Speaker 1: What do you do when life doesn't go according to
Speaker 1: plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
Speaker 1: or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
Speaker 1: is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
Speaker 1: by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
Speaker 1: with a guest to talk about the times they were
Speaker 1: knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
Speaker 1: Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
Speaker 1: are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
Speaker 1: every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
Speaker 1: answers one question. Now, what so that you said you
Speaker 1: didn't need a lot of meat growing up, which I
Speaker 1: think is kind of an interesting surprise to people.
Speaker 2: I would go to people's houses and I'm like, what
Speaker 2: is me meat loaf? You're telling me there is a
Speaker 2: whole thing of meat coming out and we're gonna eat this.
Speaker 2: We'll catch up. What I'd go over to my parents,
Speaker 2: I'm like, where's meat loaf? And like, oh no, we
Speaker 2: don't eat meat, though we're gonna have eggplant. My god,
Speaker 2: I don't want egg plant. I revolted against the food.
Speaker 2: Kind of bad, but that's how I ended up becoming
Speaker 2: a cook.
Speaker 1: My guest today is the mayor of Flavortown himself, Guy Fieri.
Speaker 1: Guy is a chef, a restauranteur, an author, and an
Speaker 1: Emmy Award winning host of shows like Diners, Drive Ins,
Speaker 1: and Dives. He may be one of the most recognizable
Speaker 1: culinary stars in the world, but he's also a philanthropist,
Speaker 1: a doting husband, a loving dad, and a great friend.
Speaker 1: He's had many now what moments, a few of which
Speaker 1: I learned about in this interview, but through them all
Speaker 1: he stayed humble and motivated. I know you'll like this interview,
Speaker 1: so let's dive right in. Here is Guy Fiery. First
Speaker 1: of all, I know you've got very little time, so
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2: I always have time for you. First, thank you very
Speaker 2: much for having me. This is awesome. I was just
Speaker 2: bragging that I get to go on Brookshields podcast. Second,
Speaker 2: I love your sister. She is a riot. She is
Speaker 2: one of my favorite people in South Florida. So for
Speaker 2: everybody that doesn't understand, I have a house in Florida
Speaker 2: and South Florida and the house the people that bought
Speaker 2: the house right next to us. Someone says to me.
Speaker 2: By the way, that's Brookshield's sister. And I said, what,
Speaker 2: So I text Brook and I said, your sister, Yeah,
Speaker 2: my sister lives bought a house right next years. Well,
Speaker 2: I don't even know these people, but I know that
Speaker 2: they're that's your sister and your brother in law. So
Speaker 2: I send them this really cool barbecue as a household
Speaker 2: made it and they're like, why did this guy send
Speaker 2: us this? And I just and I talked to him
Speaker 2: on the phone and said, hey, I just you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know you yet, but you're there. I'm not,
Speaker 2: but you know, we just became great friends.
Speaker 1: Getting those little mini videos from you all hammered. And
Speaker 1: I know her so I mean, obviously she's my baby's sister,
Speaker 1: but I love that connection because it means more than
Speaker 1: you can know, and it just seems like meant to be.
Speaker 2: And it's so funny because now that I know your
Speaker 2: sister so well and know and knew and know you,
Speaker 2: now I'm starting to get a much bigger picture of
Speaker 2: what goes on in your world. And all I can
Speaker 2: remember is the first time I met you were the
Speaker 2: first time that you came on my cookie show on
Speaker 2: Guys Big Bite, and still to this day, of all
Speaker 2: the guests I've ever had on my show, nobody has
Speaker 2: ever walked in had as much swagger and as much
Speaker 2: of a unique situation as you did that night. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know what I'm referencing.
Speaker 1: I'm very lucky. I still have all my fingers.
Speaker 2: No no, no, no, that we're not talking about you
Speaker 2: chopping anything off. No, no, I know. So I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I've been bowing. I've been excited to be on.
