Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello everyone and welcome to the New Yorkers, a podcast by New York City Cop. I'm your host, Kelly Kopp, published photographer, New York City tour business owner, real estate, content creator, podcaster, and above all else, a New Yorker.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Ladies and gentlemen, the next Brooklyn bound train in Mount Island. Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
This is a tiny square or the city street.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: With me today I have our friend Giuseppe Federici.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Correct. Well done.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: Perfectly said. I was, I was wondering if I say that correctly. He is an award winning culinary content creator, author of a vegan cookbook and he loves his n. Nonna.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Nonna.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: How do I say it?
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Nonna. Or the American way is Nonna. To be fair, a lot of people do say that.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: I want to say it in Italian.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Nonna.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Nonna.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Or you can call it Mariana if you want.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Mariana, that's her name. Correct. Awesome. Welcome to the show. Giuseppe. Or do you prefer seps?
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Seps or Giuseppe? Actually, my family also call me Joe, but that's only when I'm in trouble.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: I read that. So Joe's not a good thing. You're in trouble.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Seps or Giuseppe is fine.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Seps. Awesome. And so seps is short for Giuseppe?
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty much, yeah. And then Giuseppe means Joe in. In Italian.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Oh, nice, nice. Do you want to tell us about where you're from real quick and a little bit about your story?
[00:01:47] Speaker B: So I'm. I grew up in a very small town called Stoke on Trent. Not really known for much other than pottery and Robbie Williams, if you've heard of Robbie Williams, of course. Yeah. So yeah, it's known for those things. And also mine on that, of course.
And it's not far from Manchester and yeah, born and raised there, but definitely with a strong sort of Italian identity. So grew up around my Nonna. Both my parents are from Italy and I moved to London about five years ago. So yeah, that's sort of like where I was born and raised. And then do you want me to tell you a little bit about sort of like how I got into the content space?
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd love to hear how you got into the content space. So did you. You were born in Italy and then you moved?
[00:02:26] Speaker B: No, I was actually born in England. Yeah. And so I'm kind of like second generation Italian.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: I got parents were also born in England, but both of their parents were born in Italy, so they came over like 70 years ago.
My grandparents actually had like an Italian restaurant and all that.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: But sadly they retired before when I was like two or three, so I never Got to see it. So one of my dreams is actually to sort of reopen an Italian restaurant with the same name, the same sort of decor, but in London, obviously like fully plant based.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: But that's like a 5, 5, 10 year goal.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: And so how did you. So you are vegan, correct?
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Is that also vegetarian?
[00:03:05] Speaker B: No. So vegetarian is basically like no meat and no fish and things, but sometimes they'll have eggs and dairy, whereas vegan is like no animal products whatsoever. So like no fish, no milk, no cheese, no butter, which is sometimes very hard to explain, especially if you're in like an Italian restaurant.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: And they're like, what do you mean? No, no Parmesan, etc.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: So you're strictly vegan?
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yes. So the term is definitely sort of loose in terms of how strict you want to be. Sometimes people will not wear like, or use sort of shampoo that's tested on animals, etc. So there's like the line is very blurred.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: But the definition of veganism is just like as far as practical as you can, avoiding any animal exploitation. So for me primarily that's my diet, but obviously I try to do it in a way as a lifestyle all around, but it's impossible to be like 100% vegan in my eyes because we don't live in a vegan world. So even buying vegetables from the store or walking on the street. Yeah. You're going to contribute to some sort of animal like death or, or exploitation, etc.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: Interesting. And so do you ever. So you're 100% vegan. Correct. So you never sneak off to McDonald's for.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Yeah, no, diet wise. And although McDonald's do, do a great plant burger, I don't know if they have it in the US but they have it in London.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: I'm not sure. But you know what, I just saw your YouTube videos. I think it was Burger King and McDonald's. Correct. And it was interesting to see, you know, to see you rate. Is that, you know, rate a, a fast food restaurant here in the, in the United States. Was.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: It was in the uk.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought it was in the uk. I wasn't sure, but I was in, I watched it and I was like, wow. I was fascinated to see what you would say about it as fast food. But you know, you, you enjoyed it.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean we can't. But everyone loves fast food. Like it tastes good, obviously it's not super healthy, but it's so great that these big establishments are sort of catering to the demand.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Right.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: There's definitely lots of arguments about whether or not it is actually good for the whole vegan movement.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: I mean I think it's a great thing that these chains are offering plant based options. The real question is whether or not it's the meat eaters buying them or if it's the vegans buying them. Because if it's just the vegans buying them then they're just, they're making more money, they're widening their sort of market.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Whereas ideally it's the reason why they have them on offer is so that meat eaters eat them and the only way they're going to get them to do that is if they taste the same or the better and they cost the same or less.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Because if not then people will just stick with the 99p burger. Right?
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. So it's smart, very smart marketing. I don't know if you know this, but I myself, I do eat very healthy. Sometimes I eat like a vegetarian or a vegan. But I do for the most part, as my audience knows too that I eat pretty healthy too. So I have the idea of me switching to being a vegan is. Is there? Yeah, I mean, and I've thought about it and I. It's something I truly possibly just may do.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: It's interesting because obviously there is definitely a synonymous sort of thought with between veganism and health and obviously they actually are two completely different things. So a whole food plant based diet is sort of what people think when they think of like the green juices, the healthy food, the salads, which is obviously a very healthy diet. But veganism at its core is actually nothing to do with the food. It's just all about the animal rights and refusing to like contribute to the animal.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: And so with that you can eat junk food all day and still be a vegan, but obviously you would be a very healthy vegan. So generally that we think veganism is like synonymous with healthy food.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: But it's like I just said.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Exactly, but it's not. But that's great that you want to be more healthy. And the good thing about it is that.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: But my perspective is exactly what you describing.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah, the good thing about it is if you do want to become more healthier, even though obviously you already are super healthy, but you don't have to be 100 vegan to. To be super healthy, you can just eat mostly whole foods and less processed foods etc.
