Hello Food Fam . This is the Walk and Talk Podcast , and I'm your host , carl Fiedini . We are podcasting on site at Acropolis Greek Taverna in South Tampa . Oh my god , I love this place . The food is amazing , along with their elevated cocktail program , kamhuka and Zorba at the best Mediterranean spot in the Bay . Did I mention belly dancers ?
Yeah , get over here , check them out at AcropolisGreekTavernacom . On the program today we have a dear friend of mine , joseph Saloon from Melina International Trading . I know he's got some goodies for us to try . Man , it's going to be pretty bad ass , jeff . You were , you weren't . You were MIA this week .
Yeah , I was , you dirty , so we're going to jump into that in a second . I just want to remind everybody that we are recording in a live restaurant , okay , so whatever you hear , it's the character of the establishment . Enjoy , jeff .
Come on what you got . Well , last week I was in New Hampshire . That was a fun field trip because we had Adilia come into town so I was supposed to be up there on Thursday . Didn't make it up there . Then obviously the flight got pushed back to Friday . Got up there really late on Friday afternoon . The team up there did a great job prepping .
Saturday we executed a dinner or wedding for 120 people in Northern New York , right outside Albany , new York . We went through New Hampshire , vermont and then into North northern part of New York .
You know what the people here in Florida don't realize the Floridians actually that it's hotter up there than it is here .
Oh my God . Yeah , I actually was tracking that every day we were looking in it was two degrees warmer and the same humidity up in New Hampshire at this time . Then fast forward . We had , like Monday , tuesday , wednesday , we kind of chilled out . Thursday ended up being an extra day to chill . Friday banged out the prep for two weddings that were 120 .
Each One was about 30 minutes away from the one Pavilion we're out in Northern New Hampshire . We executed that one out on Saturday night and man man , oh man Sunday with the travel was just horrendous . I was supposed to be back into Tampa at 1130 Sunday night . Didn't get in until five o'clock Monday morning .
Yeah , I mean we spoke a lot . You were always at an airport .
I wasn't always at one . I was definitely stuck at one from 345 until 1245 when I left in the morning . But you made it , you're here . Oh yeah , you're in the first , I'm still having recovered .
All right , listen , we didn't cook this week , but I did . I'm prepping . Well , that's what I'm saying .
No , no , no , I mean .
I didn't get any of this in my belly .
No , no , I just showed you the porn .
Right yeah , food , food porn folks . So here's the situation , jeff I need you to pick , pick the most sexy thing that you guys cooked up this this past week . What was it ? I need it . I need a slow , slow roll here .
Yeah , they're definitely so you . As everyone knows , keith Sarasen is just a student of the cuisine of the subcontinent of India , so he ended up making . He brought this little tandoor out it's like this mini three foot high syndical gets super wicked hot Got the clay on the side , skewered up some chicken and we did the tikka masala .
Oh my God , it was life changing . I can't . He wrecked me again because there's no way I'm going to eat that anywhere else .
I know you're waiting . I'm still waiting for this so called person , keith source , and if he exists to get over here and get some food in me . Did you say wicked ?
I mean you're , you're bringing a little mass , then a little mass . I'm hearing it all the time .
So wicked wicked cool , yeah , but we also , he also went .
We ended up cooking together . So that was the first time we actually physically cooked together and he's got a beautiful garden ever , ever , yeah , together , like we like . We cooked his food or we were cooking my food , but this is the first time that we actually said we went out to the garden . He had gotten that .
He had a patty pans and I've never seen a patty pan as big as my hand and so we took the centers out and we kind of use that and stuffed it back in with some more vegetables . He had one zucchini the size and the girth of this thing . No comments , please Stop it . It was literally one of those . Gave me 12 cakes , zucchini cakes .
It was just ginormous . And the flavor profile because again , he got roses in his . In his garden he had a bumper crop of cucumbers .
He was talking about 400 pounds of cucumbers .
He was a gardener , jolly Green , giant , like what is it so , him and Marie , his girlfriend , they got into it in the last three years they're they've done different things where they kind of put basil and tomatoes together . They've got he's got some goes peppers growing , he's got tea growing and they're they're very short season to .
They're talking like June , july and then October done . I mean it gets too cold . We went to a farm because he's doing it hopefully , because I know Hurricane Lee's heading that way . They have a farm dinner at Kimball Farms up there and they were telling us the farmer was telling us they got not .
