September 5, 2025 • 26 mins
We woke up and chose violence today with this episode, BHP Fam! Let's get real...
Ever wonder why your server grimaces slightly when you mention you're gluten-free or vegan? In this candid, no-holds-barred episode, we pull back the curtain on one of the restaurant industry's most challenging topics: accommodating specialized diets like veganism, vegetarianism, and gluten-free requirements.
The numbers tell a fascinating story. True vegans represent just 1% of the population. Celiac disease affects another 1%. Yet somehow, these small percentages drive massive menu changes and kitchen accommodations across the restaurant landscape. We break down the statistics and explain why catering to these specialized diets creates significant operational challenges during busy service, essentially requiring chefs to become "personal chefs" for individual diners while simultaneously serving hundreds of others.
We explore why many self-diagnosed food sensitivities might actually stem from poor-quality ingredients rather than the foods themselves. Many Americans who can't tolerate domestic wheat products find they can happily consume European breads and pastas without issue. Similarly, many processed vegan alternatives contain more additives and chemicals than the single-ingredient animal products they replace.
This isn't about dismissing legitimate dietary needs or ethical choices. It's about setting realistic expectations in the restaurant-customer relationship. Just as you wouldn't expect a sushi restaurant to serve the perfect ribeye, not every restaurant concept can accommodate every dietary preference.
For diners with specialized needs, we offer practical advice: research menus before dining out, communicate with restaurants in advance, and understand that some concepts simply aren't designed for certain dietary restrictions. And for those who have self-diagnosed food sensitivities, we suggest exploring higher-quality ingredients before eliminating entire food groups from your diet, or go through the proper testing to verify your issues. If it doesn't sit well in your gut... don't eat it.
Listen in for an unfiltered look at food service from the chef's perspective, and gain insights that might forever change how you order your next meal.
Welcome to the show! Burnt Hands Perspective
VIRTUAL TIP JAR: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2388325/support
CONTACT US:
www.burnthandsperspective.com
info@reframeyourbrand.com
IG @Theburnthandsperspective
Thank you to our location sponsor, Luce Secondo, located in Summit Pointe in Chesapeake, VA www.lucesecondo.com
For sponsorship opportunities, don't hesitate to get in touch with us directly.
*The views and opinions on this show are meant for entertainment purposes only. They do not reflect the views of our sponsors. We are not here to babysit your feelings, if you are a true industry pro, you will know that what we say is meant to make you laugh and have a great time. If you don't get that, this is not the podcast for you. You've been warned. Enjoy the ride!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
What do we got today?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So this is going to be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It is.
It's all fun.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's always fun Well they're all fun, but this is
polarizing because we're goingto talk about vegans,
vegetarians and gluten-free ohyeah, so we're going to piss off
what?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
How much?
We're going to piss off 1% ofthe world.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
This is the thing People like to pretend that it's
such a big deal.
We've talked about this, aboutthe pussification and that
people like tailor their menusto fit vegan and gluten-free,
and all these things when theactual population of people who
are that way is so small.
So why is your 90 of your menudedicated to less than 10 of the
(00:58):
population?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
yeah, this is it.
That's the problem.
So let's talk about somenumbers here.
Let's.
Let's start with vegan.
Okay, let's start with this.
Um again, no disrespect to you.
If you're a vegan, it is whatit is, but there's an issue here
.
I have with it because it'sfirst of all, it's something
that everyone else has to dealwith yeah and and it sucks
because nobody has.
Everybody has a right to dowhat they want to do yes, right,
(01:20):
and if it's ethical, more powerto you.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Whatever it is, bring your bullshit to other people's
restaurants thinking theyshould cater to you when you're
here's the problem?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
there is not, unless you're in a major city yes with
major foot traffic and major umdifferences in culture, like
more, more diverse.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, because usually diversity more more vegan or
vegetarian style restaurant.
More it's more because it'smore concentrated, more
concentrated more liberal idea,the ideology stuff like that,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So the bottom line is this when you look at the
statistics of being a V becausewe do all this, when I, when I,
go into the restaurant world andmake the statistics, we have to
freaking see what genres.
We have to look at what's goingon per capita in the, in the
areas national, where we, at onepercent of so technically,
we'll break down the numbersfirst and then we'll go into
each one of them.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So technically, it was as high as three percent
identified as vegan, but thatnumber has dropped that was at
the height of the.
That was a height and theaverage overall.
So if we're looking at along-term average of running
numbers, it's about threepercent.
One percent is the actual rightnow in this year, I think yeah
when it fell back.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, 2025, it's down to 1%, but say around 3% was
the max 3%.
Now that goes for vegan.
So if you're talking about avegan-friendly menu in a
restaurant catering to 1% of thecommunity out of 99%, that's
not.
We're going to go with thevegan thing.
That's cool.
If someone's vegan, good foryou.
(02:48):
However, stop being mad at mebecause I'm not going to do it.
I have no interest in it.
Okay?
Being a vegan is a completelife choice.
It's a choice.
No doctor ever said, yeah, youneed to go vegan.
If they did, that's a pointzillionth of a percent.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
If they are a doctor who actually understands, like
skeletal muscle and actualphysiology, they will never tell
you that.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Right.
Well, I can't really sayanything about all that, but I
know I have a doctor friend whotold me one thing and one thing
only You'll never see a healthyone.
They keep them in business,right, yeah, but I can't count
on all that.
Look, that's an opinion, right,being a vegan is an opinion too
.
It's very hard for a restaurantowner or a chef who's not a
vegan to satisfy that genre ofpeople.
And when they come in and theyget mad because you don't have
(03:33):
options or give you a two-starreview because you don't have
options we don't, that's not.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
But so clarify for people what that means in your
kitchen, what?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
you have to do.
It means I have to sourceeverything out specifically for
that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And it can't be used in other dishes the way you want
out specifically for that, andit can't be used in other dishes
the way you want Correct, andnot only that, but you have to
educate yourself in things I'mnot really interested in
learning.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I'm not interested in learning about the whole vegan
thing.
I'm not.
I'm not interested in it.
Yeah, now does that make me abad chef?
No, it makes me one who's not avegan.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I'm just not into it.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Go there.
If your area doesn't have one,there's a reason If there's not
a fucking vegan-only restaurantwithin 50 miles of your location
there's a reason?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Well, it's not making money.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
It's not making money Unless you're going to support
them every day they can'tsustain that off of your one
belief.
Right.
So being a vegan in arestaurant is hard for the
restaurateur, it's hard for thechef and it's hard for the staff
.
Though we would like toaccommodate everybody, we can't
just accommodate every littlechoice you make in life.