Speaker 1: So you need to embarrass me a little. I'm okay
Speaker 1: with it. You've got to just give me, give people,
Speaker 1: give me a reference as to what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: I think I know, but.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you the story if we're if we're going
Speaker 2: to start south, this is your show. And for some reason,
Speaker 2: I'm just babbling. So Brooke and I met and became friends,
Speaker 2: and I invited Brooke to come on my show, Guys,
Speaker 2: Big Bite, which I shot in my backyard of my
Speaker 2: house here in northern California. So anywow, we're getting ready
Speaker 2: to film. It's a nice sunny afternoon. But you know
Speaker 2: a little bit, Gris, and the producer says to me,
Speaker 2: he says, hey, can I talk to you for a second.
Speaker 2: He goes, we have a wardrobe malfunction.
Speaker 1: It was chili.
Speaker 2: It was definitely it was chili. So so the wardrobe people, everybody,
Speaker 2: it's all made. You know, there's a bunch of eyes
Speaker 2: and but a lot of people. But the audio tech
Speaker 2: is really just really great girl Jessica, and she's there
Speaker 2: and she says, I know what to say, I know
Speaker 2: what to do. So she comes up with Michelle's talk
Speaker 2: to you for a second. She goes, yeah, and she
Speaker 2: goes like this, and we're watchable. We all know what
Speaker 2: the conversation is. Because the the blouse that broke Brookie
Speaker 2: had on the bit revealing just a touch well, nobody
Speaker 2: had anything to help the situation. So in the middle
Speaker 2: of this whole thing and everybody is just standing there wide,
Speaker 2: I'd like, what are we going to do? Broke broke?
Speaker 2: Jes yells and goes, hey, anybody got any band aids?
Speaker 2: So the medical guy comes running over with the with
Speaker 2: the medical kid, thinking there's an emergency, and she just
Speaker 2: grabs a couple of band aids and says, hey, not
Speaker 2: a second, all right, coach, you put me back in
Speaker 2: I'm ready to go. And from that day on, I'm
Speaker 2: just like, now I know why you're a legend.
Speaker 1: I mean, we drank tequila, we laughed, I learned something
Speaker 1: and I saw you. I don't think people know. I
Speaker 1: mean maybe they do know. But there were a lot
Speaker 1: of people and in one what you were tied to
Speaker 1: all of them in one way, and most of them
Speaker 1: seem to be on the team. And I just that
Speaker 1: type of loyalty and love for the people that you
Speaker 1: grew up with, that you know, is so inspiring and
Speaker 1: kind and pure, and I just that made me fall
Speaker 1: absolutely in love with with who you are as a person.
Speaker 1: And in sort of preparing for this, I was trying
Speaker 1: to think of things I don't know about you. You
Speaker 1: say you were raised by hippie parents, So what does
Speaker 1: that mean for a childhood?
Speaker 2: Well, let me just get done fan boing for one
Speaker 2: more second. To hear you say all those nice things
Speaker 2: about me is overwhelming. But thank you the tequila health
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm going to start sending tequila to
Speaker 2: people when they interview me on podcasts. Drink half of
Speaker 2: this before you go. So I was raised in a
Speaker 2: little town in northern California. Do you ever see the
Speaker 2: movie Outbreak with Dustin Hoffelt. So that was filmed in
Speaker 2: my hometown. That's a little town called Ferndale, and it's
Speaker 2: up by Eureka, California, so it's really far north and
Speaker 2: so I live in the Wine country here. So about
Speaker 2: four hours north of here is this little town called Ferndale.
Speaker 2: It's in a very famous area known as the Emerald Triangle,
Speaker 2: which was back in the day it was known for
Speaker 2: all of its fantastic cannabis and so forth. But it's
Speaker 2: a great it's a it's a beautiful country. It's home
Speaker 2: of the Redwoods, it's home of great fishing outdoors, all
Speaker 2: kinds of stuff. But this little town, it's this little
Speaker 2: angelic town. Man, it's unbelievable. So ayah. I was raised
Speaker 2: by these. My mom and dad came from Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker 2: That's where I was born in the back of a
Speaker 2: Volkswagen square square back bug. My mom was a teacher,
Speaker 2: my dad was a college dropout, and they came up
Speaker 2: here to northern California opened up a leather shop called
Speaker 2: the Abraxis. My mom had long red hair, my dad
Speaker 2: had a big beard. We had a we had a
Speaker 2: condoline van. This is no kidding. We lived in a
Speaker 2: condoline van had They had five hundred dollars cash, one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty pounds of wax, and a height of leather.