Pears got wiped out , peaches got wiped out because they had a cold spell in February and gone , but they go . Grapes , oh my God , the grapes up there are just . I have never seen or tasted grapes like that before .
Strangely , florida , it's very short , but they're our peach season . Oh I know , really great stuff .
I just found out about that stuff . I think Vicki was Webster was the one that told me about that . You got to get some peaches . I'm like where in Florida , Like what .
It's a short short , you blink and it's over , it's like our blueberry season too .
It's the same thing , but their blueberry season up there in New Hampshire has just got off along . He took me to Chinatown and I've been there before , but we at this bakery , we at the Hong Kong deli , which is a butcher shop , that was absolutely incredible .
We went for dim sum , but I think the highlight of the trip for me when we're eating out was when we went to the Baldwin mansion and it's in Massachusetts and it's called the Szechuan Garden . Is that Alec ?
No no no , no this thing .
This guy's got the top 25 bar in the world .
Okay .
He's the program there . He's made GQ magazine the owner of it . But the flavor profile completely forgot about Szechuan cuisine and the Szechuan spice , that pepper and how beautiful and citrus notes that you get . Everything we had at the table had some essence of Szechuan there . It was so incredible the eggplant , the prosperity noodles , the chicken wings bar none .
Nobody's got chicken wings down here like that nobody . Why it was so good about the crunch was just so ridiculous . But it wasn't a batter where you know how sometimes you take and I'm not gonna mention any restaurants but you take a bite and it's like all breading and a little chicken . This was the perfect you know crunch and ratio of the batter on there .
But we really kicked it up was again that Szechuan peppercorn .
I mean , were these big drumsticks or smaller ?
They're the normal size that you get . They weren't , they were randoms , they were definitely . You know . Nobody's gonna get random chicken wings . They're gonna be jumbos anymore ? Yeah , not after , like the last couple years . It's COVID , right , it's probably 200 bucks . Yeah , probably about 150 to 200 dollars for chicken wings I'll pay for good wings , though .
I hand over fist . I can't . That's what we called them , we could . As soon as you bit into it and I looked up , I went craveable . I'm . I'm never gonna get this again , right , you know , the only way I'm gonna be able to do it is I do it at my house and I don't have a fryer . I mean , we get a fryer ?
Well , we gotta get that spot first , I think .
I gave a . I think it . No , I have a fryer . I gave it to John .
I have like a little oh , I like a table's top .
Yeah , I have a table top too right , well , we can do it , even if it's one , is in two . Hey , listen , don't stymie our good timing , okay you just want Szechuan peppercorn chicken wings ?
oh , I got you , bro . What are we talking about here ?
oh my god , all right listen all right , shut up , you talk too much . No , I'm kidding . Love you , all right , let's , let's welcome the my , my dear , dear friend , the man of the hour , the bearded master no idea where this is going you know , he's the only guy I know with a more beardy beard than me .
Okay , it's not true that is very true .
That is the Joseph seldom welcome to the program .
What's going on , guys ? What's up ? Baby boy , how are you ? I'm really good yeah . I'm actually looking forward to get your salt and pepper no , no , you don't want it , man .
No , it comes with aches and pains . Yeah , it comes with arthritis .
It's a rheumatoid or something I don't know . Man , it's a mess . It's a mess . You don't want that , you don't want to smoke no , it's wisdom , wickers , whiskers , but we definitely worked at those yeah , you ain't lying , there's , there was a lot of this is a lot of female stuff here , you know . Yes , yeah , like each one is a alright , I'll stop .
All right , so we're here at Acropolis . I love this , but you like this place show .
I hope he does .
It's beautiful it is really it's beautiful and spacious .
A lot going on here .
I know they're working on a new menu , though , mm-hmm yeah , yeah , I know that John Hernandez of from Ibus images . He did them a couple of few months ago . He did a whole photo shoot , drinks and food and everything .
It was really , really freaking choice the what I loved about it when you walk in and to see that huge igloo pizza oven mm-hmm oh my god , that the first chef you get like geek out on that stuff .
I just cats that they're watched it so my wife , you know she's okay , miami , people are different . Okay , and she's Cuban , she's from , you know , south of Bird Road over there . But long story short , can't ? She can't stand anywhere to go anywhere , she only talks about Acropolis . Oh , they do such a good , even Thanksgiving dinner .
