Episode 184

Seeds of Change: Inside Gwen Kenneally's Plant-Powered Plantastic Cookbook

Episode Summary: In this episode, Jen interviews Gwen Kenneally about her new plant-based cookbook.  

Gwen shares her lifelong love for food and its role in her family dynamics. Growing up, she was exposed to diverse cuisines, sparking her culinary passion.  

Her latest book, The Plantastic Cookbook, inspired by a dream her publisher had, quickly transformed from an e-book to a comprehensive cookbook, emphasizing the benefits and versatility of plant-based eating without demanding a complete lifestyle overhaul.  

Gwen highlights the importance of making plant-based food approachable and available, avoiding exotic or hard-to-find ingredients. She discusses her experience with the Edible Schoolyard Project, emphasizing the positive impact of fresh, quality food on students' health and learning.  

Gwen also touches on her catering experiences, evolving dietary trends, and the power of home gardening. She encourages listeners to experiment with food, emphasizing the joy and creativity in preparing meals that cater to diverse dietary needs and preferences.  

About Gwen Kenneally: 

Gwen is a Hollywood caterer and chef/director of the Edible Schoolyard Project (founded by Alice Waters) at Larchmont Charter. She is a 2020 New Thought Walden Awards honoree and is the author of The Sweet and Savory Cookbook, The Lotus Kitchen, and The Inclusive Table. She lives in Los Angeles where she has catered film sets and high profile events and turns to her garden, the seasons, and farmers markets for inspiration. 

 For more information The Plantastic Cookbook, go to Goodreads   

 

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! 

You can find out more in the Carbon Almanac page 203 and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 099 

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributor Jenn Swanson 

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

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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, a podcast with

carbon conversations for every day, with

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everyone, 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, I'm Jen.

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I am Gwen.

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Gwen, it's so great to meet you today.

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Um, I'm so happy that you can come and

have this conversation on the Carbon

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Sessions with us about your new book.

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And before we get into your book, I want

to ask you, have you always loved food?

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Always.

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I always loved food and I loved the

attention I got when I made food.

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So that was kind of, you know, I

have four, uh, siblings and, um,

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I would get a lot of attention

from them and their friends.

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And so I started getting,

you know, Oh, okay.

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Neighborhood chef, were you?

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Well, I knew I wanted

to do something in food.

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I really did.

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And I love food and I love writing

about food, talking about food.

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You know, so it's always been a big thing.

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And so was that from a very young age?

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As long as I can remember.

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Wow.

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I grew up in Santa Fe in the Bay

Area, a small town called Petaluma,

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which is north of San Francisco.

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But my family went into San Francisco

quite a bit, and you know, as any

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city, San Francisco is known for

certain kinds of food, and it was just

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always so exciting to go in and, and,

you know, the clam chowder and the

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breads and the ravioli and all the

different, you know, ethnic bagel.

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I had a bagel for the first time

as a young teenager and I was

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like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.

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So something so simple now that

my daughter has bagels all the

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time, but it was to me like, oh my

gosh, it's the most amazing thing.

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So, yeah.

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Absolutely.

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One of my favorite restaurants ever is

in San Francisco, um, The Stinking Rose.

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I don't know if you know it.

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Of course.

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All about garlic.

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All about garlic.

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All about garlic.

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We have their cookbook.

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We loved it so much.

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Oh, great.

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That's good.

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Well, so when, um, what, like, is this

your first book that you've written and,

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and when did you get the idea to write it?

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Well, this is actually my fourth cookbook.

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Okay.

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And um, my publisher, we were working

on another book and my publisher

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had a dream and she saw the cover in

her dream and she said, Gwen, I just

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can't get this idea out of my head.

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You know, we'll do it as just

an ebook because, you know,

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save the planet and the trees.

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And she said, I just see the fantastic.

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And I literally wrote the

first draft in like five days.

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I was up with my mom in Petaluma

and she was not feeling well.

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And I was kind of taking care

of her and just hanging out.

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And I wrote it very quickly.

