After a year’s worth of writing, editing, reflecting, then editing some more, we’ve finally finished our 33rd episode, four years after we had first launched this podcast and a year after we had published our last episode. This is a long overdue reflection of sorts tying every one of our last 32 episodes. Across them all, we’ve gathered the underlying truths that not only relate to food but also the experience of being. This was the most challenging episode we’ve recorded not only because we wanted to give justice to the generous wisdom our guests have shared but because they themselves come from such varied backgrounds: farmers, tech startup founders, writers, educators, activists, and everyone in between.
In this episode, we go surface three broad themes that hold all our episodes, if not all of Hidden Apron, together:
- Food is never just Food.
- Our problems are real and difficult, but the fundamental solutions have always existed.
- It all starts with “Why” and the stories we tell ourselves.
We also include snippets of past episodes and they’re quite a trip back in time when many of our guests (and us!) were in different stages in our lives. You’ll find a full listing of past episodes in the show notes below if you’d like to take a deeper dive with a guest who’s whetted your appetite. Given that this is a season closer of sorts, we’d be remiss in not thanking everyone who’s been along for this side project of a side project. From being one of the thousands of downloads, to providing us with valuable feedback, to one of those who’ve shared your own stories as a guest, maraming maraming salamat!
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
This is the second installment in a special series of conversations with fellow authors of the recently published cookbook and anthology, "The New Filipino Kitchen" (available on Amazon) that features Filipino cooks, writers, and thinkers all across the globe. We take a peek into how they view the world and their cuisine.
For this East Coast edition, we feature:
Katrina and Kristina Villavicencio, co-creators of the Washington DC Supper Club Timpla along with their friends Aniceto and Paolo. Their simple vision of introducing modern Filipino cuisine to the city has grown to incorporate storytelling, design, and art to educate others about Filipino culture. Their combined experiences in food service (Kristina) and art (Katrina) make them a versatile team that is able to explore multiple facets of the Filipino culture.
Alexa Alfaro, an Alaska-born Milwaukeean who, after a 10-week trip to the Philippines, was inspired to open her city’s first Filipino Food Truck “Meat on the Street” with her younger brother in 2014. This involved dropping out of her Engineering degree but weeks from graduation. Since then, the pair have opened a brick-and-mortar slinging their famous BBQ sticks and pork adobo to the masses.
If I had to pick a single word for today’s show, it would be: Expectations. Be it:
Expectations around Filipino food (looks, tastes, methods, and costs).
Expectations around our age and the need to balance respectful obedience and forging our own path.
Expectations around the immigrant experience and the constant theme of sacrifice.
Expectations around gender; something we don’t get to cover much on this show. I’m glad we talked about this topic in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the fortuity that a majority of the co-authors I’ve been touring with and are getting the much-deserved spotlight (seeing as immigrant women are the keepers of cuisine) are female.
Of note to me was how we can think about our relationships with women in and out of the kitchen and where we draw the line between demanding excellence at work and abuse.
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
This is a special episode that is the first in a series of conversations with fellow authors of the recently published cookbook and anthology, "The New Filipino Kitchen" (available on Amazon) that features Filipino cooks, writers, and thinkers all across the globe. We take a peek into how they view the world and their cuisine.
For this West Coast edition, we feature:
We explore views that span the culinary gamut and proved again just how diverse our cuisine is. While we spend a good amount of time on Filipino Cuisine and Culture and what this book means to us, we also take a broader look at things:
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
Today, I talk with Isabel Moura (full disclosure: she is also my Portuguese professor), who, during my visit to Brazil, introduced me to foods beyond the stereotypical açai bowl and grilled meats. She's a popular teacher on the Language Learning Community Platform iTalki where I met her and has over ten years of experience teaching and learning languages. We:
- Demystify some of the misconceptions around language-learning (no you don’t have to rely on memorization),
- The systems one can use to make language learning not only efficient and effective but also personal,
- How one can create environments to learn a language even if they don’t have the resources to travel often or take intensive courses, and
- How they can apply their newfound skills abroad
Portuguese may have been the language I have dedicated the most time on but I cannot overstate just how much more delicious my experiences in food have been abroad just by learning some essential phrases. That’s because the real food of a place is often in the homes and markets, hidden in plain sight in front of us tourists and I’m really excited to be taking this rather different look at food in today’s episode. Então, senhoras e senhores, por favor, aproveite minha conversação com Isabel.
