Dawn breaks over Tampa's shrimp docks as Chef Thomas Parker begins a culinary odyssey that will fundamentally transform how he approaches his craft. This powerful journey, captured in Walk- In Talk Media's debut mini-documentary, takes us beyond the polished restaurant plates to the weathered hands that first touch our food.
At the docks, we meet shrimper, “Morris Gump”, a character straight from central casting whose stories of 45-day fishing expeditions yielding just $1,300 reveal the harsh realities behind commercial fishing. "Can you imagine what kind of turmoil you go through internally on a boat?" host Carl Fiadini asks, highlighting the mental and physical challenges these essential workers face daily. These moments of raw humanity give viewers rare insight into the true cost of seafood.
As Chef Parker moves from the docks to blueberry farms and local markets, he reconnects with what he calls "the lost art" of being a chef—personally selecting ingredients and building relationships with producers. His enthusiasm becomes palpable when foraging for Florida's freshest offerings, culminating in an innovative dish combining Key West pink shrimp, Florida blueberries, and sweet corn. The unexpected pairing showcases Parker's technical prowess through a blueberry harissa glaze and a remarkable poached shrimp and corn cake that demonstrates how deeply understanding ingredients elevates creativity.
What makes this documentary particularly compelling is its authentic, unscripted approach. Even when torrential rain threatened filming, the team embraced the elements—just as farmers and fishermen do daily. "You think the shrimpers or farmers stop because it's raining outside? Heck no," Parker remarks. This resilience permeates the film, adding character and emotiona
Introducing the SupraCut System - the automated solution that enhances safety, quality, and efficiency, cutting up to 120 perfect citrus wedges per minute, 6 times faster than manual. Patented tech delivers uniform slices, reducing waste and eliminating plastic, while the hygienic, contactless design lowers contamination and injuries, integrating seamlessly to transform your operations and improve profitability - get started at SupraCut.com and ask about risk-free trials.
The following brands and companies help us continue supporting the food industry - have a look below!
Walk-In Talk Podcast
Where kitchen culture meets raw storytelling.
Hosted by Carl Fiadini, founder of Walk-In Talk Media, this #1 Apple-ranked food podcast dives deep with chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, and frontline pros. From trade shows to short films, we bring the food world to life—one honest conversation at a time.
We’re the Official Podcast Partner for the NY, CA & FL Restaurant Shows, Pizza Tomorrow Summit, and U.S. Culinary Open.
Brand Partners:
RAK Porcelain USA
Metro Foodservice
SupraCut Systems
Aussie Select
Crab Island Seafood
Pass the Honey
The Burnt Chef Project
Citrus America
Walk-In Talk Media proudly serves as the North American media partner for The Burnt Chef Project, supporting mental health in hospitality.
📩 Partner or pitch a story: Carl@thewal
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You brought together Key West pink shrimp, florida
blueberries and sweet corn.
It's not a typical combination.
Where did you get theinspiration from for that?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Carl, if I'm being honest, my inspiration came from
you.
I don't know if you realize theinspiration you have putting us
chefs on this platform, thispodcast, everything you do for
us.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hello Food Fam.
This is the Walk Talk podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on site at IbisImages Studios, where food
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
(00:58):
Email us to learn more at infoat thewalkintalkcom.
All right, this week on the WalkTalk Podcast, we've got a good
one and it's personal Chef,thomas Parker, is in studio with
us fresh off of filming our newmini documentary.
We're going to be talking aboutbehind-the-scenes stories,
crazy moments on the set and howthe film and dish came together
(01:18):
.
A big thanks to the crew atRoyal Cup Coffee for bringing on
Walk Talk Media to turn up theenergy at their booth for the
2025 National Restaurant Show inChicago.
The daily video recaps on theshow were terrific.
I have to give a big shout outto Pooch, jordan and Glenn.
You guys absolutely crushed it.
It's actually an honor workingalongside such a solid team.
(01:42):
You cats are amazing.
Head over to at Walk Talk showon Instagram to catch all the
video recaps.
Folks, I don't think you'll bedisappointed, and if you are too
bad.
Plus, we've got chef Carlwriting from crab Island seafood
here cooking up to killerdishes.
He's going to stick around andchat about what he, what he made
, what he cooked up.
It's delish, chef Parker.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You were here for the cooking.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Man, let me tell you it was cool to be on the other
side, because normally I'm theone doing the cooking here.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
True story.
You know you came in dressedlike a movie star versus like
somebody from the kitchen.
Stop it, stop it.
Look at you.
You buttoned down to the chair.
The check at the hair.
But this is, this isn't 1977.
This isn't staying alive, you,john travolta.
What is this?
What's going on here?
How are the dishes?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
man, like the two dishes were fantastic.
I like I said I'm fortunate.
I feel fortunate that I got tobe on this side this time.
The Encrute you know my lovefor French cuisine.
That one was special to me.
But that dip, that dip was wild, like so good, chef Carl, your
(02:55):
Crab Island Seafood Dips.
Man, what a product.
Like from one chef to another,that stuff rocks.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Like it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
What did you make, carl?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
the chicken and crab on crout.
Uh, that was stuffed with aspinach and artichoke dip, with
shaved asparagus and roasted redpepper and a creamy chicken
demi-glace what's the differencebetween, uh, your dip and and
something from a grocery store?
Well, for starters.
(03:24):
Uh, most dips that you get atthe grocery store are not with
cream cheese, so bars are madewith cream cheese, which means
you can heat them up, you canmake a sauce out of it, you can
stuff it in things.
You make real cheese.
The ideas are endless.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Well you're, and forgive me, when I introduced
you I simply said Carl, becauseyou know I'm a Carl and that's
just how I get down.
But you're an executive chef,like you're nothing to play with
, like you're kind of a big dealin the kitchen, just saying
You're building these recipesfrom the perspective of a chef,
(03:59):
right For chefs to use in thekitchen.
Also, obviously, for you know,for people at home, residential,
whatnot?
Retail, what was in the otherdish?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
So that was a Hawaiian-style nacho with a mojo
pork and amigo salsa, servedwith a crab ragout that made
into a cheese sauce.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I watched Chef Thomas house that whole.
He ate, ate you, dude.
Let me tell you something, dude, I ate half of it.
Yeah, that was a.
I mean that's a shareableportion.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I ate half of it.
I I saw the mojo pork the themango on the kimchi on it.
Oh my god, it was good listenpeople.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
By the way, uh chefs, in the central florida uh
market you find Crab IslandSeafood at Peninsula Food
Service.
They're carried there andthat's anywhere from Orlando all
the way to Tampa down toSarasota and it's that whole
corridor.
You can DM me, call me, checkme out.
I'll connect.
(05:00):
Thomas, we did a thing lastweek.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
We did a pretty incredible thing last week.
