Hidden Apron Radio

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 ourse

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

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 brothe

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, bri

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

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

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 confu

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 F

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 th

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 base

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 tra

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 chall

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 a

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

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 we

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” (res

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 conver

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

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 ge

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