Today is 4/20, and to celebrate we’re taking culinary cannabis to new highs with cannabis baker Christina Wong of Baking with Chickens. I personally adore cooking and baking using the aromatic oils in marijuana called terpenes as a flavor profile to pair with, and Christina definitely shares that passion, too. She’s worked with all sorts of folks in the cannabis industry like Papa & Barkley, MedMen, and Raw Garden, and also hosts a cooking channel on YouTube called Baking with Chickens, where she showcases the other secret to her delicious baked goods — fresh eggs from her backyard chooks. Christina is launching a culinary cannabis baking show that kicks off today, and I know she’s going to be a wealth of knowledge for us as we learn how to cook with cannabis for the 420 holiday.
Waffles + Mochi is a new culinary kids show on Netflix that follows the adventures of two Muppet-like friends, Waffles and Mochi, who emerge from living amongst freezer food to traveling the world to learn about the bounty of fresh, real ingredients and international culinary cultures. The show is produced by Michelle and Barack Obama's Higher Ground Productions, and boasts a roster of famous food folks like Samin Nosrat, José Andrés, Massimo Bottura, and Preeti Mistry, and is filled with curiosity, enthusiasm, joy, and delight — things we could all use right now. Today we are chatting with the show’s creator, Jeremey Konner, who’s also the mad genius behind Drunk History, and co-creator and show runner Erika Thormahlen. We discuss everything from the challenges of fabricating puppets who can actually ingest food to what it's like working with Michelle Obama, and everything in between.
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Kelly Leveque is a holistic nutritionist, wellness expert, celebrity health coach, and the author of Body Love and Body Love Every Day. She’s also consulted on hotel menus at the Montage, bringing her approach on health and wellness to travelers. (Boy oh boy did traveling wreak havoc on my body back in the day when that was a thing!) I’ve used Kelly’s tips and Fab Four Smoothies to manage blood sugar and insulin for weight management and appetite control, how to avoid jet lag via diet, and so much more. Her practical and optimistic approach to nutrition and wellness, which focusses on sustainable habits, is such a great guide to living a healthy and balanced life. I also just personally adore her as a person, and I know you will too.
Elizabeth Schnieder is the host and author of Wine for Normal People. She is a certified sommelier who has worked in everything from winery brand management to creating waitstaff programs, and perhaps most famously, hosting one of my favorite podcasts, Wine For Normal People. Today we’re going to talk about everything from the scandal surrounding the sexual abuse and misogyny within the Court of Master Sommeliers and sexism the wine industry as a whole to debunking the myth that natural wine is as great as all the cool kids make it sound. I know you're going to fall in love with her humor and candor, just as I did years ago when I first listened in to her show.
Be sure to give us a follow over on Instagram @kristasimmons @forkintheroadmedia for the latest. Cheers!
Today we’ll be talking about how the restaurant scene in Hong Kong could provide a window to the future for global reopening with chef May Chow. Early on in the pandemic, Black Sheep shared their COVID Restaurant Guidelines for Safety, and folks like May lead the way in initiating protocols to keep their diners and staff safe. May is the chef/owner behind Hong Kong’s Little Bao and Happy Paradise. She was also named Asia’s Best Female Chef in 2017, and has done pop-ups here in the US with the team behind Republique, which garnered lines that snaked around Grand Central Market. My team and I filmed our "Women in Food" series the last time we visited Hong Kong, and I was so inspired not only by her delicious take on traditional baos, but her activism and leadership.
We discuss how her restaurants have pivoted to survive, what she's seeing in Hong Kong that may lead us to a more informed reopening, and how she hopes to uplift women and the LGBTQ community in Hong Kong and beyond.
Anya Fernald is co-founder and owner of Belcampo Meat Co, a regenerative farm raising beef, pork, and chicken. Belcampo hopes to revolutionize meat for the wellbeing of people, the planet, and animals through their method of regenerative agriculture. Whether you're vegan, keto, vegetarian, flexitarian, whole 30, or just want to source better meat, you'll want to hear about Belcampo's organic, carbon-positive farm. Their Northern California ranch is home to 2,500 heritage-breed animals that are grass fed and grass finished. Fernald addresses some of the messaging issues about raising beef and climate change, meat consumption, carbon footprints, and greenhouse emissions, and how these things can be countered with their method of farming.
Pernell Cezar is the CEO and Co-Founder of BLK & Bold, the first-ever black-owned, nationally distributed coffee business that makes social impact a priority. BLK & Bold won the NAACP Small Business of the Year Award in 2019 and their new partnership with Ethiopia-based Keffa Coffee highlights the quality, prominence, and diversity of coffee grown in regions across Ethiopia, which is known as the motherland of coffee.