So yeah, it's important to like note that sort of difference for sure.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Well, I think New York and I talk about it to my audience too, you know, on my live videos and stuff. I, I, the city makes me eat healthy too because it, you know, makes my body run smoother, you know. You know, we're busy, we're one around, running around this, I'm running around the city, you know, walking 20, 30,000 steps a day, you know, so I have to eat healthy to, to maintain the exercise I do around the city every day too. So.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: But yeah, there's, it's obviously it's so hard in cities like this one. There's so much processed food and junk everywhere.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: How did you get into being a vegan? What, what was the reason you became a vegan?
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Yeah, so originally speaking about it was originally for the health reasons. So my dad got diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, which is like one of the worst ones but also one of the most common around the world. And I did lots of research and pretty much everything pointed back to how it can be reduced. You can reduce your risk if you cut out meat, especially red meat and processed meat.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: What year did he diagnose?
[00:07:46] Speaker B: This was about like eight or nine years ago now. And I did so much research and basically everything pointed back to how a plant based diet can help prevent or even in some cases reverse.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Leading killers. So not just colon cancer, but also heart disease, stroke, etc. And I essentially tried to convince him and after like one or two years of him being sick and having different kinds of like chemotherapy which he refused and operations, he managed to go plant based. And whether he was lucky with his operation or whatnot, he basically got like six months remission and then he stayed plant based, felt better and then it was a year remission and now it's been like seven years of him being in remission. So he's fully cancer free, still plant based.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Wow, that's amazing. Good for me.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: My whole family are plant based as well, so.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Obviously it did not necessarily work for everyone, but we feel great. I've always said I'm happily going to stay on this diet. If I ever need to consume any animal, animal products for urgent health reasons, I will. But right now I get my blood tested every year and they're better than the average person and I'm feeling great, so I don't see a need to.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: So you and your family believe that his diet, being a vegan is what saved his life?
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Definitely. Absolutely. And it's also preventing them from getting any, any other further serious illnesses.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: It's amazing. And so you, you're the one who started this.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: This I Was the catalyst.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: Yeah. The catalyst for going vegan for your whole family. And everyone joined in and everyone's healthy now. That's fascinating. That's great to hear.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah. It's what shocked me so much as well is like, for example, red. Red meat is a Class 2 carcinogen. And processed meat like bacon, salami, ham, which is foods that people feed their children like three times a day all over the world is a Class 1 carcinogen, which is the same class as like cigarettes and asbestos, like lunch meat too.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Cigarettes are like, they have warning labels on saying like this, this, like, this causes cancer, whereas like a pack of bacon wouldn't. And they arguably just as risky.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, even every. Everything that I pick up at the grocery store, I look at the ingredients and if it isn't just one ingredient or, you know, I won't buy it, if that makes sense. You know, it can't. It can just be like potatoes or water or can't have any of these big words. That's just how I live my life. So, you know, I think it's important to eat, to eat healthy.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Definitely.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: So you wrote a vegan cookbook.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: I did. With my. With my nonna.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: I love that. Tell us about it. Yeah.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: So it all started. So obviously I started my page about a year or so after I went plant based stuff. I went vegan just because I was fed up with people always asking me, like, what do I eat on a plant based diet? Where do you get your protein? So I started to take photos of what I eat and then that sort of developed a passion for like food photography and videography and I'd always had like a creative eye anyway. And then when Instagram introduced videos, I started reels and then it took off. But it took me like four or five years of it just being a hobby to get a decent following. 10,000 followers.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: And then I introduced my grandma to the scene.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: So I was basically known.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Yeah. One day we were. It was a Sunday, we were having lunch and I thought I might as well film her today making her pasta sauce because it tastes amazing and it's so hard to recreate. We've always tried to make it at home and it's never tasted as good. So I thought if I film it, I know exactly sort of the process she's doing. And it was never even really the intention to sort of like post loads of videos. But I filmed it, I edited it and had a bit of fun with it and posted it and it did pretty well. And then I did another one, and it did even better. It got, like 5 million views, which was the pasta with garlic and olive oil. And then ever since then, we just kind of did more and more. My page grew, got the attention of some local news and, like, radio stations, but nothing huge. And then we got nominated for an award called the Fortnum Mason Creator of the Year Award.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: I was gonna ask you about that.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: And I didn't know I was gonna win.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: What is that award?
[00:11:30] Speaker B: It's just, like, a prestigious sort of retail store in the uk, Fortnite Mason. And they have these awards every year. Good for the book industry. So we won. That took an hour on stage, which was great. And on that night, we got chatted to a book publisher and a TV producer. And the TV producer got us on, like, this live segment called BBC Saturday Kitchen.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Like, two weeks later, I was going to ask you. I saw the BBC.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Very, very cool. And so, yeah, winning that award that night was definitely sort of like a fork in the road for my career, because it's where I met the book publisher who got us a book deal and the TV slot, which was amazing.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: I saw also that you interviewed Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: I did, yeah. I got a very cool opportunity through my management and through Disney to sort of interview them for the Lion King film.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: That's pretty cool.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: And I tried to weave in the whole environmental sort of aspect into it, which is very sneaky, but I definitely caught them off guard, I think.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: I thought it was smart.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: Yeah, too.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: At the end, you asked them a question. I thought it was about that, too.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: And it was just about how. How I basically said, like, animals can talk in the film, but they can't in real life. What would you think they would say about the state of the world, giving that animal agriculture is, like, destroying our planet?
[00:12:35] Speaker A: And they answered. They answered right away, too, basically.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I love, too, that you.
