Food Origins Podcast

Danny Bolton, known as "The Boarman," is a skilled outdoorsman, expert hunter, and passionate conservationist featured on MeatEater . With years of experience tracking and harvesting wild hogs, Danny has earned his reputation as one of the most knowledgeable and dedicated boar hunters in the field. His expertise goes beyond the hunt—he’s a storyteller, advocate for ethical hunting practi...

The Cross O Ranch was established in 1890 and has seen 6 generations live in the same house at the same location. It is nestled in the second deepest canyon in the continental United States and the beauty and views are absolutely breathtaking. Despite its harsh terrain, it is home to some of the best land to raise and harvest cattle.  In late 2016, the Cross O Ranch had to make a big shift. After...

Firecracker Farm is family owned and operated in Palm City, Florida. From planting, growing, and harvesting their peppers, to developing, designing, and producing products, it’s all done one small batch at a time. It’s a handcrafted operation that handles with the care and enthusiasm that only a family business can. Alex Bonamarte is the founder of Firecracker Farm, known for creating unique, hot...

Mark Melnick was born in Tokyo, Japan of Japanese and Polish/Ukrainian descent . At an early age, Mark learned the struggles of managing a business because his parents owned an export company. After graduating high school Mark came to the United States and studied business and accounting. A turn of events caused Mark to change careers and take a job as a beef exporter. It was an exciting time and...

Andy Hung is a dedicated lifelong martial artist who has a wealth of knowledge in multiple fields. Andy was born and raised on the island of Oahu,Hawaii. Andy is a 2nd Degree Black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a 4th Degree Black belt in Judo. Andy is the founder and CEO of Dojo Outfitters where he sells his own brand of Martial Arts apparel and gear through his online store and brick & mort...

Chef Eduardo Garcia is a chef and avid outdoorsman driven by wild curiosity and a deep love of food and landscape. For Chef Eduardo Garcia, meals are meant to be shared. Food and cooking have served to connect with others in meaningful ways: taking him around the world as a yacht Chef, motivational speaker, and big-screen storyteller as the host of the James Beard Award-winning Big Sky Kitchen on...

Greg Lapin has made a living for the past two decades in Law Enforcement Special Operations and Government special operations, deploying to war zones throughout the world. Greg started his Jiu-Jitsu journey in 2005 when he was a New Orleans Police Officer because he understood what violence was and what skills he needed to have to go home at the end of the day. After leaving the police department...

On this episode of the podcast I am solo. I take about some of my favorite tools, sauces and goods that I've come to love over the years. Although not sponsored by any of these brands, some of the products have become friends of mine, guests on the podcast and affiliates. Great visuals of everything will be uploaded on my Food Origins Podcast Youtube Channel. Links are in the show notes below...

Chef Ryan Gallego is a highly accomplished sushi chef with an impressive 20 years of experience in the art of Japanese cuisine. Graduating from the prestigious California Culinary Academy in 2005, he embarked on a culinary journey that would shape his expertise. His training at renowned establishments, including Morimoto Napa, Nobu in Palo Alto, and Village Sake in Marin, enriched his skills and r...

Mohammad Abutaha is Palestinian but grew up in Amman, Jordan and moved to America when he was 20 years old to study mechanical engineering. In 2015, he dropped out of university in his final year to pursue his dreams of owning a restaurant. Mohammad started as a dishwasher and worked his way up the kitchen ladder, working in iconic kitchens around the Bay Area including Reem's California.  At...

Petra Higby is the CEO and co/sister founded Caviar Co. Petra was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas and her father is from Holland, and mother is from Texas.  Immediately after college graduation, Petra moved out to Carmel, CA to take an internship with Coastal Luxury Management, assisting with putting on L.A. Food & Wine, and Pebble Beach Food & Wine events. This opened up my eyes to the...

Emily Winston is the CEO and founder of Boichik Bagels. Born and raised in central New Jersey, she grew up eating a LOT of bagels. When her father had business take him to the Upper West Side, he would stop by Zabar's for lox, sable, whitefish, and chive cream cheese, then H&H for bagels, which her family would have as a special treat.  These bagels were on a whole different level of uniq...

