WEBVTT - Luke’s Diner: Opa! Going Greek, Gilmore Style 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:10.320 I am all in again. Let's just. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.959 Luke's Diner with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.520 Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am all and Podcast, one 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:30.560 of them productions iHeart Radio Media, iHeart Podcast. Luke's Diner 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:38.240 episode with the the one and only Debbie Metnopolis. Debbie, Hi, welcome. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:43.480 How you're doing all the things? Yeah? 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:45.600 Hi there, How are you? Scott? 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:50.280 I'm doing well. Six time Emmy nominee. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.880 You're Lucky seven is a charm. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.880 You're the host of at Home and Family TV, recently 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:02.760 published best only cookbook Hold it Up Greekish. It's all 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:07.080 Greek to me. There it is, it's blurry. That's a 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.240 great looking book cover. That's fantastic. 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.960 You know what's better? You know, well, my co host 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:18.720 Mark Steinus from ET and From Home Family actually photograph this. Yeah. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.400 He's made an amazing transition into photography and he's really good. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:22.800 By the way. 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.560 Does it piss you off sometimes how talented that guy 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:26.520 is and how good. 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.119 Looking he is And you can't have it all Mark? 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:34.240 Okay apparently again, she's also the founder of. 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.680 Okay. You're going to say it for you? Akaria, Akaria, 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.399 there's an island in Greece called Igaria, but in English 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.839 it's a karia. If I were to say Igaria, people 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:47.920 would be like, what are you saying? 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:49.120 I want to go there? 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.000 It's the place where people forget to die. It's that's 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:57.280 when it's been dubbed the most octagenarians on the planet forget. Yeah, 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.520 they forget, Like why die when it's so beautiful here? 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.000 That's one of the like blue zones, is that what 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.800 they call them? One of those places? Man? All right, 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.480 so your co host for the View for two seasons 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.640 at the age of twenty two, baby going into the 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.840 lions then, and I'll bet you tore it up anyway, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.320 making you the youngest person to be a permanent co 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.200 host of the show. Welcome to Luke Steiner. Thank you 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:26.919 for having me listen. You and I go way back 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:32.800 in the category of banana bread. Okay, that's a big category. 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.240 If people wanted to know. We made banana bread together 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.560 on the air, and it was the. 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.560 Best banana bread I've ever had in my life. I 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:40.560 still dream of it. 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:44.440 My mother's recipe and really good. Let me tell you, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.760 I grew up on that with like you know that 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.880 real butter, just like just tons of butter on the 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:52.560 banana bread. 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:53.560 That's the only way. 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:54.519 That's the only way to do it. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:55.679 I just know. 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.480 So you grew up in a traditional Greek household, what 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:01.760 are some of the earliest memories around food and family. 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:04.680 I mean they have to be legion everything. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:09.080 Everything growing up Greek, everything is based around food and family. 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.280 Every single memory I have almost is of being in 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.560 the kitchen at all times, you know. I mean, listen, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.240 we'd have gatherings at the house and people would start 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.400 in the living room and everyone would end up in 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.200 the kitchen. That's just how it is at an ethnic house, 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.120 I think, especially when people are cooking, and it was 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.160 always about laughter and love and food. And you know, 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:35.800 I mean most of my core memories, whether it was 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:41.880 a celebration or something sad or something really important in life, 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:47.640 always happened around like the kitchen table, and it was 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.560 if there was a death, we ate, If there was 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:51.600 a birth, we ate. If someone was sad, we ate, 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.960 if someone was happy, we ate. And it's it I 0:03:56.000 --> 0:04:01.320 think has shaped my idea of food being more than 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.640 just sustenance, food being a way of sharing your life 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.640 with someone. And I think that's probably why I was 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.560 so interested in writing cookbooks because I felt like, for me, 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.040 my love language is feeding people. I just if I'm 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.000 feeding you, if I'm making something for you, you know 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:18.640 that I love you. 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:25.360 Yeah, that's for darn sure. Was there a particular family 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.000 member who really taught you, Hannah cook? Was there your mom? 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:32.800 My mom? Yeah? Everything, I mean everything, I know. Ninety 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.920 percent of the recipes in both books are from my mom, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.159 or my grandma or my aunts. My uncle had a 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:43.520 bakery in Greece, so a lot of the baked goods 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.920 are from his recipes, but most of them really from 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:46.320 my mother. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.480 How often do you travel to Greece? 