You met King Charles and Queen Camilla.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: We did, yes. Camilla, Right, Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was definitely a highlight for Nonnar as well. We got invited to sort of celebrate their coronation.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: That's pretty amazing.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: It's very, very cool. Yeah. My Nonna can now say she's met the King and Queen.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: Yeah. That's amazing. So, you know, does your grandmother. She speaks English correct.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: Very, very broken. Not great. She's lived in the UK for almost 70 years and she still doesn't speak because she's always just worked in, like, the kitchen in restaurants or, like, cooked for people and fed people and stayed at home talking to her Italian family, so she's never really had to be out there.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: I think that's why, you know, a big part of why she's so appealing to the audience, too, because she. It's adorable, you know, her accent, and.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: It'S like you've just taken her from Sicily and blow.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: Yeah, she's really sweet. She's really cute. I think she's. Yeah. I think it's really smart to have her in your videos.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: You know, I mean, you're amazing, first of all. And then to add your nonna, most.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: People do say to me they only follow me for my nonna, which is absolutely fine.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Well, you're both. You're both amazing.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: So can you give us a little background about your nona real quick?
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So my nonna, they came over to the UK like, 65 years ago from Sicily. And then originally my. My granddad was working in the mines. And then after about four or five years, he set up his own, like, businesses like ice cream truck. Ice cream factory, and then eventually a fish and chip shop. And a fish and chip truck, and then, like, a chicken shop and then eventually an Italian restaurant, which they had for about 25 years. And then when I was about three or so, they sort of, like, retired because they had six children. So they just.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: Decided to pack it in and just raise the six children.
And now here we are. Yeah. Which is crazy. And obviously one of those children is my mom.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: That's amazing. And sometimes I see your grandpa. Right. How do you say, Is it. No, no, no, no.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So with an o at the end is grandma, with an a is the. Yeah. And then non ni with an I is grandparents.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: Oh, wow. You just taught me a few new words.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: So, like, panini is actually plural, and then one panini is actually panino.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: Let's take a quick break.
Hey, there. I'm Bellamy Young. I'm an actor and a producer. I've been working with the global humanitarian organization care, and I am so excited to invite you along for my new podcast, she Leads with Care. Each week you'll meet some incredible women who have change their lives and their communities. We raise our voices for people who don't raise their voices to defend themselves. Listen to she Leads with Care now on your favorite podcast platform. New episodes every Tuesday.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: I did that. Did you know that, Jay?
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: This is a nice Italian lesson.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: That's the extent of my Italian lessons, unfortunately.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: Well, it's really good. That's. I've learned a lot today. Italian.
So let's Talk about your book real quick. Italian Cooking with Nona. It is an amazing, beautifully made book.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: And I love it. I think it's very well made. As a professional photographer myself, I think the photos are incredible. They're beautiful.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Yeah, we got very lucky. We got the. Pretty much the best photographer in the world called David Loftus. A shout out. David Loftus.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: I love it. And this photo too, with the yellow car.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Yeah, that's my uncle's car, which is very cool. So my Nonna has four sisters, but they all live in Sicily, so it was really special to me that we got to include them in in the cookbook. They all have their own recipe. They all have photos in it.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: It's amazing. The photos are beautiful. I mean, I think I was blown away how beautiful it is and how it's just so.
It's so easy to read, you know, I think the script is perfect. I think tons of photos showing the food.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Yeah, this is one of my favorite shoots, for sure.
[00:16:31] Speaker A: Yeah, it's beautiful.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: And the script is amazing. The recipes are really simple. I mean.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: Yeah. So I wanted to keep it super simple because obviously people. People don't love complex recipes. Like, they're nice to look at and they're nice. But if you want to make them at home like you, no one's got time to make a three hour recipe.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: So if you were. Let me a little. I'm gonna change the subject for a second. If you were. That's going to do a dinner party in New York City and you know, we have really small spaces.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: What would you make. What would you do if you threw a dinner party for New Yorkers?
[00:17:08] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. So for starters, I would definitely do this thing called melanzane alla parmigiana, which I know sounds like a weird Harry Potter spell, but I love.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: I know it exactly. I love it.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Yeah. So parmigiano is just super easy. But then also I have these things called involtini di melanzani, which are like these rolled up sort of aubergine things and you can stick a toothpick in them and then they're great for like party things like that.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Real quick, aubergine is the eggplant, right?
[00:17:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I actually really never knew that.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: I heard it said recently and I. Someone was talking to me and said, aubergine. And I said, I don't even know what you're saying right now, literally.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: And then we also have courgette, which is zucchini.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: So aubergine is eggplant Yep.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: And courgette is zucchini.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: I wonder why that is.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: And then coriander is cilantro, that I.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: May know a little. I actually didn't know.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: And rocket arugula, which is the same as Italian, actually. Arugula.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Really? Did you know any of this, Jerry? I did not know. Yeah.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: But yeah, the rolled up aubergine things definitely is a great starter. And also this thing called panelli, I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's very typical Sicilian street food. And what's great about all the loads of the food as well in the book is it's very typical Sicilian food, but it's also just naturally vegan anyway. So panelli are like a chickpea fritter made from chickpea flour and water. That's it. So super cheap, so easy to make. You can freeze them and they're just a great snack. You deep fry them and they go like crispy with some salt and lemon juice on. They're really good.
[00:18:28] Speaker A: And so are these quick and easy or do you need to prep.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: Well, you can either prep it the day before, but you. Like I said, because you can freeze them, you can make them in advance.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: And then just serve them on the day as well.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: So what do you think of New York as you're meandering around the cities? Is this your first time here?
[00:18:42] Speaker B: It's my like, fourth or third.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Oh, your fourth time here?
[00:18:44] Speaker B: I've only ever been, like, for a few days at a time, but I absolutely love New York right now. It's freezing cold.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: It's really cold.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: And yeah, I think today is like, what, minus something. It's minus like 5 degrees Celsius.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: Right. Because it's about 29 or 30. So it'd be negative for you guys.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: Negative Celsius, which is very, very cold for even ospritz, which is crazy. But yeah, I love New York. There's so much sort of incredible stuff to see and do and I've kind of. Now that I've done all the touristy stuff, I like coming back to just do sort of the more.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Cool stuff. Like this morning I went to a really cool sauna and ice bath place in Flatiron. Oh, wow. And yeah, just checking out all the vegan spots. There's so much. I mean, London has those of vegan spots, but I feel like they just do it different in New York. Like, it's really cool.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Do you have a favorite pizza place, a vegan pizza place in New York City?
