Making Room by Gather
Hospitality. What do you think of when you hear that word?
For some it's old school 'stuffy' entertaining for others it's something to do with the hotel industry. One thing is for sure, as a culture we're not talking about it much.
Food * Design * Relationships have seemed to have taken a back seat to what our culture focuses on and values yet...we find ourselves in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Something has to change, it's time to get back to our tables, and we're making room for it!
Making Room by Gather invites you into a new conversation on everyday hospitality. One that rewrites the way we approach opening your doors and filling your tables. Shifting the narrative from 'how does this make me look' to 'how does this make you feel' these buildable conversations aspire to inspire connection through everyday gathering.
Kayty's chic and a little quirky interview style will make you feel like you're sitting with a friend talking about how to grow in confidence as an everyday host. You can expect conversations from navigating challenging relationship dynamics to foundational cooking techniques and everything in between.
Whether you are a seasoned host or looking to develop new friendships and grow in your skills for the first time, there is a seat at the table. Join us weekly for new conversations with expert guests and with Kayty in her beloved Date with Kayt episodes. Continue the conversation @gatheritentionalliving
Making Room by Gather
A Huge Missed Steak: Delicious, Colorful, Pun-Filled Plant Based Empire with/ Mark Filippelli
18 restaurants, feeding countless A-List celebrities and leading the plant based food scene sounds like the making of a riddle, but is the reality of our guests Mark. Over the years we've all heard the term plant based but what does it actually mean? Can it actually be good enough that it's highly sought after by foodies worldwide?
A health crisis transformed Mark's relationship with food forever. After receiving a rare blood cancer diagnosis, he immersed himself in nutritional research while undergoing treatment. What emerged was not just a personal healing journey but the foundation for culinary innovation that would reshape Australia's plant-based dining landscape.
Mark's approach is refreshingly approachable. Through his 18 restaurants across Melbourne, Sydney, and Byron Bay—he aspires to create vibrant spaces where food brings people together without dietary labels creating division.
His debut cookbook, "This Cookbook is a Huge Mistake" (named after a neon sign in one of his restaurants) emerged during Australia's lengthy COVID lockdowns. Quarantined alone in a hotel room for two weeks, Mark reflected on his culinary journey, documenting recipes and life lessons that had shaped his path. The result combines practical plant-based techniques with personal stories and his trademark pun-filled humor.
Beyond business success, Mark's most treasured accomplishment is the community he's built—including unexpected friendships with the Hemsworth family, who began as regular customers and became devoted supporters.
Through beautiful, thoughtful food that momentarily transports guests away from daily stress, Mark reminds us that gathering around a table is ultimately about connection, not just nutrition.
Try something from this cookbook. Your taste buds will thank you, and you might just find yourself reimagining what plant-based eating can be.
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Hey, hey guys, welcome back to Making Room. I'm so glad you're here. If you followed along, my family just got back from Nashville area and, gosh, it was a really sweet week. At this point, I'm sure most of you have made your way there, but if you haven't, I cannot recommend it enough. And I'm not talking like Broadway, like drink your way down Broadway, no-transcript, eating down to the source, like as close as I can get to the source, gluten-free, dairy-free, learning as much as I can along the way. But I will admit that plant-based eating, a plant-based lifestyle, is not one that I'm like super well versed in or knowledgeable on. But there is this plant-based bakery near us that I have been frequenting. I'm paying someone's salary and I don't know what they bake with, but it's been pretty dang good. So, with all of this considered, I'm really curious to dive into this conversation more, and our guest today, mark, is the perfect person to lead that conversation. We were talking very quickly before we hit record. He's our first guest from Australia, and we have a few friends from Australia, a few friends from New Zealand that we met in Thailand, but we haven't made our way there yet, and so I'm having a little bit of FOMO, but this is going to be really sweet in a lot of different ways. So if you do not know about Mark, here is a little bit more about him. Mark is the founder of this number is like crazy to me not one, not two, not even three 18 restaurants in Melbourne, sydney, byron Bay, and now officially an author. Mark is sharing the most popular recipes from the journey, including some of Nana's homemade recipes, in the form of a cookbook. I come from Italian roots too. My listeners know that, known for pushing culinary boundaries at his many venues, including the insta-famous Matcha Milk Bar and Sydney's Mark and Vinny's, these Mark and Vinny's, mark's latest labor of love promises a deliciously entertaining blend of creative plant-based recipes, heartfelt life lessons and stories and playful puns. Guys, I promise you there is not a cookbook on the market like this one. I'm so excited to bring it to your attention and, without waiting any longer, here's.
Speaker 1:My conversation with Mark Today was glorious. I sat outside, worked on the patio while Wesley played and just soaked up the sun, and I was so happy. I was thinking how could I possibly spend more time outside this season, because it goes by way too fast, and I'm sure you've seen those memes. I feel solar powered, like literally the sun makes me come alive. Well, guys, we know how to make that possible.
Speaker 1:Going on a vacation is the best way to enjoy the season the summer, the sunshine, the heat, oh my gosh, all of the goodness that comes with it. And if you are like me, you are also working and parenting while dreaming about vacation. Well, I have a solution for you, and that is my friend Stephanie. She is a travel agent, a memory making specialist, and she specializes in Sandals Resorts, beaches Resorts, the Caribbean and Disney. And if you are wondering why in the world would I hire a travel agent? Because, honestly, before chatting with her, that's exactly what I thought. That's where I felt, or fell in thinking about it. She showed me why. It doesn't cost you a dime, you don't have to pay anything to work with her. Simply tell her where you're interested in going, or she could share her ideas with you, and then she gives you access to the best deals, the best opportunities, and takes oh my goodness, takes the stress out of it. She sets everything else up so that you could just arrive and enjoy your vacation and soak up the sun, just like we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Head on over to her Instagram at Travel With Stephanie, and she spells her name S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I and start the conversation. She is so easy to work with, so personable, she loves family, loves luxury, and will help you get a little taste of all of it. And if you are interested in planning a trip, you don't know where to start. You need some ideas. Let me give you one.
