Food Origins Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Mike Glover is the CEO and founder of FieldCraft Survival, a leading company dedicated to teaching practical skills for everyday survival, self-reliance, and preparedness. With an extensive background as a former U.S. Army Green Beret and a seasoned survival expert, Mike has dedicated his life to training individuals, families, and organizations to stay safe in challenging environments.

In this episode, I’m honored to have my friend Mike on the show, who not only helped me get this podcast off the ground but also shares a wealth of knowledge on topics ranging from military deployments to global cuisine. We dive into everything from Korean food and world cuisine experienced during deployments, to the challenges of supply chain issues and the importance of staying prepared. We also explore how to maintain a wellness-focused mindset in both everyday life and during times of adversity.

Mike’s insights and experiences offer a unique perspective on navigating the world with resilience, and I’m excited to share this conversation with you!

In addition to his work with FieldCraft, Mike is also the founder of Wolf21, a company focused on creating natural plant-based products to help you recover and be ready for anything.

A passionate advocate for personal responsibility and resilience, Mike blends military experience, real-world survival knowledge, and cutting-edge tactical expertise to equip people with the skills they need to thrive in any situation. When he's not leading FieldCraft or Wolf21, you can find Mike speaking at events, sharing insights on his podcast Mike Glover Show, or working on projects that enhance personal safety and security.

https://fieldcraftsurvival.com

https://thewolf21.com

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Tim Freeman is a highly respected Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Sergio Silva and Eddie Bravo. With a deep passion for grappling and innovation, Tim has made a significant impact on the martial arts community as the host of his own Inside BJJ podcast and co-host of Grappling Hour. Tim has become a prominent voice in the martial arts community, sharing stories and insights that resonate with practitioners around the world. In addition, Tim is the owner of two thriving 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu academies, located in Stockton, California & Nashville, Tennessee. Tim’s teaching philosophy blends the precision of traditional techniques with the cutting-edge strategies of the 10th Planet system, creating an inclusive and dynamic learning environment for students of all levels. As a dedicated mentor and coach, he has helped countless practitioners elevate their skills and achieve their goals on and off the mat.

During the pandemic, Tim expanded his creative pursuits by diving into cooking with his longtime friend, Dave, who played a pivotal role in helping him launch the Food Origins Podcast.

It was an honor for me to feature Tim—one of my best friends and a key influence behind the podcast—on a special episode. Our lively and heartfelt conversation highlights not only our shared love of food but also the enduring friendship and creative spirit.

Tim Freeman's journey is one of connection, resilience, creativity, and relentless passion. Whether on the mats, behind the mic, or in the kitchen, Tim brings authenticity and heart to everything he does.

https://insidebjj.com

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Chef Ryan Gallego is a highly accomplished sushi chef with an impressive 20 years of experience in the art of Japanese cuisine. Graduating from the prestigious California Culinary Academy in 2005, he embarked on a culinary journey that would shape his expertise. His training at renowned establishments, including Morimoto Napa, Nobu in Palo Alto, and Village Sake in Marin, enriched his skills and refined his palate. Inspired by his father, he developed an unwavering passion for creating exquisite sushi dishes with a meticulous attention to detail. Chef Ryan Gallego continues to leave a lasting impression on diners with his culinary creations, crafted with both technical expertise and heartfelt devotion.

I met Chef Ryan over a year ago and we connected over working food events together with some of our dear friends we have today. Appreciate Ryan for taking the time to sit down with me on location in Northern CA to share his story and the origins of Trifecta Cooks.

Trifecta Cooks
https://trifectacooks.catering

Show Notes
https://www.foodoriginspodcast.com/podcast-episode-42

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Mohammad Abutaha is Palestinian but grew up in Amman, Jordan and moved to America when he was 20 years old to study mechanical engineering. In 2015, he dropped out of university in his final year to pursue his dreams of owning a restaurant. Mohammad started as a dishwasher and worked his way up the kitchen ladder, working in iconic kitchens around the Bay Area including Reem's California. 

At the end of 2019, Mohammad and his brother Feras launched a shawarma pop-up, and then turned their pop-up into the brick and mortar restaurant Shawarmaji in December 2020. Since opening the restaurant in Oakland, CA Shawarmaji has been named in San Francisco Chronicle's Top 25 Restaurants and Esquire magazine's 2021 Best Restaurants. 

Some of their featured dishes include:  Slow-Roasted Chicken Shawarma Sarookh & Arabi style, Falafel Sandwich, and Lamb Sarookh. 

Currently located in Oakland and Santa Clara, California . Listen until the end for more special updates on expansion/projects and about their spices and sauces for sale online which can be shipped to your door. 