Ah Bessa .
I'm like , all right , shut up already .
You know like stop talking what I mentioned to you when we were setting up . I said the lemon soup .
No , everything all the food here is really good and it's different than most . Truth is , I've been to every freaking restaurant in the Tampa Bay area Mediterranean wise . This is it . This is the one . So everybody get your butts out here and check it out . Melina international trading . We're talking olive oil . We're talking speaking of Mediterranean .
You have a whole line of Mediterranean products and I understand that you have something new . I'm staring at it right now .
Yes . So if anybody missed any of your podcasts before , shame on them .
Yeah right , that's what I'm saying .
Melina International , we do olive oil . That's what we specialize in Organic olive oil that comes from Kalamata , greece . It grows on our technically family grows and it's imported here bottled in clear water . So , from olives to cheeses , to spices , to premium preserves , from Tuscany aged balsamic , infused balsamic , you name it , we do it all .
So we try to create always new items that can help chefs be creative in their kitchens . You just don't find in any broadliners and then you just mix it with your recipe . You even sauteed right onions with it , but it gives you like different flavor , texture that you can stand out with .
The garlic and the oil . You can just eat those Like they were like chips .
No , that hot oil that they get that orange tinge to it oh the yeah .
I remember the name of it Calibrian chilean .
Yeah , Calibrian chilean .
Oh , I can bathe them .
It's fire .
Yeah , that is great . Obviously , we did a photo shoot with it the other day , but I have it at my house , so I use it and I'll say it right to your face I'm using it . Yeah , okay , yeah .
I ran out on how to make Chinese oil .
All right , so you're getting in , so you're doing the press for the . You're doing your own pressing here on olives , right .
The olives are pressed in grease but they are shipped here in bulk oil and we specialize in cold press right as olive oil producers and packers and we wanted to try to do , try something new , and we're getting into fresh juice . So it's something that you don't find easily anywhere else .
Most juice in the market is pasteurized or , you know , makes with chemicals and has a bunch of ingredients . So most of our juices that we're getting into our three to four ingredients between fruits and vegetables that we all like and it could be packed for retail 16 ounce bottles and we're even looking to work with the local chefs .
You know a lot of people juice for their own bars , from grapefruit to orange to pineapple to you can create your own mix , will mix it for you will juice it for you , so it can come in a gallon . You can use it in your kitchen , you can use it behind your bar or you can drink it .
What's the shelf life ?
Five to six days Okay .
And what's the ? I mean , do you know what the , what the variances are , or pros or cons versus juice like regular juicing ?
Sugar . You know , there's no artificials , there's no added sugar . This is literally three , four ingredients cold pressed .
Yeah , when you're , when you're cold pressing it , when he keeps on mentioning that you're not heating it up , like when you do pasteurization . So you know you take a great product like Tropicana , what it was to what it is . When they heat that up to pasteurize it , you're actually having that caramel flavor .
You're actually burning or caramelizing the sugars Cold pressing . All you're doing is getting the extracting the most nutrient out of the product that you can . So this is like the chef having his own juicer or even the bartender mixologist having their own juicer back there , which is not . It's different . It is the juicing is different than pressing .
That's what I'm getting at , yeah .
Yeah , so this is going to give you the pure natural , all natural and all the additives , not additives all the nutrients that you want out of that product .
Yes , what's so ? I see ginger apple lemon . That's what's in there , yeah .
This one caught my eye . Is that pine ?
What is it ? Pineapple , pineapple .
Okay , carrot , pineapple , ginger beet , beet , we're going to be tasting these , right , oh ?
yeah , okay .
Yeah , which one do you want to try ? Yes , I'm the guest . I don't know the guest .
Yeah , I'm going to be talking about it .
So , Jeffrey , what we need to do , this is the which one is this that's the apple . You know , this is where it's good to be . It's good to be us . Do you know what I'm saying ? The people at home , they're listening , they're in the car , they're driving . Oh man , I want juice . Get out to Acropolis is caring right .
Yes .
So smell it first before you drink it .
It is sold at Cafe Cabab downtown , also in Tampa .
Okay .
It's free tail . It's like a breakfast spot , so they do like traditional . Lebanese breakfast . And then you can grab juices 16 ounce juices to go .
I like it .
