Hello Food Fam . This is the WalkaTalk Podcast and I am your beloved host , carl Fiedini . Yes , beloved , I said it . We're podcasting onsite at the Ibis Images Studios , where food photography comes alive on the menu today , and thank you , peninsula Food Service for supplying the proteins for today's production .
This , oh man , this is our first podcast back from Dallas at the World Food Championship . My man , I am excited , mainly because it's like nice quiet , ambient noise here , like there's no . You know , it's quiet , it's nice , it's good . What a great experience though we're going to get into that . We have a special guest today . It is a dear friend of the show .
We have the Amy Yee of Yee Family Farms in the house . Man , I'm tired of talking about bread , but she brought bread again . Oh my goodness . Schlissel Jeffrey . Jeffrey the chef Jeffrey , the Jefferson Schlissel Meister Maestro . I got to call you Maestro , man , because , like you , just you get down dude . Thanks , man .
Yeah , I finally got my voice back from this I know , I'm kind of upset about that . It was nice when you were just quiet , right , all right , jump into pre-shift and explain the sexy bad ass sandwiches that were created today .
I love how you just jump over the main course and go right into the thing . You're such a Sammy whore .
I don't care about the entrees anymore , I give it up . I go to fancy places to eat . I'm like can you just give me the sandwich Sandwich ? Yeah , yeah .
So today was battle of the shanks and it's getting to that season , especially around this time . You know , back in the day this is what the butcher used to take home because it was an awful cut . People didn't want that . They wanted the filet mignon , the beef tenderloin , the sirloins . You know they didn't really want hind shanks .
I love them and it's such a comfort food too , and especially when it's getting cooler we just hit 47 degrees , I know for everybody else around the country it's like swimming , it's like swimming weather .
Especially you guys in like the wicked northeast but you're out in like shorts , but for us down here it's the climate change for us , and so it's just something to go in that mode of brazing . And I wanted to braze , we did it the Italian style for the Villa Assambucco , and then I went completely Asian on the pork hind shank , which was basically me .
So black garlic , we had sake , and then I rub the actual pork shank with kimchi powder and then use some gogu ring or gogu jong inside the actual to give it a little more depth .
Would you call me ?
Yeah , exactly Okay , and those are pepper sauces that they we would make kimchi with and we start doing that in the barbecues the gogu jang . But I also wanted to serve it differently too . So one , we showcased the zucchini cake to give it some different depths . And then that zucchini cake , as we'll hear sitting . The second from Amy .
She's like what's in there ? It's like sweet , there's cinnamon . I'm like it's grandma's salad . So there's like 13 different , 14 different spices and that's one of the bases to get grandma salad goes to muric and that can be like a curry and Indian cooking .
There's so many other different things you can add to this , but it's one of those mother's spices and then Indian cuisine . And hopefully I got that right , keith , you know I'll get an email from you . I know I will . I know such person . But actually Amy Yee actually has a book from Keith Harrison . She has the fermentation book .
Oh yeah , I do no kidding , was that any ?
This is the latest one that just came out . Fiction no that wasn't cooking Okay . The art of fermentation , if I'm not mistaken .
Hey , listen , if there is such a Keith , you know , one day he will grace our microphones .
He'll be out in Austin when we were out there doing the podcast for cater source . He's got two presentations , like I do , so he's there for the entire week Nice , so he will be on the podcast .
In the flesh , in the flesh .
And also his sous chef , bj , is going to be doing a presentation , so we can get him on the podcast as well .
Okay , bring it on .
Yeah , but the sandwiches you were talking about , that's when things got a little bit crazy .
Yeah , I mean , you know what Talk about that , uh , cuban .
O oh , the Soprano sandwich . So I took the veal awesome buco to get off the bone , shredded it a little bit , built it from there . Um , amy brought this beautiful Chinese broccoli from the farm that they have .
We blanched it , picked for us , specifically for you , for it , for me and my , my belly . Yeah , no , but it's , you know , listen , that was awesome , by the way , you brought . By the way , I'll stop Because I won't know , I don't want to cut , I don't want to cut short the sexy talk .
Sexy talk with the food , right , I don't want to stop that , but I do because we mentioned Amy's six times ready and you know I feel weird . So , amy , welcome to the program .
Thank you for having me .
No , pleasure is ours . And you brought all sorts of goodies . You brought , uh , sweet water , organic coffee , like a bunch of bags and that was like roasted fresh , for us too .
And that is your , my mother . She manages the company in Gainesville , florida .
So mama Amy , you know , hooked us up . Thank you , mom , we appreciate it Definitely .
She knows exactly what we love yeah , coffee and food .
Yeah , Well , but it's all like dark espresso . That's where we're at and notice people . Just FYI , it's not espresso , it's espresso , I just there's no X .
There's no X .
Well , anyway , we're going to come back to Amy .
Yeah , so we . So I had it , ripped it apart , shredded it , and then I had burrata , which is just a phenomenal cheese , to get along with it . And then I did a quick pickle on Cuban elves . Actually , this is like the roasted pork sandwich in Pennsylvania that we see with the broccoli robin roasted pork .
I just converted it and just tweaked it a little bit , did the the Cuban elves ? Just wanted to bring a different layer to the whole thing , and then that one had smoked garlic in there as well .
Yeah , All the layers hit but that . But that Cubanel with the man that just popped , everything popped .
Yeah , but you didn't have the other one . To compare it to . What do you mean ? I didn't have the other one , you had the other one with the pork . Yeah , what then ? The peach jam and the jalapeno ?
Yeah , you watched me eat it .
I haven't had that one yet See , yeah , sorry , I thought I thought the peach vodka jam when it hit with the kimchi and the jalapeno . I thought that brought it to another level .
No , no , no , Both sandwiches were . I think they were equally .
The silent John can't say anything right now because he hasn't had it .
Yeah , too bad . They're equally craveable and you could pick whatever spelling you want , but they're equally equally craveable . I enjoyed , I totally , totally enjoyed both sandwiches . But I have to tell you that somehow or another , the , the , the Cubanel , really did it for me . That , really , that one hit my cord .
Well , of course it would . Yeah , I mean , this is a great a Robiata sauce . It was that Cubanel is wonderful in all times . Yeah , man .
