They’re like, this looks good. Send it to their buddy. We got our weekend plans to eat some dinner. But for the show, you know, I really wanted to, like I spent a lot of time in these restaurants and I got to know some of these owners and they were really cool people and their stories were really interesting. A lot of the places in the show they, put a lot more effort in than like a similar style of restaurant and it was kind of curious like what is like really motivating them to work so hard to like go in early and prep stuff to roast the coffee beans themselves to kind of do all these extra steps and it was mostly because they had some passion for it from their childhood or their grandma or they miss their you know the food from home every episode of the show is a restaurant that’s either immigrant owned or first generation. So that’s why a lot of these people are motivated. They kind of have these outside heritage factors that are like really pushing them to make the best food in town. And hearing about their stories was a lot more possible in like 10 minutes than it is in 45 seconds with me just kind of yapping on on Instagram.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:31] Is that something that you identified early, talking to immigrant-owned restaurants? Is it something that sort of just happened organically as you were creating the show?
David Douglas [00:11:39] I think it was just a natural interest of mine. A lot of the restaurants I go to for Instagram and for my normal work are that. And that’s just because I grew up in Jersey with a lot of immigrant-owned spots around me. My mom’s an immigrant. You know, I ate all Arabic food growing up. And so the idea of eating food from another country has just always been appealing to me. Kind of came through on my Instagram work and then just felt natural. If I was gonna tell a bigger story, those are the stories I wanted to tell.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:05] What’s been the most challenging part, moving from a more short-form video into longer TV episodes? I had zero prac-
David Douglas [00:12:13] practice working with other creative people.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:15] Mostly you’re just setting up your phone on the table. I’m guessing in recording these reviews. Do you normally have somebody with you?
David Douglas [00:12:21] Nobody’s with me, nobody edits with me. Nobody tells me my jokes are too crazy or you know, I should do this or that thing and the other thing. And so when you’re working with other really smart, creative people, it’s really smart to get their opinions and to make a show that’s been built together. So you got to, you know harness everybody’s skills and everyone’s talents and opinions. And that was just so new for me. I was like, Oh, wow, we can’t do every single little idea that I have because we have other people and we’re paying for their time. And it’s not just like. Me can edit this at 9 p.m. When, you know, I’m bored. So that was the hardest thing. I was like, oh man, I really gotta work on this as a skill.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:58] Yeah, and I’m assuming that with most of your Instagram reviews, you’re going to the place of business while they’re operating. I know for one of the episodes, you woke up really early to go and meet with the staff from Comandre Panaderia and Mariela Camacho, a James Beard Award-winning baker. What did you learn during your visit there?
David Douglas [00:13:16] I got reinforced the idea that being a baker is incredibly hard and difficult because the hours are really intense and they’re usually baking things all in different sequential order. So they have to start one dish while they’re finishing another dish. You have this oven that’s kind of like your that’s your zone and you got to move everything in and out of that as it best flows. And to do all that multitasking at 4am, I could barely talk like the episode I barely talk in that episode because. I’m trying my best to engage with Mariela who’s so articulate and so passionate and so well spoken. And I’m just like, that is, that’s so great. And I just had no thoughts coming to my head. So waking up early and having to see them do all that work and all that multitasking was super impressive.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:04] What are some of the other places you’re highlighting in this first season of the show?
David Douglas [00:14:07] The third episode will be Desnudo Coffee, which is run by two Colombian brothers. We also talked to the folks at El Granpa Barbecoa, which the only in-ground whole lamb barbecoas in central Texas. They’re up in Georgetown, I believe. We also have an episode about El Camino Barbecue, which a Chinese barbecue over charcoal. That guy’s story is really interesting because he’s an asylum from China. He had, uh, political issues there with, uh… Hiring Uyghur people, which are a minority in China that are discriminated against by the government, and then the last episode, Tatsumi Sushi, which is a really great story of someone who’s putting a lot of effort into sourcing fish from Japan, spends a lot of time over there, and we got to know some of the people that are involved with the sourcing of the business as well.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:56] All right, sounds like a lot of great stories to come from those episodes. I’m a kid of the 90s, I watched a lot of Food Network growing up. So many different kinds of shows. How did you want to set yours apart and how difficult was it to make it your own? I think it’s very challenging.
