Seasonal Eating, Regenerative Farming & Mindful Cooking with Chef Lisa Balcom | S03E02 - video Dailymotion

Tangelic Life

🍴 Food is a story. In this powerful Tangelic Talks episode, Lisa Balcom shares how seasonal eating, regenerative farming, and simple kitchen practices can reconnect us to our food and the planet.  From building a pantry to pairing wine ethically, Lisa offers actionable tips for home cooks ready to embrace sustainability.  📌 Episode Highlights: 🌱 Why seasonal eating matters for health and the environment 🏡 Creating a pantry for mindful cooking 🌿 The future of regenerative agriculture 🍷 Choosing wines that align with your values 💡 How to trust your palate and cook with confidence  🔹 About Lisa: Chef, sommelier, and founder of Farrow at Home, Lisa advocates for food systems that prioritize people and the planet.  📌 Timestamps: 00:00–01:15 Chemicals, Clean Food & The Truth About Ingredients 01:16–02:38 Welcome to Tangelic Talks & Meet Chef Sommelier Lisa Balcom 02:39–05:01 From Hostess to Chef: Lisa’s Culinary Journey 05:02–07:46 Farmers Markets, Clean Food & Empowering Small Farmers 07:47–10:37 Food, Community & Opening a Restaurant During COVID 10:38–13:18 Seasonal Eating: Flavor, Nutrition & Cooking with What’s Fresh 13:19–16:01 Cooking From Scratch: Joy, Mindfulness & Time in the Kitchen 16:02–19:45 Sustainability in the Kitchen: Tools, Plastics & Clean Practices 19:46–24:05 Spices, Transparency & The Hidden Secrets of Food Systems 24:06–27:42 Storytelling Through Food, Wine & Culture 27:43–30:30 One Perfect Summer Meal & Final Reflections 30:31–31:40 Closing Remarks and Outro  💬 Join the Conversation: What’s one step you’ll take toward more mindful cooking? Comment below! ⬇️  ✨ Explore More: 🌐 Website: https://TangelicLife.org 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/tangeliclife 🐦 Twitter/X: https://x.com/Tangelic_ 💼 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/tangelic 👍 Facebook: https://facebook.com/tangelic.org  ✅ Like, comment, share & subscribe for more insights on sustainability and empowerment! 🌍💚  🔖 #TangelicTalks #SeasonalEating #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableCooking #FarmToTable #MindfulEating #EthicalWine #HomeCooking #FoodSystems #ClimateAction #LocalFood #SlowFoodMovement #EmpowermentThroughFood #FarrowAtHome #SustainableLiving #FoodWithIntegrity

Transcript

00:00There's more awareness around the chemicals that they use on our food, in our skincare products

00:05that go in our water, all of the things that, you know, are slowly poisoning all of us. Good food

00:11starts with good ingredients. So when something's super ripe and it got time to ripen on the vine

00:17and the sun and it's like the perfect flavor and it's the time of year that it's supposed to be

00:21here, like a tomato in January does not taste like a tomato in the middle of August. I think

00:26why it's really meant to be more of an expression of like the time and place from where it came

00:32than it is to be just some purple thing that sits in your glass.

00:49Welcome to Tangelic Talks, your go-to podcast from Tangelic, where we dive into the vibrant world of

00:55clean energy, development, sustainability, and climate change in Africa. We bring you inspiring

01:01stories, insightful discussions, and groundbreaking innovations from the continent making waves in the

01:06global community. Tune in and join the conversation toward a brighter, greener future. Let's get started.

01:15Welcome to Tangelic Talks, a podcast at the intersection of energy, equity, and empowerment

01:20with your co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Thomas. In today's episode, we're going to be talking with

01:26Lisa Balcom. She's a chef, sommelier, and the creative mind behind Farrow at Home. After years of running a

01:32celebrated farm-to-table restaurant, she's now on a mission to help home cooks slow down, sorry, and cook with the

01:40seasons and fall in love with local ingredients. From wine pairings to pastry tips, Lisa brings flavor, heart, and just the

01:47right amount of storytelling to the table, which you guys will get to see here. So welcome, Lisa.

01:52Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. I'm excited to talk to you guys today.

01:58Of course. And I think it's important that we start getting to understand how you got here. Like, how did

02:05your love for food turn into a full career? I think a lot of people say like, oh yeah, I like cooking, but

02:10you know, I don't even know where to start or how I would make it a thing, right? Being able to work in

02:16your passion is actually just absolutely amazing. So I'd love to know how that happened.

