Episode 168

Farm-to-Fridge and Navigating Food Preservation

Episode Summary: In this episode, hosts Kristina, Jen, Olabanji, and Leekei, delve into the joys of sustainable eating and the challenge of food preservation in different settings.

The discussion starts with sustainable food practices, highlighting the benefits of farm-to-fridge initiatives and the importance of supporting small, local businesses for fresh produce.

Challenges like the lack of preservatives and the need for frequent shopping due to smaller storage spaces in urban settings like Paris are discussed.

The conversation also covers effective food storage techniques, especially in varying climates, from the cold of Montana to the warmth experienced by Olabanji.

The episode concludes with a discussion on embracing simplicity in food preparation and the broader theme of fearlessness in trying new foods and experiences.

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac (one of Amazon best-selling books of the year!), visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang, Jenn Swanson, Olabanji Stephen and Kristina Horning.

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and community Connector, helping people help themselves.

Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria. He’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.

Kristina has a background in architecture and engineering. Currently in Prague (that it is where she is originally from) and her base is US

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Transcript
Speaker:

Hi, I'm Christina.

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I'm from Prague.

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Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm from Canada.

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Hi, I'm Oladunji, and I'm from Nigeria.

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Hello, I'm Liki, and I live in Paris.

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Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm from New York.

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Welcome to Carbon Sessions.

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A podcast with Carbon Conversations

for every day with everyone

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from everywhere in the world.

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In our conversations, we share ideas,

perspectives, questions, and things we

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can actually do to make a difference.

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So don't be shy and join our Carbon

Sessions because it's not too late.

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Hi, this is Christina.

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Hi, this is Jen.

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Hi, this is Olabunji.

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And hi, this is Leki.

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And now, Christina, can you share

your good story of the week?

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I have a good story of the year.

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Uh, last weekend, I went to Hot Springs,

uh, Boulder Hot Springs in Montana.

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And for me, what was so positive

is that it was an old Victorian

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hotel that was supposed to be taken

down because it was falling apart.

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And a woman bought it in the 80s.

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And has been rebuilding it and restoring

it for last 30 years into usable and

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functionable hotel with hot springs.

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And they heat up their place from

the waters of the hot spring, which

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is about 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

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And I felt that's a positive story that

hopeful that not everything is disposable.

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What do you guys think?

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I love this idea.

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I love the fact that

places are not taking down.

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Uh, I just posted a

picture on Instagram today.

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I went to the doctor and in the

waiting room, I looked around.

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It was like, wow, it looks like

Versailles, the palace of Versailles.

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Because it was, it was like, you know, One

of these old ancient buildings in Paris,

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but in Paris we don't take down buildings.

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It, it's not really renovated,

but it looks so stunning.

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So I thought it was interesting.

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I really like the idea of

not turning down places.

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So, what are we talking about today?

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We discussed that we're going

to talk about food again,

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but It's always a good topic.

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Yes.

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Well, because we eat a

couple of times a day.

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So I think it's a very,

very important topic.

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And now this time we're going

to discuss how, um, we get our

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food and how we preserve it.

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So where we get our food and how we

keep it in our house to keep it fresh.

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So, So, So, Maybe I can start.

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You know that I don't

really like supermarkets.

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I mean, by now, you know that.

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And I'm very happy to see that there

are more and more in my neighborhood,

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those kind of small shops that

sell food from farms around Paris.

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And I like it because it's Direct.

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Is it a term like your farm to fridge?

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I don't know if this is such a term.

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That sounds like a great term.

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It's something like that.

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And farm to table.

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Yeah.

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I like the farm to fridge.

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I think farm to table is for restaurants.

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But, um, but farm to, farm

to table, farm to fridge.

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I think this is a.

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And I like it because

there's no intermediary.

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And, um, so the food is not

necessarily more expensive.

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Um, the thing about it as well is that

we need , to keep this small businesses.

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Alive.

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So that's, that's a good source

of income for those small farmers.

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Also, you know, it's, it's

great because we get to connect

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with the farmers sometimes.