You know, I'm saying, and it'shard, gluten-free is hard enough
, um we're gonna get to that ina minute, you know that's
(04:40):
another thing, you know, uh,being a vegetarian, that's a
little more feasible, sovegetarian.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
The percentage on on is about six percent now it used
to be like 10 yeah, so itactually has dropped over the
last years and I think a lot ofthat has to do with more
knowledge online about overallhealth and what's in certain
meats and quality meats andgoing for regenerative farming
and farming practices foranimals.
(05:08):
Like people are a little morecomfortable eating them because
mostly is an ethical thing.
I mean even vegetarian sure.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
so the other thing is we have you have, when it comes
to vegetarian, that percentagedropped as well, as because when
vegetarian was a thing at theheight of it all 20 years ago,
30 years ago, gmos andeverything that created the
vegetables weren't as dominanteither.
So now even vegetarians aregetting a shady deal because
even the vegetables and shit areso GM out and processed anyway
(05:36):
that are they really getting thebenefits of it?
Now?
The nutrition that would comefrom vegetables that were
keeping people healthy aren'treally there anymore in the
vegetables.
So it's hard to remainvegetarian only right now,
unless you're learning to liveor can afford a completely
organic or farm-to-tablesituation, quality, which really
isn't there.
So being a vegetarian nowadaysis even less nutrition than you
(05:59):
would think, because thevegetables themselves right now
don't even have the nutrients inthem that you need.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Which is ironic.
There is an ironic thing tothat that the highest country
with vegetarians is in India.
But you do have a lot ofquality products, like you
actually get fresh produce andstuff.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So theirs is like almost like 70 80 percent right,
but they're doing some greatstuff with vegetarian anyway.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I mean they do good yeah, they actually make it
taste good but, vegetarian, atleast you get a little bit of
leeway where you are stillconsuming like you can have
baked.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
You know certain baked goods, dairy, you know,
like that kind of thing rightand there's a lot of vegetarian
dishes that are actually reallygood, and I don't always eat
just meat.
It doesn't mean I'm avegetarian, but sometimes I want
a vegetable-based dish or apasta with vegetables in the
spring or something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So it doesn't mean that everything has to be that,
but when it comes to the veganthing, no-transcript, who knows
what.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
If they were touched in any kind of animal.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
It's a pain in the ass.
It really is.
If you had a reason to be vegan, meaning it's religious one
thing, or if you have a healthconcern that really has to force
you into it, I have no problemaccommodating that.
But it's really hard forsomeone to walk into your place
and ask can the chef makesomething for a vegan?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
No, you should look at the menu before you go.
You should study the menu andyou should say I can have this
salad or I can have thisvegetable, and maybe you get it.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
you know, not done in butter, whatever Like, whatever
the case may be, read the damnmenu before you go and the other
thing is this I hear otherchefs say if you're a good chef,
you should be able to makeanything.
It shouldn't be a problem.
Yeah, I am a good chef and Ican make it.
I absolutely can make somedelicious vegan food, no
question.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
But I don't want to, because what I'm doing here
right now for everybody else inmy restaurant on 150 covers
right now times and consistency.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You have to stop everything you're doing.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I have to stop what I'm doing, to go make you a
special dish.
Are you going to pay me extrato be your personal chef now?
No, you're not, that's thewhole point.
Now I have to stop doing whatI'm doing for everyone else, to
be your personal chef for thenext 30 minutes.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I can't touch anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
You can't touch anything else but you have to go
through it, then you have to gothrough it, then you have to go
through your head and make sureyou have the ingredients.
It's a lot to it, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All right, so that's a good one.
So vegetarian, and we do see alot of people kind of go back
and forth between pescatarianand vegetarian, because they
will, you know, and that'seasier in a restaurant.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, pescatarian is not a problem.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Pescatarian is easy, but vegetarian yeah.
So the numbers, I mean ithasn't been that high.
I mean it's gone down as low as4% of the US identifying.
Now these surveys may not be100% accurate.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
The reason why we're saying this everybody is not
because we're mad at anybodylike that, but the percentage is
so small.
It needs attention For theamount of shit we go through for
such a small percentage.
One or two people can come inin a night and just go crazy
because we can't accommodatethem.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
But you don't understand how much you're
asking out of somebody or someplace that doesn't do it.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, you can be mad all you want.
This is going to be youreducational process.
So moving on from those two andwe'll probably go back to them
anyways is going on togluten-free.
So we discussed gluten-free alittle bit, I think in season
one.
Like we had a topic that kindof skated around it and we
talked about it a little bit.
(09:20):
Um, so, technically, let'sclarify gluten-free and gluten
sensitivity, because there aretwo different things.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Celiac and gluten sensitivity are two different
things.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Gluten intolerance is a difference.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Um, gluten-free is is a term that was and I say this
all the time.
Someone doesn't want to fart ontheir first date or something.
They think not having gluten isgoing to be the answer to all
their problems, or bloating orinflammation, or you know, I ate
pasta the other day.
No, you're eating shit pasta,man.
That's the problem.
It doesn't mean it's the gluten.
You know you really got to.
You're taking away a lot by notknowing enough.
(09:52):
You know, and what I mean isyou're taking away a lot by not
knowing enough, and what I meanis you're taking away some of
the best things in life.
If you get a high-gradesemolina flour-based pasta here
made here that we make in-house,you're probably going to find
that your gluten intolerancedoesn't exist.
We don't use cheap, shitAmerican flour and I love
America, but I hate to admitthat I don't want shitty flour.
(10:14):
They make flour in massproductions because flour goes
in everything.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
It has pesticides.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So they have to make wheat, they have to make
everything happen fast, tocontinue on with that.
I mean, there's flour infucking things that aren't even
edible.
It's a used product, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
They use it as a fill .
Yeah, so this is.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
They use it as a fill , yeah, so this is.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Let's break down the note because people are going to
bitch about this.
So the gluten-free thing, weknow.
If you're gluten-free, it's thesame as doing CrossFit you have
to tell everybody.
We get it Like we understand,but let's go through the actual
numbers, because this is wherenumbers don't lie and you can
pretend all you want to, butthis is where it comes down to.
So this is actually foundation,national institute for health
(10:51):
and beyond celiac.
So these are actual medicalorganizations that do these
tests and know what it actuallyis.
So celiac disease is affectsone percent of the population.
I know one person who truly hasthis I know one person, yes so,
out of the thousands andthousands of people I know, I
know one person who has trulybeen diagnosed as celiac.
So stop saying you're celiac ifyou've never been properly
(11:13):
diagnosed.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, you're really putting something.
So being celiac is a miserablething.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It is literally like anaphylactic type response sick
doubling Like it's.
You touch it, you are goingdown.
So if you're not that person,you are not celiac.
So that's 1% of the population.
Then we move on to non-celiacgluten sensitivity, which most
people feel they are Right.
So this goes about 6% andthat's probably based on product
(11:38):
.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
People feeling yucky.