David Douglas [00:15:11] I think I did a great job picking the restaurants and picking a talented team to work with. Getting all of my ideas into a show the first time I’m doing it was very challenging. And I think one thing, you know, I’m very proud of the show, but the other thing I kept thinking was, oh, I’m so new at this part. Like I can talk about food, but usually I’m writing it. You know, I can rewrite it. So talking about some food live on the spot, every time I was like, I’m gonna get so much better at this. Like if there’s a season two, if there is another show I get to make, I’m going to be so much better at that. And that’s really exciting for me too, to just be even better at conveying the hard work that these restaurateurs put into their businesses.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:47] How did you get started talking about food?
David Douglas [00:15:50] I had a friend in college who was finishing film school while I was finishing a business degree. I had not done any creative work in a while and we were in New York and I started describing this bagel tin. This was sesame bagel and I was talking about how it’s so nice when you toast the sesame bagel because not only do you get that extra roasted flavor from the sesame but the texture of that toast really contrasts with the like creamy soft nature of the cream cheese And that’s just like a really satisfying bite. And he was like, Hey man, did you ever like think about doing something with food? And I’m like, what do you mean? He’s like, you could like write about food or like make videos about food or something. And I was like huh, never thought about that. A couple of months later, when I was finishing college, I started writing a blog. Nobody read that. I did food photography after working in corporate, uh, lost all my money doing that. Uh, and I kept making these little food videos. Nobody watched. I wasn’t very good at making them. Um, they weren’t very interesting. I didn’t really say anything in the videos. I’d kind of just show off food. Kind of poorly and blurry and eventually I got kind of good at it and I had a video that took off and I kept doing that style of video, which is a little bit similar to what I do now. And, uh, yeah, just, that was like three and a half years ago that that first video got some traction and it just kept snowballing. I think I got a little bit better over the years as well at communicating and showing off food and then now I get some really cool opportunities like working with Austin PBS.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:11] All right, David Eats Everywhere premieres today on Austin PBS. We’re gonna have a link in today’s podcast, Show Notes. We have been speaking with the host of the show, David Douglas. Congrats and thank you for your time. Sweet, thanks for having me. The World Cup kicks off on Thursday, and here to tell us more about this year’s tournament is Juan Diego Garcia. He is one of the hosts of the Vamos Verde podcast, all about Austin FC and World Cup 2026. He’s with us now, hi Juan. Hi Jerry, always a pleasure. It’s great to have you back in the studio. It’s an exciting time, lots of great sports happening around us. So first off, tell us, is Vamos Verda doing anything special for this year World Cup?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:17:54] We are, in a way, yes, we are going nationwide. You can hear Jimmy and I on public radio stations pretty much across the country at some of the host cities.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:05] Very cool!