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So I really, really enjoyed this

kind of small shops that end up

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popping around in Paris everywhere.

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Um, so that made me very, very happy.

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And sometimes they have this, um,

you know, uh, when they have left.

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Like is it leftovers things that they

haven't sold and now they have some

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kitchen and so they you can buy the fresh

the fresh food like like cauliflower or

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Tomatoes, but then when they don't sell

it they have their own kitchen and they

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cook it and they make it like, you know

jars of food that you can Keep and eat if

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you don't feel like cooking and it those

are delicious and I love it because , as

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consumers, we can give direct feedback

to the shop and to the cook to tell,

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because there's a, there's a dialogue

now like, Oh, how do you define it?

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Oh, is it so?

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Oh yeah.

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Maybe you can add a little bit more,

uh, more onions or this kind of thing.

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And I really, really love

this, this kind of places.

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That's great.

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But one of the problem with this kind of

places is that there's no preservative.

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In the produce, so you can not

keep it for very, very long time.

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So you have to buy in small batches and

eat it quite fast or put it in the fridge.

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, but I live in Paris, so I

don't have a big fridge.

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So I have to go to those

shops all the time.

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Yeah.

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So I think the preservation of the

produces them is a kind of problem.

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But, um, but it's not really a

problem because that's a way for

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us to always have fresh food.

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I think it's definitely worth.

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Checking out some tips on storing food.

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We can increase the storage life of the

food that we buy Just by a few things

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probably by Keeping them in in different

places, you know, like potatoes for

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example might need some more air They

should be stored in like cool dark places

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And you know tips like that for different

kinds of Food are really helpful.

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So I found I saw a video on YouTube

that also talked about how to store

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tomatoes and some of this other stuff

And it's definitely worth checking

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out, you know, rather than spoiling

food and throwing them away, you

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know, it's fresh food So you want

to make the most of them keep them?

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Okay until you need them.

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So yeah, I think it's worth checking

You know, if you, if you get a bunch of

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groceries or fresh food, you can just

browse on the internet like tips to

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store this for it to last longer, you

find a bunch of stuff that you can do.

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I think Christina, you live in a place

where it's very, very, very cold.

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So food storage is not

a big problem for you.

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Yeah, right now I'm in Montana

and it's minus 30 degrees Celsius.

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And, uh, so.

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If we want to freeze something, we

don't even have to use freezer, but,

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uh, in the winter, in last three years

has been, the winters have been warm.

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This is a first year of, I don't know, I

would have to look at almanacs, but, but

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it's finally has been below 20, minus 20.

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And it will be healthy for the

woods because the destructive.

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Bugs will disappear, but, uh, so

it's, we're happy about, uh, this low

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temperatures and hopefully they'll stay

for a little while, so, uh, the woods

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are healthier, uh, but about the food.

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I love when you were

talking about markets.

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One also thing I love when I am in Prague

and, uh, going to the farmer's markets,

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not only we take, when we buy eggs, we

take, uh, the egg curtains with us, but

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also we'll We bring back the eggshells so

the farmers can reuse it for the chickens.

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So it's kind of a, uh, nice connection and

it feels good that I'm not wasting things.

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And, um, and about preservation in check.

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A lot of people ferment food, so like

sauerkraut and other, uh, vegetables

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fermented and dry meat and those don't

need refrigerations and also they

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don't need very cold temperatures.

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And as Olabanchi was talking about

potatoes and being underground, uh,

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storage, keeping it cooler, um, if the

fermented foods are kept down there,

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they definitely would last at least

half a year, a year without no problem.

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So those were my thoughts about storage.

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And yeah, but it, when it's minus 30,

you really have to watch it if you

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put the soup outside to cool so it

wasn't freezed for a block and not

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being able to get it out of the pot.

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But yeah, it's kind of nice.

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That's nice.

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Uh, I am in lock cabin and I can see

how amazing is the ability of wood to

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insulate and not, uh, to have condensation

on inside is just what a wonderful

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material in these extreme conditions.

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It's, it's about half

as cold here where I am.

