Speaker 1: I love cooking Mexican food. I love cooking American food.
Speaker 1: I'm really good at also diet food. I wish I
Speaker 1: could cook a little more. I'm a chef, but I
Speaker 1: can hold my own. I have good sasson what are
Speaker 1: like some easy tips that you can give people to
Speaker 1: just make healthy choices. If you're going to make a
Speaker 1: decision to make a change, you really got to do
Speaker 1: a purge in your pantry. There's a lot more Mexican
Speaker 1: restaurants in New York, more Puerto Rican restaurants, So I
Speaker 1: think now that these restaurants are kind of popping up,
Speaker 1: there's definitely a lot more space for a lot and chefs.
Speaker 1: Happy Monday. If this is your first time listening to
Speaker 1: Cheeks and Chill podcast, welcome If you're one of my
Speaker 1: incredible subscribers, welcome back. I'm your host, cheek Ease, and
Speaker 1: today we're going to be talking about one of my
Speaker 1: favorite topics food. We have the most amazing guest for
Speaker 1: you today, so let's hop right into this week's episode.
Speaker 1: This is Cheeky Ease and Chill. I'm really looking forward
Speaker 1: to today's show because if you know me, you know
Speaker 1: I love food. I've always loved food, and I love
Speaker 1: to cook as well. Many people don't know that, but
Speaker 1: I like to cook, as you guys know. I have
Speaker 1: a chickie keto book. It's called Cheese Ketto and it
Speaker 1: is a book about keto. But when I started doing
Speaker 1: Keto lifestyle, I couldn't find any like you know, Like
Speaker 1: I'm Mexican, I want spice, I want flavor, you know.
Speaker 1: So I did it with my friend Sarah. I love
Speaker 1: cooking Mexican food. I love cooking American food. I'm really
Speaker 1: good at also like quote unquote diet food. But anyways,
Speaker 1: I think now is a good time to welcome our guest,
Speaker 1: chef Aerial Fox. You might know her from the hit
Speaker 1: show Hell's Kitchen, hosted by chef Gordon Ramsey. She was
Speaker 1: a contestant on season six and came back on the
Speaker 1: show to compete in season eighteen, which she won. By
Speaker 1: the way, She's currently the regional vice president of culinary
Speaker 1: at Del Friscos and Dulls Caminos restaurants. She also has
Speaker 1: a new cookbook called Spice Kitchen, Healthy Latin and Caribbean Cuisine.
Speaker 1: Sounds interesting. I love that. Chef Ariel, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: How are you good? Good? Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be here, okay, Ariel. So, like I
Speaker 1: said earlier, we are talking about like my one of
Speaker 1: my favorite subjects food, and I can't remember like when
Speaker 1: I was little at my grandma's house. I was raised
Speaker 1: by my grandma. There were always always like beans on
Speaker 1: the stove. The house always smells like yeah, with a
Speaker 1: little bit of pine sulk because my grandma, which is
Speaker 1: clean all day, but I would always smell the beans
Speaker 1: and that's what we would eat almost every single day.
Speaker 1: It was like beans with potatoes, and there was always
Speaker 1: right some type of protein. So what are your earliest
Speaker 1: memories being in the kitchen? Well, I grew up with,
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of grandmothers, as a lot of
Speaker 1: us do, and I had my grandmother on my Latin
Speaker 1: side and my grandmother on my Irish and German side.
Speaker 1: It's funny because I have mixed memories very South American
Speaker 1: cuisine and then very European cuisine. But my grandmother on
Speaker 1: my Irish and German side, it's really interesting. She started
Speaker 1: to dabble in a lot of ethnic foods as well,
Speaker 1: so it kind of all got intermingled. When I was
Speaker 1: growing up. I mean, you know, we would go down
Speaker 1: and visit my father's family in Columbia, so I had
Speaker 1: very early memories of conk stew and everything was very
Speaker 1: sweet and spicy and very fattening in the in the
Speaker 1: Colombian Islands is actually from Andreas, so it's very kind
Speaker 1: of the Caribbean, and they had some East Indian background
Speaker 1: as well, So I mean I just grew up with
Speaker 1: like this intense variety of spices and flavors, and I
Speaker 1: think my mom sort of took pieces of all of
Speaker 1: that and it was really cool because you know, I
Speaker 1: didn't realize how special it was growing up, but it
Speaker 1: was like the night of the week was a different cuisine.
Speaker 1: And you know, she will tell you she's a great
Speaker 1: cook and she's afraid to cook for me now, but
Speaker 1: my mom killed it. Every night of the week. It
Speaker 1: was like a different something from my background. And it
Speaker 1: was awesome because I got to kind of go around
Speaker 1: the world. We had a Talian night, we had curry night,
Speaker 1: we had you know, we had everything, So it was amazing.