So when the pictures come out on this , by the way , look everyone , I'm going to go to everyone . Stop emailing me or sending me messages about you know how do they get this food ? I'm sorry , it's , it's special invite only . Or invite yourself , or just if you're Amy , you just show up you know what I mean Every time .
But I will tell you , Amy , she shows up with like , like she came here like loaded there's a big chow bao with Nutella in it 50 pound case of .
Napa cabbage , napa cabbage , and there's a 40 pound case of Shanghai cabbage at my house .
Oh my God , yeah , and Amy shows up .
She shows up , she comes correct , man , it's good , yeah . And then there was two sourdough breads . I saw English muffins that she made , yeah .
The Nutella Chow bao Chow bao Bow bow .
There should say bait .
Yeah .
It would be chow bao , right , yeah , chow bao , they were phenomenal .
Chow bao , chow bao .
No , not that , no , no , no , no , no , no , no no no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no no no , no , no , no , no no no no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no no no no , no , no , I'm just kidding .
So I got to the entree . Yeah , we had two . One was an awesome boo go big deal and the other one was another big deal . I kind of went out with those already with the zucchini cake on the bottom .
What was different in the zucchini cake was the grandma salad that I mentioned , but I also topped it off with some fried garlic and then we did the kimchi on that tails that I met up , um , vicky wanted to get some Napa cabbage and some dry starter from Amy I know a gal , yeah , so that's what it was .
It was like right there at Wawa doing the whole drop off pickup and I quickly went home and started the process of getting it fermented , which I knew I wasn't going to get anything fermented in less than 24 hours . But I sped the process up by utilizing and I found this at Sprouts peach cider vinegar and I went I've got to test this out .
So I was like perfect peaches and porkle with like peaches and herb it was a music group , anyways . So the peach , I thought , was going to be the best thing to go along with instead of apple cider vinegar , which is everyone's go to , I think . I thought it worked out well for it , yeah .
And I'm going to . I'm going to back that up , I'm going to back you up on this man , like you should really do this professionally . Thanks , I appreciate it . I'll get it down one day . You're going to look into it , all right . So a couple of things . A couple of things here . A couple of things here . We have two dinners coming up . Yeah , we have two .
One's a pregame dinner so to speak , someone's an overachiever For the main .
Yeah , you're crazy . I mean you're . You know the overachiever is you and John hates you for it . I just want you to know that , all right . So why don't we talk about that a little bit ?
We have no , we've got Marvin . That's what we need to talk about , marvin and .
Cajada Club yeah .
He's graciously opened his arms and just really gung hole about having us out the farm and having the event at the farm .
What event is that ?
This is called Craveable Farm , or , sorry , the farmer's Craveable Dinner . This is , by the way , john . There's your news flash . That's what it's called . Did we get the graphic ?
done yet .
No , no , anyhow , there's that finger again .
You're number one .
So what we're doing is we're having the first one is we're going to have some influencers and press to come out to the farm . We're doing a six course menu of the nine course menu . Things are changing .
Obviously we're not going to be doing this in December , so what the list was that the farmers had is going to obviously change for January , so we're going to have to change some of those items . So what's really good about this as a chef is I'm getting reconnected with the farmers .
We're going to bring other chefs that can reconnect with farmers and that's going to enter another avenue for the farmer to connect another revenue stream .
But the biggest one for us is getting the guests , the people that don't know about farms , to come out see what Cahaba Club does , see what Happy Tales does , see what E-Family farms do , so that way they can experience what Florida has to offer as agriculture and what we produce here as far as produce for the entire country at certain times of the year .
And that's the main goal here is to show that spotlight not only on the culinary talent of the local talent here in town in Tampa Walk and talk and the walk and talk talent , the walk and talk talent , but it's also to elevate the farmers and the knowledge that they're out there and they're busting their humps , but they do some great work and you can tell
when you taste the product .
I mean , listen , when you take the quality of chefs that we're working with anyway , and then we're going to kind of combine your local farms , who all these cats work incredibly hard , like to , we'll get into that in a second .
It's kind of like the over overriding topic today is you know farms , hard work , you know washing dishes too , right , amy , that's right . Okay , hip-checking , hip-check , but yeah , I mean we'll get into that . But like you take the farmer , you take the very quality chef , you put them together and we make like magic in a plate , 100% .
And what's great about it is , I think , one of the things that we've lost since COVID coming out of it and where everybody's trying to pick the direction where the restaurant industry is going to go , is one we will lift . We miss the service aspect of it , going back to the standards .
I think the other thing we really missed and this is a great thing that you experienced and you talk about it with me when we're in Dallas is the experience , the memories that you can you build when you're at a table .
Yeah .
I didn't even say it . I know exactly where he's going to go Go .
Yeah . So listen this . Okay , there's memories because here's why . So we go to this really awesome world food championship . We were really blessed to be asked to come out . We podcast live not live , but we podcast basically live throughout the whole event . And I was fortunate to be a master judge .
I did , you know , got to judge a bunch of competition , okay , at nighttime I mean , and we're working 12 hours a day , like we're getting there at eight in the morning , we're leaving at eight at night . It's pretty intense and I kind of wasn't expecting that .
To be honest with you , I haven't put that kind of like heavy lifting work in in a long time , but I was anyway . So we got invited to you can call it an after party at Scott Green's place . Scott Green is the owner of Dats , d-a-t-s Dats and they do like a , you know , like a Tabasco sort of sauce Louisiana style .
Best way I can say is the comparison is takes sweet chili from Thailand , throw it to somebody in the Cree , oh , land of New Orleans or Louisiana , like Scott , and that's what you get . I mean , it was such a .
I mean that's the catch up there , which is like a hybrid of the of the sauce and catch up , oh my God . So anyway , and those soft shoulder , we don't know , we don't , we don't know a soul , not a soul in this place . There was maybe 15 people right and we walk in it , and it was Jeff Pooch , jacob and myself , and no , dear .
And we're not the anyway . We walk in and don't know a soul . There's a chick playing a guitar , there's just people eating and having a good time and we were like , oh my God , what do we ?
bridge at London .
But we're at Virgil , like what are we doing here ? You know , we don't know anybody what we did do because we didn't want to go empty handed and it was like a side quest , honesty to try to get to bring booze . You know we didn't want to go there empty handed . So long story short thanks Jacob .
