Fell Into Food Podcast

I've known Ethan and Cass for a while now, and every time I'm around them I walk away thinking the same thing — these guys just get it. Not just the event business, but the people side of this industry. That's what Taste Events is built on.They co-founded a curated B2B food service event company that takes everything broken about the trade show model and fixes it. We're talking 150–200 people, chain operators and suppliers who actually belong in the room together, and one-on-one meetings built around an intelligence dossier pulled from real conversations — not a generic booth pitch. The whole thing is designed so that when you sit down, it matters.We talked about how they built it, what made them realize "anti-trade show" was the wrong framing, and how they're keeping events fresh without losing what makes them special. We also got into NRA — what's trending on the floor (clean label is in, meat analogs are fading), how they work the show, and what actually gets done at Portillo's at midnight.Oh, and somewhere in there Ethan ate sardines on the show floor to start a conversation. Worked like a charm. He also runs a tin fish review account on TikTok called Tinnies with the Boys. I have no notes on that — just go follow it.Find Taste Events:LinkedIn: @TasteEventsInstagram: @TasteEventsWebsite: thetasteevents.comTimestamps[00:00] Cold open — Nutter Butter on TikTok is an acid trip[01:17] How Ethan and Cass got pulled deeper into food service[03:25] What a Taste Event actually is — the model explained[08:09] The intelligence dossier and why it's not speed dating[09:21] The extracurriculars — Taste Tour, dinners, and where the real magic happens[14:37] NRA reflections — Year 2, Portillo's at midnight, and trends on the floor[21:36] Tong Talks origin story — Hannah Lopez, a mic, and a pair of tongs[24:20] Good people, good times, good business — and how you protect that as you grow[29:26] Advice for anyone at a crossroads: if it makes you nervous, lean in[35:48] Next event info + where to find themListen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFoodLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_foodFacebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofoodFellintoFood.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Chef Steve McHugh is a six-time James Beard Award finalist, the author of Cured, and the founder of the celebrated San Antonio charcuterie restaurant of the same name — a 12-year run built entirely around preservation, dry aging, fermentation, and the science of what happens when you take time seriously with meat.Steve grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, trained at the CIA, and cut his teeth in John Besh's kitchens in New Orleans before a lymphoma diagnosis stopped him mid-career. He finished treatment, moved to Texas, and opened Cured at the Pearl Brewery — a restaurant centered on whole-animal butchery, handmade charcuterie, and a custom aging case that eventually became one of the most interesting preservation programs in the country.In this conversation, we get into the real science behind curing and dry aging: what 60/60/60 actually means and when it doesn't apply, the difference between EQ curing and salt box method, why water is the enemy of every preservation technique, and how mold — the right mold — is the thing that keeps your case healthy and your flavors complex. Steve talks about how COVID wiped out twelve years of charcuterie inventory in three months, and how his wife's idea to fill the empty case with dry-aged beef turned into a second revenue engine. We also go deep on fish dry aging, wet aging, rapid aging claims, and one of my favorite moments in recent podcast memory: Steve debunking the "uncured bacon" label at the grocery store. Spoiler — they're curing it with celery. They're just not telling you.If you're a chef trying to understand preservation, an operator thinking about a dry aging program, or just someone who wants to know what's actually in that pack of bacon be sure to listen all the way through.Steve McHugh: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook: @ChefSteveMcHugh Book: Cured — available anywhere books are soldListen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFoodLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_foodFacebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofoodFellintoFood.comCHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Introduction01:17 — Farm