Yeah , that is so refreshing . And again you look at that and to me I go right in the kitchen pork , little gastric you know even a sandwich with that , with bacon , like bacon glazed with that on top . Dude , stop it because you're not cooking today . I know that's why I'm doing it . I love that . Apple , lemon and ginger . That's that'd be good .
Dark and stormy .
Good base yeah , let's do that one Shine . Look at the color on this .
I know .
Yeah , the beat . I actually just started fermenting beats yesterday . It was going to take about 14 days . What are you going to do with that ? It's for the book . We're doing borscht , but I'm doing a complete rift .
Yeah , I can teach you how to make borscht . I would love to learn your way . I'm half Ukrainian .
I'm Austrian .
I'm .
Russian , so I'd love to learn .
So you're making red borscht .
Well , no , I'm actually going to do so . What's different about it is I'm using a bigger . I'm going to smoke that , then cut out the center and then fill that up as the soup . So it's the , it's the bowl and it's edible all in the beat .
You're being naughty , yeah , yeah .
And I have picked . He's dirty man .
He's totally dirty , I have pickled cabbage in there .
Pickled garlic is going to be in it .
And then it's a beat that big it's .
It's this nice size one . I just started , it's about that big 10 ounce . Yeah , it's a nice size one , so , but I've got three , three smaller medium beats that I got . I peeled them and then I put it in with water and salt solution , with some bay leaf and garlic .
And .
I'm just letting it sit now at 70 something degrees for 14 days to ferment .
Wow , I want that . I want to try that I want the bubble .
It actually borscht is is a favorite of mine , really , yeah , so growing up as a kid , I hated borscht .
I love that my dad used to . You know that my dad used to eat borscht . Because of being the Russian and German , I hate it . Now I can't get enough , just let alone beats borscht .
I had a lot of European , eastern European friends in my early 20s and borscht was always on the menu . Man , always .
I think borscht is underrated . Like that . That's awesome . Yeah , that's got great balance . The ginger comes in and so we just tried the carrot pineapple ginger beats . The beat obviously the nose . It really takes over that earthiness , but you don't taste it . So if somebody who doesn't like beats would really enjoy that it's subtle yeah . It's really .
It's like a kiss of beats in the background .
Yeah , little little little . Yeah .
Can you do it again ? No , no pictures , please .
Ryan Kilman's going to be laughing at that one , I hope so what's up ?
Brian the bed John's not here .
Yeah , true story .
He'll be back next week . We'll probably be going over his house doing shoots for the food that I have cooking tomorrow , by the way . Oh , here it comes . What do you got ? So we did a Mexican hot chocolate rubbed brisket which is going to be sitting overnight drying out . And then we have a porqueta .
Porqueta is and it has a skin on , which is really awesome . So porqueta is the belly .
And then I flipped it over and made the hash marks in them and then coated that with sun dried tomatoes and sun dried tomato oil , pickled garlic , pickled fennel , feta cheese , sage , rosemary and thyme that I dried and then made into some herbs , Put that on the top of that and then pork tenderloin in the center , rolled that sucker up and then trust it .
And then that's sitting right now with a glaze of agave and lemon cello and that's sitting to dry out . And then you see why I get pissed off you know we shouldn't get a .
You shouldn't have a week off , Okay , Well , no , it was supposed to be dirty .
It was supposed to be , but we are here because we've got juices to drink .
That's right , so you should have brought it with you .
Did you know why you don't ?
think that Joseph wants to try this .
I'll bring it by , because my brother in law is right over there , so I'll just stop by and bring it over .
I will , yeah , oh , hell yeah , I mean , I can't tell you to do that , but I'm telling you what to do . You should do that .
Well then , we're going to take one of them and we're going to make a porqueta sandwich with broccoli , Rob charred and provolone , and let that melt on oh man .
Oh , you're going to do a sandwich too . Yeah , oh God . Let me tell you something I am so into these sandwiches , I don't care about other food anymore .
I wrote the menus down , but I did had . Oh , I saw it . Didn't I just send you pictures of what we were doing ?
No , oh , maybe once .
Yeah , so I wrote down the menu , took the shots of it . We're going to do a brisket entree , then I'm going to do a brisket sandwich and then brisket .
I can't even know you anymore . We got some good stuff coming out , so you'll enjoy it .
I'm really into the sandwiches though . Not chicken liver , though . No , I don't want any chicken , I don't like any of the the gizzard ?