No booze and we did come in with with the citrus America juicing machine . Okay , we brought that with us and we brought lemons , limes and the four racks of ribs , zucchini , squids , squash , asparagus . We brought food and Jeff not me , of course , but Jeff just jumped right in and started cooking . Those were lamb chops , right ?
Yeah , lamb rack . Oh my God .
Oh my God , I okay . So as Jeff's cooking , I see Jacob setting up the machine and I see Pooch out there , kind of like you know , butterflying around being , you know , just being cool with everybody and I'm just observing , right . We chewies too . Cheese we's , cheese we's . So , yeah , right , cause that's what we use , just we're coding it .
And then they had those soft shell crawfish .
Okay Soft , I never had that in my life and it was so good . Hear me out , though . There's a story here . I'm watching everyone and I'm just observing , yeah , cause I'm kind of uncomfortable , truthfully . I don't know anybody and I'm like , wow , I have to find something to do here . I can't just stand watching this guy work .
Hello , that was me today .
Yeah , I'm like put me in True story , but you know who we are . That's a different .
Yeah .
So Bridget London , she sits down and she's I don't know where she has . I didn't see where there was an acoustic guitar , like I don't know where she pulled that from . I don't know where it came from , I don't know where . Excuse me , I probably just made a mess .
I don't know where she starts playing songs that she wrote and she's singing and there's 15 people in a room is very intimate , he's cooking and the smell and she's singing and all of a sudden he's the fire alarm goes off and the fire one . Would you start ruining my story ?
So what ends up happening is everybody's into into this the songs , and she's like really from the heart , like really great , very talented woman .
Stevie Nicks is what I had , the Fleetwood Mac kind of vibe .
Yeah , oh , 100% , yeah , 100% . And everybody's chilling and just watching her sing , he's cooking and people are just eating , and it was such an amazing experience , granted . Yeah , you set the smoke detector off a couple of times , but it wasn't your fault , yeah who puts a smoke detector right over the stove .
Over the stove , literally over the stove Like right on top . It was there , right .
Well , no , the the mic thing was . I was just remember talking to somebody . I'm like I don't know how long you've been in the restaurant industry . He's like , oh , I've been in it for a while 15 years , yeah .
Like the nighttimey industrial season room to the . Go for it , bro , I got you Totally didn't sound like that at all but it was Cajun , but I get what you're saying .
Anyway , these are such a great group of people and we got to share like this this moment in the history of our lives where there was really motion going around the room , you know , like this , with the woman singing , bridget singing , the food coming out and I mean I say something and I hate to sound cheesy like this , but the Dats sauce was part is now
ingrained in part part of that memory , like those soft shots Holy crap , I've never had I could have . Like I wish I was alone with all of it Because I would not know it .
John , not at all . Thanks , it was . It was a moment of I mean , I've never had it . I used to live in Louisiana . I never saw a soft shell crab or soft shell crawfish , never . And nothing like that , and as soon as somebody brought it over , and I'm like I just stood there the night before . That's where we got introduced to him .
So that night , when we're that Wednesday night , when we went over the house , I was like it was literally one for them , one for me , one for that , one for me . And we then we actually did it two ways we did it flowered and then we did it with the cheese . We that I made that whole concoction .
Crusted the thing and yeah , and then , but then that's not even it . But then then the lamb starts coming out .
I had no idea how many people were videoing the whole thing of me . Cut it , yeah it was dude .
It was so good . What was that ? That sausage that we have , was that called ? Do you remember ? I never had that before either . Duh , duh , dude .
Not , not , and that wasn't Kineca we're , we're , we're what . What house were we ?
at Scott's place . It was like that Louisiana style sausage . I forget what . They call it a Damn , I'm like and do we put it and do we .
That's what you couldn't remember . I do .
I never heard of that in my life . Oh , never , had it never heard of it anyway .
Oh , no , no , it was no , no , no , give me a minute .
It's the rice and that budon budon yeah , sorry , right there , you go on .
Good , good , nice , good job yeah yeah , oh my god , that was the best budon . Yeah , see , it was some kind of gas station budon that if you , if you go to Louisiana and you go to a gas station , that's gonna be , that's what you're gonna eat . And let me tell you something , lord have mercy , that was some damn good budon .
Lord , absolutely have mercy , because it was anyway . What a great night , and it's a memory that I am never gonna forget , because it was one of these things we just shared moments with people that you had probably most of never see again , but it was just . It was wrapped in food and music and it was just so cool .
You know , both Scott and Bridget have asked me when you're gonna come out to buy you and I'm like when I get invited , they're like you're invited , yeah .
So yeah , I hadn't talked . I have not spoken with Brigitte , but I have with Scott , which trying to put something .
Yeah , by the way , scott , you're not in Windixie by Parsons and MLK .
I've been there , been looking for you need to figure the logistics out to Scott .
Yeah , anyhow , but I will tell you that's what we're gonna bring to the farmers crevable dinners is that experience that you know ? Memory that we're gonna build for people over a period of time , but we're also gonna help those farmers out to yes .
Yeah , I have you know . By the way , they did the world food championship . They invited us back for next year .
No , I thought we were gonna go to Arkansas and do that for the final table .
I don't know , we didn't talk about that . But you know I'm happy with next year , that's fine .
Yeah , this time hopefully John can be there .
I don't know .
I mean you don't have to say anything , john .
Tip , tip our 40 over for him .
No , we just need to build something for better acoustics for us . Yeah , that's , we do need a an enclosure or or microphones , like the guys from Walmart , because they did not have any feedback at all .
Yeah , but they were all the way down . We were right next to the stage . Art we are place .
Wait , man , I think the only one that really knows that the worst is me . And Jacob , you were walking around or judging .
I was there , man ? I was there and you can't say I wasn't there .
I got pictures , weren't there with the mark Henry and the yeah .
I know you're bastards Did .
I ever tell you that story , john , about that . So they , jacob , comes over and it was like hey , um , and I looked up and it's Brian Duffy . Brian Duffy and Mark Henry , and Jacob looks at me , goes yeah , but Carl's judging ago , screw him , he's judging .
