This is the third 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 "Halfsies" edition (all 3 of us are of mixed heritage, me being Chinese-Filipino and Alexa and Dalena being half Caucasian), we feature:     - Alexa Alfaro (for another round!), 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. - Dalena Benavente, born and raised as one of the only Filipinas in the Southern state of Tennessee.  She has worked as a recipe developer and product tester for Kraft, filmed with Paula Deen, and hosted numerous cooking segments on a variety of radio and TV channels.  She is also an accomplished author with her memoir "Asian Girl in a Souther World".   We talk about: - The realities of straddling racial and cultural lines and what it's like to go "back home" to the Philippines. - The ways we balance being relatable to our many communities without diluting who we are.   - Balancing the expansion of your business while serving your Home Team and your "Day Ones". - Balancing affordability/access with charging what you think you're worth.  - Staying sane be it in the Food Truck business or trying to balance a day job with the side hustle.     There's a lot of nuance in these conversations that I think often gets overlooked in favor of simpler narratives so if you're also a Halfsie or find yourself straddling multiple worlds, "jobs", and identities, give this episode a listen.     ----   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.   ---- 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:  Joanne Boston (previously featured in Episode 2!), the founder of JBKollaborations, a company that creates events promoting Filipino Food at the local and national level.  Joanne has been a part of the local food scene in the Bay Area for years and has written for places like CBS San Francisco and the San Francisco Chronicle.  She's also a full-time student and works as a medical reimbursement specialist during the day. Robert Menor, aka Adobo Loko.  Born in Montana and raised in Little Manila, Stockton, CA, Chef Rob is a mestizo (half Filipino and Mexican).  He's cooked in restaurants in places like Chicago, Ohio, and all over California, bringing his unique take on Filipino food.  He's also quite the hip hop head and "remixes" his foods to straddle the diverse experiences he's had throughout his life. Rodelio Aglibot, aka the Food Buddha.  A true industry vet.  Besides opening, working in, and with several critically-acclaimed restaurants from California to Chicago to Rome, Chef Rod has hosted his own TV Show also called the Food Buddha (he talks and looks like one…if Buddha was a boisterous Filipino).  He's been featured in the Today Show, Good Morning America, Ellen DeGeneres, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Chicago Tribune…the list goes on forever!  Chef Rod is truly a foodie's foodie.   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: How to inspire others, pass on knowledge, and organize communities, all while staying sane and, How knowing your own history empowers you to break through subconscious barriers.  ---- For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.

Today's guest - in our own backyard here in NYC - is Mary Cleaver, founder of the Cleaver Co. and proprietor of the just recently reincarnated Green Table Restaurant in Chelsea Market and Table Green in Battery Park.  Mary has been living and breathing Local Food since the 80s long before it was cool at a time when it was even scoffed at for being "dirty".  Her restaurant, the Green Table has thrived since 2003 and just this past summer has relocated to a different space (now known as Cleaver Counter) within the Chelsea Market.  Many describe her company, which also provides catering and event services as one of the most - if not the most - rigorous of its kind as a B Corporation, i.e. a business that adheres to higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.  She's one of the most influential people not just in the local food movement but in the entire food industry as someone who's effects you've probably felt, even if you aren't familiar with her name as she hasn't pursued what many others do: a fancy Instagrammable space, a cooking show, or a loud, male chef.     In this episode, we talk about the many facets of Local Food.  Not just why it's important but why and how did we get to where we are today where we're even discussing Local Food.  We talk about the history of American Agriculture and how the industry has evolved throughout the years.  This isn't a rant against Industrial Ag but rather a clear look at why things may be the way they are and where we can go from here:    - What should we be asking of our producers?   - How can we as individuals shop better?   - How do we cut through the noise of food marketing?   - How can we leverage our (under)used power as Consumers and what are the quickest wins we can achieve today?   We also talk about her business seeing as it's been a stalwart despite being in such a challenging industry in an equally challenging city:    - Staying relevant through the good (and bad) times - Recognizing the God of Big but also worshipping the Goddess of Smaller by taking a Values-driven approach to Growth    Bonus, we also talk about that time she took a weekend trip to New Orleans to get married.  If there was ever someone today I would listen to when it comes to what it would take for us to eat in a way that's good for us, our communities, our planet, AND our businesses…it's Mary.  Please enjoy this conversation with Mary Cleaver.   ---- 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 conversa��o com Isabel.  ---- 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. ---- 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. ---- For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.

