Talking Shiitake

Richard Prout, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at Zambrero, take us through his journey from London hospitality to helping build a mission-driven global brand. We explore Zambrero’s Plate 4 Plate initiative, which is set to surpass 100 million meals donated this year, and how the team keeps consumer needs at the heart of innovation. Richard also shares why Zambrero partnered with Fable to lau...

Today I speak with Charlie Hachem, Co-Founder of Piccolo Me and multiple other hospitality brands. Charlie takes us through his childhood living and breathing hospitality by working in the family coffee business with his mum, dad, cousin and brother Roy. They’ve since gone on to build a hospitality empire across Sydney and have just opened their first cafe in Lebanon! Charlie takes us through buil...

Today I speak with Greg Creed, former CMO of Taco Bell then CEO of Yum! Brands globally (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and more). Greg talks through how a key consumer insight relating to drinks at Taco Bell lead them to the development of the Mountain Dew Baja Blast. This product began as an LTO and 20 years later it’s doing more than $1B in sales annually! 

Today I speak with Matt Shook, Founder and CEO of the 42 door Texas smoothie and juice chain JuiceLand. I had the pleasure of filming this episode in person at Matt’s house in Austin, Texas. Matt talks us through his journey into the juice and smoothie business, how it’s changed over the years and together we drink a JuiceLand Percolator smoothie and eat a Bánh Mì Wrap - made using our Fable pulle...

Today I have the incredible honor of Talking Shiitake with Professor Peter Singer. In 1974 Peter wrote the book Animal Liberation which laid the philosophical foundation for the vegan movement. This book played a huge role in my going vegan and co-founding Fable so Peter has been hugely influential in my life. He’s done the same for many others too - in addition to helping lead the animal rights m...

In this episode, I Talk Shiitake with Cindy Flores. Cindy runs her own Taquiria in Redfern, Sydney called Tacos Muchachos and we met when she was head of culinary at the incredibly successful 200 door Mexican restaurant chain Guzman y Gomez where we worked together to introduce our Pulled Shiitake Mushrooms onto the menu there. Cindy grew up in the small town of Sayula in Mexico then studied at cu...

In this episode I Talk Shiitake with Diem Fuggersberger.  Diem’s story is a tale of resilience, persistence, great food and a passion for sustainability. She had a turbulent childhood fleeing Vietnam with her family as a child, being attacked by pirates, and living in a refugee camps before making it to Australia.  Diem learnt to cook from her Vietnamese Grandma and her butcher mother. They instil...

In today’s episode of Talking Shiitake I speak with meal kit company Marley Spoon Australia’s Co-Founder and CEO Rolf Weber. Rolf and I first met nearly 15 years ago when we were both in the fashion industry and I actually interviewed him for my blog back then! We’ve both moved from fashion into food and this was a reunion of sorts. It was fascinating to hear from Rolf his journey into food, inclu...

Welcome to the first episode of my new podcast Talking Shiitake! In this episode I talk shiitake with George Peppou, co-founder of cell cultured meat company VOW. George and I met back in 2019 when we were figuring out our paths in the alternative protein space. George went with the cell cultured approach, I went with mushrooms! We each thought the other was crazy but put small angel checks into e...