life, work ethic & finding the kitchen07:26 — CIA, New Orleans & John Besh09:43 — Lymphoma, recovery & opening Cured15:08 — Curing vs. dry aging: the science explained22:05 — How COVID created an accidental dry aging program29:03 — Mold: why it's your best employee43:05 — Dry aging fish48:01 — Uncured bacon: the truth52:01 — Life after Cured & what's nextAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Cherie Calbom — known as The Juice Lady — holds a Master of Science in Nutrition, has authored 36 books with over 3.5 million copies sold, and has spent decades studying the connection between what we eat and how we feel. Her latest book, The Truth About Seed Oils, digs into how "heart-healthy" vegetable oils became the default in the American kitchen — and what that's quietly done to our health.The story of seed oils doesn't start in a kitchen. It starts with cotton waste rotting in piles at the turn of the 20th century. A dark, smelly oil originally used to lubricate machinery was refined, deodorized, bleached, and rebranded as a modern American cooking staple. World War II did the rest — when ships carrying coconut oil couldn't get through the waters, seed oil manufacturers filled the gap, hired cookbook authors, lobbied hard, and told home cooks this was the healthier, more modern choice. Heart disease went up anyway. It's still the number one killer.In this episode, Cherie breaks down the lipid hypothesis, the influence of Ancel Keys, what actually happens inside a seed oil refinery (hexane, bleaching agents, degumming — not pretty), why the omega-6 to omega-3 imbalance is driving chronic inflammation, and what the research shows about seed oils' connection to anxiety, depression, and aggression. She also fields the strongest counter-argument — a 2025 JAMA study suggesting people with the highest seed oil intake were 16% less likely to die — and explains why she's skeptical.And then there's her own story. In her 20s, Cherie was bedridden with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia — sleeping 12 hours a day, waking up exhausted, unable to walk around the block. She couldn't work. She moved back home. Five days into a juice fast, her body expelled a tumor the size of a golf ball, blood vessels attached. Three months later, she woke up feeling like someone gave her a new body in the middle of the night. That experience sent her back to school to get her master's degree so she could be a credible voice for everyone else trying to find their way out.Socials: Cherie Calbom, M.S. — The Juice Lady Website: www.juiceladyinfo.com Instagram: @juiceladycherie X (Twitter): @JuiceLadyCherie TikTok: @juiceladycherie YouTube Shorts: TheJuiceLadyCherie LinkedIn: Cherie Calbom Book: The Truth About Seed Oils — available on Amazon App: Seed Oil Scout (link on her site — click the book on the homepage)Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFoodLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_foodFacebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofoodFellintoFood.comChapters:00:00 — Intro: Meet Cherie Calbom, The Juice Lady00:40 — The Dark History of Seed Oils: From Cotton Waste to Your Kitchen03:10 — The Lipid Hypothesis, Ancel Keys, and Why Heart Disease Never Got Better06:00 — Inside a Seed Oil Refinery: Hexane, Bleaching, and Toxic Byproducts07:45 — The Omega-6 to Omega-3 Imbalance Driving Chronic Inflammation10:00 — The Counter-Argument: What Does the 2025 JAMA Study Actually Say?13:30 — The Real Cost of Cheap Oil (And What to Do If You Can't Afford the Swap)19:10 — Seed Oils, Anxiety, Depression, and Aggression21:45 — Cherie's Story: Bedridden in Her 20s, Healed in Three Months, and a Tumor the Size of a Golf Ball29:05 — What Cherie Eats, Seed-Oil-Free Swaps, and One Action to Take This WeekAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Ron Cardwell, Director of Commodity Strategy at Restaurant Technologies (RTI), runs point on cooking oil for the company that pioneered automated oil management — the closed-loop system that delivers fresh oil and pulls used oil out of more than 40,000 restaurants. We get into the seed oil debate, allergen myths, beef tallow's comeback, and what actually happens to the used oil in your fryer.Ron's nickname is "The Oil Nerd." He earned it. He started in soybean processing out of college, fell in love with how oil touches every corner of food and energy, and has been deep in commodity strategy ever since. RTI moves more than 700 million