Speaker 1: That's so cool. Yeah, Like that's one thing like a
Speaker 1: lot of people would think my mom doesn't know or
Speaker 1: didn't know how to cook, but it's just like she
Speaker 1: really did, and she would She was the type of
Speaker 1: mom that would go into the kitchen or go into
Speaker 1: the refrigerator and find literally I felt like there was
Speaker 1: nothing there. I was like, there's nothing I eat, you know,
Speaker 1: and she's like, of course there is, and she'd pull
Speaker 1: out all kinds of ship and she'd make something so delicious,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh damn, I guess there's just like
Speaker 1: you just gotta look and you have to use your
Speaker 1: imagination and all those all those things help me now
Speaker 1: because I wish I could cook a little more. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not chef like you, of course, but I'm like
Speaker 1: I can hold my own. I have good saso and
Speaker 1: you know, but it's awesome because you have so many
Speaker 1: different backgrounds that it's just I think you can bring
Speaker 1: all of that when you're cooking. I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1: It's like I love Caribbean food two oh my god.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like it's very similar to Mexican. They
Speaker 1: love a lot of cards on their plates, right, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of mix of like savory and sweet
Speaker 1: like in the meal. So it's like you have to
Speaker 1: have It's funny because everyone talks about mommy now and
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, well that was around like forever mommy was.
Speaker 1: That's there's like Latin mommy too, right, you have the spice, sweet,
Speaker 1: little savory, and then you had like all the different
Speaker 1: allspice and human and you know, all of those flavors together.
Speaker 1: So god, I just I love talking about food. I
Speaker 1: just me too, me too, which is why I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm so happy that you're here. I just started using human. Actually,
Speaker 1: my to go things are, of course, salt, pepper. I
Speaker 1: love garlic powder. You guys like, I feel like I
Speaker 1: use garlic powder on everything. I love onion. I think
Speaker 1: like those are for me, my basics. But I just
Speaker 1: started using like, I don't know, how do you pronounce it? Okay,
Speaker 1: always say papa, but what is it the real? How
Speaker 1: do you really We just called paprika and you know,
Speaker 1: but but you could say it in the Spanish because
Speaker 1: there's Spanish smoked paprika, so it's you know, either way,
Speaker 1: it's fine. I haven't tried the smoked paprika. It's so yeah.
Speaker 1: A friend of mine just started users, like you have
Speaker 1: to use it. I can't remember what she was cooking.
Speaker 1: But anyways, acumen, you guys and Paprika are also really good.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to expand my sissoning and like my herbs,
Speaker 1: so I'm getting better. I'm getting better at that. Um.
Speaker 1: So Arie'll tell us how old were you when you
Speaker 1: started cooking? Like, do you remember like the first time
Speaker 1: you cook something on your own? I was very young.
Speaker 1: I think my grandmother and my mother were very cool
Speaker 1: about letting me be in the kitchen. I think I
Speaker 1: was a mature kid, and I think I was responsible.
Speaker 1: I don't really remember the point when I like learned
Speaker 1: how to use a knife. I think that they let
Speaker 1: me help, like in their way, you know, was stirring
Speaker 1: and needing if we were making some kind of dough.
Speaker 1: But I definitely remember my mom teaching, like you said,
Speaker 1: that kind of lesson of figuring out how to make something.
Speaker 1: Was very little in the house. I feel like we
Speaker 1: never had anything in the house, and so I would
Speaker 1: get home from school and I would be and my
Speaker 1: mom will should be so mad at me for saying that,
Speaker 1: But it just felt like we didn't have anything. But
Speaker 1: we also just had very healthy things in the house.
Speaker 1: You didn't have a pantry full of like Doritos and whatever.
Speaker 1: Like my friends would all have these crazy snack a
Speaker 1: bowls and lunch a bowls and pizza pockets, and I
Speaker 1: would get home and I'd have like avocados and green
Speaker 1: beans and you know, just stuff. Oh my gosh. My
Speaker 1: mom was the same way. So I was like, this
Speaker 1: is so unfair. We never have any food. My Mom's like,
Speaker 1: we have lots of food, just have to make something.
Speaker 1: So I would, you know, make myself like an avocado
Speaker 1: and sprouts and cucumber sandwich with like Chilian lime, and
Speaker 1: you know, I just learned at a young age how
Speaker 1: to kind of start throwing things together with fresh kind
Speaker 1: of seasonal ingredients. And I didn't even realize that was,
Speaker 1: you know, valuable to learn at that wars And I'm
Speaker 1: sure like as a kids who were like, oh my
Speaker 1: mom is so boring, but now you think her, I'm
Speaker 1: sure if it wasn't for her, And that's how I
Speaker 1: feel as well. So like my mom was the same way.