[00:19:31] Speaker B: I do, yes. It's called John's of 12th Street. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's on 12th Street.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: And it's not a fully vegan restaurant. It's like they have regular food and then just a vast vegan menu. And it's like an old like Mafia restaurant. They have candles in there which are like this big that are like 10 years old.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: And they do the best sort of vegan pizza and pasta. But then there's this other one called, I think it's Carlotta or Carbona, something like that.
It's a chain of vegan restaurants and they're really good as well.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Nice, nice. How about a bagels? You got any good bagels places?
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Yeah, so I have a couple. Leon's Bagels.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: I love that place.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: So I don't know when this is out, but this weekend I have a collab with Leon's Bagels.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: Oh, you do?
[00:20:09] Speaker B: If you're in town you should definitely check it out.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: When is it?
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And it's basically you'll be there all three days. I'm going to be there on Saturday but the bagel will be there all weekend and it's, it's going to, it's like an Italian.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: I love that it said I'll be there on Saturday but the bagel will be there all weekend.
You're the star. That's it.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: But yeah, it's, it's like an Italian flag bagel. So we have like pesto marinated kale for the green and then like vegan tofu, cream cheese, the white and then tomatoes.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: Like that's pretty amazing. So you're there Saturday you said?
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: And do you know the address? If you don't, it's okay.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Mulberry Street. Mulberry street in the morning.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: Mulberry Street.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Are you into your running? Because I'm doing like a run in the morning and then bagels after.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: Am I into running? Yeah, that I'm not.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Maybe you can come after we done the run then.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm into walking like 10am yeah, I'd love to show up and do a reel. Okay. Yeah, yeah, that'd be great.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: I think I'll send you the details.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: But are you doing any of their events in New York City while you're here?
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Yeah. So tomorrow I'm doing sort of a pop up like book signing, meet and greet, like food, drinks and snacks at Italy.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: Oh, that's amazing.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: Flat iron as well swing by. So I Did a big celebration in London at Italy. London. But my book launched it over there and it had like 300 people. It was amazing. Good for you. My nonna came down like it was a big, like family party and friends, which is really cool. So, yeah, I'm basically doing a much, much more scaled down version of that here.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: But were you. Were you just in Australia for something?
[00:21:36] Speaker B: I was, yeah. That was just for a bit of like travels and a friend's birthdays and stuff. I have a few friends out there. So it was crazy coming from that heat in Sydney to here.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: Oh, I bet. Because they're in mid summer and I heard they're having like a really hot.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah, it was really, really hot.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: This. I feel like this is one of our coldest summers too.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: Really?
[00:21:52] Speaker A: I mean, coldest winter.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: Really.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. Yeah.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Because New York's always called this time of year.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: Yeah. But it's. It's been. I mean, because it snowed in December.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:00] Speaker A: You know, which is beautiful for Christmas, but it never snows in December.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: So it's been a long, cold winter. I think we're kind of ready for spring.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm keen to come back to New York when it's time.
I'm keen. I'm keen to come back to New York when it's. When it's warmer, for sure.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. I can take you to some awesome places too, that you know, you probably know the city well by now, but I mean, the Brooklyn, if you. Have you ever walked the Brooklyn Bridge on a summer night?
[00:22:23] Speaker B: I have, yeah. The sunrise there is really cool.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Wow. Good for you. Good for you. So I have some questions I'm gonna ask you real good because some vegan questions, you know, because some people. I think some people need to be educated about some vegan.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I once.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: And even myself. Go ahead.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: I once did some like fun street interviews in Times Square, just asking people if they could name like three vegan foods.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: Oh, you did this? Yeah.
[00:22:45] Speaker B: And people were like, fish, tuna, like really? Cottage peas. I'm like, yeah.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: When was this? When did you do this?
[00:22:53] Speaker B: This was February last year.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: That's pretty cool. I would love to. I gotta, I gotta look into media. So what does plant based mean?
[00:23:02] Speaker B: So plant based these days basically means it's kind of synonymous with vegan. But it's. It's specifically towards the food element of it. So like anything that's a plant based dish or plant based ingredients, it's 100% vegan, essentially. Which is quite confusing because it says Base. So you think it's like majority plant based, but yeah, these days plant based means 100% vegan if it's in the food. But some people also sort of, I guess, identify as plant based, which means they only sort of are vegan when it comes to their diet.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Right.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: They don't really explore the further ethics with like, I don't know, their travel, their clothes.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Right. The, the whole lifestyle that I mentioned. Yeah.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: So it's kind of like a version of veganism, but it's just solely on.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: The diet, you know, I'm glad you had to reiterate on that too. From my question earlier. You know, I didn't realize that vegan, being a vegan was a lifestyle as compared to just eating.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: So you taught me something specifically. I mean, I'm a big salad person, but I throw, I don't know if throws the right word. I add chicken.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: You know, I'm a big chicken fan. So what would be a substitute for chicken like if I, you know, instead of eating.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, so my, one of my favorite places to get protein on a plant based diet is tofu or tempeh. Don't know you've heard of tempeh, but it's.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: So what is tofu? What is tempeh then?
