Eat Well, Travel Often Podcast – Page 2 – Everything from Book to Plate

March 23, 2020 podcast

Interview with Robin Peacock, Executive Director of MEND NJ

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Before the Coronavirus hit our shores, there were many people in need across the country. This has only amplified since this pandemic has been spreading across the United States. As of this recording, worldwide there are over 285,000 case. In the U.S., there are almost 20,000 confirmed cases. My small town in New Jersey currently has seven cases and since the first case, it has doubled every four days.

This is scary stuff for all of us. Many of us are stocking up on food in worries of supply chain interruptions. But what if you were worried about your next meal prior to COVID-19? What does this mean for those who need the support of local organizations to get their food?

For this episode, I am talking with Robin Peacock, the Executive Director of MEND NJ, network of 20 member food pantries located throughout Essex County, New Jersey. The organization has provided food and other essential needs for families since 1980.

Prior to the Coronavirus, more than 40 million people in the United States were food insecure. Given the massive layoffs since the virus hit our shores, this number has only increased. In New Jersey alone, there were almost 900,000 people who were not sure where their next meal was coming from. Essex County, where MEND NJ services, has the highest rate of families and individuals who fall into the category. What is going to happen to those needest cases if we do not stop the spread of the coronavirus?

Take a listen to what MEND NJ is doing and learn how you can help even if you do not live in New Jersey. Also please stay through to the end where I talk about how you can help local farmers as well, find a local CSA in your area and also about a new group helping people across the country get items they need by using simple #ASK system.

Every community in the country is home to families with food insecurity.
Feeding America

Links to MEND NJ’s social media and other items mentioned in the interview.

Instagram @mend.green.bean

Facebook @mendnj

Website: https://mendnj.org

Hunger Free NJ: https://hungerfreenj.org

Feeding America: https://www.feedingamerica.org

Book to Plate Segment

Farm & Fork Society: www.farmandforksociety.com

Link to donate to purchase fresh produce for food pantries: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/wGHdF3D_T43YF5V45qzl6g?t=1582209346

Find a CSA in your area: Local Harvest

Intellihelp FaceBook Group: @IntellihelpGlobal

Ways to Help MEND NJ:

1. If you are live locally you can donate to Mobile food drive. https://forms.gle/NvHu4494qugupsKd7

2. You can purchase food online. https://yougivegoods.com/mendnj

3. You can donate money directly to MEND NJ. https://www.mendnj.org/donate

4. You can participate in Farm & Fork Society’s fresh produce fundraiser help both local farmers and feed those in need. https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/wGHdF3D_T43YF5V45qzl6g?t=1582209346

Show Credits:

This episode was hosted by Melissa Goldberg

Special thanks to my Program Director and Producer Shea Gunther

You can learn more about me at www.eatwelltraveloften.net.

Email melissa@eatwelltraveloften.net

Instagram @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

Facebook @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

March 16, 2020 podcast

Interview with Maryn McKenna, author of Big Chicken and global health specialist

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Today’s interview could not be more timely. I am speaking with Maryn McKenna, an independent journalist and author, specializing in public health, global health, and food policy. When I first reached out to interview Maryn, I was fascinated to talk with her about her book Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats. But since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, I pivoted our conversation to discuss what we are all concerned about.

Not only has Maryn reported from farms and food production sites but on epidemics and disasters including a bird-testing unit on the front lines of West Nile virus, an Arctic graveyard of the victims of the 1918 flu, an AIDS treatment center in Yunnan, a polio-eradication team in India, and epidemic of avian flu. She has reported on outbreaks like H5N1, anthrax, West Nile, SARS, H1N1, and Ebola. She is the creator of the site Today in Ebolanoia, which has been cited in medical and biodefense literature for documenting public overreaction to disease threats, and her work has also appeared in the Annals of Emergency Medicine and the Bulletin of the History of Medicine. I could have talked with her for hours. She is a wealth of knowledge on the food industry and COVID-19.

Links to Maryn McKenna’s social media and other items mentioned in the interview.