Speaker 1: I did not have a fun pantry or anything fun
Speaker 1: in the house, you know. And I was that kid
Speaker 1: that would pull out the lunch cell and I had
Speaker 1: like aburto wrapping like the wuminum foil, and I'm just
Speaker 1: like I was the only one, and all the kids
Speaker 1: had their lunchables and their little cute little juices, the
Speaker 1: ones that come what are they called the little packs, Yes,
Speaker 1: the caprisa. And my mom would squeeze grapefruit juice for me,
Speaker 1: okay in the morning and put it in this little
Speaker 1: like thing that wasn't I think it was like a
Speaker 1: like water bottle, and she would just like drink the
Speaker 1: water and put it in there. My mom was so resourceful.
Speaker 1: She was like, you're not gonna be fat when you
Speaker 1: grow up. And and that's why I have in my head,
Speaker 1: you know, because I think she grew up overweight and
Speaker 1: she wanted to always like instill in us, eat healthy,
Speaker 1: non fat milk all the time, egg whites, like all
Speaker 1: those things. That's funny that you mentioned that, because it's
Speaker 1: like totally took me back, and I'm like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: And now I thank her. I know, I'm thankful for
Speaker 1: it now because I'm able to embrace that healthy lifestyle
Speaker 1: and it's you know, it's so much easier for for
Speaker 1: some people. And that's what part of writing the book is,
Speaker 1: you know, that's not an easy start for some people
Speaker 1: to clean up their lifestyle. They don't really know where
Speaker 1: to begin, and that was important for me to just
Speaker 1: kind of help. This is how you can start, you know,
Speaker 1: yeah for sure. And when did you find out you
Speaker 1: wanted to be a chef? Like when when was that? Like?
Speaker 1: How old were you? I don't think I necessarily knew
Speaker 1: at the exact time, but I did work on an
Speaker 1: organic farm in Watsonville, California, when I was a nice school.
Speaker 1: It's a migrant Mexican town, a big farm working town,
Speaker 1: um where a lot of this country's produce comes from
Speaker 1: that area in California. So it was really cool. I
Speaker 1: got to work on that farm and grow organic vegetables
Speaker 1: when they were like, you know, farm to table wasn't
Speaker 1: even a word yet, you know, people didn't really have
Speaker 1: that slogan, and that we used to sell all vegetables
Speaker 1: at the San Francisco Farmers Market to a lot of
Speaker 1: really famous chefs. And I think it definitely planted a
Speaker 1: seed for me. I don't think. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: was going to school for math and science and halfway
Speaker 1: through I told my mom, I'm like, so, yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't want to go to regular college. Anymore, I want
Speaker 1: to go to culinary school. Nice. I think I kissed
Speaker 1: my parents off pretty bad. I think it took about
Speaker 1: ten years at least after graduating culinary school for them
Speaker 1: to be like, oh, I guess this is this is
Speaker 1: gonna stays the thing. So yeah, And I think that
Speaker 1: happens a lot in our Latin culture. I mean, correct
Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. They want us to be doctors
Speaker 1: or they want us to go to school to be
Speaker 1: like like this like and it's great. But then when
Speaker 1: you do something like I want to be a makeup
Speaker 1: artist or I want to, you know, be a chef,
Speaker 1: They're just kind of like, well, I guess, so I
Speaker 1: want to say why, But then it's you've proven yourself,
Speaker 1: you said after ten years, they were like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: she's great at it. It's working out. You were on
Speaker 1: that show on Hell's Kitchen, which that was freaking awesome,
Speaker 1: by the way, thank you. How was that experience? I
Speaker 1: was wild, I mean the first time. I think I
Speaker 1: was a little young and a little shy. I definitely
Speaker 1: didn't push myself, you know, to the limit. But I
Speaker 1: always told myself, man, if they ever called me back,
Speaker 1: I am so walking in there and taking this thing
Speaker 1: and literally like ten years to the day from the
Speaker 1: first time, not to the day, but like to the
Speaker 1: It was like the same month they must feel, you know,
Speaker 1: cast and film in the same month, but it was
Speaker 1: like ten years later. They said they were doing All
Speaker 1: Star seasons and I'm like, absolutely, I'm gonna gonna go
Speaker 1: in there and this time I'm gonna win it. And
Speaker 1: you did. That's awesome. That is so great. How is
Speaker 1: he actually? I was gonna ask you that too, m Ramsey.
Speaker 1: Is he cool? He's cool. He's he's definitely rough. He's
Speaker 1: very intimidating. When he's looking at you, it's like he's
Speaker 1: staring at your soul when he asks you a question.
Speaker 1: So it's very like, be honest, don't bullshit him if
Speaker 1: you mess up in your mistakes. I mean, he doesn't
Speaker 1: really yell like that normal life, but he's intimidating. If
Speaker 1: he walks into a kitchen, you straighten up, you pay attention,
Speaker 1: and he definitely listen to what he tells you to do.
