OF EARTH by The Herbal Chef

OF EARTH by The Herbal Chef | Ep.9 - Sean MacDonald | Head Chef, Restauranteur - ēst restaurant // Reece Mac Isaac | Chef - ēst restaurant

I'm honored to have Sean MacDonald & Reece Mac Isaac with me on the podcast today for OF EARTH Ep.9. We talked about a wide range of subjects from COVID-19 restrictions for restaurants, adapting your business model during the pandemic, the damaging effects of social media, our dreams cooking together abroad, and mental health.

“I think everybody goes through up’s and downs with their mental health. I think a lot of people feel like they are alone when they're going through that. But you know, there's a lot of people going through the same things, but they're scared to talk to people about it because they're scared to be vulnerable. After doing this, I appreciate that the more you talk about mental health and the more you kind of show like hey, I'm not feeling as good then the more amazing it is for everybody in all situations.”

- Sean MacDonald

Be sure to check out Ep.9 of the OF EARTH podcast. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play

You can find more from Sean MacDonald & Reece Mac Isaac here:

Online -  https://www.estrestaurant.ca/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/est.restaurant/

Movember Donation Link

Chris Sayegh here, the CEO of @the_herbal_chef.

I'm honored to have Jason Licker on the podcast today for OF EARTH Ep.8. Jason is a James Beard-nominated pastry chef. I wanted to share what conversations are like between chefs who really love their craft, who love to travel and experience culture and then apply that to their own life and their own work. Don’t miss Jason Licker’s latest cookbook, ‘Baking With Licker: Home Baking With Asian Accents.’

“I think I started out just like anybody else having zero clues what the hell you're doing. And I slid into my niche which happens to be Asian ingredients. I worked in Manhattan, Miami, then made the jump and I ended up working in Shanghai. Ni Hao. What I found most through my adventures is why like Asian ingredients is because they can really balance your palate. I lived in Asia for about 15 years and I found that the more I lived in Asia, the crazier things were happening.”

Be sure to check out Ep.8 of the OF EARTH podcast. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play

You can find more from Jason Licker here:

Online -  www.jasonlicker.com

Instagram - www.instagram.com/jasonlicker/

Chris Sayegh here, the CEO of @the_herbal_chef.

It’s an honor to bring on Simon Davies for OF EARTH Ep.7. Simon Davies was previously the executive chef of Alinea, the three Michelin restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Alinea provided Simon the opportunity to be creative, to learn quickly in a regimented kitchen, and to collaborate with extraordinarily talented people. Now with the recent launch of ilixr Creative, Simon is taking the opportunity to explore his passion for film and photography. ilixr Creative is committed to making a positive impact through the world of food. We are excited to see the positive change that Simon helps to lead through this creative project.

“It's hard not to be cynical right now. I am always very optimistic that people will come out a lot stronger because of everything that's happening. It's a huge wake-up call to become a closer-knit community. Maybe it's just the people that I'm talking with, the friends that I have and chefs around the world that I know, but it felt like the restaurant industry was already heading in the direction of becoming a closer community helping each other more.”

- Simon Davies

You can find more from Simon Davies here :

Instagram:

www.instagram.com/simon.a.davies/

www.instagram.com/ilixr_creative/

Online:

www.ilixrcreative.com/

Be sure to check out Ep.7 of the OF EARTH podcast. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play.

Chris Sayegh here, the CEO of @the_herbal_chef.

It’s an honor to bring on Diana Rodgers for OF EARTH Ep.6. Diana Rodgers is the Registered Dietician behind the Sustainable Dish. Diana has dedicated her life’s work to sustainability, social justice, animal welfare, and food policy issues. She is the co-author of the book, ‘Sacred Cow, The Case for Better Meat.’ She’s also working on a new book and film project, Sacred Cow, exploring the important role of animals in our food system. I am really excited to have this conversation that will bring light to a very controversial topic of meat consumption. We have all been lead to believe one thing or another about meat, so I asked some hard questions and received some really incredible answers that I’m excited to discuss with you guys.

“When you look at total ecosystem function and the ability for cattle to actually sequester carbon, for them to increase water holding capacity of the soil, increase biodiversity, and really up-cycle nutrient-poor foods that we can’t eat into nutrient-dense foods we can, then grazing animals wins on all of those levels and that's something that plant-based proteins absolutely cannot do.”

- Diana Rodgers, RD

Be sure to check out Ep.6 of the OF EARTH podcast. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play

You can find more from Diana Rodgers:

Online -  www.sustainabledish.com

Instagram - @sustainabledish

Chris Sayegh here, the CEO of @the_herbal_chef.

