Indomitable Spirits

Chef Nathanial Zimet

Photo Credit: Sam Hanna

The life of a chef is often regarded as glamorous and exciting, but in reality, it’s a hard life – exemplified by long hours and frequent financial challenges. For many, it’s the only life imaginable.

Nathanial Zimet, the ambitious chef behind Boucherie and Bourrée in New Orleans, falls directly into that category. Drawn to the restaurant business at the age of 15, the North Carolina native soon learned it was the only career for him. On this week's show, we sit down with Nathanial to explore what led him from London's Le Cordon Bleu to his purple food truck in New Orleans, where his culinary life here began.

From Hurricane Katrina to a near-fatal shooting in 2011 – the indomitable Nathaniel has risen to the top, again and again.

So has Troy Ball, a charming Southern belle, whose hobby as a moonshiner became a means of helping her family survive. Troy’s memoir, Pure Heart, tells a very personal story of how a bankrupt mother with two profoundly disabled sons found happiness and financial success while becoming the first legal female moonshiner in Southern history.