Man, how excited were you, dude?
I thought I was excited goinginto it, but the experience and
the overwhelming passion thatjust naturally radiated from the
environment we put ourselves in, like that was just words can't
(05:27):
describe it.
I'm speechless.
Talk about what we did.
So there's a lost art to usbeing a chef.
You know the, the mentors thatthat taught us the, the chefs
that we grew up studying.
We grew up following they.
You know their day used tostart at 7, 8 o'clock in the
(05:50):
morning, getting up, going tothe markets picking out their
own ingredients for their owndishes.
And you know we did that.
We were down at the shrimpdocks at 6 am picking out our
own shrimp, getting to know theshrimp mongers.
6 am picking out our own shrimp, getting to know the, the
shrimp mongers.
Then morris gump morris gump, ashe says, not to be confused
(06:13):
with forest.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
That's morris man, if there was ever a character to
be, you know, kind of featured alittle bit in a documentary, is
that cat?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That he is who you want to run into, he's who you
want to know, he's who you wantto get the stories from Like
that is the true insight oftheir day to day their life and
the trials and tribulations thatthey go through, being out on a
boat for extended periods at atime.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Thomas, you foraged for ingredients across central
Florida.
You said it from the Tampadonks to the local farms.
In the piece in the documentaryyou actually mentioned.
You felt like Bourdain Talkabout that man.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
You know I I grew up watching Anthony Bourdain on TV.
I grew up reading about all thechefs that I've looked up to my
entire career.
Like I got to do that, I got togo to the shrimp docks, meet
the fishermen, pick out my owningredients, talk to the farmers
, hear their stories andstruggles of what they go
(07:22):
through.
You know we all try to relateto our farmers, every career.
You know when you're talking tosomebody about work, that's
just what you relate to is yourown experiences.
But in doing what we did likeyou really find out the
experiences and how there is norelation to every career that
(07:44):
that goes on and what it reallytakes to provide us chefs with
the quality ingredients that weput on our plates.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So what part of this odyssey that we went on that day
left the biggest impression onyou?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
It's hard to pick just one, but I'll go back to
Morris, cause Morris was like,like I said, he's the person you
want to meet because he gave ussuch an insight and just him
talking about how he was out for40 days on his last fisherman
journey and he came home withthirteen hundred bucks.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Thirty, forty five days, forty five days out there.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Over 40 days on on a boat, barely eaten, struggling
to survive, and you come homewith only 1300 bucks in your
pocket not only is it somethingwhere you have to catch to be
paid, but it's dangerous yeah,it's dangerous I mean they're
out in the gulf of mexico well,the gulf of america and they're
(08:44):
doing their thing and they'regone for more than a month.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I don't know if people can wrap their brain
around.
You know, like if you have totake a car ride from Tampa to
Orlando and it's like two hoursbecause of traffic and you hate
your life.
Imagine being out on a not thatbig of a vessel in the middle
of the Gulf for over a month.
Oh, my gosh, Knowing, seeingthat you're not bringing in the
right amount of shrimp, thatyou're going to make any money.
Can you imagine?
You know we talk about mentalhealth awareness and we talk
(09:13):
about all of these things thatare, you know, problematic,
right?
Imagine what kind of turmoilyou go through internally on a
boat.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, absolutely, and he was talking about, you know,
the 30, 40, 50,000 gallons offuel that they got to put in the
boat and then feeding the crewon top of it and, like you,
literally just you can't comeback home, you can't come back
to the dock until you've caughtenough shrimp fish.
Whatever it is to cover thatfuel cost, cover the crew and
(09:43):
still turn somewhat of a profitto pay the crew.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, I want to give a thanks to Superior Seafood for
allowing us to come in and dothat.
Ernie, who's the owner.
We arrived super early, beforehe even got there, and that's
where we ran into Morris, andwhat an amazing experience just
to be in Tampa.
Dark sun's not up yet, theboats that are still there, like
(10:11):
it's just.
It's an eerie, but beautifultime and experience.
You brought together Key Westpink shrimp, florida blueberries
and sweet corn.
That's not a typicalcombination.
Where did you get theinspiration from for that?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Carl, if I'm being honest, my inspiration came from
you.
I don't know if you realize theinspiration you have putting us
chefs on this platform, thispodcast, everything you do for
us.
We're so grateful for it.
And when you came to me andsaid let me know about your
relationship with the shrimpdock and the blueberry farm and
(10:52):
the corn, all the local farmer'smarkets and what they offer, I
said let's create a dish fromthis.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I thank you for that.
You know it's not often whereI'm hearing anything of the sort
.
You know people are nice onlineand you know I'll get a message
every now and again that'll saysomething about hey, what you
guys are doing it's great forthe industry and you know
they'll give us an attaboy.
But I appreciate you're sitting.
You know you're sitting a footand a half away from me.
I appreciate that.
You said that You're looking atme in the face and you're
(11:22):
telling me that.
I sincerely appreciate that.
You didn't just source local,though.
You were out there picking theingredients yourself.
We got to go to the origin ofthe ingredient here in Florida
where we live.
There might be a time in thefuture where we're going to be
(11:46):
on the road and we get toexperience this in other states,
but this one was special.
I said it was personal becausewe live here and what we did was
focus on here, and I thinkthat's part of the beauty of how
this whole film kind of cametogether.
It's a short documentary, it'sa mini doc, so it's just shy of
eight minutes, but it's eightminutes of passion.
(12:08):
How did that hands-onexperience change the way you
see your own cooking?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
You said it best.
You said it's passion.
You know it's funny.
There's one point in thedocumentary and I was getting
into the commentary and thequestions that when we were
interviewing there was one pointwhere, like it almost brought
me to tears.
That's how passionate I gotspeaking about it.
But yeah, it all comes down tothe passion for whatever it is
(12:36):
you're cooking.
You know we we put togethershrimp and blueberries and corn.
That's not a normal flavorcombination but I feel that as a
chef to you should be able toelevate and pair almost any
ingredient together and findthat way to create that balanced
dish.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
But it wasn't just that you threw blueberries on a
plate or corn on the cob.
You did some unique techniques.
Go ahead and explain what youdid.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah.
So a handful of years ago,fruit-infused barbecue sauces
really became a thing.
So I thought, well, let'screate a blueberry harissa glaze
for the shrimp.
Well, let's fire the charcoalgrill up, let's really get some
char on that.
Let's hit it with thatbeautiful glaze with the fruit
infusion into it, and thatthat'll bring such a nice
(13:30):
sweetness balance to somethingthat is typically very spicy in
harissa.
And and then with the corn, the.
The corn is near and dear to myheart.
I'm a midwest boy.
I grew up in ohio, I I livedaround corn farms the first 30
years of my life.