02:21Yeah. Um, it actually started when I was 16. Um, I started working as a hostess, uh, in a restaurant

02:29and kind of like gradually, you know, went on with life after that, you know, I served, I bartended,

02:36I kind of worked my way up the ranks. Um, but in my twenties, I hit a point where I just like was

02:42obsessed with cooking and I wanted to learn everything that I possibly could. I would

02:46read magazines and cookbooks. I would watch food network all the time. And that like back

02:51in those days, like there was actually more cooking on food network than there were like

02:54game shows and stuff. Um, definitely a much different vibe these days. So, um, yeah, I was

03:00just obsessed. I would spend my days off going out to grocery stores and markets and like, you

03:05know, this was like before there were like farmer's markets and things. So like, you know,

03:09anything that I could source, um, anything that I could find and, you know, this is pre

03:14Amazon being as crazy as it is to, um, kind of dating myself a little bit. It's hard to

03:20imagine a world where that wasn't the case, but, um, yeah, I just, I was always obsessed

03:25with food and always excited about cooking and learning. And, uh, that kind of like pushed

03:29me into going to culinary school. So I went to pastry school, um, and then have spent the

03:35last several years or last decade, really kind of working in and out of the kitchen

03:40and, uh, working front of house for some really fine dining restaurants. So it's just where

03:44I learned about wine, um, and really dove into that headfirst too. And yeah, my husband

03:49and I decided to open a restaurant about four years ago. Um, and yeah, the rest is kind of,

03:56kind of straight history. Yeah. But always, always been obsessed with food. Uh, I love to eat

04:01it. I love to cook it. I love to source it. I like to try new things. It's just, it's

04:05fun. That's so cool. And you were saying before Amazon was big, I'm just shocked that

04:10farmer's markets weren't a thing. Like what, what did you do on a Saturday morning?

04:15I don't know. It was crazy. I was so long ago now. I don't even remember. It's, um, I

04:21feel like the whole farmer's market movement and like cleaner food sustainability thing kind

04:25of started to come about more, I think in like the 2012 era, um, where there was like

04:31a lot more people starting to talk about health, a lot more people starting to talk about the

04:35food systems, kind of the broken parts of it. Um, you know, there's more awareness around

04:41the chemicals that they use on our food and our skincare products that go in our water,

04:46all of the things that, you know, are slowly poisoning all of us and kind of unaware of it.

04:53Yeah. So I feel like the, that whole movement sort of started around then and then farmer's

04:58markets started becoming a bigger thing and, um, you know, finding grass-fed meat became

05:03easier and organic products became easier. Like the world we live in today is definitely

05:08a much different one than, than when this journey started for sure.

05:11Yeah. Fair enough. Okay. That makes sense. Cause 2012, I was 11. So it makes sense why I was

05:16going to farmer's markets, what it feels like my whole life. And you've had a really long

05:21and diverse career in food. And I mean, you've talked about this movement of clean foods and

05:28also, you know, there's a sustainability aspect that a lot of people talk about in the kitchen,

05:31but personally to you, how has your relationship to cooking changed over time, whether personally

05:37or by all these changes in the industry and the way that we talk about it?

05:41I think one of the biggest impacts for me was when I lived in Charleston. Um, that was right

05:47around that 2012 timeframe to like 2018. And there was a really big culinary movement there,

05:54um, where everybody was very concerned with like sourcing local and working with their local farms.

06:01Like a lot of the restaurants were very, very like in tune with what's in season and changing their

06:06menus all of the time, um, based off of like what they could get locally and seasonally. Um, so I think

06:12that was like a, a big thing on top of like all of these talking heads, like kind of coming out and

06:17starting their podcasts and like talking about everything else. So it kind of feels like it all

06:21gelled together, uh, at the same time. And then Sean Brock was a really big influence in Charleston at the

06:28time too. And he had gone through this whole movement of revitalizing like old heirloom beans and

06:36different vegetables and things that had been lost, um, through, you know, commodity farming.

06:43Um, and he kind of like just out of his own culinary curiosity, um, built this kind of like foundation

06:51for, for that movement sort of happening there. And I've seen it happen a lot more in other places

06:56now too. You know, part of it has helped, but how much of it is also just empowering small to medium

07:01farmers who are really, really having sort of oppressed, having a hard time right now.