I don't want any of that . No , you keep all that .
You should try the chicken liver . Keep that at the deli . Yeah , you know what I'm saying Chicken liver .
You should try . No , what am I ? Chicken liver .
No , I don't . What am I ? Chop liver , chop liver . Am I here to make you laugh , yeah ?
Aren't there , joe .
Pesci .
My clown . You know what I'm saying , so this this one here , carrot .
Carrot yeah .
Just straight carrot .
No , apple , carrot , lemons and ginger .
I mean you're saying all the right stuff , you're telling me all the right things .
Joseph , it's all good for you .
I know I feel healthier . Get this stuff away from me . You know what I'm saying .
Well , it helps wash down the bacon cheese sandwich or the egg and bacon cheese sandwich .
I was somewhere . Can you cook anything with this ?
Oh my God , yeah , yeah , this would go right down into a bunch of stuff .
Yeah , so you know a good brand out there that I've had in the past . You know what this is better than the brand I was going to mention that I'm not going to mention . I'm just not going to do it .
Well , I mean , what's great , is you ? So if you bring this to somebody as a chef and they say , well , I want a little more ginger to it , you can reformulate that for that specific chef , can you customize ?
Oh yeah , but it's got to be a .
Is there a minimum on the batch ?
Well , it has to be reasonable , because we're using , you know , a heavy commercial cold presser .
So what's ? Are you allowed to disclose what size batches they are , or is that you know ? I don't want to get into your proprietary stuff .
I mean as long as we're doing three gallons .
Okay , that's very , that's incredibly reasonable .
Yeah , because I mean , it depends what you're doing with it . So , like you were talking about juicing behind the bar earlier , the difference is it's creating all the heat , it's taking some of the vitamins out , but still , when you juice and the juice are like that , you have to drink it on the spot .
A couple hours later it's not the same , it's not the same . So that's the benefit of this . So if there's a restaurant , that's the chef , I mean a lot of restaurants . I don't remember juicing every Sunday morning grapefruit , making that fresh orange juice .
Like you know , it takes a lot of your time , right , so you save on labor , it's fresh and last you four , five days .
Not only that , you , you don't have the food waste .
You don't have waste as well , yeah .
So think about that . You have to buy in , make sure you have the carrots , you have the pineapple , the ginger , the beets , all this stuff in . So you have to cross-merchandise that , make sure you keep the level of your inventory there . But on the flip side you don't have the food waste . So your food print , the footprint of your food waste is done .
Yeah , the whole thing with the juicing , though just from , just from a , you know , a ordering perspective . You really have to know what you're doing there . I mean you over , over press or over juice , whatever , and all of a sudden , a few days later , it's in the , it's in the can .
Right , right , it's going down . Not even that . Yeah , it's later on that shift it's gone . Yeah , it's like making tea and then you know you have to throw it away at the end of the shift .
Yeah , yeah , I get it . I get what you're saying .
Yeah , I was trying to think there was somewhere we went out to eat and they didn't have tea . They just ran out of tea and I'm like , how do you look ? Perplexed right , there I was like , yeah , I was like going . I was like where was I ? I thought you were a Mitch McConnell for a second and I froze , you froze .
you know we're going to have to like jump start Now .
I was just doing my meme , okay .
Okay , what do we ? What's this one , joe , this is more apple lemon ginger , but heavier on the lemon .
So you're going to feel a bit more sour .
I like that , I do yeah .
Chicken wings .
Yeah , there's a bunch . There's chicken like roasted chicken . This would be good with seafood too , and like reduces down or with vodka . Now we're tickling your liver I mean we have to .
We have to balance out the healthy part . You know what I'm saying ? Like let's get the vodka .
Yeah , this , this stuff . Yeah , that would definitely go very well with vodka .
I have a shot out of this . If you use like a mix of this , like you know , like , oh , like this will make a good lemon drop shot .
I was going to say that yeah , Really good lemon drop . What are we ? What are ?
we talking about let's get cooking .
Well , if we get , ever , ever clear Ray and F you overproof from you've got the lemon cello almost makes it .
Yeah , let's do it Make some calls , let's make this happen . I mean , so I have a thing for anything lemon I love lemon and orange really , and it was citrus Take true , because you're Italian .
Yeah .
Yeah .