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
Today’s guest is Cynthia Glanzberg who I first met behind the counter of a tea house on a cold, snowy New York night. We chatted tea and travel for hours and I learned about how she left a solid marketing job to hop from country to country learning about the world of tea for more than a year. She has since returned and started her company, One Tea, that sources unique teas from all over the world and creates experiences akin to a roaming tea house. She’s worked with yoga instructors, sculptors, candle makers, and yes, yours truly in an attempt to create more connections between people through the humble tea leaf while also educating them about a beverage that has deep cultural ties in many countries.
We first talk about Traveling: how to pull off long-term international travel, checking your privilege and traveling responsibly, working abroad, the value of relationships on the road, and getting comfortable with discomfort. We then do a deep dive into tea: what is it, how does one navigate the sometimes confusing terminology, and the questions to ask when buying it. We also talk about how tea can really bridge the gaps between people and their tribes by creating shared spaces. Tea can be as varied and rich as wine, even if it comes from the same plot of land and so if you’re looking for something that fuels a good conversation or Netflix binge session that isn’t alcoholic and is shared by more people around the world as the #1 consumed beverage, this episode is for you.
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
Today’s episode may seem like an oxymoron: Filipino Vegan Food. There’s no way around it, today’s topic can be a bit touchy to some. There’s a lot to unpack with the “V" word and I’ve seen conversations range from moralizing, purely economical, to downright bizarre. One things for sure though, the words “Vegan" and “Filipino", at first glance, seem like they’d be about as good a match as unripe mango and shrimp paste. Then you realize that shit’s actually really good! Today we have on the show RG Enriquez, the creative mind and cook behind “Astig Vegan”, one of the coolest Vegan Filipino resources online. Astig, by the way, is Filipino slang for kickass, and RG definitely lives up to the name. A former newsroom correspondent, RG’s road to a plant-based cuisine, which she’s been on for 12 years now, was a surprising one as there was no magic moment where she saw pictures of dying baby cows and swore off meat forever. She describes it as a gradual shift in palate and today, she’s helping many others taste the Filipino food they love - but made with plants - through her YouTube channel, blog, and live cooking demos.
We talk about her transition to a vegan lifestyle and why it’s actually given her more room to be creative with her cooking while exposing her to new flavors, her surprising sources of support and pushback, and some of her strategies for how to tell the story of your food, especially one that has so much cultural meaning to it that proposing a vegan version sometimes invites a violent reaction. RG is passionate about keeping the Filipino soul in Filipino Food and her inviting and compassionate nature embodied in her tagline “Kain na, Let’s eat”, is why I think she’s as successful and well-loved today. This one’s for everyone who's always wondered what it’s like to be transition into a plant-based lifestyle but also for those looking to invite more people to their dining tables.
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For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.
Chef Lenny Russo is a forty year veteran of the food & beverage industry, a member of the U.S. Department of State American Chef Corps, participating chef at World Expo Milan 2015, author of "Heartland: Farm Forward Dishes of the Great Midwest", founder and owner of the seminal Heartland Restaurant in St Paul, MN, six time James Beard Award finalist nominee for Best Chef Midwest, and is currently the Executive Chef at The Commodore Bar & Restaurant in St. Paul, MN.
Chef Lenny's name has become synonymous with the local food movement in the Midwest and he has spent a majority of his career championing issues important to our food by contributing the remaining time he has when not in the kitchen to the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, the MN Organic Advisory Task Force, the Ramsey County Food and Nutrition Commission, and many other organizations tackling the biggest challenges our food systems face. Chef Lenny's philosophy was evident in his cooking as he would change his menu every day at Heartland based on what the farmers brought him that morning, ensuring only the best possible ingredients were used.
For the most part, Chef Lenny’s accomplishments as a chef have been widely covered internationally and a quick Google search will show he’s been written up numerous times in various food publications. However, most don’t get to hear about his other experiences and interests. He studied Philosophy and Literature in college, worked at an architecture firm, and was even a clinical psychologist before heading to the kitchen for good and so for this episode, we delve into the other aspects of his multi-faceted life. We definitely talk about his early days in the kitchen and his approach to food but we also talk about:
It’s very easy to pigeonhole Chef Lenny into the "Chef Box" but as he once mentioned, he’s not JUST “The Local Food Guy”. Give this one a listen all the way to the end if you’re serious about helping heal this world because I guarantee you this episode will leave you inspired, thought-provoked, or at the very least, just a little bit more inquisitive.