07:06Yeah. Um, you know, I think the, the movement of having farmers markets and just having farmers

07:11more available to like the everyday people, um, and being able to get their produce a little more

07:17easily by having those markets. I think that's done a lot for, for helping both the small farms and

07:23the community to source or care about sourcing, um, local, you know, and then you build these personal

07:29relationships with people. So instead of it just being the tomato that you bought at the store,

07:34it's John's tomato that you got at the market that day, you know, like it's, it's a different

07:38connection to, to food than just seeing something like in a package and, you know, kind of just like,

07:45Oh, cool, whatever, you know, no big deal. It's the building all those personal relationships.

07:49I think that really kind of gels that whole, whole feeling. Um, and I think it's a lot,

07:54a lot, a lot more small scale farmers to start being able to make a more living wage.

07:59You know, there's a lot of inequality and when it comes to the wages of farmers too,

08:04and they're basically selling everything wholesale to a middleman who then sells it to,

08:09you know, whole foods or whatever big grocery store you have by you. And then we pay for it.

08:15You know, there's a lot of hands that take money out of that, what that food costs to grow.

08:20Um, this at least allows the farmers to kind of keep more of that money in their pocket so that

08:25they can, you know, buy a new equipment or hire more people or actually run their business.

08:31It's really hard to run a business without cash.

08:32Yeah.

08:33So definitely true, true words. And I think it's also, it's an interesting way how you say it,

08:40like it humanizes almost a process of getting food. I think it's one of those things like turning on a

08:46light bulb, all the, you know, animation in the world could not show us the whole process that

08:53happens for that instant thing that happened when light turns on. I think with food, we just kind

08:57of say like, Oh yeah, it's right there. You know, it's in the supermarket. The tomatoes are there.

09:01Giving it a person with a story that, you know, really grounds it as like, Oh yeah, no, this is a

09:06person who has been able to produce this tomato for me. Right. And it, it ties into community a little

09:12bit. I don't know what your thoughts are around food and community and food as a way of building

09:18community. I think it's an essential part of community. I mean, it's really from every walk

09:24of life since the beginning of time, we've all gathered around a meal. It's something that we

09:31all have to do in order to stay here on this planet. So, you know, it's something that I think

09:36has become like really important, um, for, for community building, you know, I mean, every holiday

09:43is centered around food. Every big celebration is centered around food. We all plan, you know,

09:49what special place we're going to go eat, you know, when we get a job promotion or get engaged or

09:55whatever, whatever big things happening in your life, you know, and it's the thing that you have to do

09:59daily as well, um, to stay healthy and stay alive. So, uh, yeah, I think having food around

10:05community is massive. Um, I think in our technological world, we've kind of distanced

10:11ourselves a little bit from that. I think, especially post COVID, like the world's been

10:15super weird since then. Um, as someone who spent 25 years in food and Bev, uh, I opened my restaurant

10:21in 2021. So it was kind of a crazy time to have done that. You're a trooper. Um, yeah, probably not the

10:28best timing. Um, it was like right when everybody was like feeling good about going out again and then

10:33like everything got super weird at the end of the year. So I thought we, I thought we timed it well,

10:37but, uh, that was not the case. Um, and I can imagine as part of that, of opening the restaurant,

10:43you were working very closely with farmers and local producers. Cause like you said, having that,

10:47you know, community built within, and does that influence the way that you cook and teach about food?

10:52Definitely. Um, well, when we had the restaurant, um, we sourced 90% of our ingredients

10:58within 10 miles of the restaurant. So our menus would change at least like bi-weekly at one point

11:06chef was trying to do it weekly. It was too much. Um, it was a lot to keep up with and it was hard

11:12for people cause they would like, want to try something, but maybe not be able to get in and

11:15then it would be off the menu. So we were trying to, to, you know, have some consistency there, but

11:20yeah, just the, the whole seasonality of it all, um, was really big for us. Like, I think that was, um,

11:28um, I'm kind of losing my train of thought and I'm sorry. No, no, you're good. I mean,

11:32I wanted to jump in and ask, can you explain to people what seasonal eating is? Cause I think we

11:36hear it when we talk about, for example, degrowth and those sorts of things, but you know, it's not

11:42a scary monster. I mean, seasonal eating to me, there's, there's kind of a twofold part to this.