Um, so florida sweet corn wasthe very first thing that was
(13:53):
ever available to us in ohio.
We had that for the first twomonths of corn season before
Ohio sweet corn came into playbecause clearly different
climates Ohio and Florida.
So that's what we had to workwith and I couldn't wait for the
fresh corn sale of the spring.
I wanted to utilize the corn inmultiple different variations.
I wanted to utilize the corn inmultiple different variations.
(14:14):
You know, when I create a dish,I typically try to pick three,
four or five elements to it anduse those ingredients in
different ways.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
For me the whole dish was great, but the poached
shrimp and corn cake was astandout.
Where did you come up?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
with the idea for that.
So right now in my restaurantmy best selling appetizer is my
crab cakes and I thought aboutdoing a shrimp cake.
But then I thought, how can youchange that?
You know, how can you do itdifferent than just a normal
shrimp cake?
So I created the filling, whichwe poached that beautiful pink
(14:59):
shrimp, we grilled some of thecorn and added it to it, mixed
it with some, some infusedmayonnaise and some cream cheese
, and then I basically frozethat and then cut it out of into
with a mold, and then webreaded it traditionally, just
like you would bread a chickenparm, you know flour, egg,
breadcrumb, and then lightlyfried it.
(15:22):
So as you cut into it it wassuper light and airy and runny
and just added a whole notherelement to the dish for the
audience.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Both of these uh chefs here today are from Ohio
and you know they have a uniqueexperience on food.
O-h-i-o Right, I think wherethey're lacking is in college
football, and you know, John andI, being that we're from Miami,
(15:53):
you know we're just, it's allabout the you, and I just wanted
to make it clear that Miami isinherently better, along with
the corn.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
So to move forward, yeah, I don't think so, but I
order.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
But you know, it's true.
All right, from Kiel Farms tothe Crossroads Market, we hit
several spots.
For everyone listening, itisn't that I mean.
This was arranged, this was puttogether, it was produced, but
it wasn't done in a way where itwas scripted, where it was
(16:32):
scripted.
Most of the things that we doat Walk Talk Media aren't
scripted.
There's loose outlines and weutilize the experiences, the
passions and the knowledge baseof the people that were around
that we have onto the programs,the various programs.
So when I explain to ChefThomas, hey, we're going to end
(16:55):
up going to a blueberry farm, acorn farm, when we're going to
the docks and whatnot, it's upto him to talk, it's up to him
to question, it's up to him toshare the particular emotions
that he's experiencing at eachlocation.
Thomas, how did you staygrounded in that?
(17:17):
How did you embrace the factthat you were in these spots
doing something very different,in that not every chef gets to
do a documentary?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, super grateful.
And it's funny you say thatbecause I was just with my
in-laws last weekend and myfather-in-law, who personally
called me to tell me how proudhe was of me, and that was a
great feeling.
He looked at me and he asked mehe's like.
He's like, were you readingfrom a script, like, what?
(17:48):
Like, how did you, how did youdo that?
How did you know what to say?
And I told him and the answersimply just comes down to this
it is the passion, like when,when you have that natural
passion that us chefs have, likeit just radiates from you, it
just comes through naturally.
There's there's no tryingeffort that you have to put into
(18:09):
it.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
This was walk and talk media's first uh and talk
media's first mini documentary,short documentary.
Thomas, you were the center ofit, being that it was largely
impromptu in how you wereexplaining or communicating with
everyone.
How did you do that?
(18:31):
How does it feel to have acamera crew following you around
, drones and all of this stuff,and still being able to tap into
this passion that you'retalking about?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I don't know if there's a specific feeling, but
like it was just natural it wasso cool because it was just I
just naturally got to be myself.
Cool because it was just I justnaturally got to be myself.
You know, I've done, I've donethe, the local news multiple
times.
I've I've we've done the theshooting here in the studio and
like that's.
It's a completely differentfeel from that, to what we did
(19:07):
for the documentary, because wewere just we were out on the
farm, we hey, go, go, go, findyourself some corn man arm.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
We hey, go, go, go, find yourself some corn man.
It's the truth.
So, by the way, you know, um, Idon't know a week before.
I never look at the weatherthat far in advance for anything
.
And, uh, you know, chef thomasgives me a call one day, says do
you know it's supposed to rainon, uh, on the day for filming.
I'm like that, don't worryabout.
It's like a week away, man, andnothing's gonna, it's gonna be
fine, sure enough, it's likehalf torrential downpours the
(19:46):
throughout the day.
And let me tell you somethingat first I was nervous about
that because I figured, oh, manthat's literally raining on our
parade.
You know it added so muchcharacter.
You know, john, when John sawit he goes.
You know you were worried aboutthe weather.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
He goes, dude that made it made the experience.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
It made the film.
It gave it so much personalityand character.
Yeah, you think the shrimpersor the farmers stop because it
it so much personality andcharacter.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, you think the the shrimpers or the farmers
stop because it's rainingoutside.
Heck, no.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Will did a fantastic job.
Will was awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Will was such a professional, so cool he this
was his first.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
He's done film.
He's done all sorts of stuff.
He's super good, but this washis first he's done film.
He's done all sorts of stuff.
He's super good, but this washis first actual documentary.
This was all of ours firstdocumentary and I feel like it
came out splendidly.
I don't know a better way to sayit.
I actually submitted it to abunch of film festivals and
(20:57):
whatnot.
A lot of them domestic, somehere in Florida and some were,
you know, out of the country.
So we'll see what happens withthat.
But I feel like it was reallywell done and I feel like you
really touched on the essence ofwhat it is to be in the food
business, the food industry.
You know, listen, uh, peoplefrom banking or people from
(21:22):
other sectors in differentlevels of their careers or
whatever, they look at foodservice or they look at the
people in the business and andmaybe they look down.
I don't know, um, but at theend of the day, executive chefs
make a very healthy living.
Most of the people in theindustry do.
Well, there's a lot to talkabout in terms of dollars, money
(21:46):
, percentages, things of thatnature.
That's a whole, nother openconversation.
But if you do things the rightway and you're in the right
situations.
You do very well.
With that said man, you bridgedthe gap between entertainment,
passion and the food industry.
You put it all together.
It's like a trifecta.
So what?
(22:07):
I think I want to do more ofthese.
I am inclined now, afterpulling one off, I want to do
these as often as we can.
Obviously, you know we'relooking for sponsors and
partners to be involved in thesethings, but I think we can do
so much to open the eyes of theaverage person to the plight, to
(22:34):
the struggles of the people whoprepare our food.
These people feed us with graceand we don't even know.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, we got in front of three ingredients.
Yes, how many ingredients areout there?
How many ingredients are localthat we can get in front of?
And it's such an experience.