Well , it also brightens up the the palette , especially when you're eating something fat . Right Just , you need that acid , you want to have it . So it balances out .
We're so in Cooper City , you know . But in the late 70s , early 80s , I live in a house there . Joseph wasn't around . No , Joseph wasn't . I don't even know if he might not have been born yet . Anyway he wasn't . No , so you , son of a .
So we had this lemon tree in the back of the house and the lemons were literally like the size of a large grapefruit and it was amazing and we would I mean you , just bring one to the table , like we'd have Sunday dinners or people over whatever With your gravy . No no , totally sauce . I mean , for Thanksgiving we had the gravy .
It was phenomenal right With lemon .
No .
But anyway , we'd bring this massive lemon . You cut it up and it's like what a presentation . You know , mm-hmm . It's terrible for a food service application , but I had home fabulous . But anyway , I love lemon on everything .
Yeah , there's something about it . There's something to be said about it .
Yeah .
Especially lemon zest .
Lemon zest is great . I told you , I made a basil cello , right yeah , and it came out phenomenal .
Now you know , she said he made it , but there's none here .
Well , you don't want to run about this lemon cello talk . You know , I'm not going to travel with an open container . Yeah , you know .
Why would that stop you today ? It ends with why at the end of it , so I don't understand this question .
I don't partake in such activity , okay .
Who are you and what have you done with Carl I ? What ?
Did you see this guy ? Wow , you're a rat snitch .
You really , really here . I'll go snitch what's on your right .
Yes .
I don't know .
It's another one of these fresh press , fresh press , yeah , fresh press .
don't fashion it . Fresh press . Whiskey or wheat yeah , I like it With mash . Oh , my goodness , that somehow turned into bourbon .
It's okay , it's that well , you know , bourbon comes when you press lemon , ginger and apple and you beats , and everything All of a sudden there's bourbon .
It's amazing how that works . Now you want to pickle your liver . Yeah , this is what you're doing , gotcha .
I mean , the only thing better is if , like a truckload of you know crispy bacon just showed up and just dumped on it . I mean we can make that happen .
I know .
I was somewhere . I got a . Where was I ? I think you know where I went . I went to Cracker Barrel the other day right , and they do such a good job , man , and I ordered .
A side of bacon .
Yeah , like extra crispy , I thought of you , man . You know I broke one for you , you know kind of like bourbon for me , homie , it was good .
Yeah , it was good . Thought about you they're . They're a potato hash . It's not bad . I like their potato hash .
I don't think there's anything bad . I don't think there's anything bad that they make over there and they got the bar now too , over there . Did you know that they have a what ?
Yeah , for sure , that's kind of dangerous I don't know , is it ?
I think it's , I think it's good From my house , the one by my house .
Oh , okay , because it's probably not , mine's off of 579 and I4 . I think it's time for you to revisit .
My wife loves that place . Do you know what I'm saying ? Yeah , okay , okay . So talk to me , joe . So what is this ? Is this readily available now ? It's hot to trot , good to go .
Yeah , it's good to go Again . It could be retail . So if you're a restaurant , if you're a retail store that you also want to put on your shelf , it's possible Really private label .
Actually , country clubs would be great for the membership . The hotels would be great for grab and go for hotels . Gyms oh yeah , that would be fantastic . Stretch zone that would be great , after you get stretched , Having some fruit .
You hear that Dylan , dylan , dylan are you . Did you hear that ? Yeah ?
Dylan . Dylan texted me yesterday , so now I'm going to drop that name back at you . Dylan , you know what I'm saying . We're going to help Joseph grow this product , because this is really good it's a product . Yeah , it's a great product . I'm going to double tree at the gate of Universal Studios .
Yeah , having that and just kind of going out to Universal Studios .
And then next we're going to be doing the shots too , like a ginger shot .
Do you think about anything ?
with turmeric . Yeah , oh yeah .
Well .
I believe in healthy medicine , so when I get sick , that's what I drink .
So when , when , when the pandemic first started , I was still at the produce company , and at the time I had just lost 20 pounds . I gained it all back .
You know , thank you , yeah , thank you .
But I'd lost 20 pounds and I was . I had the Vitamix at home , so I was every day . I was doing like whole knots of ginger and pineapple and lemon and I don't know . It was like six to eight ingredients in these things . Oh my God , I mean , I never felt better .