Yeah, just like it affects yourstomach, you do get
inflammation and there's sometruth to that because, like I
just said, there are someproducts out there that are
being made with such garbage.
In this country that is allowed.
That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, and it's one of the things that you have to
kind of trial and error.
But also gluten overload is athing.
So if you're eating it everyday and you're not allowing it
to cycle out of your body everythree to four days, you are
going to build up an intoleranceand you are going to have a
reaction.
I've done the same thing withchicken.
Any food you consume or overconsume can cause issues in your
body.
So that's actually you know,when you're looking at your diet
, spacing out things, it makes adifference.
So then there are there's theother categories.
(12:19):
There's two other categorieswhich you may not have known.
So we have celiac disease, nonceliac gluten sensitivity.
Then we have people limitinggluten for other reasons.
So they say it's beyonddiagnosed conditions, self
perceivedperceived healthbenefits and weight management,
and they say it's about 10% ofthe population limits just for
medical reasons.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And that's a big jump From 1%, who really can't have
gluten, to the 10%.
That means that's a huge jump.
That's a huge jump.
Now we're getting to where itstarts affecting the
restaurateurs.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yes, and now this next one is where it really
affects them, because there is afourth category, but wait,
there's more.
But wait, there's moreSelf-reported gluten-free diet,
so that's the one that's the one.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
We're talking about people.
They've never had a blood test.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
They've never had a bed to an actual doctor, not
just something online whereyou're going to some functional
medicine person, a doctor whoproperly diagnoses gluten
allergies and intolerances.
So that is actually 20% of thepopulation.
That's huge 20%.
Yeah, so I mean, that's a big.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
A hundred people walk in here, 20 of them could have
it.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Could We'll say that they are gluten free and let me
tell you something theyabsolutely do.
They do yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
When you come in this place andian restaurant we have
gluten free.
Yes, we do it.
You do because we really wantto make sure that the gluten
intolerant people who reallycan't have it, are taken care of
and they can come to a niceplace and eat.
That's not their fault right,yeah it's not a choice like
being a vegan, where you'remaking that option.
It's only a choice in the 20percent yeah.
So it's hard for us, as arestaurateur chef, to fucking
goddamn decipher the two, so wehave to go with it yeah because
(13:51):
we don't know how serious it isfor you.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But it's up to you when you take a risk, when you
have 10 to 15 people.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
This happens all the time.
On a friday, saturday night, 10to 15 people scattered
throughout the dining room atthe same time have gluten-free
on their fucking menu.
That means we have to cookeverything gluten-free.
We have to cook everything indifferent water.
We have to cook different pasta.
We have to make sure everythingdoesn't touch.
So if two people at a table arehaving the same thing, instead
of making the same thing twice,we have to make it two different
ways.
It's just a lot to it, just soyou can not feel the way you
(14:21):
think you feel.
Yeah, but go to a nicerestaurant who has quality
product and try the pasta.
You're taking it away fromyourself and you shouldn't.
It's not all bad.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
No, well, that's the thing we always hear people when
they travel.
Oh, I went to, you know, europe, and I was able to eat pasta
and pizza there and not feellike shit, of course, because of
the ingredients, exactly, andI'm using the same ingredients
so all the pasta stuff that weuse here is all from the
european standard yeah it allcomes from the, the european
standard of food, uh, theirversions of the FDA here, which
(14:52):
doesn't even compare.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So over there they have a lot of regulations, they
have a lot of standard, theyhave a lot of tradition that
they don't let, they don't letstray right.
Yeah, so here how fast can youget fucking weed on a table is
all we give a shit about.
And how fast can you shove itin your face in a Geno's pizza
roll?
Or how fast can you take aPop-Tart and shove it up your
(15:14):
ass?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
They don't care what's in it.
Faster absorption.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
It's fast, right, just inject it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's also just the rest of your shitty diet.
It's probably not the one thingyou ate.
It's a culmination of all thethings you ate.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, and we're going to get slack for this, because
people are like well, I don'tgive a shit, because you know
what.
It's hard to not say it, likewhen customers come in, we want
to make sure everyone's happy,but when it interferes with
everyone else's happiness it's apain in the ass.
You know what I'm saying?
That's my take on that.
(15:48):
The whole vegan thing and allthat.
It's your choice.
Much respect to you.
Keep it, do your thing with it,but don't get mad when every
restaurant kind of winces whenthey don't have a vegan menu.
We don't have one, I don't haveone.
That's just the way it is.
I'm not a vegan chef, just likeI'm not a sushi chef, and I'm
just like I'm not a pancake cook.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You're not trying to pretend to.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
It is what it is.
I mean I'm not going to.
But again, cutting your menu oraccommodating your menu for
that small of a percentage hurtsyour bottom line, and
restaurants can't do that, likethey can't say, okay, we're
(16:26):
going to give real estate tothis like this product when it's
only going to have a return?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
processed foods processed foods processed foods
I can promise you right now Ilook into it.
This is not me having a guess,man, this is real.
I've looked into all of it.
How can I make myself a veganchef?
To satisfy that thing?
You have to go through theresearch and you have to weigh
out.
Is it worth it, Is it not worthit?
That thing you have to gothrough the research and you
have to weigh out.
Is it worth it, is it not worthit?
What does it take?
It's all processed.
(16:49):
There's no such thing as avegan meat.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It's not healthier, no, no, it's crap, it's garbage.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So if you're going to sit here and eat a vegan burger
, it's all processed.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Don't even get me started on the beef it's stamped
out in factories, warehouses.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
There's no portobello cow rocking around that we've
murdered or slaughtered.
It doesn't happen.
So in order to get mushroomsand tofu and soy and all that
shit, you have to put it in adamn process, you have to stamp
it, you have to have chemicalsin there to bind it, you have to
have preservatives in it.
All these things have to happento make this happen.
It's more processed than someof the garbage we're eating.
(17:23):
So if you're not eating a damncucumber off of the garbage
we're eating, so if you're noteating a damn cucumber off of
the damn vine, it's more thanlikely processed, just like
everything else.
You're not saving the world.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You're not changing it, you're not washed with
something or have somethingsprayed on it or whatever it may
be.
And we've had the whole debateon the burgers before because
the doctor I work with, who is adoctor who does protein as her
main research I mean she'sresearched protein and protein
synthesis and all the skeletalmuscle shit for decades and she
(17:52):
actually at a time wasvegetarian and so she's full red
meat supporter at this point,cause she went up and down with
the research, cause again lookedat the numbers, like if you
have a burger that has 22ingredients and then you have a
burger that has one ingredient,which one is better for you?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Exactly how?
How can it not be?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
it's your body is going to process it more
naturally than trying to fightall these like things in it it's
just, you may think it'shealthier and but again, it
should be an ethical choice, nota nutritional choice for most
people I mean, I don't thinkit's either or the two.