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And once my publisher, Judy

Proffer, saw it, she was like, Oh

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no, this has to be a book book.

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This can't just be an e book.

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This is way too good

to just do the e book.

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So we, um, we started working on

it and, um, it's been amazing.

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It's been an incredible journey.

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How long did it take you?

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Well, I mean, from start, like

literally the first draft was five

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days and then it was many, many,

many drafts and then it was:

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It's funny.

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It's funny.

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And we know what happened then.

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And so, you know, I mean, the thing is,

is that, you know, you look at this world

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and you say things happen for a reason

and you can really see in this case,

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had it come out in 2020, I wouldn't have

had a relationship with Alice Waters who

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wrote the quote for the back of the book.

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I wouldn't have had, you know, a lot of

knowledge and a lot of different things

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that have allowed me to open doors for me.

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So it probably would have

come and gone in:

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We couldn't do events

because of the pandemic.

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So I think that it needed to

come out when it came out.

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So that it could have the

life of its own, you know.

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So, yeah.

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And can, can you tell

us who this book is for?

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I know it's about plants, plant

based food, but who is this book for?

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And what's your passion

around that kind of cooking?

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Well, I think this book is for anybody

who's curious about plant based food.

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And I'm not saying become a

full on vegan or, you know, um,

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change your whole lifestyle.

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I'm just saying, I'm inviting you

to come into the kitchen and look

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at plants in a different way.

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We all can use more plants in our diet.

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And so to be able to, you know, I

had one client who said to me, yeah,

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I love that salad that you did.

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And I loved it with a steak on top.

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Okay.

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If that gets you to the

green, I'm okay with that.

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You know?

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I mean, we can all use more plant

food and, and I think that it

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just, it's really approachable.

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I wanted it to keep it approachable

because a lot of these books

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you go into, and it's 10

ingredients you've never heard of.

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And you have to go to this

health food store or this

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store or this specialty store.

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I wanted it to be pantry and

supermarket available so that you

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could just actually do these recipes.

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So that it's easy for people.

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Yeah.

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You're easier.

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Yeah.

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So the planet picture on the front,

what was the vision, did you, did you

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satisfy your publisher's vision of

what she was dreaming about here in

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the, uh, with the world on the front?

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Oh, it totally satisfied you.

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And more.

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Some of the best ideas start

out as kind of like, Oh, by the

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way, you want to work on this?

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And then it ends up being the

thing, you know, so, um, it was

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very, very organic and wonderful.

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And, and the book came together

very organic and wonderful way.

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Here we are.

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I mean, it's great.

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You know, I get all kinds of people

I've met at different signings and

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events who have all these different

you know, thoughts and ideas and, you

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know, what they think plant based food

is and then like, Oh my gosh, I didn't

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realize you could make it so delicious.

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I'd be eating salads all the time if

you'd come over and make the dressing,

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and I'm like, you can make it.

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There are recipes in the book.

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It's really easy.

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So, yeah.

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It's fantastic.

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And there seems to be a shift towards

more, more plants in at least Yeah.

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you know, where I live, there seems

to be a shift toward more plants.

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And when we're talking about, you

know, reducing carbon emissions, and

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we're talking about looking after the

health of the planet and the health

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of the people, what are some of the

benefits that, that you've become aware

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of with the plant, plant based eating?

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Well, I think the benefits are

everything you just mentioned and

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everything that is good for your body.

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I mean, you can just feel like if you do

a screen smoothie, you can just feel it

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going down through your body and you feel.

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The energy, you feel the energy

of the plants and you feel good.

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And I think that how many times have

we eaten something that's sugary

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or, you know, high in fat, whatever.

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And, and we're like, Oh, I feel terrible.

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Well, I think the complete

opposite when you eat plant food

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is that you just feel so good.

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And you feel, you know, you

can feel the nutrition and you

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can just feel it in your body.

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It's, it's amazing.

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And if you make it taste

good, all the better.

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Absolutely.

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I think it's becoming less out there.

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And more common.

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Oh, absolutely.