Speaker 1: He knows what he's doing. He's the real deal. He
Speaker 1: knows how to cook. Like you wouldn't believe I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask you because I'm sure this is my take
Speaker 1: on it or what I've noticed that there are. It's
Speaker 1: a very also like culinary culinary industry is very male dominated,
Speaker 1: is that right? Absolutely? I mean my whole career, I've
Speaker 1: been the only female in the kitchen in pent of
Speaker 1: the time, and if there is another female, it's a
Speaker 1: pastry chef, which there's nothing wrong than I absolutely respect
Speaker 1: all of my fellow pastry chefs, all my girlfriends in
Speaker 1: the kitchen or pastry chefs. But I always told myself,
Speaker 1: I want to be a savory chef, a chef, and
Speaker 1: it's been a it's definitely been a male dominated industry.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that is? I mean, because there
Speaker 1: are always women in the kitchen, especially us growing up.
Speaker 1: It's funny. I went to a French culinary school and
Speaker 1: one of the things they taught in food histories a
Speaker 1: lot of cultures when it came to chefs in hotels
Speaker 1: and kitchens. It was just like Japanese culture where they
Speaker 1: would not train women how to make sushi, where it
Speaker 1: was a privilege. It was the same in the cuisine
Speaker 1: of France. It was like women weren't allowed in the kitchen,
Speaker 1: which is so funny because at home, it's predominantly women
Speaker 1: in the kitchen, so it's really interesting. It became sort
Speaker 1: of like this I don't know what the word is
Speaker 1: I'm looking for, but it was like, once it became
Speaker 1: industry or a money making situation, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well we don't We're not going to train women how
Speaker 1: to do this. And it's like, wait a minute, we
Speaker 1: trained you how to do this exactly, you how to cook.
Speaker 1: Have you ever walked into a kitchen and error? And
Speaker 1: do you feel like intimidated or anything like that? Have
Speaker 1: you ever felt that? Maybe my first six months, but
Speaker 1: after that it was like you either got to just
Speaker 1: you fake it till you make it, Like how many
Speaker 1: different metaphors fake it till you make it? Uh, sink
Speaker 1: or swim? You gotta like roll with the boys. I
Speaker 1: hate to say it that way, but I had to
Speaker 1: had to show them. I'm sure I acted in ways
Speaker 1: that I if I'm looking back on it, I would
Speaker 1: say that it's unfortunate I had to be that way
Speaker 1: as a young woman in the industry just to be accepted.
Speaker 1: Looking back on and it's like, wow, that was kind
Speaker 1: of not cool, you know, Yeah, And did you ever
Speaker 1: feel like you wanted to quit, like you're like, not
Speaker 1: forget this, I'm not going to do this, or did
Speaker 1: you feel like this is what I want? Probably a
Speaker 1: million times, but I knew it's what I wanted. I
Speaker 1: just I couldn't quit. But there were days where it
Speaker 1: was like what am I doing? Man? You know? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I feel you. I feel you because even in my industry,
Speaker 1: it's still like, you know, we're in the regional Mexican space,
Speaker 1: and I think all music it's very difficult for women
Speaker 1: to be accepted completely. You know, it's very male dominated.
Speaker 1: So it's just you have to have that fire within
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, I'm just gonna keep on trucking. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna keep pressing forward. Um. And of course you just
Speaker 1: want to like throw in the towel, but thank goodness
Speaker 1: you don't, because it's right when you're like you want
Speaker 1: to give up, something happens and it's like boom, why
Speaker 1: when you almost give up? Right? Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: got my first break. You know, people always say, oh,
Speaker 1: was it the show? I'm like, no, I am where
Speaker 1: I am today because I worked my butt off together.
Speaker 1: It was great, but that wasn't what propelled my career.
Speaker 1: I remember getting my first real chef position, you know.
Speaker 1: From there, I just never really looked back, you know,
Speaker 1: and I had taken a couple steps sideways. I think
Speaker 1: one of the things that women really do well in
Speaker 1: whatever field is they know when it's appropriate to take
Speaker 1: a step down or take a step to the side
Speaker 1: in order to get to the next step. And I
Speaker 1: did it, and I finally realized when it was the
Speaker 1: last time, like now I'm only taking this position and up.
Speaker 1: But I did, you know, I played it right and
Speaker 1: I made some good moves, and I think that was
Speaker 1: very a key was just knowing what moves to make
Speaker 1: in your career. And sometimes I took big pay cuts,
Speaker 1: but you know what, it paid off in other ways.
Speaker 1: And you know, twenty two years later, here we are.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not I'm not a cocky person. I
Speaker 1: very hard on myself. Um, but it took until very
Speaker 1: recently to say I'm good at what I do and
Speaker 1: that I can you know, on the business side too,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not just the chef side. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of different types of chef jobs, and more
Speaker 1: power to the chef that's working on the line every
Speaker 1: day and a small mom and pop place. That's if
Speaker 1: that's what their goal is and their dream. But I've
Speaker 1: always been kind of more on the big business side
Speaker 1: as well. That's a part that I definitely feel proud
Speaker 1: of that, you know, I know how to run this
Speaker 1: culinary business, this hospitality thing. That makes me so happy.