Speaker 2: And that's how we were. That's how we ended up
Speaker 2: in Ferndale.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So when I say raised by hippies, but my mom
Speaker 2: always says, you have to. As a matter of fact, today
Speaker 2: is my mom's seventieth birth sixtieth birth today's my mom's
Speaker 2: fiftieth birthday, but it's actually her real birthday today, fifty.
Speaker 1: Yes, please, you got it. By the way, what is
Speaker 1: it with you and me and birthdays? Do you remember
Speaker 1: when I called you? I was in the tunnel, it
Speaker 1: called you just out of the blue. This is like
Speaker 1: a while ago, and it was your sister's birthday. Do
Speaker 1: you remember that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, something about you and me and birthday.
Speaker 2: The little sister Morgan that we lost unfortunately cancer. But
Speaker 2: I keep that tattoo to remind me about her every day.
Speaker 2: But so, anyhow, my parents were not doupt smoking hippies,
Speaker 2: but self made people. My dad had been in submarines
Speaker 2: during Vietnam and all kinds of craziness. So you know,
Speaker 2: just listen, just really smart people, hardworking people. We ate
Speaker 2: a lot of macrobiotics. We were I mean, I was
Speaker 2: eating sushi when I was eight years old, so in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy six when people were you know, had no
Speaker 2: idea what sushi was. My parents are pretty progressive in
Speaker 2: the food thing, so that.
Speaker 1: You said you didn't eat a lot of meat growing up,
Speaker 1: which I think is kind of an interesting surprise to people.
Speaker 2: I would go to people's houses and I'm like, what
Speaker 2: is meat loaf? You're telling me there is a whole
Speaker 2: thing of meat coming out and we're going to eat this.
Speaker 2: We ketchup what. I'd go over to my parents, I'm like,
Speaker 2: where's the meat loaf? And like, oh no, we don't
Speaker 2: eat me a loaf. We're going to have eggplant. My god,
Speaker 2: I don't want eggplant. I revolted against the food. Kind
Speaker 2: of bad, but that's how I ended up becoming a cook.
Speaker 2: Was I was, I was about eight maybe nine, and
Speaker 2: I came around the corner one morning and my mom
Speaker 2: was cooking what I thought was chicken parmesan, but it
Speaker 2: was eggplant parmisan. I said, why can't we have chicken parbasan?
Speaker 2: This is when life changed. Why can't we have chicken?
Speaker 2: Farmers on like the like the normal families have. Well,
Speaker 2: after I got up off the floor from being hit
Speaker 2: with the frying pan. No, she didn't hit me with
Speaker 2: the frying pan, but after she says, listen, guy, if
Speaker 2: you don't like the way I cook, then you cook.
Speaker 2: So that day I went to the grocery store and
Speaker 2: John Miceli was the butcher, and I said, hey, John,
Speaker 2: I said I want to I want to eat meat,
Speaker 2: and I said what do I what? He goes, so
Speaker 2: I think he gave me rip By steaks, and I said,
Speaker 2: what do you serve with this? And he's like pasta?
Speaker 2: So I went over and I got posta and all
Speaker 2: I know is pasta and tomato sauce went together. So
Speaker 2: I cooked the pasta in the tomato sauce and my
Speaker 2: parents come home and I've got dinner on the table
Speaker 2: and my dad goes, what the and I go, hey, hey,
Speaker 2: Mom said, if I don't like the way you guys cooked,
Speaker 2: I could cook. And he's like what. So he sits
Speaker 2: down and he cuts into the steak and I remember
Speaker 2: cooking it specifically. It had butter and soy sauce. That's
Speaker 2: the only thing I knew. And he takes a bite
Speaker 2: of it, and he looks at me and he sets
Speaker 2: his fork and knife down and he looks right at
Speaker 2: me and he goes, guy, might be the best steak
Speaker 2: I've ever had in my life.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh God, I've got chills from
Speaker 1: that story. Now they were they vegetarian.
