August 4, 2026 • 33 mins
George Duran and food writer Karla Walsh open the fridge on the stuff nobody says out loud.
First up: the genuinely unhinged things Costco has sold in bulk — gold bars, six-foot nutcrackers, 72-pound wheels of Parmesan, buckets of apocalypse food, and yes, caskets💀💰 (buy one, get a free divorce certificate, apparently).
Then brunch goes on trial. Is it a real meal, or just an excuse to charge $20 for eggs the head chef was too hungover to cook? George has a theory.
In "Trend or Trash," Dubai chocolate gets the treatment, followed by a round of "Dubai or AI?" — where Karla has to guess which absurd chocolate mashup is real and which one ChatGPT invented.
Finally, aquaculture scientist Dr. Stefanie Colombo (Dalhousie University) settles the farmed-vs-wild salmon fight for good — including the part where modern salmon farms use underwater cameras and fish facial recognition.
Grab a snack. Stay hungry.
Takeaways
- Costco has sold some genuinely deranged things in bulk: gold bars, six-foot nutcrackers, 72-pound Parmesan wheels, apocalypse-food buckets, and actual caskets.
- George's brunch theory: you're overpaying for eggs the head chef didn't even cook — he's hungover from Saturday night, so the underlings are on brunch duty.
- America's brunch scene has produced a Bloody Mary with a whole lobster hanging off it, one topped with an entire fried chicken, and a $2,000 lobster frittata.
- "Dubai or AI?" proves the internet has tried Dubai-chocolate everything — burgers, wings, ramen, even pickles — and most of it is real.
- The farmed-vs-wild salmon panic is mostly myth. Dr. Stefanie Colombo makes the case for "farmed AND wild": similar nutrition, better availability, smaller footprint.
- Salmon farms run on tech you wouldn't expect — underwater cameras and biometric "facial recognition" that IDs individual fish by their freckle patterns.
Links referenced in this episode
Companies, people mentioned mentioned
- Costco, Dairy Queen
- Whole Foods
- Cinnabon
- Auntie Anne's
- Dalhousie University
- Aquaculture Nutrition
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I used to go to Dairy Queenand get a dipped cone, but instead
of sprinkles, nerds I couldsee because.
Of the sourness of the.
Exactly.
Yeah. Man, that must be acolorful poop. Welcome to the Always
Hangry podcast, where we breakdown the way we eat. The good, the
bad, and the completelyridiculous. I'm George Duran. Today
(00:21):
we're exploring the strangestthings Costco sells in bulk. Debating
whether brunch is one big ripoff putting Dubai chocolate on trial
in trend or trash. And later,we're busting some of the biggest
myths you've probably heardabout farm salmon. Joining me today,
the delightfully funny, thedangerously opinionated and somewhat
still invited to dinnerparties, Carla Walsh.
(00:42):
Dangerously opinionated. Ilove it.
Yeah, you're invited to dinnerparties because you probably have
a lot of great talking pointswhen it comes to food.
I love, like, a get to knowyou question about food or otherwise.
It's just so much more funthan the small talk.
Are you still doing storiesabout Costco, by the way?
Always. Yes. People have avoracious appetite for Costco.
Why? Why is Costco so. So popular?
(01:02):
I feel like there's a littlebit of something for everything,
everybody. And like, you're amembership. You have a membership,
so you feel like you. You'repart of the family. And everybody
has, like, their hidden gemthat you're just like you. You have
to know about this. And itfeels special to be able to share
something that means somethingto you with someone else.
So Costco has a list of weirdthings that they've sold, and I found
(01:26):
out that they sold sold thingslike arcade games. Wait, like, stand
up, full blown pinball machinearcade games. Wow. Yeah, pretty interesting.
Buckets of apocalypse food.
I've seen those.
I've seen those. Have you everpurchased one?
Absolutely not. I'm not aprepper, George.
Okay, fine. I wanna buy it.Just to taste it.
(01:48):
By the way, I mean, I wouldread that story. Yeah, I think you
need the world needs.
No, I would open it. If, like,I ran out of eggs, I'd be like, get
the powdered eggs from thebasement, kids. We're gonna have
eggs here. Even though there'sno apocalypse for 120 days.
Worth of eggs.
Yeah, and they expire too.That's the thing. Even after 10 years,
people are just throwing themaway. But I don't know what to expect.
Even during COVID we didn'treally. Nobody pulled their buckets
(02:11):
of dried eggs?
No, they did not.
But Costco sells buckets ofapocalypse food. Wow. Yeah. Giant
nutcracker statues.
Okay, holiday time. How big is giant?
Like this six foot tall, Humansize. Massive.
That would be kind of creepy.
Yeah. I wonder if they work.
What kind of nuts would youneed to crack in that nutcracker?
Coconuts. It's a nutcracker,obviously. Here's some of the weirder
(02:36):
things that Costco has sold.
Okay.
Gold bars.
Okay.
Costco shoppers were buying1oz gold bars so aggressively that
analysts estimated hundreds ofmillions in monthly sales.
Wow. That's wild.
Yeah. And it was huge. Iremember when it first came out,
everybody was rushing to getthem, like Pokemon cards, but they
were gold bars.
(02:56):
This is so interesting to me.
Yeah. Diamond rings.
I. I don't know how I'd feelbeing proposed to with a Costco ring.
I mean, I do appreciate a goodvalue, but I would be wanting to
know where that diamond camefrom, I guess.
Do you think that somebodyproposing someone with a Costco ring
will tell them, like, oh, bythe way, I bought this at Costco.
I mean, there are some peoplewho get married at Costco, so I bet
(03:19):
some people would reallyappreciate that.
That's not bad.
Yeah. I mean, a new definitionof walking down the aisle. Right.
I told my wife we should maybedo one of those before we got married.
Really?
Yeah. And she said she wouldalso want to do the divorce there
too. Do it for cheap.
Did they give you a discountfor being a member?
They give you free divorce,like a free divorce certificate whenever
you want. Just fill it out.
Wow.
(03:40):
I have no idea. Free, Free. Ofcourse. You know, you buy something,
get some.
Legally binding and everything.
Buy one, get one free.
Oh, no.
Costco has sold 72 poundwheels of Parmesan.
Yes, I could see that. But howdo you make it through that much
unless you're a restaurant or.
Have a forklift in the back.
Exactly. How do you get it out?
And what do you do with a 72pound wheel of Parmesan if you don't
(04:02):
have a restaurant?
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'veseen them like mix the pasta dishes
in the hollowed out Parmesanat restaurants. But you wouldn't
be doing that on a Tuesday at home.
No. Although you could, likejust make any meal, like a chicken,
you know, whatever it is, andjust shove it inside the Parmesan
wheel and just coat everythingwith Parmesan.
Yeah.
Costco has sold coffins and caskets.
(04:22):
Yeah, that's a lot.
These caskets reportedlybecame popular enough that funeral
homes complained years agobecause Costco undercut the traditional
pricing.
Wow. Oh, My gosh. Nothing likethat to remind you how mortal we
are.
Grandpa died. Kids, let's goto Costco.
Oh my gosh. No, George.
(04:45):
I mean, who's doing.
That's so wild. I know. Or dothey buy it before they pass away?
No one buys a casket beforethey pass away. That's kind of more.
Do they not. I don't know,like advanced funeral planning is
a thing. I've written storiesabout this, George.
Okay, but you do your will.You kind of plan out the money on
the side for the funeral andthe memorial. But you don't just
buy your casket. Like what areyou gonna do?
Go? I don't know. Some peoplelike prepay for them because.
(05:07):
They go and they sleep insideand see if it's comfortable enough.
I'm gonna go to Costco, shopfor a casket.
They just want to pick out thestyle that they want.
Honey, I'm going to Costco totry out my casket.
That is quite morbid. Butyeah, some people are planners.
Costco's also had giant teddybears for sale. Yeah, I think a foot
tall.
The last time I was there, Isaw a sauna. Like a full on, like
(05:30):
walk inside two person sauna.
Did they have it for testing?Like people could walk in there.
Yeah, exactly. It was likewooden walled, round, like beautiful.
You'd see it in a magazine.
Was it on?
$10,000. It was not on.
It was on.
No, it was just like there foryou to sit in. But if it was on,
I should have brought my robe.
Yeah. They weren't likecooking lobster and meat. Costco
lobster, meat and shrimp inthere by any chance?
(05:51):
The roast history chickenswere just like spinning from the
ceiling.
Two for one man. That worksvery good. Do you have a favorite
meal of the day?
There's merit to them all, butI would say probably dinner because
you look forward to it. Lotsof variety. Yeah.
Do you have a least favoritemeal of the day?
I wouldn't say least favorite,but lunch is the one I probably pay
the least attention to.
(06:12):
Yeah. Mine has got to be brunch.
Yeah. Oh, brunch is a definiteyeah. That would be my answer if
that qualifies.
Because obviously I don'tbrunch. I feel like it's a little
too late for breakfast. Yeah,well, too early for lunch.
Also, like, what is the timingfor brunch? This has perplexed me
since I lived in New Yorkbecause brunch here starts at like
one o'. Clock.
