WEBVTT

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I went to school to become a
dietitian, and that was a way that

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I could still use my culinary training
in a productive way, because let's be

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honest, I'm way too emotional to
be in a professional kitchen. I would

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cry at the drop of the hat, like I don't have the thick skin

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for that. And I knew that. I was very self aware to know

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that that would wreck me, and
so I became a dietitian. You're listening

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to the Plant Based Diet podcast where
we talk about all things plant based.

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I'm mister Garth and the host of
this show and founder of Alternative Food Network.

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Join me in my amazing array of
guests who are a mix of healthcare

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professionals, industry executives, and people
with an interesting story to tell about their

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plant based journey. Let us help
you with your journey wherever you're at to

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learn the what, why, and
how to eat plant based. Today,

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I'm joined by Mica Siva, who
is a trained chef, registered dietitian,

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recipe writer, food photographer, and
a new cookbook author. Share is Jewish

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inspired plant forward recipes, and I'm
excited to chat with her about modern Jewish

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cuisine through a plant forward lens.
Let's see if we can bridge some cultural

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divides with some food. But before
we get into that, I wanted to

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give you an update on my Prolon
experience. In the previous episode of Plant

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Based Diet, I mentioned that I
did Prolon's five day restricted calorie plant based

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meal program, which is designed to
mimic fasting without a water only fast.

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A few weeks have passed since I
did it, and I'm still leaner than

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I was prior to And while I
didn't love restricting my food intake, the

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more time that passes, the more
pleased I am that I did it,

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and I hope my cells are pleased
to If you'd like to try it,

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ProLAN is offering the Plant Based Diet
listeners a fifteen percent discount using promo code

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AFN fifteen. Just click the link
in the episode description and type in code

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AFN one five to get fifteen percent
off your order. If you use the

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link, we may receive a small
commission from your purchase. And now to

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the show. Welcome Nika. It's
so nice to have you on. Thank

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you so much for having me ester. I appreciate being here. You know

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I follow you from my personal account
on Instagram, and when I saw that

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you were going to be coming out
with a cookbook, I'm like, oh,

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it would be so great to have
you on the show. So thank

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you for taking the time today to
join us. I know that you do

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have a baby at home and you're
very busy, and kudos to you for

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having the headspace even to come on
the show today. My pleasure. Honestly,

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anything I can do to speak to
an adult instead of to a two

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month old is a good thing for
my mental capacity and health. I think,

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all right, did you get any
sleep last night? Last night wasn't

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too bad. Actually, my husband
a nice split shifts overnight, so I

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took the second shift and it wasn't
too bad. All right, We've got

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you fresh, or as fresh as
you'll be for these days. Oh yeah,

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all right, Well, before we
get into talking about the cookbook,

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I wanted the listeners to get to
know you a little bit and here what

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sparked your love of food? Oh
so, my love of food has been

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lifelong, really, and my grandmother
Eva definitely was a huge driver and me

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fallen in love with the act of
feeding just as much food. We come

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from a big family of eaters everything
we do was centered around food, as

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many Jewish families are, and my
grandmother Eva was an amazing cook and hostess,

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and so I grew up learning to
cook through her and just seeing her

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cook and make dishes to really show
how much she loved us. You could

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tell what kind of mood she was
in based on what was for dinner when

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you came to visit, and so
much of our relationship was centered around food,

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and really, even from a young
age, showed me that food meant

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so much more than just tasting good
or being something that we ate. So

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if she was in a great mood, what would you what would she have

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made for you? Oh, if
she was in a great mood, I

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know that this is I'm not a
meat eater anymore. But she would make

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us chicken schnitzel with cornflake crumbs,
and the vegetable would be in raceberg lettuce

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salad because that's of that era,
and mashed potatoes and carrots together, and

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then there'd be some sort of like
pie or her favorite was angel food cake

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for dessert. So that was like
happy Grandma making that, and that was

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always such a special meal for us
to enjoy when we'd go visit her,

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and that really sparked my love of
food. And then as I got older

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and I got to be more independent
in the kitchen and I could make my

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own food choices, and I told
my family I wanted to become vegetarian when

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I was about twelve. My parents
were super supportive and actually hired a dietitian

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to come to the house to teach
us all how to eat vegetarian things together.

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Wow, which was such a good
idea in retrospect looking back on it.