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In 2015, I wrote a book

called The Lotus Kitchen.

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Every day.

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vegetarian recipes to nourish your yoga

practice and inspire mindful eating.

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And I wrote it with my yoga coach.

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It's all plant based.

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There's maybe one recipe where

there's an option for cheese,

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but it's really plant based.

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And my publisher said, you know,

we can't do a vegan cookbook.

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It has to be vegetarian, vegetarian.

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I can sell vegan.

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And then a few short years later,

it's like, you know, you know,

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Everything's wanting plant based.

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Times have changed and people are

really open to it now and you know, once

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you see the benefits and how you feel

and it just makes it all the better.

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One of my co hosts, uh, Leakey

had a couple of questions that she

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wanted me to make sure I ask you.

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One of them is about batching

and she said, batching is boring.

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So how do you make it interesting?

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Batch cooking.

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And do you do that in this cookbook?

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Well You know, I don't really

do it in this cookbook.

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I mean, you can absolutely batch cook.

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You can double, triple the

recipes and batch cook.

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I like to eat a variety of different

things, so the idea never really

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appeals to me, you know, so I would

rather do smaller because I love

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different flavors and textures and,

you know, I'm not one to like eat.

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a bowl of oatmeal every morning, you

know, and we'll have coffee every morning.

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Yeah, it's a little different.

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I do work with the Edible

Schoolyard Project and um, we do

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700 breakfasts and lunches a day,

so that's kind of batch cooking.

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And what project is that?

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It's um, the Edible Schoolyard Project,

which was founded by Alice Waters.

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And, um, it's a scratch kitchen,

so we make fresh scratch

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lunches and, uh, breakfasts five

days a week for the students.

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And good food.

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I mean, really good food.

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Wow.

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That's amazing.

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And, and is that in, in one school or one?

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Well, there's, it's one school,

uh, Larchmont Charter, but they

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have four different campuses.

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So we, uh, cook for two

of the campuses right now.

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And, um, it's everything

from, you know, pasta.

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marinara to, you know, but everything

is, uh, freshly made on, in our kitchen.

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Wow.

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I bet that makes a difference.

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It makes such a difference.

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I mean, I, I, I can't even imagine.

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I mean, when my daughter was going

through school and she would get these,

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you know, packaged, pre packaged lunch

things and You know, she really wanted

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to do the school lunch because all her

friends were doing the school lunch and

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she just couldn't do it after a few days.

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She's like, it's just horrible.

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It's disgusting.

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And no, no child deserves that.

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Every child deserves, it should

be a right and not a privilege.

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It should be, every

student should get a fresh.

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meal.

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And, you know, they don't like some of

the things and sometimes some of the

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green, they don't want to eat that.

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And I have watched kids go

from, I don't eat salad to look

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chef Gwen, I'm eating my salad.

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And it's really nice to see how

they grow and evolve by, um,

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you know, having this good food.

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I mean, we buy produce from local

farmers and, um, you know, they'll

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see the, the, one of our farmers.

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Pushing the dolly to, to the kitchen with

crates of fresh fruits and vegetables.

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And they get to see that and

they get to see how good it is.

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And they get to see that

it comes from the ground.

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And we also have cooking

and gardening classes.

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So they get to really see and experience.

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And if they're doing something in the

cooking or gardening class, we kind of

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try and coordinate lunches around it.

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If they're studying something in

history, we'll come up with something.

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We did, you know, something for,

uh, we did ramen for lunar new year.

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So we're always trying to

kind of do different things.

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Gets them curious.

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And has them, you know, wanting

to know, wow, this is really good.

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And the parents are always coming back.

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I don't know what you do,

but my kid's eating whatever

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salad every single night now.

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They call the marinara

sauce, the magic sauce.

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So it's great.

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That is amazing.

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And what a thing to introduce that

many young people to, you know,

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a lifelong a habit, a lifelong

interest and curiosity about food

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and to expand their taste ranges.

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And then I bet, I bet they do

so much better at school when

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they're eating amazing food.