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.760 Growing up? It was like every other summer, And then 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:58.760 when I started working, you know, and going to college, 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:00.640 it sort of slowed down a little bit. But in 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:05.240 the last since my daughter was born, since Alexander was born, 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:10.680 we go every year. We just haven't been we think, 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.520 the last year. But I am going in about three weeks, 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.240 so I'm very excited. Oh oh yeah. I try to 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.720 get there as often as I possibly can. My most 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.320 of my family still lives there and we have a 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:28.440 house there. But it's also super important to me that 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.359 my daughter can, like learns to speak Greek and that 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:38.039 she carries on her you know, her roots, and that 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.400 she is she knows. Listen, I'm Greek, and I'm going 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.479 to continue to celebrate my culture. That's important to me 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.160 because it's unless the family really pushes it, it kind 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:48.200 of gets lost. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.359 Right, it does. It truly does. So from your childhood, 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.920 what's the dish that gives you the most comfort today? 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:59.400 What's the dish because it is comfort to David my childhood, Well, 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:04.680 that's I'd probably say. There's a dish called yemi sta, 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:10.320 which in English is basically stuffed peppers and tomatoes. And 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.080 the way that my mother would make this. I think 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.080 a lot of cultures have stuffed peppers and tomatoes, but 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.159 the way my mom would make them was just incredible. 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.119 And I remember coming home, like on cold nights from 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.800 track practice, you know, like in ninth and tenth grade, 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.400 and walking through the door and smelling the house and 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.599 being like, oh my gosh, she's making yemmi sta. It's 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:31.960 my favorite, you know, And she would and it would 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.800 often be made with the tomatoes and the peppers that 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.720 my dad would grow in the backyard in our garden, 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320 so you know, it's full of rice and ground beef 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:46.080 and fresh tomatoes that are stewed and spices, and it's 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:50.799 just really yummy, so yummy. And I make her recipe 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.440 exactly like she tells me to make it, and it's 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.560 still not as good as hers. And she says to me, 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.400 you know, I ham because mommy puts more love when 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:04.200 she make it. Okay, I guess I gotta make it 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:04.760 with more love. 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.000 Any dishes that you didn't really appreciate it as a 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:12.520 kid but that you now love. 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.880 Yeah, you know what, surprisingly enough, because not only do 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.800 I love it, I'm kind of obsessed with it. Lamb chops, 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.760 the Greek lamb rib chops. And let me tell you 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:30.960 why I didn't like lamb because I for Okay, Greeks, 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.800 during Easter time, I call it Greaster. We have different 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.200 Easter than the regular Easter, so ours is Greaster, yours 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.720 is Easter. The Greeks have to wait until after Passover 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.120 to have Easter because if you actually go back and 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.920 look at historically, you can't have Easter without Passover. So 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.239 we wait for the passover that we have Easter. Okay, 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.080 So it's always right after pass Over, like a week 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:55.840 after so, and we also go by the Gregorian calendar. Anyway, 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:01.640 So you make a lay on a spit in the 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:06.200 backyard and it's a huge celebration and you know, the 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.640 sacrificial lamb and everybody at all the Greeks gather in 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.080 somebody's yard and whatever, and there's a spit and there's 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.720 a lamb on the thing. So as a child, this 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.280 really scarred me, Like it was tough for me to 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.080 understand why this baby lamb would be on the seat. 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.280 It was not an easy thing to swallow or eat. 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.480 So not only is a lamb, but it's a fresh lamb. 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.280 So we would often go my dad and all of 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.280 his greed buddies. We'd go down to the farm where 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.600 they had these lamps for specifically for picking for this 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:46.960 situation in Virginia. And you know, one year, my dad 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.520 took me with all the bodies. I was probably six, 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.800 and I'm playing with these animals, not really at that point, 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.960 I hadn't really understood what was happening. I'm there playing 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:58.800 with farm animals and a dormle. They pick whatever. I 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:00.640 don't see what goes down. We get in the car, 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.559 we go. You know, a few days later, this thing 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.160 is on our spit and I'm starting to put two 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.920 and two together and very confused by this whole thing, 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.640 and I actually asked them, is this what do you mean? 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:15.680 This is lamb? I just played with lambs and I 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.600 put it together and it freaked me out really badly. 