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And funny enough, my old third
grade teacher had gone back to school

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to become a dietitian, so she's
the one who came to the house to

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teach us. And that really sparked
my love of getting creative in the kitchen

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because at that point it was this
is how we eat well when we're vegetarian,

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eating a vegetarian meal together. But
at the same time, we're not

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going to make you a separate meal, Nika. We need to work together

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on this. And that's when I
started to get creative and excited about what

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I could make in the kitchen to
make sure that I got to eat something

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yummy and we could all eat together. So you were already cooking when you

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were a tween or tea that.
Yeah, it was. I feel like

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anytime there was an activity in the
house, it was always centered around food.

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So we were always cooking growing up. And then I got to be

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more more independent at that point as
well, and even throughout high school temp.

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Ten eleven, twelfth grade, I
would have my friends over for dinner

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and make multi course dinners and it
was just something I really loved to do

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and it was how I expressed my
creativity in a lot of ways and frustrations

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as a tween female. And then
you went on to school and you became

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a chef, right, I did. Yeah. So I went to the

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natural Wordmate Institute of Health and Culinary
Arts, which is a long school name

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and it's now a part of the
Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

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So I went there at nineteen and
I studied culinary arts, but they really

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focus on health supportive cooking and especially
vegetarian food, and we would do weeks

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of gluten free baking or baking for
different allergies and we would make our own

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tofu and Tempe and Satan and that
was so exciting for me. And it

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was at a time also when vegetarianism
was prevalent, but it's not what it

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was today. And to be able
to make all these different dishes vegetarian when

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there was no beyond beef. At
that point there was no I think Guardian

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Chicken was just starting. Like it
was a very fun time to be in

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a vegetarian space, and of course, as a nineteen year old living alone

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in New York, it was also
a fun time in general. And once

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I finished, I was wrapping up
my program and really thinking what do I

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want to do next? At the
same time as my student visa was expiring.

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I'm originally Canadian, so I had
this clock ticking of like what do

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I do? And I went into
a I didn't know that is from Okay.

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I'm from Calgary originally Okay, And
so I had this clock ticking,

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and I knew that I had to
do something and had to go back to

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Canada. So I went to school
to become a dietitian. And that was

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a way that I could still use
my culinary training in a productive way,

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because let's be honest, I'm way
too emotional to be in a professional kitchen.

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I would cry at the drop of
the hat like, I don't have

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the thick skin for that, and
I knew that, I was very self

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aware to know that that would wreck
me. And so I became a dietitian.

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And I worked for a number of
years as a dietitian in Toronto and

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started a small food blog as a
creative outlet. And in twenty eighteen,

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my husband and I were moved to
London, UK for a work transfer on

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his part, and I just I
was at this fork in the road where

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the only dietitian jobs in the UK
were hospital based. I'm not a hospital

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person. I'm a community cooking class
type of person. And I just pursued

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the food media side of things,
where I was working with BuzzFeed in the

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UK doing their branded content and videos, still making a lot of non dietitian,

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very elaborate, viral things that I
would purson never want to eat on

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a daily basis. And then in
twenty twenty, after two years at BuzzFeed,

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we were moved to the US.
Happened to be March twelfth, twenty

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twenty. We were moved to San
Diego. Not the best time to move

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to a new country by any means, but that at that point is when

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I went falling on my own business
of doing recipe writing and food photography for

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brands and newspapers, and of course
my blog which became not with Micah the

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plant Forward Jewish cooking blog outlet,
resource website, I don't know, and

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that's kind of turned into what it
is today where I have my cookbook coming

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out. I wrote a kid's book
about Jewish food this past year with my

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husband, and I focused my writing
on Jewish cuisine, and then I write

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for a lot of different outlets like
Lunch News, the Jewish journals, different

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magazines and whatnot, because that's what
actually pays rent. And now a word

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to the show. So I don't
know if this is going to be a

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tough question for you, but clearly
you're Jewish, you have an online presence,

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you have a Jewish brand. So
what has it been like lately?

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And I asked this because we're recording
this in the beginning of twenty twenty four,

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when the world seems to be a
little less of a friendly place towards

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Jews, or at least the anti
Semites are feeling quite emboldened. So how

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have things been for you? You
know, it's interesting because it wasn't always

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a Jewish blog, and I wasn't
always visibly Jewish online, and I only

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it's funny now I say that first
wave of anti Semitism instead of the most

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recently, but in twenty twenty is
when I chose to end of twenty twenty,

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sorry, is when I chose to
pivot into the Jewish space. And

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that was a really tough decision because
I had been doing mostly white label content

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and content for other brands, which
means that my name and face isn't necessarily

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a part of it. Sometimes it
is, but they can use it.

