Food Origins Podcast

Nirvana Soul is a San Jose-based coffee company bringing exciting flavor, bold inspiration, and undeniable joy to Silicon Valley and beyond. Founded by sisters and best friends, Jeronica Macey and Be’Anka Ashaolu, Nirvana Soul’s mission is to bring people together using the power of coffee and tea. Jeronica & Be’Anka We’re Jeronica and Be’Anka. Sisters, best friends, and co-founders of Nirvana...

Tracy Desmond was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois. Tracy has been working in the hospitality and tech industry. But it all started with a visit to a kombucha bar on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The kombucha was light & refreshing. There was also a sense of connection and community that created a very special experience. That feeling stuck with Tracy and she knew she wanted to create someth...

Loren Poncia was born and raised in Tomales, CA. Loren follows in the footsteps of his parents, Al and Cathie Poncia, as the 4th generation of his family to steward their land. A graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a major in Dairy Science and Ag Business, Loren always dreamed of coming back to the ranch to pursue his passion in agriculture. Loren oversees the entire ranching operation, an...

Born and raised in Boston, Adrian started working in kitchens as a young teenager. Adrian is the CEO/Co-Founder of Four Star Seafood and Provisions based in San Francisco, CA. After cooking his way through the Boston area, and a obtaining degree in Philosophy from Brandeis University, Adrian’s taste for adventure led him to cook in San Francisco, New York, London, Israel, France and Tokyo before h...

Chef Guillaume Bienaimé was born and raised in Paris, France and moved to the U.S. at an early age but traveled back to France every summer. Guillaume was learning French cooking techniques from his “quintessential French grandmother” who cooked all the time and family meals were a great influence. Guillaume was not only interested in cooking from his family. Guillaume's first cooking job was...

MACBBQ. Established in the California Bay Area in 2014 as a competition barbecue team. Chris, John, Nick, Bruce, Gary and Dominic are all featured on this podcast.  Chris is the founding member and collaborator of the entire team with a passion for learning barbecue and using his background in science to establish a measured approach. John backs him up also with his technical experience and provid...

Lars Smith was born and raised in Palo Alto, CA part of a 3rd generation family in the Bay Area. This podcast was recorded on location at the State of Mind Slice House, their second location, which coincidentally Lars lived and grew up with down the street.  Lars got into food early especially from both of his Grandmothers' cooking who provided an inspiration.  Despite not receiving any forma...

Christine Sebastian is the owner of Treatbot Karaoke Ice Cream Truck along with her husband Ryan. Also they are founders of a food truck gathering and consulting firm called Moveable Co.   Christine and I know each other from attending the City College of San Francisco’s Hotel & Restaurant Program together. Christine talks about her process of working at a traveling catering company, her Filip...

A builder and storyteller, my guest today is Timothy Koide. Tim was born in Berkeley, CA of Japanese and Caucasian descent. Tim’s great grandparents immigrated from Japan and settled in the Bay Area.  At a very young age, Tim’s family moved to the East Coast and he spent the majority of his childhood there, but would spend parts of his summers back in California. Tim later embarked on a very impac...

Guy Crims, or “Guy the Butcher,” as he’s generally known, is a veteran of the butcher business and a legend in the world of Japanese Wagyu. In 2017 alone, Crims was responsible for bringing 4.3 metric tons of Wagyu beef into the U.S.   Crims, a California native, became fascinated with the butcher business when he was 14 after reading The Jungle , Upton Sinclair’s novel depicting the American meat...

Ben grew up in in the small town of Perkinsville along the Connecticut River in the state of Vermont.  With a French background and Ben's family based out of New Hampshire and New Orleans he saw many different great dishes such as crawfish boils and fresh shellfish. Ben started early in the culinary world by working in a small NY and Sicilian style pizzeria  in Vermont at the age of 14. Progr...

Esa Yonn-Brown was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. Raised in a family of passionate cooks that were an early part of the slow food movement and used as many fresh ingredients as possible in their meals. Esa has been working in the restaurant industry since she was sixteen years old.  Esa and I know each other from attending the same class at the City College of San Francisco’s Hotel & Re...

Ken was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Ken grew up in a family of great cooks which stoked his passion for food. Traveling abroad and cooking professionally in Australia furthered his knowledge and repertoire. After returning to the states, Ken simultaneously went to culinary school and worked at Zuni Cafe under Judy Rogers in San Francisco working through all the ranks of the kitchen to Chef...