Insane.
Where in Iowa People think I'mwild when I propose it for 11. They're
(06:35):
like, why not 9:30?
I agree, I agree. Believe itor not, brunch started as an excuse
to sleep in. Back in 1895, aBritish writer named Guy Barringer
suggested combining breakfastand lunch into one relaxed Sunday
meal for people who'd been outpartying the night before. It was
supposed to be less formal,more social, and obviously a lot
(06:56):
more easier on the hangover.You fast forward 130 years later
and restaurants began torealize that they could overcharge
for cheap potatoes, eggs,pancakes, and oj. Honestly, for me,
I think brunch is just anexcuse for overpriced eggs.
Yeah. Are you a sweet or savory?
I'm a savory person. Brunchperson of every kind. I like savory.
(07:19):
But the idea that somebody'scharging me 20 something dollars
for a couple of eggs that Ican make at home easily, it's absolutely
crazy. And I wonder if peoplewould pay the same price for these
brunch foods for dinner. So ifyou are to make an omelette for dinner
or pancakes for dinner in arestaurant, do you think people would
charge the same price?
Yeah, it's interesting becauseyou do see that at diners, but that's
(07:42):
really the only place. Andthey're not expensive.
There's always a two hour waitfor brunch.
Yeah, I know. It's always likea long line. We have that too. And
it's like places that don'ttake reservations and your whole
party has to be there and it'slike a whole thing.
Here's why brunch is probablythe worst meal to purchase. Because
the night before on a Saturdaynight, the main chef of that restaurant
(08:03):
who's creating the real dishesis also out cooking, the drinking,
having a good time. Andthere's no way that guy is waking
up the next day, Sundaymorning to cook. So he's letting
his underlings cook the brunch.
Well, I hear that a lot ofpeople who work in the restaurant
industry don't like workingbrunch. And so it's probably like
their heart isn't maybe in it.
In the same way you'reoverpaying for eggs and potatoes
(08:24):
for some other dude who's notthe main chef of the restaurant to
cook for it. Yeah, that's mytheory. I hate brunch. Another thing
that ruins brunch is mimosas.It's an American invention.
I'm not a mimosa fan. If I geta mimosa, I get a glass of champagne
and then I ask Them to put thejuice on the side so I can add how
much I want. But as I said,I'm not much of a day drinker, so
(08:46):
that would be like a onceevery five year occasion.
And you're ruining thechampagne by adding orange juice
to it. Yes.
It's always too much. It's toosweet. And so I just want to add
like a spoonful to be polite.
Yeah.
Are you more of a Bloody Maryperson or are you just coffee?
No, I like Bloody Marys. Ilike them spicy. And there's some
really interesting, weirdbrunch mining items out there.
Okay.
(09:06):
Including Bloody Mary's.
Oh, gosh.
So here's a list of theweirdest brunch items to ever exist
in the United States.
I don't know if I'm ready.
Claudio's Waterfront in Longisland, well, they serve a Bloody
Mary with an entire lobsterhanging out of it.
That is a meal. That is not a drink.
It's insane. But a whole lobster.
Right. How do you even eatthat or.
(09:28):
Drink it when you're hungover?You're hungover, man.
I guess you figure it out.
At Sobelman's in Milwaukee,they serve the chicken fried bloody
beast. I can't even say that.It's a massive Bloody Mary served
with an entire fried chickenon top.
No, like the whole bird.
The entire bird.
(09:48):
How does the glass not tip over?
It's almost like a pitcher.
Yeah.
And they put this giant friedchicken. Chicken on top of it.
Wow.
I think this is all designedjust for Instagram. This is not designed
to be delicious. Right.
I'm telling you, the power ofthe hangover.
Yeah.
Anything is possible. Andpeople in Wisconsin are known for
their Bloody Marys. I mean,they put things like bacon and crazy
(10:09):
things on top of it.
Yeah. I mean, it's gotta bepart of the culture because it's
before football games.
Gotta fuel up the whole friedchicken. I love it.
That is inventive. So do you,like, dip it in the Bloody Mary or.
Why is that a combo thatpeople are.
I think, again, it's thatchicken and waffles kind of mentality
maybe. And then you have theBloody Mary. And I think they just
want to go over.
(10:30):
They just want to serve themtogether. It's not designed to be
consumed together.
It's like 65 bucks.
You see, with the lobster, atleast I could see you like making
almost like a seafood soup situation.
Right.
Give me a bowl and I'll deconstruct.
This, like grilled cheesedipping inside your tomato soup.
But this time, lobsterExactly. But the fried chicken, that's
a little bizarre.
That's a little bit.
I prefer like a rotisseriechicken on it.
Yeah, me too.
(10:50):
A little savory and just kindof let the drippings go inside the
Bloody Mary.
Yeah.
Oh, that's disgusting. LaParker Meridian. Here in New York
City, they serve a $2,000lobster frittata.
Wow. What else is on there? Isit caviar?
It has six eggs, cream chives,an entire fresh lobster. Here we
go again.
Okay.
(11:10):
10 ounces of sabruga caviarserved on Yukon gold potatoes and
topped with lobster sauce.
Wow, that is a lot of seafood action.
That's a lot of money.
Yeah. $2,000 if you've got it.I guess you get to choose what you
value and if you would wantthat for. For your menu, great. But
that's a lot of money.
But it's also not that big.Yeah, it's not that big. It's small.
(11:32):
Like, you can just eat it inone sitting. It's fine.
Right?
And then there's $2,000 rightoff the bat.
I know, for brunch. But Imean, hey, like, some people buy
handbags for $2,000. Somepeople get fancy hotel rooms. So
I guess it's up for you todecide, but that would not be my
choice. For $2,000, I couldsee myself carrying.
A frittata everywhere, justshowing it to everybody. Check it
(11:55):
out.
I mean, you want to show itoff? If you spent $2,000 on this,
like,.
Little plastic case and justkind of be like, check it out. $2,000
frittata.
Exactly. Aren't you jealous?
Go to parties and just show it off.
Yeah, it's like a pet.
Yeah, pet it and eat it. TheTwisted Biscuit brunch company has
the big cheese. It's an entiremozzarella log that's been breaded
(12:15):
and deep fried.
How big is the mozzarella? Oh,are we talking like it's a log? Wow.
It's huge.
Okay, so this is a shareableitem. I mean, hypothetically.
Hypothetically. And it comeswith a dip next to it and people
order it and you just kind ofjust rip it apart like a giant mozzarella
stick.
Wow.
Yeah. And finally, arestaurant in LA called Baltaire
(12:36):
is known for their tablesidecinnamon roll. It's a giant, about
a foot wide cinnamon roll. Andthey serve it with a massive amount
of cream cheese frosting.
Wow.
I mean, I have seen thoseskillet cinnamon rolls where you,
like slice them into wedges.Yes, I could see that.
But it's table side. It'stable side. They come to you. Yeah.
You know how they do theCaesar salad?
Yeah.
They do this with cinnamonroll and they drizzle the.
(12:58):
What part of it is table side?
I guess the frosting part.
Okay.
What a scam. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm just like, what part ofthis needs to be presented? I mean,
if you're getting reallycreative with your marketing, Auntie
Anne's is table side, isn'tit? Cause you're, like, right up
to the counter, so. Or sharinga table.
Yes.
And that costs, like, what, $4?
Yeah, but it's notInstagramable. I guess that's all
(13:21):
it is.
I mean, the best part of thatexperience is the smell. So if you
can't Instagram, it's notworth it.
What are they pumping out ofthe cinnamon? Cinnabons at Cinnabuns
in the malls.
Cinnabon and Auntie Anne's.It's like, what is that smell? And
why can I not resist it?
And why don't they sell thatin a bottle that I can take home
and spray it in my house?
Or a candle?
Yeah. It's not real. Almost.It's, like, too cinnamony.
Yes, exactly.
It's so freaking good.
(13:41):
It's the volume turned up oncinnamon roll.
I'm like a cartoon characterflying, you know? And then you see
it, and it has, like, 18,000calories, and you're like, do I do
this or not?
Do you do it?
I have.
How do you feel about the Auntien?
Oh, man.
Or a Cinnabon?
It's buttery and just. It'sall carbs and it's so freaking good.
(14:03):
And I get the lure. Iunderstand it, but it's just. I can't
imagine. It's real butter.
No, I don't think so.
And I can't imagine it's likereal cream cheese. Like, it's just
too. It's too good to be real.
Yeah.
We're so good at that in this country.
We are.
We're the best. Best.
It is a gift.
(14:40):
All right, let's take a quickbreak. When we come back, we're playing
Trend or Trash. And later on,we're answering every question you've
ever had about farm salmon,even the ones you didn't know you
had. Welcome back. We're goingto do a little segment now called
Trend or Trash? Where weexplore certain trends, and we see
(15:00):
if it's trash or it's actuallyworthy of being called a trend. Can't
wait and you see a lot oftrends out there too.
I do, yes. The latest one I'mseeing everywhere is the dot cake.
Have you seen these?
What's this?