I think it's a trend or orjumping on the bandwagon.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I think it's yeah, I think it's yeah, I think it's
just being in that mindset ofthat zen you want to be in, and
that's cool man.
Whatever, you know what I mean.
If you don't want to killanimals, then that's cool man.
I eat the shit out of them, Idon't give a shit, all of it.
If there ain't a part of ananimal I probably won't eat.
There are some island and gaveme a basket full of fruit and an
(18:45):
endless supply of pigs orsomething.
I'm going there, you know whatI mean, because I'd rather die
happy than live an extra threeyears not happy.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Well, and it's not even that Like I mean I have a
diagnosed gluten intolerance,like I've actually been through
the testing and do I avoid it?
No, because when I eat it inmoderation, like once again,
like once a week or every two,it doesn't affect you the same.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
You educate yourself on where it's coming from?
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I eat here.
I eat pasta here all the timeand I'm fine and I eat, you know
, tons of bread and starchoverseas and I'm fine.
And sourdough bread, you caneat that.
You're fine if you're gluten,whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So there's a lot of ways, right and don't trust
every restaurant that they'regoing to actually take care of
you.
That's actually true, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Especially like the pizzas.
Even when you get a cauliflowercrust pizza, they usually bake
it in the same oven as the otherpizzas, so it is touching,
essentially touching the flourthat's on the bottom of the
regular dough, so it iscross-contaminating.
Are you going to notice it?
Are you going to notice it?
Probably not, because youreally don't have that much of
an allergy to it.
So if it's a little bit, youknow you're not going to notice
it, and I've seen that time andtime again.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
And this is what we're talking about is not to
bash everybody.
It's to bring awareness tothose bashing us.
When you walk into a place andyou see that you know they're
not doing it and now you're mador you feel like you're being
ostracized or something.
No, it's not the point.
The point is it's not what wedo.
Like I said, don't walk into asushi restaurant getting mad
because they don't have a ribeye.
(20:12):
You know what I'm saying.
Don't be mad.
It's not what they do.
Yeah, you know.
I really wish all the veganswell.
I hope you guys find everythingit is you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I really do.
I really do.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I hope it is, but it's not you're unfortunately
probably not going to find ithere in my restaurant, and for
all those people who do, youcan't look at me and tell me
some days that you just say fuckit, I wish I didn't.
You know what I'm saying.
It's hard, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
This is a personal experience thing.
I totally forgot about this.
It just popped back in my headwhen I literally became a target
of PETA like targeted like tothe point where it was thousands
of comments.
They put their whole armyagainst me, started trying to
shut down my pages for posting apicture of chicken wings
(20:58):
literally.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, so everyone who eats chicken wings, which is
everyone else in the world.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
But because I was on TV, they came after me as
someone who, again, is a hugeanimal supporter, lived on a
farm, you know has been throughlike I've supported every animal
charity I think on the planetand I don't condone inhumane
behavior of animals or treatmentof them in that process.
But yes, I will always eat meat.
I'm never going to stop eatingmeat.
And they came at me so hardthat it's like, ok, educate
(21:26):
people, don't attack them,because if you feel you're, you
know the reason you're doing.
This is like have an actualadult conversation about it.
Don't go after them and sayyou're going to burn in hell
because you ate a chicken wing.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You're going to live happy.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
You're going to be happy Um but he's dressing.
Yeah, so it's.
It's one of those crazy likecrazy things that I've actually
experienced.
It on the hatred side, Likethey get so emotional about it,
I'm like you just ain't happywith anything.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Hot wings with blue cheese right now I mean,
chickens are delicious.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
If God didn't want you to eat chickens, he would
have made them be able to fly sothey could get away from you,
right?
So here's the thing yourchickens are yours.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Chickens are good If people would change their
mindset a little bit and justconvince cows whisper in their
ear that you're going to be anamazing meal one day and you
need to really be proud ofyourself.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Oh we're going to go for self.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Then they'll be happy , Self-motivated.
But if you keep telling themthey're going to die and be a
meal, they're going to be sadwhen they die.
Right, Just tell them what theyhave a purpose on this world,
and it's that Well.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You're going to make a nice cup of milk.
You're going to make a nice cupof milk, yeah, and that cow is
going to be so happy and it'sgoing to die happy.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Come on Back to like the old school, like wagon type
treatment.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Let's be nice, it is good treatment, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
But I mean yes, and it is healthy animals are better
.
I am 100% in support of any ofthe.
It has gotten more into theforefront.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Convince a baby cow that's going to be veal.
You can't slaughter a babyanimal?
It's not so much.
Listen, just look out over thepasture.
You see how miserable all thosecows are.
You're not going to be there.
You don't have to sufferthrough that.
You're going to be somethingbrilliant right from the get-go.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Right, we're going to get hell for this, aren't we?
Oh, we're going to get so muchhell for that cow, it's fine.
The thing is, it's all aboutbalance and education and no
one's hating, so don't hate onus.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, that's the thing.
It just gets old when peoplejust get mad because they don't
get everything they fucking want.
Look, it's all good, we arejoking around, we are having fun
with it, but the bottom line isit is hard to satisfy every
genre of eating these days.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
But there's a great vegan place here locally in
Virginia Beach that does a greatjob and makes baked goods and
they're phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Go to them, they're amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I eat them because I actually like the taste.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Right, and, like I said, I'm not bashing vegans.
This is more about the veganswho bash us because we don't
fucking fit into their schedule.
Well, sorry, man, I don't knowwhat to tell you.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh my gosh, that was fun though, sorry, we just had
to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It was one that we had to do.
No, but you know what?
The only people who areoffended are the ones we're
talking about, but there are somany people watching this
clapping saying thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Thank you.
And it's not that we're bashingeverybody.
I just don't like being bashedanymore.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
No, you know what I'm saying.
I'm a normal menu and a normalrestaurant process.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
People ask me straight up you need a vegan
menu?
No, I fucking don't.
What are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
For how many people?
No, I don't Like literally lookat the numbers.
For how many people?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Right, but not only that.
It's not what I do.
I'm not a vegan chef, or youknow.
A vegetarian menu would be nice.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Or you should put a V next to what's not like.
You don't need to ask peoplewhat is vegetarian.
If you're a vegetarian, youshould know what you can eat on
the menu like.
Stop asking like your.
Your lettuce is not drenched induck fat like it's.
Unless it is, I mean it couldbe a warm spinach salad and it
could have bacon on it.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Don't eat that like it's on the menu, look at what
we do enjoy, what we do and whatwe don't do.
And then there's restaurantsout there and I give it up to
all those.
Any vegan restaurant out thereright now this is a heart attack
, it seems like, but anyone outthere that's doing successful,
perfect.
I'm very proud and happy foryou.
