CONSUMED with Jaime Lewis

Husband-and-wife team Mikey and Gina Giugni produce deeply personal wines for their own wine brands, Scar of the Sea and Lady of the Sunshine, respectively. Mikey also makes a limited amount of cider that is a cult favorite, especially on the Central Coast. They talk biodynamics, family wine, fishing, and teamwork. Instagram: @scar_of_the_sea Instagram: @lady.of.the.sunshine Website: scaroftheseaw...

Justin Trabue is the assistant winemaker at Lumen Wines in Santa Maria, California. She is a fourth-generation Washingtonian, and she is Black, which definitely puts her in the minority on California’s Central Coast, and even more so in the local wine industry. Justin and fellow Black winemaker Simonne Mitchelson wrote a letter to the wine industry , using it to raise funds for the local grassroot...

South Africa native Simonne Mitchelson has lived all over the globe, and got her start in wine when she worked harvest on Waiheke Island in New Zealand for Stonyridge Vineyard. Since then, she’s had her hand in several vintages all over the world, most recently in Lompoc. At the time of this interview, she had just taken a job with Tin City Cider, opening their new tasting room in Los Olivos, Cali...

Guest host Justin Trabue interviews pitmaster Jerime Ford about his roots, which he can trace back to the great barbecue traditions of the South. Jerime grew up in San Luis Obispo, and he talks about what it was like often being the only Black kid in school and elsewhere, and how he’d love to turn his love of music and his love of food into a jazz club and soul food restaurant in downtown San Luis...

Dylan Jones is the executive director of One Cool Earth, an organization that creates school garden programs in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County schools. We discuss the organization’s work, kids’ reactions to tasting veggies they grew themselves, and, most immediately, how One Cool Earth continues their mission even in the midst of a pandemic. Website: onecoolearth.org Instagram: @onecoole...

Jaime speaks with Mara The Helper about food insecurity, food and body image at a young age, and diabetes, which she was diagnosed with in 2018. Listen to Mara talk about growing up with a mother who baked, about sugarless gelato, living off freebies, and about helping her way out of homelessness. Instagram: @marathehelper Facebook: @marathehelper

Anita Sahi owns and operates Copia Vineyards & Winery in Paso Robles with her husband, Varinder Sahi. Their focus is Rhône-varietal wines, but Anita wasn’t always on the wine path. She grew up in a suburb of Chicago, the child of Indian immigrants. She wound up working in high-end restaurants in New York, and eventually owned her own place in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. With guest host Jus...

Marbue Marke is a veteran of the California wine industry, particularly as a wine consultant in Napa Valley, where he lives. But his work has taken him all over, including to Pismo Beach on the Central Coast, where he is winemaker for Oceano Wines and vintner Rachel Martin, using fruit from the Spanish Springs Vineyard. Marbue spoke with guest host Justin Trabue about growing up in Freetown, Sierr...

Winemaker Raymond Smith is a native of Oakland, California, and talks with guest host Justin Trabue about his upbringing as one of eight kids in his family. Due to the recent protests against police brutality around the globe, Indigené Cellars has experienced a lot of support lately, along with many other Black-owned businesses. He discusses the origins of the name Indigené Cellars, the evolution...

Shanté Norwood of Té’Stees cupcakes started her business as a hobby with her kids. Today, she makes cupcakes, filled donuts, chocolate-covered strawberries and other specialties that have given her quite a sweet reputation. We talked about how she struggles to keep confidence in herself, how her husband has championed her, what it was like growing up in Santa Barbara and how she’d like to see Lomp...

Guest host Justin Trabue gets real with Oddette Augustus of Miss Oddette’s Creole Kitchen, which caters, holds pop-ups, and sells Oddette’s famous BBQ sauces. She talks about her ‘granga” Hazel who taught her how to cook, and about her struggles as a Black woman in Paso Robles. On that note, Oddette and Justin talk about a current event here on the Central Coast involving Tianna Arata, a young Bla...

Janine Stone is the brains behind a Bitch-In Kitchen, a project that began as an irreverent blog about vegan, gluten-free and refined-sugar-free cooking. Today, it’s also a food delivery business, bringing oat milk, granola, and cookie dough in vast quantities to hungry homes across the Central Coast. It all began the day the coronavirus shut everything down, just a few months ago. Plus, it’s not...