11:48So one, if it's growing in the ground near you, you're able to pick it when it's fresh,

11:54it's not being shipped halfway around the world and brought to you barely with any nutrients in it.

12:01Um, the second part of that is you've got the nutrients. So it's healthier for you to

12:05have the tomato that's picked two minutes down the street, or if you go to the farmer's market,

12:09maybe they picked it that morning or the day before instead of the tomato that you're going

12:13to buy in the grocery store that got picked like two weeks ago and shipped in a truck and probably

12:17gassed with something to keep it fresh, um, or from rotting or whatever. Um, so, you know,

12:28so you have like those two components, you know, that's kind of a big part of it. But,

12:32and then from like a culinary standpoint as a chef, like when you're going to cook with something,

12:37you want to use the best ingredients because good food starts with good ingredients. So when something's

12:43super ripe and I got time to ripen on the vine and the sun and it's like the perfect flavor and it's

12:48the time of year that it's supposed to be here, like a tomato in January does not taste like a tomato

12:54in the middle of August, like not even close. And I'm sorry, there's nothing they can do to change

12:58that. Like, it's just like this pink mealy flavorless. It's like, why even bother putting

13:04it on anything? It's not, it's not contributing. Um, when you can have something that's bright and juicy

13:08and flavorful. Um, so I think that's really important, you know, to, from, from a chef's

13:14standpoint to start with really good quality ingredients so you can make your absolute best

13:19dish. Yeah, that's fair. And it sounds like a lot of the work that you do is starting from

13:24scratch. I was reading on your website that you kind of encourage people to start from scratch.

13:28And now that you're also running farro at home and teaching people how to cook at home, how do you

13:33balance that? Like starting from scratch, but also I'm at home and I maybe have two hours to cook for

13:38my family. I mean, we do our live stream once a week, uh, on Sundays and from start to finish

13:44completely from scratch, we're generally done within 30 minutes to an hour. So, I mean, it's

13:49really not bad. And if you make a big enough portion, you can have enough for leftovers for,

13:53for the next day. Um, or a couple of days, you know, depending on, on how many mouths you have to

13:58feed and how ravenous they are. But what does the term from scratch mean? Like how scratch are we talking

14:06about? Like go out and pick the tomatoes I'm about to chop or get them the morning before at the

14:11farmer's market? Oh yeah. No, we get them at the farmer's market. Yeah. We're, we're not growing our

14:16own stuff just yet, but that is hopefully in the works in the near future. Um, but yeah, it's,

14:22it's getting stuff at the local farms or the farmer's markets, or like knowing who has what at

14:26the local stands. Uh, we go every Saturday and like stock our fridge up and get all of our stuff. Um,

14:32all of our produce, at least, you know, obviously you can't buy certain things like coffee or milk,

14:36or, you know, sometimes you can get milk. It depends on your market, I guess, but

14:41there's some things that we can't get. So, you know, then we have to go to the store to fill in,

14:45but for the most part, I try and get everything from our local farm.

14:49Yeah, that's fair. And we live in such a fast paced world and you're asking people to kind of like

14:55slow down, but the world is full of shortcuts, right? Like the air fryer is as big as it is because of

15:01these shortcuts that we want in cooking, right? Oh yeah. So what's your secret to finding joy

15:06in this process of cooking where, and a lot of people just kind of like, you know, want to

15:10chuck something in the oven and have it be ready. And that's it. What's that fun part of cooking?

15:15I mean, I'll be honest. I do have those days where I just want to chuck something in the oven.

15:20So I don't want to like pose myself as some superhero that's in there, like chopping away for

15:26days on end. But I do really love the process of cooking a meal. It's very meditative getting to

15:34sit there and first, even just going to source it. Like I really enjoy the community aspect of

15:39like talking to the farmers and like what they're going through at the moment and like

15:42picking the perfect things and then taking it home and like figuring out through my cookbooks or

15:47through my creativity, like what exactly it is that I want to do with this thing. But even then the

15:53process of like putting it all together after that, you're like, the excitement gets you going

15:58to like be motivated to start it because you've got these cool things to play with. But then it's

16:02just kind of like a relaxing process of creating something and then getting to enjoy it afterwards

16:08and nourish yourself with it or cooking for your loved ones. It's just a moment to like slow down

16:13and like really pay attention to what you're doing. That's always a goal.

16:17And I wanted to touch a bit on sustainability then. When it comes to how that, I don't know,

16:26interacts in the kitchen, you know, one of the projects that we work on at Tangelic is the Sunrise

16:31Spectrum Initiative and that's looking to provide clean cookware and better conditions for cooking.