It's an experience talking tothe farmer, the fishermen, the
cattle herder, I mean like thepossibilities are endless and
it's only going to create moreof an experience for us chefs to
(23:05):
get it out to the audience andreally show them this.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
This is what it's all about yeah, I've always been a
big, big fan to uh, to knowwhere your food comes from.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
There's a whole different, different world where
you know it comes from, say,ocean to table big line always
been a big fan of that whenyou're talking about fishermen,
when you're talking about amicro greens farmer, when you're
talking about fishermen, whenyou're talking about a micro
greens farmer, when you'retalking about, you know, tomato
farmers, growers, citrus, eachone of them, yeah, you're
(23:41):
dealing with elements, you'redealing with water, you're
dealing with sunlight.
You're dealing, you know, youknow pests.
You're dealing with all thesame stuff, but they're all
individually very different fromeach other.
You, you talk to them.
You know, like we, our friendMarvin, he's a micro greens
farmer.
He's got it rough, like anybodyelse does, but his, his life,
(24:03):
what he does on a daily basis,is different than somebody who
raises cattle.
It's just different.
But it's hard, it's not an easylife and, yes, you can make
money and yes, you know there's,it's, it's a good life.
I think it's a wholesome life.
I think it's something where weshould.
All, you know, in my perfectworld, everyone would have
(24:24):
enough, enough land to supporttheir own food, you know, but
obviously we don't live in that.
You know, that's not somethingthat's I don't even think
possible.
But here we are, we, and youknow, chef Carl, we have the
opportunity to tell the storiesand we have an audience base,
thankfully, who listens.
(24:45):
It's amazing.
It's really amazing where weare right now.
I can't believe that I can sayI was an executive producer of a
documentary.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I, you know, I can't believe I could say I was in a
documentary at all.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I knew I was going to say that, but I didn't want to
say it for you.
Like, that's my point, are youkidding me?
That's like somebody writes abook and they become an author,
right?
Well, you make a short film,you know, and put it together
and whatnot, and now you're theexecutive.
Anyway, I'm out of my mind withthe fact that we pulled this
(25:25):
off.
And then you know, obviously so, and just to everybody
understands, this was a 12 hourday and it started at dark and
it ended at dark, basically, andwe came back to Ibis Images
(25:50):
Studios where Chef Thomasactually finished the dish.
We cooked everything.
Well, thomas cooked everythinghere and, of course, john was
here, um, ready to capture thedish on film, you know, in terms
of photography, and it's agorgeous dish with, of course,
gorgeous photography.
I hate, you know, stroking youover there, but he does such a
good job, everybody did such adamn good job.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
More to come, definitely, definitely more to
come.
If you had to build a sequeldish, all Florida ingredients
again, what's your next move?
Off the top of my head, I don'tknow the exact dish, but like
we got to do something withcitrus Florida citrus, using
acid to balance a dish Just that, that overwhelming pop of lemon
(26:41):
juice or lime juice, or evenorange juice.
It really I think that speaksto Florida cuisine quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I see a chef, Carl he's.
He's balancing his head up anddown over there.
You agree?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I absolutely agree.
Citrus gives you a wholedifferent level of flavor, of
freshness, a cleanness to it.
Even in my dips I use a lot ofcitrus.
It helps to balance everythingout very well.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
The thing about Florida.
It's a funny place.
Half of the year, a little lessthan half of the year, we have
all sorts of produce here.
The soil content in Florida isnot the soil content of, say,
california, it's just different.
A lot of the leafy veg that'sgrown here it's a little on the
(27:34):
bitter side.
You have to do more to it fromthe chef's perspective to really
turn up the flavors and make itsomething where you'd want to
order it.
It's part of the challenge, butit's part of the beauty,
because if you make it rightit's damn good.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Tomatoes, lemons, limes, snapper we have beautiful
local snapper.
I mean we can create a greatdish from those ingredients.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
As we look forward to more documentaries.
Obviously there's going to bemore chefs, more people who want
to get involved in this.
I think that maybe you could bea good point person to help on
menu development for thesedocumentaries, Something that we
can actually build out, frameout.
(28:19):
We can do a year's worth ofthis and really do some good, I
think, for our industry,definitely.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
You know my creative mind is stupid at times.
Our industry, definitely.
Um, you know my creative mindstupid at times, like I'll pair
the oddest ingredients togetherand it just comes out absolutely
phenomenal flavor bomb thatyou're just not used to.
Hey, uh, chef, carl, isn't,isn't your?
Uh, your crab floated blue crabyes, it is we actually.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
We love to have local products in our stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, because we're.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Florida born and want to keep it that way.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You're using some fresh mahi too, some local fresh
mahi.
Absolutely, that's awesome.
Carl, your prime candidate fora documentary is sitting right
here.
He's got a local company.
He's using local ingredients.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
There it is.
Well, I think we can definitelydo some crossover work with
that.
I mean, if you, if you, ifyou're interested, absolutely
okay, yeah, I, I do.
I want to talk about this moreand this is something, john, uh,
you know we're going to do thisand I want to do it in a big
way.
Nobody, there is nobody outthere doing what we're doing and
(29:34):
I don't say that, as you know,back slapping myself, or you
know, I say that humbly.
I don't see anybody doing thecontent, the type of content and
the quality of content and thedepth, with the passion that
we're doing.
I just don't see it.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
And we're looking for it, especially us chefs, when
we have downtime, when we'relooking for inspiration.
We live on social media.
We're looking for the type ofcontent that we're doing, and
it's few and far between.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
You know who else lives on the Gulf?
That would make for a terrificshow.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Pooch, the one in Louisiana, uh uh-huh oh yeah,
yeah, I'm still trying to comeup with a louisiana crap dip are
you really?
Oh, yeah, tell me more aboutthat well, so far the thought is
um, like the holy trinity, youknow, peppers, onion celery, put
that in there.
Uh, maybe some andouille or uh,some tasso ham kind of thing,
(30:34):
and you know, maybe some like Idon't want to use old bay but
crab boiled type flavoringthere's a company called that's
sauce and they're they're out oflouisiana amazing product.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I'm going to connect you guys and I think that the
friendship's going to go forever.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
That's my opinion, awesome by the way, pooch, uh,
great job at the nra man.
That blooper reel was funny ascould be did you see that?
Speaker 1 (30:59):
yeah, you know, uh, at first I'm looking at it and
I'm thinking to myself oh man,you know, they just showed the
uh, the guts of uh.
You know the behind the scenesthere, because that's what I do
too.
Half of the time when I have toredo my stuff, I'm usually with
the bloopers and the things andall that, and it's funny to see
(31:20):
somebody else.
I thought it was hilarious.
Yeah, you're right, man, youdid a terrific job, brother, and
I'll say it again to Jordan andGlenn out there, you guys did a
terrific job over at the uhroyal cup coffee booth and they
did probably like 20 interviewsa day.