Brittany App is a photographer and the filmmaker behind the upcoming film “Where There Once Was Water,” a feature-length documentary that shows the effects of water scarcity in California, and helps people heal its water cycle. Brittany has traveled all over the world on photography gigs, and her experiences in foreign countries inspired her to think more critically about water in her home state....

Jim Clendenen is one of the most important people in the history of American wine. He established Au Bon Climat winery in 1982, and he’s been named Los Angeles Times Winemaker of the Year, Food & Wine Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year, and the German wine magazine Wein Gourmet’s “Winemaker of the World.” Here, we discussed how his grandmother supported her family, the beauty and rarity of a good bu...

Jack and Michelle Rudolph own Stepladder Creamery in the hills behind Cambria, California. There, the Rudolphs raise a large herd of La Mancha goats and make cheese from their milk. In addition to the goats, Jack and Michelle grow dozens of acres of Haas avocados, citrus, and passion fruit. Listen in to learn why Jack had a crepe pan at 12 years old, how Michelle milked the goats while enduring st...

Kendra Aronson is the author of the San Luis Obispo Farmer’s Market Cookbook, which is now in its third printing. Kendra produced every bit of the project, from crowdfunding and writing to photography, editing, self-publishing and marketing. She’s also a food stylist for big shoots with brands like Target, Pillsbury and others. Kendra talked with me about the importance of having a dedicated space...

Broad Street Pub owner Matt Cross trained as an evangelical pastor and worked in the church before leaving it all to become a full-time musician on nights and weekends, caring for his twin daughters during the day. Ultimately, his exposure to wineries, breweries, bars, and restaurants drew him to start his own place - a place for locals to gather that isn’t just focused on attracting a student pop...

A SLO native, Max Montgomery is the owner of the new brewery There Does Not Exist. After befriending the head brewer for Firestone Walker Brewing, Max attended brewing school in Chicago and Germany, tasting and brewing and learning his way through the history of the world’s beer. Back in SLO, he brewed at Firestone Walker until he decided to start There Does Not Exist, which is on its way to becom...

An agricultural legacy, Larry Kandarian is the energy and heart behind Kandarian Organic Farms in Los Osos, California. Larry started in tech, but went on to work in seed farming where he grew interested in grasses, the family of grains. Heirloom and ancient grains are now Larry’s primary focus, and he is a rock star on the international food scene. Larry is an encyclopedia of agricultural knowled...

Erin Primer joined San Luis Coastal Unified School District four years ago, bringing new energy to the school lunch program, incorporating many local farmers and purveyors into dishes and significantly increasing the number of meals the district supplies. Raised an only child by a single mom, she credits much of her creativity and drive to her upbringing. Erin talks about the effects of COVID-19 a...

Chef and baker Tim Veatch shares his treasure trove of experiences, including the time he spent in kitchens from Morro Bay and Paso Robles to San Francisco and Oakland. Today he’s moved away from the restaurant business and toward pastries and rustic bread baking for his Wayward Baking company. In the meantime, Tim and I talked about baking cakes for a grocery store, quitting nursing school, and a...

Cafe and roastery owners Sara and Jon Peterson swing by to talk about their early days as young entrepreneurs, how they met and married young, and about how they lived the #vanlife before it was a hashtag. @scoutcoffee / scoutcoffeeco.com @honeycocoffee / honeycocoffee.com

Neal shares his unexpected path into the aquaculture business, the science behind oyster farming, how he manages business and home life, and about the crazy network of celebrity chefs he’s developed. @mboysterco / morrobayoysters.com

Home beekeeper Erin Holden discusses the beekeeping life, how bees produce honey, the Central Coast Beekeeper’s Alliance, and shares fascinating facts about bee behavior. @centralcoastbeekeepersalliance / centralcoastbeekeepers.net

Julien and Courtney Asseo talk about life on the Las Vegas food scene, French culinary school, striking out on their own, and the challenges of preparing French cuisine for an American audience. @lespetitescanailles_ / lpcrestaurant.com