Speaker 1:Stephanie and I are headed to Antigua Antigua guys, I need to learn how to properly say this, but you probably know what we're talking about In September and we want you to come with us, whether you just want to sit by the pool and have nobody talk to you, but you want the all-inclusive aspect, great. Come. If you want to come with us and volunteer at a local community with us, engage in some of the girls' trip activities that we have planned, great. As of right now, this price definitely can and will change. It is $1,500 a person and the rooms are priced for double occupancy, so what that means is two people to a room. You split the cost and your cost hovers around $1,500. That includes the airfare, the lodging, 15 dinners and 25 breakfasts. If you want to eat your heart out, come with us to Antigua. Sandals Resort, antigua in Tomato, tomato Antigua Antigua. Come with us. We want you there. Head on over to Stephanie's Instagram to start the conversation, or slide into my DMs and I'll get you connected as well.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitality educator and the host of Making Room by Gather podcast. I am set to see our communities get back to the table through hospitality, but it wasn't always this way. My husband and I moved to Thailand and through it I experienced some loneliness, and with it I was given a choice to sit back and accept it or to do something about it. And for me, that meant two things that I needed the healing to learn how to accept an invitation and the confidence to know how to extend one. Through this process, I developed some of the richest and deepest relationships of my life. Through Making Room by Gather, you will hear conversations from myself and experts in the areas of food, design and relationships. You see there are countless things trying to keep us from the table, but can I tell you something? Take a seat because you are ready, you are capable, you are a good host. Okay, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 2:Hey, how are you?
Speaker 1:Good. Well, I didn't want to frame this question in a way that would like make you give a negative answer, but I want you to do some comparing. So talking Australia and US what are the big differences? What do you love about each? Talk to us about it.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, definitely love both amazing communities in each. If you, I think the few people I've been chatting to while I've been here, they're like we love Australia but, um, there's too many spiders, but that's that's. That's not a real thing. I've probably seen like one spider in the last two years. You just gently like usher it out if that's the case, um, but I think, particularly with the hospitality industry, um, and I know it's sort of slightly changing, but, um, the amount that we in Australia like we pay, it's like significantly better, there's more opportunities for the employees, and I feel like in some ways, we do that.
Speaker 2:But in a lot of ways, australia follows like the US. Like the matcha cafes that are cool out here they open here first and then they open there and New York, like the food concepts, the salad bars, all those sorts of things tend to happen out here, and then they, you know, make their way like trickle down to australia. But, um, we're yeah, we're like we're family australia in the us and and and we're more in common. We have more in common than we do have differently. But yeah, there's definitely some. Uh, australia is a great place for opportunity. You know, if you work, you know the hourly rates for like a base cafe work is like $30 an hour Monday to Friday, $35 on Saturday and $40 on Sundays. And there's additional rates like penalty rates once you sort of hit overtime and late at night and on public holidays and those sorts of things. So if you're willing to sort of work you can actually make money to the point where you can change your circumstances, which I know in America is quite difficult.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Wow. So I don't know if you've caught on to this. There's a huge conversation in culture right now American culture on tipping and you are annoyed at, like all the places they're being asked to tip. So is that the same in australia? What's, what's the case?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, great question. It's yeah, and just sort of been experiencing that this past week or so. Um, you know it, the because because the the pay is like quite well, um, you would only really tip for like really exceptional service, but you also, like, the tax is included. So you know exactly how much you're going to pay, like when you go pay your bill, when you pay for a coffee, when you pay for a T-shirt, when you pay for anything, you just go, that's the amount. So, whereas here it's sort of like you know, you see the price and then you're taxed and you're like add the tip and it's. You know, I think it'd be much better if, um, you know the staff got paid really well and what they deserve, and you just say this is how much I'm going to pay and that's what you paid.
Speaker 1:I think that'd probably be a much better thing yeah, I don't know who makes those like executive decisions, but I feel like in America right now we're questioning daylight savings, time, like the change of times, and I just think that we should just do an overhaul Like let's, let's just pay better, you know, and get rid of the whole thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, you know, I agree. I think it's something to do. You know, same same. We have the same struggle in in ours it's it's like you know. They say it's for the, for the farmers, but, like you know, the cows don't know what time it is.
Speaker 1:It's like it's a, it's all sweet yeah, the cows, that's funny, oh my gosh. Um. And then last question what's the flight time?
Speaker 2:so you're in la um yeah, I don't know how flight patterns work, but from Melbourne to Los Angeles it's just on 14 hours, but from Los Angeles back to Melbourne it's 16 hours. So I don't know exactly why it takes longer. But one way you traveled for 15 hours and landed at 8 am in LA on the same day of the week.
Speaker 1:So my word, that's with your head.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thailand was 20 hours and I always thought it was like much further, but maybe from New York? I'm not very smart with stuff like this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's probably like 19, 20 hours from New York. You might need to do a stopover, so potentially takes like a little bit longer if you're needing to stop.
Speaker 1:It's still worth it, though I would still pay. Yeah, absolutely yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's not too many spotters to worry about, so you're all good.
Speaker 1:Oh, I mean I feel like we were just talking the other day about all the stuff we experienced in Thailand. I mean, it just becomes normal at some point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:A cockroach falls on your face while you're watching TV and you're like, oh, another one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. Hopefully they do the next White Lotus in Australia. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:Hey, yeah.
Speaker 2:I haven't watched this season.
Speaker 1:In thailand have are you watching it too, all my guests? Yeah, yeah, I just, yeah, I've just, I've just watched the finale. It's like it's, it's wild. It's definitely, it's definitely worth a watch. Yeah, okay, okay, we need, we need good tv. Yeah, um, okay. Well, you are known for, I'll say, charting a new path in the world of plant-based eating. Um, and I feel like people who have a commitment to this lifestyle have a story as to why, like what, led them to that choice. So I would love to hear a little bit about yours. Did you always eat this way? What led you to eat this way? Tell us about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So mine was like less of an exciting story, more of a scary story. I had a health scare, I was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer and I went through the traditional method of like treatment. But while I was doing my treatment I was like, well, I've got to give like my, you know, for the rest of my life. I want to give my body like the best chance to be nourished and to be healthy, and so I had a whole bunch of time off and I was at different diets and I was coming across like the Mediterranean diet and then was reading about the blue zones and looking at the diets which you know were always coming up top in terms of best for your overall health, had limited amounts of like meat to plant ratio. So I began sort of adapting that to my own lifestyle.