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I think so.

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I mean, it's got to go

hand in hand, right?

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I mean, if you can't study,

When you're hungry, you can't

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study when you're eating junk.

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You can't focus as well when

you're eating that kind of stuff.

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So, you know, as we learn and grow, I

mean, it used to be you sent your kid with

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apple juice and that was really healthy.

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And then they've come to realize that

a lot of apple juice isn't as healthy.

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A lot of the sugary drinks aren't

as healthy as they thought.

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So, you know, we're learning

and evolving every single day.

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and how we're allowing kids to eat and,

um, you know, just expanding their palate.

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It's really great.

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That's fantastic.

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I, um, I also have the other question that

Leakey had was that you were a caterer

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or you are a caterer on a film set.

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Is that still the case?

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So yeah, I've been on film sets.

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Um, uh, I don't cater as much now

as I did pre the pandemic, but yeah,

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I've worked on all kinds of events

and films and, and it's great.

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I had the experience of working

on a movie and you're there.

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Every day for say six weeks,

two months, just a happiness.

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And the people like, Oh

my gosh, this is so good.

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It's so healthy.

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I feel so good.

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And then you get all of the requests

and the, you know, craziness and the,

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I had a, um, one guy, they wanted him

fed very, very well because he was the,

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the, um, he was the cinematographer.

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And they really wanted to make sure they

were like, he has a really strange diet.

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He has a really strange diet.

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And I'm like, what is it?

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And it's like vegan paleo.

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But, you know, I was able to come up with

things, you just do the plant Bay, you

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know, you're just not doing high fats and

you're just doing the plant based thing.

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And.

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You know, he loved everything.

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So it was really good.

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That's fantastic.

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And, and have you noticed that the

requests have changed over time?

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Totally, totally.

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Uh, uh, the requests have

totally changed over time.

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And people are more aware and you get

some people that have really strange

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ideas of what healthy diet or whatever.

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And, you know, you just

kind of go with it.

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And, and I also think, and I can only

speak from my personal experience that

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the food's gotten a lot better too.

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And I can tell you, when I first

started plant based food, somebody

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asked me to do a dessert party.

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And I was literally on the phone

with my mother crying, These vegans

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are ruining my life, you know.

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And I'm like, I mean, I'm a butter

and eggs and sugar and, you know.

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I made one very successful

dessert out of about five.

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And there was a little kid who literally

took a bite of the cookie and spit it

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out and he said, Mommy, this is gross.

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So I was watching all this going, Oh my

gosh, you have got to up level your game.

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Now I think, Oh my gosh, that's so crazy.

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But, um, you know, but we didn't

know, I mean, I was playing.

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all the time with different concoctions

and different, you know, well, how do I

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get a rise if I'm not using eggs and how

do I get the texture if I'm not using

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butter and how do I get the, you know,

so it's practice, practice, practice.

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So that's why the book is so

good because it's all the years

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of practice and epic fails.

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I mean, epic fails.

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Uh, our family is such a, um, uh,

mixture of, um, I have a whole bunch

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of allergies and we have vegetarians,

we have vegan, we have a FODMAP diet.

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People who can't have, you

know, garlic and onion.

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There's like four or five of

us who can't do gluten, and I'm

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allergic to nuts, peanuts, and soy.

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So, when you're trying to cook for this

group of people, it's We have little

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signs on everything and, uh, you know,

this, this has this in it and this

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doesn't have this in it and I've adapted

really, really well to being able to

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cook without eggs, uh, for, I mean, we,

we still eat eggs, um, sometimes, but we

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get them at the farm gate kind of thing.

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Right, exactly.

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And, uh, And when we do things like

birthday cake, I often will get the gluten

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free cake mix and then we'll use an egg

replacer and oat milk and stuff like that.

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And they still taste really good.

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Um, but.

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We're subbing out all the time and

we have what we call fake food.

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So we have fake butter and we have

fake, you know, because you have

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to, you know, when, when you have

that many variables going on and

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on, we have to get really creative.

