CONSUMED with Jaime Lewis

Alternatives to the modern cannabis gummy with Katherine Knowlton, Santa Barbara

Katherine Knowlton is a personal chef and food stylist who recently launched Happy Chance, a low-dose fruit bite made with whole foods, natural sugars, and clean cannabis. Based in Santa Barbara, Katherine has spent years developing what she calls a “healthy alternative to the modern day gummy.” We talked a lot about what she meant by that, because I had no idea how crazy the ingredient list was on conventional cannabis gummies. We also talked a lot about her career as a food stylist and how that led to her working in the field of cannabis. .

Website: eathappychance.com

Instagram: @eathappychance

Craft brewing with Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company CEO Jaime Dietenhofer

Jaime Dietenhofer is co-founder and CEO of Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, based out of Buellton, California. I’ve been drinking Fig Mountain since they opened in 2010, and I’ve always appreciated their laser-focused house style. That style has its roots in early discussions between Jaime and his father, Jim Dietenhofer—extending as far back as Jaime’s senior year of high school. The two of them, Jaime and Jim, started planning Fig Mountain long before it ever came to be, but after careers in urban planning and a stint as a reality TV star, Jaime finally pulled the trigger. Listen in as we talk about how Fig Mountain began, where it’s going, and how a fated keg of Sierra Nevada changed the way Jaime thought about beer forever.

Website: figmtnbrew.com

Instagram: @figmtnbrew

Feeding the hungry with the Food Bank of San Luis Obispo County: Garret Olson, Brenda, and Claire

I recently scrolled through Instagram and saw a post from the San Luis Obispo Food Bank featuring a young woman named Claire who had raised $5,000 for the organization since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. She is 12 years old and writes a weekly newsletter called RNC Gardening Tips and Tricks, which she prints and hand delivers for just a dollar per month, and all the proceeds go to the Food Bank. I reached out to the Food Bank to see if Claire and her mother Brenda would be interested in coming on the Consumed podcast, and not only did they both say yes, but Food Bank CEO Garret Olson said yes, too. Garret has worked with the Food Bank since May of 2020, coming on right in the heat of the pandemic. But as the former SLO City Fire Chief, he’s no stranger to heat. Listen as I talk with Claire, Brenda, and Garret about hunger in SLO County, how it can go unseen, how the Food Bank is addressing the need, and the drive of people like Claire to help others.

Website: slofoodbank.org

Instagram: @slofoodbank

Sample of Claire’s newsletter

Smash burgers and the beer industry with Jack Alger of Mutiny Burger, Paso Robles

Jack Alger is the owner and mind behind Mutiny Burger in Paso Robles. The roots of the little burger cafe begin with Jack’s work in the beer industry. As he sold beer across the U.S. for Lagunitas Brewing and others, he built up a knowledge bank of his favorite spots for burgers, burritos—whatever local specialties he resonated with. He even built an Instagram account called @burritohunters that shows his favorite burrito joints all around the country. When the pandemic hit and everything shut down, he couldn’t travel as he’d done for the 20 years prior, so he started a local place that brought his favorite burger recipes to him and the community. Hear us talk about smash burgers, tater tots, McDonald’s, and why he resonated so much with craft beer when it came onto his radar years ago.

Instagram: @mutinyburger

Website: mutinyburger.com

Burrito Hunters: @burritohunters

Cooking like a lover and freedom from recipes with Kristen Telling, Los Osos

Kristen Telling is a homesteader and cooking instructor living in the countryside between San Luis Obispo and Los Osos. Her website’s homepage reads: “Be inspired. Create boldly. Eat well. Cook Like A Lover: liberate yourself from recipes and cook with passion and creativity.” And that’s what Kristin is all about: simplicity, nourishment, something she calls “ancestral eating,” and compassion toward ourselves in the kitchen. She has developed educational content to help make that happen for cooks of all abilities, including a Braising Master Class video and a 42-page PDF guide on fresh ideas for ground beef — all without a recipe.