Speaker 1: It makes me proud, It makes me so proud. As
Speaker 1: a fellow Latina. I just to be like, she's a woman,
Speaker 1: she's Latin, She's made it this far. You love what
Speaker 1: you do. And I'm sure there are many people or
Speaker 1: women that are listening to us out that also want
Speaker 1: to go to culinary school. Is it hard? It's culinary
Speaker 1: school hard, you know, I don't know how it is
Speaker 1: these days. I know when I went, it was tough.
Speaker 1: I mean I went to a two year program. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like a easy, breezy uh. You see the ads
Speaker 1: all over for different trades now where it's like get
Speaker 1: out in six months and make this starting salary, and
Speaker 1: I'm just like, WHOA. I had to like go through
Speaker 1: food history and nutrition and all the courses, and you know,
Speaker 1: it was a full on thing. But it's funny because
Speaker 1: it's now twice as expensive and you get less schooling
Speaker 1: but I think the most important piece of advice i'd
Speaker 1: give anyone going into culinary school just tune out all
Speaker 1: the I mean, now, it's tough. You got the Food Network,
Speaker 1: you got all these famous chefs. It's got to get
Speaker 1: you a little jaded on like not really wanting to
Speaker 1: put in the hard work right like I want to
Speaker 1: be I want to be that now. I want to
Speaker 1: get there now, And you just have to tune that
Speaker 1: stuff out because it's a process, even if you're a
Speaker 1: natural good cook, it's a process to get through this
Speaker 1: industry and you've gotta you gotta put in the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there you have it. Anyone that's listening that um wants
Speaker 1: to follow in chef arials footsteps, just be patient. I
Speaker 1: think it's just be patient and just know they're gonna
Speaker 1: be moments that you're gonna be like if this all
Speaker 1: but look, we all go through it and it's always
Speaker 1: just I always say, this guy's keep your eyes focused
Speaker 1: on the light at the end of the tunnel. So
Speaker 1: talking about we already talked about women. Are there a
Speaker 1: lot of Latin even men as chefs? Have you met
Speaker 1: more a lot more Latin chefs out there? Growing up
Speaker 1: in California, I think there was definitely a lot more
Speaker 1: Mexican chefs, not necessarily like at the top, but definitely
Speaker 1: working their way. Almost every Sux chef I ever worked
Speaker 1: with in California was Mexican. Most of the cooks for
Speaker 1: Mexican as well. I'm a little different on the East Coast.
Speaker 1: When I moved here. It's just a different Latin culture here,
Speaker 1: a lot of Puerto Rican trade off. You know. I
Speaker 1: left the West Coast and it was you know, Salvadoran
Speaker 1: and Mexicans in the kitchen, and then here it was
Speaker 1: a lot of mostly Puerto Ricans and and some Patians,
Speaker 1: and but I think, I don't know. In New York anyway,
Speaker 1: there's definitely a lot more Latin male chefs for sure,
Speaker 1: still not that many women, There's a few. I think
Speaker 1: the space has opened up in general, a lot more
Speaker 1: Mexican restaurants in New York. There's a lot more Puerto
Speaker 1: Rican restaurants. So I think now that these what I
Speaker 1: guess people would call niche restaurants, which is just funny
Speaker 1: to me because it's it's not a it's not a trend,
Speaker 1: it's just is there ethnics who it's been around a
Speaker 1: long time. Now that these restaurants are kind of popping
Speaker 1: up all over the place, I think there's definitely a
Speaker 1: lot more space for a lot and chefs, for sure.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Do you feel like any pressure having to
Speaker 1: represent Latins are especially women? And then you know some
Speaker 1: people are also, you know, not very kind. You know
Speaker 1: that I'm not a hunt of percent. You know, I
Speaker 1: have a very white mum, you know, with a very
Speaker 1: European background. It's always been tough to fit into either
Speaker 1: space for me because it's I'm not one thing and
Speaker 1: I'm not the other. But I feel comfortable in both,
Speaker 1: and I think that's okay. It's funny because I try
Speaker 1: to stand up for and represent Latin people in the
Speaker 1: food industry and sometimes I don't get received, which is unfortunate.
Speaker 1: You got to just take it and stride and stay
Speaker 1: positive and continue doing what you're there to do. And
Speaker 1: everything I do is coming from a good place. I
Speaker 1: just hope that people know that. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: those people that make it hard, it's just you know,
Speaker 1: it's cool, It's all good. Like I try my best
Speaker 1: to be like, Okay, I'm just gonna breathe. There's obviously
Speaker 1: something wrong with you, not with me, but do you
Speaker 1: know keep doing me exactly. Okay, I have two questions.