Instagram @marynmck

Facebook: @MarynMcKennaAuthor

Twitter: @marynmck

Website: https://marynmckenna.com

Ted Talk: What do we do when antibiotics don’t work anymore?

Books:

Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats

Super Bug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA

Beating Back the Devil: On The Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service

Article about tics and meat allergy: Why are so many people getting a meat allergy?

Hand Sanitizer Recipe

Combine in a bowl —
⅔-cup rubbing alcohol (99% isopropyl alcohol)
⅓-cup aloe vera gel.
Stir and Decant into a clean soap or pump bottle.

Show Credits:

This episode was hosted by Melissa Goldberg

Special thanks to my Program Director and Producer Shea Gunther

You can learn more about me at www.eatwelltraveloften.net.

Email melissa@eatwelltraveloften.net

Instagram @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

Facebook @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

March 11, 2020 food

Hazy Thai Wings by Jeff The 420 Chef

From the cannabis infused cookbook The 420 Gourmet: The Elevated Art of Cannabis Cuisine by Jeff The 420 Chef

Print Recipe

Hazy Thai Wings

This recipe is an ode to Pok, Pok, Chef Andy Ricker's renowned Thai street-food restaurant.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Thai

Keyword: Cannabis, Chicken, Infused

Servings: 6

Author: JeffThe420Chef

Ingredients

½ cup raw cane sugar
½ cup Asian fish sauce
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 ½ tablespoons chili garlic sauce Sambal sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 pounds chicken wings rinsed and patted dry
Extra Virgin coconut oil
½ cup canna-coconut oil
Toasted peanuts and garlic
4 Tablespoons cilantro chopped

Instructions

STEPS

Place sugar in a food processor and grind until very fine.
In a medium bowl, add fish sauce, ketchup, sugar, chili garlic sauce, lime juice and rice vinegar. Set aside
In a shallow dish, sift cornstarch and garlic powder.
Toss the wings in the cornstarch mixture to coat.
Heat a large skillet on the stovetop for 1 minute on high.
Add enough coconut oil to fry. About 2” from the bottom of the pan.
Fry the wings until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on brown paper.
Preheat oven to 340ºF.
Place fried wings on a lightly greased baking sheet and drizzle each wing with 1 teaspoon of cannaoil.
Bake for 7-8 minutes.
In a clean skillet, add the sauce, Heat on Medium until syrupy, about 5 minutes.
Remove wings from the oven and toss with the sauce until evenly coated.
Toss in the garlic and peanuts.
Garnish with cilantro and serve alongside a cup of carrot sticks and celery curls and Voilá!
Add-on: Toasted peanuts and garlic
¼ cup raw peanuts, crushed
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon coconut oil
In a small bowl, mix peanuts and garlic with coconut oil and a dash of salt.
Spread evenly on a small pan and roast at 325ºF for 30 minutes until toasted and browned.
Remove, let cool and Voilá!
Celery Curls: Cut celery into 6-inch pieces, slice in half lengthwise, make lengthwise cuts almost to center and repeat to create slivers. Refrigerate in ice water until slivers curl and serve.

Notes

APPROXIMATE DOSE PER SERVING*
10%: 10mg
15%: 15mg
20%: 20mg

*Approximate dose per serving is based on using 5 grams of cured/dried/decarbed herb into 5oz of coconut oil.

March 9, 2020 podcast

Interview with Jeff The 420 Chef

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Cannabis, both for medical and recreational use, is exploding across the country. Consuming cannabis goes well beyond rolling a joint or sucking on a vape pen. Now, world-class chefs and mixoligist are mixing cannabis into drinks and food. With so many states legalizing adult use, and with a big push to lift it off federal controlled substance list, it is only a matter of time until cannabis infused foods start showing up on menus across the country! That is why I am really excited about today’s episode! First, it is a collaboration with my husband’s podcast The Green Rush on the business of cannabis, and mine Eat Well, Travel Often, and we are speaking with Jeff The 420 Chef, a.k.a. The Julia Childs of Cannabis that combines both our passions!

