John Demers

Talk Radio Host, Delicious Mischief

Delicious Mischief, the popular weekly food and wine radio show that began in New Orleans more than 20 years ago and moved to Houston eight years ago has a bright new sibling coming to Austin's TalkRadio 1370 beginning Feb. 6. The program, hosted by veteran journalist John DeMers and showcasing Austin's best chefs and restaurants along with winemakers and master distillers from every corner of the globe, will air Saturdays from 10-11 a.m.

"Over the years I've been in Texas, more and more food stories take me to Austin more and more often," John says. "In food and drink, as in music and politics, Austin has a remarkable amount of fascinating stuff going on. Great drama, great personalities, great ambitions - oh, and did I mention great things for me to eat and drink? This new Austin show gives me the opportunity to say what I love about Austin, each and every Saturday morning."

John DeMers ate his way through 136 foreign countries before discovering he could get all the same food right here in Texas. A native of New Orleans, John grew up with parents who read cookbooks to each other after dinner while drinking cans of Dixie beer. They also cooked most meals together, a trick that John later learned from his own relationships is not the easiest thing in the world. After studying history at Boston University and earning his BA and MA in journalism at Louisiana State University, John embarked on the predictable career writing for newspapers. He had no idea how unpredictable a career writing for newspapers could be. Currently, John hosts the weekly Delicious Mischief food and wine radio show Saturdays 10-11 a.m. on KJCE AM 1370 in Austin, as well as a separate Delicious Mischief on NewsRadio 740 KTRH in Houston.

Among his most formative experiences were eight years as a reporter and editor for United Press International, before being laid off as part of UPI's regularly scheduled bankruptcies: covering plane crashes and Mafia trials, elections and oil rig explosions, Super Bowls and championship fights. And that was before he transferred to UPI's overnight Foreign Desk in Washington or became UPI's globetrotting food editor almost without knowing such a job existed. Asked (especially by his children) what he did at work, the best John could ever come up with was, "I go places to eat things."

Commerce raised its ugly head with increasing frequency. John ended up spending five years as Director of Promotions and Public Relations for the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans and then almost 15 years creating his own magazines New Orleans Hospitality, EasyFood, CoastFood and finally Texas Foodlover. Of that experience he invariably reports, "You go to bed at night an editor - and you wake up the next morning a salesman." It was a return to newspapers, his first love, that brought John to Texas to follow the beloved Ann Criswell as food editor of the Houston Chronicle. By the time that job went away, his longtime New Orleans food and wine radio show Delicious Mischief had made it onto the airwaves here - and he saw no reason to let himself be run out of town. By then, in other words, Texas was his home.

At present, John is the author of 40 published books, including "Follow the Smoke: 14,783 Miles of Great Texas Barbecue," reflecting the total distance he drove to overeat in 119 different places in all corners of the Lone Star State. Upcoming books include his first mystery novel, "Marfa Shadows," as well as "Lone Star Chefs" and "Energy Cuisine," all from Bright Sky Press. He is a constant contributor to regional and national magazines. His article in Hemispheres about the heartbreak of seeing his hometown after Hurricane Katrina won that year's Lowell Thomas Award for "cultural travel writing." John insists he doesn't know much about any other kind.