Speaker 2: We did it all. We did macrobiotic, I mean, and
Speaker 2: it wasn't vegetarian like hardcore, but it did. We go
Speaker 2: We went through all different kinds of stuff. But we
Speaker 2: were a lot of steaming, a lot of steamed fish,
Speaker 2: a lot of you know, a lot of very not
Speaker 2: when you want me, my kids. No one would trade
Speaker 2: lunch with me at school ever. I mean, I was
Speaker 2: like voodoo on the lunch game, okay, because we baked
Speaker 2: our own bread. You know, we didn't have milk. We
Speaker 2: had powdered milk. I mean, we had you listen, We
Speaker 2: one time didn't have a refrigerator for six months because
Speaker 2: the refrigerator broke. So my dad cut a hole in
Speaker 2: the refrigerator and then cut a hole in the bottom
Speaker 2: of the floor and was convinced that the cold air
Speaker 2: for the cellar would keep because that's how it was
Speaker 2: done in the olden days, would keep the refrigerator, and
Speaker 2: then there was an ice block up in the top
Speaker 2: of the fridge, and that's how we would keep our
Speaker 2: stuff cold.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you yeah. So do you think you'll
Speaker 1: ever open up a vegy or at least plant based restaurant?
Speaker 2: Probably in the diet that we have at the house
Speaker 2: eighty five percent vegetables. I'm a veggie junkie. I mean,
Speaker 2: I've talked to my publisher all the time about the
Speaker 2: vegetarian cookbook that I want to write. I don't know
Speaker 2: that I'll go actually all vegan on a cookbook, although
Speaker 2: I do I feature a lot of vegan vegetarian restaurants
Speaker 2: on Diners, Drivings, and dives because I think that this
Speaker 2: book has something to do with my little sister passing away.
Speaker 2: So my sister, Morgan was thirty eight, had had cancer
Speaker 2: when she was four, then beat cancer, then lived a
Speaker 2: healthy life for thirty four more years, and then at
Speaker 2: thirty eight, got melanoma, which was a derivative of the
Speaker 2: type of cancer she had, and we ended up losing
Speaker 2: her and it was worstin the whole world. But while
Speaker 2: she was sick in that last year, I was cooking
Speaker 2: for her a lot and I was learning a lot
Speaker 2: about alkalinity and pa and I was looking learning and
Speaker 2: just really coming to a better understanding of the world
Speaker 2: of vegetarian and vegan cooking. And she used to make
Speaker 2: a joke all the time when she'd come for Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: that she goes, not, I don't want a bunch of
Speaker 2: grilled vegetables with bisalmic glaze and Bosmondi rice, make me
Speaker 2: real composed dishes. So then I started to look at
Speaker 2: how all these different vegetables we have in these different grains,
Speaker 2: and all these different methods, and the techniques are a
Speaker 2: little bit different, but the flavor profiles and the textures
Speaker 2: can be very similar. So it changed my life as
Speaker 2: a chef.
Speaker 1: Just going back a little bit to your beautiful sister,
Speaker 1: because you've talked to me about her, you've spoken about her.
Speaker 1: How did you cope with that period right after her passing?
Speaker 2: Well, okay, so my sister is my sister gets sick,
Speaker 2: you know, she the cancer comes back. She's a massage therapist, vegetarian,
Speaker 2: doesn't drink, mother of an eight year old boy, my nephew, Jules,
Speaker 2: who is going to law school right now, proud of him,
Speaker 2: got him, got him, got him through high school, you know,
Speaker 2: got him into high school, got him through high school,
Speaker 2: got him because it was my parents and you know,
Speaker 2: Laurie and I that raised him. And they lived right
Speaker 2: My parents lived right next door to me. And you know,
Speaker 2: there was some bumps and bruises in those first few
Speaker 2: years when you when a kid loses his mom and
Speaker 2: she was a single mom.