It's like a cake that is in,like, a little cup, and it's covered
edge to edge with, like, nonpareils. Is that how you say that?
Yes, yes.
The rainbow jimmies orsprinkles. Yes.
(15:22):
Oh, that's right. And theyturn it upside, downside, down,.
And it's, like, covered.
I have been seeing that. A lotof it. I hate sprinkles.
Do you?
Oh, my God. Cause it tasteslike sand. Like, it's just, like,
crunchy, and it's, like, inyour mouth and it's already sweet,
whatever you're eating. Andwhy just add even more sugar? You
might as well put sugarcrystals on and chew on sugar, right?
I can't stand it. But what isit with kids who love anything with
sprinkles?
I love anything as a kid, thatwas me. Or like, I used to go to
(15:45):
Dairy Queen and get a dippedcone, but instead of sprinkles. Nerds.
Oh, man.
Don't knock it till you try it.
Oh, my God. You must have arich dentist.
So much. Oh, I do. So muchsugar, but delicious. Try it next
time. Instead of sprinkles.
I could see because of thesourness of the.
Exactly. That can be reallycrunchy smooth. Yeah, it hits.
(16:06):
Yeah. Man, that must be acolorful poop.
Oh, gosh.
All right, trend or trash?We're talking today about Dubai Chocolate.
Oh, yes. This has been aroundfor a couple years. It's everywhere.
Dubai Chocolate was inventedby Sarah Hamouda, a British Egyptian
chocolatier based in Dubai. In2021, Sarah had a pregnancy craving
(16:26):
for something sweet that hadpistachios with the kunafiye, which
is the filo dough textures,and chocolate as well. So she began
experimenting at home, andlater with her husband, they launched
the first Dubai Chocolate. Andagain, once TikTok took over, man,
everywhere. It's still around.
It is, yes.
What do you think about Dubai Chocolate?
(16:47):
I think that it, like, lostits appeal to me about one month
into the trend. It was justeverywhere. And I also, like, never
purchased any of the actualbars because I. They were, like,
$20 crazy. And that's notworth it to me.
No. I made Dubai Chocolate.
Have you?
Yeah.
How'd it go?
It came out great. It was fora client, and you opened it up and
you have that amazing, youknow, and it had a lot of views.
(17:09):
Like, it just. It looks Good.It sounds good. I don't think it
tastes that good.
It's not my favorite kind ofdessert, but I see the appeal and
I like seeing all thecreativity of all the remixes, but
that's. It's kind of likeeverywhere so much that you're just
like, okay, we're ready forthe next thing.
Well, it tastes like. It feelslike you're chewing sand or some
(17:30):
sort of crunchy thing inthere. And the Conifea, the filo
dough, it's a nice idea,right? It just.
And delicious in other uses.Like, it's in lots of, like, honey
desserts.
So we're going to play alittle game here.
Okay.
This game is called Dubai orAI, where I'll give you some of the
things made for DubaiChocolate. And you have to tell me
if it's a real thing thatsomeone's made or if I just had AI
(17:51):
and makeup.
Oh, wow. This is going to bedifficult. Okay, I'm ready.
We're playing Dubai or AI. Isthis real Dubai Chocolate or is it
AI? Dubai Chocolate Burger.
Oh, no, that has to be AI.
It's Dubai. No, it's real.
Ah. How do they do this? Wait,is the bun Dubai Chocolate?
Well, they made kind of like asweet bun, brioche bun kind of thing,
(18:11):
and they layered it with achocolate and then the kunefia and
then the. So they kind of layered.
So there's not beef in this.
No beef in it, though. Butit's still called a Dubai Chocolate
Burger. Yeah, yeah, I got youthere. Dubai Chocolate chicken wings.
I'm gonna say that's AI.
No, it's real.
Come on.
At the Southington Wing Fest,somebody actually made Dubai Chocolate
(18:33):
wings. They've taken wings andthey've put. With pistachio cream.
They put the kunafi in the.Drizzle it with chocolate. And I
don't think there was oneperson who said that it tasted good.
No, I could not see that. No.
What are people doing here?Dubai chocolate tuna melt.
I mean, at this point, I haveto say that's real, but that cannot
be. No, there is no chocolatewith tuna. Hard pass AI.
(18:54):
It's AI.
Thank God. I finally got one.
Dubai chocolate steak tartare.
I'm gonna say that's Dubai.Yeah, that's real.
That is not real. Who's gonnaeat steak tartare?
I think they've done crazierthings, as we've heard.
Maybe we're gonna have to dothat too.
I know somebody will.
(19:15):
Dubai Chocolate deviled eggs.
Oh, yes. I've seen a Dessert.Deviled egg trend happening. Somebody
did like a. What is that cakewith the cherries and chocolate?
Black forest cake.
Oh, black forest cake.
Somebody did a deviled eggwith that. So I'm gonna say that's
Dubai.
It's AI. I couldn't find itanywhere. Yeah. Yes.
People are doing dessert,deviled eggs because they're like.
(19:36):
Well, an egg white doesn'ttaste like much anyway, so why not
put something sweet in the middle?
Boy, Chatgpt is onto something here.
I know.
Maybe we should invent it.
I feel like that could be athing. I mean, it's protein.
Right.
People would eat that.
Right. And you already eateggs with desserts, so why not?
Exactly.
Dubai chocolate Ramen.
I'm going to say that's AI.
It's real. The companyBulldog, created a Dubai chocolate
(19:59):
ramen.
Is it dessert flavored, then?
I don't know. I think it'schocolatey and it has the kunafi
in it. Perhaps.
But what is a broth?
I think it's just, like, thespicy kind of thing on it. So it's
a spicy Dubai chocolate.
Interesting.
It's real Dubai chocolate lasagna.
That is definitely a. Yes,that's a dessert Dubai for sure.
Yeah, that's a real thing.Dubai chocolate mashed potatoes.
(20:24):
I'm going to say that's AI.
That's AI. Yeah. But I wouldbe very curious what that looks like.
I know. I feel like that's notthe weirdest one of the bunch.
Yeah, yeah. Dubai chocolate pickles.
No, that can AI.
Somebody made.
What haven't they done withpickles at this point? I should have
known better.
(20:45):
They've covered it in somesort of, like, pistachio cream.
But the chocolate. I guessthey do do chocolate covered pickles.
Yeah.
Gosh, I should have known.
But it was just pregnant womeneating it.
They had that craving of, hey,that's a pretty large market, honestly.
Yeah. Dubai chocolate popcorn.
Yes, that is definitely for sure.
That's an easy one. Andfinally, Dubai chocolate Caesar salad.
(21:08):
Oh, no.
Why not?
Tell me it's not a thing.
It's not a thing.
Okay. Why not? Becauseanchovies. I don't know.
Yeah, but you put the croutonson. Caesar salad are already crunchy
and crispy and whatever.
I get that. But the chocolateis just a step too far.
Yeah, Lettuce and chocolate.
I don't need lettuce with chocolate.
Nobody does. No, nobody does.All right, well, thank you again
for being on the show.
(21:29):
Such a delight, George.
So much fun. We'll keepexploring different Trends. Cause
they're constantly happening.There's a lot of food shows throughout
the year also where Iexploring you go as well. Yeah, so
we'll go visit those shows andkind of see what else is trending
and talk about them and trashthem if we have to.
I'd be delighted.
(22:04):
Thanks, Carla Walsh, everyone.And up next, we're talking farmed
salmon. The myths, themisconceptions, and what's actually
true. Stay tuned. Welcomeback. If you've ever wondered whether
farmed salmon is healthy,sustainable, or secretly planned
plotting to ruin civilization,we're about to get some answers.
(22:24):
Joining us is Dr. StephanieColombo, Associate professor at Dalhousie
University and an expert inaquaculture nutrition. She studies
what fish eat, how they'reraised, and why so many of the things
we think we know about farmsalmon may not actually be true.
Dr. Colombo, thanks for beingon. Always hangry.
Yeah, thanks for inviting me.
I was at Whole Foods the otherday at the fish counter, and I watched
(22:46):
this lady approach the quote,unquote fishmonger. That's what I'm
gonna call him, a fishmonger.I mean, I don't know how much Whole
Foods really has fishmongers.And she said, I want to get salmon.
I just don't know which one.And this fishmonger literally pushed
this wild salmon piece that Iswear was probably dead for months
now. It was the saddest pieceof salmon I've seen in my life. And
(23:08):
I approached her afterwards, Isaid, why? What are you doing? What
are you doing, lady? Why thewild salmon? And she said, I would
never buy farmed salmon. Whatis this negative stigma we have on.
On farm salmon?
I don't know. It confuses metoo, honestly. But I think it's because
salmon farming is new. And Ithink for people, it's a bit of a
(23:28):
black box because it's new.You know, we're used to for other
farm products, we have dairycows, we have poultry. That's already
ingrained. That's. Beeffarming has been happening for 10,000
years. But that's like saying50 years. It's like, you know, that's
so new.
It's crazy because that's likesaying for Thanksgiving, I want Wild
Turkey.
Right?