Chef AC Boral (Long Beach, CA) is the creator of the RICE & SHINE Pop-up Brunch Series. Previously a graphic designer, AC began hosting his popular brunches on the West Coast featuring Brunch classics with a Filipino-American flair as a way of introducing guests to the feelings and flavors he grew up with. From RICE & SHINE (Filipino-American Brunch Party) to Naks Tacos (exploring the culinary connection of the Philippines and Mexico) to concept menus like a Wu Tang Clan tribute dinner, AC has fed thousands across the country and center around the Family and our shared identities as diners.
In this episode we talk about:
* His thoughts on Filipino-American cuisine and how food relates to identity,
* How to find inspiration from mentors andfamily,
* The nuances of creating a brand and identity by experimenting with various concepts,
* Using food to educate folks on culture, and
* The darker side of cooking including the importance of self-care in dealing with the grueling physical and mental challenges.
Grab a steaming bowl of white rice, plop some Longganisa and Egg on it, douse it all with Vinegar and enjoy my convo with Chef AC Boral.
Our guest is Jabber Al-Bihani who started his journey as an engineer and during a trip to Barcelona, took part in a commonplace but nevertheless transformational experience of breaking bread with complete strangers. He’s sought to recreate that experience since then through Komeeda (based on the Spanish word for “Food"), where he gathers people of varying backgrounds to share stories and food at pop-up dinners at local restaurants. The particular dinner where I met Jabber was part of a series called “Displaced Kitchens” which featured newly settled refugees who cooked recipes of their homeland while sharing the struggles they’ve faced. With immigration being a very relevant topic, these dinners - Jabber’s form of “activism” as he calls it - have served to humanize the refugee and connect Americans to people they would normally only hear about on TV.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode and many of these topics are definitely hard to discuss without getting too political. Jabber talks:
- Starting Komeeda and how food has helped heal our deeply divided society,
*Listen in particular to his story of the time a Black Lives Matter Activist sat down to share a meal with a Trump Supporter.
- Giving back and helping when things seem overwhelming; how to channel your energy and create change if marching in the streets isn’t your cup of tea,
- His experiences balancing between a conservative upbringing and a rapidly changing world,
- And the importance of questioning your own beliefs.
Most importantly we talk about just being and doing “you”, which is all we can really strive to do. Listen up and we hope you enjoy this episode!
More information can be found at hiddenapron.com/podcast, contact us at hiddenapron@gmail.com, or catch us on Instagram @hidden_apron.
OH SNAP! We just hit our TWENTIETH episode! Didn’t think we’d make it this far? Well neither did we! To the hundreds of you who have been downloading our episodes, thank you so much for tuning in. We hope that these episodes are at the very least, educational, and hopefully, as inspirational to you as they were to us.
This week’s episode highlights the many things that characterize Hidden Apron: tangents and twisting paths, serendipity and “success”, and not entirely being sure where the delicious roads of our lives will lead. Our guest for today is Seth Syberg, who caught my attention at a Food Tech Connect event here in NYC with his story of how he founded, ran with, and grew his company Cocoburg. Cocoburg produces what they call the world’s only raw, vegan, paleo, gluten-free, soy-free, Coconut Jerky, which by the way, is sourced, handled, and produced in the Philippines! They operate under the motto: “Just Eat Real Food". Now, you may be thinking: "OK, Seth’s probably some hipster, warrior vegan who bikes everywhere and wears Vibrams, hellbent on changing how people eat. Well, there’s some truth to that. He does describe his diet as "vegan-ish", bike competitively, and wants to use Cocoburg to offer people healthier snacking options BUT, he also spent two decades in the world of tech doing everything from app/database development, programming, and even teaching. He describes himself as a complete dilettante having done things like become a car mechanic, a woodworker’s apprentice, a CTO for an e-commerce platform for small farms, and with this current venture, an entrepreneur, a label he himself did NOT realize applied to him until a year into running his company. Now his product is in Whole Foods, retailing nationwide, and is creating lasting change for his partners in the Philippines.