Wow.
By the way, in august we'regoing to be at the california
(31:44):
restaurant show and that isgoing to be amazing.
We are the official podcast forthe california restaurant show,
so we is going to be amazing.
We are the official podcast forthe California Restaurant Show,
so we're going to be part ofthe show.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
It's amazing, and you know restaurant events LLC.
These cats are great people.
They're down to earth, they'reas human as human could be, and
I feel like this is another onethat's going to relationship's
going to go on for a long time.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That's exciting, Chef Carl what's your socials?
Speaker 1 (32:15):
How do people find you?
Speaker 3 (32:17):
on all social media.
Cry by crab Island seafood.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Excellent, follow this guy, please.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Thomas chef underscore Thomas Parker.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
John, do you have a?
Do you have face?
Like, what do you have?
Facebook or something?
Myspace what do you have?
Facebook and Instagram?
How did we find you, john, atIbis Images?
Ibis Images Catalogs, menus,food photography.
If you're not with JohnHernandez at Ibis Images, you're
(32:49):
nowhere.
All right, guys.
I love you all.
I appreciate you coming outtoday.
Fan-tastic show.
More documentaries to come.
We are out, thank you.
You brought together Key West pink shrimp, florida
blueberries and sweet corn.
It's not a typical combination.
Where did you get theinspiration from for that?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Carl, if I'm being honest, my inspiration came from
you.
I don't know if you realize theinspiration you have putting us
chefs on this platform, thispodcast, everything you do for
us.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hello Food Fam.
This is the Walk Talk podcast,where you will find the perfect
blend of food fun and cookingknowledge.
I'm your host, carl Fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country and the
official podcast for the NewYork, california and Florida
restaurant shows, the PizzaTomorrow Summit and the US
Culinary Open at NAFM.
We're recording on site at IbisImages Studios, where food
photography comes alive and Iget to eat it.
(00:58):
Email us to learn more at infoat thewalkintalkcom.
All right, this week on the WalkTalk Podcast, we've got a good
one and it's personal Chef,thomas Parker, is in studio with
us fresh off of filming our newmini documentary.
We're going to be talking aboutbehind-the-scenes stories,
crazy moments on the set and howthe film and dish came together
(01:18):
.
A big thanks to the crew atRoyal Cup Coffee for bringing on
Walk Talk Media to turn up theenergy at their booth for the
2025 National Restaurant Show inChicago.
The daily video recaps on theshow were terrific.
I have to give a big shout outto Pooch, jordan and Glenn.
You guys absolutely crushed it.
It's actually an honor workingalongside such a solid team.
(01:42):
You cats are amazing.
Head over to at Walk Talk showon Instagram to catch all the
video recaps.
Folks, I don't think you'll bedisappointed, and if you are too
bad.
Plus, we've got chef Carlwriting from crab Island seafood
here cooking up to killerdishes.
He's going to stick around andchat about what he, what he made
, what he cooked up.
It's delish, chef Parker.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You were here for the cooking.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Man, let me tell you it was cool to be on the other
side, because normally I'm theone doing the cooking here.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
True story.
You know you came in dressedlike a movie star versus like
somebody from the kitchen.
Stop it, stop it.
Look at you.
You buttoned down to the chair.
The check at the hair.
But this is, this isn't 1977.
This isn't staying alive, you,john travolta.
What is this?
What's going on here?
How are the dishes?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
man, like the two dishes were fantastic.
I like I said I'm fortunate.
I feel fortunate that I got tobe on this side this time.
The Encrute you know my lovefor French cuisine.
That one was special to me.
But that dip, that dip was wild, like so good, chef Carl, your
(02:55):
Crab Island Seafood Dips.
Man, what a product.
Like from one chef to another,that stuff rocks.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Like it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
What did you make, carl?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
the chicken and crab on crout.
Uh, that was stuffed with aspinach and artichoke dip, with
shaved asparagus and roasted redpepper and a creamy chicken
demi-glace what's the differencebetween, uh, your dip and and
something from a grocery store?
Well, for starters.
(03:24):
Uh, most dips that you get atthe grocery store are not with
cream cheese, so bars are madewith cream cheese, which means
you can heat them up, you canmake a sauce out of it, you can
stuff it in things.
You make real cheese.
The ideas are endless.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Well you're, and forgive me, when I introduced
you I simply said Carl, becauseyou know I'm a Carl and that's
just how I get down.
But you're an executive chef,like you're nothing to play with
, like you're kind of a big dealin the kitchen, just saying
You're building these recipesfrom the perspective of a chef,
(03:59):
right For chefs to use in thekitchen.
Also, obviously, for you know,for people at home, residential,
whatnot?
Retail, what was in the otherdish?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
So that was a Hawaiian-style nacho with a mojo
pork and amigo salsa, servedwith a crab ragout that made
into a cheese sauce.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I watched Chef Thomas house that whole.
He ate, ate you, dude.
Let me tell you something, dude, I ate half of it.
Yeah, that was a.
I mean that's a shareableportion.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I ate half of it.
I I saw the mojo pork the themango on the kimchi on it.
Oh my god, it was good listenpeople.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
By the way, uh chefs, in the central florida uh
market you find Crab IslandSeafood at Peninsula Food
Service.
They're carried there andthat's anywhere from Orlando all
the way to Tampa down toSarasota and it's that whole
corridor.
You can DM me, call me, checkme out.
I'll connect.
(05:00):
Thomas, we did a thing lastweek.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
We did a pretty incredible thing last week.
Man, how excited were you, dude?
I thought I was excited goinginto it, but the experience and
the overwhelming passion thatjust naturally radiated from the
environment we put ourselves in, like that was just words can't
(05:27):
describe it.
I'm speechless.
Talk about what we did.
So there's a lost art to usbeing a chef.
You know the, the mentors thatthat taught us the, the chefs
that we grew up studying.
We grew up following they.
You know their day used tostart at 7, 8 o'clock in the
(05:50):
morning, getting up, going tothe markets picking out their
own ingredients for their owndishes.
And you know we did that.
We were down at the shrimpdocks at 6 am picking out our
own shrimp, getting to know theshrimp mongers.
6 am picking out our own shrimp, getting to know the, the
shrimp mongers.
Then morris gump morris gump, ashe says, not to be confused
(06:13):
with forest.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
That's morris man, if there was ever a character to
be, you know, kind of featured alittle bit in a documentary, is
that cat?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That he is who you want to run into, he's who you
want to know, he's who you wantto get the stories from Like
that is the true insight oftheir day to day their life and
the trials and tribulations thatthey go through, being out on a
boat for extended periods at atime.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Thomas, you foraged for ingredients across central
Florida.
You said it from the Tampadonks to the local farms.