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We cook a lot also and experiment a lot.

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And it's a challenge,

but it's getting easier.

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I find.

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Yeah, one of the things I discovered

a few years ago is aquafaba.

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Have you worked with that?

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Aquafaba is great.

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People thought I was crazy

and aquafaba is great.

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It's a wonderful, wonderful

substitution for a lot of things.

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Yeah, and it's, uh, yeah, it's amazing.

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You want to tell people

what it is or something?

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There's a hole.

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What?

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You go ahead.

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You go ahead.

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It's the, the juice that comes

from canned garbanzo beans and

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it whips up like whipped cream.

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It's incredible.

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So you can sub that out for a

lot of things, you know, and make

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and keep it really plant based.

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Of course, I do mainly, um, fresh

beans, but I do buy cans of garbanzo

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beans just for the aquafaba.

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Yeah, we do the same.

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Um, and they're sometimes called

chickpeas and, um, same thing.

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Yeah.

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And I've made meringues with them.

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I haven't tried too many.

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Um, I've made like, um, um,

what, what do you call that?

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Where you have a giant meringue

and then you put custard and

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you put the fruit on top of it.

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Oh yeah.

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Like a pavlova.

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Yeah.

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Oh, that's cool.

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Pavlova and, yeah, it makes for a cool

dessert and most, you can't really tell.

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No, it's crazy.

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And when you tell people, then it's crazy.

369

:

Beans.

370

:

And, uh, you said you just

recently made something?

371

:

Um, yeah, that fake, you know,

well, see, there's that word again.

372

:

I should stop using that word, um,

cause it's all real food, but I recently

373

:

learned how to make, with, with plant

based food, there's a lot of processed

374

:

or manufactured things that you can

buy that are very quite expensive.

375

:

Mm hmm.

376

:

Okay.

377

:

And so there's a bit of a, you

know, should, should you spend

378

:

eight bucks on that thing?

379

:

Or, or if you're trying to

replicate something that is animal

380

:

based, what's the point, right?

381

:

Why are you trying to make fake meat?

382

:

Why are you trying to make fake eggs?

383

:

All this stuff.

384

:

There's a product that comes in a liquid

form and it looks like eggs and you can

385

:

pour it into a pan and make an omelet

with it and make other things with it.

386

:

And I recently found.

387

:

A do it yourself recipe on how to

make that and what it is is it's

388

:

soaked, um, split mung beans.

389

:

They're yellow mung beans and you soak

them overnight and then you put them

390

:

in a blender and you put plant based

milk in there and you put onion powder

391

:

and garlic powder and I forget what

else but and then you blender it and

392

:

I just keep it in a shaker bottle and

you can cook it up like like an egg

393

:

patty in your frying pan or you can

stir fry with vegetables like an omelet.

394

:

And it actually is pretty amazing.

395

:

It's got turmeric in it to make it

yellow, but it's when you spend 8 on

396

:

buying a little container of this stuff

that probably has preservatives in

397

:

it, you know, I made it for a couple.

398

:

Um, the recipe is the, the, the

store bought stuff is called

399

:

just egg, but you can make it.

400

:

yourself.

401

:

And I found this just egg, uh, homemade

recipe that works out really well.

402

:

So we just keep it in the fridge and

the kids that can't have eggs make

403

:

themselves lunches and quite like it.

404

:

And it's beans, so it's

got to be good for you.

405

:

Right.

406

:

Yeah, that's so fun.

407

:

That's really fun.

408

:

Yeah.

409

:

Do you have a favorite recipe you

wouldn't mind sharing or telling us about?

410

:

Oh my goodness Well, you know, I'm

California so You know, we have or so

411

:

so blessed here to have such an array

of local We have seasonal things but

412

:

We can grow a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot.

413

:

And I have a garden here in my home,

there's a garden at the school that

414

:

the kids, um, have classes in, and

You know, we have, uh, farmer's

415

:

markets all over Southern California.