Website: cooklikealover.love

Instagram: @lovhomestead

Pushing the boundaries of the wine industry with Gibsey and Josh Beckett of Thibido Winery, Paso Robles

Gibsey and Josh Beckett own and operate Thibido Winery, based in Paso Robles, California. Josh Beckett is one of **those** Becketts—the Beckett family that established Peachy Canyon Winery, one of Paso’s OG producers. He grew up surrounded by wine and viticulture, along with his brother Jake. The two of them left Paso Robles for college, without any intention of returning. Not only would they return, but they would become integral to operations at Peachy Canyon and start their own label, Chronic Cellars, along with Josh’s wife Gibsey, whom he met in college at University of San Diego. Today, Gibsey and Josh have a label that’s all their own, Thibido Winery, an entirely online project that’s pushing wine industry boundaries and institutional thinking. Listen to Gibsey and Josh talk about Australia, their English degrees, and how their kids, aka the next generation, are pushing them to do the right thing. 

 

Website: thibidowinery.com

Instagram: @thibidowinery

Buying the farm with Ariela Gottschalk and Jeff Pienack of Halcyon Farms, Arroyo Grande

Ariela Gottschalk and Jeff Pienack own Halcyon Farms in Arroyo Grande, California, but you might know it better as Rutiz Farms. In early 2022, Ariela and Jeff bought the farm from longtime Central Coast farmer Jerry Rutiz, who presented the offer to them specifically. Ariela has lots of history managing the farming operation at Growing Grounds in Santa Maria, a farm that employs and benefits adults with mental health challenges, so it’s no great surprise that Jerry wanted her to take over. (By the way, please note that I get this wrong in the intro. I say Growing Grounds benefits “developmentally disabled clients,” which is inaccurate and totally my mistake.) We talked about stewardship of land and ocean, how Halcyon Farms continues the Rutiz legacy of community, and about how Ariela and Jeff met thanks to Frye’s electronics and beef jerky.

Website: rutizfarms.com

Instagram: @halcyon_farms

Grocery stores and food retail with Dr. Ricky Volpe of Cal Poly University, SLO

Dr. Ricky Volpe is a professor of agribusiness at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, where he teaches the economics of food retailing, industrial organization, and applied econometrics. In essence, Ricky teaches about grocery stores: how food is sourced, moved, valued, priced, organized, sold, and understood. It all started with a road trip he took with his girlfriend, now wife, to Walmart stores all over New England, and that’s a fascinating story. But if there’s one story that hooks you into my conversation with Ricky, it’s going to be the one about how cigarettes are responsible for the existence of Trader Joe’s.

Website: agb.calpoly.edu/directory/volpe

CONSUMED Live #1 out now

Recorded live August 31, 2022, CONSUMED Live featured host Jaime Lewis in conversation with brewers Matt Brynildson of Firestone-Walker Brewing and Max Montgomery of There Does Not Exist; and founder of Topa Topa Brewing Company Jack Dyer.

 

Available for purchase at letsgetconsumed.com.

”The Biggest Little Farm” film, Molly Chester, Apricot Lane Farms, Moorpark, CA

The 2019 documentary “The Biggest Little Farm" followed John and Molly Chester as they left their busy lives in Los Angeles to build a farm on dead land in Moorpark, California. John and Molly regenerated and reclaimed what was barren into a very alive, healthy, and abundant place. The story of Apricot Lane Farm, aka the Biggest Little Farm, won lots of awards and lots of hearts, including mine. John and Molly also have a follow-up film on Disney Plus called The Biggest Little Farm: The Return, and they’re currently filming a 12-part series, also for Disney Plus.  My kids and I traveled down to Moorpark to meet Molly Chester and talk about how she and John arrived at Apricot Lane Farm, and about the deep truths that emerge in regenerative agriculture, if we’re willing to see them.

Websites: apricotlanefarms.com; biggestlittlefarmmovie.com

Instagram: @apricotlanefarms