In the piece in the documentaryyou actually mentioned.
You felt like Bourdain Talkabout that man.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
You know I I grew up watching Anthony Bourdain on TV.
I grew up reading about all thechefs that I've looked up to my
entire career.
Like I got to do that, I got togo to the shrimp docks, meet
the fishermen, pick out my owningredients, talk to the farmers
, hear their stories andstruggles of what they go
(07:22):
through.
You know we all try to relateto our farmers, every career.
You know when you're talking tosomebody about work, that's
just what you relate to is yourown experiences.
But in doing what we did likeyou really find out the
experiences and how there is norelation to every career that
(07:44):
that goes on and what it reallytakes to provide us chefs with
the quality ingredients that weput on our plates.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So what part of this odyssey that we went on that day
left the biggest impression onyou?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
It's hard to pick just one, but I'll go back to
Morris, cause Morris was like,like I said, he's the person you
want to meet because he gave ussuch an insight and just him
talking about how he was out for40 days on his last fisherman
journey and he came home withthirteen hundred bucks.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Thirty, forty five days, forty five days out there.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Over 40 days on on a boat, barely eaten, struggling
to survive, and you come homewith only 1300 bucks in your
pocket not only is it somethingwhere you have to catch to be
paid, but it's dangerous yeah,it's dangerous I mean they're
out in the gulf of mexico well,the gulf of america and they're
(08:44):
doing their thing and they'regone for more than a month.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I don't know if people can wrap their brain
around.
You know, like if you have totake a car ride from Tampa to
Orlando and it's like two hoursbecause of traffic and you hate
your life.
Imagine being out on a not thatbig of a vessel in the middle
of the Gulf for over a month.
Oh, my gosh, Knowing, seeingthat you're not bringing in the
right amount of shrimp, thatyou're going to make any money.
Can you imagine?
You know we talk about mentalhealth awareness and we talk
(09:13):
about all of these things thatare, you know, problematic,
right?
Imagine what kind of turmoilyou go through internally on a
boat.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, absolutely, and he was talking about, you know,
the 30, 40, 50,000 gallons offuel that they got to put in the
boat and then feeding the crewon top of it and, like you,
literally just you can't comeback home, you can't come back
to the dock until you've caughtenough shrimp fish.
Whatever it is to cover thatfuel cost, cover the crew and
(09:43):
still turn somewhat of a profitto pay the crew.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, I want to give a thanks to Superior Seafood for
allowing us to come in and dothat.
Ernie, who's the owner.
We arrived super early, beforehe even got there, and that's
where we ran into Morris, andwhat an amazing experience just
to be in Tampa.
Dark sun's not up yet, theboats that are still there, like
(10:11):
it's just.
It's an eerie, but beautifultime and experience.
You brought together Key Westpink shrimp, florida blueberries
and sweet corn.
That's not a typicalcombination.
Where did you get theinspiration from for that?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Carl, if I'm being honest, my inspiration came from
you.
I don't know if you realize theinspiration you have putting us
chefs on this platform, thispodcast, everything you do for
us.
We're so grateful for it.
And when you came to me andsaid let me know about your
relationship with the shrimpdock and the blueberry farm and
(10:52):
the corn, all the local farmer'smarkets and what they offer, I
said let's create a dish fromthis.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I thank you for that.
You know it's not often whereI'm hearing anything of the sort
.
You know people are nice onlineand you know I'll get a message
every now and again that'll saysomething about hey, what you
guys are doing it's great forthe industry and you know
they'll give us an attaboy.
But I appreciate you're sitting.
You know you're sitting a footand a half away from me.
I appreciate that.
You said that You're looking atme in the face and you're
(11:22):
telling me that.
I sincerely appreciate that.
You didn't just source local,though.
You were out there picking theingredients yourself.
We got to go to the origin ofthe ingredient here in Florida
where we live.
There might be a time in thefuture where we're going to be
(11:46):
on the road and we get toexperience this in other states,
but this one was special.
I said it was personal becausewe live here and what we did was
focus on here, and I thinkthat's part of the beauty of how
this whole film kind of cametogether.
It's a short documentary, it'sa mini doc, so it's just shy of
eight minutes, but it's eightminutes of passion.
(12:08):
How did that hands-onexperience change the way you
see your own cooking?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
You said it best.
You said it's passion.
You know it's funny.
There's one point in thedocumentary and I was getting
into the commentary and thequestions that when we were
interviewing there was one pointwhere, like it almost brought
me to tears.
That's how passionate I gotspeaking about it.
But yeah, it all comes down tothe passion for whatever it is
(12:36):
you're cooking.
You know we we put togethershrimp and blueberries and corn.
That's not a normal flavorcombination but I feel that as a
chef to you should be able toelevate and pair almost any
ingredient together and findthat way to create that balanced
dish.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
But it wasn't just that you threw blueberries on a
plate or corn on the cob.
You did some unique techniques.
Go ahead and explain what youdid.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah.
So a handful of years ago,fruit-infused barbecue sauces
really became a thing.
So I thought, well, let'screate a blueberry harissa glaze
for the shrimp.
Well, let's fire the charcoalgrill up, let's really get some
char on that.
Let's hit it with thatbeautiful glaze with the fruit
infusion into it, and thatthat'll bring such a nice
(13:30):
sweetness balance to somethingthat is typically very spicy in
harissa.
And and then with the corn, the.
The corn is near and dear to myheart.
I'm a midwest boy.
I grew up in ohio, I I livedaround corn farms the first 30
years of my life.
Um, so florida sweet corn wasthe very first thing that was
(13:53):
ever available to us in ohio.
We had that for the first twomonths of corn season before
Ohio sweet corn came into playbecause clearly different
climates Ohio and Florida.
So that's what we had to workwith and I couldn't wait for the
fresh corn sale of the spring.
I wanted to utilize the corn inmultiple different variations.
I wanted to utilize the corn inmultiple different variations.
(14:14):
You know, when I create a dish,I typically try to pick three,
four or five elements to it anduse those ingredients in
different ways.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
For me the whole dish was great, but the poached
shrimp and corn cake was astandout.
Where did you come up?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
with the idea for that.
So right now in my restaurantmy best selling appetizer is my
crab cakes and I thought aboutdoing a shrimp cake.
But then I thought, how can youchange that?
You know, how can you do itdifferent than just a normal
shrimp cake?
So I created the filling, whichwe poached that beautiful pink
(14:59):
shrimp, we grilled some of thecorn and added it to it, mixed
it with some, some infusedmayonnaise and some cream cheese
, and then I basically frozethat and then cut it out of into
with a mold, and then webreaded it traditionally, just
like you would bread a chickenparm, you know flour, egg,
breadcrumb, and then lightlyfried it.
