The Appropriate Omnivore with Aaron Zober

For the latest episode of The Appropriate Omnivore, Aaron welcomes on Big Picture Foods co-founder Sotiris Kitrilakis. Big Pictures produces on Aaron’s favorite things to eat — olives. These are olives different from what we typically see on the market. Most of the olives available in supermarkets aren’t fully fermented and have chemical products added into them. Sotiris tells the stories of how each of the different types of olives go through the traditional fermentation process. In addition to being truly fermented, the olives are also grown using regenerative agriculture. More recently Big Picture Foods has expanded into regenerative and fermented peppers and capers, two foods also long overdue. Plus Sotiris tells the listeners what other products Big Picture Foods has in development.

Aaron Zober welcomes registered dietician Laura Poe Mathes to his podcast. Laura explains how she sees benefited having learned both conventional nutrition and the functional nutrition with traditional foods which she practices now. A major principle of her current nutritional counseling is maintaining good gut health. She explains why she focuses a lot on the gut and how introducing foods you may not be consuming are a big part of healing it. Aaron and Laura discuss making nutrient dense foods yourself vs. buying them. They both agree we're seeing better options of real foods at supermarkets. Laura recommends eating all kinds of fermented foods, broths, organ meats, and digestive bitter. In the show, she delves into how all of these are key in your journey to a healthy gut.

The Appropriate Omnivore continues its coverage of access to real food during the COVID-19 pandemic, Aaron turns to the topic of meat shortages. One way meat shortages can be avoided is a bill proposed in Congress a while back called the PRIME Act. The PRIME Act allows farms access to custom slaughterhouses, which currently only people such as hunters and homesteaders can legally use. Aaron brings on Judith McGeary, an attorney, activist, and sustainable livestock farmer in Texas. Judith is also founder and director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, which supports common sense agricultural policies such as the PRIME Act. FARFA has been pushing for the PRIME Act since it was first introduced by Congress in 2015. Judith explains the problem with the current system of meat processing plants and how things would be changed by passing the PRIME Act. As a farmer herself, Judith has witnessed the long waits to get her livestock into the processing facilities. Aaron and Judith delve into the general safety concerns with meat processing. With overall concerns of safety during the pandemic, that's another reason to pass the PRIME Act. Aaron also takes some time to ask Judith her thoughts on the Farm System Reform Act, which would ban factory farms.

In the second Appropriate Omnivore podcast during the time of the pandemic, Aaron Zober brings on Mac Anderson, a co-founder of Cleveland Kitchen. Aaron is pleased to see a successful natural foods business from his hometown. Mac tells the story of how the business came to be as it was originally called Cleveland Kraut and how they made the transition to it becoming Cleveland Kitchen. Mac and the other co-founders felt after making krauts, they wanted to be the first to make truly fermented salad dressings. And the news of the name change and the salad dressing launches all happened as everybody was quarantining. Mac shares his experience of how he’s been able to promote Cleveland Kitchen over the Internet and social media as the food conventions have all been cancelled. He then gets into describing the precautions Cleveland Kraut is taking with their employees to stay safe. Aaron and Mac discuss how with health being the top priority of people right now, more people are becoming interested in natural foods and many to sauerkraut specifically. Aaron and Mac also share their thoughts on grocery and restaurant delivery. And they get into what the future of the food and restaurant industries could be like post pandemic.

For the first Appropriate Omnivore podcast since we've all been quarantined at home, functional medicine physician Dr. Deborah Gordon from Ashland, OR makes a return to the program. Aaron asks her all of the questions in building immunity to the coronavirus during the time of this pandemic from nutrition to supplements to exercise to vaccines. Dr. Deborah talks about the importance of animal protein to stay immune, but also emphasizes the importance of fruits and vegetables, especially vegetables. Aaron and Dr. Deborah agree that one of the most important types of vegetables are the cruciferous ones. They talk about how roasting them is both a way to consume the optimal nutrition out of them and make them taste better. Aaron shares how he didn't like eating them until discovering the wonders of roasting. Deborah also stresses not to consume too many sugars and avoid all if possible. Additionally, Dr. Deborah gets into how social distancing and sheltering at home have been changing her medical practice.

The Appropriate Omnivore welcomes actor, producer, and adventurer David Moscow to the program. David Moscow hosts the series From Scratch on the FYI Network. On each episode, he literally makes his food from scratch. David doesn’t just buy every ingredient to cook, but he travels all over the world to hunt, gather, dive, forage, and grow the ingredients and then cooks and prepares the meal. David discusses what inspired him to make the episode from what's happening in the world to going to back to how his grandfather got his meals. Some of the most interesting discoveries David had were learning about apples being used as a sweetener and how salt was once used to preserve food. He tells Aaron how hunting his own food has changed him. David and Aaron discuss if his show can change the way we look at food and get more people to make things from scratch. They delve into how this can be done for those who like living in the city. And David gives a little preview of topics he'd like to cover if there are more seasons of From Scratch.

Hannah Crum returns once again to The Appropriate Omnivore, being the first of any guest to be in the interview seat a total of five times. Hannah makes her triumphant return to promote World Kombucha Day, a holiday taking place on February 21 to celebrate the wonderful beverage of kombucha. Hannah gives an update as to how the world of kombucha has evolved since she first began. Hannah now has additional created the Kombucha Brewers International, a trade association for commercial kombucha brewers. Plus she holds an annual KombuchaKon for kombucha industry. Aaron and Hannah discuss how the market continues to expand with more kombucha options available at stores, kombucha taprooms, and even kombucha being served at sports stadiums. Hannah tells people how they can take part in World Kombucha Day. And Hannahs gets Aaron to do something no other guest has done before - sing. All of this and more in this new Appropriate Omnivore KombuchaKast.