Speaker 1: So what are like some easy tips that you can
Speaker 1: give people to just make more of like healthy choices,
Speaker 1: like you know, things that people use every single day
Speaker 1: or the thing that you recommend. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think the number one tip is if you're gonna make
Speaker 1: a decision to make a change, you really got to
Speaker 1: do a purge in your pantry because if it's not there,
Speaker 1: you can't use it. That's my number one rule. If
Speaker 1: it's not there, you can't eat it. There's definitely go
Speaker 1: to ingredients. I mean, I'm big on only using natural
Speaker 1: sea salt and malayan salts, avocado oils, I use all
Speaker 1: different types of oils. I use olive oils for certain things,
Speaker 1: coconut oil, avocado oil, grape seed at oil. There's different
Speaker 1: oils for different things. Is your go to avocado? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think. So. It's got a high smoke point, it
Speaker 1: works nicely all around for searing, you can use it
Speaker 1: for salad dressings, you can use it for a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff. Okay, So it's super versatile. I think the salts,
Speaker 1: the fats and the sugars are the number one things
Speaker 1: that you want to start with. I know the flowers
Speaker 1: are important too, but if you can start there and
Speaker 1: then move on to the flowers, because the flowers can
Speaker 1: be a little tough to navigate, because coconut flour works
Speaker 1: very different than almond flower versus you know, arrow roots starts.
Speaker 1: So some were good for baking, some were good for breading.
Speaker 1: And I talked a lot about that and what to
Speaker 1: use wear and in what substitutes. But I think, like
Speaker 1: I said, the salts, the oils, and the sugars are important.
Speaker 1: Coconut sugar is huge one for me. It's kind of
Speaker 1: an in between. I use monk fruit sugar along, Yes,
Speaker 1: the monk for sugar. You guys, I have no cane
Speaker 1: sugar in this house, so good you gotta purge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if it's not there, you can't use it. That's my
Speaker 1: number one week. I think it's very important to just
Speaker 1: make that decision, guys. You know, like when I've tried
Speaker 1: so many different I don't even like to call them
Speaker 1: diets anymore, but I tried so many different diets and
Speaker 1: keto was the thing, and it just becomes making that
Speaker 1: switch of it's a lifestyle change. I want to just
Speaker 1: be healthier. I want to feel better more than anything.
Speaker 1: Was like, I want to feel better, I want to
Speaker 1: have more energy. So I just did exactly what you said.
Speaker 1: I purged. I was like, I am removing everything that
Speaker 1: I know is not good for me and try to
Speaker 1: find other things like instead of cane sugar, you know,
Speaker 1: the month fruit sugar, which I was introduced to that late,
Speaker 1: like maybe like glass ear barely and I really like it,
Speaker 1: you know, So just little things like that. But anyways,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about buying organic proteins poultry and
Speaker 1: organic fruits? I do you feel like it's absolutely necessary?
Speaker 1: Do you highly recommend that? I think that there are
Speaker 1: some things that you really should stick to. I don't
Speaker 1: think it needs to be a let's be honest, A
Speaker 1: fully organic lifestyle is not cheap, right, right, So you
Speaker 1: kind of have to pick and choose what you're gonna do.
Speaker 1: I'm particularly strict when it comes to where my chicken
Speaker 1: comes from, only because I know the huge swing between
Speaker 1: what you're getting with a commodity bird versus a organic bird,
Speaker 1: and and what they're said, there are some things that
Speaker 1: I don't think are as important, but I would say
Speaker 1: a lot of meats. I mean, I only grass fed beef.