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in Western Canada.

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And one of my jobs today is every hour

and a half or so is to go out and get

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the hummingbird feeder and put it in

a pan of water and thaw it because the

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little birds are still here because

it's been so mild and they're hungry.

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And if we don't thaw the food every

hour and a half or so they'll starve.

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So we're on hummingbird Feeding.

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Duty.

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Because if you don't take the feeders

down in September, they don't leave.

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And if they don't leave, they need food.

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So you have to commit.

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You have to commit.

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So even if we go, and when it's

this cold, the feeder will freeze

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every, it'll freeze in about.

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40 minutes.

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So we have to take it down.

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And this morning, my husband went

out with the feeder and I heard

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him go, ah, and I said, what?

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I guess a bird had come and was

right in front of his face and went

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telling him to hurry up with the food.

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Anyway, it was pretty funny.

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So they're, they're waiting for

us to get the food ready for them.

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Anyway, it's very cute.

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But, but you know, if you, if

you commit to it, you have to

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commit to it or else they'll die.

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So it's a task.

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Um, but on the topic of food, I

mentioned a little while ago that I

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had found an app called flash food.

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And, uh, it only works with

certain stores here, but what it

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allows you to do is go on and see

what they're about to throw away.

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It's what they can't sell because

it outdates today or tomorrow,

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and then it goes in the landfill.

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And the way it works is you

can see what they're offering.

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You can purchase it right on your phone

and you have till 11 o'clock at night

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or whenever the store closes to go

and get it or else it gets thrown out.

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But the food is generally half or less.

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The cost of normal food.

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The only problem is that

it's all in plastic.

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. A lot of it, like, it's, it's a

pre-made, you know, family size

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salad that's normally $15 and you

get it for seven or something.

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Um, but.

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Yes.

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But, but, but I kind of make a comment

about this because I thought that plastic

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is not good for food and I've, \ , I've

always been like you against plastic

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and food, but then what if, if you think

of plastic as a way to preserve food,

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to keep the food in good conditions,

then the food doesn't go to waste.

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So, you know, another way of looking at

it, it's make the plastic wrapping the,

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the food not so evil, because it's a

way , to help reduce food waste, you know?

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Well, and it would just go in the

landfill with the food, right?

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Because they don't take

everything out of the pack, they

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would just have thrown it out.

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Yeah, well, it's not how

it's supposed to work.

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I know.

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So, so when we buy it, at least my

thinking is at least I'm saving the

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food and then recycling the plastic.

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So, you know, but there's,

there's fish, there's meat,

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there's, uh, bags of produce.

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Um, you can get a whole big heavy bag of.

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produce, lemons, limes, uh, you know,

uh, pomegranates, all sorts of things for

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5 that they're just going to throw out.

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I was happy to notice when I was

there the other day picking up

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some things that there was a little

lineup of people picking up things.

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And I was happy to notice that

that much food is being saved

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from just being thrown out.

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So So that was fun.

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And then a third thing, real quick,

is that I came home the other day and

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our daughter had been doing something

with Parmesan cheese and she works

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in a restaurant and she took the

rind after she had grated the cheese.

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There was the rind left that

normally you just throw out.

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Well, apparently in their restaurant,

they make something with that.

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So she made something with it and you

could eat it and it was really crunchy

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and delicious and I started looking

on Instagram and I found a few things

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about how to use up your little bits

that you normally wouldn't eat like

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orange peels can whiten your teeth

and they can clean stainless steel

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and like all sorts of things, right?

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So there's many things we can

do with this stuff that we

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probably don't take advantage of.

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Anyway.

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So I have a question for Olap Anji.

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You are on the opposite

side of the weather.

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For you it's hot.

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How do you store the food or

how do you deal with the food

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because I don't have a clue.

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Yeah.

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Um, mostly the fridge.

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Yeah.

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For the most part of it, it's the fridge.

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Um, the grains and things that can stay

out of the fridge do stay out of the

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fridge, but if it's going to get bad

quickly, then it's usually the fridge.