I really never felt better and I never got sick until I stopped doing that and gained 20 pounds . Well , the 20 pounds is recently , then that's literally because of you . I'll , I'll own that . I mean , at least I'm going to say 80% is you , and then you know , and I have a drive through problem .
Okay , so , and a crop .
Yeah Well , but there's nothing . This is all like healthy Mediterranean foods . Good for you .
I mean , do you look at the behind paleo and keto ? The one right after that , in fact it was a couple of years ago Mediterranean diet was the number one diet in the world . Yes , yeah , and think about this and we've talked about this in the show .
If you look around the world , around just near the equator , just above it , and you look at the people of Lebanon or Lebanese , and then the Greek and the Spanish , the Italian , the French , they have bread . They don't have obesity problems as much as we do because we have to put stuff in our bread .
Yes , you don't . You don't get , you don't look , you don't get fat until you move , you move to the States .
Just a way , no , a Western diet . Yeah , it's not , it's not just America . And when we ?
well , when you say the West , when we know , when we when you , when you , if you looked at like my grandparents , my great grandparents , they were all from over there .
Right .
You know , and , granted , you know there's . I mean , you get older , you gain weight a little bit , right , but for the most part they , they were pretty , they were just in pretty good shape . You know what I mean .
You grow up here and it's like , oh , you start at a kid , you as a child , with Happy Meal , and then , you know , before you know it , you got a 47 inch waist .
Well , that's that's the problem . What I'm saying is the Western diet . As we export the Western diet , we're starting to see places that don't have high risk of obesity , diabetes and so on and so forth . Listen , nowhere does it say anywhere in any of the Old Testament or any book of religion .
Oh , by the way , Joseph couldn't have you know , brett because he has celiac disease . There was no such thing as celiac disease . There was no problem with it , because we were growing and producing the wheat and the whatever we were going to bake you guys .
you guys had a half unleavened bread , though I mean I was well that we were running . It was different , though . No , we were running .
I've never heard of gluten free , no Problem .
Exactly , yeah , and it wasn't until the 1950s , when we had Wonder Bread introduced and then there was a couple hundred people getting sick . That's what indicated there's something wrong . What they did was they fortified the bread with vitamin D , vitamin E , vitamin K . Why ? Because that was the bandaid .
We're not you know there's but the sugar levels in that bread is- .
Well , exponentially , if you look at what we were , the human body was getting into the 70s to what we're getting now . It's like 200 pounds of sugar for every human being in the United States . Yeah , I mean , that's just ginormous . That's a lot . And then the process .
You know , one of the great things about going away and being with Keith is that he introduced me to a couple of different movies and I know you and I have to watch those .
All right . So we had a power failure . We're back . The whole city block was out , it's always something . Yeah , there were zombies , there was aliens . The US government unleashed it all on us , but we got busy , but we got busy . We're here , right With the power off , all right , so- .
That's awesome , by the way .
And , yeah , we came back for this particular episode as so which we can end it properly , right ? So , joseph , the Joseph Saloon , you , sir , yes , the bearded master .
The one .
I appreciate you having us out . I thank you for having us trying the bubble goodness . The bubble goodness by the way , it was freaking .
Yeah , if you guys don't know what bubble goodness is , get your ass over here .
Sorry for causing you . You heard bubble , goodness .
Yeah , bubble goodness . Okay , try it because it is spectacular . Yeah , totally .
I'm going to try it . Dude , let's go like we're going to hang out soon , right ?
Yeah , totally .
I want to try some amazing food you were talking about .
Yeah , definitely , I'll bring it by .
We're going to have a borsch session , for sure .
Definitely .
Thank you for having me Again . Reach out to Melina International Trading for your olive oil , olives , any specialty line in your kitchen if you want to stand out as a chef , including the juicing that we're making .
A lot of ideas were thrown out today between you know whether you're using it behind a bar , drinking it , cleansing or cooking with it , so there's a lot we can do with this .
Excellent , and you can find out more about Melina International Trading at melinainternationalcom . All right , we guys . There it is , that's what I was watching before I got thrown off by the power failure . All right , guys , we are out , get to Acropolis . Yeah , south Tampa , that's right . Kennedy Boulevard , right , what's Kennedy .
Kennedy .
That's right . Get there or be square .
Yeah , jeff , I think we got a word or some more about Melina . Yeah , four more letters .