Chef Elizabeth Binder was born and raised in South Africa, inspired by her fisherman father and great entertaining grandmothers, she attended the internationally recognized Christina Martin School of Food and Wine in her hometown of Durban.  After graduating, she landed her first cooking job at the small luxury hotel, Blue Mountain Lodge near the Kruger Park, where she was quickly promoted to head...

Justin Gill is the founder and CEO of Bachan’s Japanese BBQ Sauce. Justin was born and raised in Sebastopol, CA and of Japanese, Portuguese, French and Irish descent.  Justin dreamed of bringing his family sauce to market since he was a kid during the holidays. Justin, Grandmother Judy and his family would brew batches of their sauce to give out to clients of their family landscape business. Many...

Alchemist Farm is a small family farm team headed up by Franchesca & Ryan Duval along with their two children in Northern California.  Known for being pioneers of humane breeding and hatching, no male chicks are killed on their farm as they are at large scale hatcheries and all of their heritage breeding groups are free to roam on their separate pastures. Franchesca was born and raised in Sant...

Sean Nguyen is the founder/owner of PapaWagyu. Sean is of Vietnamese descent and born and raised in San Jose,CA. We go over how we became friends through food and began working events together. Going over his family meals growing up like : Bun Bo Hue & Pho noodle soups. After traveling to Japan, the dream was planted to somehow work in the hospitality industry with food. Sean continued to work...

Matthew Kosoy from Mt. Laurel New Jersey is the founder & owner of Rosalind Bakery in Pacifica, CA. The bakery is named after Matthew’s grandmother, a nod to his family roots. The tech-worker-turned-baker started making sourdough as a side hustle, but his loaves quickly became a staple of the local farmer’s market. Matt had enough demand to open a storefront in 2019, where he continues to draw...

Judy Tan is the CEO &  Founder of Purely Drinks. Judy was born in Taishan in Southern China . Judy and her family immigrated to the USA when she was six years old and grew up in Portland, Oregon. A graphic designer by trade working for some very big companies; Judy took the leap to start her own business.  Inspired by the memories of her Chinese grandmother's recipes, Purely was founded i...

Franco Finn is a first generation San Francisco native.  Growing up, Franco attended a bi-lingual French-American school where he learned to speak fluent French and that’s where he began his passion for the arts.  Franco graduated with a B.A. in Communications at Santa Clara University, studying television & film production.  Franco has been working in the aviation industry for the past decade...

Monica Wong and Quynh Nguyen are the founders of a Little Green Cyclo.  I met Monica and Quynh back in the day in 2010 when they first started with their first Vietnamese food truck serving delicious Banh Mi and various dishes. Monica grew up on the East Coast where her family owned one of the first Chinese restaurants in downtown Boston. Monica worked many years in finance, before deciding to get...

John Ferrando was born and raised in the Bay Area specifically in Pacifica and San Francisco, CA. John is 100% Italian half Sicilian and half Genovese. I met John when we worked as police officers for the San Francisco Police Department. John learned a lot about cooking from his Grandmother and Father who is a retired San Francisco Firefighter. John has also traveled to Italy frequently to cook al...

Howard Bulka was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Howard studied economics in college in San Francisco but suddenly realized he hadn’t found his calling until a friend suggested he become a chef.  With that in mind, Howie sought out the knowledge to begin his new career choice by going door to door talking to hotels and restaurant chefs for their advice. Howie soon was hire...

Paul Arihara was born in Japan and moved to California at age 5. Paul was orphaned at 8years old and institutionalized till he was 25. Paul has worked in the hospitality industry for over 34 years starting at McDonald’s at the age of 15 in San Diego,CA. Paul only completed the 9th grade and was homeless at 18 shortly after being released from incarceration. Paul’s worked in almost every position f...

Joey Camacho is the owner and managing partner of Konjoe Burger Bar. Born in Saipan and raised on Guam with a diverse Japanese/Chamorro and multi-ethnic background. Konjoe currently has four locations in the cities of Los Altos at State Street Market, Santa Clara at Levi’s Stadium , SAP Center and another cloud kitchen both in San Jose, California.   Joey brings his vast knowledge from working in...

Wyatt Fields is the owner and pitmaster of Breakwater BBQ in El Granada, California . After five jam packed years of full-service, catering for weddings, and some of the biggest tech companies in the Bay Area and everything in between, Wyatt decided to take the next step in his journey and open a small store front in the coastal town of El Granada, California right before the start of the global p...