16:37At the moment, a lot of off-grid communities cook in these very unsafe places, let's say,

16:45you know, all the gases and the health risks that come with cooking indoors, for example.

16:51So how does sustainability factor in outside of, you know, seasonal veg and sourcing locally,

16:57that process of cooking?

17:00For us, that's a really big thing too. Like I try not to use anything that has like Teflon on it.

17:05Um, we try not to use plastic, uh, anything, even if we're like storing things. I mean,

17:12we do use plastic wrap from time to time, but it's kind of really hard to get rid of that. I've tried

17:17the B-wrap things and it just doesn't quite do the job the same way. So still waiting for an answer on that

17:24one. But, um, you know, we use, we use glass jars and things to like store food as frequently as we can.

17:32Um, you know, trying to make sure that we're using everything that's as clean as possible.

17:38Blast Tupperware instead of like the plastic stuff, stuff like that.

17:41Yeah. Yeah. Plastic can be really bad for your health. Um, it can really mess with your hormones.

17:47And unfortunately it's everywhere. So I was, I was telling Victoria the other day about how

17:53like I'm seizing my food with delicious microplastics. I know it makes me cringe sometimes.

18:01I'm like, ah, you know, spices are another thing too, for me that it, you know, it's one of those

18:06things that nobody really thinks about, but, um, it's a really important part. We work with a company

18:12called burlap and barrel, um, primarily in our kitchen. And we did at the restaurant as well.

18:17Um, they source from small farms, um, and you know, help pay them a living wage, but it's all

18:24single origin, single estate. There's no fillers, which a lot of times you're paying for fillers and

18:29anti-caking agents in your spices. So that's a bummer right there because they're usually not cheap.

18:34Um, and then on top of that, they, um, oh, on top of that, they don't, uh, irradiate their spices.

18:41Um, so, you know, I don't know if you're aware of the fact that they irradiate spices when they

18:47mass produce them from multiple, multiple sources to sanitize them from the terrible conditions that

18:53they're in. What type of, what type of, like, what do they, what's the process? Yeah.

18:59Spices? Yeah. I can't speak a hundred percent to how it all works. Um, I haven't dove that deep

19:05into it, but I've, I've been warned of that happening or that being a pretty common practice

19:13in like mass production spices. Um, I don't know how you find that out or not with the company that

19:21you're doing, um, working with, unless they specifically say that they don't, but.

19:24Another great thing about sourcing locally, transparency, right? Transparency is so important.

19:30Yes. Agreed. And that kind of connects that other dot. And again, it's supporting small local farms

19:36that are trying to do the right thing and grow their things with integrity and quality, uh, over

19:42the shortcuts and come on that most commodity things do. Um, but yeah, it's, I feel like every

19:48time I turn around, there's like another little secret or tidbit about something else in the food

19:52system. I'm just like, God, this is so hard to get away from it all. Forget it. I'm just going to grow

19:56all my own food and call it a day. That's so fair. Yeah. And I can only imagine you being so enmeshed

20:04in this world, finding out these new, new pieces of information, new, scary pieces of information,

20:11I can imagine. How quickly can you adapt in the kitchen to, for example, new modern,

20:17sustainably minded styles or new ways of doing things, you know, moving a bit away from classical

20:23techniques because we figured out they're not that good. You know, what's, what's that process

20:27look like? How do you integrate it? I think to some extent there can be, I think a lot of people,

20:33um, I mean, with the, with the internet being the way that it is now, and then like the rise of AI,

20:40like we have access to information so much faster and so much easier now than we ever have in the

20:46past that I feel like this moment in time is the, probably the easiest it's ever been to adapt

20:54to finding the, the specific companies, or maybe the people that, that embody the values that you

21:00care about the most. Um, it's, it wasn't always that simple, you know, and that, that maybe these

21:06companies didn't exist or without a giant marketing budget that you would never find them. Um, before,

21:12you know, when we had things like the yellow pages or Google was like in its infancy, like that was

21:17just not a thing. Like you, you couldn't do most of what these people are doing now. And I think

21:22with the way that social media algorithms work and podcasts and everything else, like there's so

21:28many opportunities to find things. So you can make that pivot, that change, I think a little bit

21:33easier. And I think it allows companies doing the right thing to come. Yeah. It's a lot of online

21:39communities too. There's just, there's so many ways to get information now that like, weren't always

21:44around. Um, I think we're just really lucky to be here in the middle of all this, that kind of

21:50cutting through the noise and there's an overload of information, right? Knowing what's true and

21:54what's not as well. So what does sustainable food actually look like day to day for a home cook?