pounds of fresh oil into restaurants every year and pulls hundreds of millions of pounds of used oil back out — and almost all of it ends up as renewable diesel, biodiesel, or sustainable aviation fuel.We dig into how operators should actually think about oil — flavor, function, and price, in that order, not the other way around. Why "buy the cheapest" is a trap that costs you more in turnover and bad food. The seed oil vs. beef tallow debate — what's signal and what's noise, what the real trade-offs are on flavor, supply, and price when you switch. The allergen question that comes up at every front-of-house every week — and why a fully refined and deodorized oil doesn't carry the allergen at all (Ron settles this one on tape). What pourable beef tallow actually is and why it exists. Why high-oleic crop breeding is changing what "stable frying oil" even means. The full-circle history — beef tallow → saturated fat fear → trans fats → seed oil blends → consumers asking for tallow back. And the part of Ron's job he loves most: turning used fryer oil into renewable diesel at roughly 20% the carbon intensity of conventional diesel.Socials and Links:Website: www.rti-inc.comRTI 2025 Impact Report: https://www.rti-inc.com/blog/restaurant-technologies-recycled-more-than-390-million-lbs-of-uco-in-2025/Ron Cardwell Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-cardwell-21a7531a6/CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Intro and welcome: Ron Cardwell, Director of Commodity Strategy at Restaurant Technologies01:31 — How Ron earned the nickname "The Oil Nerd"02:44 — Why oil is one of three core nutrition components — and the most functional03:49 — What "Director of Commodity Strategy" actually means day-to-day05:09 — Quick recap of RTI's closed-loop oil system (referencing Ep 17 with Diana)05:24 — The most dangerous job in a kitchen — and why bulk delivery eliminates it07:12 — Jeff's experience as a former RTI customer08:32 — RTI's 2025 Impact Report — released Earth Day, recycling stats09:36 — Choosing oil: the three variables operators actually need to weigh11:24 — The trap of buying the cheapest oil12:13 — Flavor profiles by oil type — neutral vs. flavored oils14:39 — The allergen question — settled on tape16:15 — How operators (and customers) can verify allergen status — the supplier statement18:32 — The seed oil vs. beef tallow debate — what's signal, what's noise21:03 — Switching to tallow — flavor, supply, and price reality24:58 — Why beef tallow is a byproduct, not a planned crop — supply ceiling27:13 — Beef tallow handling — the solid block, the cleanup, the pourable version29:23 — Glass vs. plastic and why dark storage matters more than the bottle30:30 — Sustainability: where the used oil actually goes32:58 — Where the oil category goes next — high-oleic, crop breeding, consumer demand35:59 — The full circle: tallow → saturated fat fear → trans fats → blends → tallow comeback37:20 — The one thing every operator should change Monday morning37:55 — How to actually monitor oil quality day-to-day — smell, taste, look38:55 — Where to find Ron and RTI — NRA Show, rti-inc.com39:35 — Wrap upListen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g_5kFXieApple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4Pandora - https://lnkd.in/gS-wu_YJYouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFoodLinkedin: linkedin.com/company/fell-into-foodInstagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_foodFacebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofoodFellintoFood.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Maddie Hamann left classified Navy submarine research and a PhD in oceanography to co-found PACHA — a regenerative, gluten-free sprouted buckwheat bread now on shelves at Whole Foods. This is how that happened.There's a version of this story where Maddie finishes the PhD, takes the nine-to-five, and spends the next forty years in academia. She was already living it. Instead, she blurted one sentence in her kitchen — "I want to work on the bread" — and walked away to build PACHA with her boyfriend of one year, Adam.PACHA is a two-ingredient sprouted buckwheat bread. Buckwheat and sea salt. That's it. Wild-yeast fermented on whole groats (flour doesn't work — we get into why), packaged in 100% home compostable materials, and sourced from farms transitioning to regenerative agriculture. The brand started in a 300 square foot test kitchen, pivoted into direct-to-consumer