Speaker 1: How old were your kids when he became a regular
Speaker 1: part of.
Speaker 2: The other kid the other kid? Yeah, Hunter was eleven
Speaker 2: or twelve. Rider was four. But you know, Jewels was
Speaker 2: always my sister and Jewels were always very involved. They
Speaker 2: didn't live too far away from us in uh, they
Speaker 2: lived down in Mill Valley. But anyhow, back to the
Speaker 2: question you'd ask, because I'll go down rabbit holes all day.
Speaker 2: My sister was when is somebody four and a half
Speaker 2: years younger than you? But also but as as your teacher,
Speaker 2: and we always got along great. We always had a
Speaker 2: really great relationship. She accepted my style on my way
Speaker 2: and I was, you know, always a million miles an
Speaker 2: hour and you know, trucks and heavy metal and you know, craziness.
Speaker 2: And my sister was always grounded and going to African
Speaker 2: dance class and you know, not mistay and the whole thing.
Speaker 2: And I never got it. I never you know, I
Speaker 2: got her. She understaid me, blah blah blah. Well, as
Speaker 2: she was as she was, you know, cancer was taking
Speaker 2: over and she wasn't going to do chemo again. She
Speaker 2: had done chemo as a kid. She says, I'm not
Speaker 2: doing it. We sent her to Puerto Rico, we sent
Speaker 2: her to Mexico. We sent her a couple different places
Speaker 2: to get alternative treatment, and she was very open about it.
Speaker 2: We were open as a family about it. It just
Speaker 2: killing me, killing me to watch my parents go through it.
Speaker 2: That was probably the hardest thing to see. Losing my
Speaker 2: sister was terrible. Watching parents aren't suppos to watch their kids' paths.
Speaker 2: That's just not sulmost happen, especially after they already went
Speaker 2: through that shit when she was four, because I remember
Speaker 2: that real vividly, being at the hospitals Fanrancisco with her.
Speaker 2: But anyhow, here's where it gets really weird, my sister's
Speaker 2: passing away. We have hospice there, which if you ever
Speaker 2: want to make a donation to anything in this whole world,
Speaker 2: hospice is one of the greatest organizations they're angels, They're
Speaker 2: earth angels. I can't say enough about them. I mean,
Speaker 2: it gives me goosebumps. Anytime I can help them, I do.
Speaker 2: So my sister's passing away. We're all sitting there in
Speaker 2: her house and someone brings up, you know, when she passes,
Speaker 2: what are we going to, you know, just going to creamate?
Speaker 2: I said, I can't creamate my sister. This is the
Speaker 2: last thing in the world she wants is you know,
Speaker 2: fuels to be used. She wasn't a super earthy type person,
Speaker 2: but I said, so we found out about green burials,
Speaker 2: so we found a cemetery very close to where we
Speaker 2: live here in northern California to do green burial. So
Speaker 2: that's no casket, to be the most beautiful way I've
Speaker 2: ever seen anybody buried. So my sister passes. She passes
Speaker 2: Saturday morning, and we drive back to her house and
Speaker 2: all her girlfriends come, all her friends from this community,
Speaker 2: and they shroud her. They lay her on our massage
Speaker 2: table in the middle of the living room and shroud
Speaker 2: her in flowers, and people come to visit, and it
Speaker 2: was the most I mean, I'm I'm a redneck, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm sitting there looking this, going is this for real?