Jeff The 420 Chef is one of the nation’s first private chefs to cook cannabis infused meals. He started his career as a hobby in 2013, and turned it into full-time business — catering. Jeff is also a best-selling cookbook author of The 420 Gourmet that not only includes full details on how to infused cannabis in cooking but includes a THC calculator to make sure you get the dosage right. He is also soon to be the executive chef at Monica’s House one of the first-ever cannabis cafe in California — opening this Spring!

Links to Jeff The 420 Chef’s social media and other items mentioned in the interview.

Instagram @JeffThe420Chef

Facebook @The420Chef

Website: https://www.jeffthe420chef.com

YouTube Channel: JeffThe420Chef

Book: The 420 Gourmet

Levo Herbal Infusion Machine

Book to Plate Segment

IT’S JUST A PLANT: A Children’s Story About Marijuana is written by Ricardo Cortés, #1 New York Times best-selling illustrator of Go the F**k to Sleep. Cortes acknowledges that marijuana can be hard to talk about. Many parents have tried it, millions use it, and most feel awkward about disclosing it for fear that telling kids the truth might encourage them to try it. The facts about cannabis that children learn in school can be more frightening than educational, blaming pot for everything from teenage pregnancy to terrorism. A child’s first awareness of drugs should come from a better source. IT’S JUST A PLANT is a story for parents who want to discuss the complexities of pot with their kids in a thoughtful, fact-oriented manner. The book also features an afterword by Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD, founder of the Safety First Project for drug education and director emerita of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation’s leading organization working to end the war on drugs. Book hits stores April 20, 2020. Pre-Order here!

Show Credits:

This episode was hosted by Melissa Goldberg and Lewis Goldberg, The Green Rush Podcast

All my love ❤️ to my husband Lewis for co-hosting this episode with me!

Special thanks to my Program Director and Producer Shea Gunther

You can learn more about me at www.eatwelltraveloften.net.

Email melissa@eatwelltraveloften.net

Instagram @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

Facebook @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

March 2, 2020 podcast

Interview with Shannon Mulligan-Mayernik, Mayernik Kitchen

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Today, we live in a time when manufactured medicines and prescriptions prevail, but are they the best and only way to heal? Plants are rarely viewed as anything more than objects that can be reduced to a chemical component, or an object that looks nice perched in a corner. However, many people are finding themselves turning back to the medicinal plants. As with many aspects of our natural world, there is so much more to plants than meets the eye. The natural world is full of beauty, nourishment, and healing if you only know where to look. For tens of thousands of years, human cultures around the globe had all of their needs met by plants, animals, and natural resources that surrounded them. For medicine, they could find a finely stocked pharmacy in the roots, herbs, fungi, and trees all around them. These early peoples discovered that plant medicines did wonders to heal physical ailments and so has today’s guest Shannon Mulligan-Mayernik of Mayernik Kitchen. Shannon, who along with her husband Matt, sell over 75 plant medicine products, host plant medicine workshops and classes to introduce more people to the power of what is around us to heal.

And as special bonus for Eat Well, Travel Often listeners, Mayernik Kitchen is offering a 15 percent discount on all their products us code eatwell. Coupon expires June 30th!

Also stay tuned — after my interview with Shannon, I talk about Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook, Ultimate Veg.

Links to Shannon’s social media and other items mentioned in the interview.

Instagram @mayernikkitchen

Facebook @mayernikkitchen

Website https://www.mayernikkitchen.com

Robin Rose Bennett https://www.robinrosebennett.com

Sunsun Weed http://www.susunweed.com

Rosemary Gladstar https://sagemountain.com, https://scienceandartofherbalism.com

Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine https://chestnutherbs.com

Book to Plate Segment

Jamie Oliver’s Ultimate Veg

Show Credits:

This episode was hosted by Melissa Goldberg

Special thanks to my Program Director and Producer Shea Gunther

You can learn more about me at www.eatwelltraveloften.net.