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:24.319 So I didn't eat lamp for years. And then finally, 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.280 you know, when I accepted the fact that we we 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:32.320 as humans, if we're not vegetarians, do eat animals, I 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:37.800 realized how delicious the lamb could be. And I am 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:42.199 a meat eater, one thousand percent a meat eater, so lamb, 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:44.840 I think, was the most difficult. I mean, it was bizarre. 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.199 I even kept some of the bones and I took 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.040 them to show and tell. When I was a child, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.600 they must have thought I was bananas bananas. My mom 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.280 still tells the stories. She said, do you remember when 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:56.040 you were so scarred and you kept the bones from 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:57.160 the lamb? I said, yes, I do. 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:11.920 Oh my god, that's hysterical. Speaking of cookbooks, congratulations, Greekish. 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:17.040 This is a book filled with one hundred and twenty recipes. 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.560 How'd you choose which ones to include? There must be 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:20.400 so many more. 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.440 Oh, there are so many more. Well, I it was 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.720 difficult but this one is different than the first one 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.640 because the first one was all authentic, one thousand percent 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:35.679 all Greek recipes, tried and true, traditional family recipes. This 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.040 one is called Greek Ish because my friends had been 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.800 saying for years, Debbie, why don't you had other things 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.840 into your cookbooks, because you know you've made Greek cookbooks, 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:47.959 but people don't know that you really just you're a 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.320 great cook so you can Why don't you add your steak? 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:52.839 Why don't you add your smashed potatoes, Why don't you 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.719 add your roasted carrots? Why don't you add your nachos? 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.160 So I said, you know what, You're kind of right, like, 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.400 let me broaden this little bit. So there's the Ish part. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.600 So there's a lot of recipes that hear that aren't 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.080 traditionally Greek. I have a great bolonnais, Like I have 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.120 a secret bolonnais. The secret to that is you drop 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.760 up a parmesan rind in the bolon a sauce for 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:13.480 like three or four hours when you're making it, and 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.360 it gives it this sort of unctious flavor and you 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.319 can't really explain why, and people like, what is this? 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:22.960 I'm like, it's the run. So I think I just 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:28.360 chose these based on my friends and family's favorites. Some 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.360 that I feel like that are staples that people just 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.960 need to know how to make. And I think my 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.280 favorite thing about doing this book, which was different than 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.080 the other book, to be quite honest, is that it 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.080 has an interactive component to it, which is super cool. 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:46.040 So the interactive component is that there are bore codes 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.760 at the bottom of a lot of these recipe pages, 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.400 and when you scan the bar code, I pop up 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:53.080 and I teach you how to make the recipe in 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:53.800 my own kitchen. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.920 Oh and in this day and age, it's like, look, 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.040 so many people just go to TikTok or YouTube or 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.200 Instagram and frankly they're too lazy to read the recipe, 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:05.120 so they're not going to make it. 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:09.240 So if you scan the barcode, I'm legitimately in my kitchen. 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.560 It's a homegrown situation, a one man show. I set 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:15.800 my camera up and it's me. It's like if my 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.720 neighbor came over, I'm like in shorts and a T shirt. 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:20.880 Sometimes I'm barefoot. I'm like, hey, guys, okay, welcome to 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.120 a cookbook. All right, So today you're gonna make you 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:24.280 want to make this. I'm gonna show you how to 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.000 make it, and I show you how to make it, 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:28.080 and then that way you could just turn it on 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.400 your phone and be like, oh, okay, so that's what 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:32.360 I'm putting next to some ends upposed to reading it. 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:33.480 That's brilliant. 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:34.600 Isn't that fun? 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:36.120 Whose idea was that? 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.680 I wish she was mine? It was the publishers. Isn't 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:42.240 it a great idea? So the publisher came to me 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.000 and said, you want to do this? And I thought, 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.280 I will tell you this, Scott. I mean, I love cooking. 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.800 I loved writing a cookbook, but doing the cookbook is 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:56.040 like childbirth, and it takes longer. It takes about, you know, 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.360 beginning to end, about fourteen months. So it's a lot 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:06.280 of reviewing recipes, writing recipes, testing recipes over and over, 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.360 looking at the recipe and editing it and making sure 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.320 your eyes aren't going cross side when you're trying to 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.520 see did I leave a word out? Like you started 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.240 to go cuckoo. So when they came to me and 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:18.400 they said do you want to do this? I thought, 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.720 this is a commitment and I know what I'm getting 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:23.480 myself into because I did it the first time, but 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:26.839 at the end it's so you're so thrilled when it's finished, 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:28.760 and you're like, I did this all by myself, just 