[00:24:17] Speaker B: Yeah, so tofu and tempeh, they're very, very similar actually. They're both made from soybeans. So if you' seen like edamame in like any Asian restaurant, love edamame. Soybean's basically the same sort of that, but it's a bit younger version of the edamame bean. And so instead of being green, it's like a whitey yellow color. And when you cook them and you add water and you heat them, they basically turn into like a milky liquid. And then like the stuff on top of that you can like press really firm and you get tofu. And then the beans you can use to make tempeh, which is kind of like similar to tofu, but it's more beanie and it's more like earthy. And then they both have like about 20% protein. Tempeh has a little more. So they're a really, really good alternative. They also have like all the amino acids and lots of fiber and vitamins as well. So.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: Yeah, and so then you can add flavoring as well. Yeah.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: So it's kind of like chicken. You can add soy sauce. My go to sort of seasoning when I, when I'm making tofu is just agave syrup, but like a Sweetener, tofu, like soy sauce, like a saltiness and then nutritional yeast, which gives it like a nice cheesiness. And that's like my perfect combo.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Huh. Sounds really good. I don't. I haven't really been. I haven't really had much tofu or tempeh. How do you say it? Tempeh. But I want to add that to my salad.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, so one of my favorite places to go here as well is like, what's the salad place called? Wheat greens.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: Oh, I love it.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: Love sweet greens. There's also a place called Lobotanist, which.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Is one of my favorite restaurants in the city.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: Oh, wait, so that's fully across from.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Bryant park is the one I like.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, that's fully plant based and gluten free as well.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: I stumbled across that by accident and I loved it. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt the salad they gave me or whatever. The colors were the most beautiful. I'm like, this is healthy because it was so beautiful, all these bright colors. Like, I think you mentioned that in your book or something or one of your videos I saw.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: It's amazing. So, yeah, highly recommend that. And so, yeah, next time you're getting salad, just opt for the tofu instead of the chicken.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: I'm glad you've been there too. How do you say it?
[00:26:08] Speaker B: The botanist.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So, so good. This is kind of a sidebar question. How do you say pasta for bejewel or whatever that. Because, you know, we do have an Italian restaurant here called Olive Garden. And I, you know, nothing against Olive Garden. You know, I just, it's in a, you know, Italian restaurant. People love to go there.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: But anyway, how do you say it?
[00:26:28] Speaker B: So it might be fagioli, which is.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Pasta with beans.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: Is that how you say it?
[00:26:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So fagioli is Fagioli. Yeah. Which basically just means like beans.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Pasta fagioli. I was just curious how the hardest from a real Italian person how to specifically say that. Do you ever preferred pasta?
[00:26:46] Speaker B: Because like pasta shape or dish?
[00:26:48] Speaker A: It just didn't. Okay, how about just a pasta noodle itself?
[00:26:51] Speaker B: Got you. Yeah. Yes, I do. And it's rigatoni, which is like.
[00:26:55] Speaker A: Yep, I love rigatoni.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: And it has a hole in the middle because it just absorbs like sauces really well.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: And so do you ever lean toward like plant based pastas?
[00:27:05] Speaker B: So most pastas are actually naturally plant based.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: Oh, they are.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Especially if you buy them. The dried pasta, some pasta, which you buy from if it's in like the refrigerator section of a supermarket, then it's like usually fresh pasta when it's quite soft and that has egg in it.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: But 99% of the pasta that you get from the store or even any restaurant will just naturally be vegan because it's just.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: You're a.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: So then it just depends what sort of sauce you put on top of it, which will make it vegan or not.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: That's interesting. I had. I had no idea. Does. Does being a vegan affect what you drink as well?
[00:27:38] Speaker B: Yeah, so obviously we don't drink like things like milk, etc. But a lot of alcoholic drinks, also not vegan. So a lot of wines, really. So when you. This is crazy because when you start looking into it, you start to uncover how sort of how many animal products are snuck into. So, for example, like Doritos are covered in milk powder because it's. It's like a byproduct of the milk industry. But it also means that you're more likely to keep eating them because it's like, addictive.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: And then things like wine, they aren't considered vegan because it's filtered through fish guts.
[00:28:08] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah, I had no idea.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: So there's definitely more and more, like, drinks are suitable for vegans these days, but you do have to look out for some.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: You drink sodas occasionally?
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Are there sodas?
[00:28:21] Speaker B: I'm partial for, like, to a Diet Coke every now and again when I'm on the beach.
[00:28:24] Speaker A: And are they considered vegan?
[00:28:25] Speaker B: Yeah, most of them are vegan. Yeah.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: This is so fascinating to me. You're teaching me so much that I really didn't know. I thought I knew, you know, actually getting ready to talk to you. You know, I did a little bit of research, but I. You're teaching me.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Well, this is what I was saying about, like, the fine line. Like, it's difficult to. Where, like, where do you draw the line? Because animals are going to be exploited in all walks of life. For example, like Aperol Spritz, the typical Italian drink. Like, some people wouldn't consider that vegan because there's like a tiny extract of food coloring in the drink which comes from like beetle shells, etc. So it depends how sort of miniscule you want to go, essentially.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: Wow. It's fascinating.
Seps. As you know, I was just in Florida for almost a month and I was traveling and it's really hard to eat healthy when you're traveling, I feel because you're tired, you're hungry, you just Say, ah, forget my healthy diet. I just need to eat and do whatever. So do you have any tips for people who are traveling how to eat healthy or eat vegan?
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. I mean, like you said, traveling can be very, very difficult to sort of stick to any diet and even maintain exercise as well.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: I agree.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: But I'd say first off, when you're actually flying, definitely try to pack some extra healthy foods because obviously airplane food isn't that great. Sometimes I'll even just go a whole airplane journey without eating and eat when I get to the final destination. But in terms of. Yeah, whilst you're actually sort of in a new city, try not to eat out for every single meal is what I would say. Obviously it's very tempted, like, right. You know, for breakfast, lunch and your dinner. But if you have a fridge in your sort of Airbnb or your hotel room, I actually, I had to request one because I didn't have a first and they're like, oh yeah, we can send one off. I was like, amazing. Thank you.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: And then for example, I always have like a bunch of fruit, like healthy snacks in my fridge right now. I also take oats or I'll buy some oats in the closest supermarket and some plant based milk. And so I'll just make overnight oats for my breakfast.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: Like most nice, but that's what I had.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: Sounds super boring, but it's just.