Juan Diego Garcia [00:18:05] We’re gonna be covering the whole tournament there and we’ll be talking all sorts of World Cup stuff on our podcast feed as well So make sure you look out for that
Jerry Quijano [00:18:12] Alright, well let’s get right into the action since I know you’re keenly aware of what’s going on. Games are going to be happening across three countries for the next few weeks. Which teams are going be playing just a few hours away from us here in Austin?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:18:25] Well, folks here in Texas have a treat coming for them because you got a good mix. You have some perennial heavy hitters, those sort of title hopefuls every year, including Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, England, Argentina, defending champs. You also have this upstart Japan team that I think could cause some folks some trouble. They’re looking to be pretty good. And also some tournament debutants, you’ve got Uzbekistan, Kurasal, are all gonna be featured in games here in Texas. I think if I could give you two games to look out for, for sure, two games happening in Dallas. The first one on the 14th, Netherlands takes on Japan. And on the 17th, England will be taking on Croatia. And those two are teams that, every time the tournament happens, always show pretty well for themselves.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:15] It’s a very exciting time for the soccer world here in Austin. People over the weekend were posting pictures of Lino Messi and College Station, and that’s not a sentence I ever thought I was gonna say. No. Lino, Messi, and College station, but that’s just what the World Cup has done, and it’s been really great ramping up. As I mentioned, there are three host countries, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. They all automatically qualified for the field because they are the host countries. Of those three, Juan, which do you think has the best chance to advance the furthest in this tournament?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:19:43] Canada is still relatively new to the World Cup stage. Mexico always performs well when they host the tournament, but I don’t know if I’m entirely sold by the current generation of Mexican players. So I’m gonna give it to the U.S. Men’s National Team. I think they have a good mix of some experienced players. They have a lot of exciting young talent, a lot it playing out in Europe, some of their talent playing right here in Major League Soccer. But one of the biggest things is they’re led by a coach that has proven they can win it all at club level. It’s this guy Mauricio Pochettino, and he’s gonna be trying to show the world that he can do it on the international stage as well. So my choice is the U.S. Men’s team.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:23] One thing that we’re gonna be keeping an eye on for sure is the temperatures at some of these games. We’re already experiencing it here in Texas. Not only is it hot, it’s extremely humid. And lots of these game are going to be played in a similar type of climate. How are the games adapting to the climate that they’re gonna played in?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:20:41] Well, FIFA themselves implemented something relatively new for this tournament, which is a mandatory three-minute water break. They are going to happen right in the middle of each half, so soccer’s played in two 45-minute halves. Halfway through, you’re going to get three minutes where you see all of the players going to the sideline for a hydration break. That’s, I guess, the way the folks that are running the tournament are adapting to the heat. Something that I think is worth looking out for, for folks that going to be paying attention to the tournament is uh… This heat might make for some very boring football, usually more defensive teams, teams that are not going to be running down the pitch, kicking and screaming, trying to score a goal. Those teams that will be more designed to sit back, absorb pressure, and then hit when the time is right. Those teams could use this weather as somewhat of a… Almost home field advantage, if you will. The team that comes to mind that I think could spring a big surprise this year is Ecuador. They are extremely well drilled defensively. They’re going to hit you on the counter. They’re probably gonna get one or two opportunities to hurt you in a game and they’re gonna take advantage of those. So I would keep an eye on Ecuador because the way they play the game is kind of built for this kind of heat and the war of attrition that happens from that.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:02] So that’s a team that might surprise some folks, but ultimately only one team is going to come out on top. Who do you think right now, Juan, going into the World Cup, who do you expect to come out on the top in a few weeks? The decision is not as tough.
Juan Diego Garcia [00:22:15] Tough as you might think it is, in my opinion, at least. Uh, I can’t look past Spain. Now they do carry one question, which is, uh, their star player, La Minha Mal, he got hurt in the sort of latter end of the Barcelona season. Uh, if he can come back fully healthy, there’s nobody stopping Spain. Now, if she’s dealing with a little bit of an injury still, I still think Spain is… The deepest team, the most talented team at the tournament, with or without Lamin Yamal at 100%, I would put the betting odds on Spain winning a second World Cup this year.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:55] Okay, once you’ve given us maybe a Dark Horse team to keep an eye on, is there a local connection from Austin FC that we maybe can just root behind a local guy?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:23:04] Yes, Jaden Nelson, the winger for Austin FC, was a very late addition to the Canadian national team. He’s taking the spot of someone who’s unfortunately not available due to injury, which does tend to happen right around the time these squads start to come out. There’s preparation friendlies and some folks will pick up some knocks. Some folks, it costs them their tournament, but he gets a benefit from that and make his debut for the Canadian National Team at the World Cup. He’s already played for the Canadian national team. This is just another feather in his cap that he gets to say he did it at the biggest international tournament there is.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:39] That is Juan Diego Garcia, he is a host of the Vamos Verde podcast, and they’re gonna be doing some special things throughout the World Cup, so be sure to listen to Vamos Verdes wherever you get your shows, Juan. Thank you very much and enjoy the games. You always flatter me, Jerry, thank you. And that is it for today’s show. Thank you for spending some time with us. We’re gonna have links to the stories we shared with you today in the podcast show notes and at kut.org slash signal. Casey Cheek is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host, Jerry Kihannel. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