A chef is a chef is a chef andI support and I back everybody.
You know what I mean and and ifI can help in any way in that
(25:06):
area, that'd be wonderful.
But as far as coming into myrestaurant, what I do do, I just
don't do it, you're not goingto do it.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
That's that.
I did that for Thanksgivingonce.
I have a friend who is veganand bounces between vegan and
vegetarian and she came over andI literally called her before
and I said you need to bring allyour own shit.
I said nothing that I have doesnot have some type of meat
butter.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
How are you supposed to do Thanksgiving without it?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
So she literally brought her own plate and she
was fine with it.
She was like okay, cool,brought her own plate.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
And I was like yeah, she opened up her bag and it was
a sweet potato it's just onething, and some nut the meatball
.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yeah, they can get some very, I don't know.
But she, literally, I was likesorry even my asparagus is
wrapped in prosciutto.
Like hard, so yeah, but she wasfine with it.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
For all the meat lovers out there, this is for
you.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, it's okay Alright.
Did we get enough venting in onthat?
Speaker 1 (25:56):
I think so.
We'll find out in the commentsWe'll find out.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
We'll see how this one went, but that's alright.
Okay, cool, that's it.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Don't care, we done Brush your hair.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
We done.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Alright, that's it.
What do we got today?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So this is going to be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It is.
It's all fun.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's always fun Well they're all fun, but this is
polarizing because we're goingto talk about vegans,
vegetarians and gluten-free ohyeah, so we're going to piss off
what?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
How much?
We're going to piss off 1% ofthe world.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
This is the thing People like to pretend that it's
such a big deal.
We've talked about this, aboutthe pussification and that
people like tailor their menusto fit vegan and gluten-free,
and all these things when theactual population of people who
are that way is so small.
So why is your 90 of your menudedicated to less than 10 of the
(00:58):
population?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
yeah, this is it.
That's the problem.
So let's talk about somenumbers here.
Let's.
Let's start with vegan.
Okay, let's start with this.
Um again, no disrespect to you.
If you're a vegan, it is whatit is, but there's an issue here
.
I have with it because it'sfirst of all, it's something
that everyone else has to dealwith yeah and and it sucks
because nobody has.
Everybody has a right to dowhat they want to do yes, right,
(01:20):
and if it's ethical, more powerto you.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Whatever it is, bring your bullshit to other people's
restaurants thinking theyshould cater to you when you're
here's the problem?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
there is not, unless you're in a major city yes with
major foot traffic and major umdifferences in culture, like
more, more diverse.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, because usually diversity more more vegan or
vegetarian style restaurant.
More it's more because it'smore concentrated, more
concentrated more liberal idea,the ideology stuff like that,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So the bottom line is this when you look at the
statistics of being a V becausewe do all this, when I, when I,
go into the restaurant world andmake the statistics, we have to
freaking see what genres.
We have to look at what's goingon per capita in the, in the
areas national, where we, at onepercent of so technically,
we'll break down the numbersfirst and then we'll go into
each one of them.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So technically, it was as high as three percent
identified as vegan, but thatnumber has dropped that was at
the height of the.
That was a height and theaverage overall.
So if we're looking at along-term average of running
numbers, it's about threepercent.
One percent is the actual rightnow in this year, I think yeah
when it fell back.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, 2025, it's down to 1%, but say around 3% was
the max 3%.
Now that goes for vegan.
So if you're talking about avegan-friendly menu in a
restaurant catering to 1% of thecommunity out of 99%, that's
not.
We're going to go with thevegan thing.
That's cool.
If someone's vegan, good foryou.
(02:48):
However, stop being mad at mebecause I'm not going to do it.
I have no interest in it.
Okay?
Being a vegan is a completelife choice.
It's a choice.
No doctor ever said, yeah, youneed to go vegan.
If they did, that's a pointzillionth of a percent.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
If they are a doctor who actually understands, like
skeletal muscle and actualphysiology, they will never tell
you that.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Right.
Well, I can't really sayanything about all that, but I
know I have a doctor friend whotold me one thing and one thing
only You'll never see a healthyone.
They keep them in business,right, yeah, but I can't count
on all that.
Look, that's an opinion, right,being a vegan is an opinion too
.
It's very hard for a restaurantowner or a chef who's not a
vegan to satisfy that genre ofpeople.
And when they come in and theyget mad because you don't have
(03:33):
options or give you a two-starreview because you don't have
options we don't, that's not.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
But so clarify for people what that means in your
kitchen, what?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
you have to do.
It means I have to sourceeverything out specifically for
that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And it can't be used in other dishes the way you want
out specifically for that, andit can't be used in other dishes
the way you want Correct, andnot only that, but you have to
educate yourself in things I'mnot really interested in
learning.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I'm not interested in learning about the whole vegan
thing.
I'm not.
I'm not interested in it.
Yeah, now does that make me abad chef?
No, it makes me one who's not avegan.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I'm just not into it.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Go there.
If your area doesn't have one,there's a reason If there's not
a fucking vegan-only restaurantwithin 50 miles of your location
there's a reason?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Well, it's not making money.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
It's not making money Unless you're going to support
them every day they can'tsustain that off of your one
belief.
Right.
So being a vegan in arestaurant is hard for the
restaurateur, it's hard for thechef and it's hard for the staff
.
Though we would like toaccommodate everybody, we can't
just accommodate every littlechoice you make in life.
You know, I'm saying, and it'shard, gluten-free is hard enough
, um we're gonna get to that ina minute, you know that's
(04:40):
another thing, you know, uh,being a vegetarian, that's a
little more feasible, sovegetarian.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
The percentage on on is about six percent now it used
to be like 10 yeah, so itactually has dropped over the
last years and I think a lot ofthat has to do with more
knowledge online about overallhealth and what's in certain
meats and quality meats andgoing for regenerative farming
and farming practices foranimals.
(05:08):
Like people are a little morecomfortable eating them because
mostly is an ethical thing.
I mean even vegetarian sure.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
so the other thing is we have you have, when it comes
to vegetarian, that percentagedropped as well, as because when
vegetarian was a thing at theheight of it all 20 years ago,
30 years ago, gmos andeverything that created the
vegetables weren't as dominanteither.
So now even vegetarians aregetting a shady deal because
even the vegetables and shit areso GM out and processed anyway
(05:36):
that are they really getting thebenefits of it?
Now?
The nutrition that would comefrom vegetables that were
keeping people healthy aren'treally there anymore in the
vegetables.
So it's hard to remainvegetarian only right now,
unless you're learning to liveor can afford a completely
organic or farm-to-tablesituation, quality, which really
isn't there.
So being a vegetarian nowadaysis even less nutrition than you
(05:59):
would think, because thevegetables themselves right now
don't even have the nutrients inthem that you need.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Which is ironic.