Yeah , you guys are great friends . Yeah , it's mark Henry , you know I'm not gonna make him wait .
Mark Henry does not wait .
You tell mark , you tell mark Henry to wait . No , he's a bigger deal than you . Oh yeah , he can . He can , no question . But you give me a break here . I mean , come on . Well , anyway , I got some good pictures with him up on stage and he's a good cat .
Oh , he's he and his manager . What's that cat's name ? Keith ? No , he lost like a hundred and something pounds . I Don't know ?
Oh , you don't know the story . No , I don't . It wasn't that you weren't there .
I didn't do that on purpose , amy . I swear to God . I thought he was there of the no , no , sorry . Jacob and pooch know that story .
Yeah , whatever , anyway , yeah , there were some heavy hitters over there , was a really great time . You know who would have a blast over there ? Amy , amy would have had a blast .
Already invited myself next year , so I just show good .
Well , we can just put you as a roadie you know what they need to do .
A bread like competition .
Another category ?
No , no , I like it , they had the jam and the chef competition , the barbecue , yeah .
Bacon , the , the fire , the fire woman .
Yeah , crazy those women were just on fire . No , they were bad asses . They really . Especially the woman that won , I can't . She was over at my clouds house when we got invited for that dinner and I remember and I told Amy the story . My tiramisu is one for different competitions and date brought and Palm Beach counties and so forth .
In Martin County I I tried her tiramisu . It stopped me dead in my tracks to turn around and went what is this ? And she goes and she starts telling me what it is . I said this is tiramisu like to the next level . She's like yeah , I said Holy cow , this is incredible . So I can understand why she took first place .
Yeah , I mean , I know the digits . Phil rizuto over there . Yeah , holy cow . Yeah , I mean yeah , nobody's gonna absolutely nobody's gonna know what that means .
But yeah , well , I can't do other words that I want to say so right . Yeah , I try to keep myself clean .
Let's talk farmers . I'd love to talk about farming , but before we get into farming , let's talk about dishes . So , which dish ? What happened ? No , like the dishes , like . So what happens when you get a Farmer and you have the farmer come to , I'm assuming just studios where there's a lot of cooking going on ? As it turns out , farmers can't sit still Right .
Oh , those dishes , those dishes , yeah , like . First of all , thank you , you did not have to do that . Yeah , chime was upset .
He was like I go , yeah , she's doing the dishes , she doesn't need to do that . I'm like I got hip checked yeah , hip checked yeah .
Well , anyway , I'm just saying like yeah , thank you you want to talk about overachieving and , like you know , just work ethic , this one right here , thank you .
Thank you , amy well , remember , if you need any bodywork done fiberglass rebuild , bondoing- Mechanics general mechanics yeah , yeah . It's YouTube University yeah .
Amy , yes , how I learn ?
energy . That's what it is . So what is the day ? What is the day in the life ? Don't make a face .
That's a loaded question , it's so loaded , but let's talk .
Farms like what's a day in life on a farm .
There's no day that's the same . Never you get up , try to sell some stuff .
Hope doesn't rain , I mean you don't want the rain , huh ?
No , because you have your own irrigation , right . You like , go away rain . Sometimes we could use a little bit of rain .
All right . So what's the most ? All right , let me ask you a different way what ? What's the ? What's the biggest challenge that you find in your , in your farm world ?
Me or the farm in general , like my well , I mean my job on the farm .
I presume it's hand-in-hand .
How about both ?
okay . So Really , the competition that's imported is our biggest challenge . Really , market pricing we're still wholesale so that's always going to be the lowest price starting .
You know it starts with us and then people just add on prices as it gets into restaurants and by the time , like our box of Napa cabbage is pennies compared to when you buy a head in public . So just seeing that and knowing what we have to do to produce a single box of produce is so , ultimately speaking , disheartening , right .
So what ends up happening is the stuff that's coming , that's imported right , is actually less expensive than how we can , you know in terms of how we're producing it here , right , but there's , I mean , I think right now , or at least in the last you know , five , six , a dozen years , there has been an effort to you know , and it's kind of what we do here
on the show as well is highlight your local farms , buy from your local farms . I mean , have you seen , you know , a kind of come back to center on that a little bit .
I think our niche is a little bit different and hard to pinpoint where we go in terms of sales and customers and we were really heavy in just the Asian markets . You know , I married into the family . They've been there for 40 years in Florida , so they've had customers for 40 years .
So my in-laws are in their 70s Also , their customers are in their 70s and 80s .
So for us coming in me , and me , my husband , my brother-in-law trying to find different customers and markets and we're getting more into , like the American markets and just trying to bridge that gap a little bit and finding our own customers , you being the next generation coming up . They've had , you know , for forever .
They never had a website until 2018 when we went to the PMA Association in Orlando and that kind of got us a lot more customers from that . But it's just been from old school customers just getting .
It's hard to transition into the today and what they're growing is more mainstream now . And then I think also the challenge for this particular farm is packaging as well . It's like you know , you see that huge case sitting on that counter right now .
The biggest real estate kitchen has is the cooler space , you know and you're looking at that and that's a lot of space that it takes up and when you're not an Asian steam restaurant , it's tough to go through that much Napa .
I mean , as you know , I spent 20 years in produce distribution right and there's never been I don't know that there's ever been a time where I wasn't selling Napa cabbage in Eastern veg . You know what I mean . The boxes are big . It's always a 40 , 50 pound cases of everything .
And they're big , you know , but very necessary and there's a huge need and the demand is there . Their sales are taking place , you know .
It's nowhere what it used to be back in the day .
And we've we had never offered anything less than you know the 40 pound , 50 pound packs of stuff , and so in the last couple of years we've just been reaching out and saying let's offer a 10 pound pack or a 15 pound pack , and that's , that's where it's at , really .
For food service sales . Wow , that's amazing . I mean , it is great because you know one from the distributor point of view . You know , at the end of the day , you know we're the ones that end up having to piece this stuff out and that's brutal . You know labor packaging . You know the whole , the whole nine yards of it .
You know , when you do try to take into consideration that a good majority of your clientele may not even have a walk in , you know they might just have the . You know the reach in . Yeah , so that's a great thing . Is that something that's already in play or your ? How ? How is that being received ?
Love it , people love it . What do you mean ? How it's being received .