[00:30:25] Speaker A: No, that's actually just what I had.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it just means that your breakfast is sorted most days and you can obviously add any like flavorings or plant based protein to it. And then obviously there's so many of these like salad places popping up right now. So obviously it's not the most extravagant, but if you want to just maintain healthy then pop to one of the salad places.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: I'm really happy, you know, about the salad. There are endless. I feel like New York City is really good about having almost endless possibilities to eat vegan items.
[00:30:52] Speaker B: Definitely.
[00:30:52] Speaker A: I think it's a great.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: Even the, in Whole Foods that they have the whole like upstairs where you can make your own meal and they have really good like tofu options. And yeah, I got these mushrooms from there the other day which were big like lion's mane mushrooms or oyster mushrooms. And they were just, they tasted just like chicken, like really good.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: That sounds good. You know, I, when I was traveling too, I actually stayed with my parents. So that was kind of rough. I mean, I love. My parents are awesome, but they're not vegan or you know, they like their candy which can be vegan, like you said.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: Yes, of course.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: But they're not really vegan. Yeah. So I ate a little bit off of my normal, you know, food items, but, you know, it was good. It's really good to eat. Didn't eat my. Yeah, yeah.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: You can't like, obviously punish yourself too much if you have a few days off.
[00:31:37] Speaker A: Exactly. That's what I was going to ask you. You know, I, you know, earlier. As if you cheated on your vegan lifestyle.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I definitely don't like cheat on the, on the vegan diet, but I definitely have some days where I eat more like processed food. But for me, like, I don't. It's weird because when. Because I've done so much research and I've sort of been in the scene for so long, I don't really get so tempted to eat the non vegan foods anymore.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: And also because some of the alternatives are so good, like I don't miss them.
Burger, they have Beyond Burger. Like, I don't need to eat the actual meat.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: I don't think I've eaten any fast. Well, I haven't eaten any fast food like McDonald's or Wendy's or, you know, Burger King since I moved here. So I haven't touched any of that. So I, I definitely like to eat healthy because you know what? The next day, if I don't eat healthy, I feel bad.
[00:32:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: My body, my body is unhappy.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Same with alcohol as well.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: Oh, I haven't drank in years.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Probably since I, Since New York is what changed me, actually. I just. Because I'm still busy here and it's a different life for me and being on the subway and walking 20,000 steps a day. I don't, I don't drink anymore.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: I haven't really drank since I moved here. All right. And I've eaten healthy since the day I moved here.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: Amazing.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: So the city is really what's made me do it. But it's so happy.
[00:32:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: New York is like. This is what I mean.
[00:32:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:49] Speaker A: New York, you know, when I moved here, said to me, you have a plan, but this is my plan for you in so many different ways too. So I want to talk about some items on you that I loved in your cookbook that I was looking at. The. What really caught my eye was the walnut and kale pasta.
[00:33:04] Speaker B: Yeah, love that one.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: Can you tell us about that?
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So we have. So there's two. The what? The, the creamy one or the actual lasagna one or the, the bolognese because I want to tell you about that one anyway because it's incredible.
[00:33:15] Speaker A: Tell us about.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: So we have a Walmart and sunflower seed Bolognese, which is incredible because it's like, it's so meaty and you wouldn't. It doesn't even use any sort of meat alternatives like beyond mint or something like that. It's just soaked walnuts with sunflower seeds and mushrooms. And when you, you soak the nuts, they go quite like soft and like lose their crunchiness. And then you drain them, you put seasonings on, you blend it and it just makes the perfect sort of Bolognese sauce with tomato sauce, which is incredible.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: It looks so good.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: It works really good in a lasagna as well. I've fed it to so many of my non vegan friends in a lasagna and they literally say they prefer it to normal lasagna.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: I was going to say I was going to bring up the lasagna too. So that worked out perfect. Yeah, I mean, but you know, the, the Walton kale pasta did the visual, the photo.
[00:33:59] Speaker B: The photos are amazing. That one's like a super nice one because it's a creamy dish. So one, one great way to make creamy pasta sauces with, with like vegan foods is with cashews and something with silken tofu, which is what that uses grab my attention. Definitely cashews make a really, just incredibly creamy sauce. And you wouldn't, you wouldn't even tell that it's like not got any dairy in it.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: Great. I mean, like I said, the book made me want to eat everything that you made. Obviously how you create these dishes are incredible.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: They're beautiful. They look delicious. I'm sold on everyone. Like the spaghetti cone polpette. Am I saying it right?
[00:34:35] Speaker B: Yeah, that one's great. I grew up basically with my nonna making these little Polpetti balls, which are meatballs essentially, but they're a bit more flattened and they have loads of seasonings in. And so I wanted to recreate that essentially with plant based version.
[00:34:48] Speaker A: So good. Tiramisu.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Yeah, the tiramisu is an absolute winner. Like everyone loves that it uses biscoff.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: I was just gonna say you don't use ladyfingers.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: No. Because they are so hard to find. Vegan ones, they do exist somewhere, but they're like gluten free and they're not amazing.
So I just figured why not use something that's already naturally vegan and it's so easy to find. They have the coffee flavor. In it already. So, yeah, Biscoff biscuits are great. It's almost like a cheat as well because it's so much quicker than, like, getting the actual biscuits.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: I think I'm gonna make that this week.
[00:35:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Let me know what you think.
[00:35:19] Speaker A: I definitely. Was it roasted delica. Am I saying that right?
[00:35:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Delica pumpkin salad. That's a really good one as well. And then another one is my favorite salad, which is the fennel and orange salad.
[00:35:28] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:35:29] Speaker B: Fennel and orange just goes so well together. And it's like a typical Sicilian summer salad. So you shave the fennel really thinly.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: Looks so good. And one more Mac and cheese.
[00:35:40] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:41] Speaker A: You make an awesome Mac and cheese.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Yes, I did. So that's. That's kind of like my go to when I'm hosting a dinner party and I don't want to do anything like stereotypically Italian. I just make a Mac and cheese. Yeah. And I recently made it for a bunch of friends for Christmas and they loved it as well.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: It looks amazing. What are. What are some staples that you need in your pantry that you always have in your pantry at home?