Speaker 2:And then we had this really sort of beautiful moment where my you know, that became my passion and there was also this really great alignment with like um business prowess and that was becoming like really trendy, so where I was sort of like um, I guess capitalized, and that's like a really sweet moment if you're working on something where you're really passionate about the food but it also makes business sense, um.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, I've just sort of ventured into that. And then we had built a big following and sort of being like we opened the first uh matcha cafe in a in in australia and then, yeah, just continue to evolve that where at the time we were doing 100% plant-based restaurants, we sort of then moved to, you know, a more like all-inclusive menu where it's like 75% is plant-based, a lot of the starters and the cocktails and all those things are made plant-based. But there are some meat options, there's some vegetarian options, pescatarian options, so anyone can come in in feel gluten-free, plant-based, super, love your meat, like. Everyone can just like be happy and order without feeling like, um, they're making a big deal I was thinking as you were talking what does it feel like to have 18 restaurants?
Speaker 1:is it like, yeah, is it heavy or is it? Do you have a good team? What does that feel like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. You know, you sort of you need to be a sucker for punishment. The my business partner in all my adventures is my brother, which is, which is great, but also you don't want to spend too much time together, so that means you're like, oh, we're going to open another venue, so we're not in the same place at the same time for too long. But yeah, we've had like a. We never had some restaurants we had built up and then the plan was to sell them and some we had kept for a longer period of time.
Speaker 2:But yeah, our sort of biggest godsend for us in terms of being able to expand was being able to partner with staff that we had worked with for a while and giving them a share within the business. And they know how we work, they know how we like to operate, and then, you know, we also provide them with the opportunity for ownership and they work even harder and even better, and that seems to be the way for us to be able to, you know, manage multiple venues at once. But, yeah, you know it, venues at once. But yeah, you, it's, you know it's, it's, it's not relaxed, it's not relaxing, it's um, you need to be like, uh, incredibly, incredibly organized and, yeah, it comes with. You know you need an incredible team to to be able to pull off even two venues. So, yeah, it's, it's the people around us that help us do that.
Speaker 1:Wow, man, it's so much more than I think people realize. Like, especially what you do is so creative and so niche. People must think like, oh, that's a dream and it is in one aspect, but also like dynamic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's you know a thousand things that go into opening a restaurant and you know it can appear to be a glamorous thing, but, um, the behind the scenes stuff, and you know the. The good thing is when, when you've um, you know, done it for the length of time that I've done it, you sort of you've you've dealt with almost every issue. So you sort of develop a sense of calmness because you know whatever happens, there's like a solution for it. So you know it's not always that way, but when you have multiple venues you have okay and well, if something goes wrong with a chef here, that's unwell, we can actually, you know, borrow some stuff from another than you. But when you're starting off, sort of like it's so you know everything feels so huge. And then you know, looking back, you're like, well, I used to stress about the tiniest thing and you know that's just. Yeah, that's part of the journey, I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really good perspective. I mean for all seasons of life, whatever you know, whatever people are doing, right For sure, yeah Well. So I've been joking lately with my friends in my community. I was like your typical beige mom for a while, have you?
Speaker 2:heard that term.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, like I was like the poster child, and just recently I'm like, oh, color is kind of nice, you know.
Speaker 1:So I'm like stepping back into that, but with that, one of the first things I noticed about your book when it was sent to me was the vibrant color. And it is gorgeous, like not just the pages and the characters in the book, and gorgeous Like not just the pages and the characters in the book, and we can talk about that more in a minute. But your food is so vibrant and, from my understanding, none of it is artificial.
Speaker 2:Yeah, correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's all natural.
Speaker 2:Yeah, funnily enough, I'd just been living prior to moving back to Melbourne last year. I was living in Byron Bay, which is like beige, capital of everything. Like everyone is wearing beige, every house is beige, every restaurant you walk into, the fit out is beige, so I definitely know what you're feeling. But yeah, the beautiful thing about eating is you know the first. You know we first eat with our eyes, so we look at the food and we get excited by what we see, and so it's like. It's such. You know, and you know during COVID and we like TikTok. You know people are coming like better chefs at home. So in order for a restaurant to stand out, you really have to go above and beyond for like people to come back.
Speaker 2:And one of our sort of most viral things we ever did was a blue spirulina latte. And the thing was this was back in 2016,. There was no natural blue colouring, so anytime something had looked blue, it was always artificial or looked like a Smurf kind of thing. So we kept hearing about this naturally derived, occurring algae that had this most incredible deep blue colour. And at one of our cafes we had a matcha green latte and we had a turmeric latte and we wanted to complete that rainbow and so we invented this blue spirulina latte and that just went bananas online and then we sort of had followed through and just seeing that, like, people really appreciate the effort and the colour, as long as it's actually adding value to the dish.
Speaker 2:So, for example, there's a recipe, um, at one of our italian restaurants we've done, which is for a blue spirulina pasta. But because, because the blue coloring is like quite salty, it's derived from underwater, uh, we, we prepare it with like a seafood, a seafood pasta and a seaweed pasta, so it's actually adding depth of flavor. So it's not just for a gimmick, it looks good and it adds a layer of flavor and complexity to the dish. So I think, whenever you, if you ever see a color, if you're just doing it just just for likes or for the wrong reasons, it won't pay off. Like people will maybe come and try it once but they won't come back for it. But if it's actually adding to the, adding to what you're tasting, adding to the story, adding depth, complexity, whatever it's, that's that's how we found, like great success in using colors, um, and yeah, so that's been, you know, part of the story I feel like that was like a $10,000 consulting tip, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Like everyone could send you money for that to all the restaurants, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, we've just been going through like my partner, she's all over TikTok and she's deciding where we're going for our morning marches and coffees and treats and some of them look great, unbelievable online. And then you get then and it's like a bit of a miss, and then some of them that actually do great online but the actual product is phenomenal is those are the ones that's like have lines out the front and seem to be doing really well yeah, that's a good reminder too, that instagram isn't always it, you know like no, it's definitely not.
Speaker 1:You got to show up and give it a try yourself.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Man, no, I'm all about aesthetic with food. I think that sometimes, when food is made beautiful I talked about this with a guest a few weeks ago Like it's misunderstood that people want it to be like they think it equals perfection, or like the host, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, what's your impression? What like why? Why is it important to you to make food beautiful for people?