Today we chat about why their end-to-end black owned coffee company is essential the landscape and the story of how coffee goes from seed to cup.
You can continue to follow along with stories like this @kristasimmons and @forkintheroadmedia on Instagram, Twitter, and Clubhouse.
Dr Lilian Cheung is a lecturer and director of health promotion and communication at Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition and an expert on the practice of mindful eating. She is the co-author of the book “Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life” with Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn. Lilian is an active practitioner of Buddhism, and is passionate about understanding the science and practice of mindful eating, which is much different than intuitive eating and is a moving meditation in its foundations. I know a lot of us — self included — have been mindlessly stress eating throughout the past year and could really use the practice in our daily lives. These ancient Buddhist practices also give us insight as to how to eat more mindfully for the future of our planet.
She’s going to give us the rundown on how to bring this practice of mindfulness simply and seamlessly into our lives, including a one-on-one chocolate eating meditation. I can get with that!
As always please feel free to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Clubhouse @kristasimmons. See you next week!
There’s been a lot of talk about meal delivery apps like Uber Eats and Postmates gauging small restaurants with fees. Some of them even have slick Super Bowl ad campaigns that pretend to support local businesses, and meanwhile they're charging more than 30% fees to the already-struggling industry, as well as withholding customer data from the restaurants. ChowNow is an LA-based meal delivery app that offers a solution to the struggling industry. Its services are not on based on a percent of sales, but rather a flat monthly fee, and the company shares user data from its platform with the restaurants so that their customers remain, well, their customers if they decide to de-platform, rather than being shuffled over to the next restaurant willing to pay the fees on their app. We sit down with ChowNow CEO Chris Webb about how and why he started this business, his proposed solutions to the inequity within the delivery sphere, and where they see the platform going in the years to come.
Be sure to give us a follow over on Instagram @kristasimmons @forkintheroadmedia for more updates.
We've all thought about having good sex, great sex, better sex, or heck, just *any* sex in these isolated times. But did you know that diet and certain foods can drastically impact your sexual health? We talk everything from natural, scientifically proven aphrodisiacs to bonafide boner killers in a saucy Valentine’s Day episode with author of the new book “Diet for Great Sex,” Christine DeLozier, L.A.C. DeLozier discusses the important connections between hormones, nerve pathways and blood flow, and how integral nutrition is to keep all of those juices flowing.
Christine is a practitioner of acupuncture and blends ideas of traditional Chinese medicine with modern nutritional science to help patients achieve optimal sexual health. She’s going to share with us some tips to help us eat our way to better sex. Who could argue with that, right?
Be sure to give us a follow over on Instagram @kristasimmons @forkintheroadmedia for the latest, and do be well!
Today we're talking about the rise of zero-proof spirits with the CEO/Founders of Optimist Botanicals, whose alcohol-free offerings are catering to a rapidly growing market of the "sober-curious" here in the US. I've been seeing a ton of non-alcoholic bottlings entering the market — think Seedlip, Proteau, Som Cordial and more. And it had me wondering: are more people choosing the sober lifestyle these days, or is there something bigger at play here?
Optimist's flavor profiles are reminiscent of Southern California’s coastlines, desertscapes, and chaparral. Whether you’re just wrapping up your Dry January like I am and looking for more balance after a crazy year, or are abstaining all together, I think there are some interesting things to be gleaned from their insights on the zero proof spirits trend.
Travel expert and seasoned industry leader Nissy Atassi — host of Expedia’s Out Travel the System podcast — is giving us data-driven trend predictions for travel in 2021. Her team at Expedia dug into a deep pool of booking data to get a top level view on everything from the best days to book flights affordably, to the cheapest days to actually travel on, as well as destination trends coming our way in 2021.
So grab your passport and pencil, you’re gonna want to take notes on this one. Trust me, your wanderlust will thank you.
Give us a follow on Instagram and Twitter, and be sure to check in next year for more episodes!
Former NFL player and Super Bowl winner Will Blackmon has shifted his attention to the world of wine with his company, the Wine MVP, where he’s now building cellars for high end clientele and pro athletes including Reggie Bush, Matt Ryan, and Josh Allen.
In this episode we chat about the similarities between the athletic mindset and training your palate, plus his favorite under the radar wines for the holiday season.
This week, I have the pleasure of chatting with chef Daisy Ryan, chef/owner of Bell’s in Los Alamos. Bell's reminds me of some of the great destination dining in Europe, where the journey to the Michelin-level meal is part of the experience itself, and the sense of place is just as important as the food. And folks are taking note: Bell’s won Esquire’s Best New Restaurant and Food & Wine’s Best New Chef for 2020 for their crave worthy culinary experience, which is inspired by casual French bistros and a style that they like to call “Franch."