As January is known as Hot Tea Month, The Appropriate Omnivore devotes its first podcast of 2020 to organic tea. Aaron invites Casino Apte, founder of META, to discuss all the health benefits of tea. Casino explains why tea, especially organic tea, is a constantly growing beverage in the natural foods market. He explains how META began, where it is now, and what we can expect from them in the future. META also mentions how he came from the sustainability end into the organic tea business. Because of this, META is not only sustainable with its sourcing of organic tea, but also by selling all of its tea in customized glass jars and recyclable tins in order to keep the oceans plastic free.

Pamela Schoenfeld, author of the book "The Collagen Diet", makes an appearance with Aaron Zober to discuss everything about the hot product on the natural foods market which is collagen and all of its health benefits. Pamela explains that people don't necessarily need to consume the collagen protein powders in order to get the needed amount of collagen in their diet and mentions some of the foods they can consume instead. But if they decide collagen powders are the way to go, Aaron asks Pamela about her thoughts on what to look for and some questions on specific collagen products currently available. Additionally, Pamela lets the listeners know more about her practice Women and Family Nutrition and The Weston A. Price Foundation where she serves on the board handling government relations.

Glen Burrows of the upcoming grass fed meat delivery service The Ethical Butcher joins Aaron Zober as they discuss their thoughts on the recent documentary The Game Changers, which athletes supposedly say they thrived on a vegan diet. Glen breaks down all of the major arguments in the documentary, proving how flawed each and every one of them is. Starting with discussing the trailer which says Roman Gladiators were vegetarians, he explains what the gladiators were really like. Glen points out that the documentary is careful not to say vegan, but plant based instead. But what does plant based really mean? Glen talks about how he researched all of the athletes in Game Changers and found out which ones of them are still on a vegan diet. He gets into the ridiculous studies in the film. And Glen and Aaron talk about how The Game Changers is wrong by saying all meat is bad for the planet and why we should be eating grass fed beef instead products like Beyond Meat or The Impossible Burger.

As the fall season is about to start and people will soon return to the normal schedules, many have trouble maintaining and living healthy lifestyles. That's where this month's guest Ellen Jaworski of Triple Peak Wellness comes in. Ellen is a holistic health coach who helps busy, successful women with losing weight. Ellen tells her personal story of going from working long hours in the entertainment industry and eating healthy to then transforming her life and become a health practitioner so that she can help other women in return. Ellen shares with Aaron some tips when first transitioning to real food and then how people can continue eating clean as a lifestyle. Ellen and Aaron also discuss the many different types of diets and lifestyles within the ancestral health community. Plus they talk about the merits of different labels and terms we give to healthy eating and if they're appropriate or not.

August is known as National Sandwich Month. As today's modern bread has so many problems, Aaron Zober interviews Monica Ford to talk about how einkorn sourdough bread offers both the traditional way of fermenting dough and uses the ancient grain einkorn which even some people with gluten sensitivity can handle. Einkorn sourdough bread is one of the many items on Monica's extensive menu for her home delivery service Real Food Devotee. Monica talks about her health story success of eliminating her allergies plus coming from a family in the restaurant business and how she's now paying it forward and offering everybody a chance to have real food delivered to their homes. Aaron gives Monica a chance to also bring up her other offerings which would go well with her einkorn bread to make the perfect sandwich. And if you're paleo or can't digest any wheat, she's got a gluten free bread made of almond and coconut flour Monica then closes the show out talking about her bone broths and how you can buy them in stores and even in a cafe where you can order it just like coffee.

San Diego will soon be having its first kombucha festival known as Boochfest. Boochfest will be open to the public allowing people to learn more about this wonderful probiotic beverage and to have the opportunity to taste various flavors from over 20 brands all based on the west coast. Aaron Zober interviews Boochfest creators Nick Angulo and Ivory Melone. Nick and Ivory tell their stories about how they discovered kombucha, leading to the birth of the upcoming festival. With Aaron, they let the listeners know some of the highlights to expect at Boochfest, such as the hard booch lounge with high alcoholic content kombucha. They also discuss why kombucha is so successful and what the future holds for one of everybody's favorite ferments.

Aaron Zober continues the All About the Beef series as he know talks about the rise of the sustainable butcher shop. He brings on the show, Jeff Perez and Ruben Perez, who opened a shop right in his Los Angeles neighborhood. Jeff and Ruben discuss how they got into starting up a butcher shop and how they go about sourcing sustainable meat. Aaron, Jeff, and Ruben all get into how we're changing as a society to eat meat that's healthier and better for the planet and what needs to be done to transition. Jeff and Ruben also bring up what else you can find at Chops, including sustainable seafood and even shelves and freezers filled with many organic, sustainable options.

The Appropriate Omnivore podcast is back after a long hiatus. Aaron returns doing the series a little bit different this time as he releases several episodes at once with a common theme throughout all of them. His first series is devoted to his favorite protein -- beef. Aaron kicks off the series with Meredith Bell, founder of Autonomy Farms. They talk about why it's important to know your farmer and where your food is coming from. Meredith talks about how she got into farming, all of the different animals she raises, as well as the crops she grows at Autonomy Farms.