Speaker 2:well, I think it's just like it actually helps you like enjoy the meal. I think you like. It's like you know we're very distracted, but I think, like, if you, if you see this like beautiful meal in front of you and the people you're with you, really get to like enjoy it and soak it up and, you know, just just really be mindful of what you're consuming and think about what you're putting in your mouth and like think about the effort that's gone into prepare this meal, rather than something that's just sort of been slapped together and it feels like fast-paced, like the best thing a restaurant can do is transport you to somewhere. So you've had a stressful day. You go to a nice restaurant and then all of a sudden you're just like you know the music's nice and then this amazing beautiful thing drops in front of you. It's just going to transport you away where you can, you know, even just for a moment, forget about, like, your stressful day, or you know that yeah, um, yeah, so that's always a bonus I love that answer.
Speaker 1:I think that we've started to see the table as like something that gets in the way of like yeah or gets in the way of life, like it's annoying to cook, it's annoying to sit for an hour, it's like I don't know for the listeners. Just like maybe this week go somewhere and order something beautiful and just enjoy it.
Speaker 2:You know enjoy the beauty of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you know, I think it's like one of my favorite lessons from my, you know, italian nonna. She, she's always cooking and always bringing people together and it's actually like you stop and think about it, how food is like this amazing way that we connect. You know, we connect and we, you know whether it's with our partner and you know like we had done like a lot of traveling, a lot of bits and pieces, and then actually sitting opposite her and like we're, you know, looking to each other's eyes and we can know finally actually like catch up and be us and connect, you know, really deeply connect. It's like rather, you know, rather than the hustle and bustle of travel. So, yeah, definitely, if you get a chance next meal, whether it's like at home or at a restaurant, just, yeah, take that extra minute to enjoy and connect and, yeah, just appreciate how lovely it is to be sharing a meal with people you love.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really good, love that conversation. I also want to talk about your Nana just for a second. I didn't tell you to ask about her, but so I was reading about her and then also in the context of you having like a plant-based platform, I was thinking about my Italian grandpa and I was like he would not have known what to do with plant-based Like that wasn't his world. So how has she received this?
Speaker 2:like your focus, so, funnily enough, we had the Australian book launch and we were going to do a family one. And then we're going to do like sort of a media and influencer one and my grandmother's like, why don't we just do the whole thing here? So we had a whole bunch of media and influencers and everyone come to like my nonna's house, like literally in the suburbs, like come to nonna's house. We had over 100 people through and she, like had prepared like her recipes which are in the book.
Speaker 2:But it's like it's pretty funny conversations because you're like, okay, no, no, like which are these recipes plant-based? And she'd say, like these aren't Cheeny Balls. I'm like, oh well, like which are these recipes plant-based? And she'd say, like these aren't Chini bowls. I'm like, oh well, you're actually buying the rice together with the egg. It's like you know, and she's like, oh, don't worry about it. And those kind of things where it's like, and she's such a phenomenal cook, she doesn't have any recipes, she just does everything by heart. So actually trying to quantify and write it down and script the recipes was, you know, yeah, like this, such a fun experience because she'd never really done it before. She just knows everything by heart. But I think, yeah, she had like such a good time at the launch and, yeah, she was like super proud and you know she's got a photo in the book and that's just like you know, yeah, probably one of my favorite parts of the whole book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really sweet, that's good. Will she eat the plant-based stuff? Will she try it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, she does like her minestrone recipe, which is part of the book. That is like vegan as a thing. It's just a whole bunch of veggies. She still thing it's just a whole bunch of veggies. Um, she still thinks it's a bit funny. But you know, she's, she's, she's, she's more open to trying it. And uh, yeah, she's, yeah, she, she's got the same like 10 things she's loved eating for probably 60 years and won't stray too much from it. Like I can't get her to try sushi, but you know she's, uh, she's every now and then she'll try some vegan things it sounds just like my italian grandparents.
Speaker 1:I totally get it, and when I was told that I had to eat gluten-free and I brought home a gluten-free pasta, I wish I knew what my grandpa was swearing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he was like yeah like cussing it out of the kitchen. Yeah, yeah, it's like just do it, you'll be fine.
Speaker 2:You know it's like yeah oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Um, okay. So I always like doing this on my episodes whenever a topic might be unfamiliar to people. I like going back and kind of like defining things. And so when we're talking about plant-based, can you kind of like define it? So what foods are like included or excluded?
Speaker 2:so I think the the as far as from the restaurant side, when we're saying we're a plant-based restaurant, there's absolutely zero animal product what's with us. So some like hardcore vegans things like honey, like they won't even use honey or even call their partner honey. But so when we go like 100% plant-based, that means we're not using any animal products whatsoever. So for us I'm not sure if it's different over here, but for us that's like but I think plant-based is a bit softer than it's like saying vegan.
Speaker 2:So plant-based is like I'm predominantly, I'm plant predominant, so I'm usually making my diet for that. But I might make certain exceptions when I feel like I need a protein hit or I'm just like really craving like some eggs or some like a burger, or like you know, I'm just going out for pizza and so I'm just going to have a pizza and not worry about it. And I think that's the best way to approach it and that's how I do personally is not being absolute about it. So I try to eat as well and as nourishing as I can, but also being like I'm on holidays, I want to try all these new things and, you know, not feeling bad if you know, one meal out of X amount is unhealthy or not 100% plant-based. I think, I think that's the best way forward for, for, for all of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I can stand behind that. I love that definition too. I should have written this down. I was reading through some of the intro of the book and I think you were addressing the question like is plant-based healthier? Like, will I lose weight, or whatever, and you addressed like three foods that were plant-based. What is it?
Speaker 2:you're like cocaine yeah, cocaine, bread and oreos are just like you know, they're all like they're all plant-based, but it's like you know, it's uh, yeah, it's. It won't necessarily, um mean, you're going like eating vegan or plant-based won't necessarily be healthy and same with any diet.
