Join The Palm Beach Post and 7 storytellers on Sept. 14 for stories on food and family

LAKE PARK — A chef who survives drug addiction to see his name on the marquee of two South Florida restaurants. A shrimp cocktail that brings a family together after its members have escaped communist dictators twice. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who learned the importance of patience alongside her grandmother while making dulce de leche.

Want to hear more? Then come to The Palm Beach Post Storytellers Project show Sept. 14. It will start at 7 p.m. at the Lake Park Black Box theater.

The theme of the show is "Food & Family," and the audience will hear seven people tell short stories about their experiences with food and how it's changed their lives and their relationships with loved ones.

The show is the second to be staged this year by the Storytellers Project, a national USA TODAY network program based on a simple truth: there are experiences we all share and we grow closer — as people and as a community — when we share them. In short, we find common ground.

Join us again in November: Share a story about the holidays at our November Storytellers night. Here’s how to pitch.

Hear stories from our recent event: Palm Beach Post's Storytellers on Growing Up: 5 stories show we all grow closer as we share

To that end, the project seeks stories from across Palm Beach County on themes common to everyone. Tellers share them in their own words at live shows that are open to the public. The first show in March drew more than 150 people to hear tales about "Growing Up."

Even though the past two years have changed our sense of connection and normalcy, The Post hopes you’ll join us for an evening of laughs, life experiences and good, old-fashioned community.

Get tickets by clicking this link.

The September show's tellers

Andres Leiva, 28, of Delray Beach emigrated — or as he put it, he was " uprooted' — from Miami to El Salvador when he was just 8 years old.

Twenty years later, the lessons he learned there emerge when he's in the kitchen, helping him honor cousins, his beloved nanny and the new friends he left behind when he returned to the U.S.

"As an adult, food is how I remember home and my family," said Leiva, now a Palm Beach Post photographer.

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You may know Louie Bossi's name. The Boynton Beach chef, 55, is the operator of Louie Bossi's Italian Ristorante, which has locations in Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. But he hasn't always been on top of the dining world.

Between late nights in the kitchen and punishing stress from work, Bossi developed a heroin addiction that left him homeless and nearly took his life.

Now, he's worried a new generation of chefs are getting wrapped up in the same issues.

"People being aware of what goes on in restaurants, especially employers," he said. "We lost four people in May in our restaurant group. We need to be aware of what's going on and what you should look for."

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Roxanne Hosein, 57, of Delray Beach will join the stage Sept. 14 to tell the story of growing up in her Jamaican family and her meticulous preservation of a family recipe.

Before migrating to the U.S., Hosein's grandmother hand wrote a black pudding recipe and gifted it to her (and her only) for the years to come.

She'll share how the dish — which takes more than a year to prepare if you're doing it right — became the surprising common thread that connected her family even after her grandmother's death.

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Antonio Fins' grandfather fled Spain during the country's 40-year dictatorship only to end up in Cuba, where he established a restaurant and became a celebrity chef. Exiled by Fidel Castro's revolution, he moved to Miami where he started anew with Los Violines restaurant.

Fins, The Post's business and politics editor, will tell the story of how his grandfather's culinary skills, whether a tangy shrimp cocktail or a paella loaded with shellfish, reconnected family, were staples at joyful moments and brought comfort at times of sorrow.

"To my grandfather, food wasn't just a livelihood, or an art. It was a way to bond," Fins said. "It was a way to bring people together, to get them to talk and, he hoped, to get them to settle differences amicably. And of course, to celebrate the happy occasions and to soothe in times of tragedy."

When Benita Hamilton's mother showed up at her school to begin work as the head cook, she wasn't mortified like other kids may have been. She was enamored.

Her mother, who cared for five young children on a military family budget, created miracles with food.

"Everyday the meal was awesome," recalled the 61-year-old, now the USPS postmaster for South Bay. "My mom could burn in the kitchen and we were proud. The school cafeteria always had a surplus of visitors daily."

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When Corinne Kahn, 68, became deaf in her 30s, she knew she would have to reimagine her parenting strategies with her young children. Perhaps predictably, she had to learn not to trust them when they claimed any explicit rap music they listed to was rated PG.

But she never anticipated that missing their belches and noisy flatulence would have consequences — that they would be the signals she missed alerting her that her family was getting sick from the gluten-filled food they were eating.

Kahn, who regularly prepared traditional Jewish foods such as matzo ball soup and challah, had to learn to cook gluten-free and still help her family feel like they were honoring their roots.

Her story is one of learning to accommodate and laugh at yourself even when the deck is stacked against you.

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Palm Beach County foodies will immediately recognize Liz Balmaseda as The Palm Beach Post's food and dining aficionado. She's covered the beat for 16 years, introducing both longtime Floridians and newcomers to hole-in-the-wall restaurants, new recipes and chefs whose stories rival their menus.

Balmaseda will share how she learned the value of patience and family in her grandmother's kitchen, as she followedmeticulous instructions for making the perfect dulce de leche.

The Palm Beach Post Storytellers Project

Theme: "Food and Family" 

When: 7 p.m. Sept. 14

Where: Lake Park's Black Box Theater, 700 Park Ave. Lake Park

Tickets: Available at storytellersproject.enmotive.com/events/register/storytellers-project-palm-beach-fl

Note: Tickets will not be sold at the door.

Mark yourself as "going" on Facebook to get updates on the show! 

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today!

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach Post Storytellers Project Sept. 14 food and family tickets