Speaker 2: And it took all of that weirdness mortuary organ music,
Speaker 2: noess that that's wrong, that's how people say it. But
Speaker 2: it was a it was amazing. I mean, I hope
Speaker 2: that's how it happens for me. I don't. I don't
Speaker 2: even know what to say. And then and then and
Speaker 2: then we took a they made that a box and
Speaker 2: they the kids drew want it and colored, and Jewels
Speaker 2: was there with his mom taking pictures and we were
Speaker 2: crying and it would go in and out of you know,
Speaker 2: hysteria and discipline, sadness and so. And then three days
Speaker 2: later we all came together and we had a wonderful
Speaker 2: ceremony and cousins and people showed up and it was
Speaker 2: as she was shrouded in flowers, in this, in this
Speaker 2: and draped in this, and we lowered her in the ground.
Speaker 2: And I can't say that goodbye was you know, easy,
Speaker 2: and not having it was easy. But I will tell
Speaker 2: you something, the ritual and the celebration and the and
Speaker 2: the real intimate like feeling of contact and connection with
Speaker 2: my sister was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: That would have made her extremely extremely happy. Thank you
Speaker 1: for sharing that story with me.
Speaker 2: I know that got along little long winded. I haven't never.
Speaker 2: I don't think I've ever told that that's that's I've never.
Speaker 2: It's that it almost got me teary eyed.
Speaker 1: And you have the beautiful tattoo honoring her.
Speaker 2: So this is what I didn't get to that point,
Speaker 2: but I had that tattooed on my arms. It's not mistake,
Speaker 2: and I didn't get it. I always used make fun
Speaker 2: of my sisters, saying, now mistake, now a stay hippie day,
Speaker 2: Now mistake, Yeah, exactly. And I was talking to her
Speaker 2: girlfriends who were outside and crying, and I said, what
Speaker 2: is not a saying? And it's really something I've adopted.
Speaker 2: It's something I've always lived by, and I didn't know it,
Speaker 2: but it is something that I think is so true
Speaker 2: and not a mistake. The people you'd say it by
Speaker 2: God or power or but the God and me or
Speaker 2: the power in me recognizes the power in you. And
Speaker 2: if you really celebrate people as the center of their universe,
Speaker 2: and like you really take the time to acknowledge people
Speaker 2: and recognize that from their perspective, they are the center
Speaker 2: of the universe because it's all being seen in their eyes.
Speaker 2: Let me take the time to give people that recognition
Speaker 2: and that respect. Then it really opens up a lot
Speaker 2: of doors. And just do it, because that's how you should.
Speaker 2: You should treat everybody with respect, you don't know who
Speaker 2: they are.
Speaker 1: I call this show now What because it's really about
Speaker 1: those pivotal moments, the things that changed our lives, either
Speaker 1: for better or for worse, whether we realized it at
Speaker 1: the time. Other than that one, what is another moment
Speaker 1: that comes to mind for you?
Speaker 2: I was a was it a fatality car accident when
Speaker 2: I was nineteen, when I was in college, and I
Speaker 2: think I had a little bit. I wasn't driving, I
Speaker 2: was in the backseat, and unfortunately I was with a
Speaker 2: bunch of guys and the one guy you know, and
Speaker 2: we were drinking and I think I was nineteen eighteen
Speaker 2: nineteen on my sister's birthday, by the way, we'll talk
Speaker 2: about weird. And we were screwing off and actually we're
Speaker 2: down at the drag boat races in Las Vegas and
Speaker 2: this guy saw a cop and he was drinking and
Speaker 2: we were camping, not you know, half mile away, and uh,
Speaker 2: he took off and they got we got chased, and
Speaker 2: the car flipped and one of the guy next to
Speaker 2: me was killed and it was horrific and I was
Speaker 2: everybody was messed up, and I had to go flight
Speaker 2: for life in the helicopter, in the whole thing. And
Speaker 2: I woke up in the hospital, handcuffed to the gurney,
Speaker 2: with everybody in that car saying I was the one
Speaker 2: that was driving. They were all in the military together.