Speaker 1:Like you just want to be making sure, however, you're consuming food like do it mindfully and do it what works for you and for your body yeah, I think I'm really thankful for the way that food culture is going like I think we are we're finally waking up, like we're finally realizing we have, like it's empowering actually to like, yeah, know that what you choose could lead to health and there are really good tasting options, and I think that's what you're exposing us to too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and and I I guess in my sort of visits, visits to the U? S, they tend to be just sort of like Los Angeles or New York, which are, you know, probably you know, a bit more open to those sort of things, but I'm not so much sure on the middle parts of America. But I think, you know, as we're evolving, we're learning more and we're absorbing more information, it's always going to come out that these things are better for us. It's not like new studies are going to come out and say, you know, we should be eating like 10 times more red meat. It's like, you know, we've got the knowledge from, like these blue zones where, you know, the, the, the people living the healthiest, most fulfilling lives. This is their diet and as much as we can incorporate that like, I think overall it's going to be for the best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good, that's really good. And I always tell people, if you're skeptical, try it for yourself, like give it a solid trial period and see how you feel.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, that's right and to be completely plant-based requires, like, a lot of organization and a lot of ingredient checking, and you know it can be quite limiting at times and there's particular vitamins that you might be missing out on, like vitamin B12. So I think, like whatever diet you choose, you just you know, think of it from a whole perspective, and you know a lot of us. Whatever our diet, think of it from a whole perspective, and you know a lot of us whatever our diet, we're missing out on. You know important daily vitamins, so it's important to make sure you're getting you know much goodness as you can yeah, it's good, good, good.
Speaker 1:Well, I want to walk through some of the chapters. I know not everyone's going to be watching like video. Um, some people might be listening, so I wanted to hold it up because I love the visuals. But let's go through each chapter. I would love for you to kind of like you could take it whatever direction, you could share a part of the chapter that you're most excited for people to read, a recipe that you love in that chapter, anything like that, and we'll kind of look at it like speed rounds, so okay. So the first one. Um, I just think this one is important in general, but where do vegans get their protein?
Speaker 2:well, good question. Uh, legumes are a great source, so beans, chickpeas, um, and that goes back in. So, in that in that chapter there's non-asminastronies recipes in there that has 15 different vegetables, super high in protein, super easy to cook. Um, you can take um vegetables that are in your fridge that like okay, I need to use these up and you can pour them all into a soup and make this like incredible, incredible thing. That like tastes like you're. You know, it's like it's like eating a hug, like it's so amazing for you. It's like that's. That's probably like one of my favorite things. Um, and then experimenting in color in that chapter there's like, um, we use uh, quinoa like a, like an uncolored quinoa, and we um brew it with some matcha tea and it goes like electric green. So you know you're getting the antioxidant boost from matcha and getting like the protein protein boost from the quino king mine. So that'd be my favorites in that chapter, for sure.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. So I would love to be a fly on the wall when you guys are like recipe developing and just seeing like the color man. Yeah, that's fun it's, it's.
Speaker 2:It's. The most common thing I hear is like the first thing they say it's like no, like that's impossible. It's like so you know, because I'm like the um, I'm the creative director, and like the, the restaurateur, but not I've never been the head chef of the restaurant, but I've worked with the most amazing chefs I'm like, okay, can we do this and can we do this plant-based? And can we? You know it's? Can we make it turn this color? And can we make a cocktail that when you add this, it turns this color? Usually time it it's no, but, like you know, thankfully, like work with these amazing people that like help me, like create these crazy ideas, and like some are just like unattainable and some are like, well, actually we can do this, and it's like it's my favorite part of the whole process.
Speaker 1:That is, that's really fun. Well, in this chapter you have a chicken schnitzel or like a chicken right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so funnily enough we opened this amazing plant-based cafe back in 2016. And you know, we had lines out the door and, within sort of 12 months of opening, like this giant KFC opened up next door to us and which you know and you could sort of like from as you walked out, you could, you know, you could get the waft of like all the like, the deep fried, all the deep friedness. Um, and so we, our sort of um reply to that was to come up with like deep fried goodness but like to replicate, like those like herbs and spices and deliciousness and that homely feeling you get from like eating like you know, fried goodness. But we use jackfruit and the great thing about jackfruit is it's like quite a neutral flavor. So you can, you know, season and flavor it to whatever you want to whatever you want to kind of replicate. Um, we try not to like, especially now, like to to like mock, do too much mock meat and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:But this is our version of like a delicious, crispy fried goodness and it was our sort of like. There you go, kfc. It was like you know, if you're gonna do that, we're gonna do this, and you know, and we still had lines at the door and you know we were just that, was that ended up being like you know we did like a popcorn, jackfruit, like the uh, the burger that you mentioned, and they end up being like the most popular like things on the menu. So it's like, yeah, well, kfc is gonna open, what? We're gonna do this and we're gonna be even busier I'm sure the press loved that.
Speaker 1:Did you get good for that?
Speaker 2:yeah, we did. We gave away, like, um, we had like a golden, a golden nugget. We we had partnered with uh Qantas in Australia and we had like, if you find the golden, like jackfruit nugget, um, you win a trip to Japan.
Speaker 2:So like we had this sort of like like you know, it was like um Melbourne restaurant's response to KFC opening next door, and they're like like yeah, we're doing this, our version of like deep fried goodness, and if you find like the golden Jackfruit nugget, you're going to win a trip to Japan. And that just went banal for us, wow. Oh gosh, you guys are genius man Faking it till, we make it or something I know, I mean, that's the real part of it, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Oh man, I love talking this language, though it's good. Um, okay, don't be upset, eat some spaghetti. And if you can, specifically, I'd love for you to talk about the cheeses in here, because I think when people think plant-based, they're like I can't get cheese. So can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 2:that's, that's the. That's one one like um. Insight is you cannot replicate the same chemical experience that happens in your brain when you eat. Like traditional cheese, it's just short of like lacing it with a tiny bit of cocaine. You can't actually recreate like a plant-based cheese that has that same chemical thing. And even my mum, who's like vegetarian for years, she just can't cut out cheese. But what we can do is create these like epic alternatives. So we do a soy one and a cashew one, um, and it's like again, like you can flavor it to be absolutely delicious. So we do like um stuffed zucchini flowers.
Speaker 1:I think you call them something else I know what you're talking about, though, because I grew up with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're stuffed flowers yeah, um, we call them zucchini flowers. I think you call them something else. I know what you're talking about, though, because I grew up with them. Yeah, yeah, they're stuffed flowers. Yeah, um, zucchini flowers, you might call them something else.
Speaker 1:Um, I know what you mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can flavor this like amazing, like soy ricotta, and flavor like spinach and garlic and deliciousness. So when you're eating it together with the flour, it's just absolutely incredible. So at our sydney restaurant we made all our entree, so it wasn't 100 plant, we made all our entrees. So it wasn't 100% plant-based, but all the entrees were. So you're like if you order the flowers, they come, you're going to eat them and you're going to be like this is amazing and you're not even going to know that it's plant-based. You're just like this is delicious, good food and that was our whole thing. We wanted you to come into the restaurants and go like I'm going to order pancakes that are incredible, pancakes that just happen to be vegan, rather than being like these are the vegan pancakes Because we want you to go. This is amazing, regardless of whatever your dietary thing is.