Speaker 1: I work with regular beef in my staurant, so obviously
Speaker 1: I have to taste it. But when I'm at home,
Speaker 1: it's it's mostly grass fed. UM. If I'm eating pork products,
Speaker 1: I try to eat nitrate free um. You know, just
Speaker 1: no additives and just natural chickens. I know it sounds funny,
Speaker 1: but I'm a little less weird about fish because right
Speaker 1: now the whole farm raised industry has totally changed and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of actual quote unquote farm raised, and
Speaker 1: it's almost like wild farm raised. They're building farms out
Speaker 1: in the ocean, so you're getting a much more natural
Speaker 1: product than the old school farm raised, which was in
Speaker 1: these weird pins like land locked salinated water. So farm
Speaker 1: raised is really kind of change. Where fish I'm I'm
Speaker 1: a little depends on what fish I'm getting back. I'm
Speaker 1: a little bit less crazy about that. As far as vegetables,
Speaker 1: for me, anything you're gonna eat raw, go organic. If
Speaker 1: you're gonna cook, it's at the end of the world. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know, we grew up eating non organic food. We're
Speaker 1: gonna cook. It's it's gonna be fun and it's what
Speaker 1: you can have forward. If it's more about the type
Speaker 1: of ingredients that you can change when you can't afford
Speaker 1: a full organic lifestyle, I don't think that anyone should
Speaker 1: beat themselves up for that. You do what you can
Speaker 1: when you can. That's another wolf thumb for me. I
Speaker 1: love that. I absolutely love that because there are times
Speaker 1: when I'm like, Okay, I can go to I don't know,
Speaker 1: whole foods right, and I'm like, and it's expensive. It
Speaker 1: does get expensive, So there's yeah, I cut back on
Speaker 1: other things that are not necessary to make sure I'm
Speaker 1: investing in in myself, which is the things that I'm
Speaker 1: eating here at home. So when I'm traveling, that's one
Speaker 1: thing where I'm like, Okay, I try my best not
Speaker 1: to have any chicken outside of the house. I'd rather
Speaker 1: do fish, because you know what you are cooking in
Speaker 1: your own home. You don't necessarily know what you're eating
Speaker 1: in a in a restaurant exactly. Yeah, So that's just
Speaker 1: my only thing, but I want I was curious to
Speaker 1: see what you thought about organic because there are people
Speaker 1: there there don't believe in it, but I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: it's out there. It's real. Yeah, So my other question
Speaker 1: was actually asked you probably five questions in one so
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. But my other question, and I'm very
Speaker 1: curious to ask you this because I don't know. I
Speaker 1: feel like it's browned upon and certain chefs feel that way.
Speaker 1: But I want to know what you can be honest. Sure,
Speaker 1: I'm the type of person that I don't measure. I
Speaker 1: have a sister who's really good at cooking, and she
Speaker 1: measures everything. I've never measured. I grew up watching my
Speaker 1: grandma cook and she never measured, even with the beans.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes I'm like, oh my, she would put all
Speaker 1: kinds of salt, like oh, that's gonna be salty, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't. It's like now I'm like, I find myself
Speaker 1: doing the same thing where I don't measure salt anything.
Speaker 1: I just feel it in my heart. I swear to you,
Speaker 1: I like to feel it. And I'm like, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stop you. Yeah, but do you what do
Speaker 1: you feel about that? Like? Should we measure? Is it
Speaker 1: better to measure? I don't measure when I'm cooking savory food. Okay,
Speaker 1: I almost never measure. Obviously, my recipes in a book
Speaker 1: are going to have measurements, which is hard, by the way,
Speaker 1: when you need to quantify things that you didn't actually
Speaker 1: measure for a very long time. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I got this. Took a really long time to turn
Speaker 1: this into an actual recipe. But baking, you can't mess
Speaker 1: around with it. To measure in baking, it's just it
Speaker 1: will work. It just doesn't work if you don't measure
Speaker 1: in baking as far as I know. But every day cooking, like, no,
Speaker 1: I don't measure anything. Yeah okay, yeah, because even when
Speaker 1: in my book I did, I added, of course, like
Speaker 1: for measuring, because there are a lot of people prefer
Speaker 1: to measure, which is totally fine with savory food, but
Speaker 1: for sure with baking, there's no way, like you said,
Speaker 1: like I have to like I don't even like to
Speaker 1: bake too much, to be honest, I let my sister
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah. Yeah, so okay. I was just curious
Speaker 1: because I was like, oh, no, you know there, I've
Speaker 1: heard before. It's kind of like, no, that's not right.
Speaker 1: You have to measure in a certain amount of saults.
Speaker 1: And of course if you're watching you know, like cholesterol
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and I would suggest, yes, measure,
Speaker 1: but I shouldn't say a disclaimer because, like my bosses
Speaker 1: are out there and the restaurants, we measure because obviously
Speaker 1: we have a standard we need to, you know, like
Speaker 1: a guest is coming to order that dish, they always
Speaker 1: get like it has to be the same. So like
Speaker 1: there are measurements in the kitchen for prep recipes. I
Speaker 1: don't measure at home, is what. Okay, yeah, when you're
Speaker 1: cooking at home and stuff, But in the I mean
Speaker 1: we're it's a completely different thing. Yes, So now tell
Speaker 1: us a little about your book. Yes, so it's for
Speaker 1: me now in August, towards the end of August. Very exciting.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not one culture, it's a lot of
Speaker 1: different cultures. Again, I married my husband. He's Puerto Rican
Speaker 1: and Ecuadorian. Now I've got this plathora of Puerto Rican
Speaker 1: and Ecuadorian influences to so we sort of take a
Speaker 1: journey through everywhere. There's some recipes in there for gatherings,
Speaker 1: There's some recipes in there for mornings on the go, entertaining.