(15:22):
So as you cut into it it wassuper light and airy and runny
and just added a whole notherelement to the dish for the
audience.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Both of these uh chefs here today are from Ohio
and you know they have a uniqueexperience on food.
O-h-i-o Right, I think wherethey're lacking is in college
football, and you know, John andI, being that we're from Miami,
(15:53):
you know we're just, it's allabout the you, and I just wanted
to make it clear that Miami isinherently better, along with
the corn.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
So to move forward, yeah, I don't think so, but I
order.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
But you know, it's true.
All right, from Kiel Farms tothe Crossroads Market, we hit
several spots.
For everyone listening, itisn't that I mean.
This was arranged, this was puttogether, it was produced, but
it wasn't done in a way where itwas scripted, where it was
(16:32):
scripted.
Most of the things that we doat Walk Talk Media aren't
scripted.
There's loose outlines and weutilize the experiences, the
passions and the knowledge baseof the people that were around
that we have onto the programs,the various programs.
So when I explain to ChefThomas, hey, we're going to end
(16:55):
up going to a blueberry farm, acorn farm, when we're going to
the docks and whatnot, it's upto him to talk, it's up to him
to question, it's up to him toshare the particular emotions
that he's experiencing at eachlocation.
Thomas, how did you staygrounded in that?
(17:17):
How did you embrace the factthat you were in these spots
doing something very different,in that not every chef gets to
do a documentary?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, super grateful.
And it's funny you say thatbecause I was just with my
in-laws last weekend and myfather-in-law, who personally
called me to tell me how proudhe was of me, and that was a
great feeling.
He looked at me and he asked mehe's like.
He's like, were you readingfrom a script, like, what?
(17:48):
Like, how did you, how did youdo that?
How did you know what to say?
And I told him and the answersimply just comes down to this
it is the passion, like when,when you have that natural
passion that us chefs have, likeit just radiates from you, it
just comes through naturally.
There's there's no tryingeffort that you have to put into
(18:09):
it.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
This was walk and talk media's first uh and talk
media's first mini documentary,short documentary.
Thomas, you were the center ofit, being that it was largely
impromptu in how you wereexplaining or communicating with
everyone.
How did you do that?
(18:31):
How does it feel to have acamera crew following you around
, drones and all of this stuff,and still being able to tap into
this passion that you'retalking about?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I don't know if there's a specific feeling, but
like it was just natural it wasso cool because it was just I
just naturally got to be myself.
Cool because it was just I justnaturally got to be myself.
You know, I've done, I've donethe, the local news multiple
times.
I've I've we've done the theshooting here in the studio and
like that's.
It's a completely differentfeel from that, to what we did
(19:07):
for the documentary, because wewere just we were out on the
farm, we hey, go, go, go, findyourself some corn man arm.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
We hey, go, go, go, find yourself some corn man.
It's the truth.
So, by the way, you know, um, Idon't know a week before.
I never look at the weatherthat far in advance for anything
.
And, uh, you know, chef thomasgives me a call one day, says do
you know it's supposed to rainon, uh, on the day for filming.
I'm like that, don't worryabout.
It's like a week away, man, andnothing's gonna, it's gonna be
fine, sure enough, it's likehalf torrential downpours the
(19:46):
throughout the day.
And let me tell you somethingat first I was nervous about
that because I figured, oh, manthat's literally raining on our
parade.
You know it added so muchcharacter.
You know, john, when John sawit he goes.
You know you were worried aboutthe weather.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
He goes, dude that made it made the experience.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
It made the film.
It gave it so much personalityand character.
Yeah, you think the shrimpersor the farmers stop because it
it so much personality andcharacter.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Yeah, you think the the shrimpers or the farmers
stop because it's rainingoutside.
Heck, no.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Will did a fantastic job.
Will was awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Will was such a professional, so cool he this
was his first.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
He's done film.
He's done all sorts of stuff.
He's super good, but this washis first he's done film.
He's done all sorts of stuff.
He's super good, but this washis first actual documentary.
This was all of ours firstdocumentary and I feel like it
came out splendidly.
I don't know a better way to sayit.
I actually submitted it to abunch of film festivals and
(20:57):
whatnot.
A lot of them domestic, somehere in Florida and some were,
you know, out of the country.
So we'll see what happens withthat.
But I feel like it was reallywell done and I feel like you
really touched on the essence ofwhat it is to be in the food
business, the food industry.
You know, listen, uh, peoplefrom banking or people from
(21:22):
other sectors in differentlevels of their careers or
whatever, they look at foodservice or they look at the
people in the business and andmaybe they look down.
I don't know, um, but at theend of the day, executive chefs
make a very healthy living.
Most of the people in theindustry do.
Well, there's a lot to talkabout in terms of dollars, money
(21:46):
, percentages, things of thatnature.
That's a whole, nother openconversation.
But if you do things the rightway and you're in the right
situations.
You do very well.
With that said man, you bridgedthe gap between entertainment,
passion and the food industry.
You put it all together.
It's like a trifecta.
So what?
(22:07):
I think I want to do more ofthese.
I am inclined now, afterpulling one off, I want to do
these as often as we can.
Obviously, you know we'relooking for sponsors and
partners to be involved in thesethings, but I think we can do
so much to open the eyes of theaverage person to the plight, to
(22:34):
the struggles of the people whoprepare our food.
These people feed us with graceand we don't even know.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, we got in front of three ingredients.
Yes, how many ingredients areout there?
How many ingredients are localthat we can get in front of?
And it's such an experience.
It's an experience talking tothe farmer, the fishermen, the
cattle herder, I mean like thepossibilities are endless and
it's only going to create moreof an experience for us chefs to
(23:05):
get it out to the audience andreally show them this.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
This is what it's all about yeah, I've always been a
big, big fan to uh, to knowwhere your food comes from.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
There's a whole different, different world where
you know it comes from, say,ocean to table big line always
been a big fan of that whenyou're talking about fishermen,
when you're talking about amicro greens farmer, when you're
talking about fishermen, whenyou're talking about a micro
greens farmer, when you'retalking about, you know, tomato
farmers, growers, citrus, eachone of them, yeah, you're
(23:41):
dealing with elements, you'redealing with water, you're
dealing with sunlight.
You're dealing, you know, youknow pests.
You're dealing with all thesame stuff, but they're all
individually very different fromeach other.
You, you talk to them.
You know, like we, our friendMarvin, he's a micro greens
farmer.
He's got it rough, like anybodyelse does, but his, his life,
(24:03):
what he does on a daily basis,is different than somebody who
raises cattle.
It's just different.
But it's hard, it's not an easylife and, yes, you can make
money and yes, you know there's,it's, it's a good life.
I think it's a wholesome life.
I think it's something where weshould.