Email melissa@eatwelltraveloften.net

Instagram @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

Facebook @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

February 24, 2020 podcast

Interview with Dan Lipow, The Foraged Feast

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Dan Lipow is the founder and chief forager of The Foraged Feast based in Maplewood, NJ. In the 1990s, Dan was a professional photographer living in New York City. He worked on assignments around the world sampling the best restaurants in every city and smuggling home the weirdest ingredients he found. This culinary journey to find the best quality ingredients led him to start foraging for mushrooms and other wild edibles.

In 2016, he started the The Foraged Feast to bring local, wild, and foraged foods to his New Jersey community. I met Dan when he was just beginning his company. In addition to hosting this podcast, I run a food cooperative called Farm & Fork Society. I work with local farmers to bring seasonal and sustainable produce to my community. I reached out to Dan to add mushrooms to my cooperative. Since opening The Foraged Feast, Dan has been providing my group with some of the best mushrooms around! If you want to see Dan in action, check out a mini documentary I created of Dan foraging.

Also stay tuned — after my interview with Dan, I talk about an amazing movie called the Fantastic Fungi — all about the world of mushrooms.

Links to Dan Lipow’s social media and other items mentioned in the interview.

Instagram @theforagedfeast

Facebook @theforagedfeast

The Foraged Feast Website: https://theforagedfeast.com

Mini Documentary on The Foraged Feast by Farm & Fork Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4us0H-dW-g&t=36s

Book to Plate Segment

Fantastic Fungi: https://fantasticfungi.com

Show Credits:

This episode was hosted by Melissa Goldberg

Special thanks to my Program Director and Producer Shea Gunther

You can learn more about me at www.eatwelltraveloften.net.

Email melissa@eatwelltraveloften.net

Instagram @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

Facebook @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

February 17, 2020 podcast

An interview with David Mebane, Fat Tire Tours

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When travelling there are so many tours to choose from. You can get on a bus, take a walking tour or tour the city by bike. When I was in Paris years ago, my husband booked Fat Tire Tour. It was a biking tour of Versailles. We loved it so much that we have taken their tours in London and Rome. My interview today is with David Mebane, the founder and CEO of Fat Tire Tours. He started the company with a loan backed by his parents when he was 19 years old in 1999. The company celebrated their 20th anniversary last year and now has tours in over 12 cities all over the world with not only bike tours but Segway and walking tours too!

PS. Don’t think “fat tire” as in mountain biking. That is not what type of tours are — it is cruiser bikes with nice fat seats!

Links to David Mebane social media and other items mentioned in the interview.

Instagram @FatTireTours

Facebook @FatTireTours

Fat Tire Tour’s Website: https://www.fattiretours.com

Austin Must Do:

Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail

Bullock Museum

David’s favorite place to eat in Austin: Uchi Austin

David’s other project: Wonder and Worries

Book to Plate Segment

My photos from Fat Tire Rome!

Show Credits:

This episode was hosted by Melissa Goldberg

Special thanks to my Program Director and Producer Shea Gunther

You can learn more about me at www.eatwelltraveloften.net.

Email melissa@eatwelltraveloften.net

Instagram @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

Old photo book that includes a Fat Tire Tours postcard!

February 10, 2020 podcast

An interview with Suze Yalof Schwartz: Unplug Meditation

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Travel can be a transending experience. It is a great way to release stress. It can take you away from your problems. I love dreaming about where to go next. But we cannot travel everyday. We need to find other ways to help us to respond to life’s daily stresses.

For this podcast, I am deviating just a bit from talking directly about food and or travel to focus on the mind and body. I meditate almost everyday, Some days a few minutes. Other times, 30 minutes to 60 minutes.

Meditation has made a huge impact on my life which is I am so excited to be speaking with Suze Yalof Schwartz, the CEO and Founder of Unplug Meditation, the author of Unplug: A Simple Guide To Meditation for Busy Skeptics and Modern Soul Seekers, and the creator of the Unplug Meditation App. Almost a decade ago, a 3-miniute meditation experience changed the course of Suze’s life forever.

Suze’s mission is to make meditation simple, accessible, powerful and interesting enough so that everyone will want to practice it and experience the benefits for themselves.

Full disclosure, I’ve known Suze my entire life. Literally, her mom and my mom were friends before we were born, and although we live on different coasts. we have been close for more years than either of us would like to admit. Whenever I see a full moon I think of Suze.