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And I made this choice to be
my personality as a do and I wanted

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to be out, I guess out
and proud about it because I am.

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I am as a person really proud
to be Jewish. And it took me

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about four months to get the courage
to do it because I was afraid.

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Within that first month, I lost
three long term clients. And that was

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three years ago. And I still
say it's the best thing I ever did

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with my work, and it's made
me so much more passionate about what I

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do. But since October seventh,
it's been a really scary place to be.

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Bear in mind, also on October
seventh, I was eight months pregnant,

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and so there was a lot of
things going on already, and I

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remember waking up that morning seeing the
news and reading about other young families and

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couples, and I said to my
husband, I was like, this could

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have been us. This easily could
have been asked like this couple in their

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thirties with pregnant or with an infant, And it was heartbreaking. And at

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first I was very vocal about it
on social media, and I was very

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out there and speaking from a place
of pain and fear and also pride for

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being Jewish. And after every two
seconds my husband would have to filter my

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comments and messages for death threats and
saying that my baby should die and all

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of these terrible messages, I said, like, I can't. I had

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to take a step back and still
do my Jewish thing, but not speak

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up as much as I would have
wanted to, because for my own mental

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health and for probably the health of
myself and my baby and the end of

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my pregnancy, I needed to find
a place inner of peace, which is

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also what we all want anyways,
But that's a whole other conversation, and

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so I had to take a little
step back, and since I've felt a

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little bit like I've gotten my ground. I mean, I'm only two months

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into motherhood, but I've started to
share, do and do a bit more

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because I'm also thinking about all these
I'm seeing in a different light as a

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mom now, where I'm thinking of
these parents who just want their kids to

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come home, and I'm thinking of
my little two month old and my heart

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is breaking. And to be Jewish
online is really scary, but it's so

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important. I've definitely culled through my
list of contacts in the past few months

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and recognize that not everyone loved me
for me. And you know what,

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they don't deserve our bagels. They
don't deserve our delicious food. They don't

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deserve to see what I'm making because
I'm making something really cool and yummy and

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amazing and fun and beautiful and peaceful, and they don't deserve that. If

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they can't see the beauty in another
culture, then that's their own problem.

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And I've also learned that you can't
fix someone who doesn't want to learn.

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You know, it's been really interesting
and I think it's more important than ever

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to be Jewish and thinking about my
book coming up and my book tour,

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people have asked, am I afraid
to share my book events and whatnot?

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Online? And my response is,
I got to make money. I have

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to make money. It's my business. I still need to put myself out

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there. And as a Jewish population, we also need to support each other

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and buy tickets to Jewish events,
support Jewish businesses, listen to podcasts by

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Jews. Even if it's not a
Jewish thing, it doesn't have to be

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to be something that we choose to
support. So it's a big question.

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And at the end of the day, like, I'm not solving any problems

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by making a vegan his army sandwich, And if you feel like that's problematic

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for you, then maybe there's something
else going on inside. I'm just trying

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to celebrate it a diverse food landscape
that comes from an ethnic group, and

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I think that that's important in this
world of learning about each other and in

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a global world, it's important to
explore other food cultures. And I'm exploring

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my food culture and sharing it and
that's at the basis of what I'm doing.

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So all right, so that's interesting, very interesting time. And that

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was the good segue until let's talk
about your cookbook, so let's talk about

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it. Let's talk about it.
So I'm going to guess that it's not.

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The recipes in there aren't exactly vegan
or plant based versions of your grandparents

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cooking. But because you have the
word modern in the title, so maybe

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you could tell everyone again the title
of the cookbook and what's modern about it.

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Yeah, so the cookbook is called
Nash for Recipes celebrating Modern Jewish Cuisine.

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And then you have to take a
big breath because it's a mouthful.

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But there's so much to share about
it. So you're right, it's not

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just a vegan or vegetarian version of
my grandmother's recipes, but there are a

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lot in there. So there's lots
of classics in there, maybe using different

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ingredients than they would have otherwise.
But it's also a way to explore the

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breadth of Jewish cuisine across the Daaspora, which means pretty much across the globe,

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and think about the ingredients used and
memories that they may bring up.