Speaker 1: There's cocktails, some of my favorite desserts that I really
Speaker 1: had to talking about science. I really had to work
Speaker 1: hard on because I do love certain things like a
Speaker 1: rum cake Jamaican rum cake or cake. And I wanted
Speaker 1: to not, you know, have to deprive myself of these
Speaker 1: things in my life because they're so good. Like whoever
Speaker 1: doesn't like I don't know seriously, I'm just saying, but like,
Speaker 1: I've found a recipe that works for me. Obviously I
Speaker 1: can't sit and need a whole trade of it. But
Speaker 1: there's a cepika is you know, at least seven to
Speaker 1: eight times healthier than you know, the original. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I love there's such just but yeah, it's
Speaker 1: I always think I'm like, it's not healthy, but oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, I know. Well you've got to be all
Speaker 1: the spurge and there's ways where you know, there's some
Speaker 1: things that are more healthy and there's some things that
Speaker 1: are Just like I said, you do what you can
Speaker 1: when you can. Every recipe in the book, I make
Speaker 1: a note there's a story about my life. There's an
Speaker 1: intro to every recipe that tells you where it came
Speaker 1: from in my life. Some of these recipes are I
Speaker 1: make notes say you know how to sub in regular
Speaker 1: flower or how to subend regular butter um, so that
Speaker 1: you know it can be accessible to folks that aren't
Speaker 1: living that nutritional life style. That's freaking awesome. I love
Speaker 1: that you added for gatherings because that's I think one
Speaker 1: of my biggest things is that I can cook for
Speaker 1: one to or three people, but when people are coming over,
Speaker 1: I get overwhelmed. I don't know, I feel like I
Speaker 1: forget everything. So that's awesome that you added that I don't.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen personally a cookbook that has that. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, for gatherings for parties, you have the cocktails,
Speaker 1: which is so awesome as well. You have one a
Speaker 1: coconut lime margharita, you guys, which I'm so excited try now. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's one coconut lime margharita and cake. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: for it because you know, I like, I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: I like my cocktails, guys, So you guys know that.
Speaker 1: So you have how many recipes? Are hundred? Right? Nice? Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite, like go to cocktail? You know, on
Speaker 1: a regular basis, I don't really drink mixed drinks. I
Speaker 1: did come up with the cocktails that are in the
Speaker 1: book because when I do want one, I want to
Speaker 1: help your version. But I'll be straight with you. I'm
Speaker 1: a Scotch drinker. I like whiskey and I like scotch,
Speaker 1: so that's my and they do it straight up, straight
Speaker 1: up while on a large I love it nice. Now
Speaker 1: that's sexy. I love that. I'm like, I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: That's but if I'm going to have a mixed drink
Speaker 1: some of my favorites through what I included. For sure
Speaker 1: you also have a Michila in there as well. Absolutely
Speaker 1: one of my favorite drinks when I'm on vacation. I'm excited,
Speaker 1: you guys. It's called Spice Kitchen, healthy Latin and Caribbean cuisine.
Speaker 1: You guys, I'm for sure gonna buy. I like to
Speaker 1: buy two of everything. Someone to buy two just in
Speaker 1: case one gets dirty, because you know, when you're cooking,
Speaker 1: one gets dirty. So I'll just keep one where it
Speaker 1: looks pretty and the other one where I could just
Speaker 1: get dirty with my fingers. So love it. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: I'm cooking, so no, that's awesome. I'm very happy for
Speaker 1: you and I feel like we have a lot in common. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me. And seriously, like
Speaker 1: we should throw a Latin food party sometime and cook
Speaker 1: some stuffs. Go. I would love that we should do it.
Speaker 1: And if you could, just before you go and before
Speaker 1: I share my motivational one day quote you guys, can
Speaker 1: you share with us chef Arial like where people can
Speaker 1: find you? Social media, website, anything like that. Absolutely you
Speaker 1: can find me on Instagram chef Arial Fox or on
Speaker 1: Facebook chef Arel Fox. And uh you can buy Spice
Speaker 1: Kitchen pretty much anywhere books are sold. Pre Orders are
Speaker 1: on sale now, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, wherever you buy.
Speaker 1: But love it. I'm a guys, I really am. I'm
Speaker 1: excited and you know I always share my motivational um
Speaker 1: quote with you guys every Monday, same thing. So here
Speaker 1: it is so the motivational Monday quote is one of
Speaker 1: the happiest moments in life, is when you find the
Speaker 1: courage to let go of what you can't change. So
Speaker 1: thank you so very much for listening. Like always, I'll
Speaker 1: be here every Monday. Los Amo again, Chef Ario, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. I'm so grateful and I'm really looking
Speaker 1: forward to your book. Do you need advice on love, relationships,
Speaker 1: health emas. I'm so excited to share with you that
Speaker 1: my Cheekies and Chill podcast will have an extra episode
Speaker 1: drop each week. I'll be answering all your questions. Just
Speaker 1: leave me a voice message. All you have to do
Speaker 1: is go to speak pipe dot com, slash Cheeks and
Speaker 1: Chill podcast and record your questions. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: hear from you. This is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Michael Dura podcast Network. Follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Michael Gura Podcasts and follow me chick ees That's
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