I mean it's been successful , yeah .
People are loving that , and especially if you think about well , jeff , you got a box of the Shanghai that would last . If you're thinking about making a soup , how many ? How are you going to put ahead of Shanghai in a soup ?
No , you , might get one one leaf one whole you know , and that's just kind of I'll be honest with you the one , the way I used to use that .
we used to do a tomato watermelon kimchi with the Shanghai joy , so an embrace . And I know a lot of times we also did like a miso glaze , shanghai on top of fish or black cod .
But you're not using a lot of it . No .
I mean , like that , that case , if I wasn't doing kimchi , it would be a different state situation for me . Yeah , yeah , so yeah .
If you know if , if a restaurant gets and we still do a lot of Asian restaurants that come in markets and stuff for them that it'll go bad before they can kind of get through it . So offering a 10 pound pack or even a 15 pound pack is what people are liking right now and you get . I mean you still probably get 60 to 70 heads in there .
So I mean they're huge yeah .
Yeah , it's big .
So right now you're , are you doing retail as well ?
We do . We are in a market up in like Pennsylvania , New York and stuff .
You're not in you're . You're not in any retail spaces in Florida . No , how is that possible ?
I don't know . We've just .
Foreign competition yeah , but there's still got to , but everybody's looking for go ahead go .
We're seasonal . So if we sign a contract with Publix , we we don't sell anyone else's produce . We grow our own , we sell our own , that's it . We don't handle anyone else . It could be a , you know , a con for us . We might need to rethink that , but we have to be . We have to be able to offer them stuff year round .
And the thing is , when we had , we were delayed a month from the rain a month and a half ago . So if we had a contract , we would either have to buy someone else's stuff and get it , get it to that store . So we're still a I wouldn't say a small family farm . We're a small family that operates a large farm . But no , we're not in not doing retail .
We're just not .
Where do you , where does the company want to be ? What does the farm want to be right now ?
Everywhere we want to be . We want to be in the stores .
I mean we go into the stores and we see other people's product and we know that we can do do it better and produce it better and safer , and so if you were taking product that's coming from overseas and it's going to go in a container , you know it's quite a , quite a distance and time , and then it sits at the port and by the time it gets in it's
quite a , quite a bit of time . Obviously you're getting it straight from the ground here would go , go on a truck and get , go to a distribution center and , you know , be delivered to somebody's kitchen .
I , I , I , even with the savings that you're getting from the overs , like the quality , the level of quality and freshness that you're getting from here versus there , it really needs to be , you know , coming to Jesus , so to speak , moment in the in the food industry on this .
I've been a huge proponent of that , because I mean you have to change your , you have to change your menu , you cannot stay stagnant .
But but listen , here's the thing , like , if you , if you're talking strictly , hearts and minds right . Average Joe , you know shopper , you know Jane shopper , whatever . They go to the store and they say man .
I'm getting a lot less for the same dollar right you have , you know , a family local , you know USA farm right , who's trying to do in the right work , trying to get , you know , get enough to be profitable and they're up against this , this juggernaut of of price right that's from overseas .
It's hard to overcome that because the person who spent in the money at the store is saying I gotta go to the cheapies .
Well , the unfortunate thing too is the market price and the retail side . That's what sets the stage for the the combat with the farmer . It's not the farmer that sets the pricing when they want to sell it to a supermarket . It's the supermarket that dictates the price .
And let's be honest , and that's one of the main problems , I think the other thing that we need to look at as far as the whole the whole sale aspect of the chefs , what we can do is when , when it's a funny story , when I was looking to do shoots last week with John or a couple of weeks ago with John , I was at Sprouts and I saw , oh , blood orange
and we were doing the Halloween thing , that's what probably wanted to bring it up . I was , oh , this is purple or the blood orange , it was going to be great . And I looked and it's vampire Dracula , you know , blood oranges . I'm like , oh , they're back in season .
I looked Australia no offense to John McFadden but I put that orange down and said it's not traveling that far to that plate . That was , that's the change .
If chefs make that change and don't look at the price , and when I used to be sales support for that broadliner , when I would see somebody and be like , hey , it's $10 , you know , whatever the price is , well , what's the price ? I don't do pricing . When they heard the price , well , that's $10 , a case more .
Well , if you break it down and stop being mathematically just on case , and break it down to the ounce size . I guarantee you it's not more than 10 cents . If you can't afford 10 cents difference for better quality food , then close your doors . This is simple as that . That's my pro tip for the day . Say it again . There's no other thing to say .
If you can't afford 10 cents difference in the bottom line of your plate , shut your doors . You're an absolute idiot to think at $20 , $10 , whatever . It is the difference .
And no offense . And no offense to the idiots out there . You know what I mean . I didn't mean that in jet , I say that in jest . But yeah , at the end of the day , we do need to look at . You know how we're buying . Our stuff needs to change . Yeah , you know .
Well , it's not only that , we have to get back and this is to point out the power that the consumers and the chefs have If we stopped , simply stopped saying I want to peach all year round . Think about number one how excited you are when you see Georgia peaches coming in this season .
Or you see , you know , watermelon , honeydew , cantaloupe we're not getting it from no offense to the other countries , chile but when we open these doors to other countries to bring port , you know , their stuff in that could be competing with local farmers , we're doing an injustice not only to ourselves .
We're doing an injustice to our farmers and our community wholeheartedly , and it needs to stop yeah .
I don't disagree with any of that . I guess we're done here .
Yeah , I know , but I don't think a lot of people like what is the biggest challenge for you besides the competition ? Like you know , Carl mentioned rain , you mentioned rain . What is the biggest challenge out there for a farmer ?
I mean how staffing ?
Terrible . The people we have are great , but we need more people .
Still a big challenge , and are you ?
That's one H2 . That's two H2 .
So we are just now getting into the H2A . We should have some in January and we don't really know If it's gonna work or if we can afford it . Honestly , at this point it's over $20 an hour and when we're getting 10 , 15 , $20 a case , that's not great for us , or less .
If we get a complaint that comes back or somebody says well , we're getting it from this place for this much , so we kind of have to satisfy them . It's hard , I mean , we're all struggling .