Shawarmaji 

https://www.theshawarmaji.com

Special Thanks to Trifecta Cooks for sponsoring their space to record this podcast.
https://trifectacooks.catering/

Original Music by Ulises Bella of Ozomatli

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Petra Higby is the CEO and co/sister founded Caviar Co. Petra was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas and her father is from Holland, and mother is from Texas. 

Immediately after college graduation, Petra moved out to Carmel, CA to take an internship with Coastal Luxury Management, assisting with putting on L.A. Food & Wine, and Pebble Beach Food & Wine events. This opened up my eyes to the culinary industry and the passion to work in hospitality. After this internship, she moved to San Francisco and got a job working for a local caviar company.

While working for the first caviar company, Petra was lucky enough to be involved in multiple aspects of the business, ranging from marketing to sales. After sparking an interest in aquaculture and sustainable sturgeon farming, she went to work for a caviar farm for two years, focusing on marketing. Despite loving working for the farm, I was aching to work with a more diverse range and variety of sturgeon species.

In 2015, Petra and her sister founded The Caviar Company in San Francisco, CA. A purveyor of fine caviar opening your palate to one of the finest delicacies in the world. 

The Caviar Co. mission is to provide unsurpassed caviar collections with quality, integrity, and sustainability.

Really enjoyed our conversation on location at their San Francisco Union Street store. We dive into Petra’s background and how she started her own company , caviar education and history, different types, what kind to get, along with special collaborations and events. 


The Caviar Co.

https://thecaviarco.com


Original Music by Ulises Bella of Ozomatli

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Emily Winston is the CEO and founder of Boichik Bagels. Born and raised in central New Jersey, she grew up eating a LOT of bagels. When her father had business take him to the Upper West Side, he would stop by Zabar's for lox, sable, whitefish, and chive cream cheese, then H&H for bagels, which her family would have as a special treat.  These bagels were on a whole different level of unique deliciousness.

In 2010 Emily moved to the Bay Area and bemoaned the lack of proper bagels. Emily was so distraught when she heard that her most beloved H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side had been shut down for tax fraud.  And so Emily embarked on what became a five year quest, through trial and error, to create a bagel she longed to eat. 

Five years of experiments later Emily was happy with the results. Friends told her she should sell them! So Emily decided to give it a whirl, got a cottage food license and did pop-ups which were a huge hit. Then took the plunge to brick and mortar, and opened her first store on College Ave in Berkeley in November 2019. Now with locations in Palo Alto, Berkeley and more in the works, Emily had started to create the bagel empire of her dreams.

Podcast was recorded on location at the Boichik Bagel Factory in Berkeley , CA

https://boichikbagels.com

Show Notes

https://www.foodoriginspodcast.com/podcast-episode-39

Original Music by Ulises Bella of Ozomatli

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Chef Elizabeth Binder was born and raised in South Africa, inspired by her fisherman father and great entertaining grandmothers, she attended the internationally recognized Christina Martin School of Food and Wine in her hometown of Durban. 

After graduating, she landed her first cooking job at the small luxury hotel, Blue Mountain Lodge near the Kruger Park, where she was quickly promoted to head chef at the tender age of nineteen. At Blue Mountain, her reputation rose as she cooked state dinners for both F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela at a pivotal point in South African history.

In 1995, Elizabeth packed her bags to embark on a career that would take her around the world. Her first stop was the UK where she worked for Sir Terrence Conran’s, Del Ponte and at Clarke’s, owned by Alice Waters’ mentee Sally Clarke. Subsequent travels took her around the globe – from the French Alps to Sydney, Australia – further deepening her knowledge of cuisine and international kitchens. 

While in Sydney, Australia she spent time in the kitchens of Niel Perry’s, Rockpool and Dietmar Sawyer’s, Forty One Restaurant before taking over as executive chef of Plissee, a popular restaurant / cafe in the rag trade district of Surry Hills.

Seeking her next culinary adventure, she headed to the United States where she fell in love with San Francisco. Her work in San Francisco has seen her be part of the Traci Des Jardins talented team at Jardiniere. Working along side and under other incredible chefs like, Douglas Keane (Cyrus Restaurant), Richard Reddington (Redd), Tamalpais Roth-MacCormick (Bunches & Bunches LTD) and Loretta Kellar (Bizou / Coco 500), with stagiaire stints at both The French Laundry and Chez Panisse.

In 2006, after the birth of her first child, Elizabeth met business partner, Christopher Losa. The two worked hand-in-hand to open the Italian-inspired Bar Bambino, which in six short years became one of the most recognized and awarded restaurants in San Francisco’s Mission District. At Bar Bambino, she was able to realize her concept of rustically elegant cuisine and combine finesse with respect for local, fresh, and extraordinary ingredients.