e-commerce during COVID, hit a peak of $220K a month on Shopify, and went straight to global distribution at Whole Foods. Not because of the bread. Because of the compostable packaging.In this one we dig into why "regenerative" is at risk of becoming the next greenwashed buzzword and what has to happen to protect it. Wild-yeast fermentation — why it works on whole buckwheat groats and dies in flour. The COVID pivot that took PACHA from a couple thousand dollars a month on Shopify to $220K. What running a CPG business with your spouse actually looks like. The calendar trick that finally broke Maddie's mental-load cycle. And where PACHA is headed — including the just-launched buckwheat tortillas (buckwheat, sea salt, psyllium husk) that hit West Coast Target last week. Fun fact on something I didn't see coming: PACHA means "everything that exists" in the Incan language, and it also means "to digest" in Sanskrit. Nobody planned that.Where to find PACHA:• Target: Select locations nationwide (primarily stocking Sourdough Tortillas and Original Loaves).• Whole Foods Market: Availability varies by region, typically found in the frozen bread section.• Sprouts Farmers Market: Reliable stockist for the full loaf lineup and English muffins.• Jewel-Osco: Extensive availability across the Midwest (Chicagoland).• Safeway / Albertsons: Stocked in many "Natural" frozen sets across the West and East Coasts.• Mother’s Market & Jimbo's: Key specialty grocers (California/West Coast).Website: livepacha.com  Instagram: @maddie.hamann  PACHA Instagram: @livepachaListen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gQM3S5mr Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g_5kFXieApple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4Pandora - https://lnkd.in/gS-wu_YJYouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFoodLinkedin: linkedin.com/company/fell-into-foodInstagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_foodFacebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofoodFellintoFood.comCHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Intro and welcome: Maddie Hamann, PACHA co-founder00:43 — The common thread: civil engineering, oceanography, Burning Man, bread02:23 — Leaving academia — the nine-to-five version of herself she had to let go04:00 — How self-worth shifts when you step off the "safe" path04:54 — Hiding parts of herself in grad school and how entrepreneurship changed that06:24 — The moment halfway through the PhD she knew academia wasn't it07:59 — Starting PACHA with her then-boyfriend Adam after only a year together08:19 — The bread that changed her life — the only bread she could eat10:16 — "I want to work on the bread" — the kitchen moment11:22 — What PACHA means — the Incan name for "everything that exists"12:50 — The Sanskrit coincidence — PACHA also means "to digest"13:46 — Why the recipe simplified down to two ingredients: buckwheat and sea salt14:42 — Wild yeast, whole groats, and why fermentation doesn't work with flour17:05 — Jeff's reaction to the texture — not what you'd expect from two ingredients18:39 — 100% home compostable packaging — the tray, the clip, the film20:27 — The COVID pivot: from retail-bound to e-commerce overnight23:18 — From a couple thousand dollars a month to a peak of $220K/month on Shopify23:44 — Getting into Whole Foods — but NOT for the bread26:44 — The margin trade-off: why PACHA took the packaging hit other brands won't29:03 — Is "regenerative" about to become the next greenwashed buzzword?31:39 — Pesticides and "regenerative" — where consumer trust will break34:02 — Whole Foods as a gatekeeper for regenerative language on-pack35:00 — Jeff on Fischer Farms, red kelp in cattle diets, and real accountability37:50 — Co-founding with your spouse — the rules that actually work41:08 — The one thing that broke Maddie's mental-load cycle: calendaring her to-do list43:16 — How to handle it when the plan blows up (because it will)44:03 — Staying undistracted — phone on Do Not Disturb, always46:35 — What Maddie is most afraid of getting wrong47:45 — Where PACHA is headed: deeper in natural, then conventional48:47 — The food world needs to hear this: most of what's wrong with your body is your diet50:35 — Your body can heal itself — if you put the right things in50:45 — PACHA tortillas just landed in West Coast Target — buckwheat, sea salt, psyllium husk52:21 — Where to find PACHA online• • 52:41 — Wrap upAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy