Hormel Foods Expands its Digital Entertainment Network With New "Heart to Table" Series and Podcast

Beloved culinarians join "Heart to Table" to bring people together through their love of food

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Feb 08, 2021, 12:06 ET

AUSTIN, Minn., Feb. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL), a global branded food company, is breaking new ground with the launch of its latest digital thought-leadership series, "Heart to Table." This collection of stories and inspiration features renowned chefs, celebrities and authors celebrating all that food has to offer. "Heart to Table" joins a growing list of digital entertainment achievements produced by Hormel Foods, including the company's other successful content studio work with the "Our Food Journey" podcast series and the Hormel Foods Film Festival.

Heart to Table podcast host Laurie March, interviews world-class food and lifestyle experts like Chef Michael Mina in this new digital series by Hormel Foods.

Heart to Table by Hormel Foods is an inspired collection of stories celebrating food and its unique ability to bring people together.

"Heart to Table" is produced by Brent Graber, former HGTV and Food Network Branded Entertainment executive producer, and Laurie March, television producer, food influencer and home and lifestyle expert. With March as host, the series is comprised of podcast interviews, social media inspiration and live online events with world-class food and lifestyle experts sharing personal stories and recipes. March interviews a diverse range of culinarians to unearth the myriad ways food intersects with our lives: food history and cultural heritage, the comfort food brings during challenging times, new and unusual recipes, and how food impacts a community.

"Hormel Foods continues to lead in multifaceted entertainment with 'Heart to Table.' Audiences can listen to the podcast, peruse profiles of savvy chefs and guests on the website, dive into quality recipe content tying into monthly themes and even participate in interactive media experiences on the company's social platforms," said March. "This whole effort is a great demonstration of what it looks like to be forward thinking in the food space."

Esteemed guests and contributors include:

Chef Michael Mina: Michelin-star awardee, James Beard Foundation inductee, Gayot restaurateur, Bon Appétit chef of the year, and founder of The Mina Group, which owns more than 40 restaurants around the world.
Chef MacKenzie Smith: A two-time Food Network champ, cookbook author, cheese expert, executive chef and founder of the largest grilled-cheese blog on the internet.
Chef Richard Ingraham: Cookbook author, personal chef to professional athletes and celebrities and co-founder of ChefRLI.
Chef Vivian Howard: James Beard winner, Peabody Award winner, cookbook author, former PBS personality and executive chef.
Adrian Miller: James Beard Award-winning food writer, attorney and certified barbeque judge.

The first four episodes of the "Heart to Table" podcast series are available now, with new releases scheduled monthly. Listen to entertaining, personal stories and glean insights from Mina and Smith for ideas on creating new family food traditions; join Ingraham for meal-prep inspiration; and check in on Howard's no-nonsense approach to keeping things simple in the kitchen.

In the next episode, debuting Feb. 9, Miller shares how he became "The Soul Food Scholar" and an expert on the African Americans who fed the nation's first families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas.

Fans craving more "Heart to Table" inspiration can tune in to the Hormel Foods Instagram Live sessions to hear additional insights from series guests. Recent features include March and Smith dishing out their thoughts on "emotional eating," as well as Smith treating fans to a re-creation of her famous grilled cheese with muenster and fig-jam-glazed canadian bacon that earned her the top spot on Food Network's "Guy's Grocery Games."

"Hormel Foods has created a space where we can share our intimate food journeys through storytelling, recipes and advice, all while connecting with fans in an authentic and approachable way," said Smith. "To me, that's what food is all about – bringing people together from all walks of life through shared experiences."

Audiences can immerse themselves in the entire "Heart to Table" collection at www.HormelFoods.com/HeartToTable and find full podcast episodes on their favorite platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and others.

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS — Inspired People. Inspired Food.™
Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $9 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include SKIPPY^®, SPAM^®, Hormel^® Natural Choice^®, Applegate^®, Justin's^®, Wholly^®, Hormel^® Black Label^®, Columbus^® and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the "Global 2000 World's Best Employers" list by Forbes magazine for three straight years, is one of Fortune magazine's most admired companies, has appeared on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for the 12^th year in a row, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement — Inspired People. Inspired Food.™ — to bring some of the world's most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/.