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And look at dishes and say how
can I eat this Monday through Friday and

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think about I don't know, meal
prep or Tuesday night meals or Wednesday lunches,

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nutritious breakfasts, and rethink what it
means to eat Jewish food. You

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don't just have to eat it on
a Friday or a Saturday or for a

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holiday, but these are dishes that
you could eat essentially any day of the

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week. So the modern part is
the ingredients that we're using the fact that

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it's not meat or an animal based
product, and thinking about the modern landscape

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of how we're eating and bringing some
little bit of Jewish influence into dishes that

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can be enjoyed whenever you're eating.
So that's when they see the modern part

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of it. It's modern ingredients.
It's based on how we're eating in the

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twenty first century and still paying homage
to the Jewish traditions and Jewish dishes.

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So, for example, one of
my favorite recipes that I personally make every

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week is inspired by my zetas or
my grandfather, is quick pickles. It

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was the he was like when we'd
go to his house, we'd get quick

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pickles, we'd get fresh sqeeze orange
juice, even in the dead of winter

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in Canada, and I root your
float and a packaged missus Els cookie.

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They'd all come on a tray I
don't know what kind of meal this was,

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but this is what we would eat
at his house and sometimes toast,

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yeah, sometimes toast if he was
feeling up for it. But he would

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always make these quick pickles, and
so my memory of that is so strong,

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and I wanted to make a dish
that could be served alongside any dinner

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that was great to bring to a
pollock, anything that you're doing that isn't

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just pickles. So I made a
smashed cucumber and dial salad inspired by those

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pickles. So looking at different ways
to prepare cucumbers using like you basically just

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whack the heck out of a cucumber
like you would for an Asian inspired cucumber

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salad, but then taking the almost
exact recipe or ingredients as my Zeta my

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grandfather would have used to make it
into this really fun salad that gets better

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over time. And that's such a
fun way to enjoy cucumbers, but also

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think of them in a pickle ish
way, which reminds me of my grandfather.

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And so dishes like that are definitely
in there, or dishes that rely

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on different spices or another favorite of
mine is red wine braised beets over mama

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liga, which is kind of like
a polenta. My grandmother comes from a

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Romanian heritage and mama liga is very
common there, and it's usually a whole

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ton of butter made with milk,
and my version uses tahini nutrition least,

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and so it's kind of like a
umami but super creamy and rich polenta version.

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And then I make a really beautiful
red wine braised beets, also inspired

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by the stews that my grandmother made
with like whatever leftover terrible kosher wine she

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had on hand. And so it
is definitely a modern take. And you

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might not look at a dish without
knowing those things and say, hey,

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this is totally a Jewish dish,
But it's looking at where where do the

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stories come from and those memories and
thinking about like a really warm and wintry

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dish, but totally plant based.
Nice And what about were able to conquer

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the sponge cake that used to you
know, my grandmother I think used eight

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or ten eggs to get it,
you know, those high sponge cakes.

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I have you been able to figure
that one out? You know, I

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didn't even try. So the book
is it's plant forward. Eighty percent of

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it is vegan and then some of
it has eggs and dairy because at the

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end of the day, if we
all, if I can appeal to people

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who are even just interested in different
sides and eat more vegetables, then that's

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a wind. And I think that's
that would That's always been my goals.

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If people can try one or two
vegetarian dishes, I think we're all better

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for it. And so there are
some eggs in some of the cakes and

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honey in my honeycake, but I
didn't try the sponge cake, but perhaps

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that's in the next one. Also. I also felt like there were some

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recipes of my grandmother that she would
literally be rolling in her grave if I

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00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:11.160
ever tried to touch like I tried
to veganize a passover bun like. One

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of those was super heavy MutS and
meal buns, and I swear I wasted

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00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:22.359
so much food trying to do this. It was hockey puck after hockey puck

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after Brooke, and I said,
you know what, maybe this isn't Maybe

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this isn't for me. I'm going
to pull out all my hair. But

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I did make a really amazing vegan
MutS of baal, which took me over

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00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:41.400
twenty tries. And pounds and pounds
of muzzin meal, and I hate food

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00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:47.680
waste, so I ate every single
failure and I don't. I don't.