There is an ironic thing tothat that the highest country
with vegetarians is in India.
But you do have a lot ofquality products, like you
actually get fresh produce andstuff.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So theirs is like almost like 70 80 percent right,
but they're doing some greatstuff with vegetarian anyway.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I mean they do good yeah, they actually make it
taste good but, vegetarian, atleast you get a little bit of
leeway where you are stillconsuming like you can have
baked.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
You know certain baked goods, dairy, you know,
like that kind of thing rightand there's a lot of vegetarian
dishes that are actually reallygood, and I don't always eat
just meat.
It doesn't mean I'm avegetarian, but sometimes I want
a vegetable-based dish or apasta with vegetables in the
spring or something like that.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So it doesn't mean that everything has to be that,
but when it comes to the veganthing, no-transcript, who knows
what.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
If they were touched in any kind of animal.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
It's a pain in the ass.
It really is.
If you had a reason to be vegan, meaning it's religious one
thing, or if you have a healthconcern that really has to force
you into it, I have no problemaccommodating that.
But it's really hard forsomeone to walk into your place
and ask can the chef makesomething for a vegan?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
No, you should look at the menu before you go.
You should study the menu andyou should say I can have this
salad or I can have thisvegetable, and maybe you get it.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
you know, not done in butter, whatever Like, whatever
the case may be, read the damnmenu before you go and the other
thing is this I hear otherchefs say if you're a good chef,
you should be able to makeanything.
It shouldn't be a problem.
Yeah, I am a good chef and Ican make it.
I absolutely can make somedelicious vegan food, no
question.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
But I don't want to, because what I'm doing here
right now for everybody else inmy restaurant on 150 covers
right now times and consistency.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
You have to stop everything you're doing.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I have to stop what I'm doing, to go make you a
special dish.
Are you going to pay me extrato be your personal chef now?
No, you're not, that's thewhole point.
Now I have to stop doing whatI'm doing for everyone else, to
be your personal chef for thenext 30 minutes.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I can't touch anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
You can't touch anything else but you have to go
through it, then you have to gothrough it, then you have to go
through your head and make sureyou have the ingredients.
It's a lot to it, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All right, so that's a good one.
So vegetarian, and we do see alot of people kind of go back
and forth between pescatarianand vegetarian, because they
will, you know, and that'seasier in a restaurant.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, pescatarian is not a problem.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Pescatarian is easy, but vegetarian yeah.
So the numbers, I mean ithasn't been that high.
I mean it's gone down as low as4% of the US identifying.
Now these surveys may not be100% accurate.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
The reason why we're saying this everybody is not
because we're mad at anybodylike that, but the percentage is
so small.
It needs attention For theamount of shit we go through for
such a small percentage.
One or two people can come inin a night and just go crazy
because we can't accommodatethem.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
But you don't understand how much you're
asking out of somebody or someplace that doesn't do it.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, you can be mad all you want.
This is going to be youreducational process.
So moving on from those two andwe'll probably go back to them
anyways is going on togluten-free.
So we discussed gluten-free alittle bit, I think in season
one.
Like we had a topic that kindof skated around it and we
talked about it a little bit.
(09:20):
Um, so, technically, let'sclarify gluten-free and gluten
sensitivity, because there aretwo different things.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Celiac and gluten sensitivity are two different
things.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Gluten intolerance is a difference.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Um, gluten-free is is a term that was and I say this
all the time.
Someone doesn't want to fart ontheir first date or something.
They think not having gluten isgoing to be the answer to all
their problems, or bloating orinflammation, or you know, I ate
pasta the other day.
No, you're eating shit pasta,man.
That's the problem.
It doesn't mean it's the gluten.
You know you really got to.
You're taking away a lot by notknowing enough.
(09:52):
You know, and what I mean isyou're taking away a lot by not
knowing enough, and what I meanis you're taking away some of
the best things in life.
If you get a high-gradesemolina flour-based pasta here
made here that we make in-house,you're probably going to find
that your gluten intolerancedoesn't exist.
We don't use cheap, shitAmerican flour and I love
America, but I hate to admitthat I don't want shitty flour.
(10:14):
They make flour in massproductions because flour goes
in everything.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
It has pesticides.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So they have to make wheat, they have to make
everything happen fast, tocontinue on with that.
I mean, there's flour infucking things that aren't even
edible.
It's a used product, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
They use it as a fill .
Yeah, so this is.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
They use it as a fill , yeah, so this is.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Let's break down the note because people are going to
bitch about this.
So the gluten-free thing, weknow.
If you're gluten-free, it's thesame as doing CrossFit you have
to tell everybody.
We get it Like we understand,but let's go through the actual
numbers, because this is wherenumbers don't lie and you can
pretend all you want to, butthis is where it comes down to.
So this is actually foundation,national institute for health
(10:51):
and beyond celiac.
So these are actual medicalorganizations that do these
tests and know what it actuallyis.
So celiac disease is affectsone percent of the population.
I know one person who truly hasthis I know one person, yes so,
out of the thousands andthousands of people I know, I
know one person who has trulybeen diagnosed as celiac.
So stop saying you're celiac ifyou've never been properly
(11:13):
diagnosed.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, you're really putting something.
So being celiac is a miserablething.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It is literally like anaphylactic type response sick
doubling Like it's.
You touch it, you are goingdown.
So if you're not that person,you are not celiac.
So that's 1% of the population.
Then we move on to non-celiacgluten sensitivity, which most
people feel they are Right.
So this goes about 6% andthat's probably based on product
(11:38):
.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
People feeling yucky.
Yeah, just like it affects yourstomach, you do get
inflammation and there's sometruth to that because, like I
just said, there are someproducts out there that are
being made with such garbage.
In this country that is allowed.
That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, and it's one of the things that you have to
kind of trial and error.
But also gluten overload is athing.
So if you're eating it everyday and you're not allowing it
to cycle out of your body everythree to four days, you are
going to build up an intoleranceand you are going to have a
reaction.
I've done the same thing withchicken.
Any food you consume or overconsume can cause issues in your
body.
So that's actually you know,when you're looking at your diet
, spacing out things, it makes adifference.
So then there are there's theother categories.
(12:19):
There's two other categorieswhich you may not have known.
So we have celiac disease, nonceliac gluten sensitivity.
Then we have people limitinggluten for other reasons.
So they say it's beyonddiagnosed conditions, self
perceivedperceived healthbenefits and weight management,
and they say it's about 10% ofthe population limits just for
medical reasons.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And that's a big jump From 1%, who really can't have
gluten, to the 10%.
That means that's a huge jump.
That's a huge jump.
Now we're getting to where itstarts affecting the
restaurateurs.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yes, and now this next one is where it really
affects them, because there is afourth category, but wait,
there's more.