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Do people buy a lot of dry meat or

dry fruit or something or just fresh?

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It's, it's usually fresh.

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Um, so where Yeah.

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lucky to be close to the

farms or the farmers, right?

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So they're, they're like farmers market,

very small farmers market around.

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So if I step out of the

house, I'd like 9, 10 a.

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m.

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in the morning, I could get fresh

oranges, fresh fruits, pineapples,

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watermelons, and the rest of them.

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Um, yeah, usually you can get fresh food.

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Mostly anytime you go out, you would

most likely get fresh food, um, bananas.

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There's fresh bananas like,

what, 30, 40 feet away from me.

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If I step out of my house right

now, I'll just walk like a few

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steps and I'll see fresh bananas.

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Oh, that's amazing.

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Can I share a little story?

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I lived in, not in your part of

the world, but I lived In the

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country, the climate should be

similar to where you are right now.

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And I love ice creams.

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And I have developed a skill

related to ice cream because I love

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ice cream and eating ice cream.

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And I realized that when you

eat ice cream outside where you

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normally do it, when it's very,

very hot, it melts very, very fast.

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So I've developed a skill which is like.

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It's to lick the ice cream very, very

fast so it doesn't go all over my hands.

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That's all over my fingers.

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That's a skill I have developed and it's

really, really, really, really useful when

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you live in a very, very hot country.

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That's a lifesaver.

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That's interesting.

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That's really interesting.

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You don't have this problem?

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You don't look like ice cream, do you?

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Yes.

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I, I guess , you know, you say

it's interesting, it's probably

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You don't like ice cream.

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Oh, I do.

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I actually do . Yeah.

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Strella, ama, rhino vanilla.

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Um, I, I've got a few flavors up there.

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I love ice cream.

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. I'm not a, I wouldn't say I love, love

ice cream, but yeah, I can be a fan.

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So you're not like me.

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You're, you don't eat an ice cream

every other day, . No, I'm not.

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I'm not a heavy eater.

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. Yeah.

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I've got someone who's a heavy eater.

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Every time I've had ice

cream, it was because of her.

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She just drags me to go

get ice cream all the time.

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It sounds like when we talk about

food, it goes from food to community.

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and how to connect with people.

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And, um, I think that's the pleasure

of, uh, being around food, connecting

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with people who eat it and connecting

with people who will grow it for us.

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Yeah.

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And Hopefully that, that joy will overcome

the supermarket prices and it will

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shift into markets and, and fermentation

and drying and storing things.

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I was playing with a thought earlier today

while I was writing, and the thought was

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that humanity is a community in itself.

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And it's good to be talking about

this right now because food is

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actually one of the things that

brings us together as a community.

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So we all eat, everybody eats.

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You can do intermittent fasting

and all the kinds of fasting, but

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you eat at the end of the day.

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So this is, this is a great conversation.

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Even hummingbirds.

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Yeah.

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Even the hummingbirds eat.

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Everyone eats.

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Even hummingbirds.

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I love hummingbirds.

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I do too.

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I was putting my garden beds to bed,

um, putting some straw on top of

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them and, and feeling a little bit

sad because we're, we're moving.

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And, um, And I didn't plant garlic this

year for the first time in years, you

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planted in the fall in October and,

uh, and harvested in July and yeah, the

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first year this little bed was empty.

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It's kind of like, Oh yeah.

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So we'll have to see where we're at in

the next place to be able to grow food.

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And, uh, this year I'm.

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planning to have an hydroponic

plant in my kitchen.

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This is, uh, because you talked about

this and someone else talked about this.

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And so, so this is a project.

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It's not a big thing.

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It's, uh, it's, um, I probably have

some basil leaves and, uh, and some

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chives because I like those herbs.

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Um, but it's, uh, it's a project and,

uh, I don't have a garden, but I can

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understand your joy and your sadness,

of growing or of not growing food

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because it's exciting to see things.

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It's it's kind of miracle, I think it is.

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And there's a couple things I thought.

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Oh, I'm taking that with me.

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I planted a little bush this fall.

