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.
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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
Hi, I'm Christina.
2
: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
9
:from everywhere in the world.
10
: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.
13
: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.
34
: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.
300
: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.
324
:Um, uh, and I thought,
Oh, that's going to come.
325
: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.
329
:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Some of them are in pots.
332
:So it's easy.
333
: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?
338
:Uh, we're moving about a half an
hour drive away across a river,
339
: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?
341
:I have, we haven't got one yet.
342
: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.
346
:And the whole theme is
simplicity and doing with less.
347
:That's my theme for the year.
348
:That's beautiful.
349
:Yeah, that's my theme of cooking this year
because I'm fed up with cleaning too much.
350
:So my, my theme for cooking
this year is simplicity.
351
:Nice.
352
:And how will that look?
353
:Um, a lot of steaming, , , not so
much of frying, uh, a lot of baking.
354
:Things that doesn't, you know,
that doesn't, um, involves,
355
:.
Things splashing everywhere.
356
:, very simple recipes.
357
:So like getting very, very good
The basis must be very good.
358
:So very good, , vegetable, very good
fish or meat and lots of, spices and,
359
:um, minimum cooking and, um, minimum
preparation because I'm fed up with
360
:very complicated recipes that requires.
361
:Hours of preparation and hours
of cleaning for only half an hour
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:of food, so that's not worth it.
363
:But it's fun.
364
: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.
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:To join the movement and to
order your copy of The Carbon
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:Almanac, go to thecarbonalmanac.
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:org.
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:Be sure to subscribe and join
us here again, as together
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:we can change the world.