416

:

I mean, every day of the week, you

can go to one part of the city and

417

:

find a farmer's market or two or

three, but I, you know, anything with

418

:

the avocado is really fun for me.

419

:

So the guacamoles, the avocado toast.

420

:

I have a whole chapter of, of toasts

and toast is my jam in the book because

421

:

it's easy to feed like a lot of people

with a lot of allergies and preferences.

422

:

You know, you could do like an

avocado toast bar or, you know.

423

:

I have a plant based ricotta, so

there's a ricotta and jam toast.

424

:

So you can have your, feed a lot of

people with all different kinds of food,

425

:

unless you've got that one occasional

person who's allergic to avocado.

426

:

And mainly it's a texture thing, I think.

427

:

But, um, yeah, so I think that, um,

One go to and then the stir fries

428

:

are great, you know, whatever fresh

vegetables you have Amazing, you know

429

:

and and I don't know about Vancouver.

430

:

You probably have pretty good produce as

well Don't you because you're West Coast?

431

:

So yeah, I mean, yeah, we have Yeah.

432

:

Just about everything.

433

:

Yeah.

434

:

Just, it's really a, a beautiful

thing because you can get

435

:

all kinds of great stuff.

436

:

Do you have a lot of farmer's markets?

437

:

We have a fair number.

438

:

Yeah.

439

:

And they run some, like

there's, there's some that are

440

:

running, um, through the winter.

441

:

It's, it's more of a summer

thing, but we do have some that

442

:

are running through the winter.

443

:

Some of the things that are very popular

are all different kinds of wild mushrooms.

444

:

Oh yeah.

445

:

Um.

446

:

Yeah.

447

:

Um, I know there's people that, you know,

I know are like, Oh, I have to get to

448

:

the farmer's market for my big thing of

mushrooms, you know, some of the foresty

449

:

type things, but yeah, there's quite a few

farmers markets here and they're finding,

450

:

you know, I don't know a whole lot about

it yet because it's kind of new in my

451

:

world, but they're finding out a lot of

healing properties of different mushrooms.

452

:

brain food and all kinds

of different things.

453

:

So it's really interesting to me.

454

:

Um, the mushroom situation, we've

got a couple of mushroom guys at

455

:

the farmers market and they're very

passionate about their mushrooms.

456

:

It's really cool.

457

:

It's really cool.

458

:

And also, you know, this time of

year, the citron is really good, you

459

:

know, and plentiful and persimmons

and All kinds of great fun apples.

460

:

And before we head into the summer,

yeah, what do you have in your garden?

461

:

Well, right now we, we still, we

have had some tomato bushes that have

462

:

lasted, you know, we usually plant

every year, but I'm still getting

463

:

tomatoes up about four plants.

464

:

And, um, I have a fig tree.

465

:

I have a lemon tree, a Meyer lemon tree.

466

:

Um, I have broccoli,

cauliflower, artichokes.

467

:

So now we're kind of in

the process, because around

468

:

March 17th is when you start.

469

:

Planting your summer garden here and

where I am, so we're kind of in the

470

:

process of pulling stuff out and cleaning,

but it's amazing that we still have

471

:

tomatoes and lots of them and they're

delicious, you know, it's like we're

472

:

all so surprised, okay, but yeah, and

it, you know, we have had, have had some

473

:

super winter gardens where we do the

kales and the spinach and all that stuff.

474

:

This year, we just didn't have

enough time to really put into

475

:

it, so we kind of just kept.

476

:

things going and, and um, uh, have

a olive tree, which is really fun

477

:

that I bought like when it was this

big and now it's huge and beautiful.

478

:

Um, I actually bought it at Trader

Joe's like four years, five years ago

479

:

and it was so pretty, just a little

teeny thing and it just is planted.

480

:

It's so big and beautiful.

481

:

And I have about 10 raised beds

that we just, they'll, we'll start

482

:

planting the zucchinis, the squashes.

483

:

I have a friend who's cultivated

all these different peppers and he's

484

:

giving us little seedlings for that.