Elizabeth is currently the Chef / Owner of successful Hand-Crafted Catering, a boutique food and wine pairing event company, based in the Napa Valley.  Television appearances include competing on Top Chef: Seattle, the tenth season of the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series and beating Bobby Flay on the Food Networks: Beat Bobby Flay. 

Hand Crafted Catering by Elizabeth Binder
https://www.handcraftedcatering.com

Show Notes
https://www.foodoriginspodcast.com/podcast-episode-38

Great conversation on location in Napa,CA regarding Elizabeth’s amazing journey with food!  Thank you to previous podcast guest (Episode  #14) Ben Robert butcher/owner of Gambrel Co.  for connecting us.  

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Rhasaan Fernandez is the owner of Boffo Cart and Sam’s Log Cabin. Rhasaan was born and raised in San Francisco of Puerto Rican and Caucasian descent. 

Growing up in the 90s, Rhasaan was exposed to all the diverse cuisine in San Francisco. Rhasaan worked his way through the hospitality industry from California to Colorado and back. Rhasaan decided to start cooking his own style of food for everyone and began Boffo Cart. Circumstances also allowed him to become apart of an old roadhouse/speakeasy Sam’s Log Cabin in Albany, CA which serves breakfast and home style Americana & Mexican cuisine. 

Boffo Cart started out as Rhasaan creating his own food for the streets and then progressed into catering and pop-ups. Boffo Cart can be found these days at several different farmer’s markets throughout the Bay Area in Northern California known for always having fresh and organic delicious food. 

Rhasaan and I talked on the podcast about growing up in the Mission District in San Francisco, weird foods, seasonal produce, education through the hospitality industry, supporting local farmers and creating great food for the community. 

Appreciate Rhasaan for his time and support. We recorded this podcast on location inside his prep kitchen in Berkeley, California. 

https://www.boffocart.com

Show Notes
https://www.foodoriginspodcast.com/podcast-episode-37

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Justin Gill is the founder and CEO of Bachan’s Japanese BBQ Sauce. Justin was born and raised in Sebastopol, CA and of Japanese, Portuguese, French and Irish descent. 

Justin dreamed of bringing his family sauce to market since he was a kid during the holidays. Justin, Grandmother Judy and his family would brew batches of their sauce to give out to clients of their family landscape business. Many rave reviews and requests for more and offers to purchase always followed. Justin started working on his business back in 2013 making sure that he would keep the integrity of the sauce and making it a way to truly honor his family heritage and values. We talk about the many struggles , iterations of getting through the difficulty of bringing a consumer packed goods product to market.  Six years later, his childhood dream was a reality in 2019. Justin created by Bachan‘s Japanese barbecue sauce, which is a true representation of the sauce that his family made during the holidays for so many years. 

I sat down with Justin and we talked about his childhood eats what it’s like, growing up being half Japanese, and many of the support and naysayers that he received growing the sauce company. We go over every sauce that Bachan’s currently offer, including his favorites, recipes and what it takes to create such a great sauce company and team. 

Appreciate Justin for taking the time out of his busy schedule to sit down and talk in person with me on the podcast. Having been a customer and a long time user of the sauce; this was a culmination of a few years in the making and a full circle moment. Thank you to the Bachan’s team for their continued support in my journey as well. 

https://bachans.com

Show Notes

https://www.foodoriginspodcast.com/podcast-episode-36

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Alchemist Farm is a small family farm team headed up by Franchesca & Ryan Duval along with their two children in Northern California.  Known for being pioneers of humane breeding and hatching, no male chicks are killed on their farm as they are at large scale hatcheries and all of their heritage breeding groups are free to roam on their separate pastures.

Franchesca was born and raised in Santa Cruz, CA of German, Greek and Italian descent. Franchesca’s great grandfather owned a German bakery in San Francisco. Franchesca was studying to be a midwife and a psychologist before she had the opportunity to start her own project. After finding out male chicks are killed at large scale hatcheries; Franchesca and her husband Ryan decided to start hatching their own. Starting with six eggs and a small incubator , the start of Alchemist Farm began. 

Franchesca shares her knowledge and experience on the podcast about heritage breeds, egg color, feed for chickens and answering many of your pressing common questions.

Alchemist Farm raises their chickens for health, temperament, egg color and climate resilience. Their birds are raised for hatching eggs and sending baby chicks all over the US. The farm is also Zero waste and using solar power to make a better impact on the world. 

https://www.alchemistfarm.com

Show Notes

https://www.foodoriginspodcast.com/podcast-episode-35

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