Speaker 1:I love that we're talking about this because I think we're moving away from this, but for so long, healthy food equals tofu and gluten-free equals cardboard. It's like, man, we've come so far, like if that's the last time you tried eating healthy, like it's time to try again yeah, and and and.
Speaker 2:In a lot of ways, like the plant-based world, and and and. For us and for this book, it actually opened up this whole realm of creativity, like a new way to like invent, like cooking and consuming food and just like you know, as you said, it would appear that there was like limitations on food and our biggest thing was going like there's nothing, almost nothing, that we can't make. That's going to be incredible, that's going to satisfy that craving. But, yeah, that's a huge part of why we were successful in that time.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow well, this one.
Speaker 2:I've been spending a lot, of, a lot of time drooling over but, um no, telling me what to do so talk about the dessert aspect of this yeah, and again it's like you're going into that same thing, like the traditional nutella that's not made like, that's not actually completely plant-based and has some animal product in it. So we're like any version of anything we can make and we can make and it's going to be delicious. It won't necessarily be exactly the same, but it's going to be delicious and it'll keep you coming back for it. And in that same way of like how can we reimagine things? It was like how can we reimagine pasta to be dessert?
Speaker 2:So we made these like Nutella ravioli. So we used like our chocolate hazelnut spread and it's like the traditional pasta, but like it's made like with a variation to be slightly sweeter. But it's still like this delicious dumpling that you're eating and then Nutella's oozing out and the ice cream's on the sweeter. But it's still like this delicious dumpling that you're eating and then Nutella's oozing out and the ice cream's on the top, and it's just like this. You know, it's like you probably don't necessarily want to have like carbs on the tops of carbs, like have another pasta after your thing, but it was just like it's so delicious that it's just like. You know, like I'll have a small amount of a small entree and then like this, like save room for these, like nutella ravioli it sounds like you know girl dinner, it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, like a caesar salad and nutella ravioli.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah that's awesome man, were you gonna?
Speaker 1:say something else.
Speaker 2:I don't want to cut you off um, no, well, if I'm, and maybe mentioned it before. But so there's a plant-based restaurant out in Los Angeles called Gracious Madre, which is, you know, one of the most beautiful dining rooms that I've ever been to, like this incredible outdoor courtyard, and that was like the epiphany moment that I had because it was plant-based and I was there with some friends and we're smashing these tacos and you know, 10 margaritas deep, and you just, it hadn't even come into my mind for a second that we were eating plant-based and that's the thing that we were trying to recreate. Now, things like we walk into the restaurant, nothing about it really says like plant-based as you walk in. But it's just, we applied that concept to like a cool Melbourne brunch cafe, so you walk in. But it's just, we applied that concept to like a cool melbourne brunch cafe, so you walk in.
Speaker 2:The music's good, there's smashed avocado, there's pancakes, there's good coffee, there's matcha, but it just happens to be vegan. So it was like that those sort of things were like hadn't quite happened in australia. At the time I was very like in your face and preachy about that way, but I think if you do it in a more like relaxed, inclusive way, you're actually going to get. You know, like, if you say, oh, this is vegan or I'm vegan for that, a lot of people will just completely switch off. Where it's like, yeah, like you know, we're open to everything and this stuff is delicious, and you know, it just happens to be plant-based, you can actually get like more people on board.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's good. I, as you were saying that I was thinking like with everyday hospitality too. I used to have a catering, a special diet catering company. I never did plant-based specifically, but it was gluten and dairy free mostly, and my kind of like motto was like food, so good, everyone wants to eat it. So clean, everyone can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, yeah, and that was the thing Like you tell me what restrictions your guest has, I'm going to make a spread and everyone will enjoy eating it, and we didn't even like put little like tags out or anything, cause that's the thing Like if people know, sometimes it changes the experience, right.
Speaker 2:For sure. And this and the same thing that was our philosophy in the restaurants now, which is like, whatever your dietary thing, you can look on the menu and you're not like you don't have to be like, oh, can I have the gluten? Is this available gluten-free or is this available dairy-free? Like there's just so many options that everybody feels comfortable and whoever gets that, whether they're gluten-free or dairy-free or not, it's going to be delicious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh man, this is like a tease. This is like a really bad tease for me, because I'm like it's too far, I can't like end this call and just head there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah one day.
Speaker 1:One day, yeah, that's right, it's not too far from thailand.
Speaker 2:So you know, next, next, next big trip, you head out, head down there you go weekend away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, this last one that I wanted to talk about. I love that you included in the book, um, because I'm just getting more creative with my drink options, but giving me the Spritz. Talk to us about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's like, it's amazing when you look into it and you know we're opening this like this trendy sort of restaurant, a Spritz bar in Sydney, and you know, looking through, like you know trying to do, trying to be like all the drinks will be plant-based and thinking like this is super easy. And then you actually look through and you're like, well, this has egg white and then this liqueur has, like milk particles and this thing is made with, like this, food colouring that's derived from animals and all that sort of thing. So for us it actually presented this new opportunity for like again, like for innovation, and just to show that like there's nothing that can't be done. That's like, you know, delicious frothy, like aquafaba kind of cocktail based thing, and you know we make a like hazelnut lagroni.
Speaker 2:Um, we, yeah, there's like the aquafaba, like a peach sour, a chili, margarita, espresso, martini, any of these things that I like, you know, and that's my favorite part to taste test and it's amazing how good you can become at writing a book after you've. When you're on the cocktail chapter, you just start to be free flowing while you're doing that taste test. But yeah, it's just me same thing, like if you come cocktail, you just you start to be free-flowing while you're doing that taste test. But yeah, it just means same thing, like if you come to the restaurant, you don't even have to worry about, like is this, does this have dairy, or does this thing? This is just, like you know, a delicious cocktail and it's going to be. You don't have to worry about that thing man, that's so good.
Speaker 1:I I've talked about this on the show because I've had a few like alcohol brands on recently or whatever. Yeah, yeah, I am so lame with my drinks, like seriously so lame, like red wine girl through and through and I'm like okay time to time to grow up.