It’s a longer episode filled with a lot of unexpected turns. We talk about:
- A programmer’s approach to recipe testing and building a business,
- How testing for failure actually led to massive success,
- The dilemma of educating consumers a product they’ve never heard of,
- Product development and the challenges of operating in the Philippines,
- Using business for good,
- And just what the hell even is Coconut Jerky?
Seth is a great example of how there are many, many roads to your destination and you don’t have to fit the textbook formula for your given field. Play a little! Give this one a listen, and again, thank you for keeping us rollin' on this unexpected ride of a podcast.
More information can be found at hiddenapron.com/podcast, contact us at hiddenapron@gmail.com, or catch us on Instagram @hidden_apron.
This episode is a very special, timely, and quite unique one as rather than talking about the consumption of food, we’ll do a full 180 and talk about the abstinence from it! Many of you might be aware that we are nearing the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, and so we are joined not by one, but TWO guests!
First, we have Doha Salem, a clinical dietitian currently with North Memorial Medical Ctr., MN. She’ll cover many oft-overlooked parts of Ramadan specifically around the nutritional components of fasting:
- The physiology during a fast
- The benefits and risks
- Preparing, observing, and exiting a fast safely
- Mental preparation
If you are very familiar with Ramadan but never thought about its effects on your health or perhaps you’re thinking of going into a similar type fast, give this deeper dive a go.
Right after her is a friend of mine James Anunciacion, a husband, father, currently working in the field of Planning/Logistics for General Mills, and who actually began observing Ramadan well into his adult years. James also accomplished the amazing feat of getting himself through a lifestyle transformation program a few years back, losing over 50 lbs. in just 6 months. We talked about:
- Ramadan's cultural, mental, and spiritual meaning for him
- Balancing it with the demands of a job and a growing family
- Physical fitness
- Ramadan as a teachable moment
For those who think that Ramadan is a time to be lazy and eat a ton of greasy food when the sun sets, definitely give his talk a listen. Listening to both Doha and James’s stories will give you a unique and varied perspective on Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak!
More information can be found at hiddenapron.com/podcast, contact us at hiddenapron@gmail.com, or catch us on Instagram @hidden_apron.
If this is the first time you’re tuning in, you might want to check out the previous episode as this is part two of a two-part series with the ever-impressive Aileen Suzara, farmer, writer, collaborator, educator, and natural chef. Aileen has been recognized many times for her work not only in addressing some of the most pressing food issues affecting us today but also for strengthening relationships in her community in the process. She founded Sariwa - which means “fresh” in Tagalog - to gather community and celebrate Filipino cuisine through pop-ups, catering, and workshops. In the last episode, we covered her background and how she’s managed to integrate the many parts of her life into one cohesive story. We also covered some basic techniques to become a self-sufficient cook and her mindsets in both growing and cooking food.
In this episode, we delve a bit deeper into Sariwa and Aileen's dream to integrate food into the healthcare space. We also take a philosophical look into the theme of “Resistance” (resistance to healthy food, “inauthentic” food, etc.), maintaining presence and sanity, and the things that keep us from achieving our dreams. Like I said, this was one of my most enjoyable episodes to record and edit and I highly suggest you listen to the end as Aileen has some pretty sage advice that applies not just to food but to life itself.
Our guest for this two-part series is Aileen Suzara. Aileen is an eco-educator, writer, and natural chef who’s dabbled in everything from Pre-Med, to Environmental Work, to Food and founded Sariwa Kitchen (Sariwa = “fresh” in Tagalog), which gathers community and celebrates vibrant Filipino cuisine through pop-ups, catering, and workshops. Aileen’s backstory is wonderfully “random” being born in the Mojave Desert, spending time in the Big Island of Hawai’i, and now in California eating, in her words, “everything from Spam, bibimbap, poi, spaghetti, poke, Pop Tarts, to the plastic wrapped foods of the microwave generation”. This was an incredibly fun episode to work on as it encapsulates the multi-faceted nature of our food and the people who love it. Hidden Apron loves tangents!
This first part covers the twisting path Aileen took and I’d wager that for many of us for whom the question “what am I going to do after college or my life?” sent cold sweats down our spine, this is going to be an enlightening conversation on “tying the strings together”. We also talk about her 80/20 Rules on cooking - the things that make the biggest impact on preparing a meal - and the differences in mindset between growing food and making it. Give this one a listen and keep on the lookout for the next episode on the theme of Resistance.