[00:35:59] Speaker B: So definitely Silken tofu, which doesn't need to be refrigerated, and it's a great sort of soft version of regular tofu. And it can be used in desserts to make like a chocolate mousse or in pasta sauces. And nutritional yeast, which is sort of like a cheesy, inactive form of yeast. So it's not going to make any. Anything rise, but it's just a great way that. To add a bunch of nutrients and protein as well to a dish.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: Nice. And you get these at Whole Foods, right?
[00:36:23] Speaker B: Yeah, Whole Foods. It can be quite expensive, but you can get cheaper versions on, like, Amazon and stuff.
[00:36:28] Speaker A: You know what, it's interesting you said that, that it can be expensive. I say initially, yes, this is my. This is how I feel about eating healthy. You know, which vegan is healthy. People say, oh, eating healthy is expensive, you know, in general. But I feel it really isn't because when I go shopping now, eating healthy, I get the same things every time. Basically a lot of the same things. Whereas if you don't have a specific type of diet, so to speak, you go outside that box, you have more impulse buying. You know, you're hungry, you're going to buy all this other stuff in addition. So your cart fills up where. I always have the exact same amount of food in my cart. So I feel it's. It's not. It's not.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: And Also, it's an investment into your health long term.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the bottom line.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Because it's going to cost you a lot more in, like, medical bills.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: Completely agree.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: You have illnesses and stuff.
[00:37:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Especially in the US Here. You know what I mean?
[00:37:18] Speaker B: Let's not. Let's not go into that rabbit hole. Insurance.
[00:37:24] Speaker A: But the Christmas trifle, too.
[00:37:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:37:26] Speaker B: That's not. That's favorite dessert.
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Oh, it's beautiful. What. What is this? What is it again? What's in the Christmas?
[00:37:31] Speaker B: So it's. It's like a jelly at the bottom, but naturally, jelly isn't vegan because it has gelatine. So we had to get a vegan jelly.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: Oh, I didn't know.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: So, yeah, another thing that's naturally not vegan. And then we made like a vegan sort of vanilla cake. It's like the cake base and then vegan squirty cream.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: It looks so good. Yeah, I want. I want to make that. I'm not a good cook, though, so I'll figure out.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: That's the benefit of the recipes in my book. They're so easy to make.
[00:37:54] Speaker A: Right, right. I'll ruin anything, though, but I'll try. I'll still do it, you know, I don't care. Okay. So I talked to some. I asked some people on Instagram some questions on what their favorite restaurants or vegan restaurant is here in New York City, and you may have been to one of them. Well, the. My. Mine is La Botanista that I'm saying it right.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I loved it.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: I had that salad I told you about.
There's. Erica said Peace Food. Have you heard of.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: I've not heard of that one.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: It's 100% vegan, and it's on the Upper west side in Union Square. And in Union Square. So there's two spots. So she said, it's amazing. Daniel Orr said, I think it's Pusu P U S u in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He said he'll. He gladly eats there. And he's not even vegan. It's completely a vegan or. Or a vegan or vegetarian restaurant on Bedford Avenue.
Satara Maria said, I know about this one, too, which is abcv.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I've heard of that.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:50] Speaker B: They do really good croissants as well.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jean George, right? John George restaurant. Oh, I put one that you like, too. Another one is the little pizza parlor in Brooklyn you mentioned in one year. That's very cool. Yeah. So those are basically.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I have fries on Instagram as well.
[00:39:08] Speaker A: Well, Erica also said, you know, from Peace food, which is 100 vegan, she loved the grilled oyster mushroom. Back to the oyster mushroom you said earlier. Sauteed kale, spiced chickpeas, Amazing creamy horseradish. So I thought it was cool that people were.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, some of the top of my head. There's Jar Jar Jar Mexicana, which is a really good like Mexican.
[00:39:27] Speaker A: Oh, I think somebody mentioned that too.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really cool. And then Two Boots pizza. Yeah, they have like two vegan options and they're amazing.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: That's a popular pizza place. I didn't know that.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: Yeah, they have two vegan options and they have like vegan beyond sausage and like a veggie one. And they're both really good.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: That's good to know. I love the one on the other side.
[00:39:44] Speaker B: You can buy it by the slice as well. So it's so good because so many of these pizza places, like if you want a vegan option, you have to buy like the whole pizza. So two bits of pizza is really good.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: Which one do you go to? Do you know which one?
[00:39:53] Speaker B: The one that's like, I know what it looks like, but I don't know the area. But it's like. I think it's somewhere.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: Yeah, it's okay.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: Lower Manhattan.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't expect you to know the whole city. There's one up on the Upper west side where I live and I love it. Absolutely love it.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: And then also this, this Sunday I've actually booked myself in to go to 11 Madison Park.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: Oh, so what about 11 Madison Park?
[00:40:14] Speaker B: 11 Madison Park. So I've put myself to go into there, which it's like one of the best restaurants in the world.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: Really nice. A good friend of mine works there. Yeah.
[00:40:20] Speaker B: It's the only vegan restaurant in the world that has three Michelin stars.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: Really?
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Yep. So they originally a non vegan restaurant and then throughout Covid the chef decided to make it fully plant based and they obviously got a lot of like criticism from the media and. Yeah. But now they've like blown up and it's like really hard to get a table.
[00:40:40] Speaker A: That's a newer restaurant too. Yeah, it's really popular. They just had a whole, I mean the whole block a few months ago. Thousands of people were around in line to get like a croissant or something.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: Yeah, but like. Yeah, I think they're just like a weekend pop up, didn't they?
[00:40:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it was insane. I was talking with my friend who was walking his dog and I. And we asked them what they were in line for.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: 20 croissants.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And they cut it off and people were upset but you know.
So seps, what's your favorite item to cook?