I'd rather have Wild Turkey.And those gobble like those. There's
(23:51):
no meat on Wild Turkey. And itprobably tastes awful, right? Nobody
wants wild Turkey forThanksgiving. We all want the farm,
plump, fat turkeys.
That's right.
And the same thing goes with,like you said, beef, poultry. We're
farming the good stuff. Anddon't get me wrong, there's for wild
elk and all these peoplehunting. And again, I don't like
(24:11):
the wild flavors and the gameyflavors. So that's why farm salmon
has got to taste better, atleast in my opinion. It tastes much
better. It has that marblingto it. Why is farm salmon so fatty
and so marbled and delicious?
I mean, the marbling isbecause of the species. So that's
a natural genetic trait thatthey have.
(24:32):
Wait, what is a species calledsalmo salar?
That is the species name ofAtlantic salmon. But, you know, the
woman at the counter you werejust talking about, she was probably
looking having a wild sockeyeor a wild chinook compared to a farmed
Atlantic. You're not comparingthe same thing. So the marbling that
all of the description thatyou just described of a farmed salmon
(24:54):
is because of salmo salar, thespecies Atlantic salmon.
I understand. So what you'resaying is Atlantic salmon doesn't
mean it comes from theAtlantic necessarily. It's just.
That's the species. That's thename of the species. It's called
Atlantic salmon.
Yes, but it is from theAtlantic Ocean.
Oh, it is. Okay. Originally.
Originally.
And we've chosen Atlanticsalmon to farm Atlantic salmon because
it. It works best. Right? Imean, these are like giant pens of
(25:17):
water up in the Atlanticregion in Norway and Scotland, and
they're happily living theirlives and they're easier to grow.
Yep, yep.
Yeah. It's like almost likethe type of chicken you raise. There
are certain breeds of chickenthat grow better for rotisserie chicken
than, you know, the wildchickens are.
That's true. I mean, that'sinteresting that you said that because,
you know, for poultry, we'vebeen farming for 8,000 years. But
(25:41):
first. And you have differentbreeds. You have lots of different
breeds. That's still the samespecies. Oh, you're just seeing different
breeds now. Salmon. Farmsalmon are only at their 12th generation.
It's only been 12 generations.
That's it.
So you don't have breeds.Maybe in 100 years we might have
salmon breeds. Wouldn't thatbe cool? But not yet. It's too new.
(26:02):
Yeah. And the chickens arerelated to the dinosaur anyway, so.
Yeah, we're going way back now.
Yeah, way, way back. Oh,that's so interesting. Tell me. Okay,
so someone who doesn'tunderstand what farmed salmon. Farmed
salmon is coming from. So it'snot like there's this, like, factory
and this, you know, kind ofclosed environment that the salmon
are all squished in together.That's kind of a misnomer, people.
(26:25):
They are actually in theocean. Tell us what these pens are
like out in the cold oceans.
Yeah, they're very large pens,and there's usually, from a top view,
they're circles, they'reround, and they go really deep. And
the nets, I mean, the nettechnology has even changed. I mean,
the nets are very strong.They're very strong against anything
(26:46):
that could possibly breakthem. Sharks, currents, everything.
So imagine, you know, it's abig kind of a cone and it ties up
at the bottom, and the netsare cleaned, period, and things like
that. So. And there's usuallyseveral of them in one area because
they're not right. They'reusually not right on the coast. They're
maybe even a kilometer away.Right. And so that's the offshore
(27:10):
technology. And the offshoreaquaculture is becoming more popular.
It's away from the coast. Soyou go out there with a boat, a very
large boat, and you bringtheir feed to them. You do their
welfare assessment, Just checkon how they're doing, periodically
check doing weights and movingthem into different parts of the
(27:31):
farm and things like that.
So how do you monitor them?Like, is there a camera underneath?
There's underwater cameras. Yeah.
Wait, there's like, really?There's cameras inside?
Oh, yeah.
That's crazy. How do you. Isit lit? I mean, how do you even see
them?
Yeah. Oh, you can see them.That's a technology. Yeah.
What are you looking at? Like,how they're growing and their size?
There's a couple differentthings. And the technology, like
(27:52):
I said, aquaculture, is reallygood at quickly adopting technology
that will help the farmingprocess for efficiency, sustainability,
welfare. So the main reasonwhy the underwater cameras, Maybe
this was 10 or 15 years ago,they've been doing this for a while
even, is to monitor thefeeding behavior. So the feeding
behavior will tell you, arethey full? Should I stop feeding
(28:13):
them? Because we don't want towaste the feed. The feed is expensive,
and we also don't want topollute the environment. So someone
is operating the feed vessel.It's a big ship that has all the
feed on it. The feed isadministered to the fish. And meanwhile
underwater, you can see thefish eating. And there's an operator
on shore back at the farmthat's watching this happening. We
(28:34):
kind of know you can estimatehow much they're going to eat that
day based on their size andhow many fish you have. But sometimes
whatever, you know, they needto be, they. They're like, we're
Done. We're full right now.The operator can see that they're
kind of not interested in thefeed and like stop, stop feeding.
But then also the technologyis moving towards what we call biometrics.
(28:54):
So it's like, it's the samething as like facial recognition
on your phone that lets you inyour iPhone. The fish can be recognized
at the individual level. Fish,the salmon actually they kind of
have, if you look at theirfaces, their heads, they have kind
of like freckles. And thoseare individual. They're all unique
on every single, like ourfingerprint. Just like a fingerprint.
(29:15):
So the camera will identifywho's who. It can also identify.
Wait, wait, wait. There'sthousands of fish and there are hundreds
of fish in the pen and there'sa camera that can actually like face
detection can identify the salmon.
That's what it's going towards.
That's crazy.
Yeah. And this is helpfulbecause there's certain behaviors
that might alert a farmerthat, oh, this one, they're not feeling
(29:38):
so well or something likethat, which would allow the farmer
to make decisions about howthe fish are being treated or handled
or you know, what they need todo that day. Call the vet or something
like that. The early detectionis important because that behavior
would signal potentiallythere's something wrong. It just
alerts the farmer earlier. Soall of this data that the farmer
(30:00):
collects is really importantfor the day to day operations. It
makes it easier for the farmerand way better for the fish because
they're being monitored and ifthey need help, they will get it
immediately.
It's interesting becauseagain, the people who are buying
the wild salmon, first of all,it's more expensive.
Yeah.
And it's not necessarilybetter for you. Necessarily better.
(30:20):
We have to feed the world.
And that's just, it is likeit's not, it's not farm versus wild.
It's farmed and wild.
Yes.
We can't, we don't have theavailability. We don't want. We want
to protect the wild sockeye.We don't want to over harvest their
fishery and have a problemthere. So not everyone, and you know,
myself included, I'm notbuying wild sockeye. I mean, I do
(30:42):
pretty well, but I'm notbuying that every week. You know,
it's very expensive. It's alsonot available everywhere. I live
on the east coast, wildsockeye is on the west coast. Imagine
you think about the carbonfootprint of bringing that over from
the west coast to the eastcoast every week. For me to get wild
sockeye, it's not sustainable.So it's farmed and wild. Sometimes
(31:02):
I will have wild, you know,for whatever I feel like having.
But, like, as a staple, farmedis more available. It's less expensive
and has a very similarnutrient profile.
Like, excellent nutrientprofile, too. I mean, salmon is like
the perfect food. It's likethe superfood. It's a superfood with
all the great fats inside ofit. It's delicious.
(31:24):
I just want people to eat moreseafood. You know, we don't eat enough
seafood in North America. And,you know, that comes into play about
getting more omega 3s and 6s.The Western diet is very high in
omega 6. You still need someomega 6, but the ratio is way off
balance. Like, people justneed to be eating more seafood and
more of the Omega 3s.
And not necessarily batteredand deep fried.
(31:45):
No, I mean, sure, once in awhile, but there's so many different
ways to eat seafood that, youknow, that's why I say it's farmed
and wild, not. Or.
Yeah. It's funny because I gotmy kids to start eating salmon because
they would not touch salmonwith the sashimi, with sushi. I mean,
they love the raw flavor. Andit was something about the marbling
and the flavor. And from therekind of just went into, like, the
(32:08):
cooked salmon.
You just gotta try differentthings and see what you like.
Yeah. I've said this before.My wife didn't like salmon until
she met me.
Oh.
It's all about the way youcook it.
It totally is, period.
If you overcook salmon, it'sgonna taste like canned tuna.
Right?
You know, that's.
Some people like that, though.
No, if you put mayo and celeryand spices maybe, but, like, dried.
(32:29):
Who wants dried salmon? Youwant moist salmon, almost like al
dente. You know how pasta canbe al dente, Perfectly cooked. You
want to cook the salmon. Idon't know if it's called al dente
for salmon. Medium, rare,medium, whatever you want to call
it, but juicy on the insideand just, you know, crusted on the
outside. And obviously thebest way to cook salmon is with.
I like using the air fryer.
(32:49):
Yeah, it's got to be there.
So you cannot do. You can't gowrong. You can't screw that up.
No, no.