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.120 a few people and not a huge production team, you 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.840 know what I mean. So and then they said, well, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.600 here's the thing that we think you're really going to enjoy, 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.440 and we'll make it a lot easier for you because 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:41.200 this is your real this is what you do. So 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.120 I said that, and I've said we're in let's do 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:44.720 it right now. And we started the next day and 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.800 it was so I mean, it was so fun. And 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.400 another thing which is really great about this because the 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:54.920 book is also digital. It's you can get it worldwide 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.080 and not worry about shipping. But because it's digital, I 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:03.360 can add recipes to the digital book okay, and add 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:10.360 add videos as I go, and then they can print 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.200 to order. I mean, it's it's a new it's a 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.360 new wave of what's happening in the world these days. 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.320 It's not like it was where you print five thousand books, 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:20.000 they sit in a warehouse or they sit at Bard's 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.880 Noble and then people have to buy them. I literally 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:24.880 can update the book in real. 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:26.520 Time, which is believable. 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:28.480 Yeah, I mean it makes me feel a little bit 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.280 like some of the people that got the first uh 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.640 the first book itself will have a different copy, but 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.160 there's a huge barcode at the bottom of the front page, 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.120 right like a QR code that will have every single 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.080 recipe regardless of what copy you bought. So as I update, 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:46.760 it's right there. 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.720 So I'm talking to my I'm facetiming my buddy yesterday 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.840 pulls in In and Out Burger and he's a bit 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:59.760 of a prankster, a jokestery, the funniest guys you ever meet. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.600 He's always on. And he pulls up and he orders 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.120 his you know, burger, fries, whatever, and then he says, 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.080 and I'd like that animal style, right, And he said 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:16.160 I'd also like to virtual burgers. And I say, virtual burger? 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:17.840 What is that? He goes, well, it's just you know, 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.600 can you just I can't take it now, but can 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:24.200 you just email me a couple of burgers? And they're like, 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.200 just pull up to the front place. So they give 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.720 him his order and he says, take down my email. 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.200 I want some virtual burgers, and the guy took his 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:35.040 email to top it. We're getting to this point and 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.160 it's like just a joke he was playing on people, 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.720 but they kind of took him seriously and they didn't know. 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.360 They hadn't heard from corporate that this was the thing. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.200 He says, But let me get your email and I'll 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.960 call corporate and we'll get you your burgers. We'll email them. 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:52.960 And I will tell you something. In and Out is 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.360 so cool and they're so vibey and they're hip to 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.440 all this stuff. And Linsey, who owns the company, is brilliant. 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:00.640 She's like the youngest female billion there in. 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.200 The world or something amazing. 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.400 And she would get such a kick out of that. 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.680 She would probably she if she found out about this, 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.560 I bet you she would email him like two virtual 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.280 burgers with a gift certificate to go get them. Like 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:16.720 that's the type of thing that In and Out does, 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:18.440 which is so clever. I love those guys. 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:31.520 They're so good. Yeah, it's so great media training, diet. Yeah, 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:36.120 I'm getting a lot of press for the last thirty years. Yeah, 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.680 but now it's really you know, really, the noise is 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.080 getting really loud. Tell us a little bit about why 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.200 Greek food is so good for our bodies. 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:48.040 Greek food is so good for us because simply because 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:53.600 it's based around whole foods from our planet. Most food 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.120 that you will eat, that is, Greek food has like 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.880 five ingredients or less. Nothing is in there that she 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:06.200 cannot pronounce. It's based They only use olive oil. Olive 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.920 oil is so important and so good for us. I mean, 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:14.880 the benefits of olive oil are astronomical. That lowers cholesterol, 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:18.640 is great for your skin, is great for inflammation. I mean, 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:25.359 it's I think it's anti carcinogen like all kinds of 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.320 things that it fights free radicals. It's really really good 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:29.840 for you. And I think that's one of the reasons 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.840 the Mediterranean diet is so good for us. But it 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.280 also is based in grains and a lot of fish, 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.080 in mostly vegetables. If you look at the history of 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.080 the Greek people and the people in the Mediterranean, they're 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:47.000 mostly eating a diet of fish, veggies, and grains. Meat 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.320 comes in there, obviously the lamb, you know, the SUBLACKI 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:53.520 the you. They don't eat a lot of steak, They 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.520 don't eat a lot of like they don't know a 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.119 lot of burgers. This is not this whole like fast 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.360 food thing is not. They do slow food. They don't 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:07.760 do fast food, and especially in Greece and most of 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:12.080 the EU, to be quite honest, there there are so 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:17.720 many chemicals that are not allowed for farmers to use 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.560 or anyone to use for their animals or for their 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.960 fruits and vegetables and then bring those vegetables and fruits 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.440 to market. You're not allowed to put pesticides on things. 