485

:

So, you know, it's fun to be in a garden

community where you can, um, trade seeds

486

:

and trade stories and trade, you know.

487

:

Um, my best friend in San Francisco,

who is a master gardener, um, Lisa,

488

:

she has all this stuff, but most

of the stuff that she grows is very

489

:

different from what I can grow.

490

:

But it's, it's a really interesting

to the stuff that we kind of common.

491

:

She can't do tomatoes because The

weather just doesn't permit it.

492

:

So it's too cold.

493

:

So yeah, so I mean, it's great.

494

:

Yeah.

495

:

It's really good.

496

:

So if you were going to invite,

um, our listeners to do something

497

:

different this week in the kitchen,

um, or in the grocery store, what is

498

:

it that you would invite them to do?

499

:

What's, what's easy?

500

:

What's easy?

501

:

Alright, what I would invite

is to just go pick out whatever

502

:

favorite veggies you have.

503

:

So let's just do a salad and

let's do, you know, I used to

504

:

tell my daughter it doesn't matter

what vegetables go into a salad.

505

:

She's like, well, I don't like lettuce.

506

:

Okay, let's do a salad without lettuce.

507

:

Okay, you know, so, you know,

and then take what you like.

508

:

Like, I, I like a little

bit of a sweeter dressing.

509

:

So if you were to take some garlic, a

little bit of Dijon mustard, a little

510

:

splash of maple syrup, then a little

splash of balsamic vinegar and some olive

511

:

oil, you have a really full flavored

vinaigrette that takes all the flavors.

512

:

Literally seconds to whip up.

513

:

You can do it in a little jelly jar and

just shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.

514

:

And it emulsifies it.

515

:

So then it's got some, some weight to it.

516

:

So it feels like it's a really

intense dressing, but it's delicious.

517

:

Or honey mustard.

518

:

I mean, I love, you know, we have

a honey person at our farmer's

519

:

market that we get all of our honey

from and, you know, a little bit of

520

:

mustard and honey, um, olive oil.

521

:

And, uh, it's just amazing.

522

:

Really good.

523

:

I use a little, um, maybe rice wine

vinegar to kind of balance it out.

524

:

But really simple, you know,

simple is sometimes really good.

525

:

I knew I was going to, uh, get hungry

after talking to you at this time of day.

526

:

It's like 20 to 5 in the evening.

527

:

Dinner time!

528

:

That's right.

529

:

That's right.

530

:

It's like, Oh no, I'm going to have to go

make something delicious now after that.

531

:

Well, this has been really great

having this conversation with you.

532

:

And, um, and I think that's,

that's helpful for people picking

533

:

out your favorite and giving them

permission to just, just play with

534

:

food until you find what works.

535

:

Absolutely.

536

:

100%.

537

:

Absolutely.

538

:

Yeah.

539

:

That's, that's your permission.

540

:

That's, I charge you with going out.

541

:

That's your charge.

542

:

Go out and play with your food.

543

:

Have some fun.

544

:

I love it.

545

:

Thank you so much.

546

:

Gwen Keneally and her new book Plantastic.

547

:

And we're so happy you could be with

us on, um, on Carbon Sessions today.

548

:

Thank you for having me.

549

:

It was delightful.

550

:

Bye.

551

:

Bye.

552

:

You've been listening to carbon sessions

a podcast with carbon conversations

553

:

for every day with everyone from

everywhere in the world We'd love

554

:

you to join the carbon sessions.

555

:

So you too can share your perspectives

from wherever you are This is a great way

556

:

for our community to learn from your ideas

and experiences, connect, and take action.

557

:

If you want to add your voice to the

conversation, go to thecarbonalmanac.

558

:

org slash podcasts and sign up

to be part of a future episode.

559

:

This podcast is also part of

the Carbon Almanac Network.

560

:

For more information, to sign up

for the emails, To join the movement

561

:

and to order your copy of The Carbon

Almanac, go to thecarbonalmanac.

562

:

org.

563

:

Be sure to subscribe and join

us here again, as together

564

:

we can change the world.

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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.