Well, you can overcook it, Iguess, but.
Yeah, that's true. But yeah, Imean, it just. It cooks quicker.
You don't need any to sprayany oil on it either because there's
already fat in there. So easyjust pop it into the air fryer and
the skin crisps up, which islike, excellent. All right, so we're
gonna start eating farmsalmon. It's safe to eat. It's delicious.
(33:12):
It's grown sustainably as wellthis day and age, and it's found
pretty much everywhere at areasonable price as well. So we're
not gonna be overpaying for it.
Absolutely.
That's the one lesson we'veLearned today. So, Dr. Stephanie
Colombo, thank you so much forbeing on the show. Come on over someday
so I can cook you my salmon aswell. Oh, awesome. I have a great
recipe.
(33:33):
Thanks so much, George.
Thanks for being on the show.
Thanks.
And for all our listeners outthere, thanks for hanging with us.
Follow the Always Hangrypodcast wherever you get your podcast
and visitalwayshangrypodcast.com for more
episodes, updates and a lotmore. I'm George Duran. Until next
time, stay hungry.
I used to go to Dairy Queenand get a dipped cone, but instead
of sprinkles, nerds I couldsee because.
Of the sourness of the.
Exactly.
Yeah. Man, that must be acolorful poop. Welcome to the Always
Hangry podcast, where we breakdown the way we eat. The good, the
bad, and the completelyridiculous. I'm George Duran. Today
(00:21):
we're exploring the strangestthings Costco sells in bulk. Debating
whether brunch is one big ripoff putting Dubai chocolate on trial
in trend or trash. And later,we're busting some of the biggest
myths you've probably heardabout farm salmon. Joining me today,
the delightfully funny, thedangerously opinionated and somewhat
still invited to dinnerparties, Carla Walsh.
(00:42):
Dangerously opinionated. Ilove it.
Yeah, you're invited to dinnerparties because you probably have
a lot of great talking pointswhen it comes to food.
I love, like, a get to knowyou question about food or otherwise.
It's just so much more funthan the small talk.
Are you still doing storiesabout Costco, by the way?
Always. Yes. People have avoracious appetite for Costco.
Why? Why is Costco so. So popular?
(01:02):
I feel like there's a littlebit of something for everything,
everybody. And like, you're amembership. You have a membership,
so you feel like you. You'repart of the family. And everybody
has, like, their hidden gemthat you're just like you. You have
to know about this. And itfeels special to be able to share
something that means somethingto you with someone else.
So Costco has a list of weirdthings that they've sold, and I found
(01:26):
out that they sold sold thingslike arcade games. Wait, like, stand
up, full blown pinball machinearcade games. Wow. Yeah, pretty interesting.
Buckets of apocalypse food.
I've seen those.
I've seen those. Have you everpurchased one?
Absolutely not. I'm not aprepper, George.
Okay, fine. I wanna buy it.Just to taste it.
(01:48):
By the way, I mean, I wouldread that story. Yeah, I think you
need the world needs.
No, I would open it. If, like,I ran out of eggs, I'd be like, get
the powdered eggs from thebasement, kids. We're gonna have
eggs here. Even though there'sno apocalypse for 120 days.
Worth of eggs.
Yeah, and they expire too.That's the thing. Even after 10 years,
people are just throwing themaway. But I don't know what to expect.
Even during COVID we didn'treally. Nobody pulled their buckets
(02:11):
of dried eggs?
No, they did not.
But Costco sells buckets ofapocalypse food. Wow. Yeah. Giant
nutcracker statues.
Okay, holiday time. How big is giant?
Like this six foot tall, Humansize. Massive.
That would be kind of creepy.
Yeah. I wonder if they work.
What kind of nuts would youneed to crack in that nutcracker?
Coconuts. It's a nutcracker,obviously. Here's some of the weirder
(02:36):
things that Costco has sold.
Okay.
Gold bars.
Okay.
Costco shoppers were buying1oz gold bars so aggressively that
analysts estimated hundreds ofmillions in monthly sales.
Wow. That's wild.
Yeah. And it was huge. Iremember when it first came out,
everybody was rushing to getthem, like Pokemon cards, but they
were gold bars.
(02:56):
This is so interesting to me.
Yeah. Diamond rings.
I. I don't know how I'd feelbeing proposed to with a Costco ring.
I mean, I do appreciate a goodvalue, but I would be wanting to
know where that diamond camefrom, I guess.
Do you think that somebodyproposing someone with a Costco ring
will tell them, like, oh, bythe way, I bought this at Costco.
I mean, there are some peoplewho get married at Costco, so I bet
(03:19):
some people would reallyappreciate that.
That's not bad.
Yeah. I mean, a new definitionof walking down the aisle. Right.
I told my wife we should maybedo one of those before we got married.
Really?
Yeah. And she said she wouldalso want to do the divorce there
too. Do it for cheap.
Did they give you a discountfor being a member?
They give you free divorce,like a free divorce certificate whenever
you want. Just fill it out.
Wow.
(03:40):
I have no idea. Free, Free. Ofcourse. You know, you buy something,
get some.
Legally binding and everything.
Buy one, get one free.
Oh, no.
Costco has sold 72 poundwheels of Parmesan.
Yes, I could see that. But howdo you make it through that much
unless you're a restaurant or.
Have a forklift in the back.
Exactly. How do you get it out?
And what do you do with a 72pound wheel of Parmesan if you don't
(04:02):
have a restaurant?
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'veseen them like mix the pasta dishes
in the hollowed out Parmesanat restaurants. But you wouldn't
be doing that on a Tuesday at home.
No. Although you could, likejust make any meal, like a chicken,
you know, whatever it is, andjust shove it inside the Parmesan
wheel and just coat everythingwith Parmesan.
Yeah.
Costco has sold coffins and caskets.
(04:22):
Yeah, that's a lot.
These caskets reportedlybecame popular enough that funeral
homes complained years agobecause Costco undercut the traditional
pricing.
Wow. Oh, My gosh. Nothing likethat to remind you how mortal we
are.
Grandpa died. Kids, let's goto Costco.
Oh my gosh. No, George.
(04:45):
I mean, who's doing.
That's so wild. I know. Or dothey buy it before they pass away?
No one buys a casket beforethey pass away. That's kind of more.
Do they not. I don't know,like advanced funeral planning is
a thing. I've written storiesabout this, George.
Okay, but you do your will.You kind of plan out the money on
the side for the funeral andthe memorial. But you don't just
buy your casket. Like what areyou gonna do?
Go? I don't know. Some peoplelike prepay for them because.
(05:07):
They go and they sleep insideand see if it's comfortable enough.
I'm gonna go to Costco, shopfor a casket.
They just want to pick out thestyle that they want.
Honey, I'm going to Costco totry out my casket.
That is quite morbid. Butyeah, some people are planners.
Costco's also had giant teddybears for sale. Yeah, I think a foot
tall.
The last time I was there, Isaw a sauna. Like a full on, like
(05:30):
walk inside two person sauna.
Did they have it for testing?Like people could walk in there.
Yeah, exactly. It was likewooden walled, round, like beautiful.
You'd see it in a magazine.
Was it on?
$10,000. It was not on.
It was on.
No, it was just like there foryou to sit in. But if it was on,
I should have brought my robe.
Yeah. They weren't likecooking lobster and meat. Costco
lobster, meat and shrimp inthere by any chance?
(05:51):
The roast history chickenswere just like spinning from the
ceiling.
Two for one man. That worksvery good. Do you have a favorite
meal of the day?
There's merit to them all, butI would say probably dinner because
you look forward to it. Lotsof variety. Yeah.
Do you have a least favoritemeal of the day?
I wouldn't say least favorite,but lunch is the one I probably pay
the least attention to.
(06:12):
Yeah. Mine has got to be brunch.
Yeah. Oh, brunch is a definiteyeah. That would be my answer if
that qualifies.
Because obviously I don'tbrunch. I feel like it's a little
too late for breakfast. Yeah,well, too early for lunch.
Also, like, what is the timingfor brunch? This has perplexed me
since I lived in New Yorkbecause brunch here starts at like
one o'. Clock.
Insane.
Where in Iowa People think I'mwild when I propose it for 11. They're
(06:35):
like, why not 9:30?
I agree, I agree. Believe itor not, brunch started as an excuse
to sleep in. Back in 1895, aBritish writer named Guy Barringer
suggested combining breakfastand lunch into one relaxed Sunday
meal for people who'd been outpartying the night before. It was
supposed to be less formal,more social, and obviously a lot
(06:56):
more easier on the hangover.You fast forward 130 years later
and restaurants began torealize that they could overcharge
for cheap potatoes, eggs,pancakes, and oj. Honestly, for me,
I think brunch is just anexcuse for overpriced eggs.
Yeah. Are you a sweet or savory?
I'm a savory person. Brunchperson of every kind. I like savory.
(07:19):
But the idea that somebody'scharging me 20 something dollars
for a couple of eggs that Ican make at home easily, it's absolutely
crazy. And I wonder if peoplewould pay the same price for these
brunch foods for dinner. So ifyou are to make an omelette for dinner
or pancakes for dinner in arestaurant, do you think people would
charge the same price?