22:04I mean, I think stocking your pantry first and foremost with the essentials of like what you

22:09really need, um, to successfully put a meal together from start to finish, you know, having

22:15some oils and vinegars and like the basics and spices and, you know, little, little things like

22:20that. If you just at least have these things on hand, I feel like you can, you know, kind of

22:26make the best of whatever you've got laying around in the fridge. Um, so I would start there,

22:31like get a good, get a good base line of like what you need for, for cooking and have some very

22:37basic tools. I actually created a kitchen basics guide. It's completely free. You can go on my

22:42website far at home.com and get that. Um, it's got pantry staples, measurement equivalents. It's got

22:48all of the, um, like pots and pans and cooking equipment that you would need. Um, there's a section

22:54in there for baking as well. And then some tips on like how to put everything together, balancing

22:59dishes with salt, fat, acid, and heat, um, that, that kind of stuff. So it's just a nice way for

23:05people to get started on it, um, on their journey. When you at least like have the ecosystem to start

23:11from, it helps when you have to like come into, yeah. It's, it seems also really hard. Spices are

23:19so hard because we're so used to having ready mixed spices or like buying things that are already

23:26spiced. Like I have been failing so many recipes recently because I'm starting to cook for myself

23:31and they just come out horrible because I don't understand how these spices work together and I

23:37can read the recipe, but it's, it's, it's not, it doesn't give me a good example of like, what if I

23:44don't have this, right? What can I replace it with? How will that affect the flavor profile? So I think

23:49that's the education aspect that you're providing is so important. I'm going to check it out.

23:53Yeah. We're going to link it on the blog. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Developing your palate is

23:57definitely a big part of learning how to cook, but that also involves screwing up a lot of things

24:03before you get to that point where you really understand it. What I always try to encourage

24:07people to do is take a moment before you like put something in and smell it or take a little pinch and

24:13taste it. Uh, see if you can like kind of get a sense for it that way. Um, most of your ability to

24:21taste something comes from your nose and your ability to smell it. So if you take the time to,

24:27to smell things or like, maybe if you're like, do these two go together, I'll kind of like sniff my

24:32nose over top of both of them at the same time and see if those two smell good together. If they

24:39don't smell good together, then they're probably not going to taste good together. Um, but you know,

24:43kind of just seeing like whether or not those aromas sort of harmonize and maybe that's a little

24:47advanced. I don't know, but, um, it's kind of one of the ways that I trained my palate and

24:53my ability to kind of like pick things out and figure out what works.

24:56Yeah. I think it was really cool. And I hear that a lot. I love wine tasting and cheese tastings,

25:01and you always get the nice roulette. I'm a coffee drinker as well. So there's all these roulettes of

25:06like, okay, what does it feel like? So you can start profiling it. Um, and in wine as well,

25:12there's a big conversation about sustainability. What's your involvement with wine? And I don't know if you see

25:17those sustainability conversations being had. I do a little bit more. Um, I don't delve as heavily

25:22into the wine world as I do food on a daily basis. When we had the restaurant, we would always,

25:27we only had organic wines on our list, um, organic and biodynamic wines. We only wanted to work with

25:32producers that were doing the right thing. Um, wine also has a lot of dirty little secrets, uh, of

25:39putting like mega purple and things to like speed up the process. So they don't have to,

25:43the juice doesn't have to sit on the skins as long to get the color, which, you know, sometimes

25:48results in that purplish, uh, teeth and tongue and all of that, you know, or they use certain

25:54finding ingredients that are like, not that cool. Um, or they'll put artificial flavors into things,

26:01which, you know, like if you're buying really cheap wine and not to say that you have to spend a ton of

26:05money on wine, you can get great bottles that are organic and like good, uh, for, for decent prices.

26:11You know, you don't have to spend like 50 bucks to get a bottle of wine. That's not

26:16going to make you feel like crap in the morning, but it's part of why I think some people have

26:20problems with wine. I don't think it's as much the sulfites as it is all the chemicals that are

26:25put into mass produced wine. Um, so yeah, finding people that are kind of taking the time to slow down

26:32and do the process the right way, um, and not taking shortcuts with coloring and flavoring agents,

26:39um, that should be happening naturally, or just for the sake of like keeping it consistent from

26:44year to year. Right. Cause grapes are going to taste different, um, from year to year.