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Um, uh, and I thought,

Oh, that's going to come.

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Yeah.

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There's certain things I'm going to

dig up and bring, bring the strawberry

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plant, bring the rosemary bush.

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Oh.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Some of them are in pots.

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So it's easy.

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We just take the pot.

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Um, if the next people aren't

gardeners, I don't want to leave

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things that'll get thrown out.

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Right.

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So are you moving very far away?

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Uh, we're moving about a half an

hour drive away across a river,

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so not far, but closer to my work,

so I don't have to drive as far.

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Do you like the new space?

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I have, we haven't got one yet.

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It's one of those things where you

have to sell your house and hope to

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goodness there's one that'll work.

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So right now it's All about deciding

what things we need and what we

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don't need anymore and decluttering

and getting rid of things.

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And the whole theme is

simplicity and doing with less.

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That's my theme for the year.

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That's beautiful.

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Yeah, that's my theme of cooking this year

because I'm fed up with cleaning too much.

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So my, my theme for cooking

this year is simplicity.

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Nice.

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And how will that look?

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Um, a lot of steaming, , , not so

much of frying, uh, a lot of baking.

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Things that doesn't, you know,

that doesn't, um, involves,

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Things splashing everywhere.

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, very simple recipes.

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So like getting very, very good

The basis must be very good.

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So very good, , vegetable, very good

fish or meat and lots of, spices and,

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um, minimum cooking and, um, minimum

preparation because I'm fed up with

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very complicated recipes that requires.

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Hours of preparation and hours

of cleaning for only half an hour

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of food, so that's not worth it.

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But it's fun.

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Yeah, yes, yes.

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But I value my time.

366

:

I like the simplicity theme for the year.

367

:

I'm gonna try to keep my

refrigerator more empty.

368

:

Not overflowing.

369

:

Oh, yeah, that is something that makes you

very happy when I see my, my fridge empty.

370

:

That's that's something that

makes me very, very happy.

371

:

So what's the theme of the year,

Labanji, when it's related to food?

372

:

I don't have a food

related thing for the year.

373

:

Mine is, I only have a general

theme, and it's fearlessness.

374

:

Yeah.

375

:

Fearless.

376

:

Fearlessness.

377

:

That means that you're going to

try out a lot of different foods.

378

:

Well, yeah.

379

:

That, that'll be it.

380

:

That'll be it.

381

:

Yeah.

382

:

Happy to try a lot of

different foods, actually.

383

:

New adventures.

384

:

Well, I hope everyone has a snack

after they listen to this episode,

385

:

a healthy snack, a simple snack.

386

:

That would be a great way

to celebrate the episode.

387

:

Like, Oh yeah, I just finished

listening to an episode on food

388

:

so might as well grab some.

389

:

Or try out fermenting

something after their lesson.

390

:

That's right.

391

:

Yeah.

392

:

I'll go do some research on how you can

preserve your food for, to last longer.

393

:

Okay.

394

:

Bye.

395

:

Bye.

396

:

Bye.

397

:

Thanks, everyone.

398

:

Bye.

399

:

Have a good week.

400

:

Yeah.

401

:

You've been listening to Carbon

Sessions, a podcast with carbon

402

:

conversations for every day with

everyone from everywhere in the world.

403

:

We'd love you to join the Carbon Sessions.

404

:

So you too can share your

perspectives from wherever you are.

405

:

This is a great way for our community

to learn from your ideas and

406

:

experiences, connect and take action.

407

:

If you want to add your voice to the

conversation, go to the carbonalmanac.

408

:

org slash podcasts and sign up

to be part of a future episode.

409

:

This podcast is also part of

the Carbon Almanac Network.

410

:

For more information to

sign up for the emails.

411

:

To join the movement and to

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412

:

Almanac, go to thecarbonalmanac.

413

:

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414

:

Be sure to subscribe and join

us here again, as together

415

:

we can change the world.

About the Podcast

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CarbonSessions
Carbon Conversations for every day, with everyone, from everywhere in the world.

About your host

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Carbon Almanac

When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.