Yeah, it's interesting becauseyou do see that at diners, but that's
(07:42):
really the only place. Andthey're not expensive.
There's always a two hour waitfor brunch.
Yeah, I know. It's always likea long line. We have that too. And
it's like places that don'ttake reservations and your whole
party has to be there and it'slike a whole thing.
Here's why brunch is probablythe worst meal to purchase. Because
the night before on a Saturdaynight, the main chef of that restaurant
(08:03):
who's creating the real dishesis also out cooking, the drinking,
having a good time. Andthere's no way that guy is waking
up the next day, Sundaymorning to cook. So he's letting
his underlings cook the brunch.
Well, I hear that a lot ofpeople who work in the restaurant
industry don't like workingbrunch. And so it's probably like
their heart isn't maybe in it.
In the same way you'reoverpaying for eggs and potatoes
(08:24):
for some other dude who's notthe main chef of the restaurant to
cook for it. Yeah, that's mytheory. I hate brunch. Another thing
that ruins brunch is mimosas.It's an American invention.
I'm not a mimosa fan. If I geta mimosa, I get a glass of champagne
and then I ask Them to put thejuice on the side so I can add how
much I want. But as I said,I'm not much of a day drinker, so
(08:46):
that would be like a onceevery five year occasion.
And you're ruining thechampagne by adding orange juice
to it. Yes.
It's always too much. It's toosweet. And so I just want to add
like a spoonful to be polite.
Yeah.
Are you more of a Bloody Maryperson or are you just coffee?
No, I like Bloody Marys. Ilike them spicy. And there's some
really interesting, weirdbrunch mining items out there.
Okay.
(09:06):
Including Bloody Mary's.
Oh, gosh.
So here's a list of theweirdest brunch items to ever exist
in the United States.
I don't know if I'm ready.
Claudio's Waterfront in Longisland, well, they serve a Bloody
Mary with an entire lobsterhanging out of it.
That is a meal. That is not a drink.
It's insane. But a whole lobster.
Right. How do you even eatthat or.
(09:28):
Drink it when you're hungover?You're hungover, man.
I guess you figure it out.
At Sobelman's in Milwaukee,they serve the chicken fried bloody
beast. I can't even say that.It's a massive Bloody Mary served
with an entire fried chickenon top.
No, like the whole bird.
The entire bird.
(09:48):
How does the glass not tip over?
It's almost like a pitcher.
Yeah.
And they put this giant friedchicken. Chicken on top of it.
Wow.
I think this is all designedjust for Instagram. This is not designed
to be delicious. Right.
I'm telling you, the power ofthe hangover.
Yeah.
Anything is possible. Andpeople in Wisconsin are known for
their Bloody Marys. I mean,they put things like bacon and crazy
(10:09):
things on top of it.
Yeah. I mean, it's gotta bepart of the culture because it's
before football games.
Gotta fuel up the whole friedchicken. I love it.
That is inventive. So do you,like, dip it in the Bloody Mary or.
Why is that a combo thatpeople are.
I think, again, it's thatchicken and waffles kind of mentality
maybe. And then you have theBloody Mary. And I think they just
want to go over.
(10:30):
They just want to serve themtogether. It's not designed to be
consumed together.
It's like 65 bucks.
You see, with the lobster, atleast I could see you like making
almost like a seafood soup situation.
Right.
Give me a bowl and I'll deconstruct.
This, like grilled cheesedipping inside your tomato soup.
But this time, lobsterExactly. But the fried chicken, that's
a little bizarre.
That's a little bit.
I prefer like a rotisseriechicken on it.
Yeah, me too.
(10:50):
A little savory and just kindof let the drippings go inside the
Bloody Mary.
Yeah.
Oh, that's disgusting. LaParker Meridian. Here in New York
City, they serve a $2,000lobster frittata.
Wow. What else is on there? Isit caviar?
It has six eggs, cream chives,an entire fresh lobster. Here we
go again.
Okay.
(11:10):
10 ounces of sabruga caviarserved on Yukon gold potatoes and
topped with lobster sauce.
Wow, that is a lot of seafood action.
That's a lot of money.
Yeah. $2,000 if you've got it.I guess you get to choose what you
value and if you would wantthat for. For your menu, great. But
that's a lot of money.
But it's also not that big.Yeah, it's not that big. It's small.
(11:32):
Like, you can just eat it inone sitting. It's fine.
Right?
And then there's $2,000 rightoff the bat.
I know, for brunch. But Imean, hey, like, some people buy
handbags for $2,000. Somepeople get fancy hotel rooms. So
I guess it's up for you todecide, but that would not be my
choice. For $2,000, I couldsee myself carrying.
A frittata everywhere, justshowing it to everybody. Check it
(11:55):
out.
I mean, you want to show itoff? If you spent $2,000 on this,
like,.
Little plastic case and justkind of be like, check it out. $2,000
frittata.
Exactly. Aren't you jealous?
Go to parties and just show it off.
Yeah, it's like a pet.
Yeah, pet it and eat it. TheTwisted Biscuit brunch company has
the big cheese. It's an entiremozzarella log that's been breaded
(12:15):
and deep fried.
How big is the mozzarella? Oh,are we talking like it's a log? Wow.
It's huge.
Okay, so this is a shareableitem. I mean, hypothetically.
Hypothetically. And it comeswith a dip next to it and people
order it and you just kind ofjust rip it apart like a giant mozzarella
stick.
Wow.
Yeah. And finally, arestaurant in LA called Baltaire
(12:36):
is known for their tablesidecinnamon roll. It's a giant, about
a foot wide cinnamon roll. Andthey serve it with a massive amount
of cream cheese frosting.
Wow.
I mean, I have seen thoseskillet cinnamon rolls where you,
like slice them into wedges.Yes, I could see that.
But it's table side. It'stable side. They come to you. Yeah.
You know how they do theCaesar salad?
Yeah.
They do this with cinnamonroll and they drizzle the.
(12:58):
What part of it is table side?
I guess the frosting part.
Okay.
What a scam. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm just like, what part ofthis needs to be presented? I mean,
if you're getting reallycreative with your marketing, Auntie
Anne's is table side, isn'tit? Cause you're, like, right up
to the counter, so. Or sharinga table.
Yes.
And that costs, like, what, $4?
Yeah, but it's notInstagramable. I guess that's all
(13:21):
it is.
I mean, the best part of thatexperience is the smell. So if you
can't Instagram, it's notworth it.
What are they pumping out ofthe cinnamon? Cinnabons at Cinnabuns
in the malls.
Cinnabon and Auntie Anne's.It's like, what is that smell? And
why can I not resist it?
And why don't they sell thatin a bottle that I can take home
and spray it in my house?
Or a candle?
Yeah. It's not real. Almost.It's, like, too cinnamony.
Yes, exactly.
It's so freaking good.
(13:41):
It's the volume turned up oncinnamon roll.
I'm like a cartoon characterflying, you know? And then you see
it, and it has, like, 18,000calories, and you're like, do I do
this or not?
Do you do it?
I have.
How do you feel about the Auntien?
Oh, man.
Or a Cinnabon?
It's buttery and just. It'sall carbs and it's so freaking good.
(14:03):
And I get the lure. Iunderstand it, but it's just. I can't
imagine. It's real butter.
No, I don't think so.
And I can't imagine it's likereal cream cheese. Like, it's just
too. It's too good to be real.
Yeah.
We're so good at that in this country.
We are.
We're the best. Best.
It is a gift.
(14:40):
All right, let's take a quickbreak. When we come back, we're playing
Trend or Trash. And later on,we're answering every question you've
ever had about farm salmon,even the ones you didn't know you
had. Welcome back. We're goingto do a little segment now called
Trend or Trash? Where weexplore certain trends, and we see
(15:00):
if it's trash or it's actuallyworthy of being called a trend. Can't
wait and you see a lot oftrends out there too.
I do, yes. The latest one I'mseeing everywhere is the dot cake.
Have you seen these?
What's this?
It's like a cake that is in,like, a little cup, and it's covered
edge to edge with, like, nonpareils. Is that how you say that?
Yes, yes.
The rainbow jimmies orsprinkles. Yes.
(15:22):
Oh, that's right. And theyturn it upside, downside, down,.
And it's, like, covered.
I have been seeing that. A lotof it. I hate sprinkles.
Do you?
Oh, my God. Cause it tasteslike sand. Like, it's just, like,
crunchy, and it's, like, inyour mouth and it's already sweet,
whatever you're eating. Andwhy just add even more sugar? You
might as well put sugarcrystals on and chew on sugar, right?
I can't stand it. But what isit with kids who love anything with
sprinkles?
I love anything as a kid, thatwas me. Or like, I used to go to
(15:45):
Dairy Queen and get a dippedcone, but instead of sprinkles. Nerds.
Oh, man.
Don't knock it till you try it.
Oh, my God. You must have arich dentist.
So much. Oh, I do. So muchsugar, but delicious. Try it next
time. Instead of sprinkles.
I could see because of thesourness of the.