Speaker 2: They were in a campsite next to the campsite I
Speaker 2: was at. And I had been through enough, not near
Speaker 2: death things in my life, but kind of lived a
Speaker 2: little fast and hard and crow wild and having to
Speaker 2: call my parents and tell them what was up, and
Speaker 2: having to get an attorney and having to fight this
Speaker 2: potential situation. They came to the college and you know,
Speaker 2: the rest of me in my dorm room, you know,
Speaker 2: picked me up and took me. You know. It was
Speaker 2: it just got It was going bad after worse because
Speaker 2: everybody was saying that I was and anyhow the cops
Speaker 2: knew I wasn't. But it was like a reel. Like
Speaker 2: my dad told me, he says, you cut the ship.
Speaker 2: You're not invincible, you know you can't. It's not you know,
Speaker 2: this isn't this is for real. Now you know this
Speaker 2: is not get You know you're not in Ferndale. You
Speaker 2: know you're in your hometown anymore. You're in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: You know you're big time. So you got to you
Speaker 2: gotta focus. And you know there's all those miss It's
Speaker 2: the things I teach my kids all the time. Don't
Speaker 2: trust anybody to drive. You, don't trust anybody puts in
Speaker 2: a drink and gives you. Don't trust anybody tells you
Speaker 2: that you know this is safe for this is smart.
Speaker 2: You have to be the master of your domain. You
Speaker 2: have to be in control of your environment. And it
Speaker 2: was like, what there is that? There's the there's the
Speaker 2: fifteenth there's the fifteen percent that I've been missing. And
Speaker 2: I will tell you brook it really was. And again
Speaker 2: you tell me you're getting goosebumps out of me on everything.
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, okay, my family did have any money.
Speaker 2: I'm not the smartest kid, didn't get the invest grades,
Speaker 2: da da dah. But if I'm gonna win, it's I'm
Speaker 2: gonna win based upon how hard I play and how
Speaker 2: disciplined I am, and how driven and how controlled I am.
Speaker 2: And if I do that, then then I have a
Speaker 2: better chance of getting through this. That was it.
Speaker 1: That is a now what moment? And you heard it?
Speaker 1: And your kids are really lucky that they have I
Speaker 1: and Laura's parents for so many reasons. How does parenting
Speaker 1: continue to change you?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, it's the greatest reflection of who you are.
Speaker 2: You know. That old saying is you see you see
Speaker 2: in others what you don't like in yourself. You know,
Speaker 2: I got two boys that are both sides of me,
Speaker 2: you know, and of.
Speaker 1: Laurie as well. But and they have a lot of
Speaker 1: energy like you too.
Speaker 2: Well, one does and one you know, one is one
Speaker 2: way and one is the other. I mean, Hunter and Writer,
Speaker 2: I mean they're best friends. They're nine years apart. But
Speaker 2: the truth of it is is, you know, there's things
Speaker 2: that are so Writer, that are so mean, and then
Speaker 2: so writers with Laurie, and then there's things that are Hunters,
Speaker 2: the writers Lory. You know, Hunter's got this work ethic
Speaker 2: to do to you know, and all the things he does,
Speaker 2: and he works in the company and so forth. And
Speaker 2: then Writer has this personal self drive ethink, but not
Speaker 2: the work ethic. You know. It's I cannot make sense
Speaker 2: of it. All I know is that if you will
Speaker 2: allow yourself to be a student of your kids, you
Speaker 2: will learn to be a better person. And for me
Speaker 2: at least, I should say, learn to be a better
Speaker 2: person and learn to see the world on a much
Speaker 2: bigger plane, versus believing that you know it all, that
Speaker 2: you have it all figured out, and that everybody should
Speaker 2: follow your way. I believe everybody in this organization, this family,
Speaker 2: this tribe, this group should participate in the forward progression
Speaker 2: of what we do.
Speaker 1: I think you show that to the people around you.
Speaker 1: I think you take in the world. I think you
Speaker 1: so so much to the industry. And I'm curious about
Speaker 1: the role that food plays in that. How do you
Speaker 1: think food has shaped how you view and interact with
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 2: So I'll tell you. I'll tell you what food was
Speaker 2: or food is for me. It's it's my portal. I
Speaker 2: was never I mean, I was an okay athlete, not
Speaker 2: a real good you know, not a real good student.