All, you know, in my perfectworld, everyone would have
(24:24):
enough, enough land to supporttheir own food, you know, but
obviously we don't live in that.
You know, that's not somethingthat's I don't even think
possible.
But here we are, we, and youknow, chef Carl, we have the
opportunity to tell the storiesand we have an audience base,
thankfully, who listens.
(24:45):
It's amazing.
It's really amazing where weare right now.
I can't believe that I can sayI was an executive producer of a
documentary.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I, you know, I can't believe I could say I was in a
documentary at all.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I knew I was going to say that, but I didn't want to
say it for you.
Like, that's my point, are youkidding me?
That's like somebody writes abook and they become an author,
right?
Well, you make a short film,you know, and put it together
and whatnot, and now you're theexecutive.
Anyway, I'm out of my mind withthe fact that we pulled this
(25:25):
off.
And then you know, obviously so, and just to everybody
understands, this was a 12 hourday and it started at dark and
it ended at dark, basically, andwe came back to Ibis Images
(25:50):
Studios where Chef Thomasactually finished the dish.
We cooked everything.
Well, thomas cooked everythinghere and, of course, john was
here, um, ready to capture thedish on film, you know, in terms
of photography, and it's agorgeous dish with, of course,
gorgeous photography.
I hate, you know, stroking youover there, but he does such a
good job, everybody did such adamn good job.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
More to come, definitely, definitely more to
come.
If you had to build a sequeldish, all Florida ingredients
again, what's your next move?
Off the top of my head, I don'tknow the exact dish, but like
we got to do something withcitrus Florida citrus, using
acid to balance a dish Just that, that overwhelming pop of lemon
(26:41):
juice or lime juice, or evenorange juice.
It really I think that speaksto Florida cuisine quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I see a chef, Carl he's.
He's balancing his head up anddown over there.
You agree?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I absolutely agree.
Citrus gives you a wholedifferent level of flavor, of
freshness, a cleanness to it.
Even in my dips I use a lot ofcitrus.
It helps to balance everythingout very well.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
The thing about Florida.
It's a funny place.
Half of the year, a little lessthan half of the year, we have
all sorts of produce here.
The soil content in Florida isnot the soil content of, say,
california, it's just different.
A lot of the leafy veg that'sgrown here it's a little on the
(27:34):
bitter side.
You have to do more to it fromthe chef's perspective to really
turn up the flavors and make itsomething where you'd want to
order it.
It's part of the challenge, butit's part of the beauty,
because if you make it rightit's damn good.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Tomatoes, lemons, limes, snapper we have beautiful
local snapper.
I mean we can create a greatdish from those ingredients.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
As we look forward to more documentaries.
Obviously there's going to bemore chefs, more people who want
to get involved in this.
I think that maybe you could bea good point person to help on
menu development for thesedocumentaries, Something that we
can actually build out, frameout.
(28:19):
We can do a year's worth ofthis and really do some good, I
think, for our industry,definitely.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
You know my creative mind is stupid at times.
Our industry, definitely.
Um, you know my creative mindstupid at times, like I'll pair
the oddest ingredients togetherand it just comes out absolutely
phenomenal flavor bomb thatyou're just not used to.
Hey, uh, chef, carl, isn't,isn't your?
Uh, your crab floated blue crabyes, it is we actually.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
We love to have local products in our stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, because we're.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Florida born and want to keep it that way.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You're using some fresh mahi too, some local fresh
mahi.
Absolutely, that's awesome.
Carl, your prime candidate fora documentary is sitting right
here.
He's got a local company.
He's using local ingredients.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
There it is.
Well, I think we can definitelydo some crossover work with
that.
I mean, if you, if you, ifyou're interested, absolutely
okay, yeah, I, I do.
I want to talk about this moreand this is something, john, uh,
you know we're going to do thisand I want to do it in a big
way.
Nobody, there is nobody outthere doing what we're doing and
(29:34):
I don't say that, as you know,back slapping myself, or you
know, I say that humbly.
I don't see anybody doing thecontent, the type of content and
the quality of content and thedepth, with the passion that
we're doing.
I just don't see it.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
And we're looking for it, especially us chefs, when
we have downtime, when we'relooking for inspiration.
We live on social media.
We're looking for the type ofcontent that we're doing, and
it's few and far between.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
You know who else lives on the Gulf?
That would make for a terrificshow.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Pooch, the one in Louisiana, uh uh-huh oh yeah,
yeah, I'm still trying to comeup with a louisiana crap dip are
you really?
Oh, yeah, tell me more aboutthat well, so far the thought is
um, like the holy trinity, youknow, peppers, onion celery, put
that in there.
Uh, maybe some andouille or uh,some tasso ham kind of thing,
(30:34):
and you know, maybe some like Idon't want to use old bay but
crab boiled type flavoringthere's a company called that's
sauce and they're they're out oflouisiana amazing product.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I'm going to connect you guys and I think that the
friendship's going to go forever.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
That's my opinion, awesome by the way, pooch, uh,
great job at the nra man.
That blooper reel was funny ascould be did you see that?
Speaker 1 (30:59):
yeah, you know, uh, at first I'm looking at it and
I'm thinking to myself oh man,you know, they just showed the
uh, the guts of uh.
You know the behind the scenesthere, because that's what I do
too.
Half of the time when I have toredo my stuff, I'm usually with
the bloopers and the things andall that, and it's funny to see
(31:20):
somebody else.
I thought it was hilarious.
Yeah, you're right, man, youdid a terrific job, brother, and
I'll say it again to Jordan andGlenn out there, you guys did a
terrific job over at the uhroyal cup coffee booth and they
did probably like 20 interviewsa day.
Wow.
By the way, in august we'regoing to be at the california
(31:44):
restaurant show and that isgoing to be amazing.
We are the official podcast forthe california restaurant show,
so we is going to be amazing.
We are the official podcast forthe California Restaurant Show,
so we're going to be part ofthe show.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
It's amazing, and you know restaurant events LLC.
These cats are great people.
They're down to earth, they'reas human as human could be, and
I feel like this is another onethat's going to relationship's
going to go on for a long time.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That's exciting, Chef Carl what's your socials?
Speaker 1 (32:15):
How do people find you?
Speaker 3 (32:17):
on all social media.
Cry by crab Island seafood.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Excellent, follow this guy, please.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Thomas chef underscore Thomas Parker.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
John, do you have a?
Do you have face?
Like, what do you have?
Facebook or something?
Myspace what do you have?
Facebook and Instagram?
How did we find you, john, atIbis Images?
Ibis Images Catalogs, menus,food photography.
If you're not with JohnHernandez at Ibis Images, you're
(32:49):
nowhere.
All right, guys.
I love you all.
I appreciate you coming outtoday.
Fan-tastic show.
More documentaries to come.
We are out, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.