Speaker 2:Katie, it's time to explore red wine's a magical place to be, but yeah it is yeah, yeah and I think I think there's been, there's been.
Speaker 2:One thing I have seen is um you know, innovation in the non-alcoholic beverages as well which is sort of like um making a play.
Speaker 2:But the next sort of thing that I can see sort of coming is things that are like um, like we're going to a nice restaurant, we don't want to drink alcohol but we also don't want to drink a mocktail like a fake gin or a fake syrup or anything like that, so like functional sort of tonics where it's like this might have like some mushroom extract or any of those things.
Speaker 2:So I think all the non-alcoholic alternatives, they're going to be like done in like martini glasses and look really interesting, but not actually be like mock, like like trying to replicate something. But you can go out to like a fun dinner and be like I'm gonna have like this mushroom soda tonic and it's gonna come out and it's gonna change colors and it's gonna be in a martini glass and you'll feel really good about it afterwards. Wow yeah. And in addition to that, say like you are having margarita, like adding, like you know, less sugar and like some ginger, so there's like, you know, it's like a you're gonna feel better the next day and you're gonna want to keep drinking them and yeah, it's like it's a it's yeah, it's a huge scope for innovation.
Speaker 1:So I could stand. I could stand behind that very cool man. Well, I don't know if you want to talk about this slash can, but I've heard that you've had some pretty noteworthy guests at your restaurant, are you?
Speaker 2:comfortable. Yes, a restaurant, yeah, sure thing. Are you okay talking about it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so who have you seen?
Speaker 2:Well, funnily enough, so regular this is going back 12 years I got to know a regular couple that were, you know, they'd come in three or four times a week, always ordered the same thing, and we became really good friends and they would come to like our staff events and, you know, we had a whole bunch of people that were doing that. And then, almost, like I'd say like almost a year into our friendship, and they said our kids are coming in, and so they, they brought their kids into the restaurant and it happened to be the three Hemsworth brothers. And so this is going back like, yeah, probably 11 years ago now, and so I hadn't realized at the time that you know that, that that I had in fact been friends with the parents of Chris, liam and Luke and um, then, yeah, so we sort of had built like an amazing friendship over those 10 or 12 years where, um, you know, and they're being like incredibly supportive, like Chris did an article in the New York Times and said what should people do when they go to to? Um, come to Melbourne. He's like I'll go, like go to Mark's restaurant, match a milk bar.
Speaker 2:So, um, they've been, you know, as beautiful as they are, you know, on the outside, they're actually even better humans on the inside. So, um, it's, yeah, that that's a really uh beautiful, like natural friendship that's developed. And I think, when you're on the cusp of innovation in food, like you know, particularly like athletes, or you know people that take good care of their body, they do want to come and like, check out these new things and eat at those places, and so you're always meeting like incredible, incredible individuals and, yeah, that's sort of a that's been like one of the you know, looking back on the journey and all the incredible people you meet. It's it's absurd in many ways, but yeah, it's, it's. It's a really beautiful friendship that I've built over a long time.
Speaker 1:It's definitely worth celebrating because, like you, you just called it a journey. It's definitely a reflection of the journey, of all the years of innovation and creating and trial and error that opened those doors.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah yeah, and and you know the, the, all my friends, including those people I would say like, have have like a down-to-earth and good-heartedness in common and so that's just. You know you see people in certain contexts and you know it's. You know, especially in LA, that celebrity, celebrity thing gets you know glamorized, but like, really it's just like good people and you know down to earth and yeah, that's. Yeah, you know you it's, if you have good friends, like that's a good recipe for life.
Speaker 1:I reckon yeah, yeah, yeah, real good. Well, I just realized we haven't even said the name of the book yet. I'm like, oh my gosh, 45 minutes in haven't said the name of it. Well, tell us the name of the book and what you're excited for people to experience when they get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's this cookbook is a huge mistake, is the? So, yeah, one of our cafes we had this neon sign back when neon signs were trendy. That said, eating here is a huge mistake because it was plant-based and you know it was super, always photographed and always spoken about. So taking that sort of philosophy and going, you know this cookbook is a huge mistake. This is out on steak and if you're a steak lover and you happen to buy it, sorry about that, but you know, just try some recipes and it's like happy days.
Speaker 2:I'm like a pun lover, dad joke lover, and this is sort of like, more than anything like this book is like where all my puns had somewhere to go and you know like every recipe is like has has a pun name, there's a pun at the start of the recipe and it's just about like making things fun. And you know the the. You know people would come up and say one of the smoothies was like if you know any vegetable puns, let us know. And so they'd come to the counter and say, hey, can I please have one of the? If you know any vegetable puns, let us know. And you see their smiles and it's just, you know, it's all about adding to the experience of just. You know, let's create something fun and get you to smile, even if it's cheesy. You know, it's just that's part of that. But I think I sort of wrote, started writing the book.
Speaker 2:Australia had some crazy lockdown laws, in particular in Melbourne, and Melbourne, I think, is like the longest in the world of lockdowns, and in order to get from Melbourne to the next state, I had to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks and you do not, you literally don't see anyone for two weeks. So you're locked in a room, you've got a window that doesn't open and food gets delivered, it gets sort of. There's a knock at the door and then you have to wait a minute for the person to drop it, to leave, and then you open it and and that's your life for two weeks, right? So the only person you see is the nurse that comes and takes your covid test, which is so, so wild and absurd to think about. You know us, all of us, collectively having to go through that.
Speaker 2:But, um, I had, you know, had a few drinks on the first night in there and then woken up like hungover and being in this room and just gone like you know what if I do this every night, like I am not gonna, I don't know if I'll make it through, like I'll probably just like go back to Melbourne or something. So, um, I decided to start sort of like you know, looking back on the journey and just just just writing some recipes and going like, oh yeah, at that restaurant, this, this, this recipe was super popular at that. I remember, like that, what that person said about like these were the best pancakes I've ever had. By the end of the two weeks I had the outline of what would resemble a book.
Speaker 2:And then, I think, as an overshare, my self-worth was so tied into my business and we had six restaurants in lockdown, operating under strict lockdown conditions, and so I went through like a bit of a dark chapter.