I think every sector is struggling with the same challenge . Voting matters , people , it really does , and I don't want to get into that specific topic , you don't want to dive deep in that , but people , we all really need to take a look at who really is for us here . It's great . And you have this whole global community . That's awesome .
But it doesn't Send your stuff that we don't have here .
Yeah .
Don't send us the same stuff we grow here .
Correct 100% .
Send us those banana varieties that can last that trip , or whatever , or those blood orange from Australia .
Yeah , I mean , I think that there was a balance there because there's nothing wrong . So I agree with that that there should be seasonality . And I do miss like , oh man , summer's coming , we're gonna get watermelon . I miss that because I can get it all the time , but guess what ? It's not as good .
It can't be as good because it's coming from 2000 miles away . It's just not going to be good .
I'm so back and forth on that . I get it and respect what you say . And then it's like when I'm at the store thinking about what's on my grocery list , and what do I see in front of my face . I try to just get obviously local stuff , but I have a kid who's not picky , so that's great .
But if you have kids that are only eat specific things and then it's like , oh , they have to have their blueberries in their bag every day , it's so hard because you just you go in there , you get the pre-cut stuff , you get the packaged stuff .
Well , we're doing it all wrong anyway because , the kids are . The children should be eating what is seasonal and what's available and what we , as the parents , prepare for them . Not everything that comes from a cardboard box that came from a factory that's full of all sorts of just healthiness Food ink . You got to watch the movie .
Got to watch the movie your eyes will be open .
It's not a conspiracy theory , but my goodness . And I'll say one thing about buying from foreign countries , especially with produce . That's a national security issue to me , because if we keep on buying from afar , the farmers can't afford their land . They got a business . We have nowhere to get our food , then we're relying upon other nations . True story .
Think about that one . Yeah , that is the absolute truth . So I think the biggest thing for me is the .
But if you actually , if you compare that I thought he was going to put the piano , I was about to play the piano , go ahead , right , if you compare what you just said and in conjunction with how the government is buying land and how some certain players out there who are , they've got the financial wherewithal to also buy , large swaths of land across growing
farmland , fertile land across the country . I mean , who Does anybody trust any of this ?
Well , look at Westlake in West Palm Beach . 20 years ago that was Orange Fields , orange Orchards , that's all it was . And then the environmentalists moved in . They shut it down for 20 years and now 4,500 alms are going in .
Yeah , we farm right behind there , we farm behind Westlake .
Yeah , see that I mean where I grew up in Cooper City . It was not the Orange Groves and Dairy Farms , yeah , Cattle Ranch .
Oh , do you know , justin ? Then he does the chickens out there .
That's his last name , justin the chicken guy , the chicken guy .
Trust me , that's Kelly . Knows him as Justin the chicken guy .
He does the eggs at Swank . No .
He's one of the guys , that does them .
Yeah , swank Farms . Yeah , I'll say this Love Swank .
This is a treat for me , even doing the dishes that was a treat for us , by the way .
John didn't say anything , but he did . In the studio . He said she can come back whenever she wants , if she's going to clean the dishes .
Okay .
He did .
Silent on strikes again . He feels bad . I did the dishes . Oh yeah , he does , he really does , he really does I feel bad .
He won't tell you , he doesn't talk . You saw that .
He's got us the counter and watch you and eight .
That's what I do at home . I mean that's what I do . Anyway , it's funny because you know , hold on . I was saying okay , okay .
This is a treat for me , because we are nonstop August through May , sometimes into June . So you're asking what our struggles are . It's , it's daily . It's a daily struggle . Everything is different , you know . Stuff breaks down , stuff needs to be fixed , stuff doesn't grow properly , all the things .
So we're fertilizing issues .
Yeah , so this is very more hard for me to be here . It's not hard for me to be here , but it's hard for me to take the time to be away to and to really think about what our struggles are , because we're in it , we're just in doing it and that's that's it .
So sometimes I don't know what's going on Outside of our farm and what is so sometimes it's good to get out and get some fresh eyes , you know , especially if you're going to a different part of the state or country or whatever . It gives you different perspective and it's healthy .
Yeah .
Yeah , like you should , you know , I mean I'm I don't know how often , you know um , you know hubby gets to , you know to go out , but everybody should take some time .
Yeah , not to really take a vacation , Not to take a vacation per se , like you know , that's good too , but like to get out and just go walk around city centers , you know , or other areas where they farm and you know , just to see different ways or perspectives or the vibe that that you know that particular area is given off you know , because maybe it's
they're so ingrained in their own ecosystem .
I know , look at , look at Marvin . You talked to him . He's like I was up at two o'clock in the morning .
I was doing , breaking this thing down and then you , you talked to Amy and you , you know , when we were talking about the food for you to bring up , you were like , yeah , I don't know if that's going to be good for the other event we did back in Sally Mars . She was like we're going to have some rain .
I don't know if it's going to look that good , I don't know . So there was . There's always this every day , even in the kitchens . We never know who's going to not going to show up , who's going to show up . It's the same thing , but it's just different for what the farmer has to go through .
Yeah , and I think what's been why I've been drawn to you guys is bread .
He loves bread . Yeah , thank you .
No , you've been drawn to me for the bread .
You drew us to you Like you did this .
You just you just held the bread Like it was . He was like a moth . That was the light .
You lowered me in .
Um , no , but just to hear food from a different aspect . I've known nothing about the restaurant industry and it's really neat to just hear you guys talk about food , and from a chef perspective and from an eating perspective and from just all around .
It's been but and and your biggest she looked at it right there , right , she was staring at me the whole time .
Yeah , the eating person . Yeah , the eating one was definitely towards you . I wanted to , and so is John right now .
Right , you're just looking at you , I know , envy me , envy me . You got seven pounds to gain , I do , I already , probably today . So , um , but you know , your , your clients , your customers , and not the end user , like who's dining at the establishment , but like the establishments , that's your customer .
I know , right , and you guys have to understand the metric of food service , the food industry at large . You , you , you , you know . If you don't understand who your client is , how are you going to maneuver and pivot properly to get them what they need ? Yeah , you know what I mean .
Well , now they do family boxes to you , so someone can experience a good array of different items that the family farms do . I mean the , the daikon , the Chinese broccoli .
Are you guys doing any like ? Do you ? Do you ever ?
Do you do bok ?
choy .