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I think I was consipated for weeks
on that one because I ate so much

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00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:56.359
failed MutS of ball, but I
got it. It's for those of you

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00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.720
who don't know MutS of balls or
muzzi meal, it's essentially once it gets

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00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:03.720
in, it just stays there forever, and it's it's like sludge. It's

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00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:07.680
delicious. Go try a MutS of
ball from your local deli if you can

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00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:12.599
find that nice and fluffy. Yeah, so I learned with a vegan one.

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I actually included my recipe that uses
eggs in there as well, but

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00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:22.559
uses olive oil instead of small sor
chicken fat. And then I had a

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00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:26.240
vegan one side by side, so
you can make whichever one you want with

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00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:32.480
a really nice spicy tumoric broth and
my vegan one. Instead of being boiled,

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I actually steam them in a steamer
and then add them to soup,

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which took me about eighteen tries until
I was like eating soupy MutS of balls

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00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:47.640
and thought I should try steeping them. And that was That was the best

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00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.920
success. And I cried over that
bowl of soup. I'm not gonna lie.

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00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:56.240
I shed many sears. Steaming them
helped give them their form, exactly

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00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:02.000
so, because MutS of bowls were
so heavily on the eggs to buy them

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00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:06.119
together. And so for this,
for these ones, I use like aqua

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00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:10.880
faba and oh what else did I
use? My mind's drawing the blank,

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00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:14.680
but either flax or chickpea flour to
help bind them. But then they would

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00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:18.680
steal disintegrate no matter if I kept
them in the fridge overnight, if I

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00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:22.240
froze them, no matter what I
did, they would disintegrate. And then

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00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:26.359
I realized that steaming would probably help
to keep their shape together much better,

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00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.920
and and it did. And it
was a beautiful sight to see those little

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00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:33.039
muttaballs steaming in the basket. Let
me tell you, yeah, it was

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00:24:33.079 --> 00:24:37.920
the most beautiful thing. It was
my biggest accomplishment in my life. Besides

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00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:42.480
my baby was tied. Yeah,
yeah, right. And who doesn't love

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00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:48.799
the good MutS the bat right exactly? Well, it sounds delicious. I

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00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:51.920
hope I could get my hands on
a copy. Now, let me ask

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00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.200
you, if there's someone listening and
they love food. They love to write,

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00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:00.599
and they aspire to combine the two. Do you have many words of

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00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:04.240
wisdom for them? Words of wisdom? I feel like I'm learning every day

322
00:25:04.359 --> 00:25:08.559
myself. But I would say that
if you love writing and love food and

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00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:11.319
want to write about food, the
best thing that you can do is just

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00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:17.200
start. Know that nobody's ever going
to read the first while of what you're

325
00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:23.160
going to do, and really what
you need is proof and a portfolio of

326
00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:30.119
your capabilities. And that's how I've
always seen my social media and my blog.

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00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:33.000
It's all a portfolio of what I
do, and so I can then

328
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.920
take that and say this is why
you should pay me to a brand or

329
00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:41.440
a newspaper. So I've always seen
my goal with social media is not to

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00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.960
make money as an influencer. I
do very little of that because I see

331
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.680
it as my living resume of my
capabilities. And so I would say just

332
00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:55.000
start, and if you're feeling self
conscious, remember that probably just you,

333
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.240
your mom, and your husband or
partner will read it, because that's probably

334
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.440
in real who will read it for
a long time. And just get creative

335
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:07.920
and have fun with it. It's
my biggest advice is put yourself out there,

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00:26:08.759 --> 00:26:14.359
which you have done with your cookbook. So tell people where they can

337
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:17.759
get the cookbook. It's not at
the time of this recording, I understand

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00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:22.240
it's not out yet, but this
episode will come out in March. Okay,

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00:26:22.279 --> 00:26:26.359
great, perfect, So the cookbook
comes out March fifth. You can

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00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:30.400
get it wherever books are sold.
If anyone buys it who's listening, You

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00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:34.400
can also send me an Instagram message
or email and I'll mail you a little

342
00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:40.559
keychain. I've got these adorable vintage
style motel keychains that say Club Notch on

343
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.920
them, which I think is hilarious. But it's just a little way to

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00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:51.000
share your love for food and Jewish
joy in the world essentially, So anyone

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00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:52.960
who's listening can send me a message
and I'll mail Thempty. You just have

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00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:56.880
to show me that you bought a
book and send me your address and I'll