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Favorite item to cook? Probably yeah, it's my walnut and sunflower seed lasagna. Just because it goes down so well. Yeah, people love it. And you can keep it in the freezer for months as well. And if you ever want some, you just grab a slice.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: Nice. What's your favorite quick thing to whip up for somebody if they stop by?
[00:41:23] Speaker B: Probably a tofu stir fry. Oh, nice. I can air fry it, the tofu to make it nice and crispy in like 10 minutes and then fry some veggies.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: What's your ultimate comfort food?
[00:41:35] Speaker B: Ultimate comfort food? Probably my nonna's spaghetti with tomato sauce.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: Oh, that sounds so good. What's the surprising benefit of being plant based that no one talks about?
[00:41:47] Speaker B: Oh, that's a really good question.
So you definitely don't get any sort of like, I don't know, like, it's just, it's just good knowing that I'm not increasing my risk of certain diseases. For example, like the processed meat and things like that with the meat. But then also like dairy like so many people struggle to with dairy in terms of like stomach problems or like eczema or like breaking out on your skin. And one thing I noticed when I put out dairy is that like my skin cleared up so much. So that's a big benefit for me as well.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: I don't, I don't eat dairy at all.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: Because it affects my stomach and everything. Just like you said. That's interesting you said that.
[00:42:26] Speaker B: What's interesting as well with dairy is that obviously it comes on cows and it's designed for baby cows and most of the world is actually lactose intolerance. We just don't. Intolerant, we just don't realize it until we grow up basically. So.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: Well, makes sense to me because I, I am lactose intolerant. Yeah, I just, I don't, I don't touch any. Really? Ice cream? Nothing. Yeah, pizza, you know, because there's a lot of cheese on it.
[00:42:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: So I mean once in a while a pizza, but it's, it's rare. If you could have any dinner with someone famous, what would you, what, who would it be? Who would it be and what would you make?
[00:42:59] Speaker B: It would be Billie Eilish because she's so cool and she's vegan and her whole family is vegan as well. So I Feel like we would get on.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: What would you make her?
[00:43:08] Speaker B: And I would make my lasagna with my tiramisu for dessert.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: That's pretty cool.
[00:43:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: That's a great answer.
[00:43:15] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: Those are my questions for you, my friend. You have a birthday coming up, don't you?
[00:43:19] Speaker B: I do, yes.
[00:43:20] Speaker A: February 19th.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: That's why I've checked myself into Eleven Madison park as a birthday.
[00:43:25] Speaker A: Oh, it's your birthday present.
[00:43:26] Speaker B: Yeah, to myself.
[00:43:27] Speaker A: I haven't even been there yet.
[00:43:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm really excited to go.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: One day I will go. I walk by it all the time. Jay, have you been there? We'll go there.
[00:43:34] Speaker B: It's very expensive. It's like $400.
[00:43:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:37] Speaker B: But I thought I'd treat myself.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: We'll go there for the company Christmas party, Jay. Yeah, Just see, you know, if you guys come back for our Christmas party.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:47] Speaker A: Well, thanks, saps.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me hanging out.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: You know, I mean, this is really good. You taught me so much today.
[00:43:53] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: I, you know, I thought, you know, reading about you and I knew somewhat, but you. You taught me so much more. And I think this is really important for our listeners to hear. And I love that there are people who travel here to New York City, and now they also have ideas of restaurants and things to do here in New York City. And also they can do things in their own home, wherever they live in the world. By ordering your book. Absolutely. Which is so amazing, like I said, as the best recipes. And it's a beautiful cookbook.
[00:44:24] Speaker B: Thank you. Yeah. It was very important for me to have a photo next to every recipe.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: I mean, it's.
[00:44:28] Speaker B: You could see.
[00:44:28] Speaker A: I mean, I. I was so impressed with how many beautiful photos are in there. You know, of. Of you. You're Nona. You're. No, no.
You're Nona's sisters.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:44:40] Speaker A: You know, I think they're all in there, too. You got the whole family.
[00:44:43] Speaker B: Family affair.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: It's really cool. Well done. Good for you.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: Very proud of you. That's a good speed.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:44:47] Speaker A: And you're. You're a young man, and look at what you're accomplishing.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Thank you very much.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: Awesome.
So, seps, we here at the New Yorkers podcast usually ask our guests what it means for them to be a New Yorker. And you are not, unfortunately, a New Yorker, even though I do say New Yorkers are born every day all over the world. But since you are launching your cookbook and doing the press tour here in New York, we want to know what the culinary scene of New York City means to you?
[00:45:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say it's so diverse. There's so many great vegan options and my favorite place to hang out is definitely Little Italy.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: Oh, I love it.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: I think it would be cool if there was more vegan options in Little Italy. But yeah, the culinary scene, the restaurant scene, the takeout scene is all so diverse and incredible.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah, I love it. I agree, my friend.
Thank you for joining us today. Sepps, for this week's episode of the New Yorkers Podcast, why don't you let everyone know where they can find you on social media?
[00:45:46] Speaker B: Yep. So my handle is sepssdpps and my book's called Italian Cooking with Nonna. Or if you're in the uk, it's just Cooking with Nonna and it's available all over the world.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: Once again, I'm your host Kelly Kopp, also known as New York City Kopp across all my social media.
[00:46:03] Speaker B: Please like and subscribe to the New Yorkers Podcast and you can follow the New Yorkers Podcast on social media hewyorkers Podcast.
[00:46:09] Speaker A: You can leave a rating or a comment to let us know how you're enjoying the show. We read through all your comments and dm. So please, we would love to hear from you. Thank you Valerie Williams, Sue Rothwell, who I just saw recently over Christmas, and Kathy Figarelli for your kind words on the last episode. If you want to be featured at the end of an episode, leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or a comment on Spotify.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: And thank you Kelly Mc, Susie Lundberg and Barbara Rosenfeld for your comments on Facebook.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Have a lovely day and we will see you next time.
[00:46:39] Speaker B: Bye bye.
This is the last stop on this train. Everyone please leave the train. Thank you for riding with MTA New York City Transit.