Speaker 2:And then it was on the other side of that, which is my friends and family and the people that helped me get through that, that I was then able to go look back at the whole journey and think about how unbelievable it's been and how, like it wasn't the money and it wasn't this success that I actually loved or enjoyed about it, but it was like the people I met, the places I got to travel to the people's day we made when they were coming to the thing. So I've tried to like, add the recipes, add that story, add, like my better life lessons that you know if I, you know who knows if I'm qualified to share them. But that's part of my story I have to tell and I just wanted to include that and that's so you sort of get a bit of that, get some really bad jokes and you get, like some you know pretty good recipes.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad that you shared that part of it. I think it's so important for people to know because it helps us to get to know you better, the road to the book better. You know like it's. It's a more full, it's a fuller picture, which I love sharing. Yeah, and I love a good like beauty from ashes story you know, yeah, for sure because it encourages people in the thick of it.
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, yeah and I think, I think you know there's sort of there's, no, there's no journey without like that's like truly fulfilling without some sort of you know, no, it's like a movie like without like the the challenging part. Or you know there's there's, there's the feeling at the end of it. I think it's. It would be less fulfilling without those challenges for sure.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, that was a very profound way to end the conversation, but we are going to attach the link to get the book and the show notes and the link to your, your site and everything as well, all the ways to find you. But we end each of our conversations with the same three questions and I'd love to hear your answers as well. The first one is something you have eaten recently and loved.
Speaker 2:Perfect. So, Eden, I don't know if I can go through like it's a little bit of a, it's not quite eating, but I had Community Goods, this cafe in LA, the matcha that I had there, and I've been on a matcha tour and this is by far the best matcha I've ever had, so that's probably like the most memorable thing that I've had in the last few days. Is that an acceptable answer? Sure.
Speaker 1:I have something to admit to you, though.
Speaker 2:I have never had matcha do you just like I I still need, like, I still um my partner. She loves matcha, but I still like we still have to have a coffee before I have my matcha. So I still like, I'm still like an og, I still need my og coffee. So, yeah, um that's my thing. I've never wanted to give up my coffee yeah, um, and then so I'll yeah, yeah, I can't, I'll never be able to. Okay, I don't think so, um that's fair there was.
Speaker 2:There was this uh, amazing, there's another australian restaurant that's doing so so well, well, out here, called Great White, and they did this banana bread. That was just mind-blowing and it's just a simple thing and I was just like I'd seen them. They had like a small little store in Santa Monica and now I've seen like there was one on Marchmont Boulevard and there was one on Melrose in LA and I know they're expanding I was just like, just like super, super happy for them that like this, you know, these, this crew of Aussies, this restaurant called Great White, are doing, you know, showcasing like amazing Australian brunch, and I think that's that's definitely one of my favorite things I've eaten very interesting.
Speaker 1:It's cool what makes it right.
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah a simple thing, but done like that is absolutely magical. So, yeah, nostalgic. Yeah, it's like yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, a simple thing, but done like that is absolutely magical. So, yeah, nostalgic yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 1:Um, how about sorry, excuse me a gathering you attended that made you feel a strong sense of belonging and, if you could pinpoint it, what it was that made you feel that way?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, like this, this really surreal moment, this meditation studio in Venice Beach called Open and it was a friend of mine who had opened Melbourne's first meditation studio and Melbourne probably wasn't quite ready for that market.
Speaker 2:And he's taken this, this, this huge risk to come out and open this studio in venice beach and it was this incredible sound meditation that you're doing with like 50 other people and it's like a tuesday night and it's absolutely packed and you're just breathing and meditating together and you're going through these like deep emotions.
Speaker 2:And you know, you just look around and at the end of the together and you're going through these like deep emotions and you know, you just look around and at the end of the class and you, you, you know you look into the person sitting next to his eyes and you just, you know you feel seen and you, hopefully the person that you're looking to feel sick, because you know we are way more similar and we are different as human beings and that was just like a really like you know, I think sometimes in LA it can be a bit fast-paced and you miss that. So that was really beautiful to see this meditation studio called Open. That was just, you know, was bringing all these random people together and creating this, you know, for an hour, was creating this really beautiful moment. So that was sort of probably like the highlight from this trip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, that's really unique.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, well, last but not least, uh, something you've discovered lately that you think everyone should know about a Netflix show Amazon purchase anything like that oh, there's this wild show on Netflix called Apple Cider Vinegar and it's about this Australian girl and she was a regular at our cafes and she was, as she's depicted, like I can't remember the name of the American actress, she's like unbelievable. So this girl's name was Belle Gibson. So this girl, her name was Belle Gibson. She was like the original influencer in Melbourne. She had like a million followers before anyone did and she'd built her following saying she'd cured herself from a rare type of brain cancer from eating whole foods, which is not possible.
Speaker 2:But she just built a following and told people and how to deal with like Apple computers in San Francisco and eventually, after four or five years, it turns, you know, people start questioning things and it turns out that she's like made this whole thing up and it was wild news in Australia when it happens.
Speaker 2:And it was wild for like us in the restaurant industry and she'd come into our restaurant and post all the time and she was a bit flirty and she was like always like, touchy and like, and then you see the way they do this thing and I was like, oh my God, it was like like they captured her so well and it's such a story of how like people can present themselves in one way and just be like apps and gain a following and be able to preach health and all these kind of things, but have no like actual, like study or basis to actually be able to preach it. And it was that was like like captivating. Like watched six episodes back to back because you know they were showing cafes that that you know they weren't.
Speaker 1:Um, that like represented melbourne and I was like, oh yeah, I know that, I know that and that, so that was that's worth a watch for sure apple cider vinegar those, yeah those shows like pull you in and they also like scare you right yes, yes, so scary yeah man you so that no one's talked about it in that much depth. But that show and White Lotus, like my past six interviews, that's like everyone's answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And what? Yeah, I mean, you know I was just watching the yeah, the last episode of I was trying to wait till I got back home to watch it, but just keep seeing it pop up and people talking about, I'm like, oh, I need, I need to watch it because, like you know, it's not going to be a secret for much longer than I want, right yeah, such an epic show, that's the worst.
Speaker 1:When someone gives a spoiler, yeah, that's right. Well, thank you so much, goodness. We are so excited for you, um, and for the launch of this book, and we will tag everything in the show notes and be sure to follow along.
Speaker 2:Guys, so beautiful chatting with you, thank you thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Well, guys we will see you next week.