Yeah yeah , you do three different types of bok choy .
I'm going to give a big duh .
No , I just because I can't remember , because Kelly and I , when we got the first box from the family , Kelly was the one that introduced me to Amy . She was 20 , 20 , 2019 .
No , it was after COVID . Oh , it was after COVID .
We bought the box and for some reason I got a lot more daikon , because Kelly doesn't like daikon . So I forgot what was in the box . Okay , so that's why I couldn't remember .
So good story , good tip . Listen , what I'm trying to , what I'm trying to get at here is you have your , your clients . You need to know what , how they're operating in order so that you can make the pivot , you can make the change , right , yeah , when I was going to ask you this are you guys doing ? Do you guys do shows ?
Do you ever go to like other , like what farmers markets Like ? Do you get out there ?
No , we don't , we don't .
All right .
So you're doing a lot of PMA in 2018 and that was and the PMA is great the best thing yeah .
It is expensive , but you got to do it . I mean it's , it's money well spent .
Well , it's worth it for us . Money well spent , yeah exactly and you meet .
You meet on your . From your perspective , you'll meet so many buyers . You know that that are looking for what you do ?
Yeah , Don't ? We know somebody that does a podcast about produce ? I know a guy and he usually goes like to the farm and meets the farmer and like yeah , he's he's got some good good following . He's been going growing on .
Are you talking about the Patrick Kelly ?
from my produce industry podcast oh my God , yeah that dude , Mr Handerball Handerbar uh , dirk , I call him Dirk , dirk , dirk , anyway . So he was going to come today . Why didn't he come ? Oh , because we were having meat .
He's so sysified . Um , no , he um . I went and saw him yesterday , yesterday , day before , whatever . I saw him this week One day . I was blowing your phone up yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , whatever that Anyway . So I went to go see him .
He wanted me to help him with a um , um , with a little commercial thing like for John Papp , which he's part of , uh , patrick's uh , you know circle . They do the history of produce podcast and , um , we were doing a little spot for him . So it's kind of cool . And I knew we weren't going to have a lot of time today to sit down .
There's too much , too much action , so , but he was going to , he was going to poke his head in the door . He wouldn't have eaten anything , you know , maybe the peanut brittle , I don't know .
No , maybe not .
John John . John and Cindy John's sign and you know the place over there on their right hand side , right there . Yeah , it's empty . It's crumb , yeah , crumb , all right . So how can okay so walk and talk , right ? I mean , this is kind of where we live . We're going to figure something out .
All right , the help to you know . Gain the spotlight on the family farms .
Yeah , but but even to do , even , we have to do events , man , Like you know , listen we've been very talk about the next event .
We talked about the 16th .
Hold on , stop right . There we're . There's a blessing that's happening to this operation of ours , right , I mean the whole hey number one on Apple thing . And you know , we're climbing the arts chart as well .
Like I think we , we topped at number eight on in the arts category , which is phenomenal because you know who's like in the top of the arts category sir sir Paul McCartney , you're like , you know , like people like that , like it's , it's stupid . This whole thing that's happening is ridiculous . So here we are , we're , we're doing the . We're doing good work .
And we were just talking about it before , when Jeff was cooking and John was shooting , I was talking to Amy . I was , like you know , with Amy , like we're seeing success and I think the success is coming from the fact that we're doing . It's not just that we're get behind the mic and talk and hopefully somebody listens , whatever .
You're cooking awesome stuff , john's capturing that awesome stuff in an awesome way . It's like super simple stuff .
And then we come here and get on the podcast , talk about it , and then we'll have a cool guest and we'll have a good topic and we'll hit a nerve and all of a sudden it kind of gels together and here we are Right and I feel like we need to continue pushing that quality bar .
You know , in our little genre here , in our little niche , keep pushing that quality bar . But I think in part of that push is to get out and do . I think to do is the secret sauce or that ingredient . He just texted me , by the way .
Scott .
Green .
I just got a text from him it's funny because we're not live , so he doesn't hear it .
Right , he's not hearing this right , but he did , Scott , just in our foodie-poutoudie Pooch what's going on here anyway .
So , as you're looking at that real quick , so what Carl is talking about and what we're going to do is , on the January 13th we're actually gonna be doing the farmer's Craveable Dinner . It's a nine course tasting meal . They want us to go to Dubai If they're paying .
Well , I mean , that's part of it . He's shaking his head now .
Yeah , I mean that's what I'm talking about . So I got the board again . Yeah , I get that , but we're going to be doing in January 13th we're going to be over at Cahaba Club with Marvin and what day , january 13th , is this Saturday . Yes , it's going to be the first one we're going to do .
We're going to be showcasing Yee Family Farms , happy Tales Farms , mount Dora there's a produce farm out there . We'll be doing Going to secure that . We're going to have some bartenders , we're going to have live ations and it's going to be a good old time .
We're going to have about 80 spots that we're going to fill and we're going to have 16 VIP spots and those VIPs are going to be getting some of the actual product from the farmers , like the butter , the cream and the goat cheese that's going to be coming from Happy Tales .
They'll get some produce from Yee Family Farms , they'll get a bottle of wine that we're going to be choosing for that night and they'll get some of the recipes as well . You get a recipe .
And you get a recipe and you get you got to get some okra win free in there , yeah , and eventually what we'll do .
So what I did there okra win free , eventually what we can do is with John being there and actually shooting some of this photography , we'll be able to get some really good photos and then when we develop the Cravele Bull book , which is the cookbook we're going to be working on with all the different chefs that we're going to have and bring in this is going
to be the basis of that and then we can actually help not only the farmers being showcased but the mental health aspect of it with sharing our stories and chefs helping chefs and that charity .
I love it . I think we're heading in the right direction . And listen , we're kind of new with Amy and Yee Farms , correct , right ? I mean , we didn't know each other really beforehand or whatever , and through all of this , what we're doing , it kind of .
So we're out there , we're meeting people and I'm glad we did Like you're awesome and what you guys are doing on the farm is awesome , and wherever we can kind of like be there to assist in any way to elevate what you're doing , we're here for it .
Thank you .
And we want to be that for the farming community but also for the food service .
Well , she has a story about the food service . Like you were just mentioning , you went out to a dollar tree or something .