More information can be found at hiddenapron.com/podcast, contact us at hiddenapron@gmail.com, or catch us on Instagram/Twitter @hidden_apron.
Justin Garrido is the Co-Founder and CEO of Social Products, which sources organic food products from Philippine cooperative smallholder farmer partners that empower rural farmers, women, and indigenous peoples with a more sustainable way to eradicate poverty.
Justin began his journey down the road of social entrepreneurship where his interest was piqued after volunteering at a soup kitchen while still working as a director of purchasing for Aldi, a german supermarket chain. Justin made the jump from corporate, went back to school - getting an MBA at the U. of Melbourne and going on exchange to the Asian Institute of Managment, and visited the Philippines, the land of his family, with a fresh perspective. Using his experiences in school and his early forays into the space with SocialProjects.Ph, a crowdfunding platform, Justin co-founded Social Products.
This episode covers the unique space when passion and profit blend in positive ways. We talk about Justin’s multiple transitions, the big challenges in using business to “give back”, the power of storytelling especially when selling what could be considered a “commodity product”, and other often misaligned business terms that everyone…including conscious lovers of food should know: strategy, networking, margins, etc. Oftentimes many a good idea has floundered simply because the people behind it lacked the business acumen and skills required to execute the idea. If you think that “business” is a bad word that only belongs on Wall Street, give this episode a listen. It might just be the thing that makes sure the world-shaking ideas you dream up...will survive and thrive.
Isang Smith is a Licensed Massage Therapist, multi-sport athlete and coach from running (she’s won the Silver for the 800 m. and Gold for the 1500 m. during the Philippine National Open in 2015), Muay Thai, strength training, and all around badass. She earned a BA in Psychology from Columbia University where she also competed in their Division 1 Track & Field Team.
Her interest in Integrative Medicine came immediately after Massage Therapy and Acupuncture resolved a troublesome calf injury during her senior year track season. Inspired to learn more about these therapeutic modalities, she attended and graduated from the Swedish Institute for Massage Therapy in 2012. She is currently attending the Tri-State College of Acupuncture for my Masters in Oriental Medicine on her journey to help athletes of all levels recover from injuries and prevent future ones.
Paolo's been going through training lately from weights, gymnastic strength, and dance while Ricky's made the gym his second home so we wanted to get folks from the fitness and health side of things into the show this year. This is definitely an episode where you’ll hear about how food literally fuels the body and a professional athlete’s take on it. We talk a little bit about Isang’s work, common misconceptions about health…especially around recovery, her approach to nutrition, questions you should ask before you build your nutrition plan, and how she uses sports as a way not just to empower herself but also build communities around her.
It’s important to note that while we focus on some tactics (many quite simple and far less overwhelming than the internet makes it seem), there are some big takeaways in what Isang has to say about the mindset and approach one takes. Also featured on the show is Lee Scantalides, also an accomplished athlete and trainer, who managed to pop in for a question or two.
Chef Sharwin Tee is the chef and host of Curiosity Got the Chef, The Philippines’ Lifestyle Network’s first locally-produced cooking show. The show features Sharwin traveling to international and domestic locations in order to find new ingredients, techniques and inspirations for new dishes. It’s also in its sixth season, making it the longest running Filipino cooking show on cable television broadcast all over the world.
Sharwin graduated from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver, Canada and came into prominence after winning a reality cooking competition called “The Clash of the Toque-en Ones” back in 2010. Sharwin is extremely prolific and has done far more than just host a TV show. He’s taught English, cooked for celebrities and dignitaries all over the world from Abu Dhabi to Moscow, Chicago to San Francisco, owned a restaurant, and published a book.
This episode peels the curtains back on an aspect of the food industry that many of us equate with glamor and ease when it’s really a lot of work. If it came down to one thing…this episode is really about the value of curiosity and understanding “why" and how it aids in pursuing your dreams, coming up with new ideas, cultivating humility, and creating commitment.
We also talk about:
- His experiences on the road and the difficulties of being “on set”
- The responsibility of the chefs/writers/diners in the food ecosystem…especially given the rise of social media where everyone feels like they’re a critic now
- The surprising similarities between Filipino and Senegalese cuisine
- His menu creation process
- What he'd cook for President Rodrigo Duterte