But wait, there's moreSelf-reported gluten-free diet,
so that's the one that's the one.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
We're talking about people.
They've never had a blood test.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
They've never had a bed to an actual doctor, not
just something online whereyou're going to some functional
medicine person, a doctor whoproperly diagnoses gluten
allergies and intolerances.
So that is actually 20% of thepopulation.
That's huge 20%.
Yeah, so I mean, that's a big.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
A hundred people walk in here, 20 of them could have
it.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Could We'll say that they are gluten free and let me
tell you something theyabsolutely do.
They do yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
When you come in this place andian restaurant we have
gluten free.
Yes, we do it.
You do because we really wantto make sure that the gluten
intolerant people who reallycan't have it, are taken care of
and they can come to a niceplace and eat.
That's not their fault right,yeah it's not a choice like
being a vegan, where you'remaking that option.
It's only a choice in the 20percent yeah.
So it's hard for us, as arestaurateur chef, to fucking
goddamn decipher the two, so wehave to go with it yeah because
(13:51):
we don't know how serious it isfor you.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But it's up to you when you take a risk, when you
have 10 to 15 people.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
This happens all the time.
On a friday, saturday night, 10to 15 people scattered
throughout the dining room atthe same time have gluten-free
on their fucking menu.
That means we have to cookeverything gluten-free.
We have to cook everything indifferent water.
We have to cook different pasta.
We have to make sure everythingdoesn't touch.
So if two people at a table arehaving the same thing, instead
of making the same thing twice,we have to make it two different
ways.
It's just a lot to it, just soyou can not feel the way you
(14:21):
think you feel.
Yeah, but go to a nicerestaurant who has quality
product and try the pasta.
You're taking it away fromyourself and you shouldn't.
It's not all bad.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
No, well, that's the thing we always hear people when
they travel.
Oh, I went to, you know, europe, and I was able to eat pasta
and pizza there and not feellike shit, of course, because of
the ingredients, exactly, andI'm using the same ingredients
so all the pasta stuff that weuse here is all from the
european standard yeah it allcomes from the, the european
standard of food, uh, theirversions of the FDA here, which
(14:52):
doesn't even compare.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So over there they have a lot of regulations, they
have a lot of standard, theyhave a lot of tradition that
they don't let, they don't letstray right.
Yeah, so here how fast can youget fucking weed on a table is
all we give a shit about.
And how fast can you shove itin your face in a Geno's pizza
roll?
Or how fast can you take aPop-Tart and shove it up your
(15:14):
ass?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
They don't care what's in it.
Faster absorption.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
It's fast, right, just inject it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's also just the rest of your shitty diet.
It's probably not the one thingyou ate.
It's a culmination of all thethings you ate.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, and we're going to get slack for this, because
people are like well, I don'tgive a shit, because you know
what.
It's hard to not say it, likewhen customers come in, we want
to make sure everyone's happy,but when it interferes with
everyone else's happiness it's apain in the ass.
You know what I'm saying?
That's my take on that.
(15:48):
The whole vegan thing and allthat.
It's your choice.
Much respect to you.
Keep it, do your thing with it,but don't get mad when every
restaurant kind of winces whenthey don't have a vegan menu.
We don't have one, I don't haveone.
That's just the way it is.
I'm not a vegan chef, just likeI'm not a sushi chef, and I'm
just like I'm not a pancake cook.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You're not trying to pretend to.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
It is what it is.
I mean I'm not going to.
But again, cutting your menu oraccommodating your menu for
that small of a percentage hurtsyour bottom line, and
restaurants can't do that, likethey can't say, okay, we're
(16:26):
going to give real estate tothis like this product when it's
only going to have a return?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
processed foods processed foods processed foods
I can promise you right now Ilook into it.
This is not me having a guess,man, this is real.
I've looked into all of it.
How can I make myself a veganchef?
To satisfy that thing?
You have to go through theresearch and you have to weigh
out.
Is it worth it, Is it not worthit?
That thing you have to gothrough the research and you
have to weigh out.
Is it worth it, is it not worthit?
What does it take?
It's all processed.
(16:49):
There's no such thing as avegan meat.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It's not healthier, no, no, it's crap, it's garbage.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So if you're going to sit here and eat a vegan burger
, it's all processed.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Don't even get me started on the beef it's stamped
out in factories, warehouses.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
There's no portobello cow rocking around that we've
murdered or slaughtered.
It doesn't happen.
So in order to get mushroomsand tofu and soy and all that
shit, you have to put it in adamn process, you have to stamp
it, you have to have chemicalsin there to bind it, you have to
have preservatives in it.
All these things have to happento make this happen.
It's more processed than someof the garbage we're eating.
(17:23):
So if you're not eating a damncucumber off of the garbage
we're eating, so if you're noteating a damn cucumber off of
the damn vine, it's more thanlikely processed, just like
everything else.
You're not saving the world.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You're not changing it, you're not washed with
something or have somethingsprayed on it or whatever it may
be.
And we've had the whole debateon the burgers before because
the doctor I work with, who is adoctor who does protein as her
main research I mean she'sresearched protein and protein
synthesis and all the skeletalmuscle shit for decades and she
(17:52):
actually at a time wasvegetarian and so she's full red
meat supporter at this point,cause she went up and down with
the research, cause again lookedat the numbers, like if you
have a burger that has 22ingredients and then you have a
burger that has one ingredient,which one is better for you?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Exactly how?
How can it not be?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
it's your body is going to process it more
naturally than trying to fightall these like things in it it's
just, you may think it'shealthier and but again, it
should be an ethical choice, nota nutritional choice for most
people I mean, I don't thinkit's either or the two.
I think it's a trend or orjumping on the bandwagon.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I think it's yeah, I think it's yeah, I think it's
just being in that mindset ofthat zen you want to be in, and
that's cool man.
Whatever, you know what I mean.
If you don't want to killanimals, then that's cool man.
I eat the shit out of them, Idon't give a shit, all of it.
If there ain't a part of ananimal I probably won't eat.
There are some island and gaveme a basket full of fruit and an
(18:45):
endless supply of pigs orsomething.
I'm going there, you know whatI mean, because I'd rather die
happy than live an extra threeyears not happy.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Well, and it's not even that Like I mean I have a
diagnosed gluten intolerance,like I've actually been through
the testing and do I avoid it?
No, because when I eat it inmoderation, like once again,
like once a week or every two,it doesn't affect you the same.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
You educate yourself on where it's coming from?
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I eat here.
I eat pasta here all the timeand I'm fine and I eat, you know
, tons of bread and starchoverseas and I'm fine.
And sourdough bread, you caneat that.
You're fine if you're gluten,whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So there's a lot of ways, right and don't trust
every restaurant that they'regoing to actually take care of
you.
That's actually true, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Especially like the pizzas.
