In The City That Matters

September 28, 2015

So there is only so much we can do with our little company to get the news about good food out there. This past week we traveled to NY. I put my knife bag in my checked luggage, and started planning a menu based on what we found at the Union Square farmers market on our first day there. Thanks to fortunate contacts and fortunate timing with Fashion Week, we rounded up editors from some of the top publications in the country and city for a fresh take on Paleo. For me this was a huge opportunity for myself as a chef, cooking a dinner that, for many, is one of the few that matter when it comes to cuisine. I’m proud to call San Diego home but any chef who says he doesn’t have dreams of a 12 seat place in the East Village or Tribeca is a damn liar. So to just live that for a night was beyond what I could expect. The oven burns never felt so good. Chefs are weird. Anyways, not that there would be a ton of pressure on me for my first dinner in the Big Apple or anything, but I was also serving folks from the NY Times, Fast Company, Details, Mens Journal, People Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Well + Good, Surface Magazine, First For Women, Prevention, Complex and the NY Daily News. Food went out, it was eaten and enjoyed. I cooked the best porchetta of my life. It stayed together perfect. Phew. But we also got to talk about what Paleo is and could help with. The first being local seasonal vegetables, paired with pastured, responsible protein, fruits, nuts and spices, the second being getting more and more people to eat quality food. Bottom line, I know a lot of people think not everyone can afford this way of eating so it is flawed. Well who can afford the diet of processed foods from corn, wheat, or soy? Right, so it’s about yes we can/have to do this and how? How can we use technology, aquaponics, responsible policy, better reporting, etc to bring necessary nuance and change to the situation. If nothing else it was a great conversation with people who start a lot of conversations all over the country with content for their consumers. Hopefully more of those consumers will find a better way to eat.