Their wine-friendly menu is all the things you want to eat — think chicken liver mouse, egg salad sandos, and the perfect steak tartare — but they're not just making delicious food. Daisy and Greg are also using their success for good, providing healthful meals to families in need through their program Feed the Valley. In our interview Daisy gives me the scoop on their new restaurants coming down the pike and so much more.
You can follow along to check out video of the episode @kristasimmons on Instagram and YouTube.
Today on the Fork in the Road podcast, we're continuing our road trip with RV Share in the Santa Ynez Valley, visiting Katie Parker, a California wagyu rancher at Fess Parker Ranch who spearheads their Wine & Wagyu program, where the cattle are fed grapes and grains from the family’s wineries and breweries in the Central Coast.
Katie is the granddaughter of Fess Parker, who famously played folk heroes Davie Crocket and Daniel Boone, then cashed out his Hollywood winnings to open up a stunning ranch situated in Foxen Canyon. Their property is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen — complete with giant oak trees, spectacular vineyards, and undulating golden hills that make for the most epic sunrise.
After wrangling cattle together in the early morning, we sat down in the vineyards to chat about her perspective on land stewardship and what makes CA wagyu so unique.
You can check out the video of our conversation over on YouTube and get some of the BTS on Instagram @kristasimmons.
Hanna Brand is a cannabis entrepreneur and co-founder of Autumn Brands, a pesticide-free cannabis farm in Carpinteria, California. The Fork in the Road Podcast explored their greenhouses in Carpinteria and chatted with Hanna — at a safe distance and outdoors, of course — about the local cannabis industry, how terpenes impact the flavor profiles of culinary cannabis, and if there may come a day when California becomes the new Amsterdam, with weed tourism being the new wine tasting.
What drew me to Hanna's story is not just that she’s killing the game as a woman in a male dominated industry, but the fact that the Autumn Brands cannabis takes a culinary approach when it comes to flavor profiles. Think flavors like wedding cake and watermelon gelato! It’s so delicious.
We also have some really cool video content touring the cannabis farm on my Instagram and Youtube, so feel free to give me a follow to check it out @kristasimmons @forkintheroadmedia.
Kelsey Darragh is an actor, writer, filmmaker, and former star at Buzzfeed Studios and currently, she’s making a documentary on mental health and social justice using an RV as her production vehicle for the #Justice4Saraya film, so I couldn’t think of anyone better to talk tips and tricks on how to RV than her, since we are taking Fork in the Road on the road in an RV in the next episodes. We talk everything from RVing essentials (don’t forget the tool box and camping towels!) to why the #vanlife is an ideal way to travel in the pandemic in this episode.
Have a listen and give us a follow @kristasimmons and @forkintheroadmedia on Instagram.
This week's guest is Jenny Dorsey, a chef and writer that’s the head of Studio Atao, a non-profit think tank that focusses on live experiences at the intersection of food, art, technology, and social justice. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, from cultural appropriation of cuisines and the lack of diversity and representation in food media to how to continue making progress in the post 2020 Election era.
Have a listen and give us a follow @kristasimmons and @forkintheroadmedia on Instagram.
On today’s Dia De Muertos themed podcast, we’re chatting with Anais Martinez, a Mexico City based food expert also known as The Curious Mexican. Anais and I first met two years ago while I was filming my series Regional Eats and Women in Food in Mexico City during the Dia De Los Muertos holiday, where she was our local fixer. I wanted to get a handle on how she felt about tourists and travelers painting their faces and dressing up as Catrinas, and if there is a way for non-Mexicans to honor the holiday without being offensive to the local culture. Anais was such an authority not just on local food, but also on Mexican culture, so I knew she'd be the perfect person to speak to for this episode. You can listen to our podcast episode, which talks about the origins of this indigenous holiday, and how to honor the traditions without being appropriative, here.
And of course give us a follow @kristasimmons and @forkintheroadmedia on Instagram.
In this episode we sit down with famed food personality Gaby Dalkin, the cook behind What's Gaby Cookin. Gaby is so great at keeping a work/life balance with her husband and business partner Thomas, and I've always been inspired that they somehow stay balanced even while working together -- and going through a pandemic.
In this episode we discuss everything from our dream destinations and favorite trips to some of Gaby's all time favorite kitchen hacks.
And of course give us a follow @kristasimmons and @forkintheroadmedia on Instagram.