Speaker 2: I mean, okay, you know bees you know. When I
Speaker 2: got to college, I went to UNLV. When I got
Speaker 2: to college, I graduated UNLV with a three three. I
Speaker 2: mean otherwise, ga I was my general ed stuff. I
Speaker 2: was just like whatever you know. I knew I had
Speaker 2: to go to college. I wasn't a question. But when
Speaker 2: I got into my industry, when I got into food,
Speaker 2: I knew, this is what I want to do. I
Speaker 2: knew I wanted to do food. When I was a kid,
Speaker 2: I used to think being sick, fake being sick to
Speaker 2: go to school because we had the book The Joy
Speaker 2: of Cooking. I mean, they gave you all the answers.
Speaker 2: They gave you the answers. I had to do was
Speaker 2: take the stuff and follow. I mean, like I finally
Speaker 2: understood why reading was so important. I had this epiphany.
Speaker 2: So I loved this. Uh So food was my that
Speaker 2: was my vehicle, that was my platform, that was my thing.
Speaker 2: That was something I could always do. I mean I
Speaker 2: wasn't they. I don't think I was the best open
Speaker 2: guy in school, but I was a guy that knew
Speaker 2: how to cook. A lot easier to get a girl
Speaker 2: to go out with you when you can make shrimps, scampy,
Speaker 2: you know, when you can cook something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good date food, is it?
Speaker 2: I thought?
Speaker 1: So absolutely?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds like yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean you know what my husband is is such
Speaker 1: a great cook and one of the first things ever
Speaker 1: he cooked me a meal and it was revelatory for me.
Speaker 1: I was just like, what is happening? Because I make food,
Speaker 1: don't cook. Yeah, so that was a revelation for me.
Speaker 1: If you were to look back at your whole life,
Speaker 1: and it could be one word, should be one word,
Speaker 1: what's your through line?
Speaker 2: See there's generic ones, you know, like love, because I
Speaker 2: love things. I mean I love. I am passionate about
Speaker 2: my family. I am passionate about anything I say I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do. I do anything that I so so loving
Speaker 2: something like having real belief in something, having real connection
Speaker 2: to something. Cars, I love my old hot rods. Anything
Speaker 2: that I get into, I get into. I mean I
Speaker 2: am not I'm an all or nothing kind of person
Speaker 2: about stuff, So that to me is it. But I
Speaker 2: think the most the thing that's the most important to
Speaker 2: me though, out of everything, is family. I mean I
Speaker 2: have my mom and dad. Are I can't you know?
Speaker 2: I write to him every time for any holiday or anything.
Speaker 2: I just say, I aspire to be my nephew Jules.
Speaker 2: I never thought I said this the other day. I
Speaker 2: never thought I could love another child like my child.
Speaker 2: But I love jewels like I love my two boys.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's just he's so you know, so it's
Speaker 2: a crazy thing that but no family to me and
Speaker 2: carrying on my sister's legacy, and then also you know,
Speaker 2: being so involved with my other family, with my extended family,
Speaker 2: with you know, with my cousins and all the things
Speaker 2: that we get to do, and it's just so it's
Speaker 2: like we do you know, I hold big family re unions.
Speaker 2: I can. I have the resources and the power to
Speaker 2: do it. We film it, you know. We we did
Speaker 2: a family reunion. We did a family union. Who won
Speaker 2: an Emmy for it? You know, Guy's family re union.
Speaker 2: It was awesome.
Speaker 1: That was Guy Fearing. If you love him as much
Speaker 1: as I do, go watch one of his many Food
Speaker 1: Network shows, or eat at one of his many restaurants,
Speaker 1: or pick up any of his cookbooks. That's it for
Speaker 1: us today. Talk to you next week.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: What with Burke Shields is a production of iHeartRadio. Our
Speaker 1: lead producer and wonderful showrunner is Julia Weaver. Additional research
Speaker 1: and editing by Darby Masters and Abu Zafar. Our executive
Speaker 1: producer is Christina Everett. The show is mixed by Bahid
Speaker 1: Fraser