Why do you ? She looks surprised I know what I'm like .
what do you think ? You went out to a store and saw a product that you heard about on a podcast . I did Right . What was that about young lady ?
Okay , so I was listening loyally peruse and was listening to the market pantry . No , modern , what is ?
it , I think , modern pantry boxed milk .
Shelf stable milk and .
Diversified foods .
Immediately , I was like I need this .
I need this in my pantry .
I have to have it because when I bake I don't always have milk and I always want milk and it was perfect . So I found it , bought a couple jugs of it and I've been using it and it's been perfect . And I wouldn't have known had you guys not talked to the people from diversified foods and it was so as it turns , it was perfect .
They actually came to us Diversified foods . We need to talk , so , but here's the thing the world food championship .
They sponsored , like all the cream and the milk , right yeah .
So we met them there and , of course , this all started . This is how it works , so we did , I think people thought we were famous . Well , we were kind of a Because they were like no , I mean a little bit .
Carl was recognized , so people recognized him .
No , they recognized the sandwiches . Really , they put it down to , not me . They see me , they see sandwich . You know , what I mean .
But no , so it started with Citrus America and they're a vendor partner with us and , by the way , terrific , terrific juicing equipment , like the Mercedes Benz of juicing equipment , anyway , with that Excellent , and it keeps on working . Yeah , I mean , it takes a bit . All right , stop it , get me off track , give me some riddle in there or something .
I need it Anyway , so look . So what ends up happening is they invite us to a show last year , the Nafom Show , and that's a Basically it's like a restaurant industry equipment big show , you know to thousands of people go Big , it's huge .
Huge show it's like the PMA .
It's closest to the size of the PMA . Anyway , we go . We set up the podcast at their booth and we were just doing random podcasts , you know . So yeah , jeff , I don't want Stop it . Stop sidetracking me , dude . Hey , so listen , what ends up happening is we meet at the very end of the night .
The suit guy , pink suit , the pink suit guy , mark , dying over here . So much , mark Conway . Mark Conway , a dear friend , now I'm literally dying . Forgive me here , listen to me drink .
No , we also met the guy from Hesse Blumenthal's research development show . No , we met a lot of Stop it .
We met a lot of people . Mark Conway shows up at the end . It's him and a couple of his . You know , entourage , entourage .
Silent John spoke he speaks .
Is that what your voice sounds like ? So , with his entourage , and we start to talk and he's the coolest guy in the planet , you know , and from that day and you know , obviously he emcees and hosts the World Food Championship . He does a lot of stuff , he's out there , he's like the Ryan Seacrest of the food world .
Anyway , we start talking over the last year and he calls up and he says hey , what do you guys think about coming out and doing the podcast over at the WFC and you can be a . You know , we'll have you be a master judge . I was like I get to eat , right . He goes yeah , yeah , he's like I'm in . You know , like that's a yes , right , check the box .
But it was through Citrus America and us going out and doing right , going to the show , getting out into the trade . You meet Mark Conway . Mark Conway says hey , you guys are cool , let's all be cool together . He says , hey , come on out .
All of a sudden , we're with Mike McCloud and Scott Green .
And you know Metro , and Diversify all these , all these different cats . And now , now you have a shelf stable , you know dairy product that you didn't have before . But do you see that , like the ripple trick , trickle down effect ?
Yeah , oh , like what you did there ripple trickle . Yeah , I mean it's , I coined butterfly effect .
Yeah , that too , right so , but this is how great is that , and this is the whole thing . Are you ? Are you ? I'm mocking you ? You are Get out . You know what ? Jeff , you're out . Amy , you're in .
All right , she does dishes .
I mean .
I can cook , but it's nothing like that , so sorry , I don't know .
I was going to say that's a very good trade off there .
I mean , I mean he leaves this I have left this place , yeah .
I mean like a bomb blew off , Like a giant grease bomb .
Well , when you have a 10 year old and you got to get there , so , and you're about 35 , 45 minutes away .
Dude , you don't have to tell me I get it . Okay , I get it , but I'm still going to rib you , I know . All right , boba Fett , all right .
That's right , he's in the house tonight .
It's a cool shirt man , he's good . So Jeff's rocking this green Boba Fett t-shirt . I mean , hey , Star Wars right .
Hell yeah , man yeah .
These aren't the droids you're looking for Move along .
You remember the joke from what Jillian said baking business joke .
No , you're going to have to remind me , damn it .
If I say the joke , you're going to have to do the last name . Then what's Yoda's last name ?
Yoda there we go Okay , that was my joke from my daughter . Oh my God , yeah , now how did I forget that ?
You're the king of dad jokes , it's true .
I am , I'm a dad joke . I'm a dad joke . I'm a dad joke . I'm a dad joke . It's true I am , and my kids , as they get older , they're going to hate me for this , but they're going to have to deal with it .
There's three people in the other side of the table that hate you for it too , wow .
I do not , Amy . Is that right ? No ?
She's brand new , she's not hurted for the bun behind the scenes yet . See , he said yet . That's two times . He said something .
It's really yeah , and you see like every time he says something , it's really it's about me in some negative way . Like it's wow . You know , it really hurts guys .
Doesn't it ? People in glass houses shouldn't throw pebbles .
Stones .
In his case pebbles .
In your case , fruity pebbles Another story . All right , I mean , okay , I guess I'll just pack it up . Guess we're done here again , right , hi , amy , yeah , how , how do we find you ?
Okay , so Instagram at ye underscore farms Facebook , e-farms , e-farmscom maybe however , that's it .
They can find you now on LinkedIn On LinkedIn . All right , you're coming into the , into the new century ? Yeah , I love it , and also the sourdough geeks right , by the way before I forget , I'm just gonna , I'm gonna seed something that's coming up here and I'm just gonna say Bo Jackson , that's all I'm saying .
Okay .
Coming up sometime really soon . I'll say it one more time Bo Jackson , oh yeah , we're gonna get into that . That's gonna be bad ass . I'm so stoked for what's going to occur . All right , silent John Boy over there . I love you , baby . You're good to go . Amy , thank you for coming out today .
We appreciate everything you've done and do and you bring and you feed us and it's , it's amazing , jeff . Whatever , I'll see you another time . Love you , man . We are out .