26:49If sometimes it's colder, sometimes it's hotter and that changes how they, they interact and that'll

26:53change the vintage of that wine and how it, how it tastes. So, you know, you get the big houses that

26:58want the exact same wine all the time because the consumer wants consistency so that they know that

27:03they're getting the same thing every single time. And I get that to an extent, but like,

27:06I think wine's really meant to be more of an expression of like the time and place from where

27:12it came, um, than it is to, to be just some purple thing that sits in your glass. I don't know.

27:18Yeah, that's an alcohol content.

27:22I love the way you keep bringing in story to this, you know, the wine tells a story,

27:27John's tomato tells a story. There's all these stories happening. Where, what is the role of stories

27:33and food? Like, why is that so important? I notice that you do it very naturally. I wonder where that

27:40comes from. You know, why are you such a good storyteller? Uh, I'm, I don't know. Honestly,

27:46I didn't realize that I was telling stories. And we're done.

27:51This is just me talking. Um, no, I, I don't know. I think storytelling has always been a part of like

27:58human history. It's the way we used to connect with one another and used to like convey information

28:04to everyone, um, prior to the internet becoming the chaos that it is. Um, you know, it's the way

28:11we passed it, passed out information from generation to generation and something about the human brain

28:16just seems to latch onto a story better than it does just straight up information. Um, I could sit

28:23here with a little diagram and charts and like go through the whole thing, but you guys would probably

28:26be asleep halfway through it, you know? Um, there's, yeah, I don't know. I, I think that's

28:32almost like an intrinsic sort of thing that kind of happens to people deep down, like an ancestral

28:38thing that just never fully left our bones. Yeah, no humans. We love stories. And I just want our

28:44listeners to leave with a hungry feeling, but also that passion that you were talking about that makes

28:51you want to go out and cook and source all the ingredients and do all the things. So

28:57what would you cook one seasonal meal for everyone listening and what would you pair it with?

29:02Honestly, right now I would love to do like peaches and burrata. Um, I know it sounds so simple,

29:09but just like take some super fresh, juicy peaches that are like practically like oozing juice. As soon

29:15as you cut them open, you almost have to do it over the sink. Cause it makes such a mess. Um, toss them with

29:20like a little bit of olive oil, a pinch of flaky Maldon salts, uh, tear some fresh basil leaves to

29:25go with that and like cut a ball of burrata in half. And it would just be perfection to me.

29:30It's about to be like a hundred degrees here for the next few days. So I'm like, I don't want to turn

29:34the stove on. I don't want to do anything like this. Just perfect. And I think that's the cool

29:39thing about summer produce too, because it's so bright and fresh. Like you don't have to sit

29:43there in front of the stove for hours, um, cooking it down or doing anything crazy with

29:47it to make it really good. Um, and then wine pairing with that, honestly, a Viennier, um,

29:54from Southern France would be fabulous. Cause it's kind of like round in the mouthfeel. So

30:00it would go really nicely with the burrata and like the rich fattiness of that, but it kind of has like

30:05some peach and floral notes to it too. So it'd pair nice with the peaches. It's got a little kiss of

30:10acidity. Um, I think it would just be, yeah, everything I'd want to have right now sitting on my back porch.

30:15Perfect. All right. So that's my plan after this. Uh, but you're not leaving yet. We're going to do

30:22a little Q and A as always. So thank you so much for being here. We're going to stay on with Lisa

30:28for a little bit longer, bit more resources that you'll be able to find in the Q and A section in

30:34the blog at tangeliclife.org and check out Lisa's website as well. And just stay in touch, you know,

30:41calm down, take a breath. Like Lisa said, let's all take a moment here. Enjoy the process there.

30:49That is food, sustainability, trying to understand something. Let's try to enjoy the process and take

30:54it slow. So we'll leave you with that. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

31:13Voices strong, we're building tomorrow where we all belong

31:18Tangela talks, energy, equity, pride

31:22Empowering the world side by side

31:25A spark becomes a fire, a vision that's true

31:29Together we rise, it starts with you

Seasonal Eating, Regenerative Farming & Mindful Cooking with Chef Lisa Balcom | S03E02

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