Even when you get a cauliflowercrust pizza, they usually bake
it in the same oven as the otherpizzas, so it is touching,
essentially touching the flourthat's on the bottom of the
regular dough, so it iscross-contaminating.
Are you going to notice it?
Are you going to notice it?
Probably not, because youreally don't have that much of
an allergy to it.
So if it's a little bit, youknow you're not going to notice
it, and I've seen that time andtime again.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
And this is what we're talking about is not to
bash everybody.
It's to bring awareness tothose bashing us.
When you walk into a place andyou see that you know they're
not doing it and now you're mador you feel like you're being
ostracized or something.
No, it's not the point.
The point is it's not what wedo.
Like I said, don't walk into asushi restaurant getting mad
because they don't have a ribeye.
(20:12):
You know what I'm saying.
Don't be mad.
It's not what they do.
Yeah, you know.
I really wish all the veganswell.
I hope you guys find everythingit is you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I really do.
I really do.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I hope it is, but it's not you're unfortunately
probably not going to find ithere in my restaurant, and for
all those people who do, youcan't look at me and tell me
some days that you just say fuckit, I wish I didn't.
You know what I'm saying.
It's hard, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
This is a personal experience thing.
I totally forgot about this.
It just popped back in my headwhen I literally became a target
of PETA like targeted like tothe point where it was thousands
of comments.
They put their whole armyagainst me, started trying to
shut down my pages for posting apicture of chicken wings
(20:58):
literally.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, so everyone who eats chicken wings, which is
everyone else in the world.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
But because I was on TV, they came after me as
someone who, again, is a hugeanimal supporter, lived on a
farm, you know has been throughlike I've supported every animal
charity I think on the planetand I don't condone inhumane
behavior of animals or treatmentof them in that process.
But yes, I will always eat meat.
I'm never going to stop eatingmeat.
And they came at me so hardthat it's like, ok, educate
(21:26):
people, don't attack them,because if you feel you're, you
know the reason you're doing.
This is like have an actualadult conversation about it.
Don't go after them and sayyou're going to burn in hell
because you ate a chicken wing.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You're going to live happy.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
You're going to be happy Um but he's dressing.
Yeah, so it's.
It's one of those crazy likecrazy things that I've actually
experienced.
It on the hatred side, Likethey get so emotional about it,
I'm like you just ain't happywith anything.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Hot wings with blue cheese right now I mean,
chickens are delicious.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
If God didn't want you to eat chickens, he would
have made them be able to fly sothey could get away from you,
right?
So here's the thing yourchickens are yours.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Chickens are good If people would change their
mindset a little bit and justconvince cows whisper in their
ear that you're going to be anamazing meal one day and you
need to really be proud ofyourself.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Oh we're going to go for self.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Then they'll be happy , Self-motivated.
But if you keep telling themthey're going to die and be a
meal, they're going to be sadwhen they die.
Right, Just tell them what theyhave a purpose on this world,
and it's that Well.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You're going to make a nice cup of milk.
You're going to make a nice cupof milk, yeah, and that cow is
going to be so happy and it'sgoing to die happy.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Come on Back to like the old school, like wagon type
treatment.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Let's be nice, it is good treatment, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
But I mean yes, and it is healthy animals are better
.
I am 100% in support of any ofthe.
It has gotten more into theforefront.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Convince a baby cow that's going to be veal.
You can't slaughter a babyanimal?
It's not so much.
Listen, just look out over thepasture.
You see how miserable all thosecows are.
You're not going to be there.
You don't have to sufferthrough that.
You're going to be somethingbrilliant right from the get-go.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Right, we're going to get hell for this, aren't we?
Oh, we're going to get so muchhell for that cow, it's fine.
The thing is, it's all aboutbalance and education and no
one's hating, so don't hate onus.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, that's the thing.
It just gets old when peoplejust get mad because they don't
get everything they fucking want.
Look, it's all good, we arejoking around, we are having fun
with it, but the bottom line isit is hard to satisfy every
genre of eating these days.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
But there's a great vegan place here locally in
Virginia Beach that does a greatjob and makes baked goods and
they're phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Go to them, they're amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I eat them because I actually like the taste.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Right, and, like I said, I'm not bashing vegans.
This is more about the veganswho bash us because we don't
fucking fit into their schedule.
Well, sorry, man, I don't knowwhat to tell you.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh my gosh, that was fun though, sorry, we just had
to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It was one that we had to do.
No, but you know what?
The only people who areoffended are the ones we're
talking about, but there are somany people watching this
clapping saying thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Thank you.
And it's not that we're bashingeverybody.
I just don't like being bashedanymore.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
No, you know what I'm saying.
I'm a normal menu and a normalrestaurant process.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
People ask me straight up you need a vegan
menu?
No, I fucking don't.
What are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
For how many people?
No, I don't Like literally lookat the numbers.
For how many people?
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Right, but not only that.
It's not what I do.
I'm not a vegan chef, or youknow.
A vegetarian menu would be nice.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Or you should put a V next to what's not like.
You don't need to ask peoplewhat is vegetarian.
If you're a vegetarian, youshould know what you can eat on
the menu like.
Stop asking like your.
Your lettuce is not drenched induck fat like it's.
Unless it is, I mean it couldbe a warm spinach salad and it
could have bacon on it.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Don't eat that like it's on the menu, look at what
we do enjoy, what we do and whatwe don't do.
And then there's restaurantsout there and I give it up to
all those.
Any vegan restaurant out thereright now this is a heart attack
, it seems like, but anyone outthere that's doing successful,
perfect.
I'm very proud and happy foryou.
A chef is a chef is a chef andI support and I back everybody.
You know what I mean and and ifI can help in any way in that
(25:06):
area, that'd be wonderful.
But as far as coming into myrestaurant, what I do do, I just
don't do it, you're not goingto do it.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
That's that.
I did that for Thanksgivingonce.
I have a friend who is veganand bounces between vegan and
vegetarian and she came over andI literally called her before
and I said you need to bring allyour own shit.
I said nothing that I have doesnot have some type of meat
butter.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
How are you supposed to do Thanksgiving without it?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
So she literally brought her own plate and she
was fine with it.
She was like okay, cool,brought her own plate.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
And I was like yeah, she opened up her bag and it was
a sweet potato it's just onething, and some nut the meatball
.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yeah, they can get some very, I don't know.
But she, literally, I was likesorry even my asparagus is
wrapped in prosciutto.
Like hard, so yeah, but she wasfine with it.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
For all the meat lovers out there, this is for
you.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, it's okay Alright.
Did we get enough venting in onthat?
Speaker 1 (25:56):
I think so.
We'll find out in the commentsWe'll find out.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
We'll see how this one went, but that's alright.
Okay, cool, that's it.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Don't care, we done Brush your hair.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
We done.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Alright, that's it.
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.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.