347
00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:02.039
pop one in the mail. And
you have gracious lines agree to let us

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00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:06.319
do a giveaway of one of your
cookbooks. So for anyone listening, hop

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00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:08.599
on to our newsletters subscribe to it, because that's what we're going to be

350
00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:14.319
doing the giveaway. And you can
do that by going on Alternative Foodnetwork dot

351
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:19.039
com click the newsletter subscribe button and
then you'll see a little giveaway that we're

352
00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:25.839
going to do Micah's cookbook. So
before we go, can you let us

353
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:30.079
in on what else? I mean
again, you're a new mother and you

354
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.160
have a new book. Are you
doing anything else that we should know about?

355
00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:36.839
Yes, I am. I am
going to be going on my book

356
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:41.039
tour with my baby and my husband
because this is when he takes his paternity

357
00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:45.119
leave for all of March, half
of April, and half of May.

358
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:52.160
So I will be all over talking
about vegetarianism and Jewish food and sharing delicious

359
00:27:52.279 --> 00:27:56.079
treats from notch. So if you're
in New York, Boston, Philly,

360
00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:03.119
Washington, DC, Seattle, Sortland, Minneapolis, Chicago, Austin, Dallas,

361
00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:07.759
Houston, LA, I think that's
it. In San Francisco, oh,

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00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:11.279
and Toronto, I will be in
your city, okay, Oh,

363
00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:18.160
and Providence. In Providence, that's
all. I'll be all over between March

364
00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:23.720
April and May. March I'm doing
East coast things, and then April I'm

365
00:28:23.720 --> 00:28:30.680
doing West coast, and then May
is Chicago, Minneapolis, so kind of

366
00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:33.640
middle. So I will be in
your city. So if you hear one

367
00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:37.279
of those cities. You can go
onto my website and I'll have a list

368
00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:38.920
of all the events I'm doing.
Or send me a message and ask where

369
00:28:38.920 --> 00:28:42.000
I am and I can send you
a link to the event. But come

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00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:47.319
come see me, come say hi. If you have a favorite vegetarian restaurant

371
00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:52.319
in your city, please let me
know because I will be hungry and eating

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00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:56.960
dinner at four thirty because I have
a baby, So please let me know.

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00:28:56.039 --> 00:29:00.599
So that's that's next on my horizon. You also, I don't know

374
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:07.920
if a current gig, but you
also took over hosting duties of a podcast,

375
00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:15.359
Yes so I season two. We
wrapped up recording in November. So

376
00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:19.960
I am also the host of the
TCSO Twin Cities Jewish food podcast called Not

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00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:25.039
Your Bubby's Nosh. So I interview
different people in the Jewish food space.

378
00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:27.799
I do some solo episodes. You
can learn more about how one gets a

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00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:34.400
cookbook deal and what got me and
inspired to make a Jewish cookbook, and

380
00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:41.200
different recordings with people in the food
space. So you can find that on

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00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:45.400
tc Folk podcast. But that's on
Spotify, Apple, wherever you listen to

382
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:48.519
your podcasts. If you want to
hear more of my voice that was all

383
00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:52.880
recorded pre baby, so I don't
know what kind of pregnancy brain was going

384
00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:55.640
on because I can't stand this sound
of my voice, so I don't listen

385
00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:57.920
to them after the fact, but
my husband tells me they're good. You

386
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:03.559
get used to it. Wow.
Well, you're very, very busy,

387
00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:07.680
that's for sure, and I really
appreciate you taking the time to come on

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00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:11.000
the show today. Thank you very
much. Thank you so much, Esther.

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00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:17.799
I hope you found this helpful.
Please share, rate, leave a

390
00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:22.680
review, and follow Plant Based Diet
on your favorite podcast listening platform. If

391
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:26.880
you're on social media, please follow
us at Alternative Food Network on Facebook and

392
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:32.319
Instagram. We also publish a monthly
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393
00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:37.799
videos, our latest podcasts, and
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394
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:42.400
going on our website at alternativefoodnetwork dot
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395
00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:47.759
But thanks again to our presenting sponsor, prol On until next time. Thanks

396
00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:55.119
for listening. All content provided or
opinions expressed in this podcast or for informational

397
00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:59.640
purposes only, and are not a
substitute for professional medical advice. Please seek

398
00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:02.880
advice from your doctor or other qualified
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