Exactly. That can be reallycrunchy smooth. Yeah, it hits.
(16:06):
Yeah. Man, that must be acolorful poop.
Oh, gosh.
All right, trend or trash?We're talking today about Dubai Chocolate.
Oh, yes. This has been aroundfor a couple years. It's everywhere.
Dubai Chocolate was inventedby Sarah Hamouda, a British Egyptian
chocolatier based in Dubai. In2021, Sarah had a pregnancy craving
(16:26):
for something sweet that hadpistachios with the kunafiye, which
is the filo dough textures,and chocolate as well. So she began
experimenting at home, andlater with her husband, they launched
the first Dubai Chocolate. Andagain, once TikTok took over, man,
everywhere. It's still around.
It is, yes.
What do you think about Dubai Chocolate?
(16:47):
I think that it, like, lostits appeal to me about one month
into the trend. It was justeverywhere. And I also, like, never
purchased any of the actualbars because I. They were, like,
$20 crazy. And that's notworth it to me.
No. I made Dubai Chocolate.
Have you?
Yeah.
How'd it go?
It came out great. It was fora client, and you opened it up and
you have that amazing, youknow, and it had a lot of views.
(17:09):
Like, it just. It looks Good.It sounds good. I don't think it
tastes that good.
It's not my favorite kind ofdessert, but I see the appeal and
I like seeing all thecreativity of all the remixes, but
that's. It's kind of likeeverywhere so much that you're just
like, okay, we're ready forthe next thing.
Well, it tastes like. It feelslike you're chewing sand or some
(17:30):
sort of crunchy thing inthere. And the Conifea, the filo
dough, it's a nice idea,right? It just.
And delicious in other uses.Like, it's in lots of, like, honey
desserts.
So we're going to play alittle game here.
Okay.
This game is called Dubai orAI, where I'll give you some of the
things made for DubaiChocolate. And you have to tell me
if it's a real thing thatsomeone's made or if I just had AI
(17:51):
and makeup.
Oh, wow. This is going to bedifficult. Okay, I'm ready.
We're playing Dubai or AI. Isthis real Dubai Chocolate or is it
AI? Dubai Chocolate Burger.
Oh, no, that has to be AI.
It's Dubai. No, it's real.
Ah. How do they do this? Wait,is the bun Dubai Chocolate?
Well, they made kind of like asweet bun, brioche bun kind of thing,
(18:11):
and they layered it with achocolate and then the kunefia and
then the. So they kind of layered.
So there's not beef in this.
No beef in it, though. Butit's still called a Dubai Chocolate
Burger. Yeah, yeah, I got youthere. Dubai Chocolate chicken wings.
I'm gonna say that's AI.
No, it's real.
Come on.
At the Southington Wing Fest,somebody actually made Dubai Chocolate
(18:33):
wings. They've taken wings andthey've put. With pistachio cream.
They put the kunafi in the.Drizzle it with chocolate. And I
don't think there was oneperson who said that it tasted good.
No, I could not see that. No.
What are people doing here?Dubai chocolate tuna melt.
I mean, at this point, I haveto say that's real, but that cannot
be. No, there is no chocolatewith tuna. Hard pass AI.
(18:54):
It's AI.
Thank God. I finally got one.
Dubai chocolate steak tartare.
I'm gonna say that's Dubai.Yeah, that's real.
That is not real. Who's gonnaeat steak tartare?
I think they've done crazierthings, as we've heard.
Maybe we're gonna have to dothat too.
I know somebody will.
(19:15):
Dubai Chocolate deviled eggs.
Oh, yes. I've seen a Dessert.Deviled egg trend happening. Somebody
did like a. What is that cakewith the cherries and chocolate?
Black forest cake.
Oh, black forest cake.
Somebody did a deviled eggwith that. So I'm gonna say that's
Dubai.
It's AI. I couldn't find itanywhere. Yeah. Yes.
People are doing dessert,deviled eggs because they're like.
(19:36):
Well, an egg white doesn'ttaste like much anyway, so why not
put something sweet in the middle?
Boy, Chatgpt is onto something here.
I know.
Maybe we should invent it.
I feel like that could be athing. I mean, it's protein.
Right.
People would eat that.
Right. And you already eateggs with desserts, so why not?
Exactly.
Dubai chocolate Ramen.
I'm going to say that's AI.
It's real. The companyBulldog, created a Dubai chocolate
(19:59):
ramen.
Is it dessert flavored, then?
I don't know. I think it'schocolatey and it has the kunafi
in it. Perhaps.
But what is a broth?
I think it's just, like, thespicy kind of thing on it. So it's
a spicy Dubai chocolate.
Interesting.
It's real Dubai chocolate lasagna.
That is definitely a. Yes,that's a dessert Dubai for sure.
Yeah, that's a real thing.Dubai chocolate mashed potatoes.
(20:24):
I'm going to say that's AI.
That's AI. Yeah. But I wouldbe very curious what that looks like.
I know. I feel like that's notthe weirdest one of the bunch.
Yeah, yeah. Dubai chocolate pickles.
No, that can AI.
Somebody made.
What haven't they done withpickles at this point? I should have
known better.
(20:45):
They've covered it in somesort of, like, pistachio cream.
But the chocolate. I guessthey do do chocolate covered pickles.
Yeah.
Gosh, I should have known.
But it was just pregnant womeneating it.
They had that craving of, hey,that's a pretty large market, honestly.
Yeah. Dubai chocolate popcorn.
Yes, that is definitely for sure.
That's an easy one. Andfinally, Dubai chocolate Caesar salad.
(21:08):
Oh, no.
Why not?
Tell me it's not a thing.
It's not a thing.
Okay. Why not? Becauseanchovies. I don't know.
Yeah, but you put the croutonson. Caesar salad are already crunchy
and crispy and whatever.
I get that. But the chocolateis just a step too far.
Yeah, Lettuce and chocolate.
I don't need lettuce with chocolate.
Nobody does. No, nobody does.All right, well, thank you again
for being on the show.
(21:29):
Such a delight, George.
So much fun. We'll keepexploring different Trends. Cause
they're constantly happening.There's a lot of food shows throughout
the year also where Iexploring you go as well. Yeah, so
we'll go visit those shows andkind of see what else is trending
and talk about them and trashthem if we have to.
I'd be delighted.
(22:04):
Thanks, Carla Walsh, everyone.And up next, we're talking farmed
salmon. The myths, themisconceptions, and what's actually
true. Stay tuned. Welcomeback. If you've ever wondered whether
farmed salmon is healthy,sustainable, or secretly planned
plotting to ruin civilization,we're about to get some answers.
(22:24):
Joining us is Dr. StephanieColombo, Associate professor at Dalhousie
University and an expert inaquaculture nutrition. She studies
what fish eat, how they'reraised, and why so many of the things
we think we know about farmsalmon may not actually be true.
Dr. Colombo, thanks for beingon. Always hangry.
Yeah, thanks for inviting me.
I was at Whole Foods the otherday at the fish counter, and I watched
(22:46):
this lady approach the quote,unquote fishmonger. That's what I'm
gonna call him, a fishmonger.I mean, I don't know how much Whole
Foods really has fishmongers.And she said, I want to get salmon.
I just don't know which one.And this fishmonger literally pushed
this wild salmon piece that Iswear was probably dead for months
now. It was the saddest pieceof salmon I've seen in my life. And
(23:08):
I approached her afterwards, Isaid, why? What are you doing? What
are you doing, lady? Why thewild salmon? And she said, I would
never buy farmed salmon. Whatis this negative stigma we have on.
On farm salmon?
I don't know. It confuses metoo, honestly. But I think it's because
salmon farming is new. And Ithink for people, it's a bit of a
(23:28):
black box because it's new.You know, we're used to for other
farm products, we have dairycows, we have poultry. That's already
ingrained. That's. Beeffarming has been happening for 10,000
years. But that's like saying50 years. It's like, you know, that's
so new.
It's crazy because that's likesaying for Thanksgiving, I want Wild
Turkey.
Right?
I'd rather have Wild Turkey.And those gobble like those. There's
(23:51):
no meat on Wild Turkey. And itprobably tastes awful, right? Nobody
wants wild Turkey forThanksgiving. We all want the farm,
plump, fat turkeys.
That's right.
And the same thing goes with,like you said, beef, poultry. We're
farming the good stuff. Anddon't get me wrong, there's for wild
elk and all these peoplehunting. And again, I don't like
(24:11):
the wild flavors and the gameyflavors. So that's why farm salmon
has got to taste better, atleast in my opinion. It tastes much
better. It has that marblingto it. Why is farm salmon so fatty
and so marbled and delicious?
I mean, the marbling isbecause of the species. So that's
a natural genetic trait thatthey have.
(24:32):
Wait, what is a species calledsalmo salar?
That is the species name ofAtlantic salmon. But, you know, the
woman at the counter you werejust talking about, she was probably
looking having a wild sockeyeor a wild chinook compared to a farmed
Atlantic. You're not comparingthe same thing. So the marbling that
all of the description thatyou just described of a farmed salmon
(24:54):
is because of salmo salar, thespecies Atlantic salmon.