I first met our guest Allison Kopf, founder of Agrilyst, years ago at a Food Tech event and I'm especially excited about our conversation because it's a close melding of the two worlds I live in: my day job at an enterprise software company and my main hustle in the world of food.  Agrilyst is a software that allows indoor farmers to analyze data that's pulled into sensors - everything from temperature, light, CO2 - in one, integrated platform.  This then allows them to bring more stability into their operations and subsequently improve their profitability.  You might think: "Wait what?  Aren't we already doing that?".  Not really.   Keeping in mind that most farmers are still tracking things by hand without much data-driven analytics or are keeping data in separate silos, that most farms are barely profitable with long investment horizons, and that we definitely have significant challenges to fix in the coming years when it comes to what we eat, Agrilyst is both necessary and timely.  Everyone should give this a listen whether you're "just" a software engineer or a hardcore foodie.     Besides talking about Agrilyst - and even if you didn't care about food (which I doubt since you're listening to this show) - Allison's mindset is one we can all learn from.  Trained as a physicist, she approaches problems with critical thought and for those who hate inefficiencies, she says that the thing that gets her out of bed every day is the opportunity to fix inefficiencies.  Nowadays when it's easy to fall into the trap of a sensationalist story, people like Allison who are able to take a look at the data and apply principles from one field to another provide a refreshing conversation.   We talk about identifying problems to fix and driving focus, creating "magical" products that people will love, why indoor farming is necessary in helping create a food system for the future, and how you can apply skills you've learned in one area of your life to a seemingly disparate area.  Again, whatever your background is, this interdisciplinary episode is a must if you're interested in solving real problems in the world, food or otherwise.     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: Food and Family as non-monetary "Wealth" The need to have a healthy sense of skepticism but also an open mind when trying to leave the world a better place The challenges but necessity of finding common ground especially during these polarized times Relinquishing control and having the a sense of confidence that in turn allows others to pursue their best selves Evolution as a Choice 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.  

Lina Goh and John Ng, who run Zen Box Izakaya, the only Japanese-style pub of its kind in Minnesota, met many years ago in an online chat room long before Tinder was but a twinkle in many a lonely single's eye.  A long-distance romance blossomed into a move from San Francisco to Minnesota where they opened Zen Box Japanese Eatery, a quick lunch service spot in the iconic Minneapolis Skyway.  At the time, they specialized in Bento boxes and have since shifted their focus towards traditional izakaya fare (think small, shareable plates) as well as Chef John's specialty: Ramen.   This episode is chockful of info as Lina and John shared not only their insights into starting restaurants but also their backgrounds as non-Japanese lovers of food trying to establish a misunderstood cuisine in the land of 10,000 lakes and how they've applied their accounting/architecture background to their business.  We talk about how they conducted their initial research, designed that first menu by creating a balance between the traditionally Japanese and the local palate, their approach to learning and education, and their much lauded community work with the MN Restaurant Assoc. and the St. Paul Culinary College.  Even if you aren't interested in practicing the fine art of ramen or think Japanese food is defined by your local deli's sushi counter, this episode has a lot to teach in terms of business ideas and more importantly, their wisdom on the beauty of taking chances, falling in love with your work, and the process of learning rather than being married to an outcome.  Tanoshinde kudasai…please enjoy my conversation with Lina and John.   ----   For more information including notes to the show, please visit hiddenapron.com/podcast.