Kae Lani Palmisano is an Emmy Award-Winning public television host, food and travel writer, recipe developer and home cook who loves to explore the journey that food takes to get to the plate. As an “edu-tainer” her work focuses on having fun with food while educating audiences about where it comes from and its historical and cultural impact.
Aside from a short stint in Germany, Kae Lani has lived most of her life in Philly. Having lived on both sides of the Delaware River, she’s immersed herself in everything from the energetic city life in Philadelphia to the rural farmlands of the Garden State. Her favorite part about living in the Delaware Valley is the bounty of fresh, local produce that changes with the seasons. In the summer you can find her in her New Jersey kitchen baking with blueberries, cooking with squash, and canning tomatoes handpicked from her home garden.
EMMY AWARD-WINNING FOOD SHOW HOST
As the host of WHYY’s Check, Please! Philly, Kae Lani showcases Philadelphia’s favorite restaurants through the eyes of real life local diners, celebrating fine dining establishments alongside hidden neighborhood gems. From Bucks County to Delaware and the Main Line to South Jersey, Check, Please! Philly is one of the region’s top food programs, earning Kae Lani the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Emmy for Talent: Program Host/Moderator, as well as two other Mid-Atlantic Emmy nominations in the show’s first year.
In addition to hosting Check, Please! Philly, Kae Lani is the writer and host of Delishtory, a digital series that explores the fascinating histories and quirky stories behind foods we know and love, streaming now on WHYY’s YouTube and the PBS App.
FOOD & TRAVEL WRITER USA TODAY
While some travelers follow their hearts, Kae Lani has always followed her gut, covering food from unique perspectives across four continents. Her culinary travels have taken her from exploring the Spice Route through Israel and Europe to foraging with the Māori in New Zealand.
As a contributing Food & Travel Editor with The Philadelphia Inquirer and USA TODAY, Kae Lani has whisked readers away to sip cocktails spiked with tarantula venom in Mexico City, indulge in Germany’s 1,000-year-old winemaking tradition, and explore the rural New Zealand countryside where movie director James Cameron has a farm. Kae Lani’s work also appears on KitchenAid Stories where she inspires home chefs to bring new flavors into their cooking – like making bread with heritage grains, fermenting produce, and baking with ruby chocolate, a chocolate with a natural pink color.
She’s also been featured on Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back on Fox, the BBC, Eater Philly, and in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
RECIPE DEVELOPER INSPIRED BY HER MULTlCULTURAL BACKGROUND
For Kae Lani, food has always been a source of comfort and a connection to culture. Growing up in a biracial family meant that Kae Lani got an early lesson in how food not only carries stories about our heritage, but can also be a form of cultural exchange. Holiday meals were a beautiful blend of Black culinary traditions along with traditional Italian and German dishes.
Kae Lani also has a sweet tooth thanks to her mother’s talent as a baker. Her mom, Bunny Lyons, started baking when Kae Lani was five and over the course of 26 years Bunny has built a business creating gorgeous custom cakes and delicious cookies for customers at her South Jersey bakery, Bunnycakes. Bunny even appeared as a contestant on Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge.
Kae Lani’s multicultural background, her mother’s baking, her world travels and the fresh foods sourced from local farms and food purveyors all inspire her home cooking and recipe development.