Born and raised in Petaluma California in Sonoma County; Joe Costarella comes from an all Italian Neapolitan and Sicilian family.  With heavy roots also in San Francisco, Joe grew going to the city for the family business and dinners. Joe also spent a lot of time in the outdoors hunting and fishing which exposed him to great variety of food by his family especially his La Nonna and Mother’s great...

Andy Moeckel aka the “ Flip Flop Guy” known for his delicious wild game cooking style and family marinade recipe. Andy is an accomplished hunter/fisherman & was born and raised in West Marin, California. After a troubled youth, Andy turned his life around and began sharing his Grandfather’s cooking when it was passed down to him by his father on his 25th birthday. Andy’s Grandfather Al Gidding...

Born and raised in Northern France in the town of Lille, Geoffroy has worked in restaurants since he was 15 years old. Geoffroy is the owner of Cuisinett French Bistro & Market in San Carlos, CA. Cuisinett offers a casual, family-friendly restaurant with great quality French comfort food and now incorporates a Epicurie with wine, cheese, charcuterie, sweets, and other products from France.  Ge...

Dave Williamson aka “Meat Dave” is a comedian, pitmaster and host of the Meat Dave podcast. Dave is also a water polo coach and a co host of the Tony Azevedo podcast. Dave was born and raised in Miami, Florida.  After working in his family’s car business ; Dave knew he loved making his customers smile and laugh. Excelling in many comedy festivals and being named “Best Comedian in Miami” , Dave pac...

Ulises Bella is one of the founding members of multi Grammy award winning band Ozomatli. “Uli” grew up in South East Los Angeles, CA. Uli developed a passion for music at a young age and went to the LA High School of the Arts. Subsequently Uli spent some time in college and playing in punk bands. Later he met the now founders and members of Ozomatli. Uli dropped out of college and pursued his drea...

Christopher Olson is a police officer for the City and County of San Francisco Police Department. Officer Olson is currently a bomb technician assigned to the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) division of the SWAT team. Chris has worked numerous positions in the SFPD for over fifteen years. Some of them include: all aspects of patrol, mayor's detail, undercover plainclothes investigations, a...

Bobby Takahashi is the fourth generation member of the Takahashi family. Bobby was born and raised in the Bay Area and currently manages Takahashi Market in San Mateo, CA. Bobby provides insight into the history of the market, allergies to chocolate , parents cooking, dealing with the pandemic pivot , local eats, food favorites and travel experiences.  I have been going to this market for over ten...

TJ Villagomez is a Chef at Google specializing in catering , grab n go, and working their food truck program.  Jose Palacios is a QA software engineer. I'm fortunate to have trained the martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with these guys at One World Jiu Jitsu under Mike Prudencio. We have shared a passion for food along with some great meals and many barbecues together. I initially was record...

Max and Juliana Gambirazio are the owners of Papachay Peruvian Coffee in San Carlos, CA. Max tells us about his origins of immigrating to the US. On a trip back to Peru, his motorcycle broke down in the rainforest and a chance to buy a 30 acre coffee plantation arose. Juliana , Max's wife who is from Saul Paulo Brazil, also joins us on the podcast telling us about her love for coffee since sh...

Welcome to another episode of the Food Origins Podcast! This podcast is dedicated to our Mother, Yuriko who passed away in 2019. I was fortunate enough to sit down with my one and only sibling; my brother Michael Sands. Mike is a self-employed web developer and an accomplished martial artist in the styles of Kuk Sool Won, Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Before settling in his now hometown of San Die...

Welcome to the premiere episode of the Food Origins Podcast! Recorded on location at Hendo Studios in San Diego, CA. I sat down with my friend Courtney Henderson who provided me with inspiration to start this podcast. Courtney is a professional photographer from a small agricultural town in Albany, Georgia. I was volunteering for an Echelon Front / Jocko Willink conference where Courtney was worki...

ABOUT The Food Origins Podcast The podcast was created because of my passion and experience with food. I want talk to people from many areas of life about their origin stories. What they ate growing up, some of their culture, favorite foods, recipes, family traditions, awesome tools, best & worst restaurant experiences any where in the world and of course; their current projects & business...