It’s an honor to bring on my friend Eben Britton for OF EARTH Ep.5. His career in the NFL provided him with an in-depth, firsthand experience of dealing with immense pain and trauma. Now, as the host of, Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson, and his own podcast, The Eben Flow, he is sharing his experience cultivating practices to allow for healing and restoration, bringing balance to his mind, body, and spirit.

“You know, there's all of this fabulous research happening with psilocybin and MDMA and LSD. And it's beautiful, and it's necessary and we need it. But, the pitfall is to make our lives about the substances. The substances themselves are just the tools by which we can open ourselves up to the greater experience of our lives. You know, it would be the same as if someone who builds houses made their entire life about their hammer or their power drill, right, you know, and should I owe my whole life to this instrument. This is my God, this is my life. You know, it's like it's a tool to help you build the house.”

- Eben Britton

Be sure to check out Ep.4 of the OF EARTH podcast. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play

Chris Sayegh here, the CEO of @the_herbal_chef.

Our guest for Ep.4, Mario (Sherbinski) is what I'd consider a cannabis mogul. He's created such an incredible brand. He's been at the very start of it all and I'm really excited to get his perspective on what's happening with the cannabis industry and where people are moving with this whole entire industry.

Sherbinski is creating a legacy within the Cannabis world. He hopes that across the industry people realize the importance of giving back to your community.

“If you make your own money, you have the right to do whatever you want. I'm not knocking if you go spend $1,000 on shoes, God bless. But for me personally, the fact that eyes are on me, that I'm in the cannabis space, and that this is a business of like health, wellness, and giving back; I just don't think it's appropriate anymore. Yeah, you know, I think it's a shift of, okay, how are you giving to the community?”

⁃Mario Guzman (Sherbinski)

Be sure to check out Ep.4 of the OF EARTH podcast.

You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Play

You can find Sherbinskis:

Online - sherbinskis.com

Instagram - @sherbinksi415 | @sherbinkskis

Hey guys! I'm Chris Sayegh the CEO and Head Chef of @the_herbal_chef.⠀

Our next guest Shelby Hartman, Editor-in-Chief / Co-founder of @doubleblindmag provides invaluable resources for those who are curious about psychedelics.

“One of the things that I’m spending the most time thinking about now is the impact that all of the capital pouring into drug development is going to have on the psychedelic movement..

There’s a lot of important questions happening around equity, access, diversity, indigenous rights, and sacred reciprocity. I hope that these values and these conversations continue to be central to the conversation and that the people that are coming into this space who haven’t been apart of it for a long time really humble themselves and take the time to really do their own work, their own personal work so that they can have a reverence for these plants and fungi and their complexity. I do hope they recognize that psychedelics are now just the next cryptocurrency or cannabis.”

- Shelby Hartman

Shelby Hartman and her team at @doubleblindmag have dedicated themselves to helping people access a fresh perspective on some of the most important issues of our time: the depression epidemic, the corporatization of medicine, and the aching that people around the globe feel for spirituality or some other collective sense of meaning.

You can learn more about DoubleBlind Mag online at www.doubleblindmag.com

Be sure to check out Ep.3 of the OF EARTH podcast.

Hey, I'm Chris Sayegh the CEO and Head Chef of @the_herbal_chef.

It's a pleasure to invite the award-winning chef and restaurateur, Tim Hollingsworth of Los Angeles to the show.

"We're in an industry that doesn't have huge margins, and ultimately the systems that were in place for so many years are not the best systems. We need to think about the minimum wage, we need to think about rent structures, the tipping structures certainly.."

Tim Hollingsworth sees a silver lining in the face of difficulty, an opportunity to improve the business model of restaurants across the industry. He hopes we can learn to make restaurants stronger than they were before.

As always, thanks for listening. Follow @the_herbal_chef for updates on the podcast and what we are up to.

You can learn more about Otium LA and Tim Hollingsworth here:

Instagram -

@cheftimhollingsworth

@otiumla

Online -

https://otiumla.com/

Hey, I'm Chris Sayegh the CEO and Head Chef of @the_herbal_chef. 

My first guest for the OF EARTH Podcast is Jamie Simpson, the Executive Chef at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio. I'm honored to have him as a guest. 

"We know nothing about vegetables, a chef only knows as much as a grocery store offers or a purveyor supplies," - Chef Jamie Simpson and the Culinary Vegetable Institute are determined to change that.

As always, thanks for listening. Follow @the_herbal_chef for updates on the podcast and what we are up to. 

You can learn more about CVI and Chef Jamie Simpson here:

Instagram -

@james_simpson86

@culinaryvegetableinstitute

Online - 

https://culinaryvegetableinstitute.com/main/