I understand. So what you'resaying is Atlantic salmon doesn't
mean it comes from theAtlantic necessarily. It's just.
That's the species. That's thename of the species. It's called
Atlantic salmon.
Yes, but it is from theAtlantic Ocean.
Oh, it is. Okay. Originally.
Originally.
And we've chosen Atlanticsalmon to farm Atlantic salmon because
it. It works best. Right? Imean, these are like giant pens of
(25:17):
water up in the Atlanticregion in Norway and Scotland, and
they're happily living theirlives and they're easier to grow.
Yep, yep.
Yeah. It's like almost likethe type of chicken you raise. There
are certain breeds of chickenthat grow better for rotisserie chicken
than, you know, the wildchickens are.
That's true. I mean, that'sinteresting that you said that because,
you know, for poultry, we'vebeen farming for 8,000 years. But
(25:41):
first. And you have differentbreeds. You have lots of different
breeds. That's still the samespecies. Oh, you're just seeing different
breeds now. Salmon. Farmsalmon are only at their 12th generation.
It's only been 12 generations.
That's it.
So you don't have breeds.Maybe in 100 years we might have
salmon breeds. Wouldn't thatbe cool? But not yet. It's too new.
(26:02):
Yeah. And the chickens arerelated to the dinosaur anyway, so.
Yeah, we're going way back now.
Yeah, way, way back. Oh,that's so interesting. Tell me. Okay,
so someone who doesn'tunderstand what farmed salmon. Farmed
salmon is coming from. So it'snot like there's this, like, factory
and this, you know, kind ofclosed environment that the salmon
are all squished in together.That's kind of a misnomer, people.
(26:25):
They are actually in theocean. Tell us what these pens are
like out in the cold oceans.
Yeah, they're very large pens,and there's usually, from a top view,
they're circles, they'reround, and they go really deep. And
the nets, I mean, the nettechnology has even changed. I mean,
the nets are very strong.They're very strong against anything
(26:46):
that could possibly breakthem. Sharks, currents, everything.
So imagine, you know, it's abig kind of a cone and it ties up
at the bottom, and the netsare cleaned, period, and things like
that. So. And there's usuallyseveral of them in one area because
they're not right. They'reusually not right on the coast. They're
maybe even a kilometer away.Right. And so that's the offshore
(27:10):
technology. And the offshoreaquaculture is becoming more popular.
It's away from the coast. Soyou go out there with a boat, a very
large boat, and you bringtheir feed to them. You do their
welfare assessment, Just checkon how they're doing, periodically
check doing weights and movingthem into different parts of the
(27:31):
farm and things like that.
So how do you monitor them?Like, is there a camera underneath?
There's underwater cameras. Yeah.
Wait, there's like, really?There's cameras inside?
Oh, yeah.
That's crazy. How do you. Isit lit? I mean, how do you even see
them?
Yeah. Oh, you can see them.That's a technology. Yeah.
What are you looking at? Like,how they're growing and their size?
There's a couple differentthings. And the technology, like
(27:52):
I said, aquaculture, is reallygood at quickly adopting technology
that will help the farmingprocess for efficiency, sustainability,
welfare. So the main reasonwhy the underwater cameras, Maybe
this was 10 or 15 years ago,they've been doing this for a while
even, is to monitor thefeeding behavior. So the feeding
behavior will tell you, arethey full? Should I stop feeding
(28:13):
them? Because we don't want towaste the feed. The feed is expensive,
and we also don't want topollute the environment. So someone
is operating the feed vessel.It's a big ship that has all the
feed on it. The feed isadministered to the fish. And meanwhile
underwater, you can see thefish eating. And there's an operator
on shore back at the farmthat's watching this happening. We
(28:34):
kind of know you can estimatehow much they're going to eat that
day based on their size andhow many fish you have. But sometimes
whatever, you know, they needto be, they. They're like, we're
Done. We're full right now.The operator can see that they're
kind of not interested in thefeed and like stop, stop feeding.
But then also the technologyis moving towards what we call biometrics.
(28:54):
So it's like, it's the samething as like facial recognition
on your phone that lets you inyour iPhone. The fish can be recognized
at the individual level. Fish,the salmon actually they kind of
have, if you look at theirfaces, their heads, they have kind
of like freckles. And thoseare individual. They're all unique
on every single, like ourfingerprint. Just like a fingerprint.
(29:15):
So the camera will identifywho's who. It can also identify.
Wait, wait, wait. There'sthousands of fish and there are hundreds
of fish in the pen and there'sa camera that can actually like face
detection can identify the salmon.
That's what it's going towards.
That's crazy.
Yeah. And this is helpfulbecause there's certain behaviors
that might alert a farmerthat, oh, this one, they're not feeling
(29:38):
so well or something likethat, which would allow the farmer
to make decisions about howthe fish are being treated or handled
or you know, what they need todo that day. Call the vet or something
like that. The early detectionis important because that behavior
would signal potentiallythere's something wrong. It just
alerts the farmer earlier. Soall of this data that the farmer
(30:00):
collects is really importantfor the day to day operations. It
makes it easier for the farmerand way better for the fish because
they're being monitored and ifthey need help, they will get it
immediately.
It's interesting becauseagain, the people who are buying
the wild salmon, first of all,it's more expensive.
Yeah.
And it's not necessarilybetter for you. Necessarily better.
(30:20):
We have to feed the world.
And that's just, it is likeit's not, it's not farm versus wild.
It's farmed and wild.
Yes.
We can't, we don't have theavailability. We don't want. We want
to protect the wild sockeye.We don't want to over harvest their
fishery and have a problemthere. So not everyone, and you know,
myself included, I'm notbuying wild sockeye. I mean, I do
(30:42):
pretty well, but I'm notbuying that every week. You know,
it's very expensive. It's alsonot available everywhere. I live
on the east coast, wildsockeye is on the west coast. Imagine
you think about the carbonfootprint of bringing that over from
the west coast to the eastcoast every week. For me to get wild
sockeye, it's not sustainable.So it's farmed and wild. Sometimes
(31:02):
I will have wild, you know,for whatever I feel like having.
But, like, as a staple, farmedis more available. It's less expensive
and has a very similarnutrient profile.
Like, excellent nutrientprofile, too. I mean, salmon is like
the perfect food. It's likethe superfood. It's a superfood with
all the great fats inside ofit. It's delicious.
(31:24):
I just want people to eat moreseafood. You know, we don't eat enough
seafood in North America. And,you know, that comes into play about
getting more omega 3s and 6s.The Western diet is very high in
omega 6. You still need someomega 6, but the ratio is way off
balance. Like, people justneed to be eating more seafood and
more of the Omega 3s.
And not necessarily batteredand deep fried.
(31:45):
No, I mean, sure, once in awhile, but there's so many different
ways to eat seafood that, youknow, that's why I say it's farmed
and wild, not. Or.
Yeah. It's funny because I gotmy kids to start eating salmon because
they would not touch salmonwith the sashimi, with sushi. I mean,
they love the raw flavor. Andit was something about the marbling
and the flavor. And from therekind of just went into, like, the
(32:08):
cooked salmon.
You just gotta try differentthings and see what you like.
Yeah. I've said this before.My wife didn't like salmon until
she met me.
Oh.
It's all about the way youcook it.
It totally is, period.
If you overcook salmon, it'sgonna taste like canned tuna.
Right?
You know, that's.
Some people like that, though.
No, if you put mayo and celeryand spices maybe, but, like, dried.
(32:29):
Who wants dried salmon? Youwant moist salmon, almost like al
dente. You know how pasta canbe al dente, Perfectly cooked. You
want to cook the salmon. Idon't know if it's called al dente
for salmon. Medium, rare,medium, whatever you want to call
it, but juicy on the insideand just, you know, crusted on the
outside. And obviously thebest way to cook salmon is with.
I like using the air fryer.
(32:49):
Yeah, it's got to be there.
So you cannot do. You can't gowrong. You can't screw that up.
No, no.
Well, you can overcook it, Iguess, but.
Yeah, that's true. But yeah, Imean, it just. It cooks quicker.
You don't need any to sprayany oil on it either because there's
already fat in there. So easyjust pop it into the air fryer and
the skin crisps up, which islike, excellent. All right, so we're
gonna start eating farmsalmon. It's safe to eat. It's delicious.
(33:12):
It's grown sustainably as wellthis day and age, and it's found
pretty much everywhere at areasonable price as well. So we're
not gonna be overpaying for it.
Absolutely.
That's the one lesson we'veLearned today. So, Dr. Stephanie
Colombo, thank you so much forbeing on the show. Come on over someday
so I can cook you my salmon aswell. Oh, awesome. I have a great
recipe.
(33:33):
Thanks so much, George.
Thanks for being on the show.
Thanks.
And for all our listeners outthere, thanks for hanging with us.
Follow the Always Hangrypodcast wherever you get your podcast
and visitalwayshangrypodcast.com for more
episodes, updates and a lotmore. I'm George Duran. Until next
time, stay hungry.
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