Links to Suze Yalof Schwartz’s social media and other items mentioned in the interview:

Instagram @unplugmeditation, @suzeyalofschwartz

Facebook: @unplugmeditation

Website: https://www.unplug.com

Books: Unplug: A Simple Guide To Meditation for Busy Skeptics and Modern Soul Seeker

UnPlug App: https://unplug.app. Eat Well, Travel Often listeners use code UNPLUG30 to get 30 free days!

UnPlug Daily Newsletter: https://www.unplug.com/thedailyunplug

UnPlug Teacher Training: https://www.unplug.com/teacher-training-1

UnPlug Studios: Santa Montica and West Hollywood

Favorite Place to Travel: Half Moon, Montego Bay, Jamaica

Book to Plate Segment

David Bouley’s The Chef and Doctor Series

Thrive Culinary Algae Cooking Oil

Show Credits:

This episode was hosted by Melissa Goldberg

Special thanks to my Program Director and Producer Shea Gunther

You can learn more about me at www.eatwelltraveloften.net.

Email melissa@eatwelltraveloften.net

Instagram @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

Facebook @eatwelltraveloftenpodcast

I can also be found on Instagram @farmandforksociety @greenluvin

February 5, 2020 food

Best-ever Chocolate Chip Cookies, Delish Insane Sweets

The editors of Delish.com published a collection of their most over-the-top desserts ever DELISH INSANE SWEETS: Bake Yourself a Little Crazy. The cookbook is packed with over 100 recipes for cookies, cupcakes, bars, and bites that are as easy to make as they are delicious.

In my interview with Editorial director, Joanna Saltz she talked about how they came up with the recipes in the book in particular the chocolate chip cookie recipe. After my interview, I baked them with my son. The recipe does not call out what type of butter, salted or unsalted. We decide to bake them both ways to see which way it came out better.

I will not reveal the results here. You will have to listen my podcast interview to find out what we thought. But I can tell you we did eat up every cookie from both batches!

Print Recipe

Best-ever Chocolate Chip Cookies from Delish Insane Sweets

After 28 intense, sugar-filled rounds of testing, Delish believes they finally perfected the chocolate chip cookie. They are chewy, fudgy, filled with two types of chocolate, and rival the size of any bakeries. They are a work of art. Taking inspiration from Grandma's nearly perfect cookie, these have plenty of butter and a bit of love. Delish is certain you'll need no other chocolate chip cookie recipe ever again.

Total Time50 mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 15 large cookies

Ingredients

1 c. 2 sticks butter
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
3 oz. chopped chocolate
Flaky sea salt for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325° and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Bring it to a boil and let boil one minute.
Place sugars in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), then pour hot butter over sugars.
Beat with a hand mixer until combined, 1 minute. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until light and creamy, 2 minutes.
In another large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
Add to wet ingredients and beat until dry ingredients are almost incorporated with just a few white streaks. Add chocolates and stir until just combined.
Using a large cookie scoop, scoop dough (about 3 tablespoons) onto prepared pans about 3” apart and sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake until edges are golden and almost set in the middle, 14 to 15 minutes (Cookies will still look slightly underdone).
Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Notes

Courtesy of Delish.com

Delish Insane Sweets, pg. 21

February 3, 2020 podcast

An interview with Joanna Saltz: Delish Insane Sweets

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JOANNA SALTZ: Delish Insane Sweets

Joanna Saltz is the Editor Director of House Beautiful and Delish. At House Beautiful, Joanna is responsible for its print and digital content across all platforms. She relaunched housebeautiful.com in 2018 and her first print issue was in January last year. Since 2015, Joanna has been at Delish where she relauched the brand with a fresh editorial point-of-view geared toward food lovers–not food elitists. There is also a quarterly print verson of Delish. Prior to Delish, Joanna was the exectutive editor at Food Network Magazine. Recently Joanna publish her second book Delish Insane Sweets Bake Yourself a Little Crazy: 100+ Cookies, Bars, Bites, and Treats.