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:32.159 It's illegal. It is absolutely illegal because it's poison. They 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.080 would never imagine putting something on something that is a 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.199 poison and selling it to someone because it's basically you're 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:42.760 killing them. So that in itself is a huge reason 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.040 why the Mediterranean diet is how it is. But then 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.320 again that's in Europe, not over here. So it's all 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:50.240 about like when I remember when I wrote the first 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:54.479 cookbook and I said to my mom, Mom, I'm writing 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.159 the introduction and I'm talking about the Greek diet and 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.320 organic in this and that. At my Mom's like organic, 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.920 what is this organic? It's like twelve years ago, thirt 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:07.600 two years ago? I said, organic, you know, mom, like 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:09.680 Mama did. And the card you grow it in the back, 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.600 you grow it, no no harmful chemicals, no pesticides, no nothing, 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:21.119 just you know, natural and she was like this normal, honey, normal, 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:24.680 And I said, yeah, isn't that sad? And we now 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:26.679 have to call normal organic? 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:27.959 Right right? 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.960 And not only that, she laughed, she was like, I 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.879 can't believe now everyone based so much money for organic. 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:37.119 We had to be organic because we want poor we 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:42.280 want that. Isn't that funny? Like what was what was 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.760 essentially poor people having to grow their own food has 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.640 now become a bougie thing and they charged you three 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.480 times the price. I mean, our world is upside down. 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.440 It has been for a minute here, but I think 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:59.359 you know that's what the Greek and the Mediterranean diet 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:01.840 is based in. And another reason that the Mediterranean died 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.440 and that Greek people and people in that part of 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:10.679 the world do happen to live longer, healthier lives is 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.480 something that they don't really talk about a lot when 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.760 you're talking about like the Greeks and why they're so 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:22.520 healthy that because of our religion we're Greek Orthodox, we 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:27.240 fast like by fasting, O explain what this means. We 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:31.399 fast for all the high holy holidays. So if I 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:33.120 had to guess off the top of my head, you're 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:37.680 probably fasting between ninety and one hundred days a year 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:42.080 by fasting. This is what fasting is. You don't eat 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.840 for that specific time, like whether it's a week or 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:49.720 you know, four days or over Easter before Easter it's 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:54.520 forty days. You don't eat any animal products at all. 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:59.960 You essentially become vegan. No milk, so, no dairy, no meat, 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:04.000 know nothing, only olive oil. And if you're really hardcore 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.200 about it, you don't even eat honey because honey came 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:09.359 from bees. So I truly believe. I mean, I'm not 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:14.600 a doctor, but I believe it resets your entire digestion 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.479 system and it gives your body a chance to rest. 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:23.560 And you know, whether it's religious or whatever why they 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:27.439 did it back in the day, whatever that reasoning was, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.600 it allows your body to actually chill for a minute, 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.199 and I think that helps your cells regenerate, and I 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:38.159 think it helps, you know, flush out any toxins or 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:40.200 any disease that may be lingering in there. 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.600 To be quite honest, right, And this is following the 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:48.400 Greek Orthodox calendar. Yes, okay, gotcha. Wow, that's fascinating because 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.880 there's so much now coming out about fasting and the benefits. 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.040 Yeah yeah, all right, let's say there's someone who's never 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:58.680 cooked Greek food before. Where do you recommend they start 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:00.959 buying your book now? 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:06.119 I would recommend first and foremost buying Greekish. It's on Amazon. 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:08.000 You can go to Amazon just put in Greekish and 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:11.480 you'll see it there. I would recommend the first thing 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:14.600 they start with. Whatever you do, don't start with Filo doe. 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:16.600 Oh my god, you'll never cook again. 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:17.680 Filo dough. 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:20.720 I love you, but she is a nighther to work with. 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.159 She's brittle, she's harsh, so she could get really brittle, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:25.879 like if you don't go quick, it just starts to 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.040 break and you'll start crying. I think the first thing 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:32.560